Is November Here Allready??

Hi loves! Sorry for not being able to write last week. The internet is very limited here in our area and we got ripped off even though the computers were frozen and not working properly so we had to get going. Sorry again. Well as always in the mission, there is always too much to tell you but not enough time. I will sum it all up and tell you that I have learned some amazing life lessons in these last two weeks and ive really grown in my testimony of the Savior. I have been such a clutz lately and been through some physical pain thats not too fun haha. For example, I have a second degree burn down my leg. That was fun! I have been through a lot lately but its all good. Elder Christansen and Hales are great zone leaders and we have learned a lot from them and laughed alot too because they always keep the zone cheery. Once when I was struggling E. Christansen told me to remember Smalls in the movie The Sandlot and how I just need to be patient, put my hand up, and Heavenly Fathers love will hit. It was so funny. He said you just need to imagine yoruself out there, with your dorky little trout hat in left field, and who cares that people are all laughin at you, you just do your part, run your route as you have been and IT WILL HIT!" So Hna. Downs later this past week helped that love of Heavenly Father come. She helped me talk my walls down that I havent fully realized I still had up. I must have have the words: (Id like a pep-talk) stamped on my forehead because just about everyone that we talked to seemed to start in giving me a pep talk and I was like.... am I on some reality t.v. show? haha but it was way good. I recieved a lot of revelation. Its wierd being in the end of the mission. Like one foot at home and one foot in the mission, you miss your fam, but you love these people and dont want to leave them. Its a weird feeling. I love my mission and even though its stressful, I am so emotional thinking about all my experiences and how grateful I am. Theres a great family here, Flia. Herredia and the dad always calls me his daughter. They are super great. I learned a lot about Patience from them this past week, they are a less active family that we are reactivating and they told me a little analogy on patience.

Patience is how we see things clearly... its necessary to achieve our goals. Our goals and dreams are like golden coins. If we image walking with the golden coin and suddenly it falls into a deep pond and we watch it go with anxiousness because we know we need that coin (goal) then its tough to wait... but if we jump in and swim down to it and wrestle in the water the dirt at the bottom will cloud the water and our view. But if we swim back up and WAIT... we will see our goal as it really is again... we will remember just how important it is when we see it shine... and then we will go down to get it with patience and caution... to pick it up and it will surely be ours again. I need to be patient with all the mission work, with my dreams, my goals. I cant have everything right now and without time and hard work. That was a good lesson for me.
We also had a great meeting with our Branch President. He is super inspired. He read my mind. He could feel that I was hiding something behind my smile. He asked me inspired questions and told me that he was so grateful for all my love here that is changing this branch. He asked me if I had even noticed all the good that I do. Long story short... he called me out on all my weaknesses telling me that I was a sponge for everything. I soak up a little of everything around me. Thats why when others hurt, I hurt, and when things dont work out I take the blame. He told me that Heavenly Father wants me to learn from this and learn how to change this mindset that I cannot change anyone or make them accept this gospel. But that I need to accept that others have their agency and the results are not because of me, but just that their hearts are not ready. He knows that my difficult past and dramatic things ive been through have led up to this problem I have. He told me to truly soak up the Atonement each day. To let go of all my pain and continue to leave it behind forever. To teach only by the spirit by having the understanding of justice and mercy. I told him that Im kind of scared to go home to the world again where Im no longer a missionary. He told me, "well hermana, I wont lie to you... its the most difficult time. Its a big change. When I got home, I was happy to see my family, my house, some friends, but after a little I sat there stunned that I was no longer a missionary. I wondered what I was to do and everything I tried to do seemed meaningless. I felt so alone without my companion and the spirit constantly with me. I felt that my other friends expected me to be the same as before the mission and I wasnt. I was a better me. I didnt feel angels walking with me anymore. It is a very lonely realization, but that is why you need to keep studying and working hard and get married so you can always live worthy and stay focused in the world that wants so much to distract you." I was crying thinking of all this. I really love my mission so much.

At the peak of the conversation he asked me a question that seemed to hit me in the chest. He asked me... "Hermana, You are so full of love for everyone... a love that has even changed my life and I am grateful to see. Its inspiring to me. Now if you can think of all the love and absorbtion you have taken up for others and for all the pain and for all the unsolved mysteries and loneliness... you can imagine that you have soaked up so much in your lifetime and in your mission. Hermana... I want you to ponder this... if you are this kind of sponge... can you imagine the sponge that your Savior Jesus Christ is?"

I am pretty sure I used a whole role of toilet paper. Poor president seeing me crying like a baby. The love of the Atonement always comes at different times in the mission but this was a peak of it hitting me hard. I was so filled with love and gratitude!

We dont have many investigators that are sticking with their commitments well... but we have a small few who are doing amazing! we have plans to baptize them this month for thanksgiving! Im excited for our interviews with President, because ive been stretching alot in my testimony and his wisdom really puts things in check for me. We have to go pray for us to find new investigators thats our focus this week! I love you guys you da best!

Happy Birthday comin up mama! Joce looked so cute for halloween! Thanks for the pics. Mom, dance tryouts are in april so can you look up the requirements and any info on the across the floor stuff for me. Thank you! I cant remember what else I needed to tell you but love youuuuuuu chao

love ash

Bus To Church

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

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

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

Lots of love hugs and kisses,

Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

Transfers have come!!

The beach and TRANSFERS

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

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

 

STATUS OF AREAS

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

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

 

WERE STOKED

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

 

GOOD MEMORIES DESPEDIDA

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

 

NEW PEOPLE!

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

SUNDAY

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

 

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

XOXOXOX BESOS!!!!!

 

Love Hermana

Ashley Ann Gillum

stretching...

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

THE WORK AND PROGRESS

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

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

WHAT IVE LEARNED FOR MYSELF THIS WEEK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

My Heart is Full

Dear loved ones of mine,

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love hearing about your missionary stories! Besos!

con cariño,

He battling for our time

Hola Familía y amigos, todo bien? Estoy tan felíz por decirte que tuvimos éxito este semana aprendiendo el area y encontrando nuevos que estan preparada! Caminando a ful! The highlight for us was when Karen Marina Carrari recieved her answer that the Book Of Mormon is a true word of God and another testament of Jesus Christ. She said the feeling of peace and happiness overcame her and she couldnt stop smiling because she knew with all of her heart that it is. She was baptized this last Saturday at 2:30. And she was confirmed yesterday in Church with the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have become very close to her family (Flia. Carrari) and we care greatly for them. In fact we have become very close to everyone in the ward in this short time so far. Its a blessing to be here doing the work of the Lord with the people of Chacra.

FAMILY OF 8

Elder Bond which is the assistant to President at this time, traveled down here to help out the Zones of the South and the establishment and leadership. It was a blessing to have him here in Rio Grande because he helped us out a ton. He thought it would be best to have our whole zone go work in Chacra 13 (the area of E. Christiansen and E. Lemo) to find them new people to teach and tract to get the work going over there. It was a big success! My comp and I were in charge of area San Martin. Let me just put it this way... I thought OUR area was super ugly... then we got here and couldnt believe people live here! Each person we talked to asked us if we like how ugly it is here... so they even think its the ugliest place but they all come here for working in factories and we work here to bring them the Gospel. Despite the deserted black soil and wasteland as far as the eye can see, the people are beautiful! We contacted the list of old investigators. While we were doing that, we were walking down a dirt road and I saw a little black puppy on the porch. As we pet the puppy we heard a boy in the window, then saw the face of the mother. Covered in tattoos and piercings we have to say it was slightly intimidating and we couldnt tell how she felt about us petting the puppy so we just smiled and as if we could talk to them and share our message about JesusChrist... she walked away from the window with a mad look and I thought to myself... ok shes mad maybe we should go... and right then the door opened and she had a huge grin on her face and said, ofcourse, come on it right now and sit at the table. I was so amazed! These people almost never say, come on in right now! Turns out shes never heard of our church or anything and never seen missionaries. We taught her the restauration of the Gospel and why there are so many different churches and how our Father in Heaven doesnt want us to be confused about His plan and purposes. He wants us all to return to him with our family and there is a plan prepared for us to do so. She explained alot of abuse that shes gone through her whole life and how shes been on her own as a single mother because the father has left them long ago. A single mother of 8 KIDS! She said she knows God sent us to her! We were amazed... she said, "well I believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, because God loves us and wants us to be guided. So why would we only have prophets in Bible times and not now when the world is the worst?" We were like... "EXACTLY!" She promised to read the Book with all of her 8 children and we invited them all to be baptized together the weekend after conference! (2nd weekend of Oct.)

We were very excited to have had success in being led to them just as Elder Bond knew we could. My Companion asked him for any counsel that he might have for her in her mission and he said... just keep fighting the fight. Find the obstacle and go to the Lord to surpass it. Trust in Him with all your heart.

NATI

Here in our own area of Chacra 4 and 2... we found another miracle... Natalia... shes a very beautiful girl of 21 yrs and her father just happened to introduce us when we found him at his work. Turns out hes a less active and has been for many many years. Nati has been to church when she was very small and has always seen the book of mormon in her fathers house growing up but was never taught anything. Long story short we invited her to practice singing at the church with us for a baptism this weekend. She loves to sing so this was perfect. We ended up teaching her about the first vision and about our Prophet we have today. We asked her to read the Book of Mormon and we read with her. She desires to be baptized also on the 2nd week of October... She also has mentioned that she desires to serve a mission one day and wants to help people in the world. As we taught her she asked if she could tell us something... She said... " you know what, When you two showed up at my house, I was in my room stretching on the floor listen to my music really loud on my headphones... and I just started talking to God in my heart and asking him to respond. Then my dad came into my room and said, hey theres two mormon missionaries here and I want you to talk to them. So then I pulled my music out of my ears and right when I saw you I felt a change in my heart like I was waiting for you to show up. It was a feeling like it was already planned before and I just forgot. Then when you sang a hymn, I felt so happy. I knew with all my heart you were messengers of God. I have always seen the Elders walking around our town but have never felt the desire to talk to them, Ive never Sisters, and when I saw you I wanted to hear what you had to say. I feel like theres a connection with you guys like I have a work to do, and you were sent here to teach me how." I started to cry. I couldnt speak for a good amount of time after she spoke... I just told her thank you for sharing that because I could really feel the power of the spirit testify to me that WE were sent to Natalia because she needed US specifically! I felt my faith grow because I had pictured all the different things that led us up to finding her and in that exact moment! I testified that it was designed to happen even before this life and thats why she feels a connection. She told us that she feels a presence around her that is protecting her when we are teaching her and It really strengthens my faith in the spirit. We are preparing her for her goals. PRAY FOR HER!

VICENTA

When we were looking for some old investigators... we ended up needing help finding an address and the lady who answered the door happened to also be a miracle. Her name is Vacenta and she looks like shes from Miami. She is all bronzed and blonde hair and looks about in her late 50´s. I felt prompted to ask her... so how many are in your family? and she looked really sad at us and said... none... so I asked... well what about your kids? ... I have none... Well what about your mother?... I dont even have her anymore... Im alone and have been for a long time. So this was the key. This told us... that we got lost right there at that time to find this daughter of Heavenly Father that loves her and wants her to know it. We set an appointment to visit her at her own home and that appointment was very good. We entered her home that is filled with countless pictures of what appeared to be a daughter in her 20´s. She told us that she had died due to a gas leak in her apartment in Capital Buenos Aires four years ago and she was studying in school, only three months away from graduation. Her brother had died, and then a month later her Mother. She doesnt want to even talk about the father. We taught her the plan of salvation, we found an answer to each difficulty she had, in the Book of Mormon. We read Alma 40 and explained that her loved ones had gone home to see our Father in Heaven and rest from cares. Then we explained opposition in this life from 2 nephi. Then we spoke to her about how faith (Ether 12) gives us the power to endure til the end of this life and recieve eternal life with our family forever. She has a baptism date for the 2nd week of October too! Please pray for her to recieve her answer and keep preparing! We love her very much and we know the peace this will bring into her life and the comfort she can feel knowing these things.

CHURCH

We hope to fill every seat in church but I will have to admit the hardest thing by far for us my entire mission has been getting people to come to church on Sunday. Especially with the Argentine custom of "siesta" where they like to nap and drink matte from 12 to 4. All of our investigators struggle with getting up in the morning and its been tough because we can only do so much in the mornings to go around and pick them all up. When we take members to pick them up they dont answer because they are dead asleep til noon. We are going to do all we can to focus on getting them to church to General Conference this weekend. Our Branch President has said that he plans to help pick up some investigators for us and we are so grateful, he is such a great person to fill his calling. He is full of kindness and charity and always making sacrafices to serve. We feel blessed to be working with him and his family.

Well we have to get going... but I love you with all my heart and hope that you are all enjoying the last of your warm weather... I have yet to feel warm weather still, this is the longest winter weather ive ever experienced in my life! Soak up all that sun and keep being the great missionaries that you are with all the sacrafices, service and love you bring to those around you in your sphere! Thank you for your support on my mission! Thank you for your prayers, your love and everything that makes the world a better places with all your simple actions! You guys are the best! Hope to hear from you all next week! Send me pictures and let me know how things are going! LOVE YOUUU Besos!

Con Amor, Hermana Ashley Gillum

TIME IS PRECIOUS

Just something for you to ponder and apply this month...

We had an amazing Branch conference this past Sunday and I was amazed with all that we learned! There was alot of talk about the preparation for the end of the world and using our time wisely.

"whats more precious and valuable then money... our TIME... and although Satan desires to make us miserable, that is not brought to pass simply by tempting us to do something very wrong... but he also does this by stealing away our time, little by litte. He is battling for our time and attention."

This lesson really had me thinking pretty deep about things. In life we go to work, we go to school, we go home... we each have our own routine of things... almost all of us spend all of our time focused on ourselves and enjoying ourselves. How often are we going through our routine... bringing the most important "good news" there is to others? How dedicated are we to inviting others to church to feel this peace and truth, how often are we holding back all this richness that we hold for ourselves? Skyler sent me this quote about being a Disciple of Christ and what it really means. What kind of faith it takes for us to be a true disciple. I have had in the back of my scriptures my whole mission... but now it has more power and I hope that you can benefit from it.

I’m a part of the fellowship of
the unashamed:
The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line.

The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I won’t look back, let up, slow down, or be still.

My past is redeemed. I will do His will.

My present makes sense. My future is secure.

I’m finished and done with low living, small planning,

smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions,

worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions,

plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right,

first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.

I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience,

am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power.

My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is Heaven.

My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few,

my guide is reliable but my mission is clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away,

divided or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice,

hesitate in the presence of the adversary,

negotiate at the table of the enemy,

ponder at the pool of popularity,

or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, or let up

until I have stayed up, stored up,

and paid for the cause of Christ.

I must go until He comes,

give till I drop, preach till all know,

and work until He stops me.

And when He returns,

He will have no problem recognizing me.

My banner will be clear.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Coolest Experience of my whole life!!!

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! WOW this is the coolest experience of my whole life!!!! I wish I could share every moment with all of you! Ive learned that you must be visionary if you want to see miracles. You must have a vision. You must want to achieve it with all your heart and you must know your greatest source of power to achieve it. (The Lord) I have learned a lot!

So heres the update. Im in Ushuaia, Argentina!!! I left Caballito with so much love for all of the ward and our investigators and ill never forget them! Elder Bond called to tell me to pack up cause im now heading to the South part of our mission which is just above antartica, surrounded by huge snow capped mnts. and gorgeous crystal blue water and islands! Penguins and animals, and the mnts are covered with these communities of cabins and bridges. Its an area for lots of tourists and people that have a lot of money so things are more expensive here but theres also the community on the mnts that all live super humble and build their own little homes out of whatever. The trees are huge and the sunsets are incredible! Its the most beautiful place in my mission so far! Theres a dock or port that is covered in big boats and the other day we were able to go on a tour with President and his wonderful wife to the different islands with animals and sea lions and stuff! Ill attach a video for you guys. These people are super sweet here. Super receptive to our message and all of these children here are the prepared generation to carry this gospel we just know it. My flight was really good. I dont know how but the two missionaries that I was with, Elder Olivos and Hna. Malhue got first class seats and i got the back which we laughed about but two pilots were sitting by me and I ended up explaining to them about our church. When they spoke to me about their love of flying planes and they taught me how the planes wings work as we flew over the clouds and Im not sure how, but I tied that in with the gospel and how Elder Dieter Uchtdorf is also a pilot and an Apostle of the Lord. That kept the conversation going for a while and they gladly accepted the pamphlets I gave them to read. You could really feel the difference in the cold outside just by the window. everything outside was covered in pure white snow it was so pretty. So as I bundled up and we all headed off the plane all the pilots in the front of the plane were talking together about what I had told them and we went our own ways.

The plans in changes of my companions were interesting. Everything kept changing and changing and I was on my way with sister Malhue who is from Chile and has 6 weeks in the mission, to our house to meet the other two sisters: Hna. Gonzales from Chile who has 9 months in the mission and Hna. Milmont from Wyhoming who has like 3 months in the mission. It was so neat to see all the different lifestyle here as we drove up and down streets in the mountains. SO DIFFERENT THEN CAPITAL! Ushuaia is like Park City Utah but third world country version of it I guess, with water all around. Our house is the smallest in the mission but its a cozy little tiny home full of love. We had a great time having a sleep over all together and telling the funniest stories that we have had in the mission. we laughed all night til we fell asleep and then we were woken up to hear that Sister Milmont and I needed to leave and head to Rio Grande to open the area. Looks like they need the Hermanas there and not just any hermanas but they for some reason only known to Heavenly Father need US. Hna. Milmont was a bit nervous but I was surprised how much faith the Lord gave me. I was ready to take it all on and I was brainstorming all morning with all the different ideas that I have for the area and all the work we need to do. So saying goodbye to everyone, the group headed to Rio Grande filled the van and we headed up and over the beautiful mountains for almost three hours until we wound up in the flat boonies and I was like... " oh.... its.... pretty..." haha yeah its not the most pretty, and nothing like ushuaia but the people there are growing in the gospel and we need to work with them. We headed to the Senior Couples home Family Downs from the U.S. and they are pretty new still in the mission. They are so sweet! We had lunch with them and then we got another call... I was heading back to Ushuaia to help the Hermanas there first, Hna. Milmont was heading to Rio Gallegos to be the companion of Hna. Salva until we all waited for a new sister missionary from Peru who was waiting for her visa.

I told Hermana Milmont I loved her and Id be back to open the area with her and I loaded back up in the van and fell asleep from all the traveling. Wow ushuaia has been an incredible experience! We have been climbing this mountain all day everyday this week and we have found countless opportunities to serve these people! We would walk down the mountain and find these families here with buckets and jugs that they would use to hold in the tube in the ditch from all the melting snow for water. then all of the little children would carry these things thats twice their size clear up this mountain to their home and do it over and over all week. The homes on the mountain are not well established so they fall apart sometimes when the wind is blowing hard enough. So everyday we have helped these children carry water to their families and we end up teaching them the lessons. I feel so good helping these people and showing how much we love them! The Lord knew I wanted to go were I could serve like this and then He sent me. So cool! Almost every family that we have found was from talking with the children first. These boys were in the street playing futbol (soccer) and we started playing with them on our way to contact a reference we had, sure enough the goalie was the boy of the family and he was so happy that we were fun and nice to them that he invited us to meet his family that we were looking for. We ended up teaching his family and his neighbor. The Ward is actually a branch, and so the bishop is called President of the branch. (for those that dont know) And he is so awesome. He lives in our same complex with his sweet wife Emmi. They are young converts of only 2 years in the church! Ironic! I only have 2 years. The branch here in Ushuaia is sooo beautiful! the Chapel and the people are amazing.

CONFERENCE

President Gulbrandsen came down and we had a conference with him. It was so inspired as always. He talked alot about how we need to not just take the sacrament but PREPARE for it all week. That we need to be repenting and praying all week for forgivness and for miracles in our work. So he had us all seperate and pray about the changes we need to make and the faith we need to have. He spoke alot about how we need to bring all of these people to sacrament meeting and how we need the help of having a member in EVERY lesson. Thats what everyone struggles with is getting these people to church because of the weather, the mud and snow and they just dont want to take their kids out early in the morning. So we were really inspired with what else we need to do. He was proud of us as Hnas. because he is attentive to everything that goes on and he knows and sees that we are working our butts off. We are not competitive, we are just determined to get the job done. We feel like the older sisters to the elders because they mean alot to us and we joy in their success but we also hope to set the example for all of them.

SUCCESS IN SERVICE

We have been obedient. We have been full of faith and we find new people to teach in every opportunity. When someone is carrying something or working we jump in and help and then we teach them about the Savior and how much he loves them. We are finding families like crazy and its been a miracle. We have 10 baptisms planned so far for this month and Armando is our first baptism next Saturday at 6:00. There are so many people here that the Lord has prepared that I can totally invision the south having a temple sometime in the future. We pray before every single house, we are not afraid to talk to anyone and everyone about our testimony and why we are here and because we have a happy hopeful energy nothing gets us down. We see rejection from those that dont want to listen but our success far out weighs the rejection and thats all simply because of our attitude and unity.

IM CHANGING

I have never worked so hard in my mission than I have here and my desire just keeps on growing. Our goals and numbers this week were outstanding but our joy in the progress of these people blew our numbers out of the water. I am learning so much! Maintaining a pure life in heart and mind spirit and body, we recieve more light. I feel this transformation and this wisdom changing my heart every day. I used to think that spending alot of money and going to all kinds of fancy places held my happiness, and I was so wrong! I recieved Gerlann and Ricks card for me in the mail and the words you wrote Geralann meant SO Much to me! Thank you! its so true... I "have found myself" here in my mission of Argentina! I have found my happiness in the most humble of homes when these families had only a loaf bread to eat and they desired to give it to us for bringing them the gospel! I have never cried and laughed so often and so hard in my life as I have as a missionary. Im so overwhelmed by these people, who they are and how they live everyday with so much joy and have so little! I will never open the cupboard in my moms house and say "mom theres nothing to eat here" haha I have had my eyes opened to other parts of this world. Ive lived among these people and they have changed me for the better. Each day its still so unreal to me as we are walking together to say wow, we are missionaries! this is so cool! haha Im lovin it!

EARLY TRANSFER

Our connection is not like any other! Hna. Malhue is such a happy little hippie and so is Hna. Gonzales. We are all a bunch of hippie personalities that just like to laugh and love and help. We have alot in common and from completely different places but its an eternal friendship. Just as we were getting comfortable... we were informed that we need to make changes again because the new sister from Peru came. Well its still in the air right now, for what exactly we all are going to do, but President is brainstorming and thinks that i need to still go to Rio Grande this Wednsday with Milmont and do work there, but then he wants the four of us to run both areas and help eachother between here and there. We are powerhouses together and get along so perfectly that I have no doubt that we will bring about success in the service we are called to. We read eachothers minds practically which really helps our efficiency in this work. We have the spirit. We obey. We do whats best for these people and what the Lord wills. We are always laughing, and always full of love and helping one another. I feel so blessed to be here with them. Being the oldest in the mission in our group is an interesting pressure for me. Ive really looked hard at myself to make sure im teaching them whats right. Im not perfect but Im doing all I can to be an example for them. We are always enjoying ourselves and soaking up every minute.

CHURCH AND THE CHILDREN

Well this Sunday was really rough. We prayed so much for good weather and the weather was horrible. Windy and raining with snow outside. We bundled up and headed up really early to wake people up out of bed and get them to church. Some houses were blowing apart from all the wind and the rain was blowing against us but we just continued from house to house asking them to come. out of the 30 that said they would come to church, 4 came and the others used the excuse of the cold weather to not come with us. But it was definately a test of faith because in the midst of the chaos I became very quiet inside to pray and ask for the weather to clear. As we were getting our last family we were amazed to watch the wind stop, the sky clear and the sun come out immediately after my prayer. Our investigators loved church. We taught our Gospel Principles class and then the primary asked us to share our mission experiences and they sang to us "we are as the armies of helaman and we have been taught in our youth.." my comps and I were all in tears when we watched all their bitty eyes looking at us and their precious little faces sing the part "and weee will beeee the Lords missionaries... to bring the world His truuuuth!" OH MAN I BROKE DOWN! haha that gets me every time! I have always loved children but this time here has been a beautiful experience to feel their love and their spirit even more. These children are our future generation and we need to embrace them and learn from them and their innocence.

This was a great week and Im super excited for the rest of the transfer! We are going to see miracles! Pray for these people! I love you guys so much!!!!! take care! WITH ALL MY LOOOOVE chao til next week! Besos!

Con Amor, Hermana Ashley Ann Gillum

I'm at the airport

Sorry for not having time to write last week. I wrote a pretty lengthy email to President and wasnt able to write anyone else! My birthday was fun. We just went with our zone to Versalles and played indoor futból with everyone. The elders had their pirates of the carribean soundtrack going and it just made me laugh because they get so serious when they play. It was fun! I baked two big cakes for Elder Leavitt and Davis because it was also their birthday. Elder Davis´s was a vanilla cake with whip cream that I made and peaches on top and in the middle. And a delicious chocolate three layer cake with dulce de leche and chocolate on top. I was pretty proud of my little inventions they came out really good! IM 22 YEARS OLD! wish all of the family could have been there but its ok, the mission is a good place to be. Made my birthday wish short and simple but its a good one! This week the weather has been hot and then cold and rainy so we are still having a bipolar climate here. My companion really started to open up to me this week. It was a pleasant surprise and I was so glad that we were able to finally speak a little more. Our district meeting went a little rough, we are supposed to get to a store and fax the baptism registers to the offices the next morning and everywhere that we went to didnt have their fax working properly and the only one that worked didnt have ink. We had to travel all over our area to find a way to send it and once it went through we were thirty minutes late for our district meeting! I was so frustrated getting there because we accidently got off the wrong stop and ended up having to walk another 10 quadras to the church. Ofcourse President and his wife were there waiting for our meeting to start and I felt so bad for all of our bad luck. I was glad President came because he helped us with our paperwork and checklists that we have filed and told us how to organize everything better. He cleared alot of my questions up and we all wanted to do better afterwards. We ate lunch that was cooked for us by this guy in the church who knew Elder Hansen and Griffeth were leaving so he spent his time making pizzas all day for us to have lunch. we said our goodbyes and wished Elder Griffeth good luck heading back home to Georgia and went to work. I was really getting the feel for Caballito this week. Things were just evolving beautifully and the work was rolling. We were finding people everyday that had sincere desire to learn and progress. We ended up praying for a baptism for the end of the week but then when we met him, (esteban 13 yrs.) and he wanted to be baptized that sunday but I felt the spirit tell me that we should take our time for one more week and teach him patiently and get to know him better. Im glad that we decided that because our lessons with him and his family have been extremely spiritual. and we have really upped our numbers of lessons with members present to insure our investigators with more than our two testimonies. Members make such a difference! Esteban will be baptized this saturday at 3:30 pm. Im so happy for him and so is the Bishop, he was a reference from the bishop and they are good friends that family and him. Also we have seen success in many other people so greatly prepared to hear our message. The sister of esteban wants to be baptized by the time she turns 8 in november, a couple that have been assisting the church long enough now have decided to get married next month to be baptized. and when we were waiting for collectivo this sweet older woman asked if I could change her for coins. I said that im sorry but I only have three coins but as I kept speaking with her she looked at my tag with my name above Jesucristo, and she smiled. I handed her the three coins for her and two grandkids and we had a very great conversation about our beliefs. ironically shes been looking for truth and a church that brings her family peace. We rode on the collectivo and taught her lesson 1 about the restauration of the gospel. Then we got off at the wrong stop with her and since we had an appt. soon I offered to pay for our taxi and explained... " our church is not just a good group to bring peace for the end of the week or like any other church. Our church is distinct. Its beautiful and the doctrine is very clear. We believe in revelation, we believe in our prophet Thomas S. Monson and support him and his 12 apostles and we contain the priesthood power to perform sacred ordinances in the way of the Lord. Our focus is that families can be eternal forever and live with our savior and heavenly father in pure happiness. We are all a family and take good care of eachother. We are missionaries of jesuschrist who have come here to share this wonderful message and to be examples of him in good works." I explained, " if you really sincerely want to know that this is true then you can personally know for yourself and pray to God, your father that will tell you in your heart that it is true. I have also recieved this answer countless times in my life and I know he wants you to feel the truth of it too. And when he answers you and you really feel this message is true, will you follow the example of jesuschrist and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God?" the three of them pondered and replied yes we would. Sunday morning we had a meeting early with the ward counselors and the bishop and it went so well. The feeling of love that I felt this Sunday for Caballito was unexplainable. We met with the bishop and He explained how he is very happy with us and with all of our hard work and success. He humbly bore his testimonio of how he is striving to be better in all things, as a father, a bishop, a friend, and that started a flame in my heart that was beating like crazy until I couldnt resist sharing my testimony with our ward either. I walked up with Melani who we baptized when I first got here and wanted to share her testimony too. I let the spirit guide me, it wasnt my words that I spoke. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I expressed how much ive struggled, how much Ive learned and how far ive come in life and in my mission. I expressed how grateful I am for my family, my friends, those that love and support me and the ward of Caballito who has become family to us! I felt their approval and some of them also cried. I know they felt the spirit touch them personally and thats all I desired. Talking with everyone we decided not to go to the despedida because we had people to teach and so we went to work. In the end of our lesson one of the assistants to president called me... "hola hermana eso es Elder Bond, como esta hermana?" I let him know that we were in a lesson and we would call after. I had NO CLUE he would say... "we are going to have some changes in your companionship, President has recieved revelation through much thoughtful prayer that you are needed in the south at this time. and you will be companions with hermana gonzales. so you need to get home and pack to be at the offices at 11:00 in the morning." Walking our member home that was with us, he explained how the Lord calls us where he needs us most and how change is forever constant in the mission and in life but we will be fine when we trust in him. We said goodbye to our mission leader and some other friends from our ward and they wished me luck. In the morning they dropped off a scarf and a hat to take to the south because they know I didnt bring warm clothes for the south and that was so sweet!

Packing until 5 a.m. and then sleeping two hours to get up and pack some more and leave half of my stuff behind in boxes to be prepared for the plane south. Ofcourse the taxi driver wanted to take his own route and not listen to my directions and he got us lost this morning for almost two hours. I was so frustrated but remained calm and told the Elders waiting we were on our way. Every possible route that he could have taken that was no where near our destination he took. Finally arriving we unloaded our bags and we traded companions and loaded all of the ppl going south in the van with our bags. My comp headed out with hna Keele, and I met Hna. malhue who was all smiles and happy as can be which is fresh new in the mission of 6 weeks. Shes finishing her training with me and hna. gonzalez in the south and she is one of the happiest and sweetest people ive ever met. im very excited to work with her. They are both from chile and understand a little english so we are going to do awesome together. Packages and letters will not be getting to me for like four months now just so you know. well our flight leaves at 6 tonight and its a 4 hr flight, im resposible for guiding these two missionaries with me as we travel and they are "starving" poor things so im going to sign off and say WHOOOO the south! its an adventure! lots of mountains, lots of wind, cold and close to antartica, im going to freeze! ill let you know next week how it is! I LOVE YOUUUUUU all!!! pray for our success!

love hermana gillum

hermana ashley gillum

new start

Well this last week was a rollercoaster. its been pretty cold lately and I havent seen the sun all week. the weather started out really wierd at first. At 630 am we got up and the sky was pretty normal, then we went out on the balcony two hours later and the sun was gorgeous shining between all the city buildings of Buenos Aires. I took a picture of it and then ten minutes later the sky was covered in pitch black with clouds that started pouring balls of hail! It was gnarly! then within a half hour it was clear again! But the sky has been full of grey clouds and it rains randomly every few hours and the wind has torn up all of our umbrellas haha so its funny to run to all of our appointments and be soaked all the time. I cannot wait to be warm again!

I struggled this week with the negativity that was going on in this area. I asked myself where has everyones faith gone? The bishop struggled with trusting us and so did our mission leader so with much prayer and fasting I just decided to prove with sincere love and hard work that Im here to do whats best for the ward and my investigators because I LOVE them and not because I expect anything in return. That seemed to work. God is still a God of miracles and even more than that He is our literal Father in Heaven who listens to our prayers, waits, watches over, lets us decide what to do on our own and then when we humbly depend on him enough He reveals to us his tender mercies. He surely has answered my prayers. I prayed and fasted for my companion and I to just be able to love and understand eachother. Theres nothing worse than being with a person every second every day that shows you in everyway that she rather be somewhere else without you. Ive tried so hard to make her smile and love her but she didnt like when I hugged or touched her. It was tough to find peace within myself with this wall I couldnt seem to get passed with her. So our district leader Elder Griffeth had us do an inventory together with him and get out our feelings and struggles to make things all better. That was the best thing for us to do. We both spoke the truth of how we were feeling. she wanted unity, I asked her to show more charity and act as if we are companions and not seperate or divided. She Agreed and admitted that its not natural for her to be kind or loving. He asked her how many times I say good things about her and to her... she responded... alot.... and he then asked and how many times do you have good things to say to her? and she paused... and said... well... I cant think of anything nice ive said to her. I thanked her for admitting that. that was tough for her to do I could tell but it was the first step to changing for the better. We figured out a solution. After that there were times I would find her yelling at me, rolling her eyes or throwing a fit about something again and I would just pause and look at her with a smile and say, its going to be alright hermana, we are companions, we can communicate better remember. Then she would loosen up again. For example we were on collectivo and she was behind me to get off with me at this stop but the bus driver quickly drove off closing the door and I turned around to see her face furious! So I ran to the next bus stop to get her and I was laughing so hard I could hardly breath because I knew she was so mad over this accident. When we met up she yelled and yelled about how it was everyone elses fault that she couldnt get off in time and I looked at her and said, hermana, its ok, its actually really funny you just gotta laugh about it, it happens sometimes! so since then shes been more and more calm and patient. Last night was rough, we got to each and every appointment early and by the time we got there, no answer or they would cancel. We must have walked all over our entire area without any success and I looked up at the sky and said, why? why do we have to struggle when we are trying our very hardest to do everything so right? I started thinking how I tried everything within my power to help our bishop and our leader to see our efforts are sincere. I offered to put in an hour of service for cleaning the church, I made colorful cards for all the members and cookies and brought facturas from the bakery. I spent so much time making a big calendar that has all the members on it and I have tried so hard to make them all happy. I started to cry on the way home thinking about all this responsability of our ward and so many other ppl and how sometimes I dont want it. sometimes i want to relax and gather my thoughts for a new game plan but we are always in an immediate rush to keep going. as we got home I cried on my bed asking heavenly father to comfort me and help me to feel like im not so alone out here. Right then, the bishop called, he said that he was happy with us for introducing this new family to him after church to meet them in his office and he was happy with our efforts here. He then gave us two references that he says hes has confidence in us with! Then after that our mission leader called us... here i am thinking oh great hes going to be mad about something or need something else from us because its usually negative. But it wasnt at all! He called to thank me for my sincere letter, to coordinate our next meeting, and to offer to help us clean! I was shocked! A lot of weight lifted off my shoulders but with my face still streaked with tears my companion came over threw her arms around me and squeezed the breath right out of me in a huge bear hug and wiped my tears off my face and gave me a big kiss on my cheek and said stop crying, its ok, your working so hard, i know you are and I see it everyday! who cares what others think, they dont know how hard you are trying but I do and heavenly father does. I love you, i love you i love you. ok? my jaw was dropped, eyes all wide... i was shocked, stunned! i COULDNT BELIEVE that my companion who has been so mean to me this whole time kissed my face and said she loved me! I laughed with her and said, "um... is this a dream... did you honestly just kiss my face and say you love me?" and she pinched my arm SO hard and laughed and walked away to the other room saying " well you didnt wake up, so I guess not!" hahaha but then she said... " dont think that Im going to ever do that again ok... because its hard for me to be that nice... but i dont want you to cry so dont." haha I was so happy!!!! God answers prayers and sends those ppl we need to love and care about us but it is only AFTER the trial of our faith that we may be blessed! This is evidence of all of that!

today is a holiday so everything is closed. theres like 5 holidays every month here and literally EVERYTHING closes. its so wierd.

may you all be greatly blessed this week and please pray for Amelia, Geraido, Adrian, Facundo, Y Kiara Romero to be baptized this coming saturday and recieve the gift of the holy ghost on sunday! Its my birthday on Monday (next pday) im looking forward to it. We are having Elder Leavitt (from idaho) Elder Davis (from ohio) and My birthday all on that day since were all a day apart anyway. It should be fun with our zone. pray for us to have warmer weather please!!! hahaha send me pictures of all you guys, i miss you!

you are all in my prayers I love you all!!! xoxoxox

con cariño,

hermana ashley gillum

3 baptisms

Well... Dont have time to say much or to respond to some letters... sorry! i will have to next week!

We went and played futból today at the church and it was a blast. I love playing futból with the latinos because I can learn more from them and they are all great missionaries and people.

Learned alot about myself this last week. Alot about my companion and how to work better with her. Shes tough to figure out. I feel a lot like the girl on the movie Errand Of Angels who just cannot seem to make her companion happy no matter what she does or tries. I cant figure out how but im going to continue to try. She is a wonderful person, but... she is a hint dropper.... I am a communicator... If I think or feel something... I explain it. She just drops me hints and is frustrated when I dont understand. That is the hard part for me. 80 percent of the time she doesnt like talking and im a talker... and the other percent she talks its usually only a few words. Im a huggy-lovey person, and she really dislikes to be touched or people in her space... so this for me is also new. Im just learning things from her that Ive never understood before. Im not going to try and change her because shes special the way she is but I am going to adjust my ways to make her more comfortable... I feel like this is preparing me for the tough spots in marriage in the future. haha. Its all fun in the beginning without complications but with everyday life, things happen that are not so fun and marriage to me, is all about giving it 150% not just 50-50. So this is where I adjust my habbits to do more to serve her. Yeah its tough.... but its needed. It will be better for the both of us and its what the Lord wants so Im going to do it.

Its just that we are very opposite people and its very hard for me to get used to but im completely depending on the lord and he has been guiding me. Im super happy to be doing His work. We have seen so many miracles! Thats the one and only thing we have in common... we are missionaries. We have a desire to serve in this work and put the things of the world aside to serve these people. I feel so different then before I left. The Lord has changed me for the better. I have never been this happy and grateful for an experience like this. People have been hacking into my facebook because the members here who are waiting for my acceptance tell me when things pop up on there and really im just going to want to delete my entire facebook when I get home because I dont ever want to be wrapped up in that. I want to live my dreams and bring back a better person then I was before, with greater faith and confidence.

I learned a valuable lesson from our zone leaders which called us to see if they could help my comp see things differently and be more happy and I learned a lesson about leadership.

A leader takes more fault and blame then neccessary, and less credit then what is due. I definately learned to pray more fervently for the gift of chairty and patience. I have learned that when people are new into the mission field and fresh out of the world, they lack the knowledge gained on the mission and they have a vision of "a perfect missionary" for their leader. When that "perfect idea" they have in mind doesnt match up to what they expect they very quickly want to critique and pick you apart. Its amazing how they will try to find every single flaw you have and magnify it even more. Ive learned to just let it go and instead of explaining how we sometimes do things differently when the spirit directs, I just nod my head and say, "yes hermana, thank you ill work on that." Then like our district leader said, when she sees my example to constantly strive to be better she will follow my lead more and the lord will help guide me.

Im really impressed by the gifts of the spirit im recieving... its incredible to recognize, that when the Lord calls us into a higher position of responsability he shapes the back to bear the burden placed upon it just as our Prophet says. I have a much greater memory, strength, patience and calmness that I can do this with the Lord as my guide.

I have really been impressed with the blessings we have seen for being exactly obedient in all things. We watched three young girls step into the waters of baptism and I was full of joy. We watched them all get confirmed with their father and It was a beautiful sight to see that family and picture them all together in heaven with pure happiness. I said a prayer in my heart to be able to bring all the families to this happiness. Thats my true desire. I want this peace and happiness for everyone.

We have a BBQ planned for us at the house of President and His wife next pday and Im looking forward to seeing them. They are like parents to all us missionaries. It amazes me how much they all do. We couldnt be having this success in the mission without their guidance in the mission. Its obvious why they are here now at this time. Im so grateful for this position as a missionary. I love the mission so much.

Til next week take care guys I love all of you!!!!! xoxoxoxox

 

love ashley ann gillum