Kamry Video Chats for Christmas

The best part of chatting with Kamry was hearing her testimony in Pohnpeian.  The second best part was seeing her reenactment of her shower dance.  Their water hasn't been working but they received a Christmas miracle when their water turned on.  She often takes bucket showers but when the water flows through the pipes it is COLD so she has a special dance.  It was so funny!

There were a lot of tears, but a lot of laughs too.  Her mission is hard...she sleeps with a machete, but she loves the people and is so grateful to serve a mission.  Her eyes have been opened to how healthy and clean Americans are.  She says Pohnpeians are tough people... a lot of missing fingers, toes, scars, and diseases but the people are resilient and laugh a lot!!!  She loves the people so much!!!

Kamry Shares Testimony in Pohnpeian

Merry Christmas!

This past week was SUPER slow as I got strep throat again......so not much news in terms of the work. But despite trials and opposition, I'm super happy! So that's good. 

The highlight of the week was last night, Christmas eve. All the missionaries gathered together and our first stop was a family that just moved here from Fiji. They are having a hard time because it is their first Christmas away from home. We caroled and it made them so happy and the mom was crying and said "I have never seen so many missionaries all together!...Being away from home for Christmas is hard, thank you!" It just filled us all up with the spirit of Christ. Then our next stop was caroling down this street in town where a ton of people from outer Islands live. We then went to a member families house and did a little Christmas program with hymns and a nativity. Then we all drew numbers and got gifts from them. They make beautiful handicrafts. It was AWESOME. They put maramars (the headband things) on us and it was just a fun little party type thing but it was also service and centered on Christ so it was sweet. 

Tonight all the missionaries get to eat together and watch Moana because proselyting here on Christmas doesn't really work. 

Over all a super fun Christmas! I love you all and I miss you all but I know this is exactly where I need to be! So grateful for the birth of my savior Jesus Christ. 

Sister Milne

My New Tongan Companion

I spent this week with Sister Taunauta and sister Felt in Uh. We also proselyted a bit in Mand, balancing two areas is hard but fun! My favorite was getting to stay with 2 girls in the branch as my companions for all of Sunday. I've discovered a new love for the pohnpeian language this week. I love leading in the language, I love speaking the language, I love learning more about the language. I testify that the gift of tongues in real!

I feel like we did so much this week I'm having a hard time sorting it all out in my brain. We dropped Sister Bowers off at the air port. She was beautiful, covered in lays and headbands from the members and with tears rolling down her face. A sure sign of a successful missionary:)

We did a spelling bee again on Friday and Saturday the missionaries put on a stake fireside. The ward building where we put in on at in Sapwalap had forgotten to tell their members, so Sister Felt and I encouraged all the missionaries to go out on the streets and invite EVERYONE. We had great success, it was so cool! I love finding new ways to bring the church and the missionaries out of obscurity! 

Transfer calls were last night and I'm staying in Uh with Sister Taunauta! She is from Tonga and she is just the sweetest thing. She told me "My dad taught me that to show someone you love them, you hug them. Because when you are holding each other, your hearts are pressed close. I can feel your heart and you can feel mine and we are connected." This is just a taste of the never ending love and wisdom that flows out of her! 

I'm so happy to be staying in Uh because there is so much to be done and I love them SO MUCH. 

Ultimately I'm just filled with the most amount of joy I have ever felt and it seems to be increasing every single day and I know this is just a foretaste of the joy I will one day feel in the celestial kingdom surrounded by those I love and I know that it is all possible because of this Gospel!

God wants us to be happy, so if you are not, I suggest you pray, read the Book of Mormon, and go to Church. 

Sister Milne

6 Months and Service!!

What an amazing, fun, busy, service filled week! So much happened I just have to go one day at a time. I'm so sorry this email is so long! 

Monday:

At 1:15 we got a text that I would be having an interview with Elder Gay from the 70 at 2. We were on the other side of the Island so we had to speed but we got there in time. We then had a "family home evening" with all the missionaries on the island, Elder and Sister Gay, and President and Sister Poston. It was SO GOOD. He changed my perspective on just about every part of missionary work.

Tuesday:

We had our zone conference at 7:30 am with the Gays and the Postons. It was even better than the family home evening! I really feel like a new person/missionary. One of my favorite things he talked about was making sure people really understand, going back to the basics, and not minimizing the small things that we do. This truly is Gods work, we are just the instruments to bring people to their Savior, Jesus Christ. 

After Zone conference we dropped Sister Behling off at the airport to go to MLC on Guam which means we got Sister Felt. Shes the newest sister, she was on Yap for a transfer then came to Pohnpei 2 transfers after me. She is doing so good at using the words she does know to teach simply! But it is fun to help teach her the language and translate when needed. 

Wednesday:

We did service with a partially less active family and they fed us a delicious lunch after wards. It was my first time having fried breadfruit and fried taro and iou(delicious)! 

Then we were walking on Wednesday (cuz we walk every Wednesday) and we went to visit a potential investigator that lives behind the school. She ended up canceling but as we walked back past the school, a man ran down calling for us to stop. It ended up being President Simram from the Stake and he told us they were doing a practice spelling bee. We were so happy to help them by being the pronouncers for their English spelling bee! It was all so perfect, God has a plan and knows where we need to be. We got talk to so many more people this week because they'd heard from their kids that we had helped at the school and wanted to thank us. Hopefully we will be able to help this Friday with their real spelling bee! (The only hard part is we realized we've forgotten how to pronounce a lot of the big English words, I'm just grateful we aren't the ones that have to spell them!) 

Thursday:

It was my 6 months and Sister Bowers' last district meeting so we had a big Pohnpeian style feast afterwards! We all sat on the floor and ate with our hands off the same plates. I'm not sure how I will ever be able to go back to a fork and knife! 

Friday: 

We went and did service with a part member family we are teaching. We weeded all around their house and they climbed the trees and got us coconuts and made us chicken and rice for lunch, so it was a blast:) We then went to the airport and waited for a very long time to pick up Sister Behling, but it turns out she had missed her flight and will now be on Guam until the 18th. So Sister Felt gets to stay with me in Uh! 

Saturday:

It was pouring down rain but we were supposed to do service with a recent convert family, so we prayed that if we were supposed to do service then to let us know (pohnpeians don't let us work outside in the rain cuz they think it will  make us sick). By the end of our personal studies it was all clear blue skys! We had fun weeding around her little hut in the jungle, but her weeds cut my hands a ton. I need to get better at using the machetes like the locals. 

Then in the evening time Uh branch put on a kamadipw/kamoange ong sister bowers! So they all brought local food and fed us and played music and danced and performed for us and it was one of my most favorite things ever. They are so great at dancing! I wanna learn to hula!!

Sunday:

We had 51 people at Church! Sister bowers taught Sunday school, we volunteered Sister Felt to teach Youth, and I taught primary! We gave each of the kids their own book of Mormon and they decorated the inside cover with their names and pictures of Church and their families and even Jesus being baptized. They all loved having their very own book of Mormon, it made me so happy! 

A lot of our week was filled with Sister Bowers saying her goodbyes which makes me realizes how precious my time is here! It is such a privilege to be here. I love this work.

Sister Milne

Baptisms!!

Here are some pictures from the baptism Sister Bowers and I had this week. Elder laughter Baptized Shakira and Elder Ili baptized Sharood! 

Sister Milne

Wedding and Baptism!

This week my heart was so filled with pure joy! Our investigator Sharen got married on Thursday night. It was super small and last minute but the spirit was so strong and I could not stop smiling! They are both super shy but you could see the joy radiating from them. Families are so incredibly important!

Then on Saturday at 9 am 9 year old Shakira and 10 year old Sharood got baptized. These kids are incredible! They KNOW this gospel and they have such a clear understanding of who they are and what they need to do to return and live with Heavenly Father. Plus they have been so influential in bringing their family back to church. They were baptized in the river near the chapel and it was BEAUTIFUL. 

Then on Sunday, Uh branch had a record high (since my time being there) of 61 people at church! There was one less active man there who no one has seen at church in years. I know that this is all because of service! We have been so focused on serving the members, especially those that are less active, and it is making such a big difference. Sometimes all people need is to know that they are loved and to feel that they are missed and needed. 

Shakira and Sharood received the gift of the holy ghost and Sharood even bore his testimony. Shakira was too nervous to get up, so she wrote her testimony down and then I got up and read it for her. 

My heart was and is so full. These souls are so precious and I love them so much. I'm so grateful to be with Sister Bowers for her last transfer, it has been full of miracles and blessings. 

Love you all!

Sister Milne

November Pictures 2017