Best man for Antonio

Hola Hola FAMILY!!! Wow, how time flies, I am now in the last week of the change. Next week, I will be in my second to last change of the mission!!

This week was a great one!! On Wednesday, I had the privilege of traveling to Quilpué to witness the marriage of Antonio and Erica. I am officially the best man of Antonio!! Here they say Padrino. So I am Antonio´s Padrino, and he is my Ahijado. haha. This is the first time in my life I have been a best man, and its to a man 3 times my age. hah Here in Chile, they have the terrible custom of arriving late for everything. We were told that the wedding started at 1:00. So we were there 30 min early to be sure. One a clock rolls around, and they still are not there. 1:15, still nothing. 1:30, they finally come. haha you would think that one would arrive on time for their wedding. Anyways, when they got there, Antonio was SO nervous. He arrived and was smoking, and ttrembling, trying to calm down. Antonio is a character. He never takes anything seriously. Throughout the wedding ceremony, he was busting so many jokes, and beeing a goofe ball. I was positioned at his side, and Elder Lloyed would have been on the other side, but his Chilean Identity expired so he could not participate. But he was present. When they got married, when all was said and done, the first words that Erica said impacted me. She said, with a huge smile on her face, "Now I can be baptized!" This family has made so many changes, they have come so far!! I love them so much. This weekend, Erica and Felipe are going to get baptized. Antonio still has to drop a few things concerning the Word of Wisdom. After he sees his family get baptized, that will incentivate him even more. All will be well.

This friday, we had an activity as a ward that we have been planning for quite a while. It was more like a fireside, where we taught our message of the Restoration of the Gospel, but through brief explinations and musical numbers having to do with each of the points of the lesson. The whole ward participated in various musical numbers, and I was glued to the piano. The activity turned out so well!! we had over 100 attending, including over 10 investigators, and about half of them were crying throughout the program. All the preparation and the practice was all worth it.

This ward has the custom of showing their love for the missionaries through FOOD. We have not gone ONE night without having something huge and fattening to eat. In every single house that we enter, they always have something delicious prepared for us to eat. The Chileans are such a loving people. If one thinks that they can do a diet here in Huanhualí, they are WRONG.

I am now going to share an experience that is an evidence of how rigorous missionary work is at times. On thursday night, after the day was over, we arrived at home, walked upstairs and planned for the following day. After the planning session, it was about 10:15, I had in my mind that I would just lay on my bed for a couple of seconds then finish with the nightly routine at 11:00. At this moment, I still had my white shirt, tie, pants, belt, shoes... on. From the moment where my 6´5 body touched that bed, I do not remember anything until the next morning when the oh so early alarm clock sounded at 6:55. When I woke up, I looked like I was all ready to work! I had all my gear on haha. I could not believe what just happened. haha

Well thats all for now. The work is going better, we are seeing more success every day, and I´m grateful for this time where I can smile and "bask in the sunshine of personal sacrifice, service and growth."

Love you!

Chao

Elder Millard.

Pic. Antonio, the nervous man arriving to his wedding, listening to music and smoking. All of his work companions were telling him that he should not do it, BUT HE DID IT!!!