This Thing Still On?

Hey everyone. Sorry that I've been slacking on these updates. Sam has not stopped writing, and in fact has been doing really well. Below is his most recent email. I'm going to backfill a few weeks too, so look for those posts too at www.eldermillar.com

"What is up everybody?! Basically this week like every week was a mixture of good and bad. Except this week the good was really good and the bad was really bad! But that is what I love is that even as a missionary you get a good mixture of experiences everyday, that is why everybody always has good stories at the end of the mission!

Anyways I will start with the good this week! Tomy got baptized!!! Everything went smoothly this week and he got baptized this past weekend! It was an awesome experience and it was cool because he has such a strong testimony, and he wanted to get baptized so bad! I was able to do the baptism! It was a good to help someone make that covenant with God! But this Sunday he is going to get confirmed and so that should be good! Other than our baptism, the rest of our work this week was pretty pathetic, I got sick. I was throwing up for like 8 hours straight, dry-heaving and all for about 3 hours. It was the worst experience barfing ever! So I felt pretty crappy for a couple days, so we couldn't work that much, then Saturday at like 6 Elder Sureda got sick and threw up. So we were both pretty sick the last few days! We just rested today for p day I took a nap it was pretty awesome! I hope this week, we can have more energy and better health! This food here is not as clean as I would like, but you have to eat what the members give you!

Anyways I think I have about 2 weeks left here in Malvinas. I think I will probably go this transfer! It will be weird because I know this area really well, and it will be weird to have to start over with everything! But it will also be a good opportunity! We are pushing for at least one more baptism this transfer! We had 2 investigators in the church this week! One of them is a 14 year old girl, her mom is less active and we went and visited them a few weeks ago, and the girl wanted to know about the church. So she went and liked it a lot. We are going to try to baptize her the 30th of August but we will see!

Sorry I don't have that much more to write about, thanks for all the emails and support from up there love all you and talk to you next week!

Muddy Waters

"Hey everybody!! So this week was a good mixture of misery and success! So this week it has been raining basically everyday really hard, and by 20 minutes into working my socks are soaked and my pants are soaked! It is so awesome that we still go out and work even in these circumstances! We went last night to visit one of our investigators and she asked us why we are working the pouring rain. I told her we are working because this is the truth haha! No but the other day I fell in the mud when it was raining so that was a bummer, we had to go back to the pension [Editor's note: I think he means apartment] and change! haha but the work continues!

So the work was pretty good this week. We have right now 2 investigators progressing, Tomy (the 9 year old kid) his mom finally gave him permission to be baptized. So we are going to baptize him this Saturday! He is super excited and so that should be good! We also have another lady that is awesome here baptism is in a few weeks but basically everyday she is reading and praying. She lets us in every time we visit her and so that is a nice change! We taught this week about the 10 commandments. She couldn't go to church this week because of elections(even our branch president left in the middle of church to go vote) but we taught her this Saturday so we really stressed the sabbath day. She said I have to vote and it is just going be a crazy day! We kind of got serious with her and basically told her we should not make exceptions for any of the commandments, whether it is don't kill, or keep the sabbath day holy! So she then promised us that she is going to go next week! Elder Sureda told her you are not promising us, you are promising God! So I think she will go haha! No but the work is getting better! Elder Sureda and I work really well together and we are seeing some good results!

This week we also did divisions with our DL and his comp, I went to the other area and was with Elder Nina who has been here for one transfer! It was an awesome experience to work in another area for one day! But by the end of the day, I will say I did miss Islas Malvinas haha!

So today as a zone we made Asado (which is basically bbq) it was awesome, we all got together cooked a bunch of meat and played soccer in the rain! The meat is pretty dang good down here I will send you all some photos so you know what it is like!

Watching the movie The Best Two Years growing up
never seemed as I had thought the mission would be. But I now realize it is exactly like that, and if you put in enough work and do your best The Lord will pick up the rest! My life is awesome and I am so happy here in Argentina! I was reading in Moroni 7 this week and it says no one should be baptized in the church unless they have the will to serve The Lord everyday! I think that goes along with members of the church, that we should strive everyday to serve Him!

Love all of you and miss you!

Let's Go, Everybody!

Hey everyone! This week was really good and really different well because I have a new companion! This week was awesome speaking nothing but spanish! I always felt guilty when Elder Laudie and I would speak english, and well now I cant so it is good! He done speak a little bit of english actually he always says "everybody" and "lets go" he is actually a really funny kid. It is awesome to be with him and to work with him. Even though he has the same amount of time as me on the mission he was in a big "villa" in Capital. (Which is basically a free place to live, so there are just a bunch of houses stacked up on top of each other!) But he baptized a ton of people there and it is good to have that energy here in Grand Bourg! Even though he is from Chile and I am from US we actually have a lot in common so it is good! It is cool that we both only have 3 months on the mission I feel like pres Ayre has a lot of trust in us. When he called us to tell Elder Laudie that he was going to be a ZL, he said "you guys are both new missionaries just work as a power team and baptize everybody in Islas Malvinas!

Anyways with the work, this week we found a lot of great people! We were walking down the road one day and this lady was like "Hola Elderes!" so we went over and she already has gone to church a few times with the elderes like 10 months ago! So we went to visit her and pick her up for church and she fell through haha! We gave this other girl a baptismal date and she accepted but she couldn't go to church so we set up a date for today so we are going to see! But yeah all of these people who we found this week fell through Sunday but when we got to church Tomy was there! Remember him from like 3 weeks ago he is 9 years old and the reason he didn't arrive at his baptismal date is because of his mom! Anyways he shared his testimony and said that he knew it was the true church and that he knows God exist because his parents are getting back together and he prays everyday that they will get back together! So we went after church to visit him, and we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and of course he was a stud! But now that the mom and the dad are basically back together the mom (a non-member) was all excited that he shared his testimony and they are all going to an activity at the church this Friday! So if everything goes well with that we are either going to try to baptize him this Sunday or the Saturday after! But I will let you all know pray for this kid!

It is weird now in my life totally focused on the gospel there is no greater happiness then seeing people feel the spirit and seeing them realize that this is the only true church! Before my mission I always knew that this was all true, but now after sharing my testimony multiple times a day and reading the scriptures and seeing people's lives change, I have no doubt in my mind that this is the truth! I see other people trying to do what is right but they just like the exact truth! I have also come to the fact that fasting is the coolest thing every. Because the 3 times since I have fasted here in Argentina those same weeks we had investigators in church! "THIS IS THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST AND THIS IS THE TRUTH!"

Sick Day

"Hey what is up everybody? This week was pretty bad actually haha. Um so the beginning of the week I actually think Monday we were teaching Laura and she got a phone call for a job offer in another town, where she would have to work monday-fridays up there and she would come back to Grand Bourg for the weekends. We were alright with that but it kind of sucked. We just basically gave her homework about smoking and reading. And we would call her every night and talk to her and see if she was doing her stuff and she was doing great. There was another baptism from the other branch Saturday night and so we planned out with her that we would take her to that. And she called us like an hour before the baptism and was like where is the church I am coming! She never came and she never answered her phone that night. We went to pick her for church and when we went I peaked through the fence and I saw her smoking...I was thinking "NOOOOOOO!" We clapped and she ran inside and we waited and she came out and peaked through the gate and she ran back inside. We called her name and nothing. Her niece came out and was like, "Laura is not her" we were like we just saw and she was like oh she is not here. So we just went to church with out her which sucked! There was 27 people in our sacrament meeting, and 2 minutes before it started the Branch President came up to us and was like hey can you guys speak on being "Witnesses of Christ in our lives?" So that was awesome I actually felt alright when I did it but that was a sad day. 

"Saturday I woke up at 6 and threw-up and then I threw-up about 10 more times so we didn't really work that day I just kind of rested until about 6 that night, so that was bad.

"We "found" some more families this week that we have visits with so we will see how that goes. We are back to looking for people! Sometimes I feel like I will never baptize somebody it is pretty rough. Yeah so this week was pretty lame but we are determined to find this week and I know that we will! We have to bring some to the church this week! But I have faith that The Lord will guide us to the people that are ready we just have to go through a bunch of people to find those people.

"One quote that we here all the time on the mission is from Elder Holland, " Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience!" I love that quote so much, I know that I am here to help people have salvation, I know that with prayer and faith it might not be easy but success will come! I know that I am going to really be able to help someone enter into the waters of baptism and I am just looking forward to that day, whether that is in 3 weeks or in 1 year I am ready! Love all you guys I miss you all and make sure never to take the family for granted because you are all awesome!"

Dude, Where's My Water?

Jun 16, 2015

"Hey everybody yeah yesterday was transfers

so today was our P-Day! This week was actually really awesome! So those people I told you all about last week, they all fell through and we are not teaching them anymore. The kid Brian who was 13 was really hesitant so we just asked him do you want to still be baptized and he said no not really, so we were like "chau." No but after I am emailed you all last week that night we went out with a member and just contacted old investigators around his house. He was awesome he would just go up to people and just show them The Book of Mormon and be like "this book can change your life" he was so bold. But that night we found a lady named Laura and she was pretty good and we set up another visit for another day. She is not married, she does not work she just lives with her sister and nieces she is probably 50 years old. She committed to the 28th for baptism! We gave her a Book of Mormon that night and told her to read 3 Nephi 11 and we called her the next day to see if she read. And she read and said she loved it! Our next appointment with her was Wednesday and about 3 hours before our app Wed the assistants called and were like hey can we send the secretary down tonight, and he come and work with you guys. So we were kind of freaking out and so we made sure our plans were good, and when were doing that Lara fell through on us! And our member we had fell through on us! We had to go to our backup plans, and contact some references and old investigators with him. He was so good at just talking to people he was really bold and taught us a lot. At the end of the night he came back to our appartment he just basically said they are checking out all the "tough" areas and see what is going on. But anyways Thursday we went back to Laura to teach her The Restoration, and when we entered the house she was talking to us about her smoking problem. So we dropped The Restoration and taught he The Word of Wisdom. She said she really wants to stop smoking she said she only smokes like 10 cigarettes a day! So we set some goals with her and she was excited about it! We went back Friday to teach her The Restoration. This was like the first time I have taught the Restoration inside sitting down with and investigator. I have taught others inside and I have taught The Restoration in a lot of front yards. My job was to introduce The Restoration and do the first vision and talk about Joseph Smith. When I started to say the first vision, in the middle of it she just started crying. And right after I just shared my testimony because that is always the best moment to do it. She was like " I never cry I don not know why I am crying, but I don't feel sad." It was awesome! We asked her if she believed this was true and she said yeah! Also her niece was listening and it was so great! We invited her to church which was stake conference and they said that wanted to go. Sunday morning we went and picked them up and they came to church! They loved it and they were telling all the members they are going next week too! Anyways it felt so good to bring somebody to church and to have a progressing investigator. She is still doing awesome! We talk to her everyday and she is excited about baptism and she just needs to leave smoking by the 24th! 

"Yeah so Tuesday night we were out with a member and we were standing in the street talking and these 2 dogs started fighting right next us. And they were like all over each other and some how they came right in the middle of our group and one bit me in the leg! The second time in like 2 weeks! This one hurt a lot more, that was a week ago today and it is still sore. It was not bleeding but it left a little bruise! I hate dogs, they smell, they bark and they bite. So now the next time a dog bites me I am just going to kick it. 

"So yesterday was transfers we are both staying in the same area this transfer, but Elder Laudie is District Leader this transfer. He is super nervous but it should be fun! Also we ran out of water about 3 days ago so we boil water and she just take showers like that so that sucks. I do not know when it will come back on but I hope soon!"

A Dog Eat Dog World

"Hello people how are you all doing?

"A lot has happened this past week! I am seeing a little bit of light with these people but we will see haha! No this week was good we talked with a lot more people than the last couple of weeks, and we actually taught a lot of lessons this week.

"We found this old lady last week and we started teaching her Tuesday. When we visit her she always says she is doing something so we can not go in but then she just starts talking to us throught the gate for like 10 min. So we were like we are just going to teach her without asking. So we just transformed the conversation into the lesson and pulled out a pamphlet and started teaching her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was going awesome she was basically accepting everything we were saying and it was going great. We asked her to be baptized and she accepted for the 21st. So that was awesome!  At the end we asked her if she would pray and we taught her how to. She looked a little confused so I said, "Maybe we can show you an example of a prayer and then after you can try." She was like okay! So Elder Laudie started his prayer and she was copying everything he was saying so he just went with it I was trying so hard not to laugh.

"The family I told you all about last week, we taught the 13 year old and he also accepted a baptismal date for the 21st but he wasn't able to go to church this week. But he is awesome we just need to get the permission from the parents and I am sure he will get baptized because we have talked to him a few times, and he is fine with it. So we will see how that turns out this week!

"I think it was Saturday night we were trying to contact an old investigator that was from a few years ago. And we were "asking the neighbors" and we talked to this one lady and she was so nice! She lives with her "husband" and 3 kids 11, 13 and 15. And we were talking to her and she said her uncle or someone just died and their family is having a hard time right now. She also said " I am not a part of any religion right now but I am searching for the truth." I was thinking "YES!!!!" Those are the people that we are trying to find. So we started teaching really quick about the Plan of Salvation and told her that we know families can be together forever! And she was really excited about it. We did the verification, by asking her if she actually has interest in our message and she said I will see you Tuesday at 3! Awesome!! We walked away and were like "GRACIAS!" Oh crap we forgot to ask her if she was married. We were so mad, that could ruin everything if she is not married. So this morning we called to "verify our visit tomorrow at 3" but really we were calling to see if she was married. We were so nervous to call and we started talking to her and she said she is married! That is so rare here! We then asked her if she had any questions, and she asked what we believed about Jesus Christ. And we gave a short version of the part of the lesson about the life of Jesus Christ. And we also told her that we believe that there is a living Prophet today. And she was like "living? There is someone to lead the people on the earth to today?" We were like yes there is and we can share this message with you tomorrow and she was like " I have one problem my husband is sick and at home and he will not let you into the house" So we asked her if she wants to do the visit at the church tomorrow and she said yes! So I feel like she is the one we were trying to find! But of course we are going to see!

"This week I saw another dog eat another dog, which was the worst thing I have ever seen. And also today some home walked past us and starting screaming at us saying you "Testigos" (Jehovahs Witness) "I kill Testigos" So that was cool haha!

"No this was a good week! Next Monday is the end of my first transfer I think that we will stay together for another transfer and then he will leave the area and I will stay here for another transfer or two. We will see! Thanks for the emails you are all awesome! I know that this is the truth and people need to know that!"

Not Enough To Make Me Bleed

This is the first of two posts today. Make sure to check out the other one here.

"This was another great week! I cant believe that I have been here in Argentina for a month. That seems crazy I feel like I just got here. It is also weird to think that I have been gone for 2 1/2 months. We are already in "week 5" of this transfer.

"This week was good. I feel like I just emailed you all a couple of days ago. Funny story right when I finished emailing you guys last week we walked out of the building and when we rounded the corner there were some dogs there barking at us. We didn't think anything of it because dogs are constantly barking at us but we walked by them and one bit me right in the leg. I almost turned around and kicked it right in the face but I had to show some control. It was a little sore at first we checked right away to see if it was bleeding because if it was we would have to call the mission home and get shots. But when we checked it was just red it didn't get me good enough to make me bleed which was good.

"Um this week I started to do street contacts by myself. If we had an address to a house we always just ask houses around it and then invite them to church. But usually we both go up to the same house and talk to the person. But this week we would go to different houses and talk and ask the people and invite them to church. So that was pretty fun we talk to a lot more people that way and also get denied by a lot more people. Last night I was talking to this guy and I asked where these less active members lived even though I knew they lived right next door. And the guy just pointed to the house and when I started to tell him about the church he just turned around and walked in his house so that was cool. But I walked over to Elder Laudie he was talking to another lady and she was talking for a while and he invited her to church and she said she would go but she needs permission from the church that she goes to. I asked what the name of the church is and she was like um "I don't know it is a really long name" (but in castellano). So there are a lot of people like that here that claim they go to another church or they are catholic and so they cant come but they don't actually know anything about their church. 

"We actually met some good people this week. We met this family that has been to church 2 times before so they really only have to go one more time then they can be baptized. No but they are really good except of course the parents are not married. But they have a 13 year old son who is awesome. So we are going to try to get hime baptized in the next couple next weeks. We are going to meet with them tonight. We are starting to get tired of people say that they want us to come back and then when we do they are not there. So now when we meet someone we say we don't want to waste your time and we don't want to waste our time (really we just don't want to waste our time because we are on the time of the Lord) so are you actually interested in our message and do you have desire. We met this old lady yesterday and she was really nice and we asked her if she has desire and she said yes I do. And she said she wants to meet with us in the church. So we are going to teach her in the church tonight and so hopefully that goes well. We will find someone good that is ready we just have to talk to a bunch of people and use the members as much as we can.

"...[T]he castellano is coming along. I feel fine talking kind of. I started to do phone calls but understanding everything everybody says is still hard. I know it will just take time.

"I hear L. Tom Perry died that is sad. I don't know what happened if anything happened other than just old age. I think he has a free ticket to Celestial Kingdom so I think he will be fine. Studying this gospel everyday and teaching to people is awesome. I am happy here and I know it will just keep on getting better."

Release The Hounds

This letter is from a week ago, but better late than never, right?

"Hey everybody! ...[Y]esterday we had the mission wide activity near Capital. It was at the school of the presidents kids. It was a super nice area it was much different than our area. We had a mission wide soccer tournament each zone was a team and then we watched Meet the Mormons it was pretty fun!

 

"Anyways you know the two girls I told you about last week that we taught? So after we taught them we went back for our next appointment and they were not there. So we called them and they did not answer. That night she texted us and said we do not want to listen to you guys anymore. I was super sad, so the next day we went to the house to talk to them and when we clapped they opened up the door really quick and sent the dogs for us. The dogs ran at us and ran out of the gate and started freaking out, so we got out of there pretty quick. So I don't think they want us to come back.

 

"Anyways wednesday night we had a youth come with us to contact referrals. We got like 5 new great investigators that night and we were super excited. We went back for one girl the next day she was 17 and we taught here and she excepted the baptismal invitation, and said she would come to church. We went to visit her Saturday night and her brother answered the door and said she was not there. And I looked in the house and she was sitting right there so that kind of sucked. All the other people we met also fell through, so we are basically starting over this week. So we are going to find some new people to teach starting today. This area is known as being a hard area to baptize but I do not want that to get into my head so we are just going to keep on working hard and I know we will find somebody.

 

"So my birthday was pretty awesome! We went to lunch at a members house and they made me a cake and gave us food!  Then at church the next day I had to speak in sacrament meeting and we had to teach priesthood. But the whole branch threw me a party after church with cake and food and the sang it was pretty awesome. Birthdays are a pretty big deal here.

"Anyways I will talk about the food a little. So like I said we drink a lot of soda because the water is not clean. We eat a lot of hamburgers which are really good here. We also eat a lot of fried meat called Milanesa and potatoes. I have not had anything too bad yet which is good but I am sure it will come. Everybody here drinks Mate which is the stuff that looks like weed in the cups with a straw. We are not aloud to drink it so that is good because everybody share the same straw and I do not have to. I need to weigh myself because I feel like I have gained weight because I eat like 10 pounds of bread a day. Another thing that is good is choripan, it is sausage cut in half and put on bread. It is super good! So the food is not to bad!

"Anyways I still feel like an idiot with the language. I feel like a little kid but it is good! I get better everyday but is so hard to understand these people. I am at the point where I can basically understand everything my companion says in spanish now I just need to get better at understanding what natives say-. I feel like I can speak pretty well. It just takes time to translate what I want to say in english into spanish in my head and by the time I know what I want to say it is too late. So it is a pretty good struggle!

 

"Anyways I love what I am doing right now, I know that without this gospel my life would so much worse. Prayer is one of the only ways that helps me feel comfortable when I feel dumb or mad at myself. This gospel is true and I just want everybody in Grand Bourg to know that."

Soda and Kisses

Making Tang

"Hey everybody! Everything is going well here in Grand Bourg. I am starting to get a little more used to this life style, but it is still a little weird. It makes me appreciate where I am from so much. This place is crazy though, I have kissed more guys on the cheek... and drank more soda in the last two weeks than I have in my whole life! It is very different but it is great!

"This week the Castellano came a long a little more. I am starting to at least understand what people are talking about. I still cant really understand all they say, but I can pick out most of the words and put together what I think they are saying. And it really depends on the person too. Some people speak really clearly, so I can kind of understand them. But some people just mumble and speak really fast, and it is hard to believe that they are actually saying real words. My companion and I are trying our best to speak as much Castellano as we can out side of the pensión but it is really hard when we both speak english much better. If any of you can tell me real quick any tips or how it was for you to learn a language that would be awesome. Anyways I know I will be fine, because I have already improved a lot but I can get a lot better.

A street

"Anyways this week we were really struggling finding people to teach. We receive a bunch of referencias from people and we contact them and they seem good and they act like they want to know more. So we set up another appointment with them and we go and they are either sleeping or are not there. So it has been really annoying trying to find people. We talk to a bunch of people and we actually have lessons with very few people. We met a lady named Maria (which we have met probably 5 Marias) but she was awesome her sister is a member and most of her family is mormon but she said that she never got baptized. She wanted to meet with us so we set up an appointment, and we went over there and she was not there of course. So we were kind of mad, but a couple days later we thought we should just go back over there and try to get in. We went over there and she was there! She invited us in so just went! ... we went in and we invited here daughter who is 15 to come and listen in. We taught the lesson it went really well, they were really receptive to our words, and they seemed great! I invited her to be baptized and she said yes!... then Elder Laudie invited the daughter to be baptized 6 of June. And she said yes! ...she said she knows it is important to keep the commandments of God so we will see what happens with that... We have another appointment with them tonight so hopefully that goes well!

bowling on p-day

"This week some lady thought I was from Chili and another girl thought I was native to Argentina so that was pretty cool. That was also saying hello haha! I am just so excited to be able to communicate well so I can focus on the gospel instead of focusing on learning a language.

"Anyways it was a good week next week have a mission activity so I will probably not be able to email next Monday. But they said we can email Tuesday morning. Anyways love all you and miss you! Thank you for the emails and pics keep sending them and wish me luck. Love You."

La Primera Semana

We received Sam's first official email from Argentina the day after we video chatted with him for Mother's day. He seemed to be in good spirits and excited to do real missionary work. Here are some excerpts from his email:

"Hey everybody!

Where Sam will be hand-washing his laundry every week.

"I am in Grand Bourg, my area is Islas Malvinas and it is so awesome! I am starting to get used to walking these streets and not being too scared even though you do always have to be careful of robbers. I didn't take any pictures this week of stray dogs on roofs or horses walking down the street. I'm sorry. Anyways yeah this past week was crazy. It was a lot of brain work trying to figure out what people are saying, and trying to act like I know what they are saying. It is actually getting easier everyday to understand what people are saying, but it is still pretty bad. Today the old lady that lives in front of us came and yelled at us again for not paying the rent on time. haha I actually understood what she was saying today it was really cool. I know it will get better but is like torture trying to learn a language. It is harder than calculus haha but it is going to be awesome once I get it down in a few months. Yeah hopefully by the time I talk to you all at Christmas I will be a little better at castellano. I am starting to learn a lot more here than I did in the MTC. It is awesome.

The chapel for his branch.

"It is a lot harder to convert people to this gospel than I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be just teach a few lessons, and they want to get baptized, but everybody always changes there minds. I just hope we have some success here in Grand Bourg. I will probably be here for 3 months so hopefully I have some success while I am here.

"I guess this area is supposed to be dangerous. They don't let sister missionaries serve here but I have yet to feel really unsafe, it is a little weird sometimes, but I feel safe as a missionary. I feel protected, because if I was not a missionary I would not want to walk these streets and start talking to random people. But with my plaque I feel safe. It is cool to walk around with the name Jesucristo on my chest."

He just moved in and his room is already a mess. Shocking.

Argentina: Not like California

On Monday Sam bid farewell to the purple mountains and fruited plains of his youth for two years. Here's his first brief dispatch from the other hemisphere:

Sam didn't send any photos. This is the best I could do.

"I made it to Buenos Aires yesterday at 9 am. We got a little tour of the city and then we basically spent all day at the mission home. This place is crazy! It is not like California. Um I met my companion last night and we went to our area. I am in a city called Grand Bourg. It is about an hour north of the Capital. It is a pretty poor little town, but it is awesome. My companion is from Utah, so he speaks english. We are going to try to speak as much spanish as possible though... [W]e are going to go teach, so it should be interesting. Love you..."

The End (of the MTC) Is In Sight

Sam with his companion and some other dude.

"Hey everybody, another week in the books and I only have 5 more days left here in the MTC! I got my flight plans on Friday and I am going to Argentina on Monday! I guess my visa went through, because I heard of other people that were going to Brazil getting reassigned to the Provo, UT mission. So I am pretty happy my visa went through. I am flying out of Salt Lake at 2 pm on Monday and flying to Atlanta! We get up to the airport at 10ish so I will have like 4 hours, so I think I will eat a ton and I will also call you guys. I don't know exactly what time I will call or how it is all going to work. All I know is that I can buy call cards here at the MTC, and I can probably talk for an hour or something, sometime between 10-2. So I will just call dad first so he can set everybody up. I don't know a better way so let me know. Anyways we get into Atlanta at 8 pm, and fly out of there at 10 pm. We get into Buenos Aires at 9 am on Tuesday morning! I think our mission president gives us a tour of the city our first day so that should be awesome! There are 5 of us flying down to Buenos Aires together and 2 of the 5 have to drive from Buenos Aires to Resistencia, ARG. So that flight should be fun, I think I will probably just sleep and study as much as I can! Anyways I'm pretty excited.

Burritos, mashed potatoes and steamed vegatables. Mmmmm!

"This week was pretty good, I am trying to learn as much as I can this last week! Like I have been told at the end of the MTC, you can have a pretty good gospel conversation in Spanish, and other simple conversations, but getting into the real world should be fun! I just want to be fully immersed in the language, I just want to be good at it already haha. Hopefully in a few months I will get the hang of it. 

"We are finally getting new missionaries in today. 4 Elders and 3 Sisters. I have to train, and talk to them tonight so that should be fun. I'm going help out as much as I can, because the group that brought us in, didn't do anything for us so the first 2 days were really confusing for all of us.

Sam with his Branch President.

"Anyways I am going to pack this weekend, and try to fit everything in my bags again so that should be annoying, but I am so excited to leave, and yes get airport food!"

Dreaming of Burritos at the Airport

Time is getting short for Sam and his MTC experience. Here's a little taste of how things are going:

"Hey everybody as you know I have been in the MTC for 4 weeks! I'm kind of a big shot around here now haha just kidding! I have 12 days left in prison I mean the MTC! haha actually it is not that bad, I am really used to this schedule and so it is not too bad! I hope I get to go straight to Argentina because I haven't heard anything about my visa yet, I should be getting my travel plans tomorrow or Friday, so that will be exciting!  I really hope that there is a Taco Bell in the airport because I want to have a grilled stuffed burrito with steak so bad. I am so excited for the airport!

"Anyways this week wasn't too exciting. Not much special happened other than we got 2 "investigators" to commit to baptism... My teaching skills are getting better, and my spanish is getting better everyday very slowly haha! Zane emailed me this morning and said that the spanish you a learning is nothing like the spanish in Argentina so that will be fun to learn a third language! 

"One of the counselors in my Branch Presidency... served in my same mission and I was talking to him, he said that there are seasons but it is mainly really hot and humid! He also said that the food is really good! He said that members will invite you over and just bbq ribs, and sausage and a bunch of meat and he said it awesome! So I am pretty excited about that part! I am so excited to be in Argentina already!

"I am going to stay in as the ZL for the next 2 weeks, they told us they were going to switch us half way through but they decided just to keep us in the whole time! It is not that bad other than trying to get Sundays organized.

"Anyways sorry for such a lame email this week was not too exciting. Thanks for the Dr. Pepper and all the packages everybody, I love all the snacks and letters and pictures they are awesome to have! I love all you and miss you a lot."

Half Way Through the MTC

With one more week down, and half way through the MTC, Sam updates us on his progress:

"This week was good and it was really quick!

Sam is caught by surprise in a moment of reflection.

Yeah the language is getting better and the whole structure of spanish is making sense now! I finally got down NC PIG, Evan and Ray will know what that is! [Editor's note: I have no idea what he's talking about] It is basically the thing that helps you with the structure of any sentence in spanish! But it's still really tough, I don't think I have every studied so hard for anything!

3 weeks down 2 1/2 to go! It is crazy that next week will be my first month of my mission down! Only 23 more to go! Actually they gave me a card the first day that said I will be coming home March 7 2017. I don't know how accurate that actually is! I am so excited to go to the airport in 3 weeks and eat food there, sometimes the meals here are alright. And yes Ray the biscuits and gravy are good, but it is totally messing up my body haha! Last night I woke up at like 11:30 and I felt so crappy, I thought crap I'm gonna throw up. So I got off of the top bunk in the pitch black and almost killed my self and went into the bathroom and threw up so much, It was just coming out (tmi? [Editor's note: Yes]). Anyways I felt great after and I feel totally fine this morning, it was really weird but that is what this food is doing to me! Yesterday they served salmon with hotdogs, not the best combination!

Sam and his companion just relaxing next to their book buckets.

Ray and Boz probably know this but it pretty dang cold today and last wednesday, it snowed a little and so my jacket that I brought is really nice to have!

The first week with actual sacrament meeting was pretty crazy, they randomly called 3 missionaries to give talks in spanish, and I didn't get called up it was awesome, it's kind of scary though! I did have to teach priesthood though, luckily that is all in english!

We had a teacher come teach us a lesson one night and he went to Mendoza Argentina on his mission ( same as Zane) and he had the craziest accent. It sounded so Italian it was awesome, it was so crazy and we were told if you are going to Buenos Aires than you are going top have that Italian accent and so that will be really awesome.I am just so excited to get down there and speak castellano. I think that is how you spell it! They said I will be "Elder Mi(sh)ar" down there so that will be kind of weird.

"I love all you guys and I do know that God loves each of us so much, I was thinking this week how lucky we are to be a part of the only true church in the world! What are the chances that we were born into the church and have the knowledge of the truth! We are so lucky!"

Sam does his best Manu Ginobili impression.

The Second Week

Sam's completed his second week in the MTC. Sounds like he's starting to get into the flow of things...

"The spanish is coming a long though! We taught an hour and half long lesson yesterday in spanish! It is really weird to think of how much more I know right now than what I did know 2 weeks ago! I am getting to the point where I can understand basically what everybody says, but I know that will change when I get to Argentina. We had this girl teacher yesterday and she had a really weird accent when she spoke and it was so hard to understand what she was saying in spanish, so I imagine that is what it will be like in Argentina.

"Yo quero Taco Bell so bad though! There is plenty of food here, but it all taste the same to me now, and I just want some Dr. Pepper! That could be a package someone sends to me!

Some smashed cinnamon rolls for bounty.

...

"As you guys know my p-days are Wednesdays, which means we all go to the Temple, which is so nice because I get to leave the MTC for a few hours! I just want to be in the real world! It is weird to be stuck in here, it honestly feels like prison sometimes. Monday was 4 weeks from my departure date though (May 4) i'm so excited to leave even though I know I have to stay and learn a lot more before I could actually teach people. They just started teaching us this week how you are actually supposed to teach people and it does work out a lot better! Our "investigator" is a huge pain, he just keeps on asking us the stupidest questions, to try to through us off! So yesterday everytime he asked us a stupid questions we just got right back on topic it was so good! My companion and I walked out of there and we were just like "Boom." I know it is a fake investigator but he sure acts well haha!

...

"Nothing really special happened this week except for confernece! Which was actually interesting to me, it 

was like watching tv! No all the talks were so good and Holland's talk gave me the goosies it was so good! 

"I know that this is the true church, with out any doubt in my mind I know that we will all be together forever if we do what is right! There is nothing more important than to be together with your family, I think that was the theme of conference!"

The First Week

Sam's first week in the MTC is coming to a close, and we received his first real email today! Following are some excerpts:

"This week was pretty insane, a lot more stressful than I thought it was going to be. We had to teach I think 5 lessons already to an "investigator."  All of these lessons are in spanish so on Friday when my companion and I had to teach our first lesson we were pretty dang nervous! I was thinking how am I going to teach a lesson in pure Spanish after being here for 2 days, I was freaking out! I don't know why I was scared if it was just a fake investigator. So we made a script up of what we would say and it wasn't too bad other than the fact that we were reading a script (we looked so stupid). We haven't gotten to the point where we can now teach an investigator with no script just an english outline for about 20 minutes in pretty broken spanish. Not too bad though!"

"Yesterday we had our first "major investigator'' where were supposed to teach for 45 minutes. We had a lesson together about how God loves each of his children, and when we got in there he was asking us all of these hard questions like "if Joseph Smith was on 14 years old how did he translate a book?" or "tell me one place in the Bible that says families can be together forever." My companion and I were just looking at each other and were like uhhh crap! So we scratched our whole lesson and just went off of the spirit. It ended up being 55 minutes of pretty good spanglish. He looked at me and was like "show me a scripture that says that we will have a life after this" and I was like okay... um so I had him read Moses 1:39. He read it after being all heated he was like ok very interesting.  It felt pretty good haha! Anyways that is basically how our lessons go!"

"...so the spanish is coming along very slowly but surely. Yes for those of you who asked I can say my testimony and pray in spanish and I can have a somewhat decent gospel conversation. It's crazy how much spanish I have learned in one week, way more than high school. The thing I am just working on now is trying to memorize vocab and get better at conjugations. It is pretty tough though. I am hoping and praying every day that I can learn this language and it is insane how much the spirit has helped me out with the language."

"My schedule each day basically goes like this: wake up at 6:20 (which is a killer), go to class for an hour and study, go to breakfast (which always sucks), go play b-ball for an hour then sit in class for the next 12 hours of the day and learn spanish. It is really a lot of working for only 8 hours of sleep every night. Hopefully at some point I get used to it!"

"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you my companion and I were made "Zone leaders" which is kind of lame in the MTC. Our zone is only one district and so it is not that big of a deal which is pretty nice! I get to carry an awesome flip phone haha! Our district is pretty cool and we have a lot of fun!"

"That is about it from this week, hopefully it goes by quick, because I just want to go to Argentina already even though I know I am not ready!"

In The Beginning...

Today was the day. After sleeping in until 8:30 (for the last time), stopping by the drug store for a few remaining provisions, and eating a final meal (Island Chicken Sandwich, and a Dr. Pepper) we dropped Sam off at the front steps of the Provo Missionary Training Center.

Finishing up his lunch. He's feeling a little nervous.

His friend Elder Potter was there to welcome him on the curb, which was pretty cool. Then after a few quick hugs and last goodbyes, he was gone.

Across the street just before we dropped him off.

There are a lot of people back here in the US that will miss Sam for the next two years. But I'm pretty sure there are even more in Argentina that will be grateful to have him.

Good luck, buddy.


For those that want to write Sam while he's in the MTC, here's the info:

Email

sam.millar@myldsmail.net

DearElder.com

Unit #: 146

Estimated Day of Departure: MAY04

Mission Code: ARG-BAN

Snail Mail

Elder Sam Millar
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84602