Hey everyone!!
So transfers are tomorrow and I'm headed up to Riverton Wyoming! I'll be in the Sunset Park ward, and my companion will be Elder Buchanan. It'll be his second transfer so I'm adopting another SON. I'm super sad to leave cornerstone here in Cheyenne, it's started to feel like my home ward! AND I'm super sad to leave Elder Chinbaatar, but I'm also excited to go up to Riverton and fulfill new assignments I have there and have new experiences!
We had our disrtic preparation day for the transfer last Tuesday, twas a party. We went up to Curt Gowdy and did a hike to a waterfall. If you are a longtime fan of the one and only Elder Milius emails, you'll know I went to the same place my first district preparation day. But this time it was FREEZING, and all the water was frozen which was super cool, so we could walk back to the frozen waterfall. I'll send pics at the end.
Wednesday we had a cool experience. We had an appointment set up with a lady we met a few days before. We actually started talking to her because her little boy started yelling hi to us from across the street. We showed up and she wasn't there....BUT a super cool dude named Johnathan was there and we started talking to him. He asked us where our church is and said he wanted to go, and we shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon with him and he LOVED it, then he grabbed our hands and started praying with us. Im pretty sure the reason we set up that appointment wasn't for the lady, it was for him haha. Also after that we saw another miracle. We met a super sweet lady named veronica last week, and we went by her house. We knocked on the door and she answered and talked to us for a little bit. She mentioned that we ALWAYS show up at the right time. Apparently she had been downstairs all day and only went upstairs for something and that was when we knocked. I love being an instrument in God's hands!
Thursday I served at the retirement community for my last time.... Or so I thought.... It was great as always, old ladies flirting with me, making the same jokes with old dudes that they've made every week since I've been here. I'm going to miss them. We had a fantastic lesson that night with someone who is super prepared! His name is Nate and he was brought by a LA member to church. The lesson went great, and Elder Chinbaatars tongue was loosed and he taught so much in great English it was awesome!! It's super cool to see Elder Chinbaatar teach in lessons, because as he's in tune with the Spirit his English because 200x better. The Lord truly makes up the difference for all of our weaknesses as we strive to be our best. "it is by grace we are saved after all we can do".
Saturday morning we spent helping a less active member clean out a trailer. He rents trailers out to people and these people left a bunch of stuff in it, so we were pretty much throwing it all away. It was an adventure, it felt like storage wars (if you've ever seen that show). You never know what you'd find in those closets and cubbards. Elder Chinbaatar found $5 and a dictionary that he kept. Our zone leaders were with us and one, Elder Gordon, swiped a glitter puzzle. It was a fun time, until we opened the fridge that smelled like dead things. After that he took us out to lunch to a legit Mexican food place, and ordered everything in Spanish, it was Heavenly. If you are ever in cheyenne Wyoming, Rodolfos is the place to go. I think there might be one in Arizona as well. Later that day we had a pretty cool miracle. We were driving through a neighborhood and I saw a kid named Damien that we talked to before, but hadn't really responded to our TEXTS. I thought about stopping, then decided against it, but then the spirit was like DO IT. So I pulled around the corner and got out and we pretended like we were just walked when he saw us. We talked and it was good, we set up a time to meet him. But then we couldn't go back to our car because now he was on that street. So we walked around a the corner to wait and we saw a house lit up of a guy we've tried contacting before. He was super interested in the past, but missionaries stopped teaching him because they could never get a hold of him. We knocked on the door and HE WAS THERE! He was super awesome and got out his Book of Mormon and wrote our names in it and were going back next Saturday. Blessings definitely come when you listen to the spirit, the Lord's plan is always better than your plan.
Sunday was SAD. My last Sunday in cornerstone. It was a fantastic Sunday though, and we had a few people we are teaching show up so that's awesome!
Monday morning we realized it was MLK day so where we usually do service was closed. BUT the retirement community was open so we went there one more time! I got to tell all the old people that were my friends goodbye and tell them I'm going to Riverton and stuff. They were sweet and told me all the places to go when I'm up there haha. We had a couple lessons that day and they went swell. The last lesson of the night was super powerful and I shared one of my favorite scripture stories from the Book of Mormon. I'll share it sometime as a spiritual thought. But it was fantastic, they're a returning family and I'm going to miss them. We stayed and talked a little longer than we should have. After the lesson we went outside and it was SNOWING. We've been pretty lucky with weather, the other week it actually started raining which was super weird to happen in January. But it snowed good and I had to remember how to drive on ice again!
Spiritual thought: I think I've mentioned this before but I love how the arms of the Lord are mentioned in the Book of Mormon. I went though and found all the references I could and wrote them down-
"how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you" Mormon 6:17.
"know ye not that ye are in the hands or God" Mormon 5:23.
"they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus" Mormon 5:11
"I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" 2 Nephi 1:15
"I shall lengthen our mine arm unto them from day to day...mine arm is lenghtened out all the day long" 2 Nephi 28:32
"the arms of mercy were extended towards them" Mosiah 16:12
"his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light or day" Jocob 6:5
"extended his arm" Mosiah 1:14
"extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him" Mosiah 29:20
"the arms of mercy are extended towards them" Alma 5:33
"his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name" Alma 19:36
"his merciful arm which he extended towards me" Alma 29:10
"encircles them in the arms of safety" Alma 34:16
"mine arm of mercy is extended towards you" 3 Nephi 9:14
"know ye not that ye are in the hands or God" Mormon 5:23.
"they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus" Mormon 5:11
"I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love" 2 Nephi 1:15
"I shall lengthen our mine arm unto them from day to day...mine arm is lenghtened out all the day long" 2 Nephi 28:32
"the arms of mercy were extended towards them" Mosiah 16:12
"his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light or day" Jocob 6:5
"extended his arm" Mosiah 1:14
"extending the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him" Mosiah 29:20
"the arms of mercy are extended towards them" Alma 5:33
"his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name" Alma 19:36
"his merciful arm which he extended towards me" Alma 29:10
"encircles them in the arms of safety" Alma 34:16
"mine arm of mercy is extended towards you" 3 Nephi 9:14
I added the one scripture that mentioned the hands of God too. I just live the imagery of the arms of the Savior reaching out to us. The Atonement is done he's suffered for YOU, and he is pleading for you to come unto him, use that Atonement, and enter into his arms. There is comfort and peace in the arms of the Savior, and they are open to you always and extended towards you. I know that sometimes you may feel you aren't worthy of His love, or you're too far gone, too broken, too unworthy, etc. Those are all lies. I testify that the Love of God and of Jesus Christ are there for you right now. They are standing with open arms....accept it, turn to them, and feel the love and joy and peace that follows. I know that this is true.
Fun stuff
-I met someone named Deejay who is legit a DJ
-I made some members cry at church when I told them I was leaving
-I slipped on ice once because I was trying to stomp on it and crack it like Elder Chinbaatar, then again because I was sliding on it for fun....then one more time in the same spot
-Elder Chinbaatar got a pair of boxing gloves (Elder Chinbaatar is a boxer and his dad is a champion in Mongolia) and we were messing around one day. I ended up getting him in a good spot (or so I thought) and was punching in a bunch in the side. Somehow his left hand (he's a lefty) came out of nowhere and smashed into my left cheek. It all happened so fast, the next thing I knew I was on the ground.
Pictures:
Pics from Tuesday!
Also I acquired a sweet Arby's hat to add to my collection of fast food restaurant hats
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