Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Pohnpei!

hoping the blessings will start dumping on us like this rain

Okay here's just a few highlights of the week:

• Sister Bowers listened to the spirit and saved us from a giant, eel infested mud puddle while we were running through a muddy jungle road in the pouring rain barefoot on the way to a waterfall last Monday.
• I thought we were already in the rainy season, but apparently it's just starting and it has rained so incredibly much. The good news about this is that when our water goes out, we can now easily catch water from the rain. This past week was filled with lots of rain water bucket showers.  
• Everyone "cleans" for the Holidays which mainly just means they all work really hard to weed a ton a make everything look a little less wild and jungley. This means lots of opportunities to serve by helping to weed! And a bonus is that they often don't let us leave without feeding us:)
• We are mainly working with less actives, and it's working! Our numbers at church are going up. I've really been trying to serve as the savior served, one at a time. It really makes a difference, each soul is worth so much!
• We've begun having more language studies with investigators and members. We ask them to tell us a story, and I see how much I can understand. Its been super helpful because although I can do all the gospel stuff fine, understanding nongospel conversation is difficult. I continue to understand and learn more every day.
• Sister Bowers and I both spoke in church yesterday, then she taught sunday school and I taught primary. It was so fun, and we were so happy to help, but members are so important! I've really begun to see  the wisdom in callings within the church. Callings bless both the Church and the individuals, they give us all a place. 

Happy thanksgiving! This year I'm most grateful to be counted worthy to serve as a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ.

Sister Milne

waterfall, bucket shower, happiness over christmas decorations, part-member less active family we are teaching, crossing the flooded river to their house​

Sister Bowers and Service

This week with my new companion Sister Bowers has been INCREDIBLE! We are working so hard, being exactly obedient, and really focussing on building up the branch. I know that being strictly obedience brings blessings and joy because we are just so happy! Sister Bowers is really teaching me how to serve others. She is so good at finding ways to serve. This week we helped with laundry, carrying buckets of water through the jungle, cleaning our little church building, weeding, and just spreading love and the light of Christ to every single person we meet. Sister Bowers is the type of person that would give the clothes off her back to those in need, which she actually did this week when our investigator that can't walk said she was cold and that Sister Bowers' sweater was her favorite color. Sister Bowers immediately slipped it off and gave it to her. I have so much to learn from her and I'm so grateful to be her companion. We are both sad to only get to be together for her last transfer, but we are making the best of it!

This week we started teaching a young girl that was a former investigator. Her name is sharon and when she was taught before she would never go to church. However she had a baby in August and since then she started to come to church on her own! She lives with a less active member so within the next couple weeks we will be working on getting them married so that she can be baptized. She is pretty shy but very happy that we are guiding her and helping her little family. 

We have also been focusing more on Merleen, the investigator who can't walk because of a very serious foot infection and who Sister Bowers gave her sweater to. I have been a little stuck with her, not knowing how to help her progress because she can't go to church. Sister Bowers came with so many new ideas on how to help her, so this week we started doing language study with her. Its a win-win because she knows great english and is awesome at teaching me and she loves the company and our friendship. We also are figuring out  how exactly we are going to get her to church, and I'm not sure how, but I have faith that it will happen! 

Every single day I love Pohnpei more and more. These people have my whole heart and I'm so lucky to be able to serve them!

Love,

Sister Milne

Sickness, priesthood, general conference, transfers!

Well, Sister James last week out in the mission field turned into a pretty lame week because I got strep throat.

Monday I had to retire home early from p-day because I felt horrible. I had a massive headache and a fever. Tuesday morning we had to take Sister Bowers to the airport to fly to MLC. We spent a productive morning in town, and got to go out to eat. But when we got home, I once again crashed and my fever was even higher. By Wednesday morning I decided to ask for a priesthood blessing. Thursday morning we still had to go to district meeting, but afterwards decided it was finally time to seek medical attention considering my throat was so swollen I could hardly swallow. Just by looking in my throat the doctor immediately knew it was strep. She prescribed me some strong antibiotics and told me they wouldn't start working for 3 days and I wouldn't start feeling better for 5 days. This was very disappointing news to me because that seemed like a very long time and being sick a missionary is physically, spiritually, and mentally very hard. However, I know that the priesthood is in fact the power of God on earth and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and is very aware of me, because the same day that I started the antibiotics my fever went down to a normal temperature for the first time in 4 days and the next morning the swelling in my throat had significantly gone down. My healing has been much quicker than expected and I'm so incredibly grateful!   

After a week of spiritual stagnancy, I was beyond excited to finally have to opportunity to watch General Conference. We got to go to a chapel in Sapwalap and watch it in English with other Missionaries. Seriously every single talk was incredible but my two favorites were Elder Christoferson's from Saturday morning on the Atonement and Sister Sharon L. Eubank's from the Women's Session on what it means to be a woman! But the most important part about conference is what changes we make in our lives because of what we've learned! Here are a few inspired goals I have set:

1. Learn more about Jesus Christ and His atonement and THINK about Him more in my daily life.

2. Serve people at an individual level, even if it's inconvenient! 

3. Be Glad! I am a daughter of God, full of worth and I will continue to strive to be worthy, so I might as well have a positive, happy, enthusiastic attitude even when my circumstances are hard. 

As for transfers..........I'm with Sister Bowers! There are no new Sister Missionaries in the mission, and 3 went home this transfer. This means a few areas had to close down. The sister training leaders area closed, and the sister training leaders are now split. The new sister training leader is Sister Behling. Sister Russell, who was the old one, got transferred to Guam for her last transfer. We dropped her off at the airport late last night and it was heartbreaking watching her have to leave these people that she loves so much.  Sister Bowers is an answer to my prayers. She is already one of my closest friends on the Island and she already served in the Uh area for 10 months. She goes home in 5 weeks (this next transfer is short) so I'm excited to learn as much from her as possible in this amount of time. We are so ready to build up Uh Branch! 

Dehr doadoangki pehmw en kang mwonge pwe ke pahn soumwahuda! Ahpw mehlel, soang koaros mwahu. Poakepoakei kumwail! (dont use your hands to eat food because you will get sick. But seriously everything is good. Love you all)

Love,

Sister Milne

pics:

1. This was at lunch on tuesday, Sister Bowers is the one next to me.

2. This was at dinner on sunday night after our branch mission correlation meeting. The Zone leaders who run the Unit in Awak which is next to Uh join. I tried pig stomach and it was good but definitely what you would expect a stomach to feel like!

I Am A Child Of God

Ke poakepoakei Sises?

Ke poakepoakei Sises?
Translation:  Do You Love Jesus?

This week was spent in large part working on Sister James' application to go to school. It means we didn't have as much time to proselyte which was sad, but I'm so happy to get to help Sister James! She only has one week left which is crazy, but I know this week is going to be great! 

The highlight of this week was Sunday! We started out with 7 people in church, an all time low. But then a less active family with 2 kids that we are teaching came and they boosted our numbers from 7 to 27! I used to get really bummed when so few people came to church, and it still does make my heart sad. But greater is my joy over those that do come! We are only 2 missionaries and we cannot fix everything in this branch immediately, we cannot make every less active person come to church. BUT we made a difference for that family this week! And how great is the worth of their souls and how great is my joy and how great is my Heavenly Fathers joy! 

We ended up helping out with primary because it hasn't really functioned in a while, and it was so fun! The kids were so happy and excited to be there and learn about Jesus Christ. These people love Jesus SO MUCH. And I love them so much! 

Happy Halloween!

Sister Milne

okay so I really LOVE pesticide. This Island is Beautiful. My companion is the cutest. And so are the kids in our ward:)​

Big Spiders

Lots of cockroaches!

I Udahn Men Kang Kidi

This week was so fast, I'm not even sure what happened.....We've been talking to a lot of people and really trying to find those prepared people! We found one awesome Investigator this week named Shylynn. She is 16 years old and we found her in our Area book and felt impressed to go visit her. When we showed up she told us that our recent convert Drisela is one of her best friends. Apparently Drisela has been asking Shylynn to please meet with the missionaries and to open up her heart so that she could feel the Holy Ghost. Also, since the missionaries last taught her, her father has told her that she can choose to be baptized if she wants. It was so amazing seeing all the little ways that Heavenly Father has been preparing her and preparing us to teach her! 

Part of the reason it feels like we didn't do that much this week is because we have been working on Sister James application to go to BYUH and have been preparing her to take the required English Test in a few weeks. Its hard taking time away from our investigators, but I so love getting to help Sister James prepare for the rest of her life. I know education is so incredibly important. It's amazing seeing how much this gospel and serving a mission has enabled Sister James to do so much more and have so many more opportunities! I feel so blessed to get to feel a piece of the love that I know Heavenly Father has for her. A lot of people here on Pohnpei are religious and so when we tell them "Koht udahn poakpoakeiuhk" (God really loves you), they almost always tell us "Poakpoakei koaros" (He loves us all). This is true that He does love us all, but it's sad to me that they don't understand that not only does He love all of us, but He loves all of us individually and He knows each of us individually. Its a deep and personal love that we can only truly begin to understand when we feel the Holy Ghost. And even those feelings are just a foretaste of what it will feel like when we are able to return and live with Him in eternal joy and love. THIS is why I'm out here, to help these people feel that perfect love.  

Love,

Sister Milne

Pingelap Songs Video

Kamry's companion is from an outer island of Pohnpei called Pingelap which has a very small population.  This Island of Pingelap has a very rich and interesting history.  Kamry's companion is done with her mission in November.  Kamry is helping her with her English so that she can pass an English test so that she can apply and be accepted to BYU Hawaii.  This will greatly enhance her life and her future.  Kamry has asked us to pray for her companion specifically that she will pass the English test and be accepted to BYU Hawaii.  Kamry really loves Sister James and will miss her when she leaves the mission.

This video is Kamry with Sister James in a member's home singing songs from Pingelap.

HOPE and HAPPINESS

I'm so happy today while writing this email that I can't stop smiling. Nothing major happend this week. We taught a lot of lessons. The assistants came with us and taught. We still had a lot of water problems and people canceled sometimes. So why am I so incredibly happy? Its all because of the spirit! When we actively strive to seek the spirit every single day and really follow the promptings of the spirit, we will be happy! This is truly the secret to real joy and this is why I'm out here on a little island in the middle of the pacific ocean, because I want everyone to feel this JOY! I rejoice in this gospel and in my Savior Jesus Christ who makes it possible for me to one day live in eternal happiness and bliss with all those that I love. Even though everything is not perfect right now, I have so much HOPE.

Here are a few things that give me hope and happiness:

1. There is a new Chapel being built in Uh for our branch. It will be a real chapel and it will be on the main road, not high up in the jungle, which means it will be so much more accessible.

2. The Book of Mormon and all the standard works are currently being translated into Pohnpeian. Right now we have about a third of the Book of Mormon translated. Its a few of the main, spiritually rich chapters, and I'm so grateful for it, but I know the work here on Pohnpei will hasten so much once there is a full, complete, accurate, translation of the Book of Mormon!

3. Our recent convert Macelynn, who I love with my whole heart, got called as a branch missionary! She's been coming with us to help teach and has grown so much. It's so fullfilling seeing her teach others these things that she has come to know are true.

4. I got FIVE packages in the mail this week. (Shout out to all my incredible family, I appreciate the Love and support so much! Also I probably dont need to go grocery shopping for a few weeks!) 

I hope you all will strive to have the spirit with you, so that you can feel the hope and happiness that comes from this Gospel! Appreciate your chapels and the Book of Mormon! Read it EVERY DAY. Everytime things don't go the way we want them to, instead of being upset or discouraged, Sister James and I have begun saying "I have faith in Jesus Christ and the Power of the Book of Mormon." I love you all so much! 

Love,

Sister Milne

P.S. I ate blowfish this week and it was good but super chewy but less flaky than normal fish and more like chicken in a way except the taste was totally fishy....iou dohlul! (delicous totally!) 

pics: Last  monday we went to a place the sticks out in the ocean called Nett Point with the SIsters, also the Senior Couple took us out to dinner at one of the nicer restaurants here and it has an incredible view! 

No general conference yet, but zone conference and stake conference!!

This week felt so long, but I think it's just because we did so much! President and Sister Poston came and we had zone conference and stake conference with them!! They bring the spirit so much, it's incredible! I feel so inspired and motivated:) 

Zone conference was phenomenal as always. My companion, Sister James, gave her departing testimony because this is her last transfer! She did incredible and made most of the sister cry. I love her faith and her sweet spirit so much! 

Stake conference was crazy because it was all the members on Pohnpei. There was decent transportation, so we were able to get 2 investigators there and a ton of less active members! We pretty much spent all week inviting people to come. There was two sessions and in between we all ate lunch with our branches and wards. It was so funny eating rice and curry with my hands while sitting on the floor in a crowded little room full of people I love in the church building. An experience I will never forget:) 

Also I completed my language mastery certification this week, which is good but definitely does not make me a master! It mainly just means I can teach all the lessons super simply and hold a basic conversation. Eri, Mwahu sang sohte! Better than nothing! 

Also, my wonderful companion and my wonderful friend Sister Poll have been teaching me some Pingalap songs which has been so fun! I'm really not a great singer, but these Islanders are and their songs are beautiful!! 

 I love hearing all of your missionary experiences and all the pics I receive! Keep them coming!

Love, 

Sister Milne

Drisela's Baptism!!

This week was really great, it went by so fast! 

The highlight was Drisela being baptized and confirmed. She has been such a blessing in our lives. 

My favorite part was right before she went into the font, she gave Sister James and I the biggest hug and said "Oh I poakpoakeikumwa" ( oh I love you two). My heart was so full of joy, I couldn't stop smiling. It was crazy trying to get the baptism organized, and it definitely didn't go smoothly, but it was PERFECT. 

I had the opportunity to speak about the restoration at the baptismal service, and for the first time I really enjoyed speaking in Pohnpeian and felt pretty confident. Not confident in myself of course, but confident in my Heavenly Father's divine help, which he did in fact give me. 

I love Drisela so much and her baptism brought me such joy, and I know that what I feel is just a fraction of the way Heavenly Father feels about her. 

On a side note, for the first time in 3 months I took a hot shower this week and it was the cleanest I've felt in my entire life:) Also we decided to go out for breakfast this morning and I got blueberry pancakes and it felt so much like home for like 2 seconds I thought I was in America!

Love you all,

Sister Milne

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