BLESSINGS

This week was SO GOOD. I feel like so many wonderful things happened that I really can't remember them all. But Heavenly Father is for sure blessing us. 

The best part of the week was Kastileens baptism on Saturday. The members came to support and it was a really special experience. I'm so grateful for this ward! Kastileen's mom Dayneen is so excited to get baptized and our prayers were answered this week as her boyfriend/husband finally told her that he would pay for a marriage certificate so that she can be married and baptized next month! 

Also, our investigator Alice came to the baptism and she came to church and she loved both so much! She really felt the spirit and we haven't even taught her a full lesson yet, but she is so excited to get baptized. 

After Kastileens baptism, her mom bought cake and ice cream for us and her family to celebrate:)

Also, we had a sweet lesson with a chuukese girl who wants to get baptized but her aunt who she lives with has been really against the church. We closed the lesson with a prayer and sister memmott was praying very specifically that the families hearts would be softened. Well that aunt came into the room in the middle of the prayer, then started telling us that she just got back from chuuk and while on chuuk she had met elders and gone to church and now wants to learn more. FASTEST ANSWER TO A PRAYER EVER. Another cool thing about that is the island she met the Elders on has been closed to missionaries for a year. The elders she met were actually from another Island, but had to be moved earlier this month because of violence. God's plan is sooooooo good. 

Oh and I gave a talk in Chuukese at Kastileens baptism! Heavenly Father has been blessing me with the gift of tongues, all of a sudden this week I can teach and understand so much more. 

I'm grateful for all the love and joy in my life these days. I love being a missionary:)

Sister Milne

Small and Simple Things

So the weeks are speeding up and I have no idea where all the time went. This week was filled with highs and lows and it was hard but good. Sister memmott has been in and out of sickness all week, but we still were able to visit with lots of investigators. 

We have a chuukese investigator named Joses. His wife is  member and they have 3 cute kids including 2 adorable twin boys. We brought our ward mission leader who is a recent convert with us to him and Brother Lewis bore a powerful testimony about prayer and over coming his addiction to tobacco before he was baptized. The next time we visited Joses he told us that he went into the store to buy beetle-nut and cigarettes and he had them in his hand, but then he remembered what we've been teaching him and he said that he felt our prayers and he was able to put them down and walk out. It was so amazing seeing how strong he felt from being able to take this important step in over coming his addiction. He is so excited for his baptism in July. 

We are still working a lot with our investigator who is fighting depression and suicidal thoughts. She showed up at our apartment (she lives in the same apartment complex) early Friday morning and just started balling because she had been walking around and wanted to run away but didn't know where to go. We ended up spending 4 or 5 hours with her, and brought a senior couple to talk with her, and had her call a suicide prevention hotline. She had been hiding all the knives in her house and was afraid of being alone. 

Sometimes in missionary work and in life we feel that we need to be really efficient, visiting and helping as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. But this isn't what the Lord expects of us. He cares about the individuals and their needs and I feel so blessed to be able to help this investigator feel God's love. Her soul in priceless. She is worth as much time as it takes to help her not only achieve eternal life, but know that she is needed here on the earth right now and that God has a plan for her. I guess this week we weren't just in the work of saving souls, but saving a mortal life as well. 

On Sunday we had stake conference and it was a video broadcast from salt Lake for the stakes in Japan and Micronesia. Elder Gong, Sister Eubank, and Elder Rasband all spoke and it was phenomenal. They talked a lot about the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. They spoke on how the boy gave all that he had and it really was not enough to feed that many people, but the Lord made it enough. My efforts in the work are not enough, there are too many people in need. BUT when paired with Christ, my efforts become magnified and I become an instrument in His hands. It is in the small and simple things, my daily habits and seemingly inconsequential choices that make up who I am and the impact I have. 

I am blown away at how He has blessed me and used me. His plan is so much better than my plan. He knows what I need and what I can give. He teaches me what I need and what I can give. But no matter how much I give, I always seem to get more in return. There is nothing better than the pure joy and peace that comes from helping my brothers and sisters that are a little lost. My Father in Heaven wants them Home and He wants them to be happy. The Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the true Church of Jesus Christ is the only way to accomplish these things. 

Love,

Sister Milne

NEW ZEALAND COMP and ONE YEAR

Okay so this week we got our new missionary and her name is Sister Mauga (pronounced monga) she is from New Zealand and she is AWESOME! She is so funny and chill and full of light and joy and she's got an awesome accent that I'm trying really hard to pick up. I LOVE HER!! There was a lot of craziness with MLC this week and tons of missionaries flying on island but we got a lot of work done. We are working at increasing our lessons in each day and it is bringing lots of success.

On Sister Maugas first night we ended up in a lesson with a women who is really struggling and expressed some suicidal thoughts that she's been having. I just sat and hugged her and cried with her as she told me about all the darkness she felt. I'm grateful that through my own experiences and trials I was able to be filled with empathy and the right words to say. We met with this woman every night for the rest of the week and she came to church on sunday! The lesson in Relief society ended up being on "I am a daughter of God" and it was SO PERFECT. She really felt the spirit. I'm excited that this will help her progress closer to baptism but I'm more excited that she's on the path to being filled with light instead of darkness. I know that the only true light comes from the gospel and knowing who we truly are and who God truly is. 

Also this week I hit my 1 year mark! YAAAYYYYYYYYYY Time is going by very fast its kinda exciting but more scary. 

The pic is me and the two Elders that came in with me! They were both on island for MLC so we got to see each other on our 1 year mark! Just missing my best friend Sister Laulusa​

BIZARRE

This week was just straight up weird. I felt pretty good and we worked really hard but weird things just kept getting in the way. Like things went so bad it was comical. We were late to everything because people talk for so long, plus we were in and out of a bit of sickness, we also lost our phone, and I can't even remember everything else that happened. 

BUT one really cool good thing that happened is we had an appointment with a woman and her 3 sons and she has a lot of family that are members. When we met her several months ago, she told us that she isn't ready to join any church but that she wanted us to teach her sons. We felt that we needed to keep teaching them even though they weren't making much progress. This week she informed us that she had been praying for a long time and last year she sent missionaries away but prayed and told God that if missionaries came back to her, then she would know it was the true church. She said, "God does answers prayers, you are here. At first I didn't want that to be my answer but.....I think this is the truth." IT WAS AWESOME. She has never really participated much before but turns out the spirit has been working with her for a long time:) I love being the answer to peoples prayers. 

The big bad thing that happened is during stake conference we found out that on chuuk there were four elders that got trapped by the people in their house and the locals were shooting deadly darts at them telling them that they would never get out. So yesterday we all united in prayer for them. We have since found out that they escaped off the island safely in boats. We take this as a sign that there are big wonderful things about to happen here on the islands because satan is working extra hard to hinder the work. 

Transfers happened and Sister Memmott and I will be staying together in Yigo WITH a new missionary we will be training together. WE ARE SO EXCITED! This is an answer to many of my prayers because I really felt that I needed to stay in Yigo. I love this work and these people. 

And shout out to my amazing mom who finished radiation!!! <3

Sister Milne