Hello!!!
Well y’all, it has been a crazy couple of weeks and it’s not slowing down. We’ve just had so much of the extremes happen to us but they have both ended with a baptism and it looks like this week will end with one as well!
I want to tell y’all about the amazing baptism we had this week though! Tyrone has been working with missionaries for the past year, year and a half. His wife and 5 kids were all baptized that long ago, but he wasn’t ready to get baptized with them. He named off 11 different missionaries who have taught him up to us. Last Tuesday when we went over to talk to him we hit the baptismal interview questions hard and one of his biggest issues has been giving up smoking. He’s been trying to quit for 5 years and when we had asked him to give us the cigarettes he had in his house. He told us he hadn’t smoked in a while but he would give them to his brother. We weren’t going to leave without getting the temptation out of his house and so he gave them to us. After his baptism he told me that since I had taken the pack of cigarettes he hadn’t had the urge to smoke at all. It was a huge testimony to me that the power of God is real and the Holy Ghost can be there to help all of His children. In addition to that miracle, the baptismal service was the most spiritual environment I’ve heard outside of the temple. He was so excited and going into the font he had the biggest smile on his face. After coming out of the water Tyrone broke down in tears. I knew at that moment how special an ordinance Baptism is and how meaningful it is to make that step as individuals are humble and prepared. I’m so glad to be able to be a part of helping this entire family become united in the gospel, the Lord is doing his work and we are just the instruments.
Shannon is now getting baptized this coming weekend! It’s been cool for me to see her progress so quickly and to be with her during her roller coaster ride of emotions. She came to Tyrone’s baptism on Saturday and I don’t think she’s been more sure about anything in her entire life than her decision to be baptized after coming to see Tyrone’s. Satan is hitting her hard and trying to get her to slip up with some Word of Wisdom issues but I know, through Tyrone, that just as real as the power of the Adversary is the power of the Holy Ghost and as long as our desires are good He will help us through the rough times-and let me tell you the week leading up to baptism is rough for almost everyone. But that’s what I will look forward to tell y’all about next week!
To give you a couple more updates on some people. Jalessa is still struggling to find her testimony strong enough to get Sundays off to come to church so we are hoping to continue to help her work through that! Church is one of the hardest things to commit people to, especially when they hear that it’s three hours. Kendra is going to be doing great! We went by to visit her yesterday and she how she was doing because we weren’t able to go teach her this past week-she’s busy moving. But we played with her two twin little girls, London and Lauren who are 3. Kendra is awesome and is already looking to get Sundays off so that she can come see how church is but other than that she’s started the Book of Mormon and loves and believes it so far! Emily is a new investigator this week, she is Chance’s younger sister (Chance was the young man who was baptized a week ago). She has a lot of potential and we are hoping to help her progress more quickly! The two boys we are teaching , Trevor and Sebastian have decided that they want to be baptized but their Dad is wanting them to understand the commitment that they are making and find out when is the best time. Last week we committed them to look at a calendar and pray about what day they feel they should be baptized so hopefully God answers those prayers! He does for me as a missionary when we are trying to figure out when to invite someone. Trish and Sunny are falling off the table and into an “eternigator” (eternal investigators) pool but they are still great people and will figure it out one day!
All in all, I love my mission. Even through the hard times I don’t think I’d rather be anywhere else! The people that I am able to meet and the relationships I have grown have impacted my life so much for the better it’s unbelieveable! I love it, and I love the Lord! He knows best! Hope y’all are doing well and counting your blessings everyday because they are there! Thank you for the thoughts and prayers, I love y’all! Make it a great week!
Much Love,
Elder Milius
--
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
Elder Milius with his Distict
Missionaries ARE Superheros!
Elder Milius and Elder Schrubb with Tyrone
Tyrone and his family on his baptism day
No comments:
Post a Comment