"Welcome to Sapwalap ward, where you can eat and sleep in Heaven"

Highlights this week:

• Zone conference! The focus was on finding through members which is going to be so useful as we apply this training to our area. On Sunday we started applying and we reset expectations with our bishopric and auxiliaries and will be doing a ward wide fast for missionary work next week. 
• We locked our keys in our house and had to break in through a window. I'm sure we got a lot of funny looks from the members as my comp was boosting me up into the house. 
• On walking Wednesday, we walked down a long road we haven't explored much before. Almost every single dog went crazy running and barking at us and my comp almost got bit. It looked liked the dog was trying to bite her but just couldn't, like it was being held back. We also met a lot of interesting, semi-creepy people. When I talked to a member friend about it, she told me that we should never ever go down that road alone ever again, and we for sure will not. BUT we learned and we did actually find a couple less active women that need help which was good. Plus, it's always cool to see the ways Heavenly Father is protecting us. 
•  We met a cute 10 year old girl whose cousins are members and she really wants to take the lessons and be baptized. As we taught her a man came up and he looked really excited to see us and so he joined the lesson and we taught them about the restoration. We invited them to pray to know for themselves if what we taught is true and the man decided to bow his head and say a private prayer right there. He looked up and he was crying and I asked him what he felt and all he could do was put his hand on his heart and say "sair" which is touched. He is really excited to meet with us again and so are we!!

I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of each of His children. That's a concept a lot of these people don't understand, that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally, by name, and that He loves each of us personally. I'm so grateful for this knowledge and the knowledge I have of His beautiful, eternal plan for each of us. I love Him. I know Him. I trust Him. I seek to do His will. 

Sister Milne

I think that I am one of the happiest girls in all the world

I can't even remember everything that happend this week, it went by SO FAST! Here's some top moments:

1. Remember that french man from the airplane I had a great conversation with? Well I never actually gave him anything to do, like visit mormon.org or read the book of mormon. And I felt way bad about it, so I prayed to be able to run into him again. Two Mondays ago I ran into him at a restaurant, but he was with all his work friends and although I stopped and talked, I still didn't give him anything. So on thursday we ended up having district meeting in town (which we usually don't), and we ended up deciding to go to lunch (even though we weren't planning on it), and we ended up picking the restaurant that he was at. This time the spirit told me something along the lines of "I've given you 2 chances already, don't throw this last one away" so I wrote him a note, invited him to visit the france temple and mormon.org (I didn't have any english or french Book of mormons!) and he really appreciated it! Cool to see God's hand in the details and I'm grateful to Him for His patience and giving me so many chances.

2. There was a referral for a girl named Danya. We knew generally where she lived so we drove there. We got out of the car and felt impressed to talk to a woman on the road. She wasn't interested in our message, but she was able to tell us that Danya had recently moved further up in the jungle. So we headed out on a jungle path, led by the spirit. We reached a river in which a couple were doing their laundry and they were able to direct us a little further. We crossed two rivers and ended up on a path that led to an open area with several different paths. We picked the one that felt right and after walking for almost 10 minutes on the trail, ended up at a big local house. There was one girl sitting outside and it just so happened to be Danya. She was thrilled to see us and have a lesson and is now on baptismal date for March 10th. 

3. We had a super sweet member lady give us some local dresses, which can be viewed below. She gave us each one for our mothers and one for us. Hope you're ready to look like an 80's Island babe mom! 

There was numerous other tender mercies this week. White washing an area isn't easy, but this is the Lords work and He is absolutely directing it. I read a quote that I loved this week in the Liahona magazine by one of the Church's first female missionaries:

"I think that I am one of the happiest girls in all the world, and it is the gospel that makes me feel this way, for I do know that the gospel is true. I do know that God our Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, came down and brought the gospel and established it and spoke to the Prophet Joseph Smith. …

I feel that if I could live forever, I could never thank my Heavenly Father enough for the blessings that have come into my life, for the privilege of going out into the world and bearing this testimony, telling them of the gospel being restored, of the authority Christ has given to His servants, and of the blessings that are in store for those who listen to and obey the words of truth, life, and salvation. …"

I feel as if I could be the one saying these words! I am one of the happiest girls in the world and it is without a doubt the gospel that makes me feel this way. I love being His servant. 

Love,

Sister Milne

I Straight Out Wept

We really saw Heavenly Fathers leading and guiding hand this week as we got lost in sapwalap but somehow always ended up in the right place at the right time. We are trying to clean up a bit of what the Elders left behind, and also trying to have a fresh start. Also, this week was a lot of trying to figure out where people live and who is a member, nonmember, or less active. This means the work was a bit slow. But as our awesome ward mission leader, Brother Albert said, "this week you are walking, next week you will walk a little faster, 4 or 5 weeks and you will be running!" 

The ward is truly incredible. There's no way I will not gain weight because they feed us EVERYDAY! They all tell me they want to make me fat.....bring it on! I love food! 

Also the kids all sit around us everyday during language study and teach us pohnpeian and its so helpful and so fun. I LOVE THEM. 

I truly testify that the Lord works through the weak and the simple and in mysterious ways. This week we were teaching a teenage boy and his mother joined the lesson. We taught about the restoration and baptism and the mother was not very happy about any of it. After I invited them to read the Book of Mormon and promised them blessings if they would, she wrecked me on my pohnpeian. ( I now have a new motivation to study even harder!) It was the meanest anyone has talked to me so far on the mission. It mostly just broke my heart that she didn't understand the beautiful message because of my inefficiencies in the language. After a few minutes of ridicule, I asked if I could just share my testimony with her. As I bore my testimony, the spirit was so strong I straight out wept for the first time in a lesson. She felt the spirit, and felt really really bad afterward, so she promised to come to church. She showed up on Sunday with her 3 kids, they stayed for all 3 hours, and she even participated in relief society. I'm so grateful that Jesus Christ makes up the difference. If I try my best and do what I'm supposed to, He is always right there beside me. I love Him. I love His work. I love being His servant. I will do whatever He asks. 

Love,

Sister Milne

Guam: Friends and French Fries

Kamry was on the island of Guam this past week to pick up her new companion Sister Stewart from Las Vegas.  Kamry is now back on the island of Pohnpei in a new area.   She finally has hot showers!

This was a CRAZY week in Guam! Highlights:

• I was "back in civilization" as President Poston put it which means I got to eat at fast food restaurants, go to Kmart, drive on a real road, visit an actual beach, sit on a couch, walk with carpet under my feet, and it was all very exciting and a tad overwhelming! 
• I got my new companion and a chuukese sister made a flower maramar for me to give her and it was all way cute and fun. My comp is Sister Stewart, shes from Las vegas, and one of the first things she told me is that she loves rules and wants to be obedient. So we will get along just fine!
• Heavenly father answered a ton of prayers: when I got lost driving on guam with no cell phone and just my new comp with a very empty gas tank (1 hour later we finally made it home), just staying with my wonderful Sister Missionary friends from different Islands was an answer to prayers, coming to this ward is such a blessing, and having some blood work all come back normal. 
• On the plane ride to Guam, I met and talked for a long time to a woman whose sister is the relief society president of Uh branch, shes not a member but she invited me to visit her on guam! (which I tried to do but she was in the hospital). 
• On the plane ride back I sat next to a very nice young french man and had an awesome conversation about God and prayer and how the world came to be. I essentially ended up teaching him the entire plan of salvation lesson and it was way fun. 
• Sapwalap ward is AWESOME! These members really know how to do their callings and are all so excited to help with the missionary work, plus we actually have a meal schedule!! 

Love,

Sister Milne

Hello hot showers!

Transfers! I will be heading to Sapwalap which is the area right next to Uh, a little further away from town, on the back side of the island. I will be training and whitewashing and I'm flying out today to Guam to pick up my trainee! I'm super excited and a tad bit nervous, but I know that God has a plan. If He trusts me then I can trust Him. 

I had a feeling that I would be leaving Uh, so I spent a lot of this week tying up loose ends. Picking up investigators that I loved but that we had to drop and having some last lessons with less actives that I'm close to. It is hard leaving them! Especially those investigators that have really begun to progress and that I have come so close to. I love them so much and I hope that they will continue to progress and soon be baptized so they can receive the full blessings and joy of this gospel. 

High lights this week: 

-We went on the outer island that is connected to Uh by a little road. We walked around it for an hour to have a lesson with a really less active girl. Her house is over the ocean and we had the lesson right there on the sea and it was way pretty. Plus she was super cute and glad we came. 

-We found out that one of our investigators is apparently a witch. SUPER strange. And funny. 

-Also found out that one of our long time investigators who ran away then came back was actually baptized in 1996. She didn't want to tell us cuz she was afraid we'd stop visiting her if we knew. 

-Also I spent the beginning part of the week on exchanges, so I was back in Kitti with Sister Felt. It was a blast as always, meeting new people is probably one of my favorite parts of missionary work. 

Thanks for all the emails and prayers! Keep them all coming, menlau:)

Limpoak sang, 

Sister Milne 

I finally ate DOG! Udah I iouki kidi!

This week was a blur! We have a ton of awesome investigators right now, but there was a funeral which lasts for several days here, so we weren't able to see a lot of our investigators. This means we got to spend a lot of time finding and we had a lot of success! We now have even more super awesome investigators! A few highlights from the week:

-Going on exchanges with Sister Behling who leaves in one transfer. It was so nice to have someone who is fluent in the language! I learned a lot:)

-Climbing into our rain water tank and finally cleaning it out! Its already dirty again so thats a bummer......but all is well.

-Walking around on wednesday which was the first sunny day in a very long time! We met a ton of cool people and ate our favorite "Koko" which is kinda like pickled under ripe papaya. And we added Koolaid to make it even yummier. 

-I finally got to eat dog! We were at a members house one night when her daughter walked in carrying a big dog leg from a party. It wasn't all the way cooked yet, but they gave it to me cuz they knew I hadn't tried it yet. Sister Taunauta taught me how to cook it up! I got to skin it, cut out the fat, cut it, then cook it. It was super yummy and didn't even make me as sick as some of the bananas do! It reminded me a lot of beef, but definitely had its own flavor. 

-On Sunday, the branch got to open a big package that Sister Bowers had sent them! It was filled with  magazines, candy, and play-dough. The funny part is that they had NO CLUE what play-dough is and they thought it was candy and so they all tried biting it and licking it. Once they realized it was certainly not food, they thought it was pretty funny too. 

-Today we got to go to possibly the prettiest waterfall on the island. The pictures do not do it justice, but it looks man made and like it should belong in Disney land. Sitting in front with the mist on my face was incredibly nice and relaxing. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you all try a little harder to learn about and become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. This week I learned even more about His life and His death. I can really see that the more we learn about HIm and what He did for us, the better we want to be, the more we want to give, and the harder we want to work. I feel His love and help in every aspect of this work. 

Love,

Sister Milne

Peace In Christ

This week was filled with peace in Christ. Especially as my companion and I listened to the 2018 mutual theme song "Peace in Christ" on repeat! 

This week was also filled with lots of miracles and lots of rain. And many miracles had to do with the rain. My favorite was in the middle of a lesson with our branch presidents mother, who when I first met her told me her name was Sakau (the pohnpein alcohol drink). We have been teaching her very slowly and she has been listening and changing! She puts up a lot of walls but though our love and service, they are coming down. We were in a lesson this week with her and it started pouring down rain, and I just prayed that it would stop (because we were in her hut which has a metal roof so it was LOUD). Well I finally got to teaching the restoration, and as I shared the first vision account with her, the rain stopped, everything got quite. Her eyes did not leave mine the entire time. It was powerful and both of us had tears in our eyes by the end. 

I really have seen that this is Gods work and not mine. He has repeatedly put the right people in our paths at the right time. He is so involved with the details and the intricacies of  the work. It is incredible to me, he truly "opens doors we cannot open and performs miracles we can scarcely imagine". (Thomas S. Monson) 

Also, this week we had an awesome zone conference and the mission Health, Professional Elder Beaumont, and his wife, Sister Beaumont, came and they helped us up our shower conditions! We got new buckets with lids and screens to filter out the worms and we will now be doing chlorine treatments to the rain water we catch!! This is an answer to so many prayers! 

I love this work and these people. I love bringing the Gospel to the lives of people who never before knew where to find true peace and joy. I know that this Church alone can bring us true peace in Christ. 

Love, 

Sister Milne

Picture in the rain was on the wettest walking Wednesday of my life. It was a thunder storm and we were soaked and a river flooded up over the road and kids were swimming in it. It was so FUN! 

The Other Side of The Island Had Sunsets

This week the Sister training leaders and zone leaders flew out to MLC again, which means I got to spend 3 days with Sister Felt in the Kitti/Pehleng area on the other side of the island! Although it was all still the same work, it felt like a little mini vacation. I had a comfy bed, clean shower water, the house was newer and cleaner, plus also safer, and there was SUNSETS! Plus this is side is a bit more middle class country which was quite enjoyable. We had so much fun meeting so many new people. Even though this Island is small, the west side actually has a completely different accent then the east side. Its kinda like an Australian accent, except speaking pohnpeian...

We had some awesome lessons, my favorite one was at dusk on the last night. We were under a public hut, with chairs and tables, teaching two investigators about the book of mormon, but people just kept coming and listening and so we had to get louder. By the end we were preaching to a group of maybe 12-15 people. They were all listening so well, and the spirit was so strong as we taught and testified. I felt like a missionary from the olden days and it was way fun. We went around and met everyone after wards and one lady told us "Kauno mihmih rehmwa" Which means "Christ is with you two". Also, for the first time I had someone else give me a book of mormon. It was our 16 year old member present that we brought a long. She wrote me a sweet note on the inside cover. Its crazy how fast you can come to love people! 

Coming back to Uh, we are so ready to get to work. Church on Sunday went pretty well. I started teaching a mission prep class for the youth, because none of them have been staying for Sunday school, and it went super well! Testimony meeting was also super powerful, these peoples testimonies of the atonement is pretty darn strong.

 My heart is full. Its not easy but it is so worth it!

Love,

Sister Milne

Parakapw! (New year)

Christmas and talking with my family was such a blessing! But also way too distracting! 

When we watched Moana for Christmas, I really connected with her. Not just because I'm on an Island, but there's that part where she hands the heart of the sea back to the ocean and tells it that it picked wrong, she couldn't do it, it was too important and she needed someone else who could do it better to take her place. I feel like that with my lovely little Uh Branch sometimes! They are so important and I often feel like I can't be everything they need. I wonder why did God pick me to be here and sometimes I even feel like he picked wrong. BUT I know that God has a plan, and hopefully I will triumph in the end like Moana does. Maybe I'll even sing a dance while I'm doing it as well. 

The whole middle of the week just felt super slow, especially as my companion was sick again. But Thursday we did exchanges so Sister felt came back to Uh with me and it was a super good time. We got to join a member families Christmas dinner and they gave us so soap. We joked that maybe it was because we are always so dirty, but its actually a very common, practical gift here. 

Saturday, we got a message from our branch president that an older lady in the branch was in the hospital an in severe need of A+ blood. So we spent a large part of the day visiting members and asking for their blood. (The hospitals don't have enough blood so if you need blood you gotta get it yourself). Heavenly Father led us right to all the A+ blood type members! But they all said no. They seem to believe that blood is not a renewable resource so if they've donated once before, they can't do it again. But we finally found a less active man who said he would! Hopefully he can just keep off the drugs long enough to donate his blood to her. 

Sunday was a rough one at church. The new year is crazy here, entirely focused on getting super drunk and partying all night. I have never been so heart broken over the sins of others before, but it helped me realize that if this is how I feel, I can't even imagine what our Heavenly Father must feel when we sin. He loves us so much and just wants to help us get home to Him. But I also know that God is full of mercy. Without the full translation of the Book of Mormon, these people do not have the fullness of the gospel. BUT one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus is the Christ. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sister Milne

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