CRAZY Week

This week was full of transfers and MLC chaos which meant pretty much NO Time proselyting. BUT it was so good to see all the sisters. It was my last time seeing most of them and it was strange to say goodbye as I still feel like I will be here for a long time.....

We got to watch General Conference and it was so incredible. We had an awesome stake womens dinner after watching the women's session of conference. The best part is that my recent convert Alice from Yigo came and I got to spend the whole evening with her talking about the prophet and how her life is going. She is SO HAPPY. She knows the power of the Gospel and attributes all of her success and blessings to joining Christ's church. I love her so much and she made my heart so full. Plus it was so nice to see all my other friends from Yigo ward.

Update on Herninta whose husband Joses died: The ward and stake helped her and her 3 kids get to missouri where her sister lives! She made it safely and upon arrival local members picked her up, took her family to dinner, and bought them clothes. I am so grateful for this miracle<3

There have been a few experiences and struggles with some sisters recently that again makes me so grateful for my trials. God's plan is HARD, but it is for our good. He has BLESSED me with experiences that enable me to lift and support others. 

I am still trying to improve and grow. My focus is on CHARITY. Because without Charity I am nothing and mission would amount to nothing. 

LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Kamry Milne

Transfers and TEMPLE!!!!

I'm so sad to not be with Sister Mauga anymore, but we knew it was coming and so we got to spend all week mourning.

She will be going up to Dededo to train!

I am now with Sister Pronarreeekkachon from Thailand and I love her so much, it will be a great last transfer with her!

We don't exactly have an area though....The south part of Guam is a massive struggle so what is happening is we are moving into a new apartment (Its really nice, on the 7th floor of an apartment building with a great view of the beach) and we plus a set of Elders are in our own District and we are in charge of the ENTIRE south half of Guam. We are hoping this will allow us to find more people to teach, it'll be great:)

This past week was so crazy but also seemed like nothing happened...we are prepping for next week of chaos. All the new missionaries, plus their trainers, and also all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders are flying into Guam. 

Best news is THE NEW TEMPLE THAT WILL BE BUILT HERE!!!

It is going to be built in Yigo on the sight of the Church building there were I served for 6 months. I am so happy. I know this will bless the people here so much. MY HEART IS FULL<3

Sister  Milne

HARD IS GOOD

This week was long and hard. It was also wonderful and filled with growth! We are working so hard to find new people and to help the ward and to help our those we teach progress towards baptism. And I know we will see blessings and miracles and the fruits of our labors! I just don't know when...all in God's timing:) 

We are doing SO GOOD at working with the ward members, LOVING those around us, doing small acts of service, loving and serving the other missionaries, and enjoying the beauty around us. Plus we are working very hard to be positive and faithful and happy! 

I love this gospel when it's easy but even more when it's hard! I think that it kinda reflects life, there will ALWAYS be challenges, though the challenges change the answer is always the same: Pray, study the scriptures, take time to ponder, go to church and take the sacrament, and think positively!

Love, 

Sister Milne

I Love Guam

This week felt way long which was good because the time is going too fast. 

On tuesday we picked up 4 new sisters from the airport! 3 from vanuatu and 1 from fiji. They are all converts and they all have giant testimonies and desires for goodness and obedience. Holy cow I love them so much. Working with the new missionaries is such a blessing. We had lots of meetings for them to get them all the things they need. We had 2 of the sisters living with us for the week, but now just one. 

Our baptism had to be pushed back due to something called a "tropical depression" which is when the weather is really sad and gloomy or something like that.... so Charity will be baptized this next saturday! She is doing wonderfully.

We are working really hard with Pwipwi to get her married and baptized. She loves when we come and the spirit is SO STRONG each time we testify about how the gospel will help her has she becomes a mom. (She is 4 months pregnant). 

We have been praying a lot for new prepared people to teach and saturday we felt impressed to visit a chuukese family in the ward. There was an aunt and a niece that had both moved in the night before. The aunt had been taught by missionaries before and really wants to be baptized! They both came to church the next day and we are so grateful for God putting them in our path. 

Alos, Sister Mauga started and finished her driving class and I'm so proud of her:) Hahaha she's way annoyed that she has to learn how to drive all over again because we drive on the opposite side of the road. But she's putting in the work to get her license because she doesn't want to go off Island. 

Saturday night, we were passing some other sisters apartment on the way back down from the driving school. So we stopped by their apartment to bring them ice cream from mcdonalds, but they were so scared when we knocked. They didn't open for like 5 minutes, but we heard them shuffling around. Sister Petrus (from chuuk) yelled "WHO ARE YOU?" and then when she finally opened the door after we replied she had a knife in her hand. It was so funny, but also I felt really bad for scaring them. I guess they have been flashed several times in the past 2 weeks while out walking and have a had some other things happen so they were under strict direction from President to not open the door if anyone knocks. 

I know we are not supposed to get content in the gospel because we need to be constantly progressing, but I feel so content and happy with where I'm at! I wish it could stay like this forever, but that's not what God wants so I will keep working to better understand His will for me. His plan is always better than my plan and it has never once in my entire life not worked out and been okay in the end. 

Sister Milne

After The Storm

This week was way slow getting back to work after the storm. We finally got our power back Thursday night. There wasn't anything too bad that happened here on Guam, but the little island Roda next to us got like wiped out. We have been busy visiting people and making sure they are all okay. We have a cute little girl named charity getting baptized this Saturday and one of my favorite people ever that we taught a ton in Yigo is also getting baptized this Saturday! I'm so happy, I love them so much. I love working hard to teach repentance and baptize converts. Coming up on the Last 2 months of my mission, I have been thinking a lot about my lions share. What it it that I will claim as mine. A lion doesn't eat the leftovers, he takes what he wants and claims it. That was from a zone conference.  For me, it's not a certain number of baptisms, but rather it's joy and light. That is what I am claiming as mine. Not just teaching the joy of the gospel but truly LIVING it. 

pics: thanks for the facemasks mom, also we got to celebrate our friend's 4 year old birthday, she got to pick the rice color. She thought it was blue.

Love you all!

Sister Milne

Typhoon

So this past week was crazy. We had tons of missionaries coming in for MLC (which was awesome, lots of big changes that I'm so excited about). Then Saturday we took our investigator charlie who is super shy on a tour of the church and he loved it. He came to church with his mom who is a recent convert and had a great time. I got to speak in church on joy thanks to Sister Mauga volunteering me. She's such a punk but I still love her for her accent:)

Then the biggest news of course is the typhoon that hit. It was supposed to be a level 4-5 so everyone was freaking out. The calm before the storm was eerie and beautiful. We had to evacuate, first to sinajana, but then due to other complications we had to drive another 45 minutes up to Dededo at midnight sunday night. It was a grand adventure. The storm hit monday evening and lasted all night, but God blessed these people and it turned into just a level 1 typhoon. Lots of rain and 97 mph wind. The power went out, but we were in an area where it was only out for like 6 hours. We are moving back down to our area today and the power is still out down there but it'll just be fine. We really just sat inside eating, studying, singing, and laughing. Being stuck inside for 24+ hours with 2 chuukese people, a pacific islander, and a Thai person is one of the funniest things ever. I love these sisters so much. We also enjoyed sitting on the back porch which was like a little cave where no wind or rain hit and we watched the storm. Nature is so amazing and powerful. 

We were honestly a little disappointed that it wasn't bigger, but I'm mostly just grateful. There is too many people that I love a lot that live in little tin houses. 

There was mostly just a ton of downed trees and power outages and some flooding.

We are hoping to find some great opportunities for service!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS (Especially you mom <3) 

Sister Milne

The South is BEAUTIFUL!

So it turns out we live in the prettiest part of guam, and there's a delicious little taco shack like a minute away from our apartment. Those were the biggest highlights of this week and they made us so very happy:) Sister Mauga discovered what a burrito is and she loves them! I discovered pangi popo which are these sweet coconut milk on buns stuff that a samoan member made us at Sister Mauga's request and it was heavenly. 

We didn't get to spend too much time in our area because we had SO MANY MEETINGS. I had meetings with the stake president, meetings to help advance the mission in terms of technology stuff, meetings for new missionaries, meetings for trainers, meetings with ward leaders, and meetings to plan zone conference. It was all way good and important but I really just want to teach. I love teaching. 

There is a recent convert here in Talisay who bore her testimony for the first time on sunday and it was so wonderful. She was so passionate about the book of mormon and its power in our lives. We just started teaching her 11 year old son and we are hoping to eventually be able to teach her husband as well. 

Our bishop has given us a list of 14 children of record age 9 and older that have not been baptized. We are so excited to visit these people and their families this week. We strongly feel that there are people here in Talisay waiting for us. We know we will baptize, because He told us so. 

I think I was meant to live on an Island and am considering doing so for the rest of my life....

I know Heavenly Father lives and loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us so that we can live with Him again. He wants us home. He wants YOU home. I love having this sure knowledge. I feel it every single day in my heart and in my mind. 

Limpoak sang,

Sister Kamry Milne

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.