It's July in Alabama!
Well we had a great last week of June, and I think that this one is going to be even better. We taught quite a bit this past week and went on exchanges with Elder Hanratty and Elder DeMille so that was fun. Things a going pretty good in South Huntsville.
The Lathams are doing great. They are going through some crazy trials that I'm not going to get into but fortunately they are still facing a good direction. They all came to Sacrament Meeting which was awesome and they were all dressed up in their clothes that were given to them last week. Go Sister Latham for bringing them all. We are going over there again tonight to start the new member lessons. Keep praying for them.
Wil and James, a couple of the people we are teaching (by the way the word investigator doesn't exist in the new PMG, pretty interesting) are doing good. We are trying to get them involved with the YSA branch and Elders so that they can progress and be baptized so that is our goal for them this week. Wil is doing great though, he is just one of the most mature people in coming to know what we share is true. He just got it all figured out.
While on exchanges Elder DeMille and I contacted a guy named Anthony that Elder Holm and I had found. He is really open but I don't know how easy it will be to sit down and talk with him and such. But, we had a good conversation about families and why they are important. We also met a lady named Judy out in Lacey who was really nice and interested in the Book of Mormon. We taught her and are hopefully doing back to see her again this coming week. Also, with Elder DeMille that night we turned down a street simply because I felt impressed to. There were a few people we could contact but with it being around 8:30pm we had to be a little more careful on who we saw. We passed the first home, nope; we passed the second home, nope; on the the third home and as we stop to go follow up with the lady around the corner she comes. We talked to her only for a minute when another guy comes up and asks "Are y'all the Mormons?" Apparently he had talked to some guys in Walmart not too long ago and they told him they would give him a Bible. So we have him one as well as a copy of the Book of Mormon and we went away saying that he would make it up to church one day. Interesting experience following the simple impressions. There were a lot of those this past week. In addition to mine and Elder DeMille's adventures, Elder Holm and Hanratty talked to a guy we've been trying to see for a couple weeks named Jeremiah. They shared the Restoration with him. Elder Holm had started to get sick that night but said that even in his groggy, mucus-filled throat the First Vision still brought an amazing Spirit. I know that's true.
So, going back to following the Spirit we had the most successful change of plans ever this week. We were going to see James at 6:15pm or so but Elder Holm needed to pick up a prescription. So we are sitting in Walmart watching the time go by. We messaged James and pushed the appointment to 6:30pm. We waited some more and eventually had to send the script to Walgreens because the insurance wasn't running. By this time it was too late to go see James so we called and rescheduled. Then we ride to Walgreens a little frustrated that we missed a teaching appointment. However, we had several opportunities in Walgreens to talk to people! I visited with a young lady named Kaitlyn (it's the hardest thing to talk to girls my age without it seeming like flirting but somehow it worked out-it took me several minutes to figure out how I was going to talk to her but it was good). She was friends with a somewhat recent convert in the YSA. She said she snapchats her every so often so I told her to take a snapchat of me and send it to her friend asking why she became a Mormon. So she did a I got to share a little about what the Book of Mormon was as give her a copy too. I don't know how that will turn out and for whatever reason it was so exciting! Good experience. Elder Holm also got to visit with the Pharmacy lady he had talked to a few times about the church. We then saw someone we are trying to teach as we walked out of the store. And then as we were riding away we talked to Cecile, someone that the Spanish Elders are teaching and I was able to "practicar mi Español."
To continue the "change of plans" we also went to the Pine Tree Apartments and saw a former who wanted to meet with us again and another potential the previous Elders had contacted in the Dollar Tree. We saw the Latham boys mowing a lawn riding by as well. It was just cool to see that even when we were frustrated about the prescription and missing an appointment I felt oddly okay with it. I guess all of the previous story explains why. Moral of the story is the Lord is always in charge of we allow Him to be.
We did quit a bit of service this week which was good. We helped the Shellmans get ready for a Baby Shower they were having and moved some furniture around and got some more stuff out of their storage unit. We helped Sister Rodarte do a landscaping project in her backyard. And we helped Brother Chiri, a non-member, move some stuff around in his home. On all of those occasions we were able to talk to and visit with those who are not yet members of the church and hopefully leave a positive impression for the future. Service softens stoney souls. Not to mention it let's us wear jeans and a t-shirt and get dirty every so often.
Every thought could be a prompting. That is my new motto. I remember a message that was given by one of the General Authority visits we have had in the past year where he said something along the lines of: Just because you don't find any immediate success or things don't work out perfectly doesn't mean you were not prompted to go there. Sometimes we receive impression and the Lord is testing us to see if we will listen, and regardless of the results of the action He knows that we will act according to our impressions.
We went to see Cathy again this week. I guess we figured things had cooled down since we last talked with her. Apparently she was approached by a few other people and they told her things that weren't true. She is also dealing with some mental health struggles but all is well now. We were going to see her a day earlier than we did but it didn't end up working out for reasons God knows. But, because we didn't see them the first night we ran into Yancy and Abby and were able to help them out a little bit. They got thrown out of their apartment and it was a crazy not good situation but another example of the Lord needs you where He needs you.
I had several "thoughts" this past week. Some that worked and others that didn't. On several occasions however I received a confirmation that I was where I needed to be doing what I needed to be doing. We met Jentri and Daniel this week who we are hoping work out pretty well upcoming. We had a handful of great lessons and a good Facebook Live message this week. We got our ward 40-Day Fast rolling and our Ward Mission Leader got back in town.
Every good week has some funny moments though:
- I almost crashed in front of a couple people late one night... I was tired.
- Elder Hanratty tried to take off on his bike with no hands and ate it.
- Elder Holm got a steroid shot in the buttox and wouldn't let me do it.
- My bike pedal fell off, I lost a piece and then the road I lost it on was paved over the next day.
- A cat followed Elder DeMille and I around for about a mile or two.
- "He who cares the least wins." Good way to think when doing things like buying a car.
- I threw, and I mean threw, a Book of Mormon across the yard because when I looked down there was a wasp on it very close to my hand. How many pounds is that?
- Elder Holm took his order in the Sonic Drive-thru and a preacher took some pictures of it. Unfortunately we didn't get the pictures.
- Speaking of pictures though Elder Barker sent me the report of the van that Elder Canty hit me with nearly three months ago. Shoutout to him again, love ya bud. (I'll attach those pictures to the email).
- I was finally kissed on the cheek by an old lady-check that one off the bucket list!
Lots of thoughts running through my head at this point and I don't really know what to think. But there are three quotes from Sacrament Meeting that I would say sum up my conclusions:
1. The Lord always has more in store for us.
2. I love the Lord more than anything else.
3. "Where'er thou art, act well thy part."
Along with that I want to share an experience that I had last night. As expected I could really fall asleep because of the racing thoughts. During all of that I thought about the countless times I've testified that the Book of Mormon is true. The many times I have added my witness to others that this is the true church. They thousands of times I heard, quoted, or testified about the First Vision and about Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God. Do I really know these things? Or have I simply said it so many times I've convinced myself they are true. So, with all these questions and thoughts going through my head I asked each of them. I know that all these things are true. Not because it's what I've been taught, not because it's what I am supposed to say as a Mormon Missionary, but because my Heavenly Father has witnessed to me that each of these things are true, independent of one another. I know it, and I know that God knows I know it. I would invite each of you to gain your own personal witness of Jesus Christ and all the truths you've been taught by taking them to God and allowing the Spirit confirm to you the Eternal Truths of the Gospel.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and I'll email you once more. Thank you all for your support. God bless.
Much Love,
Elder Milius
PS: P-Day will be on Tuesday next week so I'll talk to you then.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment