Here we go again!
Another week down and it feels like it’s only been a day! It’s been a long, exhausting week but we had a good time in Hoover! So, after having a full week here I can officially say it’s a wonderful area with great members and a diversity of people who are generally interested!
This week we had Zone Conference! Lots of good things were trained on and a lot of good insights. Not to mention it’s so good to be able to see a ton missionaries! But, that’s not the coolest part. The coolest part is when we, over the past few nights, have gone into teaching appointments have applied some or all of the concepts we’ve learned; and, believe it or not they work!! On Monday night we were able to see Lance, our investigator from Jamaica and we were short, followed the Spirit, taught him what he needed, and invited him to be baptized! Easy.
We’ve also found a few people this week, one of them was Mary Ashley (gotta love the first and middle names of the South). On Tuesday we were driving around trying to figure out a place to go and knock on some doors as we had some time because appointments fell through. So, Elder Lewis come up with a place that he hasn’t tracted frequently. As we were driving into the complex it looked familiar and I remember being there with another missionary visiting a younger couple. I didn’t remember where they lived and so we commenced knocking. The second door we knock on Mary Ashley answers and I recognized her as the young lady in the couple I had met! She told us that her and her boyfriend were wanting to get back into church and we told her that we were there to help! That was a cool experience of the Lord inspiring each of us to find the one he wanted us to find! (We scheduled an appointment with her and she texted us to cancel-which is a miracle that she told us before we had to say anything to her).
Latarius was another guy who we met after Zone Conference and applied those principles of a short lesson. He lives with his wife and two young daughters (4 and 2 maybe) and is super interested! The trick will be getting them to come to church but he’s already committed to a soft, “If you come to know this is true will you be baptized…” invitation. An awesome black family in the ward would be fantastic!
We’ve also been back to see Kennith and Tonya this week who are interested but have some obstacles to overcome. They need to come to church for one, second he has some word of wisdom issues but he is trying to stop. And, as Alma teaches us in 32:27, that desire is where it all begins. We are taking them on a church tour this weekend and hopefully getting them to church! Baptism in December? Brenda was another investigator I talked about last week. She was on date for the end of this month but we’re going to have to change that. Her daughter just got nailed with some trials of addiction and Brenda is having to deal with all of that. We saw her Saturday and she was stressed to say the least. Very stressed. She knows it is the Devil though, keeping her from doing what she wants to do... which is hard. It’s like Dorris in Smithville, they have the desire and they want to get baptized and come to church but, they can’t. It’s like, “Where is that line at?” ya know. It’s hard.
Another cool experience we had was when we went to go and see a guy named Jonathan. He wasn’t there, but as we were walking to his house we ran into a guy named Daniel who was trying to get his keys out of his car. We asked if we could help him and he said, “Yes please!” Apparently there were several people who walked by and no one offered to help him except us. It was something simple but it was a testimony to me about how service is a huge example to others about what we believe in. We got his information and are hopefully going to be able to go by and teach him and his family!
We made contact with Anita again this week! She was an investigator who has been taught once and then went out of town for something. She’s super cool though and really willing to learn and read and pray! She came to stake conference with is this Sunday as well and basically made our day. We like it when friends come to church!
This week we talked to the Tinchers as well. They are both members, he was recently baptized...getting close to a year, but the missionaries have been teaching their boys. On Saturday night they kinda broke down in front of us about what we can do to help their boys and such. It was one of the more interesting things that I’ve had happen on my mission but it really showed me how blessed I was for my parents and for how I’ve been raised. So shoutout to Mom and Dad-you’re great!
Some “funny” experiences:
- We went back to see Pauline in Prattville this week, she’s awesome and I’m totally her favorite. Before I left she gave me a hug, and that doesn’t happen. B)
- There is this LA/PM family that we are working with named the Cooks. We’ve been over a couple times this week and it’s been to no avail. No real lesson, not coming to church, etc. But, when we stopped by on Saturday night one of their boys as we were walking away told his friends who were there, “I love when the missionaries come over! They’re cool!” That was a pretty cool tender mercy for me, to know that you kinda “made it” as a missionary and to know that there is an influence for good whether you see it or not.
- The Hoover Sister just got their car taken because we had to decrease the number of cars in the mission, and they have been rock stars about it. But, the first day Sister Terry fell three times in 5 minutes. Poor Sisters, gotta love it!
Not a ton of funny things but it’s been a good week nonetheless. I do want to say a few words about how big of examples you are as members at church. For those of you who have read this far, I want you to know that people watch you. This past Sunday we sat behind a family who was completely distracting and irreverent. They father and older son walked in late, they were playing games on the father’s phone the entire conference, they kept getting up to take the little daughter/sister to the bathroom, and the older son was all over his mother, burying his head in her shoulder and moving around constantly. Needless to say it was hard to know that Anita, a non-member, is here visiting and trying to feel the Spirit that I think we as members sometimes take for granted. So, my invitation to you is to be careful how you act in Sacrament Meetings, because you never know who is watching.
Thanks for all that y’all do for me! I wish you a blessed week wherever you might be! Godspeed!
Much Love,
Elder Milius
PS: I saw Lindsey from Florence this past week! She came down to say hi :)
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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
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