Hello brothers and sisters, for those of you who don't know me my name is Elder Milius
LAST Tuesday we went and visited a cool dude with a long gray beard. It's always great to see him, recently he's been giving us pudding cups every time we go over. In addition to the pudding cups, the lesson went great. We read 2 Nephi 2:26 and talked about the importance of Jesus Christ and ACTING. Interesting lesson but it was exactly what he needed. Had a mission given to us by our bishop Tuesday night as well. He got a text from a return missionary who helped teach a family a few years ago. They joined the church and moved a few times and their records got lost. We didn't even know they were in our ward, but we got their address from the RM and our bishop told us to go find them. That was exciting.
Wednesday was a fun time. We had a couple district councils, then had a great dinner. Members that usually take us out to Texas roadhouse had to cancel, BUT they gave us money to take ourselves. Our ward was feeding the Spanish elders this week as well, so we had a good time at roadhouse with the hermanos. And some other cool experiences that night. I am learning a lot that I can't even explain. Just know that the Lord teaches you through experiences, and often he gives you experiences you don't want that lead to you learning and growing in ways you couldn't imagine.
Thursday we had an exchange with the Spanish Elders. I spent the day with Elder Hilbig, he's a cool dude. We had a packed day, and only a little bit of time to go out and find/talk to people. But with that short time the lord blessed us for our efforts. We had some pretty meaningful conversations and one dude working on his car was really short with us but told us his address and when to come back. Then that night we went to go help this old man in the Spanish branch who lives with a few people the Spanish elders were working with. His roof was collapsing so we were helping bring stuff out of the attic so they could go up and reinforce stuff. Fun times....even tried out my Spanish....realized it's not as good as I think.
Saturday we had a pretty open day so we went out and walked around a lot. Somehow ended up at a members home. The father of the family recently had open heart surgery (and he's really young) so we stopped by to see if there was anything we could do to help. We went in and ended up being fed ice cream and brownies and leaving with some grapefruit. We went to help and they did more for us. That was kinda funny! Saturday night we accomplished the mission the bishop gave us. The family we had to find, we found the next day, but they told us to come back on the weekend. So we went by and we're able to talk to them, super cool just need a little more welcoming. We were able to get their records moved into our ward THAT NIGHT. Felt pretty satisfying.
Sunday was good. Full of meetings and our whole sacrament meeting/Elders quorum was about gathering Israel. The most IMPORTANT work happening on this earth today, according to the Prophet Russell M Nelson. We're able to see a lot of people and set up lessons, Sundays are really nice to catch people at home. If you're trying to hide from missionaries, know that we know you're home on Sunday....finished the night setting up chairs for zone Conference which we had on Monday. There was a self reliance meeting until 8pm and the two other sets of elders nearby the stake center were busy. So me and Elder Brimley set up over 150 chairs and 11 tables by ourselves...surprisingly went really quick.
Monday we had zone conference as I said. Super good, we spent the entire meeting focusing on the ENABLING power of Christ's Atonement. Someone really special to my heart that I've had to use and I'm sure many of you have had experience using. That is something that would be interesting to study: the redeeming power of the Atonement and the enabling power of the Atonement. Had a good time, talked with my mission president a little bit. Learned that his recently married daughter is in my ward back home-small world! Finished off the day pretty well, had a really spiritual discussion in a home after dinner. It is incredible how the spirit on the home effects our ability to teach. In this specific members home my teaching ability seems to magnify...kinda interesting.
Fun stuff:
-we finished our soda tower this week. But 4 times it's been completely knocked over and the sound is incredibly loud.
-going along with that, I was on the phone with sister Winn who works in our mission office as elder Brimley knocked down the tower.....Sister Winn said "what...was that". It was really hard and awkward to explain what happened.
-we were sitting near President Palmer during zone conference and randomly during the meeting he showed us his phone and he had a picture of my face on it...
-we were super close to finishing the tower one night, so Elder Brimley convinced everyone (the Spanish elders were over) to drink one more soda. It was after 9pm and I really didn't want to.
But one thing led to another and I ended up drinking 2 cans of mountain dew in less than 2 minutes. It was painful...
-somehow elder Brimley ended up throwing me under a truck. It was all a big accident, but as we were walking down to our car parked in front of the church building, someone said something which caused elder Brimley to turn around and punch the first person he saw. In my attempt to avoid the punch I jumped forward, was punched in the back, and my momentum threw me towards the curb which I slipped off and fell underneath our parked truck. I laid for a a while thinking about what had just happened....also I was wearing basketball shorts and a white shirt and tie....dont ask me why. Idk what was broken more, my body or my pride.
Spiritual thought:
I read Isaiah 30:20-21 this week and thinking about that scripture and Ether 12:27 and Mosiah 3:19 I learned something. "20. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left". A lot to leant from these scriptures especially as you think about who those "teachers" are, but I will be talking about tbr Lord Jesus Christ. According to this the Lord GIVES you adversity and affliction. According to Ether 12:27 the Lord gives you weaknesses. According to Mosiah 3:19 the lord "INFLICTS". An interesting concept. But each of these scriptures also teaches that the same Lord who gives you challenges is there to help you through and help you overcome them. The same Lord who took upon Himself these very trials and even descended BELOW them is there to help you through them and help you overcome them. The book of mormon teaches that God doesn't do anything except that, that is for our benefit. (2 Nephi 26:24). I know that some hard things are given to us by the Lord, but He knows we can overcome it and He knows it will help us grow and learn and become who he needs us to be. And he doesn't leave us alone. The Atonement of Jesus Christ helps you through it all, acces that power and use it. The same Lord who sometimes gives you these hardships is the same one who will help you through and eventually deliver you.
Pictures:
-soda tower
-mcflurry run
-idk, Lyons Colorado is a weird place
-this is when elder Brimley threw me under the truck
-Katy
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