Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from the mission field. Can you believe that it is almost Thanksgiving!?! What happened to the time? So this week began with Exchanges. I went to a different area and worked with two companions, Hermana Bullock and Hermana Christensen. The reason I worked with two people is because we exchanged with a tri-companionship. Hermana Ferro their other companion went to work with Hermana Hastings(my companion) in the Woodlands. It is always an interesting experience exchanges. You either learn a lot about how to do missionary work better or you learn to appreciate your area more. This exchange was more of a learn to appreciate my area more. The work is pretty much the same. You have appointments that fall through. You have appointments that are great and the spirit is very strong. You talk to people on the street who are super nice and very interested. Then you talked to people on the street who just laugh at you and go on their way. Just proves to me that the Lord is preparing people we as missionaries are just trying to find them. The other Hermanas told me that I have a real talent for helping people to learn to love and trust me quickly. I don't know what I do, but their members that we visited are hoping I get sent to their area. It is weird teaching with three companions. One of the companions just has so much energy. She is exhausting to watch. She has been in a lot of tri-panionships on her mission. She attributes this to her energy. That she needs 2 companions to handle her. The other companion is very sweet and very quiet. The one with energy struggles with spanish whereas the quiet one does not.
So this week we had some success in activating a family that was very inactive. Their father has the Melchizedek (spelling?) priesthood and knows a lot. His 9 year old daughter is who we are teaching and preparing for baptism. She is so cute. She loves the Book of Mormon. She came to church this last Sunday. The first time in a long time. The Mom is the difficult one. She likes to shop and her favorite day to shop is on Saturday. I think the Dad would be all up for coming to church if he had the support of his wife more. His kids are all for going. It just depends on Mom. One of our investigators decided to drop us in the middle of this week, but he came to church on Sunday. He changed his mind and decided he wanted to continue. It was weird. I was like so sad for him one moment. And the next he is at church apologizing. We also inherited an investigator from the Elders. She was suppose to be our investigator all along. She lives in our area. We didn't find this out until they split the ward. She is still in our ward which means she was actually suppose to be taught by us. She is super smart and likes us a lot from seeing us in Relief Society and Gospel Principles. Yes, I am out of the primary now that my companion and I don't really play the piano.
We started English classes this week as well. We have a professional teacher. She is a member in our ward who actualLY has a Master's in bilingual education. She will be in charge of teaching the lessons. We like this idea so much better because the missionaries change so it is hard to get the consistency you need if the missionaries are teaching. This way any missionaries in this area can help with the English classes. It is a good way to find new investigators. Because ward members feel much more comfortable inviting friends to free English classes instead of hearing from the missionaries. And as those people learn to trust us they will be interested in what it is that we actual do believe. It is a great thing that we are very excited about. Our member is also very excited about it. Many of the ward members as well want to learn English so it is a service to the ward as well.
I love you all and miss you all!! Find some joy in what you are doing everyday. I promise that you can find the joy, you just need to stop focusing on the hard/difficult. If you focus on what is good you can face the bad with such a better attitude and a resolve to overcome it.
-Hermana Alaina Mills
Monday, November 22, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 8th, 2010 Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
So this week has been very good. Very busy with new investigators and old investigators. We reached our goal for lessons this week. We had an intense lesson with an investigator who was not progressing. The spirit was very strong in her lesson. We were testifying left and right. She said she did have a desire to find out if what we have been talking about with her is true, but a very small desire. We committed her to act on that small desire and promised her that it would grow if she would take the first step to read the chapter we gave her and pray about it. It is kind of sad in a way. We are giving her an opportunity to have something vital in her life. And she knows that. But she just won't act on it. She likes where she is. She doesn't have religion in her life at all. She did as a little girl and knows her children need it. But she just won't do anything about what she knows. It is sad to see someone so close to having something so awesome and still not take it.
So our ward was split this Sunday. They made a branch out of part of our ward. The area that is now a branch is full of less active members. All of these members have kept saying they will come back to church when church is closer to them. So now it is closer to them. We will see what happens. There are two sets of Elders that cover the new Branch area. Our ward now only has a two Sisters as the missionaries. Most of the members in our area are active. We do have some less actives we work with on a regular basis though. And we have some really good potential members. We are going to work with the new bishop I think a lot. When he spoke in sacrament meeting he said he had three goals. Baptizing, Retaining, and Reactivating were the goals. And that is what we as the missionaries of this ward have been working on. The new bishops name is Obispo Baich. He is from Argentina. He will be a great bishop. We also know the counselors really well. It will be sad not to see the Elders anymore. They are not even in our district. We are these two lone spanish sisters in the midst of all these english elders. But the Elders we have are great. It just scares us a bit to be the only missionaries covering the ward. But English Elders do it all the time. And our ward mission leader is back from his out of town job. YEAH! He will still be in our ward as well.
I pray everyone is safe and happy. I love you all. I pray for you daily. More than once a day. Until we meet again.
Hermana Alaina Mills
So this week has been very good. Very busy with new investigators and old investigators. We reached our goal for lessons this week. We had an intense lesson with an investigator who was not progressing. The spirit was very strong in her lesson. We were testifying left and right. She said she did have a desire to find out if what we have been talking about with her is true, but a very small desire. We committed her to act on that small desire and promised her that it would grow if she would take the first step to read the chapter we gave her and pray about it. It is kind of sad in a way. We are giving her an opportunity to have something vital in her life. And she knows that. But she just won't act on it. She likes where she is. She doesn't have religion in her life at all. She did as a little girl and knows her children need it. But she just won't do anything about what she knows. It is sad to see someone so close to having something so awesome and still not take it.
So our ward was split this Sunday. They made a branch out of part of our ward. The area that is now a branch is full of less active members. All of these members have kept saying they will come back to church when church is closer to them. So now it is closer to them. We will see what happens. There are two sets of Elders that cover the new Branch area. Our ward now only has a two Sisters as the missionaries. Most of the members in our area are active. We do have some less actives we work with on a regular basis though. And we have some really good potential members. We are going to work with the new bishop I think a lot. When he spoke in sacrament meeting he said he had three goals. Baptizing, Retaining, and Reactivating were the goals. And that is what we as the missionaries of this ward have been working on. The new bishops name is Obispo Baich. He is from Argentina. He will be a great bishop. We also know the counselors really well. It will be sad not to see the Elders anymore. They are not even in our district. We are these two lone spanish sisters in the midst of all these english elders. But the Elders we have are great. It just scares us a bit to be the only missionaries covering the ward. But English Elders do it all the time. And our ward mission leader is back from his out of town job. YEAH! He will still be in our ward as well.
I pray everyone is safe and happy. I love you all. I pray for you daily. More than once a day. Until we meet again.
Hermana Alaina Mills
Monday, November 8, 2010
Monday, November 1st Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
So I don't have lots of time because I am writing at the office and there is a line of Elders and Sisters who need to write their family. Well, my poor companion got sick at the begining of the week. So I was inside for two days. I was going crazy. I couldn't clean because unlike Elder's apartments our apartment is very clean. But she got better and we went out and worked. We started knocking this new trailer park we didn't know about until recently. So we were knocking and of course another miracle happened. We ran into this woman who let us come inside. She told us about her life. She grew up in Mexico until her Dad basically just picked her up and drove her here to live. She was a trouble maker supposedly. She ended up marrying her American husband who she met while she was working as a waitress. Neither of them spoke the others language but they still got married. She now speaks English really well. She has two little girls. We have an appointment with them tomorrow. We had some specialized training this week about being obedient and seeing the results of our obedience. The spirit was so strong and amazing. We are working hard here in the field. I pray all of you are safe and living the gospel. This is really how we find safety and happiness.
Love,
Hermana Mills
So I don't have lots of time because I am writing at the office and there is a line of Elders and Sisters who need to write their family. Well, my poor companion got sick at the begining of the week. So I was inside for two days. I was going crazy. I couldn't clean because unlike Elder's apartments our apartment is very clean. But she got better and we went out and worked. We started knocking this new trailer park we didn't know about until recently. So we were knocking and of course another miracle happened. We ran into this woman who let us come inside. She told us about her life. She grew up in Mexico until her Dad basically just picked her up and drove her here to live. She was a trouble maker supposedly. She ended up marrying her American husband who she met while she was working as a waitress. Neither of them spoke the others language but they still got married. She now speaks English really well. She has two little girls. We have an appointment with them tomorrow. We had some specialized training this week about being obedient and seeing the results of our obedience. The spirit was so strong and amazing. We are working hard here in the field. I pray all of you are safe and living the gospel. This is really how we find safety and happiness.
Love,
Hermana Mills
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