January 5, 2015
Ahhh, I seriously cannot believe it is 2015!!! How crazy! Oh, how the time passes. Such is life. Ok, it does not even look like Madison cut her hair jajaja! It is like the length of mine!!! Whenever I tell people here that I have a twin, they freak out. And when I show them the picture of our family the Sunday before I left, they always think Madison is me! Presh! I miss Madison....but I am so happy we are both serving.
Seriously, the mission is transforming me...I have been here almost 5 months! Although we have not had a baptism, I am SO happy to be here! Before the mission, I had a goal that I wanted to return as a changed young lady. As I was struggling during the first few months of my mission, I was worried that I was never going to adjust and allow myself to change. But reflecting on it now, I have seen a change! I am more humble, and more eager to do the will fo the Lord. I am more patient and more caring. So thankful. My faith has grown a lot. I think more about the Savior during my day. My prayers are more meaningful. I feel close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am applying the Atonement daily. It´s all great! This week I read a talk by Elder Maxwell that CHANGED MY LIFE. Seriously, it is called "Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father". I have been anxious to consecrate myself more fully to the mission, and this talk was EXACTLY what I needed. I want to share a part with you:
"Consider three examples of how honorable people in the Church keepback a portion and thus prevent greater consecration (see Acts 5:1–4).
A sister gives commendable, visible civic service. Yet even with her goodimage in the community, she remains a comparative stranger to Jesus’holy temples and His holy scriptures, two vital dimensions of discipleship.But she could have Christ’s image in her countenance (see Alma 5:14).
An honorable father, dutifully involved in the cares of his family, is less than kind and gentle with individual family members. Though acomparative stranger to Jesus’ gentleness and kindness, which we areinstructed to emulate, a little more effort by this father would make sucha large difference.
Consider the returned missionary, skills polished while serving an honorable mission, striving earnestly for success in his career. Busy, he ends up in a posture of some accommodation with the world. Thus he forgoes building up the kingdom first and instead builds up himself. A small course correction now would make a large, even destinational,difference for him later on.
These deficiencies just illustrated are those of omission. Once the telestial sins are left behind and henceforth avoided, the focus falls ever more on the sins of omission. These omissions signify a lack of qualifying fully for the celestial kingdom. Only greater consecration can correct these omissions, which have consequences just as real as do the sins of commission. Many of us thus have sufficient faith to avoid the major sins of commission, but not enough faith to sacrifice our distracting obsessions or to focus on our omissions."
Ahhhh!! How crazy is that! Never before had I thought that omission prevented full consecration!! Definitely something to think about!
New Year´s Eve was good jaja. So the new companion of Hermana Alcantara recently had surgery...and when I say recently I mean like two week ago!! She has to take it easy, so we have been doing divisions a lot this week. Either Hermana Gomez and I will leave with Hermana Alcantara, and someone stays with Hermana Altamirano. So we have had less time in our area, but it is nice to help the other hermanas. So on New Year´s Eve we had left early in the morning to go to the Santiago West mission because I had to go to some government place and get my visa! We woke up early and took three different subway routes...lolz, good times! We have to go back this week because I didn´t finish the process. But we came back and worked, and then in the night we came home early to study. Hermana Gomez made pizza, and we ate together and talked. Fun, fun! We went to bed at 11:30, and when it turned midnight, Hermana Alcantara kind of screamed Feliz Año, but I was practically passed out. For reals, I was so tired jaja. So yes. T´was fun.
I do have a few goals for the new year! I want to talk more. Just speak without fear of the whole language thing. Apparently, the time will just go by faster and faster, so we are entering into the "I don´t speak perfect spanish, but I am a disciple of Christ-therefore I have no fear" mode. I´m excited. I also want to read Doctrine and Covenants-all of it in English. And read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. So far I am in 2 Nefi...I believe in me! Haha!
Just trying to stay happy and positive! Loved seeing the pictures of the beach! And the matching shoes...too presh!
Hermana Gomez is doing well. Her family is excited for her to come home, but she wants to work hard in the next months, which is a blessing. She is amazing. She has only been a member for about three years now, and I am lucky to be with her.
No, I do not play the piano jaja!
If you could send some Jif peanut butter that would be great jajaja.....I think i am good for now! I will let you know!!!
Love you lots. Thanks for you support. Tell the boys I say hola. They are great, and I miss them.
Livin´ the happy life here in Chile!
Love, Hermana Mittleman
"Each of us might well ask, “In what ways am I shrinking or holding back?”Meek introspection may yield some bold insights! For example, we can tell much by what we have already willingly discarded along the pathwayof discipleship. It is the only pathway where littering is permissible, even encouraged. In the early stages, the debris left behind includes the grosser sins of commission. Later debris differs; things begin to be discarded which have caused the misuse or underuse of our time and talent.
In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is trulyours to give!"
