Letter Home Dated November 10, 2014

Dearest Familia,

HOLA!  How is everyone doing?  Are you cold?  Well, I hope everyone is doing good and maybe even enjoying the cold weather with some hot chocolate.  You may have noticed that I was able to send two letters, two weeks in a row!  That is because Elder S went to the office last week and this week I will have my interview with Pres. McM.

Well, I am positive that this letter will be in your hand after Thanksgiving and the sealing.  So I hope that I got a bunch of pictures and super good details.  I have to admit that going to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving does bring back so many fun memories!  So, I hope everyone enjoyed.

How is school going for everyone?  Me began has one more semester in high school!  That is NUTS!  I can't believe it!  I hope she is getting good grades and making the best of it!  Mom I am sure you are studying a bunch!  I hope it is all coming to you easy and that you can continue to progress with your determination.  And of course, Mike, just stop those bad guys, and be safe while doing that!

Elder Milton is doing well!  I am almost done with my second time through the Book of Mormon!  As I am sure many people do, I regret not reading it before the mission.  But now I have read it two times in Spanish.  The next time I would like to read it in English.  But believe it or not, I read a lot!  I have so many books I want to read but so little time!  But I am in the middle of The Teachings of Joseph Smith book and I think I forgot English!  He writes so formally!  But it is really good!  I have somehow gained a liking to study.  That is quite a miracle!  Just one of the things I will be looking forward to bettering when I return home!

San Pedro is doing good!  I am still trying to work my best with these members.  They have strong testimonies that sometimes I take for granted.  I try my best to keep them strong and motivate them!  It's honestly something I never imagined that I would do on a mission!  But people look to me for almost everything and the Lord blesses me so that I can do what is best.  I can't let them down or the Lord, so I will continue to do my best and help this Unity be the strongest it can be!

I am doing good and my health has been super good for one year!  I am so blessed!  So thank you for your prayers and support!  I love and miss you guys!  Time is flying so don't blink!  I will write you more soon!!

Love always,
Elder Milton

P.S.  Are you ready for Skype??

Week #58

Hola Familia!

Hey again the internet closed down for the week! So I was luckily able to get permission from President to use a Members computer! This week was really really busy and I have no Idea where to start! I didn't read the letter this week for lack of time because we only have 15 minutes! But I am excited for Skype this week on Wednesday at 3 PM here in Paraguay! So I am really excited :) I am healthy and I am doing good! Thank you for your prayers and I love you all very much and I will see you on Wednesday :)

Love Always,
Elder Milton



Sweet! Internet man opened up! Turns out my companions Elder S and Elder R convinced him! We only had 30 minutes more so I offered to write a little less so that Elder S could write his family and coordinate Skype times really good! 

Well to be more descriptive, last week we were traveling a bunch again and sleeping on at the church in Santani for our zone conference! We had a white elephant gift thing and it was really good! I bought a Machete and named it Moroni and put it in and the funny this is a Sister named Sister J got it and she was FREAKING happy haha!  It was awesome!

We were saddened to find out this week that Hermana C drank a little again so we are trying to help her the best way we can! She didn't come to church for the first time in 2 months so we will be visiting her today! 

Well that is a super super short summary but I am excited to Skype! My request is that if you guys could find someway to record the audio! My zone leader told me that is what his family does and it would be super awesome to document it! To look back on it in the future :)  I want to record it because I only will Skype one more time in the mission and I want to have it to have as a souvenir! :) But if you don't get it worked it its okay! 

I am super excited and we will talk super fast on Wednesday because I feel like I have so much to say and 40 minutes to do it! 

But I have to go! I love you Mom and I miss you so much! Thank you for your prayers and sharing how proud you are of me! You inspire me! :) Nos vemos en mièrcoles!

Love Always,
Elder Milton 

Week #57 - Pictures

The tomato plot with Hermano J.

Painting the house with Elders

Week #57

Hola Familia!

Well here I am! Sorry for the shortness last week but all is resolved :) I am super happy to announce that I have arranged to Skype on Wednesday the 24th. I am super excited and I had  to get special permission from President to use a members cell phone! So I hope all can be there and I am super happy and excited! :)

Well this week was a good week with the second son Elder St! We are getting along good and we are practicing English a bunch! This week we had a bunch of service projects! We planted Tomatoes, Cleaned the church, and we painted a house! So that was really good! We always found some new families to teach! One named the S Family and the other P Family! They all have good potencial to progressar the only one that came to church was this guy named JS. He came to church and just accused us of being an apostasy because we don't yell when we teach and we don't use the sword of Jesus to direct the Spirit at people! So that was interesting so we have a lot of work to do with him! Sister CC came along without her kids, so that was sad! She still needs to find a job to go sign her papers!

I am doing really good! It is starting to really cook here in San Pedro and summer is supposed to start at the end of this month! Elder St is doing good and I do kind of miss his goofiness! But Elder Sa is a smart guy so I am excited to learn a bunch from him! I Also am hoping to get your packages this week! WE will have our zone conference and I am hopeful to get it there!

The pictures from Winter formal looked really good! Megan looked pretty! I finally figured out who Tevin is haha but I hope he was good date! I do believe that the winter break does start this week so that is super exciting!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I know it is a little early but I didn't forget! I will sing next week in person! :)

Well I am super glad to hear that everyone is doing good! I love you all very much! And Pray for you always, I will write you more next week and we will talk face to face also :)

Love ALways,
Elder Milton

Week #56 - Pictures

When I went to meet and pick up Elder S. - He is from Peru

Week #56

Dearest Family!

I am sorry to announce that being Virgin Mary Day that ALL of San Pedro closed down! I luckily convinced the internet man to let me write a short something to you guys for 15 minutes and to Presidente! 

So the news is...well I am staying in San Pedro! And Elder S headed out...to Salado! Haha it was so crazy! He was really sad but excited to head out especially after all my stories! 

Well the other big news is that my second son was born on December 3rd! My new companion that I will be training is named Elder S from Peru. We are going to get along good and once again I have a lot to teach but this time not Spanish! I am honored and super excited to train again and also to stay here in San Pedro! 

I am doing good and I am healthy! The C family is doing good and we are going to work extra hard! 

I am sorry this is super short, but I can say that next week I will have the Skype schedule because I have to make a few arrangements with President McM. But it will be soon and I am hoping for 19 of December :) but I love you all and I hope all is well! I pray for you always and I will write much more of the San Pedro adventures next weeek!

Love Always,
Elder Milton

P.S. Please tell Kaliswag that I took time to think about her on the 3rd for her 10th birthday!! I love you Kali!

Letter Home Dated November 2, 2014

Dearest family,

Here I am once again!  (Falling to pieces. . .  )  And not Avril Lavigne, but Elder Milton on paper!

How is everyone doing?  I hope super good and maybe with stomachs full from Thanksgiving! Which also means that Mom and Mike went through the temple and got sealed!  Which I hope to get lots of pictures and some super spiritual feedback.

I hope school is going well for Kali and Kody and also Megan (MEGA SENIOR!!).  I am sure I am well informed through e-mail, but I have to ask!

Is it cold yet?  Time for hot chocolate?  I am sure everyone is eyeing Christmas and to spend some days off from school and work!  So keep pushing along and I know it will come!

Well, this week was a tough one.  I absolutely hate complaining, so I won't go into too much detail!  But it is always important to leave a hard time/trial learning something!  If you don't, then you went through the pain and difficulty for nothing.  In fact, the only reason the Lord allows trials to happen or lets us go through rough times is for us to learn something!  He knows there is no other way to learn but by experience.  So, if we don't learn from our trials, then our "suffering" is in vain!

So, what did I learn?  Well, as I am sure you have all read through e-mail, is that the love I have for people here in the mission needs to be felt by the people!  If not, then they don't understand why I am here or why I am the way I am.  When I tell them something, they need to do something or when I am persistent, it is all for one good reason:  I love and want what is best for them!  But if they don't understand that, then I am just some young kid that is super strict!  So, I need to express my love more through my teaching and my acts.  I was called COLD, which hurt!  I don't do it or waste my breath for nothing!  It is all out of love.  I am sure every parent who reads this letter understands EXACTLY what I mean!  Including most importantly my own beautiful mother!

So, I will end the deep talk/complaints for today.  But I have to be better.  I have to endure.  A quote from my Joseph Smith book says, "Souls are as precious in the sight of God as they ever were;  and the Elders were never called to drive any down to hell, but to persuade and invite all men everywhere to repent that they may become the heirs of salvation."

So, I will apply this better and love with more patience!  Thank you all for your prayers, love, and support!  I will write soon and also, we will be Skyping soon!  I am so excited! !

Love always,
Elder Milton

Week #55 - Pictures

Selfie! Sitting on the floor in the colectivo to Santa Rosa.

Elder S likes to look for pictures in the Liahona that look like me and then put them on his planner haha...I dont know why!

Week #55

CONGRATULATIONS!

WOW!

I was super super touched to see all the pictures of the week and read the stories! And super grateful not to see any bragging pictures of food! But I was thinking of you guys all day on Saturday and I am so happy that it all went super well and that Thanksgiving was as classic and family like as it always has been :) it really made me miss you guys!

The sealing sounded super spiritual! I am glad that Mike was able to use some of Grandpas clothes! That made me laugh a little to think that he accidentally forgot them! But we are all human! Haha That is cool that you got to take pictures! I didn't know that you could take pictures there! I am so grateful that the feeling of peace and the blessings are already in affect :) I have definitely set the goal for temple marriage one day and it won't be replaced!

This week was an interesting week! I will start off with quite a funny story! My Thanksgiving started off good with us studying as normal! We had planned for the interview with Hermana C and President McM (because of some homosexual stuff) for this day, so I was studying a little bit for that to help her prepare when we get a call from Hermana C. I answered kind of hesitant because she is never up at 8 AM but all she wanted was to know what time we would be coming to her house that day, so I told her at 6 PM and she told me thanks and then hung up. 

After I told Elder Stanley that I really thought she was going to back out last minute of this interview just knowing the bad luck I have! Right when those words left my mouth the phone rang again and it was Hermana C...I was like no way... so I answer really hesitant and she tells me that she wont be able to be baptized on Saturday...so I ask her why and she says she still has woman problems...and she asked us to pass by so she could explain. I was so sad! We had worked so hard by teaching her and preparing her, but either way she still needed an interview with President McM. 

So Elder S and I did a few practices for our Companionship Study to try to help her, we didn't want to know the details because we aren't authorized to hear it so we had to be very careful with the questions. So we go to visit her and we say the prayer, and Elder Stanley starts talking to her trying to think of the right question to ask, when she asks us if we wanted to know what happened. So Elder S says yes but not with too many details...so she gives a this really vague description that I really wasn't expecting or even understood! So I told her I didn't understand, and Elder S looks at me and whispers in English she's on her period! Then it all made sense! WOMAN PROBLEMS...I WAS WAY OFF! Haha it was a huge sigh of relief and a great laugh. 

The interview would go good! The thing we found out is that Hermana C has limited freedom to say a long story short, she just needs to sign some papers which need money. So she needs to save money and sign them and she will be ready! So it was a little bummer, but it wasn't what I had initially thought thank goodness!

The week would end with us traveling to do some Baptismal interviews for Santa Rosa! Which was super sweet. I have interviewed about 10 people from there so they always welcome me like one of their long lost kids! We helped with the baptismal service for witnesses so it was good to feel the spirit of baptism! Definitely another motivation for me and Elder S!

Well tomorrow I will find out what happens with the Changes. I feel that I will leave. I have no idea why or do I want to! I would love to stay and have Elder S stay with me but its not very probable!

I am so happy to read and feel the spirit of Thanksgiving and the sealing through the pictures and the letters! Thank you all for your love and support and I hope that you have a good week! I will write more next week! I love you and pray for you always!

Love Always,
Elder Milton