Snakes and Spiders

Hola!! This week has been So great! We had a lot of success with lessons with
member, lots of books of mormon handed out, and quite a few new investigators. I
really cannot believe where the time has gone! This is the last week of the
change! The time really has gone by super fast. Sounds like everything is going
great back at home! Go Cougs! Pretty intense news! with jimmer, davies, Ncaa
tournament, byu track meet.

So I have found something that makes me laugh so hard! Its called snake
contacts. "Snakes" refering to the girls that like to flirt and basically just
want to be your boyfriend (pololo). haha. Every time we are walking down the
street, and we see girls between the ages of 15 and 20, we go over and talk to
them. It makes me laugh so hard because the girls go crazy! There are not very
many tall gringos here in chile and the girls don´t really know how to take
that. They get all nervous, or they start flirting, or they are just in shock,
or lost in some green eyes that they den´t really see very often... Its so
awesome because it totally works every time! They accept everything. I ask them
if we can come to their house and share our message with them. The obvious
answer...Yes! Name and address...Lets just say this is a great way to get future
investigators. Hopefully one of these "snakes" turns out to be a baptism!


Now that the Family San Martín is back from their vacation, it is the last week
before their baptism. That means interview time! So the day before the
interview, we sat down and were talking to them about their baptism. The point
then came up that Camila and Matias wer having second thoughts about being
baptized. They feel embarrased or don´t feel sure about it, and all these doubts
are flying out. The mom started to explain that this is all she wants for her
children. That her kids can grow up in the church with all these inportant
values. She got really emotional explaining that a lot of the time, her kids
have too much priority on the things of the world and do not understand the
magnitude of the things of God. We took this situation calmly. After thinking of
what to say, we briefly explained to them that this always seems to happens
right before something important happens, usually when its concerning the things
of God. Right before your baptism, Satan is going to tempt you the hardest to
make sure that you do not go through with it. We resolved all their doubts, had
a super spiritual lesson with them to get their focus and animo back. They had
their interview yesterday and all passed! Their baptism will be this friday at
8:00 pm (4:00 pm in the U.S.). Their grandpa will be traveling down from la
Serena to baptize all of them. It will be an incredible experience!


So this week, President Gillespie called us and said that since our numbers have
gone up so much, I want to visit La Ligua this Sunday for church to see how the
branch is doing and to meet all your investigators. So he did. Its always super
scary to have the president at church with you because everything has to be
perfect. Luckily everything turned out great! Afterwards, the people that we
were going to have lunch with could not do it, so we were stuck without lunch.
Until ¨The familia Palominos invited us to eat at their house with President
Gillespie and his wife. Now, there are not many missionaries that can say that
they have eaten lunch with the President! It was pretty intense! He was watching
our every move haha. Everything turned out great!

So I had a fun little experience this morning. I woke up and I did my morning
prayer. I felt something on my elbow. I looked and nothing was there. About 3
minutes later, i felt something on the back of my leg. I decided to smack it
with my hand thinking it was a fly or something. As I smack my leg, i feel
something about the size of my palm! I freak out, throw the thing off me, and
jump up and try to find out what it was. I come to find out that it was a Big
Ole Spider!!! This experience does not help my arachnafobia!







Love you all! Chaíto!!

Elder Millard

Barbie Dolls and eating Liver...

Hola Hola!!! Como están! I really don´t know where this week went! Its basically all a blur. All I can say is that I am loving my time here in La Ligua. The weather is changing a little bit, its finally starting to cool down. I have never eaten so much fruit in my entire life. haha. I´m also eating tons of fruit that I have never seen before. Thanks so much for all the support and all the letters! They really do make my day every time! Its so great to hear that all is well back at home! Oh... and GO COUGS!! Thats legit! (Dad, would you be so kind as to tape all these games for me...) haha. Good luck Sherbith on Jr. Miss! I know you will do great! Its crazy, all my cousins are leaving on missions! They are all in for an incredible experience.

So this week was a great one, just like every other week! haha. I had a great experience going on an interchange with Elder Jaquier from France. He is our zone leader and is so tight! He used to have huge dread locks like Bob Marley before the mission and was in a hit band. We had a lot to talk about with the whole music deal. I also learned a lot about france and their culture.

We had a family night with the family of Hermana Salina. This Family night, or ´´Noche de Hogar´´ was a little bit different because afterwards, they totally busted out a barbie car with (Ken), barbie and a little baby barby. They get a kick out of my name being Ken, haha. They could not stop laughing for minutes! It was actually really funny.

The familia San Martín got back from their vacations! They are still super excited for their baptism. Its so great, the young mens and young womens program is helping us out so much with them. They invite them to all the activities and are making great friends with all the members.

Vanesa had something tragic happen to her. She ate some bad Mariscos and was hospitalized. Well we found out this week that she has to travel back to Argentina to operate on this problem that she has. We do not know how long she will be gone, but its sad that we will not be able to teach her for a while.

We had a great experience with Ingrid this week. She said from the start that she did not want to change religion at all! She would listen but would not be baptized again and change religion. But this week, we stopped by her house with a couple of members, and she walked out with a sad face. She let us in but said that she did not want to hear anything about the church. She was angry with God due to something that happened with her partner. We sang some hymns, and made her feel good. Later, we got her laughing to cheer her up a little bit. We set the mood then sneeked the topic of church into the conversation. The members that were with us bore their testimonies of why they were baptized and why they go to church. The spirit was so strong!! After being touched by the spirit, she accepted to come to church with us.

I had quite the experience this week for lunch. The hermana came out with a plate that acutally looked really good! It was meat, (so i thought), with potatoes. The first bite I took of the ´´meat´´, I realized that this was not any oordinary meat. It was a super wierd tecture and the taste was horrible! I obviously complemented the hermana of how delicious the food was, but in my mind/mouth I was dying! I looked on the table for something that could cover the taste a little bit, and to my rescue, I saw ketchup. Lets just say that i ate more ketchup than this meat. There was a mountain of ketchup on top. I come to find out that the meat suprise was Liver!! Gross! haha

Well I love you all so much and pray for you every day!

Cuidense! Chao!!

Elder Millard

Oh my spider...RUN Kenny!

Hola Hola!!! Wow this week was the best! I cannot believe that this change is already half over!! Where did that time go? It makes me realize that I need to cherish every moment here on the mission because for real, time goes by super fast! Lots of great stuff happened this week! The weather is progressively getting colder and colder, Elder Huaman and I keep working harder and harder, and i磎 seriously loving my time here in La Ligua!

So, the situation that we are dealing with here in La Ligua is that ALL of our fechas (baptisimal dates) went on vacation this week! haha The San Martins went to La Serena, Vanesa went to La Calera, and Juana and Eduardo went up north as well. It was pretty ridiculous how it all worked out, but it was a great opportunity to find lots of new investigators. Our assistance was a little low due to the lack of our fechas here, but we had tons of success in other aspects of the work. Before us elders got here to La Ligua, there was on average 3 lessons with member every week. Elder Huaman and I put as a goal 13 lessons with member this week, and we accomplished 14!!! We are starting to work a lot more with the members. They really are the key to this work, as President Hinkley stated.

Matias, Camila and Constanza San Mart韓 are still progressing very well towards their baptism on the 11th of March. Their grandpa is planning on traveling 15 hours from Antofagasta Chile to come to their baptism. If he is able to come, he would baptize them and that would be ideal! Vanesa ate some 创Mariscos创 that were not prepared very well and got super sick! She was in the hospital for a few days and is now bed ridden for 7 days! We are still working hard and praying that our investigators can overcome all of the trials, problems, doubts, and laziness to be able to come to the waters of baptism.

So I just barely had the opportunity to play Ping Pong with a girl named Romina. Now, when I tell you this, you better not laugh... She absolutely creamated me! haha Romina is not just any ordinary ping pong player, it just so happens that she has represented Chile in international tournaments! She is a champion here in Chile, and that is saying something, due to the fact that there is a lot of ping pong here. We played best out of 5, I won one game 11 to 9 which was a miracle, and she won the other three games outright! She gave me lessons of what I have been doing wrong my whole life. After playing with me for a little bit, she could tell that I have played tennis because I played ping pong like I play tennis, and it is completely different. I never realized how complicated ping pong actually is. I learned so much today of how to play better! Robbie, Dad, and Brody Bushnell, you better watch out and keep practicing for my return haha jk! It was so cool to play against someone so legit!

We had conference for the interior zones this week. It was located down in Villa Alemana about 2 hours away from La Ligua. Thursday night, we had to travel to La Calera to sleep over there because the conference started early friday morning. Thursday night was quite the experience. Lets just say tile floor, 3 blankets and a pillow. haha. Sleep was not a big part of my night. Anyways, the conference was so great! We learned more about the importance of lesson plans, giving talks in church, and how to start a lesson, take control of a lesson and let the investigator know our purpose of being in their house. Chileans are very distinct people. Lets just say they like to talk alot, and we as missionaries have to be really good with taking control. We also learned a lot about the resurrection! One thing that I thought was really cool is that when we are resurrected, we instantly have had a pre judgement looking at the appearance of our bodies. The people that have been rightous will have a body that has a higher capacity to withstand the presence of God. An extra twinkle I guess we could say. In this life, we need to live in such a way that there will not be much of a difference between our lifestyles now, and the lifestyles that we will have in the Celestial Kingdom. If we cannot keep the commandments here, or if we do not enjoy keeping the commandments here, why would we be able to keep or enjoy keeping the commandments in the Celestial Kindom.

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support and all the letters! They give me animo and brighten my day every time!

Hasta Luego!

Chao!

Elder Millard

Check out this avacado!

Hola!!! This week was So great! Last week, I was writing my email. It seems as if I blinked my eyes and here I am again... writing my email for this week. I have no idea where this week went. haha All I know is that it was a great one. Yesterday was Super hot! Its kinda interesting though, the days are super hot and the night is pretty cold. The summer is coming to an end. Just like your winter is somewhat coming to an end back at the other side of the world.

Our investigators are doing great! Vanesa磗 child got sick so she was not able to assist church this last week. Kinda a bummer, because now we will have to push her baptisimal date to march.But she is still reading the Book of Mormon and progressing really well. She feels that the church is true. She liked the blessing that her child recieved in church a couple of weeks ago that talked about how he would grow up in the gospel and be a great member.

The family San Mart韓 is amazing! The young mens and young womens had an activity this week. They went on a hike. Matias and Constanza were there with them and had a great time! They are now great friends with the (jovenes) in the branch. Its so great and necessary to see these friendship ties in the branch because it helps assure the retention of these investigators, soon to be converts! Marl閚, the mom, could not assist church this week but the kids went all by themselves and stayed all three hours. Things are looking pretty set for their baptism the 11th of March. The only problem is that Camila is in Santiago until the 25th of Feb. We have been praying for her to continue preparing for her baptism through reading the Book of Mormon.

We had interviews with Pres. Gillespie this week. I absolutely LOVED my interview. He started out with a couple of inspired questions. 创What have I learned from my companions that I have had on the mission so far?创 This made me ponder a little bit. Its super hard to contemplate all that I have learned from my companions in the mission and try to put it into words. I really have learned alot about applying the Christlike attributes in my life. The second question was 创What have you learned on your mission so far that will be of benefit to you after the mission?创 My mission has changed my life. I am a better person for having been here on my mission. If I could make a list of things that I have learned on my mission so far, I would need one big piece of paper. One of the most valuable things that I have learned and experienced so far is that we must look and focus on the good things in people, not the bad, and love them for who they are. As we focus on the good, relationships improve drastically, attitude changes to positive and everything is better. I later asked him a couple of doctrine questions.

Well I am loving La Ligua. The lord is blessing us with lots of success and we are working hard. I have felt the spirit more in this companionship more than any other that I have had on my mission. We are following the spirit, we are working hard (and smart), and the Lord is giving us success. The learning curve and rate of progression in the mission is incredible. I磎 so grateful for the Book of Mormon, i磎 so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Lets just say, I磎 grateful for a lot of things. God loves each and every one of us.

I love you all. Hasta luego!!


Elder Millard

My awesome companion...

Hola!! This week has gone by way too fast!! My new comp Elder Huaman is such a stud!! We are getting along great and the work is coming along extremely well. This week was amazing. Its extremely hot, a little windy, lots of sun block, lots of walking, lots of lessons, lots of fun.

So this week we had a great experience with the Familia San Martín. As you all may know, the mom is a less active member. She grew up in the church and everything but for some reason, went innactive. Ever since we have started teaching them, the mom has just been telling the kids to go to church. She wants the kids to go to church because it was a blessing for her growing up. She knows that the gospel keeps the kids away from drugs, alchohol,etc... Anyways, Elder Huaman and I realized this, that we need to reactivate the mom and all the kids will be able to follow due to her example. As we were walking back to the pension, a scripture John 5:19 popped into my head which states: ´´Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.¨ I have no doubt that this was an impression from the spirit. My faith was reinforced when the next day we gave the lesson on how to be an example, using this scripture. She felt the spirit, she recieved personal inspiration on the things that she needs to change in her life. She later expressed to us openly that this is exactly what she needed to hear. She now has firm desires to change and come back to the church. You better believe that she was there at church this sunday with her whole family. The kids are all preparing to be baptized the 11th of March.

We had another great experience this week that reaffirmed the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lessons. We were teaching one of our investigators named Vanesa from Argentina. She has a baptisimal date for the 26th of Feb. This last sunday they blessed her baby in church; it was incredible. Anyways, the great experience happened yesterday after church in a lesson. We taught her about hope and the atonement. When we were done teaching, she was basically in tears. She sincerely expressed to us ´´Elders, I don´t know how you do it, but whenever you speak, you always say the exact words that I need to hear.¨

My comp told me the story of his conversion. It really is such a great story. So Elder Huaman when he was 7 years old lost his Mom and his dad left him. He had nobody except his grandma but his grandma could not take him so he lived in his school. His life was school. He was a little genious. He studied around 10 hours a day not including the school hours that he attended. The only way he could survive was if he got high enough grades to recieve scholarships to be able to study for free. He accomplished it. he entered into the University of Mechanical Engineering of Peru at the age of 14. He graduated with honors at the age of 19. He soon became a boss of a company that has to do with engineering. The story goes as follows: Elder Huaman had quite a few employees and he calculated that if he required all of them to work on Sunday, he would earn more money. All of his employees were fine with it except one. This one lady named Romina said that she would not work on Sunday. Romina was a little bit different. She was very organized, very smart, very effective and efficient. Basically one of the best employees he had. Elder Huaman asked an interview with her to find out why she could not work on sunday. After talking for a while, she was allowed an hour and a half every sunday morning. A few months passed and he saw that on sunday, Romina always showed up at work dressed nicer than normal with makeup and all. One day he decided to follow her to figure out what she did on Sundays. Romina got in the taxi and Elder Huaman followed them in his car. They stopped at the church and he said, hmm... maybe there is something to this. He went into the church and that day, the talks were about eternal families. This touched his heart that families could be eternal, that one day he could see his mom again. He left having had a spiritual experience. The next day at work, Elder Huaman stared asking Romina questions about the church. She gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it all and to pray to God if it was true. He read the book in a matter of 2 weeks. He prayed and felt its true. He had learned about the temples and learned that its through them that we can be married and sealed for Eternity. He asked, what do i need to do to be able to enter the temple. Romina replied, you need to accept the missionaries and be baptized. He did exactly that. At the age of 20, he was baptized. a year and a half later, he made the decision to leave his life, his business... to be able to serve a mission. Its incredible to think that after only being a member for a year and a half, Elder Huaman is out here as my companion. Just think, this all started from this lady, Romina, being an example and keeping the commandments. Look at the power of being an example of obedience. I loved this story.

Its grape season now and I have been eating bushells of them. They are super cheap! Its about 1 dollar for over 2 pounds of grapes.E Elder Huaman and I are working great together. We are becoming great friends and life is just great! I love my mission.

Les amo mucho, Chao!

Elder Millard

Staying in LaLigua

Hola Hola!!! This week has been So great!! I can磘 believe this change is alredy come and gone! It seriously went super fast! But it really was a great change! I learned so much and i磎 so grateful for all the things that we were able to do here in la Ligua. We have had some great experiences, of which I will never forget. The mission is changing my life and the lives of so many others.

燬o here磗 the big news... Staying or going... the answer is... Drum roll... 创Elder Millard, stays in La Ligua! His new companion will be, Elder Huaman!创 Kinda funny because this change, La Ligua was devided into two because its so big, so there were 4 missionaries. Now that lots of missionaries are leaving the mission, La Ligua will only have 2 missionaries, Elder Huaman and I. I alredy know Elder Huaman super well because we all lived in the same pension. I磎 super excited for this new change! Our area is So Huge!! We will definitely have to plan well. The Lord trusts us.

This week, I had quite the experience... So here we are, Elder Bustincio and I, in a branch meeting. Right at the end of the meeting, we see some investigators outside the door. Apparently they came for some english classes so I had the great opportunity to totally bust out some Elder Millard English Class Improv. It basically could have been a live TV show. Lets just say that Chileans are not known for having the best english accents in the world haha. Since i磎 a missionary, for the class I took the opportunity to teach the people how to pray in english. It actually went really well. I might think about a new career idea... NOT! ha. I might start making this a common occurance here. Who knows, maybe some seeds will be planted for future baptisms.

So now for the uplifting spiritual experience for the week. So we have been teaching this 19 year old girl named Leslie and her mom. They have been passing through a really hard time in their lives with their dad. He has problems with drugs and alchohol. They finally talked to the legal system, and this situation that has been destroying their lives and their happiness is finally resolved. They can now live in peace. Once they told this to us, we were so happy! We asked them what is their new goal in life. They responded, to follow God. Wow! This set the mood for the prime opportunity to be able to give them their wish, through the saving ordinance of baptism. We taught them the doctrine through the scriptures, through inspired questions, and through testimony, until they really understood and the spirit could confirm to them that this is true. We invited them to be baptized and they accepted. The manner in which they accepted reflected their desires to really change and be on the path that God has set for all of us.

I love you all! Hope all is well back at home! Know that you are in my prayers always.

Chao!

Elder Millard

Soccer and Preach My Gospel

Hola Hola!!!! This week has been so great!! I磍l tell you what... This change has gone by So So So fast!! It seems like yesterday I was on that all night bus ride here to La Ligua! Time flies when you are having fun. I still have one week left and I hope I stay. The branch here is great, The people are great, the dulces de la Ligua are great... basically everything is great about La Ligua.

So in all the missions in the world, they are moving away from lessons 1 through 4 in preach my gospel and adapting towards the 8 principles. Teaching more with the spirit and more to the needs of the investigators. I love this new way of teaching!! It really is so effective. Obviously we still have to teach all of the material, but it is not in a solid immovable lesson outline, its flexible, leaving room for inspiration from the spirit, inspired questions, silence, personal experiences, scriptures and testimony. It is so rewarding and so refreshing when we have a great lesson, and can see the people change through the influence of the spirit.

This week, I was on interchanges with Elder Vargas, another elder from Mexico. We were knocking doors up on this big hillside. Dirt roads, extremely humble houses, super steep staircases made of old cement, dogs, Latin music (Rigat髇), and an excitement to go and find the people that the lord has prepared for us to teach. We both felt that we should go up this pathway to a house out of the way. When we knocked the door, this lady came out very nice and friendly. She said right away that she was catholic and that she would not change her religion. But how could she refuse two nicely dressed boys inviting to share about Jesus Christ. As we were invited into her house, we used the suggestions in Preach My Gospel of how to start a lesson. After the ambient was set with the spirit, through inspired questions, music, prayer... her heart began to be more susseptible. We taught to her needs and helped her see the light. We felt that we should invite her to be bapized. So we did. After the invitation, there was over a minute of complete silence!! We could hear the wind blowing outside, we could easily have heart a pin drop on the ground. In this moment is precisely when the spirit was testifying to her that this was the right path, the light and the truth. Shortly after, we did a prayer on our knees and she offered a great prayer asking God if these things are true. Again, complete silence followed. She stated 创 I feel so calm and peaceful and happy. Perhaps this is the path that God wants me to follow.创

I love my mission. The opportunity to help and serve people every day. So you know that family that we found with the less active mom and her three kids, (familia San Mart韓). Well they all have a baptisimal date for the 26th of Feb! They are all so excited and animated for their baptism. God has truly prepared them. I love this family.

This week we had quite the experience of playing F鷗bolito or Baby (soccer in a little court) against the family Vergara and a few of the members of their congregation. We played at the church with the young men, the four elders and a few of our investigators. We are proud to say that we ended up beating the Evangelicos! I am beginning to love soccer! haha. Everyone loved this event, there was a great feeling of friendship and clean fun. Our investigators gained a better relationship with the members and the Family Vergara and their congregation found out that the 创mormons创 are normal people just like them hah.

Well I love you all so much!

Until next week. Nos vemos! Chao

Elder Millard

Happy Birthday Elder Millard!

Hola!!! This week was So great!! Its kinda fun to have a Pday on my birthday! That just worked out perfectly didn´t it. Wow so my 7 month mark was yesterday! so crazy! The mission goes by so fast. I am loving and enjoying every moment of it. I look how far i´ve come these last 7 months and it just reenforces the testimony that I have of how God is in this work and helps every one of His missonaries. I love my mission and right now

So for my birthday so far, we woke up and cleaned the house and got ready. Then it was off to Zapallar. As you can see from the pictures, this place is absolutely incredible! one of the most beautiful places in Chile. They have these Huge mansions on the hillsides with the best view ever. We took some pictures then it was off to the house of Hna. Laura Ubillos. She made us pizza and I have not eaten so much pizza in my life! It has been a great Birthday so far! But don´t worry, i´m still focused on the Misson. haha

We had a great experience this week with finding a family. As we were walking down the street, waiting to go give a tour of the church to an investigator, this lady yells ´´Elders!!´´ we look back and she is running towards us. We come to find out that she is a less active that wants to come back to the church. The interesting part is that her family is not member! She has 3 kids and her husband that all are not baptized. She told us that she wants her family to be baptized!! All i can say is that the lord put us in her path today. We set up a family night with them and I cannot wait to help them on the path that God has for each and every one of us that leads to eternal life, the Gospel.

Well i just love it here so much! We are working hard and we are seeing fruits. The lord is in this work and he is preparing the way for us. We had a zone meeting and in the class we talked about finding new investigators. That is the focus of this month. I learned more about having a passion for finding the elect that Christ has prepared for us. When we stop thinking so much about ourselves and start thinking about others as children of God, that is where the success will start. One of my favorite parts of the mission is the opportunity that we have to learn so much about God, about life, about whats important. The great part is that here is one of the best places to practice and apply these great things that we learn. I have started to give myself daily committments after my scripture study. Every day, i have a focus on what i have learned and what I can do to improve. A goal, a vision of how I can change to be a better desciple of our savior Jesus Christ. Applying the scriptures and the words of the prophets to our lives is when we can really start to progress and learn more about the gospel. I love the principle of Application. I challenge every one of you at home that you can start to apply more the scriptures and words of the prophets into our lives. It is through vision and goals that we become who we want to be.

I love you all! You are in my prayers

Love Elder Millard

More spiders! HELP!

Hola Hola!!! This week was so great!!! As always... I am absolutely loving la ligua! This week we were working hard as usual, taking advantage of this time that the lord has given us to serve him with all of our heart might mind and strength. They have a nice little branch here in la ligua, yesterday, we had over 90 people assisting church! Before we came, there was an average of 49. Yesterday, we also had the opportunity to have President Gillespie come to the branch for sacrament meeting. He gave a powerful talk on how the world is looking for happiness, but just don´t know where to find it. Thats where we (the members and missionaries) come in!!

This week we had the opportunity to do some service for a sister that is coming back to the church. We were moving big piles of grass to a place where we could burn it. When we were moving the grass, we saw over 20 Rincon spiders and as you can imagine, I was scared out of my mind! haha. The service great. Afterwards, she gave us food and obviously we could not resist. The food was absolutely delicious! we were full. Afterwards, we realized that we had another lunch scheduled with another sister! So we went over there, and had our second serving of lunch. I thought i was going to explode! At least i was not hungry while walking the streets of La Ligua.

Elder Bustincio and I found out that we have a whole other city that is part of our area. This city is called Zapallar. Basically, all the richest people in chile live in this area Zapallar. It is located right next to the beach and it is apparently one of the most beautiful places in Chile. Rich people with their mansions would make great fast offering donations. haha. I´m excited to work there. This last sunday, we met with one of the members over there and he helped us find a bunch of innactives and old investigators over there.

Yesterday, we had a great experience! Elder Bustincio and had all of our appointments fall, so we had some time to go look for some new investigators. We started with a prayer and prayed that God would bless us to find a family. We started knocking, found a 7th day adventist that started chewing us out, we move on, we got doors slammed in our faces, rejection, rejection... On our way back to the pension, we saw this lady wattering her plants. We went up and talked to her. She was super friendly. After talking for a little bit, she let us into her home. What do you know, her family was inside!!! We taught them and I felt the spirit so strong and I know they did too! We asked them, ´´ how would you describe your feelings right now?´´ they responded ´´Super calm and peaceful!´´ They were so prepared and they are so good! We left them a book of mormon and they are excited to read and pray about it to know if its true!

Take care back at home!! or wherever you are! Chao!

Elder Millard

New area: LaLigua

Hola Hola from Chile!! This week was so great! Elder Bustincio and i are finally getting used to La Ligua and do not even get lost anymore! Thats a big accomplishment, because our area is pretty big. I cannot believe how hot it is here! It really is equivalent to Southern Utah in the middle of the summer. And yes mom I am using sun screen! (I thought that would make you proud) haha. I absolutely LOVE La Ligua! The people here are so kind and receptive. The area itself is so great! We don´t have a view of the ocean like my last area but here it is more green. The area in general is nicer and cleaner. We have a little city in the middle of where the 2 areas in la Ligua split. (we have 4 missionaries here). Our church is right on the outskirts of the city. Now when i say city, i do not mean Tall buildings and tons of people, its more like two story buildings with lots of stores. We live in a place called Villa Fertil, its about a 15 min walk to la Ligua and the church. Its a nice little neighborhood with lots of dogs. They like to cry and scream in the night but other than that, its super chill. This change is going to go by way too fast! I´m loving my time here.

So we are having some great success here! Working hard, focusing, but having fun at the same time. I will never forget my comp Elder Bustincio. He really is Quite the character. The six pack that i lost will be coming back soon from laughing so much with him.

So you remember the Familia Vergara, (the evangelico Pastor..) Well we did not have lunch planned for the day so this family, who obviously are not members invited us to their house to eat. So us 4 missionaries went over. Its kinda a funny story how Elder Bustincio and I found them. We were doing contacts house to house singing christmas carols with a guitar. Obviously they are a very musical family so they let us in right away. During this first visit, they told us that there was something that struck them. As i showed them a picture of my family in front of the temple, they asked... What is that beautiful building in the background?? I explained that it was a temple and that is where families like them can be sealed together forever. That stuck out to them so much that he shared that with his congregation. He was basically doing missionary work for us haha.

They found out that i play the piano. So when we were at lunch, they had brought their big ole electric piano that they use in their church so that i can play for them! haha. So i played some classical songs and they were reconding me and they said that they were going to show this to their congregation of 100 people. Later i played some hymns and us 4 missionaries sang along. We were super sneaky becuase the hymns that we picked were ones of the restoration like praise to the man, joseph smiths first prayer, we thank the o God for a Prophet... They then played some stuff for us and it was So So good!! I loved it! We then thanked them for lunch and asked if we could share something with them. They obviously said yes... and now this was our chance... 4 missionaries together to teach this great family, who are the Pastors of a huge congregation of evangelicos! We explained that we are so grateful for their hospitality and we would like to share something that we know is true. We love you and respect you so much that we want you to have the truth. The lesson actually went great!! We taught them about the authority of God and about prophets. We taught them about the restoration. The spirit was there!! I felt it and saw it in their faces. We asked them if they sould follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the authority of God? They pondered it deeply, they were feeling the spirit. They said that they would have to think about it more but they did commit to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. Immagine the potential of this great situation!! If we can lead this family to the truth, we may see a big group of his congregation (100) as well recieve the restored gospel! I really do feel like this family is one of the big purposes of why i was sent here to La Ligua. I feel a special bond with them.

They then invited us to spend new years with them. They invited us to a dinner that they were having with a few members of their congregation. They offered to pick us up their car take us there and bring us back! They really are great people and i want nothing more than for them to recieve an answer from God and be baptized!

Elder Bustincio and I were knocking doors this last thurs... We were about to go to lunch at a sisters house, but we felt that we should knock one more door. In this last door, this 19 year old girl walked out and she said that she wanted to hear our message. Her name is Leslie and she apparently has been searching for a church where she feels confident enough to be baptized! We gave her a book of mormon and she committed to read and pray. We put a Baptisimal date with her for the 29th of Jan. The next time we stopped by, we asked her if she had read, and she said yes. She then told us a story of how she was having a really hard day, she decided to take the Book of Mormon and open it and read it. She oppened to exactly what she needed to hear at the moment. She now has a great testimony that the book is true. The sad part is that she is now moving to the North of Chile. But it was great to get to know her and introduce her to the truth.

Well I love you all so much and hope all is well back at home! Enjoy the cold and know that you are always in my prayers!

Elder Millard