People I Love,
Hello again! I am coming at you from the wonderful city of Florence, AL with my new companion Elder Areno. So, to answer the question on everybody’s mind, yes Elder Areno and I do get along and we are both very excited to work together over the next six weeks. He is from Las Vegas, Nevada (no he is not Elder Areno from Reno, it’s disappointing). He is athletic enough to keep up with the Florence sports traditions that we uphold and he is also very smart and creative. He likes to draw and build things and basically do whatever. He is also interested in going into the medical field to possibly be a surgeon. However, he may move down to Arizona and join me in a Private Practice-Dad I hope there’s room to expand. All joking aside, we are again both very excited for the work we will be privileged to do here.
This past week was super busy, which is unusual for a transfer week. Typically it is very slow and involves the “new” missionary getting acquainted with the area, the people, and the apartment. But no, this week we taught a lot of people and had a lot of “success” (I will always put “success” in quotes because the measure we all use for “success” is different at different times in different places). Two girls we taught in particular are named Christian and Alex. We had met and tried to teach Christian before but she was never too interested; however, every time we saw her outside we would come and visit with her for a little bit and just kinda talk. Then, the week before transfers we met her outside with her friend Alex. After visiting with them we left and got a phone call asking us to set up an appointment with them to come answer some questions they had about the church and our beliefs. So, the day after Elder Areno arrived we sat with both of them and answered questions for an hour and a half and are expecting the same thing this coming Wednesday. They both seem to be very open and interested now and this experience was a testimony to me about how easy it is for us all to be missionaries. By simply walking by and being a “friend” as Christian referred to us as we were able to eventually soften their hearts to learning about the gospel. And let me tell you, when that happens it makes teaching so much easier. So, that’s the mid-letter challenge: Find someone that you can simply be a friend to. You don’t have to tell them your beliefs or mention anything about the church but I promise that one day they will ask you, and you’ll be able to share with them the wonderful blessing we have-The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Another awesome experience for me was the team-up we went on this week with Noah. We went with him to go visit Agnes-who we are dropping because she won’t progress but that’s besides the point. During the lesson we were trying to help her understand what the Spirit is, how it speaks to us, and why it’s important in knowing the truth about the Restoration. About halfway through the lesson I was describing the Restoration to a football game: How in football, if there were no referees to tell the players what they are doing wrong and what they need to change there would be chaos-and that’s exactly what it was regarding religion. But, there are now referees called of God today, and we as missionaries are telling all the players that the referees (Apostles and Prophets and Revelation) are back. While doing that the Spirit became thick enough to cut but Agnes didn’t get it at all. And at that point I knew and we knew that we weren’t teaching her, we were teaching Noah. The next day he met with the Sisters and told them about his experience with us and about the analogy to football. He told the Sisters that he had felt the Spirit, and he knew it was the Spirit, and he knew it was testifying of truth. Apparently the Sisters saw it in his eyes and Noah committed himself to be Baptized! They called us after and we couldn’t contain ourselves. I had been waiting for that call for a month and it finally came! Noah is working on setting a date but he is getting baptized and one day I swear he will be a fantastic missionary for the church! This is what missionaries live for, and I can’t tell you enough how amazing a feeling it is when you are told that something you said made it all click; and then you realize it wasn’t really you who said it.
There were some other cool things that happened this week like Disc Golf with Brother Pennington; and team-up with Brother Pennington; the Renaissance Fair on Saturday; and some others. But, those two experiences really helped my testimony grow and I hope it helps yours as well. I know this church is true y’all, with all my heart. I wouldn’t be out here if it wasn’t. Hope y’all have a great week and remember to find that friend! If you have any questions or need anything from me you have my email!
Godspeed,
Elder Milius
PS: I don't have any pictures of Elder Areno and I but hopefully there will be some next week.
PPS: We found Rapunzel's tower.
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Godspeed,
ELDER MICHAEL S. MILIUS
ALABAMA BIRMINGHAM MISSION
"Behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life." ~3 Nephi 5:13
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!
Elder Milius and Elder Wheatley with the Dickson Family
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