Monday, July 25, 2011
Bueno, Vamos a Lavar los Platos
We experienced a great miracle this week with one of the families that we are working with. We have been teaching two of the daughters who are members but have not been to church in a long time. Their father is a member but their mother is not. And the spirit in the home is tense for the majority of the time. But yesterday we had an appointment to teach in their house. Almost everyone was home, and they were all distracted with various things. They weren’t interested in listening... so we asked what if they needed help with anything.
Generally when we ask this, people say, "no hermanas, todo esta bien." Which is ridiculous, because we are here to serve... anywho, Stef said we could do the dishes!!!!! We were stoked because there were a ton of dishes; I doubt they had been washed in the last 3 weeks. As we worked, one by one, the children joined in cleaning and we could feel the tension dissipate, the house started to feel like a home as we were all unified. We cleaned the entire room (the kitchen, living room, dinning room, are basically the same. There’s a lot crammed in there, therefore, there’s a lot of potential for clutter). When we finished, the entire family gathered around the table to hear our message about the Love of God and how much he wants to communicate with His children. He does this as we pray, read the scriptures and attend church. We Challenged each of them to read a verse a day, and they all said yes... except for the mom, but she invited us to eat dinner with them, which has never happened before. She never liked the missionaries; however we are going over to paint on Wednesday!
It is such a testimony to me that people can feel the love of God and of Jesus Christ as we serve. The parents of this family did not want anything to do with us prior to this experience, but they saw our actions and realized that they aren’t a project. They are Children of God and we are here because we love them. In the Book of Mormon, we learn about Ammon and how his service affected kind Lamoni. So great was the impact that he began to be ¨Astonished¨ (In all the Book of Mormon, that phrase only appears in Alma 17 and 18, I challenge you to study those chapters) Like King Lamoni and his servants, this Family was astonished, and the spirit touched their hearts.
Things are looking up from the bottom of the world;) I pray that all of you are doing well. Always look for the miracles in your life, and remember them. Seek for opportunities to help God work miracles in the lives of others. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei Vos - Hna. Mimont
Generally when we ask this, people say, "no hermanas, todo esta bien." Which is ridiculous, because we are here to serve... anywho, Stef said we could do the dishes!!!!! We were stoked because there were a ton of dishes; I doubt they had been washed in the last 3 weeks. As we worked, one by one, the children joined in cleaning and we could feel the tension dissipate, the house started to feel like a home as we were all unified. We cleaned the entire room (the kitchen, living room, dinning room, are basically the same. There’s a lot crammed in there, therefore, there’s a lot of potential for clutter). When we finished, the entire family gathered around the table to hear our message about the Love of God and how much he wants to communicate with His children. He does this as we pray, read the scriptures and attend church. We Challenged each of them to read a verse a day, and they all said yes... except for the mom, but she invited us to eat dinner with them, which has never happened before. She never liked the missionaries; however we are going over to paint on Wednesday!
It is such a testimony to me that people can feel the love of God and of Jesus Christ as we serve. The parents of this family did not want anything to do with us prior to this experience, but they saw our actions and realized that they aren’t a project. They are Children of God and we are here because we love them. In the Book of Mormon, we learn about Ammon and how his service affected kind Lamoni. So great was the impact that he began to be ¨Astonished¨ (In all the Book of Mormon, that phrase only appears in Alma 17 and 18, I challenge you to study those chapters) Like King Lamoni and his servants, this Family was astonished, and the spirit touched their hearts.
Things are looking up from the bottom of the world;) I pray that all of you are doing well. Always look for the miracles in your life, and remember them. Seek for opportunities to help God work miracles in the lives of others. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei Vos - Hna. Mimont
Monday, July 18, 2011
El Fin del Mundo
The phone call from the office Elders came as a bit of a shock last Monday. I was fairly certain I would be in Tigre for the entire transfer (the mission is divided into 6 week periods, each period is called a transfer and there was only 2 weeks left in the transfer). I left at 4:30 Tuesday morning and spent the next 14 traveling to la Tierra del Fuego. I have no clue why it’s called that, fuego means fire, and it is definitely not warm here. But I can drink the water, so that’s exciting:) My new Companion is Hermana Gonzalez. She hails from Chile and has 7 months is the mission, I already have 3.5! Crazy how time flies. It’s gorgeous here and I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to serve the people here. Black ice is everywhere and we’re always climbing, therefore my most recent temporal goal is to maintain my footing.
This morning I was studying in 1 Nephi chapter 15 verse 11. There are three brothers, Laman, Lemuel and Nephi, in a tent. The first two are trying to figure out what their dad just said. Sometimes I feel that way, like I don’t have a clue. Many times we are told things and we do not understand what was meant. We are prompted to do something and we don’t know why. We have rules that we don’t understand. And it’s easy to lose sight of the main purpose of these things. It’s easy to get distracted and forget the blessings of God in our lives. But because we have a loving Heavenly Father, we have the opportunity to repent and try again. Nephi tells us that we need to remember to keep the commandments so that when we ask for help, for clarification, for strength, for the ability to focus, and for the knowledge to be effective instruments in the Lords hands, we can receive these things.
There are 9 hours of light here, and my trial is staying focused when it’s dark, because we are out working in the dark. We’re exercising and getting ready from 7am-8am. Studying from 8am-11am. Out working from 11am -10pm and lights out at 11pm. The life of a missionary is definitely a handful. But when we focus on the people we are teaching, the time goes quick. And we lose ourselves. It’s an incredible feeling, its 10 o’clock and the day is gone, but more people have the gospel because we were focused. When we see the big picture, when we understand our purpose in this life, we can feel secure. I love it here, I love the people, I love the work, I love God and I love you. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei - Hna. Milmont
This morning I was studying in 1 Nephi chapter 15 verse 11. There are three brothers, Laman, Lemuel and Nephi, in a tent. The first two are trying to figure out what their dad just said. Sometimes I feel that way, like I don’t have a clue. Many times we are told things and we do not understand what was meant. We are prompted to do something and we don’t know why. We have rules that we don’t understand. And it’s easy to lose sight of the main purpose of these things. It’s easy to get distracted and forget the blessings of God in our lives. But because we have a loving Heavenly Father, we have the opportunity to repent and try again. Nephi tells us that we need to remember to keep the commandments so that when we ask for help, for clarification, for strength, for the ability to focus, and for the knowledge to be effective instruments in the Lords hands, we can receive these things.
There are 9 hours of light here, and my trial is staying focused when it’s dark, because we are out working in the dark. We’re exercising and getting ready from 7am-8am. Studying from 8am-11am. Out working from 11am -10pm and lights out at 11pm. The life of a missionary is definitely a handful. But when we focus on the people we are teaching, the time goes quick. And we lose ourselves. It’s an incredible feeling, its 10 o’clock and the day is gone, but more people have the gospel because we were focused. When we see the big picture, when we understand our purpose in this life, we can feel secure. I love it here, I love the people, I love the work, I love God and I love you. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei - Hna. Milmont
Monday, July 11, 2011
Go and DO!
The irony of a mission is that you do soooo many things in so little time, that you don’t really know what to share. So many miracles happened this week. And I want to share them all, but I don’t have the time. Don’t worry; I’m being faithful to my journal.
This week we taught several people that had not wanted anything to do with us for the past forever. Patricia was one of those. This week we were on our way to an appointment in her neighborhood, and we stopped just to say hi. And instead of brushing us off, she invited us in to talk. It was amazing how her attitude different her attitude was.
One thing we do as missionaries is listen. As we listen we can understand the person more fully and learn which aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they need at that moment. EVERY time they say something that the Gospel relates to, Every time. Whether it be how much they love their families or how they are looking for hope I this sad world. They many not say what they are looking for. But we can know because they will speak of what’s important to them. And as we spoke together we found so many things that we could testify of. She spoke the most about healing, and how Christ heals his people.
This is something that I love. I know that Christ heals us. As we Repent and use the Atonement we are healed. When we were finished with our visit we invited her to come to church with us. And she seemed really excited about it. We asked if we could call her on Sunday morning to wake them up so they’d be ready when we arrived. They said of course. And as we left they said ¨see you Sunday¨
Fast forward: it is Sunday morning, we are walking to their home, and we call to wake them up. Her son answers and says she is not home. My heart sinks. At this moment we had to decide whether to go anyway or start walking to church. This is not a proud moment for me. One of my companions thought Patrica was home, and that we should go anyway. I however, did not want to show up at their house and no one be there.
In Moroni chapter 7 it talks a lot about the spirit of God and how its invites us to do good continually. Conversely the spirit of the Devil invites us to not do good continually. At that moment Satan was inviting me to NOT go to their house. And I was falling for it. But we were all torn so I suggested that we pray. After which, I still wanted to not go. Luckily my companions are better than I (I’m learning) and they decided that we needed to go to her home. So we did.
Apparently after her son hung up, she asked him who it was, and was upset that he did not give her the phone. She was sick, which was his reasoning. But she still wanted to come. And when we showed up, she was excited. We waited for her to get ready, then she, and 2 of her daughters came with us to church. I’m so grateful for my companions and their ability to DO good.
Ironically, we three were speaking in church yesterday, and yours truly spoke on the atonement and healing.
So my Goal is to always do as the Spirit directs. And it’s easy to know. Good thoughts come from God and Good things happen when we take action.
I love you all, and I pray that you are safe. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei vos - Hermana Milmont
This week we taught several people that had not wanted anything to do with us for the past forever. Patricia was one of those. This week we were on our way to an appointment in her neighborhood, and we stopped just to say hi. And instead of brushing us off, she invited us in to talk. It was amazing how her attitude different her attitude was.
One thing we do as missionaries is listen. As we listen we can understand the person more fully and learn which aspect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they need at that moment. EVERY time they say something that the Gospel relates to, Every time. Whether it be how much they love their families or how they are looking for hope I this sad world. They many not say what they are looking for. But we can know because they will speak of what’s important to them. And as we spoke together we found so many things that we could testify of. She spoke the most about healing, and how Christ heals his people.
This is something that I love. I know that Christ heals us. As we Repent and use the Atonement we are healed. When we were finished with our visit we invited her to come to church with us. And she seemed really excited about it. We asked if we could call her on Sunday morning to wake them up so they’d be ready when we arrived. They said of course. And as we left they said ¨see you Sunday¨
Fast forward: it is Sunday morning, we are walking to their home, and we call to wake them up. Her son answers and says she is not home. My heart sinks. At this moment we had to decide whether to go anyway or start walking to church. This is not a proud moment for me. One of my companions thought Patrica was home, and that we should go anyway. I however, did not want to show up at their house and no one be there.
In Moroni chapter 7 it talks a lot about the spirit of God and how its invites us to do good continually. Conversely the spirit of the Devil invites us to not do good continually. At that moment Satan was inviting me to NOT go to their house. And I was falling for it. But we were all torn so I suggested that we pray. After which, I still wanted to not go. Luckily my companions are better than I (I’m learning) and they decided that we needed to go to her home. So we did.
Apparently after her son hung up, she asked him who it was, and was upset that he did not give her the phone. She was sick, which was his reasoning. But she still wanted to come. And when we showed up, she was excited. We waited for her to get ready, then she, and 2 of her daughters came with us to church. I’m so grateful for my companions and their ability to DO good.
Ironically, we three were speaking in church yesterday, and yours truly spoke on the atonement and healing.
So my Goal is to always do as the Spirit directs. And it’s easy to know. Good thoughts come from God and Good things happen when we take action.
I love you all, and I pray that you are safe. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei vos - Hermana Milmont
Monday, July 4, 2011
They WILL Understand Me
One of the hardest things about being Hermana Milmont is the knowlege that I am an incredibly out gowing person, and yet, I am verbally handicapt. This Kills me! I have so much love for each of the people we work with and so many thoughts and feeling that I wish to express. My heart is trying so heart to connect with our investigators, but the words are a perverbial jumbalia. This is a titan of a challenge for me. Its discouraging when you have this incredible messege, and you want to share it so badly, it is urgent that each of God´s children recieve this Gospel!
I want to talk to everyone, and I am still learning that when I give the words that I cannot speak to the Lord, he can and will use them to help those who have yet to recieve the gospel. In the schripture it is amazing how many times the word will appears. ¨Äsk and ye will receve, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened¨ (John 16:23-24) When you have need, and do your part, He will do that which is requested of Him. Towards the end of this scripture, is seems that Lord is saying ¨but you havent asked me! why havn´t you asked? I´m waiting to answer! waiting to help!¨ ¨I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say¨(DyC...?)
Therefore, we are commaned to ask things of God. To ask if things are true, to ask for spiritual gifts, to ask for strenth and faith. He wants us to grow and develope, and he wants to help us do that. He´s our Father and He loves us, so why dont we let him help? I can´t answer that for you. My fear is that my request is too grand of a task. We can´t really comprehend how our Father in Heaven works. Too aften I put Him into a box, and say ¨there is only so much that can be done in this box¨. These thoughts break His heart. He yerns to gives us support. His abuility cannot be contained. He can do all things, and my grand tasks are simple for Him.
This week we taught David and his mother Nanci. My grand task was that David and Nanci would understand me. In each lesson, every time I open my mouth, David starts smiling to himself, and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why. It took several lessons to descover the source of humor. He said it´s not my accent, and he´s not even laughing at me. He said he knows how much I want to share the messege, he can tell by how hard I´m trying. As I struggle to bear my testimony, he knows how much I love this Gospel, because if I didn´t, I would not be trying. And he smiles because he can feel that I love him enough to ignore my obstacle. That changed my perspective. Here I was feeling sorry for myself because I couldn´t get through a lesson without David chuckling at me. But now, I can better appeciate how the Lord can take my weaknesses and make them strenths, David probaby didn´t understand much of what I said, but he understood me, and he felt the spirit.
David has been reading the Book of Mornon and loves it, he has prayed to ask if it is true and the Lord has answered him through the Holy Spirit. He has come to church twice and wants to be baptized. I can see the difference it has made in his life. He was a much sadder person when we first taught him, but now he finds joy in following the spirit.
The Gospel changes lives. I can see it. I pray that you might also strive to take your grand tasks to the Lord. Let him help you. So that through you, the spirit can touch many lives. I love you all. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei - Hermana Milmont
I want to talk to everyone, and I am still learning that when I give the words that I cannot speak to the Lord, he can and will use them to help those who have yet to recieve the gospel. In the schripture it is amazing how many times the word will appears. ¨Äsk and ye will receve, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened¨ (John 16:23-24) When you have need, and do your part, He will do that which is requested of Him. Towards the end of this scripture, is seems that Lord is saying ¨but you havent asked me! why havn´t you asked? I´m waiting to answer! waiting to help!¨ ¨I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say¨(DyC...?)
Therefore, we are commaned to ask things of God. To ask if things are true, to ask for spiritual gifts, to ask for strenth and faith. He wants us to grow and develope, and he wants to help us do that. He´s our Father and He loves us, so why dont we let him help? I can´t answer that for you. My fear is that my request is too grand of a task. We can´t really comprehend how our Father in Heaven works. Too aften I put Him into a box, and say ¨there is only so much that can be done in this box¨. These thoughts break His heart. He yerns to gives us support. His abuility cannot be contained. He can do all things, and my grand tasks are simple for Him.
This week we taught David and his mother Nanci. My grand task was that David and Nanci would understand me. In each lesson, every time I open my mouth, David starts smiling to himself, and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why. It took several lessons to descover the source of humor. He said it´s not my accent, and he´s not even laughing at me. He said he knows how much I want to share the messege, he can tell by how hard I´m trying. As I struggle to bear my testimony, he knows how much I love this Gospel, because if I didn´t, I would not be trying. And he smiles because he can feel that I love him enough to ignore my obstacle. That changed my perspective. Here I was feeling sorry for myself because I couldn´t get through a lesson without David chuckling at me. But now, I can better appeciate how the Lord can take my weaknesses and make them strenths, David probaby didn´t understand much of what I said, but he understood me, and he felt the spirit.
David has been reading the Book of Mornon and loves it, he has prayed to ask if it is true and the Lord has answered him through the Holy Spirit. He has come to church twice and wants to be baptized. I can see the difference it has made in his life. He was a much sadder person when we first taught him, but now he finds joy in following the spirit.
The Gospel changes lives. I can see it. I pray that you might also strive to take your grand tasks to the Lord. Let him help you. So that through you, the spirit can touch many lives. I love you all. ¡Nos Vemos!
Sonrei - Hermana Milmont
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