17 October 2016 - Elder Milius Week 16

Loved Ones,

Hello people! This week hasn’t been super crazy or exciting but things are always happening, and definitely as Missionaries. 

Something that was awesome that happened this week is a young man in the Florence Ward received his mission call to the Texas Dallas Mission. He’ll be speaking his native language, which is Spanish, and he is leaving on November 16. Crazy! We’ve gotten to be really close to him and it was cool to the share that experience with him. Life’s been really nuts for him so it’ll be good for him to get out and serve. I told him it was the best decision I’ve ever made! Also, it was fun to reminisce on how I opened my call only about 7 months ago. (And I state yet again that time is just different…)

Speaking of time Transfers are happening this week. So...drum roll...I will be staying here in Florence and Elder Wheatley is getting transferred East to a fun little city called Huntsville ALabama. Elder Areno will be my new companion. I don’t think I’ve met him before but I’ve heard good things so far and I’m looking forward to living with him for at least the next six weeks. I’m excited to be running the wonderful are called Florence and for the opportunity to share it’s beauty with Elder Areno. This transfer ought to be a good one!

A couple other things that I got to do this week was do service on this land for an “Eternigator” (all y’all returned missionaries and current missionaries know what kind of guy I’m talking about) named Sam. He has a beautiful piece of property and we went and cleaned up around some trees for him. It was nice getting out of Proselyting clothes for a while and helping him out. Also, this morning-and this email isn’t really in chronological order so I apologize-we went with Brother Pennington who is a less-active to go Disc Golfing at a course here in Florence. First time I’ve been and I didn’t do half bad if I say so myself, but I hoping we can make that a regular Monday Morning thing! I might get into Disc Golf when I come home, who knows right?

As far as people go, this week our highlight was meeting an Investigator named Caleb. Caleb is a real open minded person, which is great to come across especially in the South. We shared a couple things with him and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to start reading and to study. Before we left the apartment complex we saw him again and this guy had already ripped through the introduction, the and the testimonies. In a matter of 10 minutes this guy had read the beginning of the Book basically. So, we come back and follow up on Sunday afternoon. He was asking us a couple of questions outside of his apartment mainly asking why we both decided to serve missions. Both of us gave our answer which were both focused on Jesus Christ and share His Joy-which was cool-and then he invited us in to look at some “notes” he had taken. Caleb had done research and all of the things he was bringing up were true and legit as far as the information he came across. Also his “notes” were a 1 ½ page document on Word. Caleb is solid. And to top it off when we were leaving we asked him to read and pray and find out if all we’ve discussed is actually true. He interjected by asking us about our experiences and how we came to know the church to be true. And then he went on and before we could say the typical “...And if you find out these things are true will you take those next steps including being baptized…” he said that if when he found out it was true he would “...definitely take those next steps on God’s pathway…” or something along those lines. Y’all I’m excited for Caleb. I’m excited for Florence.

Nothing else crazy like that happened but I’m looking forward to this next week and this next transfer. I have also found that when one Elder is leaving an area you are BUSY on P-Day and Transfer Day (which is tomorrow instead of Wednesday because President has a meeting or something). Thank y’all for your thoughts and prayers, they are always felt. I love you, and so does your Heavenly Father!

-- 

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 Wheatley & Elder Milius

 "He's the Hero Florence deserves, but not the one it needs right now."

 -caption from Brigham Milius 

Tupelo North Zone with President & Sister Sainsbury

10 October 2016 - Elder Milius Week 15

Friends and Family,

Hello! Happy P-Day and a Happy Monday to y’all! Hope life is treating you well! I love you and thank you for your continuous thoughts and prayers!

    

This week wasn’t super exciting, just the same old stuff: Find, Teach, Baptize, and Retain. We are still sitting in the Teaching portion of that process but it’s all good! There are a couple Investigators that we have who we are beginning to really dive into the basic discussions so that should be good.

    

Thursday was probably the most eventful day this week. Elder Dyches of the Seventy came and called a Multi-Zone Conference and so there were two meetings in the course of two days that was full of trainings from President and Sister Sainsbury as well as Elder and Sister Dyches. All of it was amazing and most of it was applicable to our mission in specific. A lot of the things we were taught didn’t necessarily answer any questions that I had, but the emphasis was placed on the White Handbook and how that is the way to become better missionaries. That is the goal in life I think: To Become. Because as we Become we are constantly striving to progress and be better than who we were the day before.

    

This week was a testimony to me that the Spirit guides us in our work. I don’t think more that maybe two appointments that we planned actually happened when we planned them to simply because our plans were changed. We were still productive, still “successful” but nothing seemed to really go to plan. It just goes to show that we aren’t actually in charge. Nonetheless (yes I just used that word) that does not mean that we do not plan. Especially as a missionary, you need to have a plan in order for it to be changed by following the Spirit. I don’t believe that anyone can walk aimlessly expecting to be lead. In 1 Nephi 4:6 we know how that process worked with Nephi. He was “lead by the spirit not knowing whither he should go” but I would argue that he went somewhere. Nephi did something to show his own effort. One of my favorite words in the scriptures is “Hearken.” In hearkening we not only listen, but we listen and DO. It illicites action!

    

Also, to close this very short e-mail this week I’d like to share my experience from Fast and Testimony meeting yesterday. Often times as missionaries you dread inviting investigators to church for Testimony meeting because more likely than not someone in your ward is going to go off on something they believe personally that is totally non-related to the Gospel of Jesus Christ or tell their life story or etc. But, our meeting yesterday was one of the most sincere meetings I’ve ever been a part of and it just goes to show how lucky I have been to start my mission in the Florence Ward. Something that Elder Dyches counseled on was a 3-minute, missionary testimony in which you take one minute to talk about the love you have for the people, another minute to talk about the love you have for your companion, and a third minute to talk about your love for the Savior. Elder Wheatley asked me if I was going to get up before the Sacrament and I wasn’t sure but he said I should if one of the Sisters didn’t. (Another aspect of Elder Dyches’ was to get up immediately). So, after the time was turned over and the Sisters didn’t immediately get up I did. I simply talked about the love I had for the ward, and the love that they had for one another; how lucky I was to begin my mission there with them and with Elder Wheatley; and I closed by expressing the love I had for Jesus Christ and the love he had for each of them-the love that they so dutifully exemplified. After my testimony the meeting continued with the theme of gratitude for the Ward Family.

(I now have to interject: That morning we had gone to knock on the door of a less-active family in order to get the up for church. We were successful and the four boys in the family got up, dressed, and we then followed them to church. That was a great moment for us, walking into church with all of them-so we were already feeling great).

   

...To continue, Cody, one of the boys who is a little slower mentally and is around 12/13 years old got up to bear his testimony. He made me feel the love of my Savior more than anyone as he expressed how grateful he was for the Missionaries and how much he loved us. He mentioned if we hadn’t gotten them up they would still be sleeping and has he looked right at me down in the congregation I couldn’t help but feel like THIS is what it is about.

    

I love being a Missionary, and I know that I am a representative of Christ. I know He lives and I know He loves all of us individually. The Atonement of Christ is real, and I know that each moment He suffered was individual as well. I’m so grateful for Him and for my opportunity to serve, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

    

I hope y’all have a good week and I hope that you will be able to find joy in Christ this week. I also hope that you will be able to help someone feel the love of the Savior as Cody did for me. Take care, and let me know if I can do anything for y’all!

Godspeed,

Elder Milius

PS: One of the talks in General Conference was referencing Helen Keller. I thought it would be cool for y’all to know that she was born just across the river from where I’m serving :) (Her house is right behind my big head)

PPS: This week is TRANSFER CALLS again! Where does the time go?! I’ll let you know next week what the news is but our guess is I’ll be here in Florence for another one and Elder Wheatley will leave-but the Lord is still in charge of His work.

Michael and Elder Wheatley at the Birthplace of Helen Keller

3 October 2016 - Elder Milius Week 14

Dear Loved Ones,

This week has been amazing to say the least and it all lead up to GENERAL CONFERENCE which was the perfect ending. I’ll talk a little bit about Conference later but for now I’ll get into reporting a little of what happened this week in Florence, AL.

Tuesday was the first taste of magic, or as we like to call it the Spirit. There is an investigator that the sisters in our area are mainly working with and his name is Noah. Noah is prepared. He has meet with and talked with missionaries in the past, his best friend lived in the ward (who just moved away to BYU-I for school) and most of his other friends or the people he hangs out with are from the youth of the ward. Noah grew up heavily involved in a Baptist church and that is where his parents are strong today. Although he is 20, he is living at home which limits his involvement in the church slightly. So, now that you have a background: On Tuesday, Noah went on a team-up with us to see a couple appointments that we had. (For those of you who don’t know, a team-up is where we typically take a member out with us to appointments). We went to see a less-active family which started of kind of weird and awkward but it ended up being a deep discussion on the doctrine of The Plan of Salvation. Ok...then, we went to see Agnes the 95-year-old Book of Mormon studier. Noah himself is studying the Book of Mormon as well-just for a little more exposition. We went into the appointment thinking we were going to discuss The Plan, however the lesson quickly turned to be about the importance of reading, studying, and PRAYING about the Book of Mormon and the importance of praying. One thing Agnes pointed out was how similar the Book of Mormon and the Bible were in their teachings. We explain that they were both records of Christ’s teachings and then turned to ask Noah why he thought they were so similar. Then the magic. Noah bore a simple, plain testimony in the words that went something like this: “Well, I guess they are so similar because the Book is true.” Woah. We soon discovered that our appointment with Agnes was not for Agnes, but for Noah. That was a huge testimony builder to me about the power of the Spirit and how important it is for us to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon (which evidently was one of the principles mentioned a couple times in conference this past weekend). Anyways that was amazing and he will be going out with us again on Tuesday!

Nothing really beats that experience but on Wednesday we found a couple awesome people who we are excited to go teach. Jake was the first and we meet him while walking down the street on Wednesday. He just was interested in the church and how missions worked and all sorts of other basic things about how the church is. We left him with a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet and hopefully will be able to meet with him again this week. Then, we went tracting for a little bit later that day and meet Tara. Tara is an artist and was interested in the fact that before we threw a ton of gospel stuff at her we took some time to get to know her. At one point in the conversation she made the comment that she wasn’t supposed to be talking so much we were. She was also interested in the beliefs of the church and the Book of Mormon. So, when I gave her one I used a technique I learned in the MTC: When handing out a Book of Mormon you make the person want it more than anything. As you start to hand it to them you pull it away just out of their reach and continue to give the invitation to read. Then as you hand it back you pull it away again to talk about the importance of praying to find out if it is true. Then you give it to them and by the time they finally have it all they want to do is break it open. We will be going back later this week to see if my technique worked! 

Later this week the weather dropped a ton and it is finally cool! I love it. It's kind of like the middle of Arizona winters, so I’m thinking it’s going to be a little colder but for now it’s nice. I can’t wait to see the trees actually change color! We talked to a few other people this week and one of them taught me. His name is Gordon and he owns a shop in Downtown that we like to visit. After going in one day he asked us “What have you learned today?” After thinking about it for a while we didn’t have a truly good enough answer and he told us that he thinks people don’t usually take the time to think about what they are learning from a given situation in the middle of the day. So typically missionary I wrote that question on a sticky note and put it on my wall so that I can ask myself that every day. I would challenge y’all to do the same and it might surprise you what the Lord teaches us, because He is constantly teaching, and we should constantly be learning.

Speaking of learning I spent the past two days basically living at the church building for General Conference! I don’t even know why we went home to sleep but it was so worth it! I loved how it began Saturday morning with President Uchtdorf because we often do take a lot of things for granted...like hearing from the Lord’s chosen servants twice a year! How cool is it that we have that opportunity!? I enjoyed ALL of conference and all the messages were great! I think the theme was truly inspired and it definitely applies to missionary work! General Conference, in the words of Elder Wheatley, is the Super Bowl for Missionaries! I love President Monson and I know he is the Lord’s Prophet. My testimony is strengthened every time he speaks, even if it is just for a few minutes each. One of my favorite talks was Elder Christensen of the Seventy. He spoke about the importance of having a testimony of the Restoration and of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. A lot of other messages were focused on the basic, plain, pure truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ-the truths that I have an opportunity to share with the people of Alabama every day! I know that the church is being run today by Jesus Christ, as Elder Ballard would say He is at the helm of the Ship of Zion. Christ lives, and our Heavenly Father lives as well. I know that all He wants for us is to return Home. 

One thing that I have noticed since being on a mission and particularly since getting more familiar with the work, investigators, and members, is that I have trouble just thinking about myself. It is to my understanding that the mantle of missionary work allows you to receive specific, true revelation to help administer and perform the Lord's work in a certain proselyting area. When I sit in Sacrament meeting, I try to focus on what I can do to be a better disciple of Christ and how I can improve in the coming week; however, my thoughts are often turned to how to help investigators, how to strengthen recent converts, how to encourage less-actives to come back to church, and how to get part-member families closer to being sealed in the temple. With General Conference, and my own thoughts, I have determined that these thoughts are for others, but they also answer my question of "How can I improve?" This has been a blessing in my life and will continue to be a blessing I'm sure. I love the people, and I love how in conference this past weekend the leaders of the church stressed the importance of building the kingdom in building others.

I love y’all, and thank y’all for the thoughts and prayers! Build your testimony in the Savior and in our Father, because I promise He is there in the name of our Brother, Jesus Christ, Amen!

Godspeed, 

Elder Milius

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PS: Sorry for the long email this week, hope you got something out of it for reading down this far!

click here for

Elder Milius's Favorite Talk from General Conference

PPS: We all carved pumpkins for a District Activity this morning! 

Guess which one is mine! AZ=>AL

26 September 2016 - Elder Milius Week 13

Friends and Family,

    How are y’all?! Yes, I used the word y’all...I have used it before but the South is teaching me that “Y’all” can be used in any situation referring to another person so I am using it more often. I also want to first thank all of you for the thoughts and prayers. They are felt everyday, so for me and in behalf of all  the other Laborers in the Vineyard-We thank you.

    This week hasn’t been too crazy but that’s coming from me and crazy isn’t what it used to be. (I also forgot my weekly notes so I apologize and I will try my best to remember…) We did tract into the awesome lady last week I believe and her name is Agnes. Agnes is 95 years old as of last Thursday and she has grown up in the Church of Christ (which is basically what all of Florence is, either that or Baptist). We left her with a copy of the Book of Mormon and when we came back she had studied it. And I mean studied, she didn’t just read but she cross-referenced, went through the testimonies in the front, read how the Book is organized, etc. etc. We are pumped, because it was a miracle in it of itself that someone actually had read and had questions about it and the church. To say the least we were excited. We saw her again after that and brought her a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World and so hopefully that will continue to go well. She also invited us back in September of 2021 for her 100th Birthday party that she’s having! Wahoo!

    Now that I’m talking about Church of Christ members...in downtown Florence there is a store that we have grown to love called Coats Clothing Company, and we’ve become friends with all the employees there. One in particular is Susan, I don’t know if I’ve brought her up before but she is awesome. She loves us and so she asked us one day how often we got to go out and eat. Being missionaries we told her not often because we don’t have a lot of money but sometimes we would have the opportunity to be taken out by members. She then proceeded to invite us to dinner with her and her Church of Christ Deacon husband. We didn’t think anything too bad would happen and so we went out and it was great. No awkward “trying-to-convert-each-other” discussion was had and I love meeting people. That is something that is such a blessing in the South is so many people believe in Jesus Christ and have a Testimony of Him. And coming from other congregations and religious groups changes the testimony slightly and brings new perspective for me on who the Savior actually is and what that actually means to me personally. I am growing more here than I could anywhere else!

    On Thursday, my day was spent at the temple! I love the temple. And after going and having the opportunity to go so frequently, getting on my mission I’ve been cut off...but I’ll go once every third month, and it will be glorious. This was the first time I’ve been able to go through a temple session with just missionaries and the Spirit is indescribable. I can honestly say that for the first time since I left Arizona, I felt at home. I felt like I was with Family. It was an experience I’ll never forget and I’ll never trade for anything. I’ll only have that opportunity 8 times so that trip was ⅛. (I’m going to get to the point of not counting but for now I think I’m good). President Sainsbury talked to us a little before we went back for our session and he talked about how the temples are literally the Lord’s house. He walks there. And as we attend the temple and perform those ordinances we are walking where He walked. The Temple President then shared a few things about the Threshold of the temple, and how the threshold separates the Spirit of the Temple from the world. Above the threshold it reads: “Holiness to the Lord House of the Lord.” He asked if when we stepped cross that threshold, did we feel the difference? Do you feel the difference when you enter into the temple?

    As a missionary it is easier to be subject to those spiritual things and it’s amazing how receptive I can be sometimes. There are many instances when I’ll have a thought or a feeling and my mind immediately goes to the Spirit. I hope that I’ll be able to maintain at least some of that sensitivity in a couple years from now.

    A couple other random things that I remember throughout the week: We were able to go throw hay and stack it in a member’s barn so that was tons of fun-and I mean that not to be sarcastic. I’d love to do that again. We met a UNA football player who we are teaching and so our new goal is to make the University of Northern Alabama BYU-A-I mean that to be sarcastic. But we are teaching this guy named Jalin, and he seems super solid so that’s exciting. Me and Elder Causey, who is also from Gilbert, love to talk about how we are even closer connected like the fact that we attend our home wards in the same building or that he went to a party that was a huge deal a couple years ago, etc. We also like to talk about how Arizona is Celestial. Another Elder in our Zone is from Phoenix and I’ll leave you with his quote: “Christ will come again at Adam-ondi-Ahman (I may have butchered that spelling but oh well), but He is going to live in Arizona.

    I love my mission and I love the gospel. Hopefully I’ll be more prepared next week. If you have any specific question hit up MyLDSMail inbox! Love y’all, have a great week!

Godspeed,

Elder Milius

Michael got to attend the Birmingham Alabama Temple

with his Zone and Mission President & Sister Sainsbury

19 September 2016 - Elder Milius Week 12

Hello People,

Well, this week was pretty eventful to say the least. I’m having tons of fun and the time is just flying by! Last Monday for P-day we went to this place called “SkyZone” which is basically a huge trampoline park. It just opened like a few weeks ago and it’s pretty legit. We partied.

Then the work started. District Meeting is on Tuesdays, which is always great. Our District is the best-I’ve been pretty spoiled as far as my first area, first two districts, etc. I was then privileged to go on an exchange across the Tennessee River to Russellville with Elder Diede (one of our Zone Leaders). We went to do service for a brother in their ward who is married to a no-longer-member of the church. Turns out, Elder Wheatley and I had meet his wife a few weeks prior. The world is a small place, and I imagine Northern Alabama is even smaller a place. She gave us money for Breakfast the next morning and threatened that she would call the Mission President and tell him that we rolled up to their house with alcohol, girls, and spitting out all sorts of swear word if we didn’t take it...so naturally we took the money and went on our way (the remainder of the story to be told later). After that we went to go see a couple other families, one of which is scheduled for Baptism on the 24th. I’m hoping that that will remain as scheduled, both Elder Diede and I felt that something was wrong but we couldn’t qutie tell what it was. They are a very poor family and they have been and are being hit pretty hard with adversity and trials. I know that it is those kind of people that need the gospel the most. And a lot of times for those people the opportunity of coming to church and becoming a faithful member of the church seems physically impossible or out of reach; but, I have learned that no matter what, if we are “seeking first the kingdom of God,” ALL things will then be added unto us. They will be blessed temporally because of their decision and I know that to be true for all of us. 

The next day we went out to Breakfast back in Florence (picking up from the previous story). We were out at Waffle House and Elder Wheatley and Elder Causey (the other ZL) were surprised because of our offer to take the entire ticket (we had kept it a secret that we got the money to pay for it). But, to our surprise, we were told to have a good day without having to pay for our food! Yay! Cool! Awesome! But what do we do now with the money that we weren’t technically supposed to take?! Anyways our meal was paid for and Elder Diede said he would figure it out. Fun times.

Over the next couple of days we taught lessons like machines. It seemed like basically everyone we talked to we were able to at least teach a couple principles usually revolving around the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. We also do sports on Saturday morning with the youth and a couple investigators which is always a good time. The youth in our ward are great, later in the day it poured rain and we took shelter under Lindsey’s porch because we got caught in it coming down harder. Love the weather here.

Sunday was cool. CJ was sustained to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and become a Priest in that priesthood, and Lindsey received her calling as Young Women’s Secretary. I am so excited for both of them. Having the priesthood in CJ and Erica’s home is going to be huge and I hope they will continue on their path to the temple. And I am super excited for Lindsey, she is going to do awesome with the Young Women and as she serves I’m praying that Dylan’s heart will be softened more and more towards the church and the idea of being Baptized. 

Speaking of the temple, this Thursday I’ll finally be able to go and do a session in the Temple again. I couldn’t be more excited. There is a quote that goes something along the lines of seeing your investigators in white twice rather than once. That is the goal. To seal families together in the temple for eternity, and that is what I want for all of the people we meet and teach. I know the covenants I’ve made in the temple are real. And it is what I desire for all of Heavenly Father’s children because the temple is how we can better know Him and better know and understand His plan for us!

I love y’all! If you ever need anything I can help you with, ask. If I can’ help you for whatever reason-maybe it’s because I’m in Alabama, I don’t know-ask God, He loves you and He always wants to help us. 

Godspeed,

Elder Milius

 SkyZone and Ice Cream with my District

Me and Elder Wheatley

  My District

Elder Wheatley and me with our investigators

12 September 2016 - Elder Milius Week 11

Friends, Family, and Other People I Love,

How are y’all?! This week wasn’t too eventful and even though it was a day less than usual because of Labor Day it felt like the longest week ever. But most of that was because of the driving we had to do from Florence, the NW corner of AL is furthest from everything I swear.

This past week we had to say goodbye to some Elders and Sisters who were getting transferred out of our District which is a sad thing. The good thing though is that we got new missionaries and now I know some Elders and Sisters around the mission that aren’t just in my Zone so that’s a plus! We started to set up Basketball at the church to hopefully get some of our investigators to see us without a shirt and tie so that they know we are normal people, which honestly really helps them soften their hearts towards us and towards the church.

We also got to go back and see Precious, it’s been forever. She seemed super solid but now we have our doubts...I think she is kind of nervous of change and she’s just been through a lot, but we got back in her home and her sister, Paige, was there. The discussion was really focused on the Book of Mormon and how the answers to our questions and problems can be found by reading the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon. Paige started to go off with questions like “If there was a God then why this or why that and why do we have to go through so much? Why do I have to suffer more than you? Etc., etc.” I made an attempt at closing the lesson with testimony of the Book of Mormon so that we could at least leave with the Spirit there. We weren’t able to make the appointment we set with them for yesterday but I’m not sure what’s going to happen. That experience was good though for me because it put in perspective the necessity of the Book of Mormon, of reading the Book of Mormon, and for later reasons I will discuss in paragraphs below.

Our District is awesome! We have one new Zone Leader and there are also two brand new Sister Missionaries who are ready to go. The MTC really helps jump start you as a new missionary. Other than that Thursday was a really long and slow day. I felt like nothing got done and like we taught no one. But, as the night was closing we managed to somehow teach a few people and get closer to the goal we had set for that day. It’s been a testimony to me that as you make plans, even though they may fall through or not work out, the Lord will bless you for that effort and by following the Spirit we can have the success God wants to give us; the success He wants to have. 

On Friday, we had to drive down to Gardendale which isn’t quite in Birmingham but that’s the closest place y’all know. We had a “Follow-up Trainers/Trainee” meeting and so I got to see all the missionaries I came out with which was really cool. It’s interesting to see what six weeks in the mission field does to brand new 18-20 year olds. The Lord’s Missionary Work is a miracle in it of itself. The discussion was mainly about the basics: The Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Nep 31) and the Atonement. Sister Sainsbury lead the Atonement discussion and it really opened my eyes about what the Atonement really means to us, not only as missionaries but as children of God and as Christ’s siblings. She pointed out that we are all going to have hard days, long days, slow days, terrible awful horrendous days. But, as we go through those tough times and as we experience trial, tribulation, and affliction we come closer to the Savior. We get to experience a little of what the Savior felt not only in the Garden of Gethsemane but throughout His ministry. When we suffer through our pains, we will inevitably come closer to Jesus Christ. (Alma 36:16-21 and 1 Nephi 19:9).

Along with that amazingly spiritual meeting and learning opportunity, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Twelve came and spoke to the Tupelo Stake on Sunday. The focus of the meeting was about covenants. And, as we remember and keep the sacred covenants we make with our Heavenly Father, they should CHANGE us. We should and ought to be better, simply because of our covenants with our Father in Heaven. Something else that stuck out to me as a missionary is everything we do as members of the church can tie back the the Restoration of the gospel. And you think about how powerful and how real the one experience a young boy had in the spring of 1820, and it blows me away. Elder Renlund talked about some questions he and his wife had been asked in the past. These questions ranged from simple “Why do you not drink coffee?” to “What is significant about Adam-ondi-ahman?” He said his answer was always: “Well, the short answer is in the spring of 1820, a young boy named Joseph Smith…” The Restoration is true. It happened and because it happened everything we do is based somewhat on the fact that Joseph Smith restored Christ’s original church on the earth, that is it the only true and living church, and that he was a prophet called of God.

This week was awesome, and Missions are awesome! I love the church, I love the scriptures, I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I love all y’all! Stay safe, and if anyone needs anything let me know! You have my email!

Godspeed,

Elder Milius

P.S.: The pictures are from an Original Southern cotton field. #yeagerginco 

Elder Canty, Elder Milius, Elder Hanratty

6 September 2016 - Elder Milius Week 10

Family and Friends,

First order of business...I am staying in the Promised Land! I’m lucky enough to get to serve in Florence, AL, for another six weeks alongside my companion Elder Wheatley. We are stoked for the success that we think we can have in the next Transfer and I’ll keep y’all updated with that!

So this week was a bit busier than the past couple weeks. We were able to go do a Family Home Evening night with one of the Less-Active/Part-Member families in the ward (Candy and Jeremy). Candy is the member in the family and they have two super crazy kids Emma (7) and Bryant (5). Jeremy had had an accident at work the last week and so the Bishop came with us to drop us off and we were able to give Jeremy a blessing. It was cool to see how much he has opened up to the gospel here recently and Candy even commented on how we have been able to kind of get to him. We’ve also been told that Jeremy is saying prayers with the kids at night which is awesome. They are a great family and I look forward to the day when it all clicks.

I was also given the opportunity to go on an exchange with my District Leader ELder Honeycutt. We talked a lot about what I had learned over the past six weeks on a mission and we also had a deeper discussion about God’s plan for us. The concept of foreordination and predestination are a little in the grey area to some people. God does have a plan for us, and He knows everything we have done, we do currently as well as everything we will do. However, because of our gift of Agency, we are entitled to choose our own path. Therefore, we are all “foreordained” to be on the path that leads back to our Father in Heaven. This path may vary for some, but ALL of us, in order to receive the blessings of eternal life, must hit these key indicators:

1. Birth
2. Faith
3. Repentance
4. Baptism
5. Receiving the Holy Ghost
6. Receive Temple Ordinances
7. Endure to the End
8. Death
9. Resurrection

For men, there are a few more “key indicators” that include the priesthood, but it was interesting for us to break down God’s foreordination to apply to all His children. So does God care who I marry? Does He care whether I make choice A or choice B? Not necessarily, but God does care about you and He is going to lead you to meet the people and to make the choices that will keep you more straight and more narrow on the path of happiness.

This week was also what the town of Florence calls “First Fridays.” Every first friday of the month people come to a strip of two or three blocks downtown where they set up booths to show awareness of certain groups or sell things or whatever really. With school (UNA is the local college) starting up there were tons of people to talk to and meet. First Fridays is a missionary’s dream come true….and we have arranged to be able to set up a “Meet the Mormons” booth so we are pretty pumped for October.

Unlike Friday, Labor Day yesterday was boring to say the least. No one was out walking around, downtown seemed like it was a ghost town, and everyone was either with family here and busy or out of town with family. But, it wasn’t a total failure. I had a goal to read the Book of Mormon once every transfer and yesterday I finished it for transfer one. I have fallen in love with the scriptures and I know that they are God’s tool to answer our questions. No matter what the scriptures will never lead us astray. I love this gospel more than anything and I am becoming more and more grateful for my decision to serve everyday-even the boring ones. Nothing is more rewarding than directly serving our Heavenly Father, hand-in-hand with our Brother Jesus Christ.

I love y’all and thank you for the support you’ve given me! If you ever need anything or have any question just shoot me an email! God Bless!

Godspeed,

Elder Milius

P.S.: The pictures are of my crazy Zone (The Tupelo Mississippi North Zone) and of the empty ghost town due to Labor Day. Enjoy! Sorry about the lack of pictures, I’m working on a balance!

(Excerpt from Michael's letter to Mom and Dad - I had to include because he shares some funny stories)

This week was great as you can see from my general email, and I’m not getting transferred! Wahoo! I love Florence and I love the people here. My companion got assigned to be the District Leader which he’s not super excited about because he only has three more transfers but he is basically the only one who can do it. Our District is becoming a Relief Society, it’s our companionship, the Zone Leader companionship, and then three Sister companionships. This will make next Transfers go pretty crazy too, we don’t know what’s going to happen but we are excited for the next six weeks! We are looking to baptize at least 3 this transfer and hopefully get a 4th set up for the beginning of the next transfer as well as a possible family who could proved for 4 baptisms themselves. The work is hastening and Florence is about to explode. Elder Wheatley and I are about to “thrust in our combines.” (I don’t know if you remember that from that Scout Camp that was forever ago, but Mike Mortenson would appreciate that quote. Next time you see him tell him I’m thrusting in my combine and see what he says!). 

President sent us an email last week that talked about Visions, Goals, and Plans. So, with that in mind I found my “vision” as a missionary. First of all “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ...I have been called of Him…”(3 Nep 5:13). Second, “I know that He [God] loveth His children, nevertheless…”(1 Nep 11:16-17). And third, “What can I do more?...” (Jac 5:47). I had a blast this past week in the scriptures! I also found my “vision” as a pediatrician in 3 Nep 17:21 and in Moroni 8. I love the scriptures.

Also some funny stories: This past week we got a call from the sisters and they said that their car wasn’t working so at about 8:30-9 at night we start walking to rescue the. We get all the way down our street and get a second call in which they explained that they just forgot to turn the key all the way on before putting it in reverse and that they were at our apartment….great. It turned out okay because they brought us candy and stuff. But it’s amazing how much you start to care and love for not only the investigators you’re around but also the missionaries you serve around. Funny story two was at dinner on Sunday we got invited over to a member’s home for dinner. Y’all know that I do not really do seafood a whole bunch but lucky for me we were having a shrimp boil! So on Sunday I ate boil shrimp and king crab legs! I mentally was just like whatever I’m going for it and it worked for the most part. I didn’t enjoy the crab but the shrimp I was at least able to get through. I’ll never seek it out and I’m still not a huge fan but God gives you power on your mission to eat whatever let me tell you. I just hope I’m never given anything that has a smell or taste greater than God’s power.

It seems like things continue to go really well for you and I’m glad time is flying by! Love you guys tons and I hope God is blessing y’all as much as he assures me. I’m praying for you, I miss you, but honestly what’s two years got on eternity?!

Love Your First Elder,

Michael

P.S.: I almost forgot! I got a letter at Zone Training this week and it was from Sister Hayward and the Activity Day Girls! It seriously made me so happy and I wrote them a response letter that I got sent off today so hopefully they get it! Have a great week in AZ!

The Tupelo Mississippi North Zone

 The GHOST town streets of Florence on Labor Day