Elder B. and I in the his finance office!
Dearest Family,
I am super pleased to read that everyone had another good week! :) you guys sound so busy! So I hope that everyone still finds time to share some family time! I am so proud of Mom for passing her test! That is super amazing! I cant believe that you are typing that fast already! I am super touched that Jeff was able to ordain Mike! That must've been really awesome. Please tell Mike congrats and give him a big hug for me!
President Sanders sounds like he gave a really good talk! I wish I was there to listen to it! I love the fish he chose to categorize the different kinds of people! I might have to steal some of his ideas! :) So for Mike what are going to be some of his assignments?? I am interested to know what Wards he is going to visit and all that good stuff!
Well the office sometimes get super crazy with random changes and it all literally happens over night! My office trainer left me with a missionary that had some problems and couldnt return to his old area for 2 days...well after that President decided he would be a new office Elder and now my new official companion is the Finance office Elder! His name is Elder B. from Utah! We always work together in the office so it made perfect sense to be companions! Let me just say that my area is a MAZE and it is SUPER fancy...it is so hard to teach anyone! The people dont have time or they are super tough...and I have gotten lost so many times in my area this week! Plus super rainy, but we are working good together and we are super happy to be companions! He is my district leader so I am super excited to learn from him!
Well like I said, I am 100% now in charge of my job, and so far it is going good! I had one landlord just get super angry! To the point of talking to President in person because she refused to talk to me! Luckily it wasnt anything that I had done! And lucky that President has a lot of patience so we were able to solve it all. And the hunt is coming to an end for the new mission nurse house! We found one and we just lack a few documents to move in so I am relieved to get that taken care of! I have a lot of housing stuff to do this week, I have 30 house contracts to renew! So my work is piled up for me and the struggle continues between the office and proselyting. Mission stats aren't doing too good, President asks me often what do I think we can do to help the missionaries and to help them work more effectively and sometimes I don't know what to say! I thought President was all knowing and to see him ask for advice or suggestions makes me see the more human side of him and his humility. It is really neat and something I never thought of before!
R. is doing good! He came to Sacrament last Sunday which was super awesome! I only got to visit him once this week which was this morning and we were able to talk a little about Jesus Christ and why he is necessary for us. He has read all the Book of Mormon and all the Bible but just believes that Jesus was some religious figure and nothing more. As we explained to him today what Jesus atoned for he understood it all, but it doesnt make sense to him or doesnt seem logical. So I admitted to him that I didn't know everything or that I was pretending to know God's intentions, but I did bear my testimony of Jesus Christ and his role in our lives, and then we invited him to pray to ask God if Jesus really is as the Scriptures make him out to be: The only Begotten son of the Father. So we are expecting him again tomorrow! I am super excited to help him and hope that the spirit touches his heart!
Other than R, I got lost a lot and more rejected than ever! But I am doing good and I am super excited for General Conference! I will be able to watch all of it next week! So I hope everyone prepares for that and I want everyone to tell me their favorite talks! So pay close attention :) thank you so much for your prayers and your love! I love you so much and I will write you more next week!
Love Always,
Elder Milton
Dear Family!
I was sad not to hear from you last week but that is okay! I dont blame you for forgetting, it is still surprising me and I am here! Everyone sounds so busy! Which I guess depends on the person if that is good or bad, but to me I think that is good! :) I was super happy to see Mom is doing so good in school! Kody is a pro on a pogo stick?! Also Megan is leaving SO soon, this is scary! Mike was called to the High Council?! That is super exciting! I am sure he is a little nervous also but he will be great! Congrats! Dinner with the McCormies family sounded really good :) thank you for supporting Kelly, when I couldnt be there!
Well this week would be a difficult week to leave the office! I had to update the stats, and I have been looking like crazy for a special house for a new mission nurse that will be coming this week! So I have made a handful of visits this week to visit all the people I talked about last week! I am planning on visiting R. the first time today so we will see how he is doing and try to help him to come to church tomorrow. The C.(American) family is doing! We talked to A.(the inactive son) and we practiced Spanish by reading the ¨Yes Lord, I Will Follow Thee¨ talk from conference. He seemed to like it and open up a little bit. So that was super good!
The big news is that there was a problem with a companionship so my office trainer went to that area with one and the other one is with me right now! Elder H., my office trainer, might not come back! So now all the weight is on my shoulders and my help is gone in the office! So I am a little nervous and we found my first white hair yesterday! So the office is stepping up a notch! Being in the office just blows my mind! I see the more human side of President Mc. and see him trust me a little more! I have realized it wasnt by Presidents choice that I am here, it has been the Lords! President almost is just as surprised that I am here as I am! Yesterday we had a meeting about finances and he asked me a variety of questions that I had know clue what could be done and when I said that he told me he didn't know either but he trusted me to fix it...haha to see that President Mc. doesn't have all the answers just helped me realize the gravity and seriousness of this calling. He has a famous saying for the office staff when one of us messes up he says ¨Youre not fired, and you cant quit... so fix it¨ which could be taken cold but I have felt that it is so true! I havent made any huge errors but it helps me to know that the Lord has me here for a reason and trusts that I can fix it. Another difficulty is thinking about the talk ¨Which Way Do You Face¨ that I always have to represent the church to the missionaries/people and not representing the people to the church. So sometimes there really isnt much I can do when something is broken or when a landlord wants more money...I have to always defend the Churchs best interest, which is super ugly...but it has to be done!
Today for P-Day I got a sweet gig! We contacted a tennis coach and taught him a little and he really liked what we represented and respected our sacrifice of girls for two years so he let us use his tennis court today and some of his equipment..so I took my Secretary companion Elder A. from San Bernardo County California! He played a bunch of tennis before the mission so he was practically kissing me for getting this deal! Man, I was so terrible at it but it was fun to play on a clay court! There arent too common in the US so we enjoyed ourselves!
Things are super good for me! I have been extremely blessed so I know that a lot is expected from me, I just hope and pray that I can reach those expectations! I know that I can with your support and love so I thank you for that! Please know that I pray for you and I love you guys so much! I will write you much more next week! :)
Love Forever and Always,
Elder Milton
Hey Everyone!
Well this week was a good week! I am still getting used to the city and office life but it is a huge blessing and honor to be where I am and to serve the Lord in a way that I never thought I would do! Office wise the week has been a normal quiet week for me. I spent the majority of the week calling landlords and trying to renew some contracts. Some were easy and others wanted to raise the price so I am doing my best in all aspects to now represent the Church in a business/professional way. Also looking at mission stats is something I never thought about but we do have a huge potential as a mission and I hope that we can reach that. Right now we aren't where we need to be to baptize more people, retain them, and to reactivate people that have fallen away. Seeing the more administrative part of the mission has really opened my eyes and almost literally uncovered a part that I never took into account! So its a huge blessing from Heavenly Father to be here and I hope to do it the way he expects of me!
Meanwhile our ward is doing good! We have been focusing on some key families because our proselyting times are so limited but there is an American Family that the Dad is a Lieutenant Colonel and works in the US Embassy named the C. Family. So we have been helping them with their sons who are inactive due to the language barrier so we are trying to help them come back to church and help them learn some Spanish! They are a super cool family and the first time I have ever taught anyone in English in the mission! Yesterday they gave us Twinkies (they don't have them here)and Elder H and I almost died we were so happy haha.
We also do have an Investigator that his name is R. He is an older man that has something wrong with him...we aren't quite sure but we think he has had a stroke in the past and it is hard for him to hold still. His body is always shaking. But this week we taught him about Faith and he understood really well! He said a super good prayer at the end and loves to share with us. We are super hopeful to see him at church tomorrow and help him to get to know the members also! He has such an old Book of Mormon from 1952! The translation is even different! But due to his medical issues he has tons of time to read so he has read ALL of the Book of Mormon, but never prayed about it! So we are convinced that this man was prepared for the missionaries. He is so humble and super intelligent!
So this is the update of Elder Milton in Paraguay for this week :) thank you for your prayers and support! I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me and answering prayers. I feel it everyday! I hope that everyone has a good week and to keep working hard! I love you and I will write more next Saturday ;)
Love Always,
Elder Milton
Dear Family,
How is everyone doing?! I am still trying to get used to his Saturday PDay thing, so it is quite odd being on the computer so much and now taking time to write you guys! I do apologize for the shortness of my last letter, sometimes it gets pretty crazy in here! But I am glad to see that everyone has been doing really good for the last two weeks! Looks like Megan has been getting her dance on! That sounds super fun! The studies all sound good and Mike is still safe so I am super glad to see the blessing of the Lord with everyone.
I am still somewhat surprised to be here in the office, as many know it is kind of an old school way of running things with office Elders. Normally they have older couples work in mission offices. So like I wrote last week I am in charge of all the Records so I make memberships which is super big! Also keeping up with the Mission Stats has been really neat. I am starting to become an Excel whiz with graphs formulas and forming ways to present stats and info. And lastly I am in charge of housing for the mission and their contents. Those three duties keep me BUSY. And also to be the companion of the Secretary makes me go on a lot of errands! I have already found the hard part of being in the office is trying to get out in time to teach people! Some days in the office are longer than others but we are always trying to get out of here by 5PM which is hard for me because I don't like leaving things unfinished! So I am still trying to find the best way to balance my time. But I am on the phone and the computer all the time! So the office life is going good and different. Almost polar opposite of San Pedro. As always the ups and downs.
Well my trainer/companion is named Elder H from Utah and he is a big goofball. He has been in this office way too long! But we are getting along good! Our area and our ward is called Campo Grande. It is a well functioning ward but we have a lot of less actives! Right now we don't have any progressing investigators, but we have a man that Elder H helped activate last change who is going to do baptisms in the temple next week and President McM gave us permission to go with him! So that will be a good time! Also Elder H is teaching me how to drive stick so I can drive the mission car, which kind of scares me because well city traffic is scary! Yesterday I had to get my blood drawn(yes I screamed)to find out what blood type I am and I got an A+ on the blood test haha for the drivers license! My teacher will be Elder H but President McM told me today that I have to pass the Drivers Exam with him before I can go conquer traffic!
I feel like there was so much to say but I am forgetting! But I am super blessed to be here in the office and to have this chance, there aren't many missionaries who get to see the bigger picture that I am seeing and I really do thank my Heavenly Father for giving me this chance to learn and to grow. So I am going to take advantage of this time and absorb as much as I can of this chance. But thank you for reading and writing and I will be writing more next week! I love you!
Love Always,
Elder Milton
Elder Milton
Hola Familia!
Okay this might be one of the most disappointing Pdays! I am so blessed to have my own computer and the first time I have seen Windows 7 in I don't know how long! But today after the wild week of changes I have been super busy and I barely saved up 10 minutes to write you guys! I did skim over the emails and I am super impressed with Kody and super excited for Megan at graduation!
Well to give a description of the office! I am in charge of Stats, Housing, and Records for all the mission! So I am changed from the Catholic Battle to the Landlord Battle haha...but I have been super blessed! I am picking up and getting trained quick! My first day was so wild! I got to Luque for the changes at 3 AM and helped out with that and then worked in the office all day and left here at 11:30 PM to head out and drop off the leaving missionaries at the Airport! ALL NIGHT. Leaving for different countries makes travel hard! I didn't sleep once that night and I was able to have a productive day at the office, visit some of our ward members after, and to sleep SO good on Thursday night! I will give so much more details! I have been blown away!
For whatever reason the Lord knows I need to be here so I will look for the reason why! But please forgive the shortness. I love you all and miss you so much! I will see you with much more on Saturday!
Love Always,
Elder Milton
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