some shots in Ovalle

September 2011 in Ovalle All this food was part of Independence Day Celebrations. Yummy!

Some scenes in Ovalle 2011. Good work Elder Millard!

Chilean Independence Day

Hola Hola!! How is the fam holding up after the BYU Utah tragedy? I´m just glad I’m on the mission right now so I don´t have to deal with that. It’s been kind of crazy here in Chile these last few days, because of the 18^th of September. The 18^th is always crazy here. I could not write on Monday because everything was closed. We had a capacitation on Tuesday, so here I am on Wednesday. Let´s get started on all the adventures of the week!

On Sunday, we had little hope of a good attendance at church. Everyone leaves to their little farmland villages to meet up with the family. We, Elder Young and I had the opportunity to give a talk to the whole 15 people that were there. After church was done, we went to go eat a huge BBQ with a family. I love the 18^th weekend because the whole week, everywhere you go, you can always smell a delicious BBQ going on. Everyone cooks tons of meet this time of the year. Everywhere you go, you see Chilean flags waving in the wind. All the little kids with their families are flying Kites, and playing with tops and marbles on the street. It really is a fun time to be in Chile. Elder Young and I like to stop for a couple of minutes to try and throw the tops with the kids that are playing on the streets. They are a lot better than we are. They all laugh at us when we make an attempt at spinning them like they do with the top and string. Its a lot of fun because then all the kids think the missionaries are cool and they have a good perception of us. The only bad part about the 18^th is that everyone is drunk and nobody wants to listen to the missionaries. But we kept going and going, and we ended up finding at least 1 new investigator, and teaching some quality lessons. Its hard because everyone is gone or busy partying. This has been a really fun week though with an exciting and energetic environment.

This last week, we had the privilege of going to a conference in Coquimbo to hear Elder Corbridge speak to us. He is a member of the quorum of the 70 and President of area Chile. All I need to say is that he is a powerful man. When he speaks, people listen. We all learned so much valuable information that will help us all so much as missionaries. The basic theme of the conference was “the most important thing.” We came to the conclusion that we should focus more on receiving the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost when we teach our investigators. The most important thing is the Atonement, and through the atonement, we can receive all these things with Eternal Life. In our lessons, we should refer to it, teach to it, repeat it, and help them understand at least this; that they can receive a remission of their sins, and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, which is the most precious gift that Our Heavenly Father can give to one in this life, by repenting and being baptized. This is our message, that the authority to accomplish all these things is on the earth again. I´m still trying to contemplate all the incredible things he taught us.

Mauricio is getting baptized this Friday at 6. He is an eternal investigator that is finally ready to get baptized. We are excited for him and he is super excited as well!

I love you all! Until next week!

Elder Millard

More miracles

Hola Hola!! Como estáis po! It’s so great to hear that everything is so great back at home! There was some crazy news this week! Everyone is getting engaged haha. The house looks soo weird! I love it though! Can´t wait to see the finished product. Wow I cannot believe how fast time is flying. Your summer and my winter is almost over! But here in Ovalle, during the day, it still feels like summer. This was such a great week! Let´s get started.

We had our mission conference this week in… are you ready for this… Coquimbo!!! It was so weird going back to the place of my birth! I got to see the Coquimbo cross again, be with my fellow Coquimbanos, and just cruise around my old stomping grounds. The conference went great. We learned a lot about being prepared. I will definitely work on that more. It is so important to be prepared, because if you are prepared, ye shall not fear. The whole mission is getting portable DVD players so we can study the preach my gospel dvds during companionship study. It will be a great resource and a great way to learn and practice. The next day after the conference, President Gillespie did something super cool. He came to Ovalle, and did a fireside for all of the investigators and recent converts. We had a couple of investigators there, and they absolutely loved it. President Gillespie is a powerful man!

Our investigators are doing incredible!! Maria and Pablo, the ones that have had problems with the word of wisdom, finally have got the determination to quit. They made the goal to stop smoking, drinking and drinking tea, today!! So, when they are successful in dropping these addictions, they will be able to be baptized on the 27^th of this month. I´m so happy for them. It was like a spark that went off inside of them. They suddenly have so much enthusiasm to live the word of wisdom and be baptized. Our prayers have been answered!

Elder Petersen and I have come to the conclusion that God often times puts certain types of people for specific companionships. For example, Elder Alvarez and I were teaching a ton of Evangelists. Now, Elder Petersen and I have found tons and tons of teenagers and young un-married couples. We are teaching three couples that are living together, that need to get married in order to get baptized. We are also working with 4 stud teenagers, all guys 16-18 years old.

Spiritual experience: So, here we were working this last Tuesday. Our appointment fell through, and our backup plan was to do tours of the church for an hour to find new investigators. When we got to the church, there were not very many people on the street. We both looked at each other, and decided that it would be better to go contact in another area. We both felt like we should go into the rich neighborhood right next to the church. In this neighborhood lives Ruben, the kid that i´m teaching how to play the piano. So we walk over there and start knocking doors and talking to everyone. In the rich neighborhoods, we seem to get a lot more rejections. But its where we felt the lord wanted us to be. We knocked about 12 houses, and either they were not there, or we got turned down. On the 13^th house, we yell “Alo” and a teenager walks out. He was a way cool guy. He came over, shook our hand and started talking to us for a while. His name is Leo. We found out that he was good friends with Ruben, and that he was really interested in the church. He already has a Book of Mormon and has read it a little, and he told us that he wants to meet with us. So we set up an appointment with him and Ruben to have a lesson in the church. He was really excited about it. And obviously we were too! When we walked away after having set up the appointment, Elder Petersen and I were super excited! We gave one of the biggest high five/ hug combos I ever seen. So the day rolls around when we have the appointment to meet with them in the church. When they come in, we do a quick little tour of the church, we sang an opening song on the piano, then started the lesson. We taught him about the restoration of the church, using a lock and key as an object lesson. He was so into it! He had so many great questions and was very excited about the whole thing. When the time came to talk about the book of Mormon, he told us something that absolutely caught me off guard. He said “Elders, I have already read the Book of Mormon, I have pondered it in my heart, and have prayed to God to know if it is true. God has answered my prayer, and I know with a certainty that these things are true.” After hearing this, my smile was from ear to ear. We testified also of the divinity and truth of the Book of Mormon, and of the veracity of this message that we shared. We invited him to be baptized, and he accepted. The Diamonds out there, and the Lord will guide us to them, if we have faith, and if we listen to his voice.

Well that’s all for this week! I love you all!

Cuidense Arto!

Elder Millard

FAITH

Hola Hola!! Its so great to hear that everything is so great back at home! That St. Geezy trip sounds like it was a blast! Sheri, thank goodness you are safe! That is so crazy that happened! It seems like you and cars are not getting along very well. Maddi, good luck with your volleyball tryouts this week! I know you will do great! Atta boy rob, busting out the fast offerings! There will be plenty more where that came from! Haha, good times. My winter is feeling more like a summer here in Ovalle. It is super hot during the day! I´m totally rocking the short sleeves again. My arms have missed the sun. In the night, it still gets a little cold. This change is just flying right by! This week in particular was a great one! I´m going to share a few great experiences that I’ve had these last few days. Let’s get started.

President Gillespie wanted us to focus on a Christ-like attribute in particular that we could work on developing. I chose to work on my faith. I have seen a big change in our success from just having a little more faith. Faith has more to do with just believing that things will come to pass. It is controlling our bodies, our minds and our hearts, focusing on what the lord wants us to do. If we have a thought that is contrary to what the lord wants, our faith is compromised. So I have been focusing a lot on that. Controlling my mind, my desires, and my will, and giving it all to the lord and his work. Its incredible how often we use our mind unconstructively. A lot of times, I would be day dreaming when I could be going through a lesson or a contact in my head. I could be letting my mind wander instead of going through what I learned in my personal study in the morning. Our mind is such a powerful instrument! I have seen incredible results from controlling my mind and showing more faith to the lord.

This last Friday, we were talking to every single person that we passed by. In one instance, we were passing by this teenager. He looked like a hard core punk. Normally we would not talk to those people because we have had some bad experiences with the type. But we told the lord we would talk to everyone! So we stop him and start talking to him and surprisingly he was a really nice guy! He was super interested in what we had to say to him. He does not have any religion in specific. They all say that they are Catholic, but in their own way. We started talking about the Book of Mormon. Our mission has these really cool cards that you can give to people that have a bunch of soul searching questions. He chose to answer the question, “Why do I have to get baptized?” He then started to explain that he is not baptized and he is very interested in learning more about it. Wow, this was quite the surprise. You really cannot judge people from just looking at them. You never know what they have been through or what they want. We invited him to come play basketball with us the next day. He is a huge basketball fan, and he was pretty excited to play against two tall gringos. The Lord really puts people in our path, we just need to have the faith necessary to act and talk to them, even if they don´t look like the type.

We did a sick tour this week with a Carabinero (police man). He is the 3^rd chilean that I have seen on my mission that is actually taller than me! He was the nicest guy in the world! The thing is, he is training to be a carabinero here in Ovalle, and he won´t have too much time to listen to us. He´s sick though; someday he will find the gospel and accept it.

A lot of our baptismal dates are falling through! Maria, Pablo and Felipe are all having big problems with the word of wisdom. They say that they are not too willing to let those things go because they always drink and smoke with their friends. And Maria said that every time she tries to drop tea, she gets super sick. They are all severely addicted to 3 tea, smoking and drinking. We are doing everything we can to help them get over them, but ultimately it is up to them to make the decision. Manuel, our other baptismal date is getting ready to move this next Sunday. Elder Petersen and I are working hard, trying to find the diamonds in the midst of all the rocks.

Love you all!

Que estén bien! Chao po!

Elder Millard

New area and new companion

Hola Hola! I never thought the day would come where I would be sending a letter from somewhere else than La Ligua. On Tuesday morning, Elder Zitting and I woke up at 5 to get ready and head down to Viña for change day. It was a nice 2 1/2 hour ride down there. Beautiful ocean side views!! Once in Viña, a bunch of elders took a huge 2 story bus up north to Ovalle. The trip took about 6 hours. I am so excited for all these new adventures, new people and new area!

So to explain a little bit about my new area. Ovalle is located about 1 hour south of Coquimbo, (my first area). It is considered the north part of the mission. It feels so great being back up in the north again. There is just a distinct spirit up here. The people are more humble, and there is a different attitude in all of the elders. My branch is called Canihuante. It is the north part of the city of Ovalle. Ovalle is quite a bit different than La Ligua. There are a bunch of very very humble houses. It has a gorgeous view of green mountain sides with vineyards and orange orchards. My area has a few hills but for the most part its pretty flat. Other elders have called my area Caniflaite, (flaite meaning gangster in chilean), because there are quite a few here. There is a lot of grafiti everywhere and a pretty big population. My area is pretty big, not quite as big as La Ligua, but definitely enough to find plenty of people to baptize. My first impression of Canihuante is a good one. The people are generally nice and loving. I am very pleased with my new area. This is an area where you have to talk to everyone in the street to have success. In order to have success in this area, you have to work extra hard. Whatever you put into it is what you get out of it. Im super ready to work! Our church is really big! There are 1200 members here, and about 60 go each week. So there is plenty of work with the less actives!! The climate up here is Super hot in the day time, and super cold at night. Ovalle is pretty much a desert. Ovalle is just ready to explode!!

In our pension, there are 4 elders. We have elder Anaya, Oburge, Petersen and I. Its not really a coincedence that we are all from Utah. All the people that know something about the church and the elders call Utah the missionary factory. Utah just keeps sending em out, like a factory! Anyways, our pension is a house, in a very calm neighborhood.

We have quite a few investigators that have a baptisimal date. We have Manuel, Angelo, and a family of 3, (Maria, Pablo, and Felipe). All of them have baptisimal dates for the 20th of August. But they all have a long way to go. Elder Petersen will do everything we can to get them in that water! hah.

My assignment this change is to be the district leader for my area, Monte Patria, and the senior couple. There are some great elders in this district. I´m super excited to work with all of them. One of the Elders actually went to High School with me, Elder Cherry. He was a year older than me but I remember seeing him around, So wierd! haha Its a small world. We have some great zone leaders that will be a big help to us! There is a lot of work to do, but I will do my best to be an example of faith and diligence. We will for sure see some miracles here in Ovalle!!

So my companion is Elder Petersen. He is from Spanish Fork Utah. He did rodeo before the mission so he is pretty much a cowboy. He also likes to play basketball. We get along great and we are going to have a great change together. We both have about the same time in the mission. I never thought I would be saying this to people when they ask me how much time I have in the mission: I have a little more than a year. This is the classic response of the Elders that are in the time period of 12 months to 24 months in the mission. Elder Petersen will complete a year in the beginning of September. Great comp! I have been so blessed with my comps my whole mission. I have gotten along great with all of them!

I do have a funny little story to tell. So on Saturday night, after having had a long day of teaching and walking, we get to the pension absolutely wasted! I love days like this because you just feel so accomplished, and you know that the lord accepts your work. After we get to the pension, we start planning for the next day. When our planning session was over, we followed tradition by ending with the classic hand shake hug technique. Just to play a joke, and also to show the fatigue in my body, during the hug, I relaxed my body completely so Elder Petersen would have to support my weight. I guess he was not ready for that. He started moving backwards slowly. This did not look good so I also tried to get ahold of something to not fall back. Next thing you know, Elder Petersen trips over his bag and we both go directly through the front window of our house! It shattered all over us!! It was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen! What a rookie mistake! Thankfully there was a curtain in between the glass and us! The only injuries were little cuts down my arm, yes, the arm that accidently punched right through that window! About 10 seconds after the window broke, the other elders came in with some knives because they thought that someone through a rock or tried to break in haha. Classic moment! Well, at least I know what Elder Petersen and I are going to be doing this pday. Fixing the window. It was all worth it though!

So thats all for this week! I love you all!

Que les vaya super bien!! Chao!

Elder MIllard

P.S. Sorry, not very many pix this week. But i´ll send some good ones of my new area next week.
This is the classic Windo breaking sesssion.

Farewell to LaLigua

HOLA!!! As you all may know, this was the last week of the change. I truly do not know how this change is over already. It seriously seems like yesterday that it started. Definitely the record of missionary change speed. So this last Saturday night, I received a little call telling me whether I leave or not. Our zone leaders said, "Elder Millard, Se Va!!" I am leaving. I thought that President Gillespie had forgotten about me all this time, he finally remembered me haha. I am so sad that i'm leaving. This literally feels like my second home. I have been here for so long that I have a close relationship with just about every member here. I will miss them dearly. It was definitely time for a change though. I am super excited about this new change. It will be a fun adventure. I will forever treasure the memories of La Ligua in my heart.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to give a little farewell talk. It seriously felt like a farewell talk from my actual home haha. It is a weird feeling, I will probably never see these people again. I spend 8 months of my life with them, get to know them, and learn to love them. Then just like that, I am sent to another place in the mission. I will never forget them. It was super hard to say goodbye. In my talk, I started sharing some of the wonderful experiences I have had here, and I became super emotional. Everyone in the congregation was crying. I talked about how they had all changed my life. Its a good thing I drank plenty of water the night before, or perhaps I would have been dehydrated after my talk. Its hard, but this is how it is. I am thankful to my heavenly father for giving me this opportunity to serve in this part of his vineyard, La Ligua.

I'm sure you would all agree with me on this one: It is a little difficult to sing after one has been crying. I am here to testify that that is very true. I gave my last musical number, playing the piano and singing. I did a little improv arrangement of a song that is only found in spanish thats called "Placentero nos es trabajar." It has a very sublime message about it is a pleasing to be able to work in the Lord's vineyard. It has a line that I absolutely love. It goes somewhat like this. I'll bust out a little Millard translation haha: "Oh brothers goodbye goodbye, the time to leave has come. If we keep the faith in our grand God, we will see each other on the other side. We will live with God in love." I love that song. Yet again, another emotional spiritual moment.

This Saturday, Ailin and Marcelo entered the waters of baptism. It was a wonderful baptismal service. A lot of their family came to witness it. Elder Alvarez baptized Marcelo and I had the opportunity to baptize Ailin. They are going to be great members of the church. They are surprisingly mature for their age. As Ailin was descending into the font, she totally slipped on her way down haha. But she regained her composure and came into the water plenty nervous. She was submerged, then when she came up out of the water, she got super emotional. She was so happy and started crying. Elder Alvarez and Marcelo were next. Elder Alvarez made a classic mistake! He put his left arm to the square instead of his right. They finished the baptism, and left the font, but then had to come back to redo it because they did not realize until after. A classic moment. After the baptisms were all done, we all went upstairs to the sacrament meeting room. Marcelo wanted to give his testimony. He got up there and said. "I feel different. I can feel the Holy Ghost very strongly... I don't know if I still can but..." Then he did not know what to say. His mom came up to give him a hug then they went to go sit down. He is such a stud! I can totally see him as a future missionary.

To announce the changes, I am going to Ovalle Canihuante, something like that... haha. I will still be district leader and my companion will be Elder Petersen. I was in the same pension as him in Coquimbo. He is a great elder and we will have a great time. I'll let you know how it is next week! I can't express how excited I am! I have a nice long trip ahead of me tomorrow.

I love you all!

Chao

Elder Millard

Talent show and tours

Hola Hola!! Its so great to hear that everything is great back at home! Everything is going well here. Sounds like a lot of fun going to the mountains for a nice morning run! The weather looks so beautiful! But i´m not going to use the work jealousy, don´t you worry. I´m just going to practice the Christlike attribute, patience. haha. This week was a great one. We had a lot of success. I´m loving working with Elder Alvarez. We work great together and he is helping me out alot. Tha argentines have a distinct spanish accent. Instead of saying Elder Millard, it sounds like (Elder Mishard). The (ll) and the (y) has a (sh) sound to the argentines. Since my last two companions have been argentine, my spanish has transformed a little bit and i´m totally starting to talk like an argentine. Everyone makes fun of me for it. haha. Anyways, lets get started with the good experiences of the week.

Elder Alvarez and I have had the blessing of teaching lots and lots of evangelicos, (evangelist). It has been a big blessing because for the Evangelicos, the music is very important. The majority of their worship is centered on music. I don´t know why God has put so many evangelists in our way, but it has been quite interesting teaching them. For them, they are not quite certain about their history, or where their religion came from. They are confused about what happened after the death of Jesus Christ, and do not have an answer to whether or not there was a gran apostasy. Many times, as we have taught the restoration of the gospel, it is as if a light has turned on within them. But other times, their hearts are so shut that it is impossible for them to gain a testimony. Elder Alvarez and I have been studying lot of the Bible to be able to teach all of them more efficiently.

Elder Bowen and his wife have been coming with us to visit Pastor Vergara. They created a great relationship right away. They will help us out alot with the whole family. The other day, we had just barely finished lunch, and then had an appointment with the Vergara family. The Bowens came with us. The lunch we had was huge by the way. We were super full. When we got there, we sat down, and started talking, not knowing what we were in for. The whole time we were talking, someone was preparing tons of food for us. When the time came, they invited everyone to the table and we could not refuse. So we sat down at the table and they brought us our plates. Now i´m not lying when I tell you this, these plates were absolutely Gynormous! Enough to feed a family of 3. We were now obligated to eat all of it. Oh the joys of the mission hahah. We are praying and searching for guidance on how we can help this family, and perhaps their congregation, recognize the truth and have sufficient faith to act.

This week was the epic talent show. We had lots and lots of people there. The best part is that Pastor Vergara had plenty of his congregation there. We filled the whole cultural hall. We all started with an opening hymn. THe hymn was How Great Thou Art. This song is special because all the evangelists use this song as well. After the introduction and opening prayer, Elder Alvarez and I had the opening numbers. We did a stellar arrangement of Come thou fount in English and spanish. Then another arrangement of Nearer my God to thee. It went really well! I have missed performing haha. THe show went really well! Pastor Vergara and his crew played a few songs. All I can say is wow!. Its like Gospel, soul music, but mexican style and in spanish. They had an acordian, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and a choir. Good stuff. The show was so great because the purpose of the show came true. The evangelist congregation and our congregation now have a great relationship. The Vergaras and their congregation all want to come back for the next show!! Great experience. Lots of seeds of faith planted that day.

Yesterday on sunday, we did some tours of the church. The interesting part about the whole thing is that it was the anniversary of La Ligua. To celebrate, they had a huge concert in the center of La Ligua. The church is located right on the corner of the center. The artist that came to play was Gon Wana. He is basically a Bob Marley wannabe. So as we were doing tours of the church, there was a huge Reggae concert in the plaza. Suprisingly, we had lots and lots of success. We had the opportunity to do 7 tours in the space of about 2 hours. I guess Gon Wana works miracles. I´m a new fan of Reggae tours. haha.

Well Thats all folks. haha. I love you all! Thank you so much for all the support and love.

Que estén bien!

Elder Millard

Pastor Vergara and his family

Hola Hola!! Como están!! This week was full of adventures and surprises. But before I start, I want to congratulate Sheri on Graduating!!!! Thats so awesome!! So summer has officially started! Enjoy the warmth haha. Sounds like it was fun having Steph and Mark down for the weekend. Sounds like everything is going great back at home! As you may know, this was the last week of the change. My companion/child/hijito Elder Colman found out this week that he has to get surgery on his meniskus so he is on his way to Buenos Aires Argentina as we speak. Bummer! I Never thought my child would be going home before me! haha. By the way, this change has gone by in the blink of an eye.

So on thursday, Elder Baker, my district leader, called me and told me that I have to prepare a map marking where all our investigators are, for the new missionaries that are coming in. He told me that it is about a 99.9 percent chance that i´m leaving La Ligua. President very rarely leaves a missionary in an area for more than 4 changes. So he told me to pack all my stuff and prepare everything to leave this sunday night. So I did. I packed everything, and said goodbye to a few people... Saturday night rolls around, and they tell us officially what our changes are. My zone leader calls me and says, "Elder Millard, se....... Queda!! which means that I´m staying another change!! haha. Obviously the Lord has something else for me to do here in La Ligua. But Í´m pretty excited.

So it´s been a while since i´ve given an update on Pastor Vergara. We visited him and his wife this week, actually for the purpose of saying goodbye. I guess i´ll have to surprise them this week haha. So when we were there, they started talking about a documentary that they saw on descovery channel about how they have found a direct liniage from the Native Americans, to the Jews. In the documentary, they were talking about how the Mormon religion is the only religion in the world that has this revealed truth in their doctrine. This was another little eye oppener for them. They told us that they are members of their church right now only because that was the first church that they found. But they explained to us that they are still open to looking for the truth. They have been talking to President Gillespie about what would happen if they were to get baptized. (because obviously they are considering it). They told us their vision. Their vision is that one day, if they come to know its true, they will convert their congregation of 140 people and form another branch in the church. Pastor Vergara could still be a leader, and his congregation would all be members of the true church of Jesus Christ. The miracle is that they are considering it. They have tasted of the light and truth. They told us that they feel something unique special and different when we visit them. They would be an incredible family in the church. They are great leaders and love Jesus Christ. The thing is, it is a very complicated situation, but if it´s the lords will, great things could happen here in La Ligua in the near future. For the time being, we have the talent show planned for the 18th of June. His congregation and our congregation are going to meet up and hopefully create a bond of Christian friendship and trust. Planting some seeds. Hopefully we will see some fruits!

This last Sunday, the day that my companion left La Ligua, a miracle happened. It quite fitting actually. So to give a little background of the miracle, La Ligua has not seen rain in over a year. But lo and behold, this sunday, the same sunday that my comp was going home, the Lord decides to send a huge rainstorm! Tons and Tons of rain! Obviously me and Elder Colman were not prepared for this so we tried to avoid the exposure as much as possible, but the results were innevitable. We came home absolutely soaked!! It was super fun though. A nice change! La Ligua apparently was super sad that Elder Colman was leaving.

So today, I recieved a call from the Assistants. They told me that President Gillespie has another assingment for me. I´m going to be the new District Leader in the district Petorca!!! I´m super excited! It will be a little extra work but i´m grateful for this opportunity to learn, progress and serve.

I love you all! I pray for you often! The church is True!!!

Elder Millard

Spiritually self sufficient investigators

Hola Hola! Wow, what a crazy week this has been. Crazy but good of course! Thanks so much for all the letters and support. Its incredible to know that all is well back at home! Congrats Tiff and Aaron on finally having RJ home with you. Robbie, I just saw the picture of you and mom in those hope of America shirts, and Please don´t tell me you are already that tall!! HAHAH Rob, I totally want to see a picture of the missing tooth! I can´t believe that happened haha. Those steal the flag games are pretty brutal aren´t they? Congrats Maddi on being an official lifeguard!!! Keeping the family tradition alive. Sheri, good luck with Miss O town this week. You will do InCREDIBLE! OK, now, the summary of this week i will put in two words. Travel and injury.

I say the word Travel because more than half the week, we were traveling and in other parts of the mission. This tuesday, we had our zone meeting in Quillota which was great! We practiced inviting people to be baptized. Along with all the other stuff we do... After the meeting, my comp and i had the opportunity to work in la Calera for the day. We did divisions and I was with Elder Haycock. La Calera is super humble, and there are plenty of things that one should be careful for. Lets just say its not the safest place in Chile. But the lord protects us missionaries so i was not worried. On this interchange, we found two great families that are so ready for the gospel. Great experience. That night, ew had the opportunity to sleep in la Calera and I had the best night sleep of my life. We got to sleep on a nice smoothe comfortable tile floor with a couple of blankets. Oh the memorable experiences of the mission. The next morning, bright and early, we had mission conference. All of the interior zones came together. I love these conferences because I always learn so much!! We talked alot about how to be better teachers. I definitely left a better teacher after this conference.

My comp hurt his leg last week playing futbol. It has been bugging him the whole week and finally, we talked to Hermana Gillespie and she said that we need to get it checked out. So this Friday, we had a nice long trip to Viña del Mar to go see a Traumatologo. (doctor) The results showed that he needs to take it easy this week, which will be super hard considering we walk and walk, comparable to what the pioneers did. We will have to plan and work super smart and efficiently so his leg can rest. In a week, we have to go back to take another test. This test will determine wether he needs surgery or not. If he needs surgery, he will have to go back to Argentina. But he has a great attitude about the whole thing. Yes, this is the injury that I was referring to in the first paragraph.

Spiritual experience: We have been teaching this lady named Ingrid for about 3 weeks. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and really likes it, but the only problem is, it is really hard to find her. We have not had too many opportunities to be able to have a solid, spiritual lesson with her. But this week, our time came to really help her understand the importance of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught with power and authority, and she tasted the fruits of the spirit. We taught her how she can know that all this is true, and that is obviously through prayer. She has never really prayed to God like this before, but she believes that if she prays with enough faith, God will answer her prayers. It is so important to help the investigators be spiritually self-sufficient. Teach them to find answers to their own questions, gain their own testimony through scriptures, prayer and church attendance. I love being able to help people understand these ways our Heavenly Father has given us to be able to find answers to any question.

I love you all!

Chao Chao!

Elder Millard