Heartbreak

This week started off so great. We found an amazing new area, we talked to tons of people, and got many new investigators. There wasn't too many meetings so it was nice to be able to just work, work, work. 

On Thursday, we went to say goodbye to sister memmott (who I will miss VERY much, ai tongonuk pwipwi), and she had just come from saying goodbye to our recent convert and his wife Herninta. SIster memmott ran up to me looking devastated and just hugged me sobbing and said "Joses is dead." That phrase has been on repeat in my head over and over again ever since. 

Joses was baptized about 6 weeks ago. It was so cool being able to teach him and help his family start their path towards being sealed in the temple. We are also very close to his wife Herninta. She is left with no family on Guam with a 5 year old girl, 2 year old twin boys, and she is seven months pregnant. We have been helping her meet with the relief society president and the Bishop so that they can try to help her get food and pay for the funeral and hopefully get her to Missouri where her sister lives. God has really provided me with the gift of tongues has I have had to translate for her in regards to all the arrangements and such. I'm competent in chuukese when we are having gospel conversations, but non church related things are hard, but God helped me be able to be a bridge between her and the leaders of the ward. It was an honor and a blessing. Please keep Herninta in your prayers, I love her and her family very much. I loved Joses very much too and I am so sad that he is gone. Though it isn't hard to see God's hand in it all. Joses found out he had liver cancer 3 weeks after he was baptized, 3 weeks later he was gone. Looking at it with mortal eyes, the situation seems harsh and unfair. Why couldn't he know sooner so that they could've helped him? But Joses was not a sick man who was baptized because he knew he was dying. He was a truly converted man who changed his life because he knew the church is true. Plus, with most of our investigators it is likely that they will fall once or several times after they are baptized. They will fall back into their old habits and have to work their way back up to worthiness. Out of all my recent converts, Joses is perhaps that one that I am 100% certain will be in the kingdom of God. I'm so grateful for the plan of salvation and for God's wisdom and love. 

My heartache continued as we got a call Saturday morning that we had to pack all of our bags and clean our house in preparation for transfers. It was so hard saying goodbye to all the people I have come to love so much in Yigo ward. They are so close and precious to me. The good news is that sister Mauga and I are still together. We will be whitewashing an area in the south called Talisay. We had no hope that we would stay together, so I feel very blessed that our prayers were answered. I think God just knows that I couldn't do it without her. 

In all these hard things this week, I've been reflecting on the song "temporary home" by Carrie Underwood. I had a giant reminder this week that this place is not my home. I'm just a visitor to Yigo, Guam, Micronesia, and even to Earth. I often wish that I could stay here, especially in Yigo, forever as a missionary. But that's not how it is meant to be. My home is with my family and my home is with God. How blessed I am to have had so many wonderful temporary homes here in my mortal journey. I'm sure I will have many more. Its amazing getting to feel the Love of God for so many people. And to feel His love for me.

Sister Milne

It's the little things

Miracles:

• Got a text from an investigator saying she was in an emergency situation. We went right over to pray and uplift her because her bakery was going to be taken away if she didn't pay $2000 by lunch for the rent. We talked to her about how God will provide a different way for her to make money if she  loses the bakery. We told her to pray and that God has a plan for her. One hour later we got a call from her, "Guys! I just wanted to tell you my miracle, God answered my prayer!" She prayed, felt to call up a certain friend, the freind lent her $1200 and she was able to pay that and sign a contract that she would pay the rest by the end of the month. Sometimes God and His miracles blow me away because to be honest, I had faith that God would help her somehow, but I did not expect Him to provide money like that so fast!
• We need to increase our teaching pool so we've been finding people we don't know from our member list. We kept seeing an area called Gillbreeze and Gillbaza which we were able to find with a senior couples help. Its a really poor area that is hidden at the back of a nicer neighborhood. We walked around for an hour and EVERY person we talked to set a return appointment. I had been stressing about the work and not having a lot of progressing investigators, but that day I had made a conscious decision to slow down and focus on my companions and lifting them and God blessed us for it. Faith is not fast or intense, but firm and calm and steady. 
• Our investigator Dayneen is still waiting for the father of her 5 children to finally marry her. I have been praying for opportunities to talk to him and possibly teach him. Due to a serious ramen spill, we got to our language study appointment at our recent converts house late and I had to take a chuukese sister with me instead of my companion. I was a bit frustrated at things not going the way I had planned. When we left the appointment and Dayneens husband pulled up to visit his cousin that lived nearby, I saw how God does have a plan. Sister Petrus was able to talk to him and turns out his cousin was her neighbor back in Chuuk. We invited him to church and to learn more and it was one of the most positive experiences we have had with him. What I consider a set back, was actually a blessing. 
• We had a devotional with President Gay from the presidency of the seventy and the Presiding Bishop and it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. It was seriously life changing. 

Love, 

Sister Milne

:)

This week was like a big start over. We got a ton of great training at District meeting as well as MLC and we FINALLY had a meeting with our ward mission leader and we are planning a big fireside for our ward called "The lights along the shore" and there was some new missionaries that came in. One from Tahiti will be staying with Sister Mauga and I until transfers in 2 weeks. She is fluent in 4 languages so thats cool. 

But yeah I really felt spiritually uplifted this week. I thought a lot about sacrifice and accessing God's power. I think we can't really understand just how powerful and all knowing God is and so when we try it just leads to feelings of wonder and awe. He is in every single part of our lives and he wants to talk to us and teach us but we have to be willing to listen. 

It's come to my attention that I only have 3 months left which is not nearly enough time. I love this and I don't want to leave this. But I'm determined to fill these next 3 months with dependence on God so that I can access His power more and really walk with Him. 

There is nothing more important to me than sharing this peace and joy with my brothers and sisters. 

Also, I am so happy:) 

Also, one miracle from this week was Monday night everything fell through and I felt prompted to take us to a less active pohnpeian family in our ward. We had a wonderful mini testimony meeting with them. At first the husband was very quite and I was afraid he was upset at us, but then he shared how much he and his family have been struggling and how they need our help. He told us "I expect you to keep coming back" and I was filled with the spirit. It was an honor to be the Lords hands. They then fed us sunday night and she gave us all woven flowers for our hair from pohnpei and it was so sweet:) Plus, I love pohnpeian food. 

HAVE A GREAT LIFE,

Sister Minne, Melany, Milne

FERNY the Future missionary

Best part of the week was that Ferny, who got baptized last saturday came out teaching with us almost EVERY DAY this past week. It is incredible seeing her light up and bless the loves of others. She is the one to say "Lets start with an opening prayer" and she invites our investigators to read the Book of Mormon and Pray and she sat next to our investigator at church before we even had the chance. I am blown away by her strength and her spirit, she is a MASSIVE blessing in my life. 

We spent a good portion of the week covering our area plus sister Petrus' area which is about 45 minutes away, which is a little frustrating when we are trying to use our time wisely and be diligent and stuff. I was grateful for a reminder from our district leader Elder Thomson that God's time is not our time and that He has a plan so it'll all just be okay. I was then humbled when we made the long drive to sinajana again and were able to find two amazing girls and put them on baptismal date. I love being on the Lord's errand and I know He really does have a plan. 

I have a massive love of missionary work and a massive desire to serve and bless the lives of these people because God has given me SO MUCH. One of his many blessings in my life is my best friend and companion Sister Mauga. And my ward. And my life. And especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love, 

Sister Milne

WASHED CLOTHES CHUUKESE STYLE AND IT WAS SO FUN AND EXHAUSTING

A dog stole my shoe and I am never getting it back.

Baptism and Boye

This week has been AWESOME!

• Ferny got miraculously baptized. We planned and got her baptism ready in just 5 days because once she decided to get baptized she could not wait. It was amazing. She talked about the spirit and what she was reading in the Book of Mormon and she dressed in all white when she got the Holy Ghost and she was just beaming and she just kept saying, "I'm so happy!" She is probably the most sincerely converted person I have ever baptized on my mission. (Not that others weren't converted, but she just GETS IT) This is the best part of Missionary Work, seeing someone change and desire to share the Gospel with others and making sacrifices to be baptized and keep the commandments. She is a true disciple of Jesus Christ. 
• Alex Boye came from performing at the microgames and he came to our ward and talked and sang and put on a devotional which our investigator Dayneen came to so we got to join also and it was SO GOOD. He is so sincerely happy and humble and inspiring. He is a great entertainer. "We are ALL 10's! You came to earth a ten! And there's nothing you can do about it so it's time for you own it! It's not boasting, I call it.....GODfidence!" He is performing at a mall today and we get to go and friend around during the mini concert. 
• We actually first met him and the Area President Elder Choi at the airport at 4:30 am Sunday morning. They had just gotten off their flight from Yap and we were waiting for a sister that got transferred to come in. So we were gross, just rolled out of bed, threw on our clothes from the day before and then ended up meeting them at the airport. They saw us and our name tags and their whole group goes, "Oh it's the sisters! Come here sisters!" And we just smiled but inside went, "Oh man, we are a mess...." Haha it was great:) 

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Milne

My Sisters

This week I spent so much time with so many different sisters doing training meetings and trips back and forth to the airport. Sister Mauga have had just one day where we were the only people living in our house. I really missed proselyting a ton, but I learned SO MUCH from these amazing sisters. Here is a little bit about a few of them:

My comp sister mauga: She is 22 years old and from New Zealand. She was baptized when she was 8 but then was completely less active for 14 years. The missionaries found her family a few years ago and slowly brought them all back to chuch. She has an amzing testimony of the atonement and of working with less actives. She has so much depth and is one of the most cheerful and chill people I have ever met in my entire life.

Sister Pronarreeekkachon: She is from Thailand and is 24 years  old. She is an only child and was baptized four years ago. She had a boyfreind that was an RM and she was deciding between marriage and mission when he got in a car crash and died. She pushed through and turned something bad into something not as bad, by deciding to serve. After she got her mission call, both of her parents got baptized. She doesnt know very much english but despite that she is an AMAZING teacher. When I first taught with her, she recited the first vision and it was so powerful I cried. 

Sister Manu: She now is on Pohnpei but I got to spend some time with her and she is from tonga. She was a convert when she was a youth and was the only member of her church until a month ago when her mom was baptized. 

Sister Petrus: I served with her older sister on pohnpei and now it is amazing getting to serve with her here on Guam. She is from Chuuk and she has been a member for a long time, but being a member on chuuk is HARD. Now she is serving her own people and it is bringing so many miracles. We took her to our investigator Ferny and it turns out the were close friends back on Chuuk. We had an amazing lesson that had us all in tears. Ferny had been struggling with family that doesn't want her to get baptized. Sister Petrus brought that last extra support and spirit, and Ferny will now be getting baptized this Saturday. 

I love being a missionary and being here at this time and this place. These Sisters inspire me and I know they are here for the people but really I feel like they are also here to teach me:)

Love, 

Sister Milne

SLOW but Good

This week was crazy because there has been a ton of missionaries on island for mlc and also it was transfers yesterday. I'm so excited to stay with Sister Mauga in Yigo. She is quickly becoming one of my best friends. But Sister Memmott will for sure be missed as she heads to a different area for her last transfer. 

There's really honestly not that much that happened this week. We were busy getting all the sisters to where they needed to be and also helping our investigators progress.

I did have the opportunity to translate a 4 hour meeting on government housing for one of our chuukese investigators because Sister Memmott had other matters to attend to. It was way hard and I did my best but I seriously don't know much beside the Gospel stuff. But now I know everything there is to know about Government housing...excited that they are implementing a tobacco free policy. yay for the word of wisdom!

We got to wake up at 4 am Saturday to help our ward set up for their yard sale to pay for their temple trip this upcoming fall. I love being of service and its amazing seeing whole families working hard so they can make it to the house of God. They don't take the temple for granted because the closest one is all the way in Manila. They value the temple more because of the hard work they have to put in to get there. 

One miracle is that Alice surprised us by showing up at church. She had prayed and prayed to be able to have a schedule change at work and then asked her boss who is super strict and her boss said yes! It's great seeing the spirit work on her heart. I love seeing peoples faith and understanding about Christ grow.  

  

Love,

Sister Milne

BABY TYPHOON MARIA

This week we discovered that it being the fourth of July and there being a tropical storm warning REALLY slows the work down. Then once the storm hits and you have to stay inside and then check on all you investigators that live in houses of sheet metal, the work slows down even more. BUT the winds were speeding way up and it was a little intense and a lot of fun. Especially when we still got up and went running in the storm because we're dedicated to exercise and we hadn't yet gotten word that we had to stay inside..........

Everyone was safe, no serious damage or injuries. If anything it brought people together as the ward reached out to a lot of investigators and members in need. 

The best part of the week was that Joses got baptized! So now they are a family in the Gospel and in one year they will be able to go to the temple and be sealed. When we showed up with the elders to do his baptismal interview, we were really worried because he was no where to be found. We were afraid that he had gone out with his bad friends and was chewing beetle nut again, but then it turns out he was helping his neighbor mix cement:) Also he shared his testimony in our gospel essentials chuukese class and it was so sweet to see him smile and tell us what it felt like to be so clean. It was even cuter seeing his wife beam as he talked. 

Update on Alice, our struggling but faithful friend: she got a JOB!! But her manager wont let her have Sundays off...so we are praying she will be able to find a new job. But we we're super proud of her for having the courage to even ask to be able have Sundays off so she could go to church. 

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a child of God. I've concluded that it means we are all special and unique because we all really do have so many different things to give and offer the world. We can't compare and contrast ourselves and others because God has an individual plan for each of us and the only people who  can know and understand that plan is ourselves and God. I love being a child of God. I love seeing what His plan is for me. He keeps revealing bits and pieces to me a little at a time. He loves me so much and I love me so much and I love all of YOU so much!! 

Sister Milne 

GIVE MORE

One of our investigators lost her house and starting today will be homeless with her four kids. We met with her every day this week and cried with her as she expressed her concerns about sleeping in the car on the beach and not knowing where her kids would use the bathroom or shower. I wish that I could do more. I wish I could take her in. I wish that someone in the ward would take her in. We tried reaching out to the ward for help but I suppose we were asking too much. It amazed me though as the ONLY 2 women who offered to take her in (but were both unable to do to their husbands) were two chuukese women who have both experienced homelessness before. The women that had big homes and no worries were unwilling to give while the women with the smallest homes and who were struggling offered to give all they had. 

This taught me a lot about giving out of our excess verses giving all that we have and making an actual sacrifice. I'm so grateful for these Islanders that have shown me how to truly give. It doesn't matter how someone got to where they are or what is going on, CHARITY NEVER FAILETH. I don't want to look back on my life and wish I had given more. 

This was the main thing that happened this week. Another cool thing was our investigator Joses who is getting baptized this week told us about how he was going to chew beetle nut but then decided he was done and threw it out the car window. Also, they had this giant purple lobster he caught and it was really cool. 

 Also, we had a sister missionary fourth of july dinner, and Sister Mauga wanted a pic with the american fllag on her cake:)

Sister Milne

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