Nothing a Bucket of Paint Can't Fix

Hola! Todo bien! Alejandra recieved the gift of the holy spirit by the laying on of hands yesterday during sacrament meeting and it was a beautiful sight. My companion and I greatly considered that family and their faith to all be baptized and we decided to make a sacrafice of some extra money we had by going into a paint store and buying paint to paint their home. We showed up with supplies and got to work and when we finished, we gave them a big picture of the temple with this scripture

“Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer,

a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order,

a house of God” (D&C 88:119).

My companion and I have done much service this week, for our members and our investigators. We have done much reflecting and organizing on what more can be done at this time. We have recieved much help and revelation from the Savior. We also had to travel to Capital for Tramites (paperwork for living here) two seperate days and we met a large group of american students all here for a study abroad. I recieved letters from Mark Johnson, the ever-so-faithful missionary writer of St. George! A beautiful card from my family in Farmington Hills Michigan! and a wonderful package with beautiful music from Matt Abernathy of the band The Sabre Rattlers sang and Produced by Mark Abernathy which all contained very creative and beautiful mixes of hymns from our church. "All Is Well" gave me chills. We throughily enjoyed the spirit that it brought. Thank you for so much kindness and such a great gift! I assure you that my companion and I were so grateful. Also from David in Arizona. Thanks for your letters and cards I loved each one of them! Thank you for the support and love!

 My companions always so creative brother Edgar sent some random news from home that we found interesting... So Taylor Swift dated John Mayor? Interesting gap there. Speaking of them, I really am missing being able to listen to all my music back home. I love music so much but its okay, this is the time to memorize all the hymns in english and spanish. So there were some tornados in the states, and another flood in St. George, Utah? Her brother made it into a masters program so they are moving east (her whole family consists of genius brains and obedient faith) Her brother on a mission right now attends Harvard and she wants to attend Boston when she gets home. Its good for me, it encourages me to push my education desires haha. Her mother sounds like such a rock of a mom with so much charity for everyone and she says I remind her of her sister Myra. Her Dad is amazing all that she tells me amazes me and Im so excited to meet them when I return.

 Deciding to serve a mission was by far the best decision I´ve ever made. I have been stretched to greater limits and come to understand with depth, the most important things in life. I know exactly what I want in my life and my future. Im grateful for the cast the Lord has wrapped me in to heal me of all misunderstanding. Ive written many poems, filled two journals already and actually my companion and I wrote a song on an acoustic guitar that I had. That is up until, the rule came out for our mission that we cannot have any instruments in our apartments because they are distracting. To me music is how I feel the spirit even stronger so this was a big struggle for me at first until I saw the reality of it, which is, its a sacrafice for me, the Lord knows that, He sends bushels of blessings for each sacrafice so we need to be obedient in doing exactly what we are asked, even when we dont understand. Through obedience, that is when we gain understanding. My spiritual growth in this time is almost hard for me to believe. I will cherish this experience all my life and I encourage everyone to prepare to serve. As far as the work goes, everything is rolling forth day by day and P-day (our free day) of the week seems to come too quick and before we know it, the end of the trasfer is here. Missionary work sure does take time and each day counts. Every afternoon that passes by as we are walking for miles in search for those in need of peace, there are moments I wonder where or how my family is doing and if they can feel my love while im a world apart from them. Then we find someone and imediately my heart goes out to them and I feel that they are also my family in need of the peace greater than what I can give them. The peace of the Savior and His promise of Eternal Life. I look around at thousands of people here and see every different person in the search of the same thing... happiness. I must end this early because I have many photos to attach for you. I hope you all are doing your own mission work where you are in your sphere, lifting hands that hang down, healing broken hearts, Praying for the armies who fight for our freedom, praying for this army of God fighting for eternal peace and purpose. May we go about  doing good in the world while wearing a smile, even when times are tough to face or problems may seem like mountains. Remember, that with the Lord, we can move those mountains. We can and we will. All is well. I love you guys.

 

Also Here is an inspiring video that my friend Elder Galati had sent me.

I wanted to share this video with everyone. This man is the Branch President of the Island ward in Ecuador. The church made this short video of him and his story. All of us as saints of the church have the same goal, to truly understand and obtain a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. I know with all my heart that this man has a testimony, that he is doing the lord´s work here on this island. I promise you will feel the spirit of the lord as you sit and reflect on this man´s testimony!
here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEUXgmTKoLg ..... if that doesn´t work, go to www.youtube.com and type in the search bar "Wilson Simmaron", it´s the first video that will come up.

 

love, hermana gillum

 

ye recieve no witness until AFTER the trial of your faith... and then the miracles come...‏

"some blessings come soon, some come late, and some wont come until heaven, but for the righteous... oh... they DO come!" - Holland

 

Dearly beloved... mewecals aw what bwing us togeva today... haha

Family and friends and aquaintances whom I love... I am SO stoked to be updating you at this time on this awesome work of the Lord! The missionary work that continues to change lives for the better, including mine as time goes on. So last week Im pretty sure that I informed you all that I was having unusual side pain. Long story short, had to make a midnight trip to the hospital. I had internal bleeding and had to have an ultrasound done but eventually with a prescription and some paperwork I was sent along my way. So want to hear the fun part... I was running a fever of 101 and my comp tried locking me in the apartment but I wanted to get work done so badly that I coaxed her into letting me out and we were able to have success with lessons that night. By morning... that stubborness of mine brought me to a worse fever and strep throat that I happened to catch from the two people we taught. My immune system was down already and then I had to be stubborn and go out anyway and so thats what I get for not resting again. On the flipside... the good thing is that Doctor Hollingsworth is a great doctor and the antibiotic he prescribed me kicked that little virus in the behind by the time we were supposed to listen to General Conference! And Sunday held one of the greatest miracles I have ever been blessed enough to be a part of. In all honesty every ounce of pain was worth that miracle.

   So HOW BOUT CONFERENCE EH? talk about AWESOME!!!!! We are so incredibly blessed to have such genuine faithful leaders who carry this Church  to be all it needs to be. We are so blessed to have all that we do. I will just tell you about the wonderful notes I took during conference and i hope that maybe some might be of good use to you....

These are just notes, not exact direct quotes by the way...

 

L. Tom Perry-      A testimony of the sacrament is what makes it take effect

                              Our GREATEST joy in this life... is following the Savior... (i second that, I plan to serve all my life)

 

Jean Stevens-    (I met her in the mtc by the way... talk about the most charitable women I have ever met!)

                             What can we learn from children... they are full of faith, love, humility and forgiveness! (reminds me of my little sister forgiving me when I accidently burned her with the curling iron!)

                      The story of Liam who needed radiation treatments and all he asked for instead of being sedated was hearing his fathers voice... (like Joseph Smiths courage during his surgery!)

                              I love how she emphasized to not only hold children... but BEHOLD them... as spirit children as they really are!

 

Walter Gonzales- We need to be reminded that Christ submitted to the WILL OF THE FATHER at all times, even while abondoned and beaten and accused. (are we that willing to submit to the Father?)

                               I loved how he mentioned the missionary who risked losing his family if he served a two yr mission... then he walked out head hanging down but hopeful as he served, sure enough his family came to beg him to stay out longer... for all the blessings they were recieving! (SO TRUE PEOPLE boys girls, get serving missions, it makes you the men and women you need to be)

                              making covenants= an expression of love... they must ALWAYS be kept!

     

Kent Richards - "coping with pain" Christ is NOT a silent observer, it is through pain that brings you the humility needed... to come closer to the Savior.

                              Pain... brings us to an AWARENESS of Gods love!

                              During Christs ministry he CHOSE to suffer pains... to understand US better... so WE must experience the depths of mortality to better understand Him!

                              The story of the young girl who needed a 14 hr operation on her tumor... when she saw angels, she said.."dont worry all the kids here have angels around us." (so true)

                                 "as Job, after we have been tried... we then shall come forth as GOLD"

 

Quentin L. Cook-  Women are more religious.. in every measure.

                                They are daughters of our Father in Heaven. They endure much and with a smile on their face.

                                 The woman and husband are side by side in marriage. Woman by DIVINE NATURE have the greatest responsibility= motherhood.

                                 The pioneer woman after lost her husband to the cold, she said with courage "I appealed to the Lord... and He came to my aid!"

                                 Much accomplished in our church is because of the sisters!

 

Henry B. Erying-   Our HF does HEAR our prayers... he has provided his disciples to answer those prayers of the needy.

                                WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING MORE

                                 A feeling of sympathy has been felt by all and sometime somewhere, but turning it to action unselfishly is part of keeping our covenants as members of His church.

                                 I was so humbled by that story of the family who went to see the damage the flood did to their home... but their home was washed away... with positive hearts they returned to the bishop to ask how they could help other people... (wow talk about christlike charity! I hope to have that same courage)

                                  The welfare of our church is not for ONE time and ONE place.... but for All times and ALL places! (awesome to know we are all in this together)

                                  And the service project that Eyring asked us to start up... wow thats so neat! I hope you are all engaged in a worthy cause in some way to heed this counsel!

 

Boyd. K. Packer-  ( when he stood up there at the stand I smiled so big, remembering that that very man, placed his authoritive hands on my head for a blessing before my mission! wow!)

                               What so ever thing ye do... must be called in my name (christs) as MY church... ( hence... church of jesus christ of latter day saints)

                               Christ is the very center of US and our church. our proper authority is what sets us apart.

                                The husband is the HEAD of the Family and the home... the Wife is the HEART!

                                No one is more subject to temptation then another, we all have agency, we all need to learn to resist temptation of every kind. (self mastery SO IMPORTANT)

                                If you are burdened, Do a little repenting, and lots of forgiving and the spirit of the Lord will comfort you.

                                We are a positive and happy people, we are NOT afraid of this life.

                                 If there is a church that is easy and requires little work... this is NOT the one! (ooo gives me chills so true)

                                

Russel m. Nelson-  We live to die... and we die.. to live AGAIN!

                                  Satan strives to brings us down to be as miserable as he is... but we do not let our FEARS REPLACE OUR FAITH!

                                  The ONLY premature death... is the one NOT prepared to meet God.

                                  Will we really do whatever the Lord commands?

                                  We cannot pick and choose which commandments we must obey, we must obey them ALL.

                                  Your pleading hearfelt prayers are not only heard... they are WANTED. You Father in Heaven WANTS to hear them.

                                  Tithing and the blessings of Tithing... protect you in the day of difficulty.

                                  HOW you deal with trials and afflictions in this life... is WHAT makes your faith and builds your character

                                  You can let those difficulties crush and silence you... or you can let it strengthen you to come out victorious! ( so awesome)

 

Elder. Rich Maynes- Praying and reading scriptures in the home are not just simple tasks, they are CELESTIAL traditions being established in the home.

Cecil Samuelson -    If you are struggling now... you can hold onto OUR testimonies here at this pulpit.

Dallin H. Oaks -         When we have a great vision of what we truly desire we will do ALL we must cut out our addictions and imperfections to achieve that vision.

M. Russel Ballard-    The love of Christ is not a bunch of huge heroic acts, but the small and simple kindnesses

                                    The Lord needs the love of ALL the members to expand and fill the earth! It requires the service of every member.

Pres. Uchtdorf-         Many stand on the side of the waters of baptism but never bring themselves to the truth of needing to enter.

                                    Many wait for some big tramatic event to make them believe but do not even take the SMALL steps of faith on the road of discipleship.

                                    turn down the noise of the world, and listen more to the spirit.

                                    Answers to our prayers often dont come while on our knees but when we are on our feet.

Paul Johnson-           All that we suffer and endure expands our souls and makes us more charitable.

                                     Even the richest minerals need refinement.

                                     We dont seek for trials but we can be sure our mortal life contains the amount needed for us individually.

                                      Not ONE trial is beyond our limits... because THROUGH Christ all is possible.

David Burton-            The older lady who was more focused on food and temporal help when missionaries came means shes not even close to being ready for eternal progression.

                                     We cannot inherit eternal life unless we administer to ppl on earth.

                                     When we administer to others we are more sure of being forgiven of our own sins.

David Bednar-            We can walk with assurance that God WILL guide us... then thy confidence shall wax strong in the Lord.

                                      Focus on the LIGHT

Jefferey R. Holland-    IF we teach BY the spirit..... and you LISTEN by the spirit... you will without a doubt hear what you need personally right now.

                                       Our prophet by no means, has had an easy life... we can be sure that he and his family have endured much but nothing gets him down! He has remarkable faith, unusual stamina and his devotion is an example to us ALL!

 

Ofcourse I have filled half a journal with other notes I had taken and revelation I have recieved but I must bring this email to a close and tell you about the miracle that we have had during Sundays General Conference! So our Leaders Elder Bond and Elder Davis were super happy that they were prepping for a baptism of a family of 5 during conference. We were so happy for them! They really worked hard for this miracle! During the break in between conference we left to catch a bus back to our area to pick up a lunch from a member since we have had zero food in our cupboards for days haha. On the collectivo ride... satan was trying to get me to be discouraged.. the Elders have baptisms.. and we dont....

 I said out loud to my companion, "I wish we had a baptism today, that would be so nice to be able to find a full family that are legally married to be able to baptize them"

then my always happy sweet companion responded.. "we can sometime and we will.."

 thats when I pondered the miracle that needed to happen. I said with all the faith in my heart "alright, then this is what we are going to do, the second we grab our lunch we are going to walk to our favorite remise place where they always help us out and we are going to eat our food while we walk so we dont waste time. Then, we are going to pray that they wont charge us today and that they might do us the favor of taking us with Alejandra to Zarate for conference to meet President and see what revelation he recieves from the Lord. If she cannot be baptized today, at least we did all we could to make sure she got to hear the Prophet speak." We prayed so much and didnt doubt the possibility at all. Sure enough it all worked out. On our way to Zarate with Alejandra, the scripture sunk in deep, that when the lord asks us to obey, he ALWAYS provides a way! We obeyed not spending money on the sabbath and obeyed the time frame we were given and with more sacrafice and hard work, our faith was built more strong, and the miracles do come! We love Alejandra with all our hearts. It was possible only with the faith of our leaders, and your faith in us that we could all do it, and with all of our heartfelt prayers Alejandra entered the waters of baptism and it was more then beautiful! When we met her afterwards in the bathroom she looked brand new, she kept saying how she felt free. I can only imagine how good she felt. I saw the light in her eyes.  finally we were able to be filled with the joy of knowing we have helped complete their family as far as baptism goes. They all have seen so many blessings already they are much more happy! and they all now have been baptized and have the opportunity to live together forever. What a beautiful joy. We realized that with our past lessons learned, when we were so stressed over numbers and baptisms to the point of impatience, the baptisms fell through and wouldnt work, but it was when we were calm in our heart, accepted the will of our heavenly father and prayed for us to do according to His will, that was when we asked the person (the child of God that they are) what THEY thought was best and what Heavenly Father wanted THEM to decide, thats when we had success. When WE dont get in the way of the connection GOD has with HIS child, thats when they feel the spirit the most and thats when They KNOW they need to be baptized. It was beautiful. Now during this weekened I really gain appreciation for SELF RELIANCE that the apostles kept speaking of. Our president has been really emphasizing how we need to all stregthen our self-reliance and trust in the Lord. Its beautiful how we are teaching our investigators that also. Helping people to help THEMSELVES through the Will of the Father. Also ive loved how inspired you are as our President. Its a great example to all of us. You are an incredible instrument of the Lord. We are so grateful for the Love and faith of those that are mindful of us.... THIS IS THE LORDS CHURCH! He desires ALL to partake of this EVERLASTING JOY AND SALVATION!

Keep enduring... and the blessings do come... I promise you that!

til next week... I love you all!

chao for now

 

love hermana ashley gillum

Surprise I'm still here!!

Hola! Como esta? Espero todo esta bien!

The weather sure is getting cold! I do not even want to hear about all of you enjoying the warmth back home! Lucky Ducks! Hermana Romo and I are popsickles in the morning! the sun is out but the humidity makes the chill more cool and we are needing to bust out the winter gear... I hardly have any that I brought so im going to look all kinds of mismatching outfits haha. Im going to need to get some new shoes in a month or two. Its funny how I read through my last update and I kept making the typo saying, EVERY instead of EVERYONE... I have really gotten alot of my english mixed with Spanish. In Spanish you just keep it much more simple, you just say todo (meaning all) hence me saying every. haha its wierd how that happens with time. Im learning more but the language is a never ending learning process. Theres so much to still get down. My hair is getting longer by the days, it grows an inch every month so im stoked to have my long hair again when I get home. I still weigh the same as I did when i left, 118lbs. I hope to get all my muscles toned again when I return and have the gym everyday. As for right now, im just trying my best to keep healthy considering the food out here is horrible for you. Im not concerned about my physical nearly as much as my spiritual during my mission. Being spiritually filled is so much more important to me anyway. Virtue is the most important thing.

Church for one hour the last two Sundays has been interesting. So funny how we just RUN out of water...? haha really makes you appreciate the church services we have back home in the states. The little things that are often overlooked. We are so blessed to have so much there at our fingertips. When I get home everyone might think im so wierd for being amazed at all we have there. I like bagging my own groceries and washing clothes by hand to hang them up to dry haha can you tell that ive been here long enough? So as you can guess, walking into Sacrament Meeting was quite funny. Everyone just kept saying... wow hermana, youre still here? haha it was so fun for me to explain that ironically yes, im still in this area. This will be my 6th month here in April! Everyone was surprisingly overjoyed about the situation. They all just kept hugging me and kissing my cheek and saying oh, good we prayed that you would stay here. So I could feel the love for sure but i just kept joking with them saying, "Si todavía estoy aqui...porque necesitan parar de orar!" haha meaning stop praying! haha they know that they all mean so much to me, we are close enough now that they expect me to joke like that. Truly I feel its a blessing to be able to finish what Ive started here and continue to serve these people of Campana 1. They are very special.

 I have been having pain in my right side for a long time now and the doctor thought it might be my appendix so he had me on a different diet and get some blood work done in Hospital Austral which we had to travel to Escobar to get to. It is the biggest hospital that Ive ever seen. Its really clean though, and they are all very professional there. My only worry was when I was about to get my blood work, the Phlebotomist didnt properly clean my arm and inject the needle. (being a phlebotomist myself I notice details) My arm was swollen and bruised for a few days haha but im alive thats what matters haha. Turns out my results came back fine, and if it was my appendix it would cause a severe fever which I dont have. The Doctor suggested I go for an ultrasound when we have time due to the fact that it may be a cist on one of my ovaries. No big deal just annoyed with the pain really.

 We were also able to make it to Mercedes Flores big 15th quinceñera! Hermana Romo and I did service for their family and we styled all their hair and helped with makeup for the fiesta. She looked like a princess, her hair and dress were gorgeous. I was so happy to see her family´s reaction. They think I should do hair and makeup for movies haha. they are so funny. The Bishop was very grateful for our service for his family. He couldnt stop thanking us for the potatoes that I made and we plan to serve him more often with time that we are given. Service has now become a yearning of mine. I will not miss out on an opportunity to help serve my community however I  can when I get home. Just baking cookies for someone makes such a difference. Often we run into a couple that will say, "oh you are mormons? oh we dont know much about you but we do remember how someone from your church once did something very sweet for us and our family!" PEOPLE DONT FORGET SERVICE! Its always a blessing to the missionaries like us who again cross their path and they already know the kindness our church is based upon. Thank you members of the church who are striving to serve in little significant ways! You better believe that you each make a difference!

  Hermana Romo and I tried to do much service this past week and we were given the opportunity to feed a hungry family.

We had cooked up some chicken to bring to a family of 8 who barely has a loaf of pan (french bread) to split for the week. The Children´s eyes lit up when we came to share our message and bring a warm meal for them as well. The baby has trouble with speech and it worries them so we invited them to recieve a blessing and attend church next Sunday to feel the peace there.

 Our President called with great news that Alejandra has greatly been on his mind. Talk about revelation because she has been praying constantly these days to be able to be baptized as soon as possible. Her living situation is interesting because in there brick home, its attached to several other dwellings and living quarters so being a single mother with five girls, an ex spouse, and a few homeless friends, she is struggling to get her own place. She wants so badly to be able to have her own home for her girls and her so she can be baptized. We are working through this process for her as best as we can and she has so much faith that I have no doubt the Lord is very mindful of her and her family. I have so much faith that she will be baptized soon in the Lords time. One blessing we saw from her daughter Susanas baptism is we promised her mother would find a job and guess what... that very week, we visited them with a photo of her baptism and they were overjoyed to tell us her mother had found a job. Talk about Blessings of the Lord! Every single one of our investigators have seen miracles when they come to church. I get so excited for them to recieve the blessings because I know they will be closer to the Lord by trusting in him to take care of them.

  In our last district meeting we recieved some letters! Thanks Matt Abernathy I recieved your calendar with paintings of the Savior and it was beautiful and very much appreciated thank you! ive been needing a regular calendar for a while! Also a great friend of mine sent me a DearElder letter that I found to be very inspired. One of the paragraphs read this: "The message you bring (the message of love) is that God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son. Love is what holds things together and keeps families lasting forever, its what you are feeling everyday while you are out there. That´s when I found out what true love was... on my mission. Not in a romantic way that hollywood tried to show, but loce as an eternal principle. I learned to appreciate family more, and so many things I used to take for granted. Missions I believe, are to teach us how to love, love as the Savior did and does." ... You know who you are :) thank you for your letter!

 Its true. Ive been out here 7 months and can truly say, ive already come to know this to be true. I thought I knew what I wanted before my mission... haha boy was I wrong! The Lord in His Everlasting love, has completely changed my hearts desires for the better. Ill never again stray from what Ive learned here in mission. A life lived for others, truly is the best life worth living. Not to mention im so glad ive learned to love these people in their culture and love this language that I know I will use all of my life. 

 I know that praying to be filled with Christlike love each day, makes all the difference in how we carry ourselves. Just yesterday we decided to go to our purple area on our map and start from the back of it and work our way up being led by the spirit and make sure to visit all those who have assisted church before. The spirit sure did lead us. We found several miracles, several people who said, they were grateful we found them.

   Then as we were about to go straight I felt a pull at my heart telling us to go left. Down that street we found Andrea sitting on the curb with tears in her eyes. We sat along side her and asked if we could listen to her and try and comfort her. She is a mother four who struggles with self confidence and her place in this world. She has faced horrible things in her life. When my inspired companion asked her what her greatest question in life is... she cried and responded.. "why my father abandoned me and ive had to live all my life without him. He left for another woman and has another family but never has spoken to us again. It breaks my heart. I need my father, my children need him. I just dont know why he would abandon us." As these words rolled from her mouth tears welled up so much in my eyes. I put my arm around her. My companion spoke and said, "you know what Andrea, my companion here can relate to you very well... I have a feeling you should hear what she has to say." Then I spoke, " Andrea, I too have had a very difficult hand delt to me and my family has suffered this same pain when my Grandfather left my Grandma for another woman, to have another family. I also have never had a father in my life. I watched that pain through my grandma, my mother and my aunts, down to me. As much as I hate the fact that my wonderful Grandma suffered from His actions, I look at her as my hero for the burden she bore with courage, saying nothing of hurt it caused in order to stay strong for the rest of us. I too have questioned my worth and standing and purpose here on earth. I want to tell you that I used to let it hurt me for a long time, but now I am free from the pains that come through the actions of others. I have a lasting peace. I know that im a daughter of God, just as you are and God being our Father in Heaven loves us and wants us to always be close to Him. Our mortal parents on earth are not perfect, nor are we perfect, but our parents In Heaven are, and they desire to comfort us. Our Savior suffered ALL pains to be able to succor his people and comfort us as needed. I know that you are a daughter of God Andrea, I know that He loves you and has sent us to you right now to bring the comfort you deserve."

That lesson was beautiful. walking away from that I felt so much assurity in my heart from my Father in Heaven. It was as if He told me, "you see my dear daughter... I have trusted in you so suffer great amounts in your life so far because I knew you would get through it courageously... I knew that you would soon enough find me and find the path you need to lead you right here, right now, to these people that need you. Now you can take your pain and use it for peace."

 What a huge blessing! Some things in my life that used to be such sensitive subjects I can now speak about with a smile on my face. Knowing that my Savior has a great plan for all of our experience, no matter what the circumstance. It is not what happens to us that matters, its how we react to it. Im so grateful for this opportunity. I love my these people, I love my mission, I love my companion, I love our leaders and the greatness of this Church for being so perfectly organized just as it was when Christ established It during his time here on Earth. I think of my teacher in the MTC when this was said,

"If I can give you advice during trial, be patient, it is AFTER your test you recieve blessings, have courage, be honored to feel a small little fraction of what our very Savior of the world felt during His ministry, that is true Honor!" Are we as individuals remembering this? Are we truly applying His atonement daily in our lives as we should? Or are we peering too much inward as the Prophet has said "looking out of our own windows that need cleaning?" I know that I have been guilty of this. Charity doesnt come over night, its a daily need and take a lifetime to fully understand. I love my Savior and for the blessings he helps me to recognize right before my eyes everyday that im out here. I love the greatness of this life and how beautiful everything can be when you see it with spiritual eyes.

Thank you all for your love your letters, your emails, your time and support.

You are all amazing people living lives of your own masterpieces.

No matter what, JUST KEEP SWIMMING! :)

tenga cuidado y cuidase, diviertase!!!!

 CHAO til next monday!

         xoxox    Hna. Ashley Gillum

Pitchaaaas!

hasta verr.....OR NOT

Hola famìlia y amigos en la misìon y de casa! Primera... gracìas por todo lo que hacen y por sus oracìones!

ME ENCANTA LA MISÎON en serìo! There is not greater feeling then being a Missionary. With time my love and my gratitude for serving in this work only grows to greater extents. This is the best chapter of my life by FAR!

  Even though im used to getting like 25 emails every pday, and today I only recieved one email and nothing from my family... I know you guys still love me and you must just be super busy. I just hope everythings going okay... I love you guys and you know that I just dont like to worry about how you are doing so im going with faith that the Lord is taking good care of you and I will keep you in every personal prayer.

  Transfers were given last night at 10:00 pm and our leaders played a mean joke and said im going to el Sur (south) with the freezing snow and penguins... I mean that would be a cool experience and everything but at this time that would just be a huge shock and I didnt bring any winter clothes to Argentina thinking I wouldnt need any anyway. But nope.. no changes still... Im still in my first area, in Campana Buenos Aires with my best friend and loyal companion the infamous and always so charitable Hermana Romo from Los Angeles California! Shes my girl and I love her SO much! So let me tell you the funniest part about NOT transfering to any where new... Hna. Romo and I have had SO many struggles in this area here the last two transfers and we literally worked our butts off but things were falling apart left and right and we were slightly worried about this next transfer and what was going to happen. So we both had this wayyy strong feeling I was leaving and all these other people in our area and other missionaries were like yeah, you have been in your first area pretty long so i bet you will get switched out this time... Long story short, I basically had a farewell in our ward and the bishop asked us to bare our testimonies spurr of the moment and I got up there and cried about how much i love everyone and how much I will miss them. Everyone wrote in my journal saying goodbye and wrote me letters and gave me gifts and Mercedes Flores (such a sweet heart) was crying because I wouldnt be able to be at her quinceñera (big 15th bday) and just a bunch of stuff....... hahaha boy do I feel dumb now... haha Im going to show up on Sunday and evere is going to be like heyyy... what are you still doing here haha! Lesson learned im not ever saying goodbye again, if it happens it happens. But what this does mean, is i can finish what I started with hermana romo and we are going to kick it into full speed. Im so excited to be able to get all these divorces and marriages finalized that we are trying to and see our long time investigators finally baptized!

  We did have a hard time during our struggles in the last two transfers and we started wondering what it was that we were supposed to learn when everything feel through... but then the last two weeks have been bliss! We have in all honesty, learned more in these struggles than any other time in our missions. Those struggles and humility and hard work brought us to cherish even more the little things. We had countless miracles and cried so many tears of joy. Those tears and prayers of ours and all of yours, have been answered. During the last week Susanna changed her feelings about wanting to be baptized and everyy started to fall away from all we taught them, we felt so worn out spiritually but GUESS WHAT, Friday I had a dream that we needed to go back to Susana and have her be baptized this Sunday and help strengthen her family through revelation that we recieved. Well thats what we did... on Saturday we went to her house, spoke with every single member of her family, interviewed them and helped work out there problems personally then asked them all to listen to our lesson and encourage Susana to be baptized. A miracle took place. Everyones attitude changed for the better. Later that day we picked her and her sister up to attend a baptism of the bishops daughter, there, she felt peace. After that we taught her lesson 4 and we had her read and pray about the Book of Mormon.... this was so beautiful. She felt so strongly that she NEEDS TO BE BAPTIZED SUNDAY AND THAT THIS IS THE TRUE CHRUCH. She said she now has no doubts whatsoever. So ironically our church runs out of water that night!!!

   but we just call the other Elders in Campana 2 and this Sunday at 4:30pm beautiful 15 year old, Valerìa Susana Callejas was surrounded and supported by many who love her, as she entered the waters of baptism and became a brand new person. She was baptized by my very first baptism, my brother and friend, DAVID MEDINA!!! She and her family were in tears and all smiles along with me and my companion. we put our arms around eachother and cried and said this is why we are here. This is why its hard... this is why its so worth it. Susana said that she feels so much more complete and so happy to be able to be with her family forever. That girl means EVERYTHING to me. EVERYTHING! We hung out with her all day so that she could come to the Farewell of all the other missionaries who end their mission this transfer. The Medina family (our family) haha took us to San Fernando with Susana and her sister so that we could introduce her to our wonderful President and his Wife and hear the testimonies of others that share her similar experience. They had so much fun. We sang Hasta Ver to all of our fellow friends that are heading home now and they were so sad to leave and not be missionaries anymore but they will never be forgotten. They are leaving a legacy in the hearts of many just as we are doing right now. We took many pictures with our sweet miracle Susana, she was attached to my hip and I couldnt stop kissing her cheek and hugging her hahaha I was so happy! She reminds me of my cousin Hailey when she was 15 and since I miss my sister and cousins so much, I have found comfort in the fact that these people are like my family also and I want the very best for them. I was anxious to shake the hand of my President and tell him how thankful I am for him and for this opportunity and of the miracle we had. He was overjoyed for us!

   As we were driving home from San Fernando I starred into the moonlight that touched all the green fields and I thought... I love my family so much, but I know they are under the same moon and I know there is a place being prepared for them for my service here in this beautiful land. I thought for the first time, as much as I love them... my thoughts are so occupied by the concerns I have for the families here and im finally the fully focused, fully trusting missionary the Lord wants of me right now. I know that the Lord calls us in our weaknesses to show forth His power... I know that His plan for me is far greater than anything I could possibly plan for myself so as the song goes... I will go where you want me to go dear Lord I will be what you want me to be! Im so excited for what lies in store for us here in this time with these BEAUTIFUL people!

  With amazing Elder Bond, and Elder Davis as our zone leaders still and Hermana Romo at my side... im going to prove myself to the Savior. I have so much faith that we can baptize all of these families we have in mind. I have this desire to stretch myself and push myself. To think that God in Heaven would reach out to us and touch our hearts telling us it was US that needed to be here for these miracles... US specifically! Thats too good to be true it seems. But I firmly believe all my life Ive been prepared for Susana... and to finally know that at last Ive found her and brought her to know the true path of peace back to her Father in Heaven, its a miracle. You only get your mission once... so here we go...

thank you for your love and support it means so much...

gird up your loins, fresh courage take, keep pressing on you guys!

in the end ALL IS WELL ALL IS WELL!!!!!

if its not well... its not the end!

 

I LOVE YOU

con amor y besìtos,

xoxox hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

 

pictures galore!

Trip to Capital...

WHATS NEW EVERYBODY?!?! Hope all is well!

This week Hna. Romo and I were able to travel to the offices in San Fernando and meet up with all the missionaries that needed to travel to Capital for all of our paperwork for becoming an official Argentine. Its quite the process. It was so nice to finally talk to everyone since I can speak Castellano (arg. spanish) much more fluently now haha. We got to talk with the new couple that replaced the Kroff´s and they are pretty overwhelmed with everything so far but they are doing a pretty great job at staying calm. Everyone in the offices has to remain calm to stay sain and they all seem to do it so well. Its impressive haha. I hope to be able to learn the attributes of Elder Peterson when I return home. That Elder could be hanging off of a cliff and he would still be as calm and collected as ever haha.

 I had the great privledge of getting to know the other Sister Missionaries much better and it was SO NICE to be able to do that since we are always surrounded by Elders the majority of the time, it was nice to get the girls together and talk of all the miracles we have been seeing in our areas. I met Hermana Lyons who is AWESOME! Shes from Colorado Springs and shes darling I told we have to hang out after the mission. Traveling to Capital is always a good adventure. On our back we let our newer Elders from our area talk us into taking a "short cut" back home and that turned into us getting so lost in Capital looking for one collectivo bus amongst 100,000 others racing around the worlds largest bus stop filled with billions of people. We saw some pretty crazy stuff. Long story short we ended up walking to the train stop instead and getting on a train. Luckily we didnt finish one of our sandwiches we got because in the train station we found a very poor family with starving children. I saw the little baby in a diaper eating styrofome and I bent down to look at her and ask her where her mother was. I told her not to eat that stuff and then her sister came and told me that they only have that to eat... it was true because all the other family had been eating it also. My sweet companion pulled out our sandwich and gave it to the young kids and it disappeared in a matter of seconds. I felt so helpless. I wanted to give them clothes and everything and I wanted to take those children and give them a bath but they were only one family of millions that crossed our path who needed food so badly. It broke my heart and humbled me, as the mission often does. I hope to always remember how I have felt in these moments so I might always want to give to everyone. On the train as we left Capital I saw all the incredibly bad villas filled with garbage and homeless families and then in the midst of all the mess in the far distance, I saw two glowing white shirts!!!! I saw Elders walking and I smiled so big. Among all the despair we have angels who are sacraficing so much to live in all of this and take these people out of darkness to make them saints and bring them everlasting hope! What a beautiful thing it is to be a part of such a large service all around the world and to think that we are all in this together in the church. MISSIONARY WORK ROCKS!

  This whole week we have been feeling really sick over some food we ate and over the changes in the weather. The mission sure does take a toll on you. With the Tsunami in Japan and Chile on watch for one also everyone is still talking about the end of the world and we are trying to explain that for this very reason, we cannot procrastinate our decision of action. We must act NOW, we must help others and help ourselves NOW, we must all cling tight to the iron rod. In a world with so many calamities and so much sorrow, we need light. We need people who spend less time worrying about having the latest fashions and are more concerned with taking care of others and paying it forward. I never eat food without being grateful for every bite now, because I have seen so many children who starve and cry because of the pain of such hunger. "true success is not in what we TAKE UP but what WE GIVE UP"

   Olga, who we considered to be the "perfect investigator" really sucked all the energy out of me this week but it taught me a lesson. She called us her angels and said that she knew God sent us to her to bring her the truth shes always been searching for. She reads the Book of Mormon and says I KNOW THIS BOOK IS TRUE and I know Christ came here to the americas. She watched the first vision and almost cried. She exclaimed HERMOSO. meaning beautiful. she said she knows everything is true. So the next step was to set up a baptism date with her so that she may take Christs name upon her and come into the fold of gathered sheep and recieve a remission of all her past pain and sins. She starred at us and said no. she said shes been Catholic too long to change her religion and shes scared to commit to something else. She ended up dropping us because she said baptism scared her. We were really disappointed and kept blaming ourselves for what we might have done wrong but we are not going to give up hope we know that shes just confused right now and needs to continue reading on her own. we know she will see the true actions she should take and we are at peace that the Lord will guide her to do so.

  Lorena showed up for church again with all of her daughters WHOOO im so happy for her... Her husband is coming around and softening up to us, he says that he has seen a greater change of peace in his home with us and with her coming to church. He is going to talk to his work about not working during sacrament so he can come with his family but it will be a miracle if his work will work something out with him because he is a supervisor. They desire to be married as soon as possible so that Lorena may be baptized and they want to work towards a temple marriage. The only thing thats tought is the fact that marriage certificates are much longer of a process out here considering all the problems and time and travel that goes into it. We will do all we can to help. Also Flia Florez needs their papers to go through and we are in that process so they can also be baptized and go to the temple.

 ´Bringing food to our Bishop was a plus. He seems to trust and appreciate us even more and its great to see. Ive really reflected alot this week and its been great to do. Staying focused on this work is the most important thing for us to do. I do not want to return home and lose the characteristics I have learned on my mission. I want to make sure that they become who I am naturally so that I might be all the Lord wants me to be. As a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and as a friend. I want to always be a missionary at heart. Letting virtue garnish my thoughts unceasingly in all cases. This is my greatest wish on my mission for myself. Refining my life with patience, love and wisdom, step by step.

  Susanna will be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday and im so pumped about it. Her mother still needs to find a place to live in order to be baptized and she ís ever so anxious about it. Just as Holland has said, these people are not just baptismal statistics, they are real people, with real feelings and needs and they are all children of God. They need the peace that this gospel has to offer them for all of their needs and therefore baptism, is a process. Its hard hard hard mission work, taking a lot of time to bring forth a few miracles, but those few are golden. They are so rich and so worth it. We are just mining away to find the golden moments that do exsist and just need to be uncovered. The Lord makes it possible and we are just His instruments for His power to work through us. I cannot imagine not being a missionary. Not having a tag and not having a special setting apart that protects us. Its great to be a missionary.

  So heres some random things I wanted to tell you for your entertainment, my wonderful always so bright and watchful companion haha FELL INTO A SEWER when we were asking for directions hahaha she has a huge bruise on her leg it was scary until she popped out of it again and then we laughed harder than ever. Shes a great sport when it comes to laughing about stupid stuff that happens to us. We were walking down this street and had a strong feeling to move to the other side of the road, and right then, with no wind at all, a huge tree branch fell to the ground. If angels were not protecting us we would have definately had some damage haha. I had a crazy cramp in my leg in my sleep and in my dream I was like being attacked by an alligator in the zoo here, so I was literally dead asleep and I was in serious pain screaming in spanish haha my comp rushed over and was asking what was wrong... haha that was pretty funny to laugh about the next morning. So march madness is here eh, crazy, dont worry Im not thinking about how im missing out on it, im just telling you all that you better enjoy it for me. Love all of you guys so much, stay safe, pray always. xoxo 

til next week, chao for now I love you all

CON AMOR,

     Hermana Ashley Gillum

Tender Mercies of our Heavenly Father

Wow I really learned a lot this week. I learn a lot every week as a missionary but wow this week was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL.

I have a true testimony that miracles of the Lord follow after you fast and pray unceasingly. Hermana Romo and I have just been

getting even stronger with the teachings of the spirit. We studied a lot about knowing God and hearing his voice daily.

 

   In John 17 verse 3 we read that this is life eternal, that we might know thee the opnly true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Mosiah 26 GOD IS LOVE. Ive learned to know Him we must love as He loves. To know Him we must ACT not just speak. We must

keep His commandments to recieve the blessings. To know Him is to have order that we might become more like Him and understand

His bounds and promises. Then we will come to understand more fully, His deep love for each of us individually.

Mosiah 5 vs. 12-16 the most important part of a family being sealed in the Temple forever, is the sealing we each have specifically to our

Heavenly Father. "therefore I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works THAT the Lord God

Omnipotent might seal you HIS!" Thats beautiful. He loves us so much that He wants to bind us to Him for all Eternity and if we are

perfectly bound to Him we will forever be bound to eachother. We must know His voice to be able to follow Him. We must study His

words out in our mind in order to be prepared for His coming again to the earth. His voice is what helps us to endure til the end.

So that we might have a perfect brightness of hope and be found at His right hand at the last day.

   The scriptures tell of our flesh being weak. I have come to understand this more fully. The mortal frame is a great test of obedience

to purity and holiness.We cannot have spiritual strength without first learning self control and respect and love for our physical bodies.

Satan´s plan is to trick everyone to find love and appreciation in the things of the world and the only way to true and lasting appreciation

is that of our Heavenly Fathers plan. Our Fathers plan is to make us all perfect through His Son. If we understood the depth of His plan

for us, we would begin to taste only a part of the pure love he contains for us!

   As far as our investigators go... wow... THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER AND THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS!

Ernesto has over 3 assistencia meaning that he can and needs to be baptized BUT... the night we found him that he accepted and

desired baptism, he told us he was only worried about what the Evangelical people would tell him and think of him. There is an evangelical

church on every corner in random buildings with random pastors that scream at the top of their lungs and im not kidding, it freaks me out

everytimem but they are super quick to tell our investgators NOT to listen to us. Its sad. They practically force or threaten people sometimes

and the people fear of what the out come will be if they do listen to our message. But we still had faith in him and we planned to baptize him

on Sunday. We got a remise to drive out to the villa and get him and the evangelicals took him to their church. So we went to get Lilianna and

her kids, but they were super sick... so then we went to Alejandras still hopeful and happy... we didnt give up hope. We got there to find the dad

and he said they already left to come to church! We pull up to the church and guess what we saw!!!! ALEJANDRA and her pregnant daughter

that walked ALL THE WAY FROM THE FARTHEST END OF OUR AREA TO GET TO SACRAMENT MEETING IN CHURCH ON TIME!!!! I just

cried. I was so happy. To top that off she says with a smile, "Hermanas, heres some money, its not much, but I want to pay my tithing, I want to

change my life and im ready to do it, it means everything to me and my family and even though im not baptized yet I want to be, can I please pay!"

we could NOT believe this!!!!! All thanks to the inspiration of Rory, sharing with me a mission story when he was in africa how a guy walked all the way to

church just to be there! THANK YOU RORY your story motivated our investigators!!!!! Sacrament was beautiful with all of the wonderful testimonies! I dont

even remember what I even said this time I just got up and remember saying, as missionaries we work SO hard and see few miracles but ALEJANDRA you walked here! Thats a huge miracle! and Lorena! You came with your daughters again! thats a miracle! thank you all for the miracles you are in our lives! Their faces lit up! I couldnt

stop smiling while i was up there.

 READY FOR OUR EVEN MORE WONDERFUL MIRACLE... So we had Lorena watch the Restoration video with Alejandra and Estefania and geuss what!

They all were so overpowered by the spirit and felt so good. Hna Romo got up and asked what they liked and what they thought... and they said, "all of it, I know

its all true, I just know it" Hna Romo said,  " thats wonderful, and how can we KNOW its true?" They said "pray to god" and she said, "exactly! Alejandra, you prayed,

and what was your answer?" She said, " I know its true, ALL of it, He told me, I wanted to bare my testimony today but im still just to shy but I know this is His true

church." Lorena responded that she has still not yet prayed about it. So getting all kneeled down together, My wonderful companion asked her to pray to know as if

we were not in the room at all and pray from her heart.... this was the best part... So everyone with closed eyes Lorena starts out by saying "nuestro Padre Celestial,

con TODO mi corazon...." and just tears... pouring tears.... powerful peace in the room... she says " no puedo no puedo" meaning I cant, I cant... She was SO overwhelmed.

and before anyone else could say anything at all... Alejendra crawls to Lorena and takes ahold of her hands and with gentleness says, "yes you can, you can, we will do this

together ok!" She starts saying the prayer... "our heavenly father, we want to know if what ive learned is true, if this is your church that you want us to be baptized in in the name of

Jesus Christ, Amen!" Silence.... peace..... Hna Romo asks what is stopping her from baptism and what answer she has now recieved.... She eventually says shes afraid because

all her family and all her life shes been Roman Catholic... Alejandra once again works the miracle and says.. "ITS okay, dont be afraid, I was catholic before too, It doesnt matter what religion you have been, God loves all of His children and he has just made a way for us to all know the whole truth. He doesnt want to take away from the truth you have, he just wants to give you more!" We told her... its true, its like a puzzle, you have a picture in mind.. but some pieces still dont fit quite at perfectly... but Heavenly Father has restored truths in the earth for us that create an even bigger and better more glorious picture than we imagined. Lorena announced she wants to get officially married to her husband and desires to be baptized as soon as possible because she knows with all her heart that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I fell to the floor in amazement. I couldnt hold back the tears. this is a very special time for me.

We will be baptizing Alejandras wonderful daught Susanna next week and are still working on helping Alejandra and Lorena with seperation and marriage to be baptized as soon as possible.

  On Sunday we visited our wonderful bishop and brought him food and David Medina and Claudia have been helping us so much with the mission work! We were prompted to walk up this dirt road and we saw an older lady walking up on the opposite side... I said... Me gusta su camisa, muy linda! (your shirts pretty) we continued to walk because most of the time old grandmas are set in there religions and ways already and dont like us much but she smiled and said real softly... thank you... whats beautiful is you sharing the word of God.... So you bet we stopped dead in our tracks to turn around and sure enough she cried to us asking for help and to share our message with her because she has suffered from much abuse in her life and her son suffers from cancer... numerous trials.. but nevertheless she KNOWS God is our Father and during our lesson she called us her angels to answer her prayers. She heard the plan of salvation and where we are going after this life and she said... WOW... this is what ive been missing... this is why I have never fully understood the Bible, and I read it all the time! hahaha WOWWWW MIRACLE! This stuff NEVER happens for us! We plan on baptizing her soon so see her joy become complete. Not to mention we are teaching a family that owns a bakery that said they want us to come by and pick up their extra left out stuff and take it to the families we teach who are suffering from lack of food. We have fed families already that have been so grateful. ITS THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! I want to feed everyone in the whole world! We love our people here. LOVE them. We love this Gospel. Its incredible!

Thank you for your help, and prayers, and love... you all are playing such a big role in saving and helping these people simply by your prayers... they ARE heard! So thank you!

 

Mom, loved your email thank you! Thanks for the sweet pics of the boys Tal! JOCELYN Im SO proud you bore your testimony and pictured me encouraging you to go up and do it! whooo hoo girly! Your missionary sister is overwhelmed with joy to picture such a precious site! I love you and you are so sweet my angel! Theres always more I wish I could say but... Ill just have to tell you all in person how wonderful the mission truly is... wow... theres truly no greater work. Im so happy. EVEN THOUGH im missing MUSIC more than I can even put into words... the mission is such a wonder, I needed to meet these ppl and these elders and sisters at this time to truly reach my potential and joy that Heavenly Father always had planned for me... this is a dream and im so blessed to be living it. No matter where you each are on your journey... keep going... dont get in the way of Christs light and He will bring you to shine so very bright!

 

   Today we went with the Elders and Presidents wife to the Zoo in Escobar we had a blast!

It was lots of fun but we are left with little time! So ill attach some pics for ya to see and talk to ya next week!!!

                                                                       I      LOVE      YOU     GUYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

con amor,

Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum