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