I Went And Cut My Hair Today!!

October 20, 2015

One of the first things I saw when I opened my email was the photo from Mom with her BEAUTIFUL new haircut! I went and cut my hair today!! I looove it! It looks a lot healthier! I will send a picture!!

Before

After

Hello!!! The weather has been sooo crazy here! Yesterday it rained... A LOT! Today it is cooler. Blue skies, sun, and a light breeze. Everyone says it should be getting hot and staying hot.... but we are stuck in winter jajaja!

This week was great! Yesterday started a new cambio! Our zone leader called this morning and told us that we are all staying! In our casa there are no cambios! Yay! Six more weeks with Hermana Vega. She is great. We are great friends now. We are working so much better than we did six weeks ago jajaja. Grateful for her! I know we are going to see miracles this transfer.

The best thing that happened last week was an amazing lesson we had with one of our investigators, Patricia. She is a woman about 50 years old. She lives with two of her sons (she has a daughter who lives with the grandma). One of her sons, Benjamin, is 14, but he has the mental abilities of a 7 year old...so presh! Well! A few years ago, Patricia was learning with the Elders...then something happened and they both got changed so she stopped learning. But we had left her 2 Nephi 31 to read. This chapter is amazing because it talks about baptism, and why we need to follow the example of Jesus Christ. She told us she had read it...and that she loved it! We invited her to be baptized, and she said yes! She told us she wants to get baptized in our church because she wants to be obedient and follow Christ...it was so great! She is so humble, and she has so much faith in Jesus Christ. So cool! We hope she can get baptized before Christmas!! Yay! Yay for people who decide to make covenants with God!!!

We had another great lesson with a menos activa, Hermana Dennis. She is so great! She has a daughter, Ivana, who is 6. So sweet and super crazy jajaja. She showed us her Halloween costumes...she has two: Belle & Tinkerbell! It totally made me think of that little picture of Madison and I when we dressed up as Belle and Tinkerbell...many years ago! Lolz. Good times! We talked about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Dennis’ mom was present too. They are both menos activa. The lesson was soo great! We talked about Jesus Christ, and the importance of partaking of the sacrament. Hermana Vega and I teach really well together. We always testify and I love it! I love the gospel! I love Jesus!

So last week we found a new menos activa: Carolina. She is the sister of one of the ward members. She is married with a member, however right now he does not want anything to do with the church. She really wants to get sealed in the temple, so we talked about the importance of eternal marriage...love it! We met with her two times! She watches her sister’s kids while her sister and brother in law work. Then..... on Sunday when sacrament meeting started....Carolina walked in!! It was so amazing Hermana Vega and I were so happy! She is so great! Then we invited her to come to the Gospel Principles Class because the lesson was on eternal marriage… coincidence??? The teacher, Hermana Neville, is amazing! She served a mission and she is so nice to the missionaries. Love her. 

Sometimes it is hard when our investigators can’t meet with us, or when they do not come to church...knowing how much it will bless them really motivates me. But I recognize everyone has their free will! Go team! 

Hermana Vega is doing great. She has some crazy life stories… she was baptized about three years ago, and she is very courageous and humble. Love her!!

Love being a missionary. Life is so good! Cannot believe October is almost over. There are already Christmas decorations in the super market...WHAT? 

I know Heavenly Father lives! He loves us, and He wants us to succeed. The plan of Happiness is real! He is waiting for us to return to Him! How glorious! 

I know Jesus lives. His atonement is infinite. We can apply it generously every hour of every day!

Peace out from Chile, yo!

Love, Hermana Mittleman

Hermana's Mittleman & Vega

14 Months In The Cause Of Christ...Love It!

October 13, 2015

Wow, today I have 14 months in the mission! Seriously, time has flown! I cannot believe it! I treasure my time here in Chile. It has been so great dedicating my life to missionary work. These 14 months mean so much to me! Thanks for all your love and support...14 months in the cause of Christ...love it!

This last week was great! Sunday night there was a fireside in our stake center. Presidente Morgan came with Hermana Morgan and Katie, their daughter. It was a fireside about missionary work. All of the missionaries from our stake, and the two neighboring stakes formed a choir of missionaries.... We got to sing "Called to Serve", "Teach Me to Walk in the Light", "Love One Another", and "I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go". There were some missionaries who did some special musical numbers too. I felt the Spirit SO strong as we were singing! It was such a wonderful experience. I talked about it in my letter to President Morgan too. Music is a wonderful way to invite the Spirit. Our investigator, Juan Carlos, could not go...we were a little sad...but it’s all good because he came to church earlier that day! 

We did intercambios this week! I went to Jose Miguel Carrera with Hermana Stokes. We do intercambios within our stake now. Hermana Stokes is AMAZING! We entered the mission field together. She is from Utah, and we did intercambios together in our last transfer too. It was fun going to her sector because at night I got to see Hermana Rivera! They live in the same apartment. There are six hermanas that live there...so much fun! We visited one of their investigators, Karen. Karen has two twin daughters who are four years old...they were soooo cute!!! Karen and her boyfriend are not married...we talked about the Gospel. To be honest, sometimes it is so hard to sit in lessons without grabbing these people by the shoulders and imploring them to just pray and believe! Jajaja, I am SO grateful to be a discipleship of Christ. I KNOW His church has been restored to the earth today...what a wonderful time to be alive! It was a good lesson, and we felt the Spirit with her.

We had a lesson with one of our new investigators, Mariano. He has a serious problem with alcohol. We took a hermana from our ward to his house. He wants to quit drinking, but he was a little drunk during the lesson and would keep repeating the same stuff..... again, SO thankful for the Word of Wisdom and the revelation we receive through modern prophets. His life has been really sad...and the main cause is his drinking problem! Jaja, he kept showing us the Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets and told us he reads them all. We have been praying for him, and Hermana Vega and I are hoping he will choose to act out of faith. 

Yesterday we had a great lesson with another investigator, Rosario. She talks a lot!!! We ask her an inspired question, and she will answer it, but then starts talking about really random stuff....and she talks REALLY fast jajaja. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. I love the Plan of Salvation because it really helps us have an eternal perspective. We are meant to receive all that our Heavenly Father has...when we understand the glorious future that awaits us all of the daily distractions from the world become less attractive. 

Last night, the four missionaries from our ward went to our Bishop’s house for la noche de hogar (FHE). We watched a Bible video about forgiveness. Our Bishop has five sons, and one of them is on his mission in Osorno. It was a little crazy because their sons did not understand the parable so they had to act it out jajaja. So great!

I am doing really well! I have renewed my desire to serve my Heavenly Father. We talked with our Bishop Sunday before church (we were going to have ward council but nobody went because there was a time change), and he told us, we need to choose Christ. We should do things because we want to serve Christ and Heavenly Father. I realized before, I was doing everything because I expected blessings in return...I would sometime think, "oh, it’s all good because I will get to go home when this is all done", or "I will be obedient because I know Heavenly Father will reward me". I am not saying these are wrong perspectives/ attitudes, however it is better if we choose to obedient WITHOUT EXPECTING ANYTHING IN RETURN. There is power in obeying and acting simply because we want to do what God asks of us. I have been thinking about this a lot. We choose Christ. It is simple. If we act and serve simply because we want love God and Jesus, we will become better people. 

Last week I was ponderizing Juan 14:5-6...what I was able to retain in my memory "Yo soy el camino, y la verdad, y la vida. Nadie viene al Padre sino por mí". Love it! Jesus Christ is the way! His example is perfect. We can trust in Him.

I love being a missionary! It is the best thing ever! Cannot believe it is already October! So crazy! Hope you all are well. May God bless you this week!

Con todo mi amor,

Zone Leaders with Hermana Meg

Hermana's Mittleman & Stokes

Hermana's Rivera, Mittleman & Alveranga

It Was fun watching The Three New Apostles Get Called! So Excited!

October 6, 2015

Hola, familia! 

On Thursday of last week, we had a reunión with Presidente Morgan and Hermana Morgan. President Morgan shared some great experiences he had while serving as a young missionary in Argentina. The asistentes talked about the temple, and how we need to talk about the temple with EVERY person we teach. We have to teach with the end in mind. We want everyone to have the chance to go to the temple and make more sacred covenants with Heavenly Father. Then Hermana Morgan spoke.... She is soooooo amazing! She put a picture on the big screen and asked us if we knew what was in the picture. It was a photo of an olive press. There was a container surface made of rock with a huge wheel-like object on top. The larger object was used to plaster the olives, to extract the juice. Hermana Morgan said that sometimes we feel like the olive... Being pressed down so hard that we can hardly breathe. She shared a quote from Orson Whitney that is found in the teachings of President Spencer W. Kimball:

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven. …” (Orson F. Whitney)

I LOVE this quote! It is so true!!! Every trial, hardship, heartache, and tragedy we encounter in this life only serves to build us up! Hermana Morgan bore her testimony of Christ, and how He is always there in our moments of distress...only HE truly knows how we feel. Hermana Morgan is so great!

Yes, conference was amazing! None of our investigators came to watch it at the Stake Center! Sad! But I LOVED everything. I loved President Uchtdorf´s talk, and I loved Hermana Marriott’s talk...EVERYTHING WILL BE ALLRIGHT (is that how you spell allright?)! Love it!!! 

There was a small room in the Stake Center that showed the conference in English so the North American missionaries could watch it in their native language.... So sweet! Hearing President Eyring’s voice was so great! It was fun watching the three new apostles get called! So excited! 

We did not get to watch the prophet speak...super sad! Because we had a late lunch on Sunday and we had to run to take a bus to the Stake Center...lame. I hope to read it next week if the talks are available to print. 

The work is good. My companion is good. We have two weeks left in this transfer...I do not think we will have changes. We shall see! I am doing well. Learning to trust in Heavenly Father. Had a really strong desire to eat at “The Hat” yesterday jajaja. Good times. Hope you are all well. I pray for you daily. I know God lives, and I know taking the gospel to EVERYONE is so important. 

Happy, happy.

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Mittleman

The Enabling Power Of The Atonement Is Real!

September 29, 2015

Hello, all! Today we studied, and afterwards we ate pizza and ice cream while watching "The Testaments".... I love el día de preparación! Good times jaja. 

I would like to share a lovely experience I had this morning. Being my turn to clean the bathroom, I had trouble with the spray bottle for the stuff that cleans inside the shower and the shower curtain. It is that typical struggle between the person, and the bottle because one has to turn the nozzle from "off" to "on". I made a few attempts to turn the nozzle, but I could not do it! Jajaja. Then I thought, "how about I pray?" So, I prayed to my Heavenly Father, asking Him to give me the strength to turn the little nozzle. The enabling power of the Atonement is real! Just a few seconds after my said prayer, I made another attempt to turn the nozzle. I gave all I had, and I TURNED THE NOZZLE. It was a small victory for me, and I know Heavenly Father gave me the strength to do it jajaja. THEN...in my personal study I was studying scriptures about the nature of God and Jesus Christ. I read 3 Nephi 14:9-11.

9 Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

It made me reflect and ponder upon mentioned nozzle story...it was a small thing, right? Just to turn a little nozzle on a cleaning supply. I knew if I had been at home, my presh father (Dave) would have loved to help me. Mom too for that matter! I had a personal experience where my Heavenly Father answered my simple prayer. He blesses me in grand ways, and in small ways too. He gives me personal blessings. How special! 

Ok, on to the good stuff. On Thursday we had an INCREDIBLE lesson with a woman named Patricia. We found her name in our area book. We called her and scheduled a cita with her. She is sooo prepared! We felt the Spirit so strong. We talked about God and Jesus Christ, and their love for us. We talked about how we would be guides for her, so she could draw closer to God. She was like, "yes, I would love for you to come at least once every week to teach me." Ummm...yes! On Sunday, another investigator came to church, Juan Carlos. We still have not been able to have a lesson with him during the week. But this week we hope so! 

There have still been hard moments with my companion. However, I have been able to receive the strength to be humble. I am learning a lot. Trying to forget myself, and just work. Just be happy is the motto here until February jaja. 

Another funny thing happened on Sunday. We went to visit a new investigator, Luisa. She lives alone, and she told us her twelve children never come to visit her, except for one of her sons who lives in a house behind hers. She is a cute little old lady. When we walked in, she was watching Indiana Jones jajaja. She has some pictures of herself when she was younger, and some photos of her son. She also has a framed picture of Brad Pitt casually sitting next to the other family photos jajaja. So great!

Chile is great. It is getting hot! Ah! Lots of blooming trees and flowers. 

I love being her! I know living the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us true happiness.

We will go to the stake center this weekend to watch general conference! Sooo excited! I have studied about prophets recently, and I have realized how lucky we are to live in a time where we have a LIVING PROPHET AND APOSTLES on the earth, guiding us, leading us to Christ. 

Happy, happy.

Con todo mi amor,

Herman Mittleman 

Hermana's Vega & Mittleman

 

La Parque

TERREMOTO!

September 22, 2015

Ok, I will just start by saying I was TOTALLY FINE during the earthquake. Hermana Vega and I were walking in our sector around 8:00 at night. We rounded a corner of the street where a menos activa lives and we heard the banging of a gate against a wall. I thought it was strange because I did not feel any wind on my face. But the trees were shaking too. We saw three men standing in the middle of the street. Then all of a sudden I felt the earth shaking, like vibrating. It was not strong, but I knew it was an earthquake! The men in the street called to us, "vengan a la calle, chiquillas. Es un terremoto!" So we walked into the street and stood with the men. The earth kept shaking!! Not strong, but it lasted for about two minutes! It was crazy. It was dark, and we were just standing in the middle of the street, waiting. Then it ended! It was crazy, and I will never forget that night! I wish I could say it was more exciting jaja, but that is how it was! Since that night, there have been a LOT of aftershocks. Some small. Some stronger. Love living in Chile donde la tierra tiembla. But above all, I am GRATEFUL I was safe. I am happy there was not a lot of damage, and that all of us were protected.

So we continued on our way to Hermana Figueroa`s house. As we continued to walk down the street we heard the televisions blaring in the houses. Voices of the news people frantically talking about what had just taken place, trying to determine how strong it was. Some people were standing outside of their houses, having fled in order to find safer ground. Many were talking on the phone, talking with loved ones and friends, explaining they were well. Others just scrolling on their cell phones, on FB, looking at news reports, etc. It was fun, yo. Hermana Figueroa is a little old lady who is REALLY funny. She lives with her son, Cesar. Cesar is about thirty something, and he is active. He always makes funny comments about his mom. Hermana FIgueroa was watching the news when we arrived, and Hermano Cesar was telling her there had been an earthquake because she had not been reading the scriptures jajaa. They are so funny! 

On Friday, it was el 18 de Septiembre! Super fun!!! It was the ward fiesta. Good times. We borrowed traditional clothes from some members. 

That was fun! There was a huuuge asado. There is a clay oven thing behind the capilla. We ate pollo, cerdo, ensalada, arroz, and EMPANADAS!! Soooo much foood. None of our investigators came..... But alas, life goes on. We keep working. We keep trying. We keep hoping.

We are contacting a lot. Knocking doors. I have hope!!! Thursday night I almost gave up hope because there were some rough waters between me and my companion. I do not know if I have prayed as hard as I did that night. We had a rough planning session, and I ended up having to go to the bathroom to cry a little.....I know, hard times happen. But as I was praying I felt peace. I promised Heavenly Father it would be alright if I was going to finish my mission with my companion. I told Him that I trusted Him, and I was happy to do HIS will. I felt peace, and I knew everything was going to be ok. I prayed for my companion, and I prayed for guidance to know how to help her. The next morning, it was a complete change. My companion had a changed attitude, and it all went well. We have been great ever since! I know God hears our prayers. I know we have to submit ourselves to His will. He knows all. He loves us. He will not let us fall. He will sustain us. I have felt this in my life.

I gave a talk on Sunday in sacrament meeting! It was fun! Jaja. It was from an article about reaping the rewards of righteousness. From the Liahona de July. 

I am doing well. I love being a missionary. Love you all!!!

Hermana Mittleman

Hermana Figueroa & Megan

This Last Week Has Been One Of The Hardest Weeks EVER (Do I Say That A Lot?)

September 15, 2015

Ok, straight up, I have about nine minutes to write this. SO much has happened this week. My new companion is Hermana Vega, from Peru. She has about ten months in the mission. Hermana Velazquez is staying in our ward!!!! She got transferred to the other sector jajajaja! So she had to pack all her stuff just to come back to the same apartment jajaja. It is weird, but it’s good! 

So, I shall not lie, this last week has been one of the hardest weeks EVER (do I say that a lot?). It has been tough with my new companion. HOWEVER my past week has been filled with the Spirit. On Sunday, I was sitting in sacrament meeting and I felt soooo hopeless. I felt really alone, and I was not sure how I was going to make it through five more weeks....Then I remembered my Savior. Truly, I know He has felt every weakness, despair, doubt, etc. I felt the Spirit in my heart, and I felt peace. It was such a relief. It was so clear in my mind that Heavenly Father was not going to take away my burdens, but I felt clearly the love Jesus Christ has for me. It was like He was telling me, "I am here. I know EXACTLY how you feel. Let’s do this together." Never in my life have the words "take my yolk upon you" meant so much. I KNOW He lives. Like Paul, like Joseph Smith, I will glorify my God in my trials. I have felt the enabling power of the Atonement so strong in my life these past days. There is NO doubt in my mind that Christ lives. He knows me. He is giving me power because every day I put my faith in Him and I ACT with faith. I am obedient, and I have felt Him strengthening me. I love my mission. I LOVE it. I am becoming stronger. I am paying the price to come to know my Savior. 

Anyway, today we went to the country!!!! Dad will be happy to know jajaja. We went to a place called "Cajon de Maipo". Go google it! It looks like Utah jajaja. Near Alpine or there abouts. A lot of hills, and there was snow on the tops of the mountains. So peaceful and gorgeous. Seriously, I love Chile. A couple from our ward took us. Hermano Patricio and Hermana Veronica. They are probs the FUNNIEST people I know. 

Today we did intercambios and I had to go to the CCM with Hermana Velazquez so she could see Doctor Call. She sprained her ankle, and I got to go and help translate. Lolz. Hermano Pato and Hermana Veronica took us in their car. They are so nice! As we were driving a bunch of police on motorcycles swarmed past and then all of a sudden we saw a normal car stop in the middle of the road with a little blue siren on top. The man got out and started running toward a street and we saw he had a police badge on and was carrying a huge revolver! Scary jajajaja! It was legit because it all happened right in front of us. Hermana Veronica got all excited and called her daughter to tell her to watch the news.

I am well! I am happy! I love you all! The bus took about an hour and a half to get home from the CCM so that is why we are late. Sorry! Please just pray for me! Love you guys!!

Love, Hermana Mittleman

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El Cajon de Maipo

ALMA 26 IS MY LIFE

September 8, 2015

Ahhhh! My companion, Hermana Velazquez, is leaving El Parque!!!! The zone leaders called us THIS morning to tell us! So, tomorrow we will go to a capilla close to where we live for the cambios reunión.... The whole mission will be there. It looks like Presidente Morgan likes change jajaja! He is so great!

This week flew by! The BEST part of my week was Saturday. We were fasting, and in the night we went to the house of one of our investigators, Leslie. She is 17 years old, and she is so funny! She loves K Pop, and she is so nice jajaja. A little crazy, but really nice. We watched the movie, "Finding Faith in Christ" with her. I love this movie! It is so great because we learn about the compassion Jesus Christ has for all of the people He served. We wanted Leslie to be able to get to know Jesus better. When it finished, Hermana Velazquez and I shared our testimonies. I felt the Spirit SO strong!!!! I just KNEW Jesus Christ lives, and that He loves us!!! It was such a special experience for me. In the end, she told us she did not feel a desire to read the Book of Mormon, go to church, pray, etc... It was sad!!! She is an ancient investigator, so the missionaries had met with her before. It was a bummer, but it made me sooooooo happy because I realized how much I love Jesus Christ!!! I LOVE HIM!!!! Oh, it was so great!!!!

I am doing well. A little nervous, because all the members love Hermana Velazquez so it will be hard. But excited, because I love this work. I love Chile!!!!! 

GOD LIVES AND HE LOVES US. I AM SO HAPPY. LIKE ALMA 26 IS MY LIFE.  I am learning to rejoice in my struggles. I am becoming converted to my savior. May God bless you in this week. Life is so good! Happy, happy! 

Hermana Mittleman

Baptism Is The Door To Eternal Life

September 1, 2015

Hello family! Thank you for your encouraging emails! I love you so much! 

So I live with three other Hermanas. Hermana Velazquez is mi compañera. She is from Uruguay. She can understand English mas o menos. She can speak some phrases. She is so great! Her life story is so inspiring! I love her so much. Sunday night we discovered that we both love Zoolander, so that was fun jajaja. Hermana Delgado, from Peru, and Hermana Acedo, de Mexico, are the other Hermanas who are here in El Parque. Hermana Acedo lives close to Arizona, so her English is pretty good! Hermana Delgado knows some English, and she is so presh because she has a Hymn Book in English and loves singing "Be Still My Soul". 

Yesterday we had our zone class! It is always fun talking with the other missionaries from our zone. We talked about baptism, and how it is the door to eternal life. Sooo great!!! 

Cannot believe Madison has a year in the mission! That is so great! I love readings her emails! So inspiring! 

El Parque is a small ward. The weekly attendance at church is about 70-80 people. My sector basically has two parts...one part is nothing but houses. The other part is houses, but more flaite.... Or a little more scary/dangerous...but only at night! We are always careful! 

I love reading the Book of Mormon every day...my personal testimony of Christ has been strengthened so much. Whenever I think about Jesus, I just know He lives...there is so hesitation. No doubt. He lives.

Next Tuesday we are going to go to La Feria to buy fruit and maybe clothes. There is a Feria right behind our apartment buildings in the area of Hermana Delgado and her mana acedo. I will take pictures so you can finally know what I am talking about hahaha! 

Have a great week! Love you all!

La Parque- Hermana's Delgado, Acedo, Velazquez & Mittleman

Elder Gonzalez Kept Saying My Name, And I Felt Almost Famous Because A Seventy Was Saying My Name

August 25, 2015

First of all, I GOT THE PACKAGE AND IT WAS SOOOO PERFECT!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!!! 

My zone was making fun of me because I got a package,

 a letter from Dad,

 and some more notes...I felt so loved!  Seriously, thank you sooooo much! I was so happy to see all that you sent me! The Mo Tab with David Archuleta Christmas CD probs made my day.... 

We opened it when we got to the house and listened to it while we ate lunch.

Today we went to the Temple to do a session and iniciatorias!!!! Sorry I forgot to tell you last week! But it was SOO amazing!!!!! I love the Temple! The Santiago Temple is so beautiful! I am so thankful it is in our mission, and we have the opportunity to go every three months! Love it! Hermana Alcantara and her companion also went, so that was so fun reuniting in the temple! So presh! The four hermanas from our ward went together. We took a bus to the Temple and we almost did not make it! We woke up at six, and left around 7:15....the bus came at 7:35 and we got to the temple at 8:45...for the 9:00 session jajaja! But there were not a whole of people...mostly all missionaries! Good times!

I know the Temple is the house of God...the peace I felt this morning in the temple is soooo different than ANY other feeling I feel outside of the temple. It always brings back memories of going to the Newport Beach Temple.... We took a lot of pictures, and when we were leaving I saw one of my MTC companions, Hermana Rivero. That was fun! Love her! I will send a picture!

So, the BEST part of last week was a special meeting we had with Elder Gonzalez, a seventy! He came and had two meetings with our mission. One- half of the mission on one day, and the other half the next day. It was sooo fun! He is from Uruguay, and has a presh accent. We all got to shake his hand and hug his wife too. His wive’s name is Zuma.... So cool, right? Love it! 

He wanted to divide all the missionaries into five different groups. So we divided ourselves by our stakes/zones. Elder Gonzalez went with one zone, Hermana Zuma with our zone, Presidente Morgan with one zone, Hermana Morgan with another, and Los Asistentes with their own zone. It was sooo cool! Elder Gonzalez is the new Area President, so he and his wife are touring the missions. He said we are going to do something we have never tried, so we will see how it works out jajaja. But it turned out amazingly. So Hermana Gonzalez taught us about the doctrine of Christ. We read in 3 Nephi 11:19-37. She wanted us to count the number of times Jesus said the words, "baptism"..... 14! We discussed the fear we feel sometimes to talk about baptism. But baptism is apart of the doctrine of Christ.... whether we have fear or no, it will ALWAYS be essential to our salvation! Why? Because the Gospel is ETERNAL. The Gospel has always existed, and it is important we let the world know that everyone must be baptized! It was soo great. It made me thing about a scripture Madison sent to me the day I entered the field....like a year ago! It talks about how there is no need to fear man...because we are disciples of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We can take heart because we stand with our perfect Savior. His doctrine is true and eternal. It leads us to our Heavenly Father. It leads us to TRUE and EVERLASTING happiness. Who are we to fear man? 

So anyway jaja. After about twenty minutes of our mini class with Hermana Zuma, we all sat back down together with the missionaries. Each zone had to pick a "spokesperson" to give a five to ten minute report of what they learned to the other missionaries...You probably know where this is leading jajaja. No one wanted to be the spokesperson in our zone, so I volunteered! Good times! I went first, and before I started Elder Gonzalez asked Hermana Zuma if she wanted to say anything to me...so she stood up and gave me a hug and whispered, "You can do it!"......so presh!  So I told everyone what we learned. I felt the Spirit, and I was happy I had the chance to do it. Afterwards, Elder Gonzalez made some comments and kept saying my name, and I felt almost famous because a seventy was saying my name (heeey!). 

We knocked a LOT of doors this week.... Some success. Still looking for people. The search is ongoing! I know the Lord is testing our diligence and our faith. It would be soo easy to just go to the house and nap or eat or chill.... But I want to serve the Lord. I get home so tired and exhausted, and a little spiritually weary...but I know this is helping me! It is probably just karma from what I said in the paragraph above jajajaja! But I shall not surrender....We are in the work of saving souls. My testimony of the Atonement is strengthening. 

Ok, this is really long, but I am doing well! With one year on the mission.... I am definitely learning about myself. I think I have learned most about my self worth and my divine nature. I am learning that I can do hard things.... When I am standing with the Lord. It is a lot easier to take rejection, humiliation, etc. when I think to myself "I am doing this for Jesus." My eternal perspective has grown too. My testimony of the Temple has grown A LOT! The Temple is so essential to our happiness and to our salvation. I realize I am nothing without God. I feel like Ammon when he rejoices in God. 

scripture.

I know I depend on God. Every day, I need Jesus Christ. I think I am learning most upon my personal dependence on Jesus and Heavenly Father. I am becoming more humble. I am learning I can change! It is such a miracle, and I am so grateful for these precious experiences I am having in Chile. 

My family is so special, and I love all of you! Que Dios les bendiga, que que tengan una linda semana!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Mittleman