A Hot November Week!

mal, yep I have no idea where the balance between bold and loving is.  Its HARD.  I tend to want to be bolder but it scares the crap outta me because people get offended so easily, my companion is sooooo loving and I am really learning that well, but I need to find a way to be lovingly bold..... Also haha thats really interesting about the haircuts haha here there are a MILLION peluquerias..... like seriously there is a whole mall 5 min from my apartment full of hair places.... and yeah I want to meet hermana leiva! What stake and ward is she from!? I possibly know the missionaries in her area!

Well this week has been an adventure, the Califon (no clue how to spell it) keeps breaking so we have been showering in ice cold water for 2 weeks (good thing its like 90 degrees outside and not the dead of winter) and I´ve been a little sick all week, its funny how a little sickness just DRAINS your energy, but its all good, we worked hard and tried to work a lot with members this week!

So we are still preparing cleber for his baptism (Dad he said he grew up in Porto Alegre and went to the military school there!) things are going really well and I am constantly so surprised at his faith.  He lives in a little pieza (room) in the house of a lady that is baptist, but she found out he is going to get baptized in the LDS church and is going to kick him out of the house if he does... but he continues forward and doesn´t let the mountain of struggles he has get in his way, he is awesome!! 

So funny story, we were teaching him the word of wisdom and we said that it prohibits coffee and tea, he told us that it doesn´t make sense why not Coke too because the caffeine is practically the same as iced tea, so I told him that many people choose not to drink coke either because of that so we talked about it for a while and basically left it as his choice as far as Coke goes.  The next day we had an FHE with him and a family in the ward and the first thing he showes me and my comp is that he bought juice instead of Coke when he was at work in the morning haha but then the family brings out a tray with 2 juices and 2 cokes, me and my comp take the juice without thinking and then Hermano Suarez hands Cleber a coke.  He was on the other couch talking to hermana suarez and he turns around and gives me the most priceless look I have ever seen! He had no Idea what to do!! I just burst out laughing because just that morning he had decided not to drink Coke and now he was in the house of a member that he had just met and they gave him Coke! I turned to my comp and asked what we should do (meanwhile cleber is staring at his coke in terror) and she just puts her juice on the table hoping cleber will get the hint... he faked taking a sip and put it down and later he asked for juice, but it was soooo funny and soooo awesome to see that for him the Word of Wisdom wasn´t "What specifically can´t I have?" but "How can I live this council as very best as I can?" He decided that if coke is at all similar then he didn´t want it, he is a cool guy, soooo excited for his baptism this sunday!!

I also learned a HUGE lesson yesterday. We had a lesson with a less active couple that are both returned missionaries and have only been married for a few years. They pretty much had an argument about their relationship for an hour in front of us.  We just sat and watched it all.  Then we had a lesson with a recent convert and his sweet wife that are working towards entering the temple, they have been married for a few years too.  It was CRAZY.  The difference between the two was TERRIFYING.  I really care about each of the couples but I realized how important it is to be careful who you marry and to put the other person before yourself because one couple was doing that and one couple was absolutely NOT.  Agh I basically just wanted to bawl my eyes out as I watched these two people have such a hard time in their marriage. Something that should be so beautiful and loving was full of sadness and blaming the other person.  I just wanted to say thanks mom and dad.  I got back to my apartment and me and my comp just sat there in shock and I cried.  I realized how blessed I am to have such a good example of what a marriage and a family should be.  There are so many people that just don´t have that kind of love here.  It made me think, what could prevent this couple from having so many problems? and the answer was pretty much be as careful as you can in picking someone and then once you are married stick with it, don´t be selfish, do what you can to make the other person happy not yourself.  This couple just couldn´t see that if they would only stop worrying about themselves and start trying to serve the other person their problems would be solved.  AGh it was sad sad sad sad sad. And I am so so glad that I have you guys as parents to show me such a good example of what a marriage can and should be.  I want to have a marriage relationship like yours and I am really greatful for the Lesson Heavenly Father taught me last night.  It was shocking.

Well.... gotta go now, but I love you all!

Hermana Kyrstin Millett

What A Week!

Wow its been a great week and looooots has happened.... I hope I can even begin to cover it!!

Well first of all we got to hear from Elder Holland, we left at like 6:30 in the morning but there were people that left at 3 or 4 in the morning and got there later than we did because we live close.  Haha it was pretty much a cheesy mormon movie in real life.  The metro pulls up to the station and we were getting on when my comp (the sweetest girl in the world literally an angel) sees some Elders in the front car of the train.  She turns to us with the most stern face I´ve ever seen and  says "Elderes......" So we are getting close to our station and she says "When we get out, we don´t greet them, we don´t smile, we just RUN!!!!!!!" So the doors open and the race begins, 4 hermanas and 40 elderes sprinting through the metro station, up the stairs, through a construction site and to the chapel.... It was CRAZY.  But the hermanas got there before the elderes so its all good, but we walk in at like 6:40 in the morning  (4 hours before the meeting) and the chapel was completely full and half the gym too..... terrible.  But miraculously we found two seats that they had shoved inbetween the wall and the benches and we were sitting 6 or 7 rows back.  AWESOME.  The best part: ELDER HOLLAND LOOKED ME STRAIGHT IN THE EYES.  I specifically noted the parts where he was looking right at me and saying it.

Well sounds like we had a few of the same things as Mal in our devotional but also a lot of different 

First Elder Holland talked about how this time really is making history and that we can´t just think "Oh cool" We are on a curve of missionaries that the church has never seen before, a curve on the graph thats almost vertical, and we have to really prepare to make the ascent, this can´t just be the same its always been we have to do more, become more, and see more results because God has given us this miraculous opportunity and if we don´t take advantage of it He may not ever give us this big of an opportunity again.  

He also talked about the importance of doing this FOREVER.  THIS IS REAL LIFE.  We can´t just take a step into the mission, do the mission thing and step back into real life, because we can´t go back, we are progressing forward on our missions and when we go home God expects us to keep stepping forward, we aren´t stepping back into old life, we are stepping forward into the next step of life, but we have to be forever changed.  

He said that when he finds a missionary that doesn´t stay faithful he can´t understand it and never will, haha he said we don´t ever want to run into him if that is us because he can "Do things" "I can let air out of your tires, I can put pepper in your empanadas! I can do things!!!" But then he got really serious and started tearing up, he said this gets really personal for him because when we return home we speak in church and its his grandkids sitting there in the chapel deciding off of our testimonies whether or not to go so he begs us to go home and knock the back wall of the chapel our with our testimonies "go home and LEVEL THE PLACE"

The things he said when he looked me straight in the eye:

"How can you come here, serve, bear testimoney, beg these people to make changes, and not change your own self forever???"

"There have never ever been easy missions....DO NOT WASTE ONE MINUTE WONDERING WHY THIS IS HARD WHEN IT WAS NEVER EVER EASY FOR HIM." He talked about the sacrifice Christ made and that his mission wasn´t easy, ours wont be either! 

I also had divisions this week with Hermana Webb in Apoquindo! It was the first time I´ve seen stars in 3 months!! Here in pocuro we can only see 1 star... and I´m pretty sure its actually a planet (Hahaha one time we were giving a really spiritual recorrido (temple tour) and my companion was talking about the blessing to Abraham and that he would have posterity as numerous as the stars and we all look up and see...... 1 star....really anticlimatic... now its a big joke between me and my comp haha)

During divisions we ate lunch at presidents house that was pretty fun! Its interesting to see their personalities when its not just all business!

Also, some great things that happened this week: 2 more baptisimal dates set!! Its interesting to hear how things are in your mission mal, we are told to invite them on the 1st lesson too, but we have gotten plenty of nos, the dates we have set they are really sure of it, we definitely have less numbers I think but I think the people are pretty firmish to their commitments... I DEFINITELY need to contact more.  

So the first story I have is for Cleber, he is from Brazil and he is here for his work project, he was attending the ward with our zone leaders but they told him there was a ward closer to his pieza (room/apartment) and so they passed the reference to us, we gave the first lesson (which he practically gave himself because he already believes it all, he just didn´t know that there was a church that believes in the same standards and principles) and then we invited him to be baptized and he pretty much said "of course, when can I? What do I need to do?" We were shocked.  He is AWESOME he is sooooo dedicated to God, he lived on the street for 14 years, his wife left him for another guy, he has a lot of health difficulties and a lot of other problems but he has NEVER touched drugs, alcohol or cigarettes because he knew he had God and didn´t need anything else, so when he found a church that had the same principles he was thrilled! He also has always believed that it is important to have revelation from God in this day and this time and he told us when he first met us that before he even knew about the church he had a dream of his best friend (who is a member) baptizing him and he knew thats what he needed to do.... We are thrilled.  He is AWESOME.  But please please please pray for him he is having a hard time with his health and he could use some prayers!!!

Also we set a baptisimal date for Carolina, she is 11 and her mom was inactive, but she is coming back and wants her daughter to be baptized, she is THE CUTEST girl in the world and we LOVE their family so we are really excited for them!!

We met with the Elders from Mario´s sector, it was really hard to let him go, We may have cried a bit afterwards..... But we are super excited for him!! The Temple president is going to baptize him!!!! The president asked us to call our mission president again to see if the temple president can take us to the baptism and back because Mario could really use the support....but President Wright said no again.... bummer.   

Well thats all for this week! Love you all!

With love,

Kyrstin Millett

PS mom I bought stuff to send in the package, its not much but I got a little something for each of the kids and some candy and something for each of the exchange students its suuuper small and not much but hopefully you guys like it! 

Also, don´t know if you have sent the package but if you haven´t I would love to give something to my comp, Like a dr hatch cd and a shade shirt or two size small or medium would be awesome, sorry I forgot to say that in my last letter, I tried to tell benja (my chilean little bro) to tell you on facebook that I´m not sure if she is still gonna be my comp... but I think she will..... If you have already sent the package then don´t worry about it

Kyrstin at the meeting with Elder Holland, shoved in a corner, but up close.  She sees her MTC friend, Hna Harkins.

Elder Holland Eve

Its elder Holland Eve!! Tomorrow we have a devotional with him.... me and the other missionaries in my pension are leaving at 6 am tomorrow to get a good seat (it starts at 10....) we are pretty dang excited.

Ok mal you don´t have to rub it in my face that you have seen 3 apostles in like 3 weeks..... not everyone is so priviledged hahaha jk its all good.....

Ok mom, covers, here is the deal I´m getting them for my spanish scriptures, and its 95 chilean pesos to get them both which is like 190 dollars, but I have to pay in cash and I can´t get any cash out of my home card from these stinking atms so I am using cash from my mission card and using my home card to make all the purchases for personal needs.... so yeah i´ll take out the money from the home card a little at a time each week as I buy groceries (don´t worry I talked with the assistants to make sure that was ok with president) Also mom, I´m getting the temple pic, and OF COURSE I´m not getting the other wierd pic, it was skillfully done but bad choice of pic...... that is the case of another girl, I´m getting a pic of joseph smith in the sacred grove and a pic of Jesus (O jerusalem) on my triple, and I´m getting a picture of the temple and a picture of Jesus with Marry in front of the empty tomb (I think a version by greg olsen but I´m not sure) on my bible, and then the binding on one has my mission symbol and the binding on the other has the map of Chile, they should look pretty sweet!

Alright and now to my week, sorry lots of business to cover haha.  So Hilight of my week MARIO.  Bummer of my week MARIO. Good news, HE IS GOING TO GET BAPTIZED!!!!! I can´t even tell you how excited I am for him, I may be in south america but that doesn´t mean that people get baptized here very easily, we live in one of the richest parts of chile, and the richest zone of our mission and much of our zone is businesses (and Nik haha that is crazy that your sector is bigger than my mission haha I can´t even imagine, I can walk from one corner of mine to the other in 45 min, and its one of the biggest sectors in the mission!), anyway it has been MIRACLE after MIRACLE with Mario and we have watched him change so much, he has always had a million questions but at first he just wanted to know the facts and he was skeptical of anything spiritual, but each lesson he comes back a little more softened, it was the best feeling ever when he said that he could see what we meant by getting a witness of the spirit instead of physical evidence, its so wonderful when he recognizes that he is feeling the spirit and feeling it change his life. I invited him to be baptized on tuesday and I was FREAKING OUT nervous, but he sat there for a minute and said, yeah I think so! you guys think I´m ready?! and we said yes of course! Haha then he went to the last part of institute with Ingrid (basically the third member of our companionship, a member in our ward) and she said that he announced in front of the whole class that he was going to get baptized and how blessed he felt to be invited to make such an important covenant.  THIS GUY IS GOLDEN.  He has had a terrible past and a really hard life, especially in his family but he is SO WILLING to leave EVERYTHING behind, and each time we teach him a new commandment he is just so willing to follow it and he tells us about how before he found the church he thought that the LDS church was crazy but now he just wants to follow these commandments with all his heart because he can see how it brings real happiness.  And each time he sees the temple he just tells us that he is going to enter and he will do any thing he needs to make covenants in the temple..... wow. Also haha he is already planning on serving a mission.... Man Mario is the best, we LOVE teaching him.   NOW.... for the bad news. When we first asked mario where he lived he said Pio Nono which is a street at the end of our sector, but he said he preffered to have lessons on the temple grounds because he goes to the university accross the street.  So we didn´t worry about it.  But after we got him a baptisimal date we asked for his address.... he lives one block or less outside of our sector, right off of pio nono..... whats worse, its not just another ward or stake, ITS ANOTHER MISSION.  We talked to our leaders there is nothing they can do.  So we have to pass him off to the Elders of the Santiago North mission..... We also asked President if he would allow us to attend his baptism in 2 weeks.  He said no... :(.... I may have cried a lot.  Its hard sometimes to accept the rules, we understand that there is a rule that you can´t leave the mission boundaries, but here its tough because we leave them ALL THE TIME for pdays (with presidents permission of course) and to get our Carnet cards (VISA stuff) and for various things like that, but for some reason he is ok with us leaving to visit tourist sites but not our investigators baptism.... we were bummed I cried a lot..... but its ok I guess.  What is important is that he is going to get baptized!!

Well, I´m sorry I don´t have time to tell the stories of all of the people we are working with, but will you guys pray for these people/things?

Isabel Leon: Pray for her health and the health of her baby

Maria Eugenia: Pray that she can open up, and feel the need to act on her faith

Patricia y Cesar: Humility to do what they need to do to come back to the church

Mario: that he can find new friends in the new ward and stay strong in the gospel

Carolina: Pray for her to have time to meet with us!

Fma Lago: Time to meet with us, desire to learn more about the church

ME..... I really need help with contacting.... It honestly scares me a lot, pray for me to find it more enjoyable and to be less afraid to do it.... haha we fill our time with appointments but we also need to do better at finding new investigators to maximize our time!

Well family I hope all is going well, love hearing about everything that is happening!!

Have a great week!

With Love

Hermana Kyrstin Millett

PS mom I got dear elders this last week! Loved it! I´d love to get cassidy and natalies letters in dear elder!! Oh and tell Allison I LOVE getting her dear elders! It was awesome to hear a little bit about how jonathan is doing on his mission and I loved the advice allison gave me in her first dear elder, it was great!

Another Great Week

Haha Mal, its wierd not eating dinner huh? I thought i was going to starve at night but i´m doing ok, i guess thats because we get breakfast and a big lunch though.  Wow i thought my mission president was strict.... nope, guess not in comparison haha.  WOW you guys teach A LOT of people, the people here are more open then like european missions but they are all really busy, we can´t knock doors because they live in tall apartment buildings with closed gates, and they definitely have a different culture here haha but I´m loving it and we are still almost always really busy with appointments.

And as far as the earthquake, was it in the south?? I assume so, there was a tremor here and my comp felt it and looked over at me and i was moving back and forth but in all honesty I didn´t even notice hahaha I guess they have tremors here all the time i´ll let you know if I actually feel one haha but no worries everything is just fine!!

Alex hope you had a GREAT bday!!!!! Its been a fun week! Halloween was different haha pretty uneventful and really empty so it was hard to contact when all of our plans fell through but we did our best! We drew a face on a pumpkin and that was about it.... really fun halloween...... or not. 

Jake i got your letters!! IT MADE MY WEEK!!! Seriously I don´t care how long ago you wrote them just to get something fun in the middle of the week was AWESOME.  Seriously its like the best day of my life when I get a letter or a dear elder!

Things with investigators are going really well! Its been another miracle filled week! We have been teaching Mario (the one that came to church on his own last week to investigate) He has SO MANY questions so our lessons with him last forever but he is progressing so fast and we just see the spirit working in him its awesome.  Our first lesson with him this week his questions were good but a little skeptical, I left the lesson just feeling horribly worried that he would let the physical evidence that he wanted ruin his faith and his conviction of the spiritual evidence he is receiving.  So i was praying about it because i was just so worried about how we would convince him that it was true etc and I just got this strong impression to STOP WORRYING.  It was like i heard a voice say, ¨Stop worrying, he is my son.¨ It was crazy how simple it was but I realized, he isn´t MY investigator, he is HIS son.  HE brought him to church, not me.  It is by HIS spirit that we can know the truth, not what I say.  He has a plan, HE knows how to best help each of his children NOT ME.  So I stopped worrying about it, I just turned to my comp who was also worrying and said, I think its all going to be ok.  The next lesson we had was a recorrido of the chapel and the temple..... AWESOME.  His doubts were gone, he still didn´t understand everything but when we entered into the first little waiting room of the temple you could just see that he was finally understanding exactly what we meant by the feelings of the spirit.  We left and he just kept saying ¨Que raro!¨ Which means How wierd!!! I asked him what he meant and he said ¨There really is something different in there....... I really felt something different then we are just out walking on the street...... but its a gooood different¨ The rest of the recorrido was just awesome, he looooves learning and it is so awesome to see someone progress so quickly in the gospel! 

Also, a miracle this week. I was fasting for 3 investigators in specific, Mario, Maria Eugenia (who hasn´t been progressing or doing practically anything), and Carolina (who we had practically given up on because we haven´t been able to succesfullly have an appointment with them in 6 weeks).... Before church we couldn´t get ahold of any of them, but I kneeled down and prayed for each of them specifically to come to church (which none of them have in the past 6 weeks except for mario last week) we got to church..... and throughout sacrament meeting ALL of them came.  I can´t even explain what a huge miracle that is... we have been working SOOOOO hard to get Carolina and maria eugenia to come with no success but this week they just came! Out of nowhere because we couldn´t even call them! MIRACLES HAPPEN!!!!  Once again I learned that God ALWAYS answers prayers when we ask in faith. 

Well I have to go now, but i love you all, have a great week!!

Ciao!

Hermana Kyrstin Millett

Kyrstin wants these for Christmas.

Investigator Mario