Bus To Church

WELL I have just been bouncing all over like a little bouncy ball this week haha inviting every person we saw to come to church. That was our focus. We dont have much time since its almost 6:20 and we need to get home and get working by 6:30. Good thing we live super close. We (E. Hales, E. Christensen, E. Payllef, E. Jaime, E. Lemo, E. Vargas) went and placed futbol (soccer) with all of our zone. Great zone! I LOVE futbol! Its so fun and now that I have a competative companion the game was even better. I played hard today. We have a few battle wounds and bruises that im pretty proud of. Reminded me of playing softball growing up and doing sports. I miss it. My comp worked over the elders though, she made tons of goals and Im best at defense haha. Its good to get all pumped and let go of all the stress and then start the week with new energy. Just one of those things in life we can use for drive to work harder.

Just want to tell you all that we worked our butts off and prayed so much to have great success this week. With our faith to follow the spirit in every single thing and follow the counsel of President to pray specifically (that all of our investigators World relieve and accept the spirit of invitation to come to church.) WE WERE AMAZED!!!!! We broke a record for our numbers of success in the south. We had forty one lessons this week! That for me at least is unheard of but I have always wanted to do it. Now that we have we are going to set even higher goals for the transfer and keep up the pace. I dont think Ive ever in my whole mission worked so hard non stop as we did this week without a pause. We did all we could to commit each of them to come to church and read and pray. We prayed to find men that are prepared to hear the gospel and relieve the priesthood and they were put in our path as we diligently worked and contacted all of our referentes within 24 hours. We prayed to find many familias that are ready for the gospel and we ended up finding four! We put like 10 fechas throughout the week (baptism dates) and we were pumped! It was beautiful to see the Lord blessing them this week. However the mother didnt come to church because she had to go vote this weekend. We verified that they were all preparing to come to church each day this past week. Each day we called to see if there was something we could do to help them prepare and we taught them about the doctrine of Christ and why partaking of the Sacrament is so important. Thanks to the famous Family Tello, and their big bus van they offered to help us this Sunday and load it full of our investigators and it was amazing loading all these people into the van and seeing how happy they were to all be together going to church. THEY WOKE UP!!!! THEY ALL CAME!!!! We knocked on every one of their doors waking them up and making sure that they had everything ready to be on time. We have also been working with all the less actives here because they are really amazing people… just kinda lost their drive… so we have done all we can literally ALL we can to teach them about Christ and how much he loves them and that their families deserve the gospel. It was amazing to see them all commit to come with us this Sunday! The President of our Branch, was so impressed with our efforts. He saw us all week hustling around to make everyone happy and get everything done. Then The Branch saw all of us with huge smiles to have filled four rows of people! New families, our recent converts, and three less active families that havent come in years! We made sure that the members sat with them and we made sure that they were very welcomed and loved as they should be. Singing the hymns in church I wanted to cry. I truly am comino to understand what a repentant heart means. Last Sunday we had 0 investigators in church and it literally killed me and we repented and said… well now we just have to get to work double time and note ver let this happen again. It takes a lot more effort here in the south to get these people to church. Its definately one of the toughest areas but with the Lord nothing is impossible. We had so much faith and confidence and sure enough Heavenly Father worked his miracles according to our faith. My comp is such an amazing missionary and person. I absolutely love her and love working here with her. Our zone is really united now and we are all working hard and motivating eachother to accomplish what weve been sent here to do.

Man it was a great week….So great…. Now about emails... its obvious that I only have a little time left because the emails are withering down to nothing (cough MOM) even YOU forget to write me! haha Its ok I know how it is with busy life and all. And you are not all thinking about me so far away in the bottom of the world :( just kidding! I appreciate those of you who have been a support even still, Sorry to you who have sent emails, and I have had trouble writing back, thats because im so short on time and ive just been really focused on the work. It doesnt mean I dont love you, I DO!!!! YOU KNOW THAT I DO!!!! But theres no excuse, I can still write you back here a little there a little though so Ill just have to write back when I have more time. THANK YOU FOR YOUR EMAILS AND SUPPORT you guys are the best!!!! I just love the mish so much! I cant wait to tell you all about it when I get home! BE GOOD! have a great week loves!

Lots of love hugs and kisses,

Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

Transfers have come!!

The beach and TRANSFERS

(sigh of relief) YES! we can breathe now!!! Bow chica wow wow! I AM SO HAPPY TODAY! I feel like today is such a good day! The sun is shining out side, not too much wind which is very rare (heavy winds every day) I want to play futbol today at the church but nobody else wants to play :( they all want to sleep and rest all day! BORING! Not us, we are going to do something outside. I have so much energy today I feel like our appointments tonight are going to go so well! We found some amazing people! They are so prepared! Last Pday after we emailed we were walking to contact someone and we discovered the BEACH! I could smell the ocean like a mile away! okay thats an exaggeration because the beach is like 7 blocks from our house so its close but the thing is every time we have ever left our house we turn left and the first time we decided to turn right we ran into the beach. Pleasant accident! Tender mercy for sure! We have been meaning to go but have never gone until now. It was very different from the beaches at home in California but it was so beautiful! Instead of all sand its all pebbles and we found a beaver on the beach. He was obviously way far from home. He was so dang cute though, I wanted to go to the store and buy him some fish. Poor little guy looked so hungry and lost! I felt like my family was close because the memories of the beach are all good family memories. The ocean puts me at ease and brings me peace. It was good for us to see. Later on It was a full moon and shining on all the waves. So pretty!

Ok sorry, im all over the place in this email, first things first, TRANSFERS CAME! woot woot... Elder Christensens drum roll right here... WE ARE staying together and staying here! E. Finlay has gone home, E. Christensen is now our new Zone leader with E. Hales again and we have two new elders coming in today and tomorrow. We are glad that we have more time to work here. Everyone thinks ill finish my mission here since I only have until feb. Which is fine because we have a lot of people that need the gospel and I have fallen so in love with these families and Natalia and Karen. We are keeping them strong! We like our zone, we are all getting the hang of things.

 

STATUS OF AREAS

I consider myself blessed to have been able to see a little bit of everything in our mission! The last time I stayed in my area longer than one transfer was in the beginning of my mission I was in el campo in Campana for 6 months! Then to down town capital in Almagro -1 1/2 Urquiza - 1 1/2 and Caballito for 1. Then down to the bottom of the world to Ushuaia for a week. Now Chacra for 2 transfers so far! it wouldnt suprise me if it was for the LAST months I have left.

The rama (branch) really wants me to finish here. I always try to keep them laughing and happy. I love bringing more energy here to this place, it needs it.

 

WERE STOKED

I am planning on rocking this transfer! We both are. Hna. Romo and I had such a crazy, wonderful difficult amazing fun time together and I see Hna. Milmont and I having similar I love my comp so much and we are learning so much from eachother and she is such a doll! Now that we are super comfortable with eachother we have really grown together and its been good for us this last week. I feel so proud of her as I see how she applies the stuff she learns from me and she gets really excited for all her progress. Makes me so happy to know that I can help her and that she is learning so much. Her spanish just gets better every single day and so does her confidence! Im proud of her! I believe in her. I believe in everyone, but struggle with believing in myself, even elder christensen told me that the other day and they are all right. I know that its something I struggle with but Im gaining more confidence through all my trust in the Lord and im just going to do all he expects for Him to make me who he wants me to be. I love that I can strengthen my relationship with my Savior each day as a full time missionary! Its such a good feeling.

 

GOOD MEMORIES DESPEDIDA

Speaking of the great feeling being full time missionaries... so many of our good friends had their despedida yesterday! E. Brown, Finlay, Peterson, Bond, Davis, Vera, TONS! CRAZY! I will miss all of them! They were so great! ARG-BAN mision no es lo mismo sin ellos pero bueno.. life goes on! :D They need to get back to their families. We are going to live this time up that we have left in Argentina. Im going to cherish it like nothing else. I love these people here so much they are always going to be in my heart and I hate saying goodbye to them. Its going to pass way too fast. I have a lot to do! I cant imagine having to take off my plaque and dont want to. That will be a hard realization.

 

NEW PEOPLE!

We have seen so many miracles its amazing! We are starting fresh and with a lot of faith in the new people we have found. We ended up finding a ton of prepared families ready for the gospel just by simple talking with every single kid in the street that we saw and then we asked them to walk with us to their house and introduce their families to us. They are all happy to see "chicas" as missionaries here now they say because they have only seen "varones" and so we are still getting a lot of good comments about us being here in Chacra and it feels good to be appreciated and know that the Lords children really need us here at this time. We found Fernando, a 23 yr old thats living here with his aunt and cousin to work en la Fabricas. He recently has been really active in spiritual things and on and off with the Evangelical church for a year and a half or so. He is such a good person but seems like when we teach him, that he doesnt understand the concept of baptism. He has a date to be baptized but doesnt understand why he cant keep changing it and waiting. He thinks that he has to be perfect before hes baptized and its really difficult to get him to understand how Baptism is the first fruit of repentance and only through baptism now can he recieve a greater light and knowledge with the Holy Spirit. We have teaching him all the doctrine on it in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and he still thinks he needs to keep waiting and changing his date. Hes such a good kid but just seems like hes confused with the doctrine. He repeats the same things over and over quite a few times and its great and all but it doesnt have order or purpose. He just says over and over.. god is love and is loving always, and he has chosen to guide me because he loves me and Im finding my path and accepting jesus in my life and he is all loving and all powerful. then he starts over, and says... yeah god is loving and all powerful and jesus is my path. and I cant seem to help him get passed that repetition and help him so see that God IS loving and thats why we have an order and a plan prepared for us to return to him and we do it first by being baptized to recieve the holy ghost and then have our understanding open to bigger and more profound things. But Hes preparing to be baptized November. Ezekiel will be baptized soon! Hes doing well! Natalia is amazing and seeing more blessings each day for joining the church and seeing the difference! Im so proud of her I love her more than I can tell you guys! Shes amazing. Karen is super strong. Shes only 13 but so mature for her age and already preparing to serve a mission even now haha. Shes strong and independent. Her testimony is solid! We had an appointment with Fernando but he wasnt home and normally we dont enter the house of his aunt because he says that their family are all evangelical and catholic and dont want us to come in but this time I felt prompted to ask if we could come in and have a lesson with them. We ended up having one of the most spiritual lessons ive ever had here yet. We taught the Aunt, her friend, the cousin, and fernando once he got there. We spoke about how the things of the world are not ever sufficient for our happiness without God. We need God in our lives or we can not feel the peace we all need in this world. We spoke about various addictions that are problems for them and with teaching them directly the DOCTRINE of Christ and in the scriptures we taught that we need to learn self-mastery in this life to reach our full potential and bring us closer to God. That this life is time to prepare to meet him and bring as many with us as we can. This life is meant to be enjoyed, but we should evaluate mere amusement apart from eternal happiness. For instance the FAMILY, is way more important than some fancy car or big house. We left that house full of the spirit and expressed to them how much God really loves them and wants them to come to him for answers. Also we have been getting to know the members more still and we decided after lunch to knock on all the doors we felt prompted in all the appartment buildings near by. I wanted to cry from how much success we had. We found pregnant mothers wanting to know how they could live with their baby forever, we found little children that have been abused and need to feel the peace of the atonement, we found a gothic kid that wants to believe in god but doesnt know how to because hes never been taught and hes had a hard life. We found SO many people that want to hear our message and need to know they are true children of a loving Heavenly Father. We have been working with a few families that are progressing but slowly. We need to do all we can this week to help them see the importance of baptism now and not later on in life.

SUNDAY

My companion is a KAPA! shes so funny and so good all in one! Ill explain, she was suppose to teach Gospel Principles for us all and it was going really good. I was so proud of her and tried giving her a thumbs up with a huge smile from the back of the class and her spanish just kept getting better. It was impressive to see her confidence growing in the spirit. Then when the spirit was the strongest... im watching her and thinking... is she going to set a baptismal date with this lady in the front whos crying? I couldnt believe it... she totally did all by herself and with great faith! After the lady said she wants to be baptized I looked at the Elders and they said, it was their investigator in their area and not in ours and that this woman needs to get married still. So I tried using sign language and it must have looked so retarded to my companion because I tried saying, "ok, good job now stop there because shes not married we can talk after class!" but she couldnt understand... that went into a longer conversation about more personal things like why they arent married yet and our President was feeling uncomfortable and trying to tell us this should be discussed later. I asked my comp to let me whisper to her and tell her "good job but later" and then we ended the class. Afterwards President ended up having a big talk with us and saying its ok because she didnt know, but also to be careful in the future in her mission that we need to seperate classes and personal lessons. I agree hes totally right, but on the otherhand she totally followed the spirit and I was a super proud companion! The spirit was way strong so we know it was what the Lord wanted her to ask, now she knows for future. Its a funny story though we laughed about it later because she thought she was on a roll and was really excited and then realized they werent married. Shes awesome and is progressing greatly. Getting people to church this Sunday was a project and we failed it. We tried everything we could. We passed by all of our investigatores in the morning but everybody went out of town because yesterday was Mothers Day here. Its a horrible feeling to take the Sacrament when you see so many empty chairs that need to be filled. We repented before and after taking the Sacrament for not being able to help them all come. It was rough on me because thats all I desire more than anything, to get them to church and to make the covenants to keep the commandments and feel the peace of aligning their lives with Gods will. That way they might be blessed in all things. Our president of the branch met with us and almost started crying to us though because he says that we dont realize all the good that we are doing for him and for our members here as we work in this branch. He said, "You work hard here and I notice all of the things you do, we have not seen 3 confirmations and 2 baptisms in so short of time here in this branch before, and then you showed up and you bring a love that the elders just dont have, the branch loves you and we need you here." He was so sincere and so grateful to us that it really made us feel like we are doing whats expected of us. Theres so much more that happened and so many miracles, but Ive got them all jotted down in my journal and we have to go now. WE LOVE YOU!

 

I want you to know how much I love each of you. Your support is precious to me. This work is impossible without all of you back home praying for us. SO thank you, we can feel your love and prayers! FAM... miss you tons.... but ill be seeing you before you know it. time flies!

XOXOXOX BESOS!!!!!

 

Love Hermana

Ashley Ann Gillum

stretching...

And Lehi took his things and set out into the wilderness... sometimes I feel like flying south for me was similar haha. Its a very different place; foreign. The people here are amazing. Thats the beauty of this place because its quite desolate. All the kids make me smile. I should have known that I would get sent to the most cold and windy place since I went as far as to ask NOT to be sent somewhere cold and windy in my prayers before the mission... I brought it on myself haha. I must say that ive been really blessed to have been sent to Buenos Aires though because Ive seen a little bit of everything that argentina has to offer and its been amazing. I wouldnt trade these experiences for the world. However...Ive learned that serving a mission means undergoing heart surgery and serious stretching. You have to learn to adapt to dreastic changes and curve balls that you have never before had thrown at you. This spiritual stretching takes place over and over again. We mess up and we pay the consequences... which in turn help us to realize how we not only are expected to change but we NEED to change and align our lives with greater caution. We are all human. All babies in comparision to our Eternal Father. Lacking the full understanding of what how and why we need to apply the principles of the gospel at all times. God always teaches us about His son Jesus Christ. In every part of the scriptures and every life lesson. All of this leading up to a life lesson ive learned this week and will continue to learn that I will speak about in the latter part of my letter.

THE WORK AND PROGRESS

I feel like we made good progress as far as investigators. Julian understands why he needs to serve a mission and hes preparing for that journey now. Karen is progressing at a rapid rate. She is an example to all her family. I got to spend some time around her sisters baby. Im happiest around children. My greatest joy will to be a mother one day. Karen also will make a great mother and she plans to serve a mission also. Natalia had many obstacles thrown before her so she was almost unable to be confirmed with the gift of the Holy Ghost but she overcame and ive never prayed so hard and fasted so often as we did for that girl to be able to overcome all of it. She had an interview with president Gomez and she desires to also... serve a mission! I cannot believe all of these valiant youth that have been prepared by God that he trusts US to find. Sunday we opened her door, went upstairs into her room and found her dead asleep and not answering her phone... but with lots of prayer and taking the action to get her up and telling her how much we love her and want the best for her... she rose up and said.. "why do you guys care about me so much? I always let you down?" I started to cry and looked at her... I saw myself in her asking my Heavenly Father the same exact thing. I responded... " because we love you more than we know how to explain... because we know that God is your Heavenly Father and his love is the greatest of all and he doesnt wanna lose you. He misses you and we WONT give up!" I felt so much power in our testimony to her. Before we knew it she was in the chair before the whole congregation being confirmed with the holy ghost and when she returned to sit with us she had tears in her eyes. She said "wow, i feel so peaceful all over again.Thank you for not giving up on me" I wrapped my arm around her and felt lHeavenly Fathers gratitude. Towards the end of the sacrament meeting I encouraged her to get up and share her testimony. Ive never been so proud. Then when I saw her up there bearing her testimony that she KNOWS this church is true and that we saved her. I still cant fully understand it. I cant beleive ive been called to this work to rescue these souls. its so humbling. I love Natalia with all my heart! I love every one of my converts and I love to see the peace they feel. Our Mission leader Martin Isasi is the greatest mission leader. He is so excited for this work and its so positive for us. We are grateful. Juan entered the waters of baptism this saturday and was confirmed Sunday at our church! it was beautiful! We have some new investigators that we have super high hopes for and they really love Hermana Milmont and I teaching them. They are excited to see hermanas here. We have also found a family of 4 that are amazing! Ezekiel is still being taught and has a date to be baptized soon. Vicenta unfortunately has not desired to come to church even once still yet so that is a work in progress. We have just been strving to find new people to teach and contacting our refrences like crazy. We have had quite a few things fall through for us but thats how it goes sometimes. Just have to see the sunshine beyond the clouds. We are doing all we can to stay happy and not get discouraged. We need to look at our progress of how far we have come and not how far we have left to go... that way we keep on keeping on!

Pray for us to be led to those that are ready to hear the gospel I promise that if you keep the missionaries in your prayers it will make a world of difference.. LITERALLY! I promise you will feel the power of success in the church because of you and your prayers.

WHAT IVE LEARNED FOR MYSELF THIS WEEK

came to a sad reality that I lack so much still as far as who I want to become on my mission and in my life. I wonder if I will ever accomplish all that I dream to. I have realized that lately Im facing new challenges and I have to admit that Ive lacked the appropriate faith to carry me through these challenges sufficiently when we lack faith we lack hope, when we lack hope, we lack patience. What a stumbling block I have noticed Im struggling with. I have never had a stable life with a sure outcome of somthing to fall back on. Being new to the church Ive felt so blessed to recognize the contrast of a life with and then without the rock of the gospel. Its always constant and never changing and therefore becomes an anchor... but only if we not only BELIEVE it but believe it can work for US! I have desired stability all my life and yet nothing good has lasted for me too long... until I found myself in this work. This past week has been full of struggles. At least by this point its expected. My comp and I istened to this talk by S. Micheal Wilcox while we were studying and I found a lot of wisdom in his words that I needed at this time. He spoke about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd watch... meaning like the different time zones that the day was divided into by the people in Jerusalem during Christs ministry. Explaining further how we are all waiting in different times of our lives in different "watches" for answers to our prayers and for rescue to break through our trial. God comes to us at different watches for different reasons known to him. When we are in trial we think... 1) He doesnt exist or 2)he doesnt care.. or 3) im not worth saving or helping.... I think its safe to say that each of us at some point in our lives have wondered at least one of these doubts. Micheal Wilcox goes on to say for the people who feel they are in their 5th or 6th watch or even 7th.... and still waiting... hold on. Think of the Bardges on the sea that Jareds brother was instructed to build. The bardges were to be

-"TIGHT... LIKE UNTO A DISH" or I suppose that tight like unto a dish is an expression of something solid and sure or safe.

-He was also left to FIGURE OUT FOR HIMSELF... the light that they would need. Which we too need to learn and figure out ourselves.

-God explains that there will be wind and storms and thrashing of waves that will actually come from HIS mouth. (our trials sometimes)

- He explains that he will PREPARE US. And says... therefore, what will ye that I prepare for you... TO HAVE LIGHT?

- if he doesnt still the storm... we know that HE knows... our CAPACITY to handle the storm is TIGHT LIKE UNTO A DISH. whether we see it or not.

- 1st watch ... the lord comes at 1st watch ONLY when we are repenting and accepting this atonement that was paid for us. He loves our desire to do good and be better. He comes to us quickly when we choose to repent and make ourselves new. Thats part of giving our heart to him.

- We need to remember the Prodigal Son when thinking about our repentance and first watch connection. His father quickly kissed him and joyed that he wanted to change and be better.

- "maybe they didnt get it!" -HEAVENLY FATHER

.. maybe they (we) didnt get it with Zeezrom,

.. maybe they (we) didnt get it with Alma..

... maybe I need to teach them with lamoni, or his servants, or his wife, or ..... and so forth

He has said... "PEACE BE UNTO YOU..." and not like a person saying this to us... but a Father of Eternal power love and compassion.. The word PEACE from him means so much more and yet we overlook it. we dont let it set in and take full effect.

- Also Ive learned that God creates a HOLDING PLACE for our hearts to be ready for the answers He has for us.

- Remember the story of Moses asking God "for what purposes has He created all things?" and God responds.. for mine own purpose and it is wisdom in me. My question then is are we really ready to recieve the answers that he has for us?

Then He goes on to tell a personal story of his that sets the background of pain he has felt for His father choosing to never be in their lives which caused a great deal of sorrow for their family... He describes the anticipation he had to pray deeply to God and ask to be given peace and be able to let it all go. He goes through years and years of pain with no answer... wondering how he had still not recieved one. until one day he was expected to prepare a talk about parents and he planned to speak about his loving mother. The spirit impressed upon him to actually speak about his father instead. Just then when his two sons came running by they stopped and starred at him and he described a flood of all his memories with these sons of his that came with great emotion. he then heard the spirit speak... saying... NOW YOU ARE READY FOR YOUR ANSWER... the spirit impressed this question on him... Is it worse to be a son that lost a Father? or a Father that lost a son? He having much greater experience and love as a father himself was able to then realize the true tragedy of missing out on all the joys of being a being a father to a son. He then let the resentment go, feeling peace and sorrow for the loss His father surely had experienced for not being there. I immediately thought of our Father in Heaven... How truly heavy and sad and sorrowful he must feel as he watches more of his children lose their way. He deeply craves for them to return to Him. I reflected on much of my lifes pain and how deeply he desires to heal me in every way. He wants me to understand His Son.

- Why dont answers come when we expect them to come? the answer is this... because the HOLDING PLACE is not yet ready.

- Why I specifically dont have that peace or the answers to all my pain even still... I dont know... but I know that it MUST be wisdom in Him, my father, and my life must be "tight like a dish" or sure enough and strong enough to keep suffering it. And long suffering is the only way to become like Jesus Christ. Its the only way our Holding Places in our hearts will sufficiently hold the riches of all the good our Father has in store to give us. And When we shall meet him after all of our long suffering ours and His joy will be full. For our SUBMISSION to all He has seen necessary to inflict... will inturn be our greatest VICTORY.

Let us ask ourselves... are we sufficiently humble? if we were to meet our maker tomorrow would we have regrets left in our hearts? Could we truly say that we are doing the best we can and know how to be better?

He sees our progress so long as we are moving forward and not back. No matter the rate... he sees it and all things are numbered unto Him. All things will be restored unto us. His love is infinite.

I love you all so much I hope you have a wonderful week!

STILL on the journey of bettering myself... (sigh) (half smile)

... hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

My Heart is Full

Dear loved ones of mine,

First of all... General Conference... WOW! Wasnt it so amazing! While watching conference I often think of the people in my life whom have taught me about the special topics spoken of, and therefore each of you can be confident that you have touched my life in some great way and I did think of you during conference. I filled the whole last half of my journal full of inspiration and goals for this year. We are so blessed to have a living Prophet and apostles of the Lord guide us in these Latter-Days to prepare to be better and more like the Savior Jesus Christ. To not have fear of the end of the world, but to look forward in joy and faith that we are so blessed to know His glorious plan for us and our families. We are not a people of fear, but of faith and endurance and our religion is love, service and hard work. We believe in a life of much sacrafice to do the will of our Father in Heaven at all times no matter what circumstances! I will have to write you next week of all the notes I found to be helpful but this week we dont have much time to write so I think Im going to let you know what I included in my weekly letter to President because Im in so much gratitude to him especially this week. SO here it is:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!! Hope you know that all of your missionaries down here in the south had you in mind and in our prayers for all of your hard work dedication and sacrafice! We look up to you and Hna Gulbrandsen and are grateful beyond words for what you are doing for the Lord everyday.
You were very inspired to have the mission study Mercy and Justice this week. My companion and I learned more this week than ever. We applied our revelation from that study to our lives personally, to our companionship, and to our investigators which brought about many miracles. One being a tremendous change for the better in our companionship and in our faith, another being the Greater preparation to really ponder the "Christ attribute activity" from Preach My Gospel and apply it while listening to General Conference! ALL OF THIS YOU HELPED US WITH BROUGHT THE BAPTISM OF Natalia Soledad Diaz Jofre (21 years old and wants to serve a mission) which means so very much to us. This girl means everything to me. EVERYTHING! We have never seen such struggles of Satan throwing literally everything at us that he could to hurt us and slow us down and stop her from being baptized. But with all of your counsel, with your inspiration to listen to the Lords promptings and heed them while inviting us to do the same, we worked very hard to bring about the will of the Lord and help his daughter enter the waters of baptism this sunday after conference at 8:00 pm. We sang a musical number and we surrounded her with love. Im emotional while typing this because im so grateful for how full my heart is.

President, you once again need to be thanked sincerely for all you have taught me as a servant of the lord. My life is forever changed for what you continue to teach me through your love for our redeemer Jesus Christ. My heart is broken and spirit contrite. I realize that I as to my own strength am NOTHING. I owe the Savior everything! and this weekend was one of great reflection and emotion for us. Im learning a lot from my companion she is original, a genuine person of much love and strong testimony. Her faith is helping me to build mine and we are feeling more confident that we are truly working hard and finding his children who are prepared. We do not have much time at all so we must go... but President, thank you. Thank you for the salvation you are bringing to these priceless souls. The spirit felt at this baptism is not able to be explained in words, we are confident that although none of her family wanted to attend her baptism, she valiantly stood without them there and we felt angels fill the room. We felt as if we had baptized someone with a great work to do in this church. She is special we just feel it. All of our zone was so happy and she couldnt stop crying saying repeatedly... "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for saving me. I feel so far from all my pain and mistakes! thank you for this light! The atonement is real, I know what you have taught me now, I know why this is so important!" President this baptism was the most spiritual ive ever seen in my mission yet. Thank you for strengthening our mission with your ears that hear, eyes that see, and your faith to follow. I desire so greatly to follow all the promptings I recieve of the spirit no matter how subtle because you have shown me that it brings miracles! We love you all so much and so does the Lord! While watching the apostles of the Lord speak, I was touched by the spirit of power and I recognize so much of each of their spirit in you. As Diane S. Dalton spoke about women of virtue and love, We thought of Hna. Gulbrandsen and all that she is. How blessed we are to have the courage of the greatest husband and wife that Ive ever known leading us in this battle and great work! and Wahoo Im still going!"
Love, Hermana Gillum

So yes, this week was emotional, and miraculous. I have never felt so much love as I did at the baptism of sweet Natalia. She is family to us and in my heart forever. I love her more than I imagined possible. this mission and these people... are changing who I am... my heart is so full. Im so happy. We are not here in this life FOR US! We are here for others! we are here to better the world!

Nothing... literally.. NOTHING feels better than this. Of that I testify to you whole heartedly. The confidence of God being proud of you, is the greatest happiness in the world. I will honor my covenants with my Father in Heaven for all eternity and honor who I am as His daughter. I will remain steady in a world of swaying values. I will keep going til I drop so I might be worthy and sanctified through trial to one day see His loving face and know Ive done well. I love my Savior so much and I love all of you. Have a great week!

keep looking for ways to serve people all around you each week...

I love hearing about your missionary stories! Besos!

con cariño,