Monday, April 9, 2012

The Pursuit of Happiness

Hello all!  I hope you had a wonderful Easter.  I know that the Atonement is the most wonderful gift we have ever received!  It is the only way we can return to our Heavenly Father and escape from our own sins.

We had a simple sacrament meeting with talks about the Atonement, and a beautiful piano number that gave me the chills!  ¨Tengo gozo en mi alma hoy¨ but completely improv.  It was so great.

My companion and the other hermanas here had a big lunch with some members yesterday and they gave us two huge chocolate eggs that the mom made!  There is something so great about immediately feeling at home with people you just barely meet.  The mother told me her family´s story of how they found the Church two years ago, her son first got baptized and he then baptized his parents and sisters, and last October they got sealed in the temple and now he is on a mission.  I couldn´t believe that all of this had happened in two years, and their home has such a feel of a life long member family.  I told the mother that and she got pretty teary eyed and said there was a lot of work that had to be done to get to this point, and she couldn´t be happier.

This ¨pursuit of happiness¨´ (love that I found this poster here in venado!)  is something everyone is trying to find.  Some believe that the true happiness lies in riches, in fame, or in worldly knowledge.  A lot of those things that bring great success and great experiences, but living in a place and in this spiritual state as a missionary where all of that is stripped away, you really get to watch people with different eyes as they take on their pursuit through life.  Sometimes it pains me to watch people who really think they know what true happiness is, when they are not following commandments, they are only meagerly believing in the gospel that they have been introduced to.

Yesterday while listening to different Easter messages, I kept hearing ¨Christ suffered so that we don´t have to¨.  He already went through all of the pain so that we don´t have to suffer during this journey we call life!  I will be hones, the mission is not easy and there are moments when the adversary tries to taint our minds and convince us missionaries into thinking that we are doing is not very successful.  He wants us to think that every little effort is a lost cause, and I remind myself that h e is wrong, oh he is SO wrong!  We have to write down all the good little things we see and do and remind ourselves that we 
are planting seeds ,we are helping people let the Savior change their lives, and the results come, slowly but surely.   It is the same for our lives outside of the mission.  Because the Lord suffered for us, we don´t have to feel down when a struggle comes.  We don´t have to think that there is no way out, because that is what the adversary wants!  We have more strength than we realize.  We have angels on our side cheering us on, and we have the Savior walking every footstep with us, sometimes he is even carrying us through our trials.

I know that Christ lives, and that the Atonement is real!  I love that I know the real pursuit of happiness is leading me back to my Heavenly Father.  Life is great!!  Love you all!

Hermana Hill Mill

PS thank you for the letters!  Congrats AE JONES on your wedding!  Your letter made my day.  G7, thank you for the fun photo for my birthday!  I show all the hermanas the photo to explain what the best looking singles ward in the states looks like.

I am blessed with such wonderful friends and family.  Thank you for your support, prayers and words!  You are also in my prayers!

xoxo 



my district in arroyo seco when I was waiting for hermana green.  I served with hermana rentfro for a week and a half, she was so great!!  These elders are really fun, we had great district meetings together. 






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