Hold onto the yearning....

" I cannot always still the wind, but I will give you the strength to overcome" - Lord

 

Ive learned that I LOVE GOALS! I love setting a goal to keep progressing! In dance and in working out, in school and everything really, goals are great things to have! In the mission we celebrate our 1 month in the field, our 6 months, our year point, and then the end. I just realized this month is one of my favorite months! FEBRUARY!!! My FAVORITE holiday is Valentines and at the end of this month I hit my 6 MONTH MARK IN THE MISSION! that is crazy! I only have 1 year left which is somewhere around 48 weeks right? WOW! Time flies. I have many new goals for this month that I plan to hit.

 

Despite my incredibly inspired week last week and my wonderful experiences and joy for being in Argentina... trials and tests of faith are a consistant basis. This week was SO very hard! At times it seems as though the adversary throws the biggest stumbling blocks in front of missionaries because we are who those on the front lines of this battle.  The rollercoaster of mission life is so back and forth that you wonder whether or not you´re actually going to be able to keep pressing on. Every missionary ive ever known has felt this. In life the majority of the time you have a bit more time to prepare yourself to grasp the iron rod tight enough before the next storm hits with hardship.

 

 The beauty of mission work is that there is no pause, there is no wait, there is only the obligation to keep going full speed whether you like it or not. The mission is one of the greatest tools to learn how to "endure til the end" I suppose. A mission: "for the rest of your life". Just when you think you have learned all you could possibly learn for a while, you are suddenly being stretched and pulled in a whole other direction of lessons needing to be learned. All those who have ever served know this to be true. You cannot fully understand until you are an actual set apart missionary, representing the Lord each and every day witnessing for yourself the efforts of the adversary that seek for nothing more than to destroy happiness and drag the work down. A MISSION IS SO HARD! Thats the truth! But I suppose that is why its so incredible. Just as Joseph said, no unhallowed hand will ever stop this true work from rolling forth.

 

Let me explain a little bit... Our baptisms fell through when we did all we could to secure them, two of them skipped town and were no where to be found. We were so sad for them! I became so frustrated that all of our efforts being lost it seemed. We knew transfers were coming up and we knew that one of us would be packing and getting switched to another area and we felt horrible about all the stumbling blocks we were facing. I felt a bit like Gordon B. Hinckley on his mission, that the time was all wasted because our investigators used their agency to leave town. Ive never prayed so hard. We became physically sick. I ran a fever around 103 with body aches and pains and the whole mess. Medicine out here is difficult to get and the pharmacy people are on vacation! How ironic! haha It was a rough week. I actually wanted nothing more than to speak with my Mom and just hear her voice and have her talk to me about what to do but I couldnt. Total feeling of clostrophobia. we needed soup and sick food but we had hardly any money for the week. It was just a yucky feeling to not be at home with medicine and gaterade. We had to rest in our house full of bugs with no air conditioning running high fevers! Not fun! Not to mention theres a lady that does voodoo where we live and theres always wierd stuff that goes on so we need our building blessed. To top that all off there were neighbors telling us that we should prepare for the end of the world because there have been more and more riots here and disasters. People are going nuts over it. Good thing thats the least of my worries, infact if thats the case, good, Im hoping people will start listening more and start flocking to the baptismal font haha But many things have happened. Unfortunately a bunch of cars were lit on fire (including a mothers that we teach)  All the banks here ran out of money for four days! I couldnt believe it. My comp and I realized that we should have known these trials would come after such an incredible week last week, and so they did. When it rains, it POURS!

 

As of today, im much better and we have recharged our batteries. It could not have been done without the Lords help and the help of the scriptures. We studied them all week and treasured up the answers we recieved. Hermana Romo and i were talking about how all 5 apostles in the MTC warned that we were going into an even more difficult dispensation and they envoked special protection over us and Hermana Romo joked and said, "They said that to you in there!? Oh man I would of stood up with a big smile and said, well thank you, I think ill be going now, that was cute for you all to spiff me up with a cool nametag and all but i think im going to head to my cozy humble abode now!" haha "you didnt say 18 months, you said 18 days right! okay good!" She cracks me up. But its true we know that the world is getting worse and we also know that with the Lord all things are pòssible and we have nothing to fear.

 

My Comp told me a really good story when we were in bed all sick and bummed out. She gets really into it when she tells me stories so im always very entertained. She acted it all out and she said, " okay so here is a great story that the music director told us in the MTC and I want you to apply it right now. He Said that he wanted to bring up the movie Rocky (the boxer) He is training to fight and hes getting beat up and hes making all these mistakes and his trainer is yelling at him. but then the song THE EYE OF THE TIGER comes on.... dun... dun dun dun... dun dun dun ... dun dun duuuuun! and all of a sudden... Rocky is punching the bag 100 miles an hr. and defeating everyone and reaching the top of the stairs with victory! In the Beginning of our mission, we think our mission is going to be like that. All in a matter of five minutes, we think we are going to walk outside with ou theme song, CALLED TO SERVE and we think people are going to want to be baptized left and right. But its not like that, its really hard work. Its at the end of your mission, that you get to make your 5 min. Rocky video of all the highlights and miracles you have experienced in the last 18 months. That is why you hear all these return missionaries at the podium express all their love for the mission is because they no longer focus on the hard times that got them to those miracles. You focus on the few families that did listen and not the 100 that didn´t listen. In the end, the miracles were all worth it." What a great story that was for me to hear & Its so true. Thats why everyone off the mission says, oh I miss it, it was the best, because its at the end that you realize all you wish you knew in the beginning.

 

Job said, "When he hath tried me, I shall come forth.. as Gold!"

 

Hermana Romo found me a quote in her stuff that I absolutely loved and thought I should share with all of you reading this...

its by good old Gordon B. Hinckley - "Many young women are serving missions. Many are preparing to serve. Not because they aren´t married yet or have nothing to do, but because they have a great desire to serve, and are therefore CALLED to the work. The reason so many are going now, is because in this next generation, Heavenly Father will be sending His new priesthood army to earth and wants to send them to the mothers who have been properly trained and taught in the Gospel. What better training can a young woman have, than a mission?" Its apparent that all my life events were leading me up to serving a mission and I feel that I was foreordained for this work clear back in the pre-existance. Not because Im in any sort of way more capable or better than another, but simply because ive been prepared for so long and didnt even know it until that day I put my nametag on.

 

We were stressed over transfers and yet our prayers were answered and Hermana Romo and I are staying together for this transfer! another 6 weeks whoo! We know that President trusts in us to stay together here and its time to prove to him that we can because we love these people and we wont ever give up. The Savior is why we keep going. We never leave Him. No matter who we are, where we are, no matter what our circumstances or difficulties, we NEVER leave Him. He has descended below all things and suffered all the afflictions and sins of the world and in His darkest and loneliest of hours, He NEVER left us. We imperfectly mess things up time after time, and still His arms are stretched forth to encircle us in His love. He is always there, we just dont always remember that. honestly i have a new fire now. A fire to be better for Him.

 

"Having patience when we are asked to wait determines everything. Our souls at times, need to be stretched farther and just like a violin, our souls can only make music when stretched."  When we are brought time and time again to our knees, the Lord will hear our cries and as the scriptures say, if we endure it well, we shall be lifted up. If we close out trial and affliction we may be shutting out vital benefactors made for our refining. The refining of humans, into saints. Through self-mastery and humility blessings are created, and it is by firm faith, that those blessings are recieved. The Lord wants us to be prepared to recieve such great blessings that await us and we are no great judge to say for ourselves when we are truly ready. We, like Nephi must call on the Lord often for guidance and knowledge. Line upon line. precept upon precept. That takes time and patience with ourselves. Ive really learned what it is to TREASURE up, SEARCH, FEAST UPON, & STUDY OUT the words of Christ. Ive learned why that is so important in all aspects of life. It provides us with the best gift we have been given. The Holy Ghost our comforter and teacher. Only when we are worthy of it can it be with us, and with that being known, why would we ever not want that?

ife is Beautiful awful wonderful! Come what may and love it!

 

"dont you give up, you hang on, you keep going, some blessings come now, some come late, some wont come until Heaven, but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come!" - Elder Holland

 

We are teaching many families as of now and we will be fasting often and praying unceasingly.

For all of you praying for the missionaries you are incredible support to us!

You are in all of my prayers and I LOVE you! xoxoxox

 

Con Amor,

   Hermana Gillum

pictures

The biggest change!

Hola familía y amigos! Extraño a ustedes muchisímo! Me encanta la mision en serío. I cannot even begin to express to all of you the changes in me that have taken place but this is my attempt to describe the drastic changes the Lord has now stretched my spirit to fit. I have a tough time even typing these words at this time because of my gratitude for my Savior and for my mission. I feel 10 years more wise and experienced. I have faced some incredibly difficult things out here that have made the great times even greater. Ive had experiences far to spiritual to tell over the internet and Ive felt my whole heart fill up with the light of christ and overflow with love for the people of Argentina. They mean everything to me. So this is my attempt to type as fast as possible and update you on a fraction of my experiences this last week.

 

      Mosiah 26:13 "and now the spirit of Alma (Ashley Gillum) was again troubled; and he(she) went and inquired of the Lord what he(she) should do concerning this matter, for he(she) feared that he(she) should do wrong in the sight of God.... and it came to pass that after he (she) had poured out his(her)  whole soul to God, the voice of the Lord came to him(her), saying...."

 

January 2011 - This was the first day of our new work out and we woke up at 5 a.m. to do a Plyometric Workout on the roof of our apartment. It was awesome and personal study in the morning filled me with personal revelation. We were off to a great start feeling healthy spiritually and physically. We took a remise to Zarate for our district meeting where Elder Macavilca bore his testimony to us and it was incredible. It had me in tears to see this matured Missionary at the end of his mission, bearing the things of his heart that he has learned. He is so humble it amazes me! He said "like Nephi said, the Lord has prepared a way for us to all return home with honor and im not sure if Ive done everything that I was supposed to do or if I have become all that he wanted me to become but I know we all can, we just need to follow all of His teachings and do it His way, that is where pure joy can be found!" I teared up because I love Elder Macavlica with a deep respect for His spiritual perspective. Its been such an honor to have had him as a leader on the mission. I have always seen Elder Macavlica give out many letters and packages to all the missionaries in his group but never have I seen him recieve hardly anything. He is from Peru and very humble and hard working so I thought, it was best to spend a little bit of extra money I had left from when we went without eating one day, and get him a journal that I put pictures of christ in and Im having all his mission friends sign. I plan to give it to him this week because transfers are Feb. 8th and who knows where everyone will get split up to. Our area is all of North Buenos Aires and also Rio Gallegos which is the very tip of the bottom of the world right before Antartica. I would freeze my buns off down there because I dont have any winter clothes so im hoping to staying here where I can enjoy sweating to death everyday like I prefer haha. almost everyone gets sent south though so who knows! we will have to see. If I get sent to the south, I apologize to all of you waiting for letters, letters take even longer down there and everything is much more difficult and far away. Im hoping to stay here in Campana one more transfer because Im just now getting everything down great! But if Im to go to Tigre or Capital or any where else, I know that the Lord knows best and I will greatly miss these families here. Elder Erickson and Leon are always making sure that im stepping up my Español so Ive been improving day by day. We set our for Alejandra Tapias house in the farthest villa Las Acasias to apply the newly recieved revelation from the meeting. We were exhausted beyond belief from all the heat and then God sent beautiful rain that showered down all the jungle greenery and it was a gorgeous evening. Walking in the pouring rain with huge smiles on our faces for the love of Heavenly Father that we saw all around us, expecially in the beauty of the scenery. I remembered a disabled boy that I saw walking near a bus stop and watching what house he went to so i was strongly prompted to visit them. Turns out that was his grandmothers house so we went on a hunt to find his right address and one miracle after another led us to His family. Sometimes we feel like soldiers and the people look at us like we are. The rain and our heavy backpacks with nametags and how we keep pressing forward all feels like we are soldiers here to save these people. Because of this ive been even more grateful for my country because freedom isnt free, its hard work. Just when the day couldnt have been more beautiful with the rain we looked to see a boy in a wheel chair hooked up to machines enjoying the cool weather while he sat under a tin roof of his grandmothers home. As we started to pass by his eyes lit up real big and he started to smile and stare at us. I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt like he knew exactly who we were. I walked up to him and held his hand and said hello. He could hardly speak but he didnt want to let go of my hand. He just smiled so big. The grandmother seemed to be surprised by us taking time to talk with him and she was grateful for our kindness. We set up a later appointment with her and I walked away with tears in my eyes. I have so much love for those with special needs. It teaches me more charity, more patience. To me they are angels sent here to earth to teach us what we lack. Sure enough the exact timing we left him, we ran into the boy we had been searching for that lived near by. As we approached his tiny home barely holding together, I was filled with so much humility and love for these gorgeous children living here. One by one they poured out of the house with curious faces of our purpose for being there and their eyes were the most beautiful color Id ever seen. Then a woman approached us with eyes matching all of theirs and we made the connection that this was the mother of all 7! I was so excited for what we were about to share with them.

January 26, 2011- The best thing about this day was the love of my Heavenly Father that I had come to feel more than ever before. I had literally felt a much closer connection with Him and with my purpose for being here. In my Journal I wrote the words, " the greatest feeling in the whole world, is feeling the God who created me wrap His Fatherly arms around me for who Ive now become."

January 27, 2011- This morning was beautiful, my comp and I woke at 5 am to excercise one the roof and we studied and finished weekly planning. An extremely heavy feeling came over me. A feeling of saddness, lack of revelation, lack of progression, lack of ability and a feeling of despair. I couldnt recieve any answers for what we needed to do for our people. It was so frustrating. I knew that I needed to go into our room, shut the door and be alone for a while. So thats what I did. I knelt down and as it says in the scriptures, I offered up my soul in fervant prayer and conversation with my Heavenly Father. that prayer turned into an hour long conversation with Him for all the things im grateful for and for every single tiny and big thing ive needed to repent for such as any pride, any lack of faith etc. etc. That prayer seemed to be as if I were knelt before His very presence in complete humility and gratitude for the life He has given me. My blanket was covered in a puddle of tears and i trembled while speaking because my whole soul cried out for the benefit of these families and their progress. I felt so small and yet so important. I Encouraged my companion to do the same and so she did. I was so filled with light that I was beaming with energy for the work. That day was filled with miracles.

January 29, 2011- at 6 am Hermana Romo and I were working out on the roof. I felt so great watching the sun rise and starting the day off great. In personal study my comp studied about having more faith and I studied Agency. We both recieved amazing revelation for our investigators. We worked incredibly hard this day. We covered our entire area, speaking to everyone in our path and my shoes were thrashed by the end of the day so I had to super glue them together. What a great feeling it is to wear out yoru shoes in this work. We have great investigators at this time that we love but it has been alot of work. Nadia, is a sweet girl 15 years, but her boyfriend seems to be all that she thinks and talks about. She and her mother look extremely simliar like my mother and me so in a way I see a little bit of me at 15 in her. I try to hold onto a connection when I find one so the spirit can speak even more clearly to them. We have been teaching her that she does not NEED him, she needs to establish her stability and standards on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for doing that, she will be blessed. She has a baptism date for this month. PLEASE PRAY FOR HER!!! We have a baptism date for Alejandra the mother of Estefania, and also her two daughters Milagros and Susana so PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM TO ALL STAY STRONG! This week was so hard for me because we did some reorganizing. It was time to say goodbye to some of our long investigators that have not progressed on their own, or have progressed but then stop after a certain point for too long. We had to tell the Milla family goodbye because there had been so many times that they have ignored us at their door or have hid from us, but then other times they let us in and they read the Book of Mormon with us, they come to church, they tell us that we are family to them and they love us and are so happy that we have come to them, but then they never return our calls and they ignore our knocks at the door. They progress and make committments then they dont progress. When we told them goodbye, I cried walking away. It was so sad for me because I love them so much but we cannot keep investing time into teaching them when they hid from us. Lucas, the son, is incredible also and he had a date to be baptized but then became missing and never returned our calls. His mother joked about him wanting to work more to save up money and come see me in the united states. So every time we looked for him they said he was working. I still believe that one day, they will be ready to keep their commitments and ready to all be baptized. They are all very amazing people. Hermana Romo re-visited the family of 7 kids and we didnt come empty handed, we brought loaves of bread and banannas to feed the children and that night we taught all of them with their parents the plan of salvation. Their eyes lit up with joy. They couldnt believe the knowledge we shared with them. They felt the spirit so strong and excepted to be baptized. We will set a date on our next meeting. PRAY FOR THEM TOO!! >That night after we finished planning and I bandaged up my blistered feet, I sat on the floor with my companion after our prayer and just cried. I was so happy. Something deep in my heart changed in this moment. I poured out all my thoughts to Hermana Romo and said, " I just had a huge change in my heart today, I know that ive said it before, but today was different, when we were walking through the villa and I saw all the trash in the sewer water in the ditch and all the dirty dogs in the streets, and heard all the blasted happy spanish music from the humble homes barely stable to stay up I looked at the sunshine in the clouds and said, I dont know if I ever want to go back to the united states. I want to be here forever until I help every person here! Argentina is now home to me, I cant leave here until ive done everything I can to help these families!" My comp looked at me and said, "its hitting you! the mission age is now hitting you! congradulations hermana gillum!" haha I loved this new feeling. I cried to her saying " im scared to go back to real life and scared of changing into the person I was before my mission. I was still a good person, but I was not at my full potential like Christ wanted me to be and now here I am feeling so much stronger, so much wiser, so much more grateful and I NEVER EVER EVER want that to go away!" In this moment everything hit me at once. Christ is the center of everything that matters most. As much as I love music and everything about it, I realized that ive even put music before Him before, Ive put many worldly things before Him until now... now He is the music, He is the most important thing to me and I made a promise to spend the rest of my life dedicating myself to bettering this world by doing my part.

January 30 2011- This day was bizzare. I had a sever head cold, but its like 110 degree weather plus humidity. So that doesnt make sense, but the heat really has been making us sick. We ate lunch at a less active members house that we love but the food was not my favorite. I was quite scared when I saw what they pulled off the grill to serve us and my stomach turned upside down. Intestines, heart, and cow brain with salad that had mold on it. I stuck to eating bread and washing the salad down with the pepsi that was poured into my dirty cup. My comp dared me to taste the brain with her and if you know me, you know how squimish I am about the tiniest thing in my food but sure enough I braved up and put a piece in my mouth, as I chewed I tried keeping composure and sure enough I spit it out of my mouth so fast and wiped my mouth with my napkin. I couldnt do it. She was much more tough than me. She ate it all. I felt so bad because they looked at me wierd since it was like their favorite food but there was no way I could eat that stuff. It tasted like salty slimey microwaved sea food and I couldnt handle it. So I remember what my mother used to say she did when she was little at her grandmothers when she didnt like the food and she would feed the dog under the table, so that seemed to save me in this moment also. I went home and threw up, and used a half a bottle of mouth wash. At least I can bee cool like all the other missionaries and say i TRIED!

Today was also a very awesome day, we have had so many big changes. I have such an incredible companion that Ive grown to be best friends with. She means everything to me. She never leaves my side when I need her shes there and not just because she HAS to be haha. She reads me inspiring things from the ensign and the scriptures, she tells me stories before we go to sleep and she makes me laugh all the day long with her great animation! She is a blast and I know that after the mission, we will be lifelong friends. We are planning to visit eachother often. She lives in Los Angeles so we are planning a disneyland trip for 2012 already and im so excited to meet her family and have her come to St. George. She means so much to me. To all you girls out there who want to go on the hardest greatest adventure of your life that will change you for the better.... I SUGGEST YOU SERVE A MISSION! Its by far the best decision ive ever made! Thanks to all of you who faithfully write me, I owe all my success to your encouragement!!!!! MIssionaries need support of loved ones and you are all helping the work move forth!
I   LOVE   YOU    ALL   SO    MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo

til next time, chao for now, suerte y besitos!!!!

 

con amor,

 Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

January pictures

January 24, 2011

"Miracles happen when you come to truly know HIM!"

 

When we ate lunch with flia: Amores (what a great name) and we just love them because they are such a super happy family! We are always laughing. Hermano Amores calls us his daughters and he is always protective of us. I found out that they are such amazing people because they have suffered and experienced so much. Hermana Amores said that both of her parents passed away when she was 12 years old! I cannot imagine! Hermano Amores was falsely accused of things when he was bishop and President Arnold of the 70 restored his authority to him yet they have NEVER LEFT the church! They easily could have blamed God for their trials but they would never do that. They are so strong in the church and have such great faith in the Lord. Their faith has carried them through the troubles to the great positions they are now in. I look up to them.

That brings me to one of our favorite talks that we have been handing out to families. The talk by Elder Anderson called "no lo dejen a EL!" (we never leave Him) Its so inspiring. My favorite is the end of the talk when the Lord asks his Apostles: "Will ye also go?" and Peter says something like Lord to whom shall we go, ye have the words of Eternal life, we know thou art the Christ. That is powerful! I tear up every time I picture the Savior asking will ye also go? because when times are hard I stand up and tough it out and say the words of that song, "No Lord, Ill never no never, ill never no never, ill never no never, no never forsake!" We all need to pull our own hand carts in this life( which is shorter than we think)  because He suffered the Garden and the Cross for us to have rewards of Eternity.

 Familia Amores are great examples of enduring til the end. We talked with their inactive son at the table because its our goal to bring incomplete families together in the church again. We will be talking with him more often, because we can see the love they have in their eyes for their son. Our first big miracle was when we went to Flia: Tapia. Estefania´s mother Alejandra recieved her powerful answer that THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE!!! She is very excited for her baptism. As we were traveling on the collectivo back to centro, this boy got on the bus asking for charity all covered in dirt with holes in his shoes. I thought, how sad, I would love to get him some food or a pair of new shoes but then i thought, even better, I can share the gospel with him and his family. While we were getting his address we passed our destination. so from there, we let the spirit guide and surely... the spirit did. We were next to the church so we knelt there to pray for inspiration of where the Lord wanted us to go. I rose up and told my companion we needed to cancel our appointment in villa 9 and stay in this area for the remainder of the time. We walked all day without any success but planted many seeds along the way. it began to get very dark. Our watches read 8:30 and we were far from home. The next thing we know, we are walking back to a bus stop and I am ever so strongly prompted back track a few steps and speak with this guy in his yard. The girlfriend comes out and says "oh yes, we have been looking for a religion!" As misionaries our eyes got really big and we replied with excitment: "ok, well we have been looking for you" We ended up teaching them the first lesson that night and she told us we were a miracle because her friend had texted her to ask her when she was going to come to the Evangelical church, but right when she read that text she heard our voices in the front yard. she knows we were sent from God. That was such an incredible blessing from the Lord, I know we were directed to them from the spirit the whole day we just didn´t know it.

Over the weekend we had to travel to San Fernando for another meeting from 6 am to 6 pm. During our meeting with President and the other missionaries. We had random news reporters come and interview us and take pictures of us for the paper of Buenos Aires in Capital. It seems to me that people are really interested to know why there are so many missionaries here in their country and these women came to investigate. little did they know the spirit they would feel. A few of us stood up to bear our testimonies of how we came to be here and of course my heart was pounding for me to stand.They left with two Book of Mormons in hand and smiles on their faces. It was an incredible experience.

 

Saturday was Hermana Romo´s Birthday, I woke up in the morning feeling kind of sick, i feel that our diet hasn´t been very good for us. My stomach can´t handle all the greasy food. Before we left the house we knelt to pray with Heavenly Father in a very sincere, long prayer. As i was speaking, a very dark shadow passed over my eyes as if the clouds had covered the sun in our window, (but there were no clouds) thinking nothing of it I started praying for protection over us and the shadow moved. Right before I was about to finish, I felt a presence of some sort behind me and then we heard noises as if a gust of wind had brushed the wall and shut the closet door. We opened our eyes and nothing was there but we felt great peace. This day was filled with many miracles. I sure can feel the difference when people pray for the missionaries because it really helps us. We were walking to a cabina to use the phone, little did we know that our first miracle awaited us there.The store owner Esteban spoke with us about his family, we shared our testimonies and left him with a Book of Mormon. He took the words right out of our mouth when he tried to speak in English and said "perhaps God is calling me and that is why you are here" Of course we responded once again, "EXACTLY! thats exactly why we are here" haha We met a remise driver that sure enough we know has been prepared for the gospel. He says he wants to leave a legacy for his children and always be married to his wife. Sure enough he lives four houses away from Familia Tapia, the exact area were we were looking for more people! We also have been blessed financially, in the fact that many people have cared enough for us to not charge us full price for things. I got a chocolate cake for that night to sing Hermana Romo Happy Birthday. It was such a good day that i stared into the sunset with gratitude in my heart and thanked Heavenly Father for this adventrue we are living in this wonderful country as missionaries of the Lord.

Sunday was crazy and still wonderful because the life of a missionary is still wonderful, but the things that happen are crazy. Church was great, even though a couple of our ivnestigators didn´t show up. (disappointing) We had several miracles also. People that haven´t come to church in over 3 years, were sitting with their whole family  row by row in sacrament meeting and our faces lit up with joy. We visited Esteban to see if he had read at all and surprisingly he had. He says the book is beautiful and he knows its true. He says he plans on reading the entire book. We look forward to the joy he will obtain from doing so and we hope to soon meet his family. On our way home we contacted Norma and her daughter was overly anxious to visit with us. They are two new investigators that we are so excited for. As we were coming home we were cautious of the park thats never lit at night because we have been followed before. But we are very protected by the Lord, so we are also very smart and alert. Plus it helps that we are both from Cali haha and Hermana Romo probably has a black belt in karate because she is from L.A. haha When we got home, while planning, a strange man was at our door staring into the peep hole and the lock. We shut the lights off and we peeked out and he hid on the other side of the door. He was there for a good enough amount of time that we called our leaders and sure enough Hno. Arrieta from our ward came with a policeman. We were thankful to Heavenly Father for keeping us safe and thankful to the help we recieved. Right when we think the adventures were over, before laying in bed we noticed a gigantic red spider on the wall above the bed. It was for sure poisonous! and Hermana Romo cracked me up attempting to kill that thing. It would not die, It was so freaky! 

Looking back at how much the spirit has guided me to go one way instead of the other, and talk to one person or another, I am AMAZED at the power we are endowed with as Missionaries! There are too many miracles too even count, there are too many times we have been magically guided and protected by the spirit, that strengthen our testimonies. This is the Lord´s church, and this is His work that we are carrying. We know it and therefore, He is with us. I have really come to be aquainted with my Father in Heaven more than ever before and really talk with Him as His daughter. I have felt his love more and come to truly know how he speaks to me. I invite all of you to pray UNCEASINGLY to Him all the day long about anything and everything. I promise that your relationship with Him will grow and having a strong personal relationship with Heavenly Father will cause your heart to grow. It will expand in ways you never knew possible.

Thank you all for your encouragement. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your love. May God bless you for all that you do. I pray for you all!!! I REALLY DO! I´m sending letters in the mail so please send me your home addresses.

Till next week, stay classy,

haha love you guys.

 

con amor,

Hermana Ashley Gillum

Ashley Ann Gillum from Argentina....

Campana, Argentina update!!!

Sí todovía estamos sudando a full!!!! hahaha ITS SO DANG HOT!! Good thing Heavenly Father is nice enough to have sent us a huge rain and lightning storm yesterday so its cooled of the ground a little today but we are still cookin! haha. There has been so much progress with our new changes in our area and companionship. We knew that Satan was switching up his game plan so we knew that much fasting and more prayer were necessary for progress and IT WORKED! My companion and I care so much about these people here in Campana that we have organized everything and worked worked worked. We now have many progressing families and the work is rolling forth. Lucas, Ariel, Alejandra, Luis all have baptism fechas and many more to come for this week! We went to two big trainer meetings in San Fernando with all the Leaders and President Gulbrandsen and his assistants really brought the power of the spirit and pumped us up for the work as always. I also got my Visa info. Elder Peterson drove us to Capital Buenos, and it was HUUUGE! We saw a HUGE river that looked like an ocean, then we saw the HUGE city spread out with buildings as far as the eye could see, then we saw countless Villa´s or (slums) and that was incredibly sad!

Whats hardest for me is seeing all the garbage filled shacks with clothes lines that have pinned up baby clothes. Tiny shirts and pants hanging out to dry of children born into that.

Everything on the mission is humbling. I have felt a huge change in my heart being here.

we got off the freeway onto this huge street with 22 lanes! (the widest in the world) and we saw the huge buildings and millions of people I was amazed because my whole area is more out in the Campo area with fields and spread out villa´s but this was the biggest city ive ever been to in my life and gorgeous architecture and european influence. I have an awesome picture of capital on my laptop at home and it was so unreal being in the center of the picture in real life! It became so real to me that im living one of my dreams. We got all my paperwork situated for me to be an official ARGENTINE! whoooo! We also got letters and packages from the office and ofcourse the package had tons of JUNK FOOD haha STOP trying to make me gain weight on the mission people! haha just kidding I was so very thankful for the peanut butter and the real chocolate thank you so much Ro! and thanks for the letters in the mail that I got from all of you, Ben, Chloe, Jesse, Rory, Marlin, Mom, Geralann, Nick & Judy,Elders, Heidi Morris, Erica Page, You are all so awesome for your great support and encouragment! you all know that letters really help the mission work! We never have time to write letters out here in our area so bear with me I promise to acknowledge your efforts and respond as soon as possible. Its nice to be cheered on by all of you! My english skills are dying, my Castellana (Español) is improving by the days so bear with me in my horrible blog skills as I type you letters of updates and just know that im communicating better here and thats what matters. Mom, If you can, you should go to the St. George Temple and leave a message at the visitors center for this really nice man named Mark. He is in a wheel chair suffers from Alzheimers(spelling?) but I met him before my mission there and he goes there often. He has faithfully sent me one letter every single week about his life events and efforts of service that he puts forth everyday. He has a way with words because every single one has me in tears from his incredible courage and desire to serve people in the community. I have not had time to respond to him still so please let him know he is making a big difference in my mission and i appreciate his service of encouragment for me. He pushes me to want to be better. I have told everyone to not send me any packages but there have been a few that have come in the mail, and its been so humbling, because its never expected. I appreciate those of you who support the missionaries. This work is hard for every missionary and the letters mean a lot. I have a few Elders in my zone that hardly ever even get one letter every two months so ladies... I encourage you to get writing them and cheering them on as well, because they work really hard and I know it would make their day to get even one little note of encouragment. ALSO FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO SEND PACKAGES TO ME OR ANYONE IN THE BUENOS AIRES NORTE MISION, YOU MUST ADDRESS THE NAME TO KAREN GULBRANDSEN and a side note saying: for Hermana Ashley Gillum because karen is (the mish. pres. wife) so that way we do not have to travel long distances to the post office in the city to sign for them. and just a little note of advice, putting pictures of Mary on the package HELPS! hahaha trust me! Mom, healthy food and vitamins pretty much dont exsist out here, and thats all im lacking.all american stuff is super pricey. one little clean and clear face scrub costs 70 pesos! its nuts! and theres no such thing as handy little perfumes or body sprays, its all wierd spray on deodorants. I should of stalked up more at wal-mart before I left. oh well, now I know. My shoes are all thrashed but no worries! I bought this awesome super glue stuff that will work just fine so im good! We get hastled every once in a while by men that call stuff out to us and Ive been proposed to more times than I can count now but for the most part I just feel a very powerful protection over us and we are gaining a great reputation in Campana because the people are seeing why we are here and the good that we are doing.

The work is going so well, the noche de hogar went good, we baked a cake for the members and had a little party to help them recieve revelation for more references for us we watched the first vision and asked inspired questions. We have recieved tons of references now! We are going to blow last weeks numbers out of the water and do all that we can in our power to help every person we meet. We have already seen the teary eyes of the families now that are realizing God´s hand in their progress and we are watching them transform their lives for the better in a world thats spinning out of control. They are finding the stability and safety that this Gospel brings and I really feels good to be a part of this change for them. I have always wanted to make a difference somehow, and as a missionary of the Lord I see that I am. All by keeping myself clean and worthy to be an instrument in His hands everyday. Im growing so close to these families that I cant imagine telling them goodbye without making sure they are holding tight to the Iron Rod so they and their families can live together forever. I have felt all of your prayers and trust me it makes a difference. But more than praying for me, pray for these people to prepare themselves for baptism so they can find the happiness that they are so deeply searching for.Thank you all for your selfless acts of kindness and support. I love you with all my heart. chao for now,

con amor, hermana ashley ann gillum

Pictures!!

I've lost count:)

QUE PASA MI LOVES!!! haha Campana, Buenos Aires is still alive and well but Satan is for sure on the attack as usual. Even though we have great people with baptismal dates that we are very excited for, Satan too has been switching up his game plan so we are re-adjusting ours as well! Since my amazing companion Hermana Romo came to the area and hermana Allen left, we have worked harder than ever and the work has become even harder. She has joked around a lot like, wow, you had a lot of baptisms for your first bit here, Im worried that when I come to the area everything slows down, I must be bad luck. I just laugh at her because shes incredible. Im just grateful for all that my amazing trainer taught me and left with me. I love and miss her very much. Hermana Romo is full of life. She keeps me laughing on a constant basis and has taught me a lot more Español. Im so grateful to have her as my companion and I know that Satan wants her to think shes bad luck. She is an amazing girl. So a lot of our plans have changed and are being revised in this area. I have worked three times harder than I did when I first got here and I know the people and the area well enough that ive been doing exactly what our leaders have asked of us and yet, people are not committing!! The have excuses that I just cant seem to understand. One is an ex- missionary and her whole family and her wont go to church anymore all because she says she doesnt have a long skirt. so I tell her she can have one of mine and she says, she doesnt like wearing a long skirt so she wont. She says she does everything else but will not go to church and she doesnt think its a big deal. We have tons of great families but no matter what we do they will not come to church, they say they are to shy or cant take all their children and even when we figure out every possible answer for their problems, they still say they want to listen to our message, they will read scriptures and have us come over but are afraid of committing to church. We travel to the farthest villa to make sure that they are committed to coming and they promise they will yet they never show up. We have even tried picking them up but that also doesnt solve it. So we have realized, instead of lacking faith and getting discouraged like the adversary would like us to do... we spoke with our zone leaders Elder Bond and Elder Macavilca and they said that we are going to keep going. Keep working with the members, continue the hard work but now see what we can add to our recipe. So Hermana Romo and I are setting up a Noche De Hogar meeting with all of our ward members to get them excited about helping the missionaries with finding and welcoming people. We have some pretty inspired thoughts and analogies we are preparing and we are using the prophets inspired questions in the end for them to think of people they know who are ready for the gospel. We re-colored the area map to start tracting and contacting in a more effective patern rather then traveling to far away and wasting time with random appointments.

In my morning studies as I have been reading in the Book Of Mormon I was reading in Mosiah about all the wars between the Nephites and Lamanites. All the good and the wicked people. My teacher in the MTC really had me focus on recognizing Satan´s counterfeits for everything in this life and since then especially now this has become a greater search of mine. Ive been realizing Satan´s counterfeits for EVERYTHING. For example, this past Sunday in Church we heard the example of two cups of what appear to be clear water, but really Satan has dropped in clear chemicals into one of them, fooling us to believe the if its not completely cloudy then its probably ok. Point being that Satan is all of the following things: Cunning, sly, craftiness, lying, evil, dark. These are all proof that he is skilled at these things, he knows exactly how to lead us astray, discourage us, get us down, little by little. He does this especially by making us forget these three things: 1) who we are as children of God 2) what the Savior has done for us and what that means exactly 3) that we can recieve personal revelation. Satan wants to confuse us entirely but he Does this a little at a time or all at once in our weakest of times. Ive realized that he, from the very beginning has always had a way of getting people to wander from the iron rod even a little at a time with his counterfeits. For example: in Mosiah 10:13-18 it describes why the Lamenites had such hatred towards the Nephites... They believed the traditions of their Lamenite fathers who believe Satan´s counterfeits. They believe that when Lehi was commanded by God to travel into the wilderness with his family, that they really were foolishly tricked, They believe when Nephi was commanded of God to retreive their Plates from the wicked king, that he stole them, They believe that when they were punished it was because God favored Nephi over them, but really it was that Nephi was courageous and righteous in all things the Lord required. Therefore, Satan´s craftiness has been on going ever since the beginning. I also noticed with King Noah taxing the people for his pleasures and his many wives was as if it were Satan mocking tithing. Taking righteous and sacred hard work and sacrafice and turning it into things of the world or in King Noahs case, for building up his riches and his palace rather then building up the kingdom of God. We can recognize his counterfeits from the times he tried tempting Christ during his ministry here on earth. The poisens Satan slips into our minds while he tells its oh, its ok, its not THAT bad or well, its just missing a little truth. He does this with everything that the world is so comfortable with excepting as normal. Countless counterfeits throughout the scriptures can keep us far from falling into the trapts he leaves around us today. With worries of the latest fashions and looking our best on the outside, when we forget the most important attributes our Father in Heaven has bewstowed us with from within.

This reminded me of a talk by Boyd K. Packer when he spoke of the Iron Rod in Lehi´s dream."vs. 1 nephi 28:33 - that was the test... then... Lehi said: "and we heeded them not!" and THAT was the answer. Largely because of television, instead of looking over into that spacious building in Lehi´s dream, we are, in effect, living inside of it." Elder Packer warns: "After baptism/confirmation you take hold of the safe iron rod. But you are not completely safe. It is AFTER you have ´partaken of the fruit´that your test comes! If you hold to the rod, you can feel your way through darkness. FEEL your way forward with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Grasp the iron Rod tightly and never let go!" He asks, "Who wrote this incredible vision? There is NOTHING like it in the Bible. Did Joseph Smith compose it? Did he write the Book of Mormon? Ofcourse not. That is much harder to believe than the account of angels and golden plates! Joseph Smith was only 24 yrs. old when it was published." Just as Holland says in response to the critics and non-believers, "No evil man could write this book, and no good man would, unless it were true and inspired by God."

Being an official representative of the Lord Jesus Christ at this time in my life that Im but one missionary out of the millions of incredible others that serve in this work, I leave you my testimony that the miracles ive seen in this Gospel are real. I have seen countless works of Heavenly Father transform before my eyes. I have read the Book of Mormon through and through again and I will continue to -ponder the message and - ask God if its true... and I will continue to recieve the answer "yes my daughter, it is" I am only one of the millions that know these things are true and Im so humbled that he has called me, at 21 years old, to carry His love to the people of Argentina when I never thought I could. when we feel that we are lacking one thing or another we need to search for Him more diligently. Because He is the ONLY one that carries us. I LOVE YOU ALL. I COULDNT DO THIS WITHOUT EACH OF YOU AND YOUR SUPPORT AND CHARITY! You all make a difference to me and to this work of the Lord! Til next week, Suerte y besos! Chao,

 

Hermana, Ashley Ann Gillum

Letter #8

BUEN DíA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!! :)
HOLA everyone!!! Thank you so much for the emails of support and love
its nice to have a break for a second and remember all the people that
love you while you are so caught up in the mission work. Its just what
I need to get all recharged for the week! There have been some scary
things ive seen and felt a few times in the mission now but these
things have only proved to me even more, how the battle of good and
evil are raging about us day by day. I not only want to sit on the
right side but I want to prepare each day and fill my testimony as
much as possible to fight against the pushes of the adversary and his
followers. EVIL is REAL, and so is GOOD and LIGHT and PEACE. So which
side do we choose? Every day should be spent bettering ourselves. I
have such a firm testimony of the priesthood authority in our Church.
May we never ever take it for granted! So Hermana Romo from Los
Angeles is SO FUN to have as a companion because shes super obedient
and HILARIOUS! She makes me laugh constantly and it makes it more
enjoyable! I love her dearly. We have been working mostly with the
less actives from the ward because the ward has dwindled. Sadly when
missionaries get transfered their investigators stop coming and so we
have all been trying to follow what our President wants most...
STRENGTHEN THE WARD through the members!!! Im not really sure what Ive
told you in past emails or not but REVELATION in this work is REAL! I
have recieved so much revelation and not even realized it was until
later! Lately ive just had strong feelings that we need to strengthen
the ward and bring them more together... I didnt know why this was my
focus. Several times it was impressed on me to express to members how
important it is that we do this together even when the missionaries
leave. Also once at a members house I felt the strong prompting to
teach about the temple and covenants that we make with our Heavenly
Father. My comp wasnt sure if that was too much info since they are
recent converts but sure enough... I felt it was important and later
we went to a meeting with our president and those are the things he
spoke about most that came from the prophet. So this is what my comp
and I have been doing now. TONS of walking (my shoes are still hangin
in there) TONS of work and pouring sweat in this heat haha. Ive been
telling me comp, I used to not like the wind... now I PRAY for it!
haha now i know that the wind is a tender mercy for the over heating
missionaries haha. We usually wet our clothing with water and wring
them out to wear them but they dry up fast. We have found some amazing
people and we have strengthened the people that have been fading
away... its lots of work. Some days i wonder... man... was all that
walking a waste of our time since no one wanted to listen to our
message... but then Im assured by the tender mercies of the Lord that
is NOT the case. We are examples everywhere we go and we wear Christs
name under ours with gratitude and appreciation. Not to mention... our
families are greatly blessed and every single prayer that ive prayed
HAS BEEN ANSWERED! My mom and sister and friends have been blessed and
I pray that each person who helps the missionaries may recieve
blessing one hundredfold. I have no doubt that they are. Heavenly
Father takes care of them that sacrifice and give, I know because Ive
seen it time and time again already. I have learned so much in my
study time in the mornings... I was reading in 2 Nephi and I love
verse 23 : ¨FOR I AM A GOD OF MIRACLES!¨ I looked up Miracles in the
Bible Dictionary and found this description: =an important element in
the work of Christ, not only divine acts but forming divine TEACHING.
Intended to be proof of Christ. Most teach by symbols and the cure of
sin; the value of FAITH, the law of LOVE. Miracles of healing also
show how laws of love are to deal with actual facts of life. Miracles
were and are a response to FAITH and its best encouragement. Miracles
were NEVER WROUGHT WITHOUT prayer, need and faith. They are VISIBLE
TOKENS of INVISIBLE POWER. Miracles are mighty works because they are
the works of one who is ALMIGHTY! - now this is the best part... THEY
ARE THE NATURAL RESULTS OF THE MESSIAHS VERY PRESENCE! I thought that
was incredible! Everytime in the Bible before the Lord would do a
miracle He would ask ¨do ye have faith enough to believe that I can do
this?¨and all of us need to remember to answer "Yea Lord, I do!" If
miracles cease its because FAITH has ceased. He understands us better
than we think. We often forget how much that is! like the scripture
that says: " shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had
no understanding?" He DOES understand us all and he is the ONLY thing
that carries us.

My comp left me 5 really great pieces of advice to always remember: 1)
we dont change the people, the Holy Ghost does! 2) Everything happens
for a reason, God is the master potter and we are the clay, He places
us where we need to be when we need to be there. 3) Obedience is
EVERYTHING 4) Trust in the Church, its organization is perfect even
when all the PEOPLE are not. 5) Dont ever doubt yourself, the Lord did
not intend for you to do that. He loves you so YOU should love you.

We have had a lot of people that lack the faith to proceed with
learning because SOMEONE in their life is stopping them but my
insightful comp found this passage in the Scriptures that was real
helpful... Matthew 19:29 - Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, or wife or children or
lands FOR MY NAMES SAKE... SHALL RECIEVE AN HUNDREDFOLD, AND SHALL
INHERIT EVERLASTING LIFE! Ive just come to know that when our leaders
and loved ones are asking us to follow rules and be better, we need to
do it, not because they say so but because God has asked us to be
obedient in ALL things and honor thy father and mother. And above all
CHARITY is most important. He knows what will set us free so its His
will we need to follow . Ive come to believe so strongly that a
CONSECRATED life is the way of true and lasting happiness.

I loved Apostle Elder Christofferson´s talk in October when he said: "
Every minute of our span of mortal years must sometime be accounted
for. And it is in THIS life that you walk by faith and prove yourself
able to choose good over evil, right over wrong, enduring happiness
over mere amusement, and your eternal reward will be according to YOUR
choosing... A life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the
home, and the fruits of honesty toil - an acceptance of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ- of its requirements and commandments. To consecrate is
to SET APART or dedicate something as sacred devoted to holy purposes.
True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives- that is,
our time and choices- top God´s purposes."
I also loved in Apostle Elder Anderson´s talk he spoke of not getting
offended nor being ashamed of Christ. " the soul that on Jesus hath
leaned for repose, I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes; That
soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, ill never no never ill
never no never ill never no never no never forsake!" "when the Savior
asked his apostles "will ye also go away?" Peter answered: "Lord, to
whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. ..."we believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
I as a missionary, can also testify that I know this Church is true
because I see countless miracles in this work and people emerging out
of despair into a beautiful new hopeful life of lasting peace. This is
the ONLY way. and just and Joseph Smith testified... It shall roll
forward until it has sounded in every ear. I love these people here, I
love this work, and I love all of you for being the greatest examples
and support. Thank you, with all my love, until next time, suerte
Con Amor,
Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum