This Week Sister Millington Held A Chicken - October 24, 2016

 

Dreams DO come true!!
10-24-16

 

 

This week was epic, people. Yesterday I held a chicken. And a rooster. If you can dream it, you can do it!!!! But it really was a crazy, and super emotional week. We found ourselves in three different lessons where people were crying! We didn't always know what to do or say.. But we made it through!

On Monday we met with Alexiz and talked about the temple and family history! Woo! We're hoping we can get him to the temple soon. And Benjamin, our other new member! We also stopped by a house to see if another old investigator, Joel, was there. He wasn't when we got there, but Walter and Reina (a couple members) and their adorable daughter, Genesis, were! So we sat and talked to them for a little bit, and then Joel came home! woo! So we had a whole lesson with him about the sacrament, and then read in the Book of Mormon together. And Walter and Reina are AWESOME. They're so good and being straight up with people. They ask good questions and have good answers! They're awesome missionaries. 

Tuesday I was feeling kind of icky about things, so I asked our District Leader, Elder Mendoza, for a priesthood blessing. It was really awesome! I received some strength and council I was looking for. And we met his new companion, Elder Jacobs! He's a nice guy. We then went knocking for a little while, and were angrily waved away by some lady. Poor thing doesn't get it. And then we met this dead plant and named him Peter. Gotta have a little fun out there, right? oh man. We also found some really beautiful leaves and started collecting them! After we had dinner at home, we went and saw Ivan and Steven Cruz. Ivan is like 13 and was baptized when he was almost 9. He's the only member in his family, and now his little brother, Steven (who is 8), wants to be baptized too! Woo! So we're going to be visiting them pretty regularly, I hope! We talked with them and gave them childrens Book of Mormons, and then Steven sang me a song. He is SO CUTE. It was this darling rendition of "twinkle, twinkle little star." we were dying it was so cute!! Then we met with Salvador at the church and read in the Book of Mormon with him. He opened up a little bit about how he's facing some trials right now. He didn't tell us exactly what, but he got a little teary and said he's being humbled a lot. So that's why we were finally able to meet with him again! Yay trials! Anyway, it was good! And he told me I speak like a Mexican!! Woo!

Wednesday was a really hard day. It started out fine, we had our zone meeting and then district meeting, and we had lunch at the Sarmiento family home. Then we went to see a family we've been teaching and working with for a while. We started out by reading some scriptures in Ether 12 because they hadn't done their homework, and that went well. We talked about faith and hope and having an anchor in this crazy world. Then we read the verse that talked about having a witness after a trial of your faith, and we brought up how baptism can be a trial of our faith. We asked them what they were thinking and feeling about baptism lately, and the father said he's good right now, he doesn't feel the need to change. Which we were kind of expecting. It's okay. But then the mom got really emotional and talked about how she'd been thinking and praying a lot, and had received the answer that she needed to be honest with us: she's just not prepared. She's not ready yet. She talked about how she loves us and what we do, but that she's not ready to change her life and be baptized. As she was speaking I was thinking about things we could say to try to keep them with us, to try to tell them that we could help them be ready, but when I actually opened my mouth and spoke, none of that came out. We said it was okay. We said we understood and we loved them. We knew what we shared was true and that their Heavenly Father loves them so much. It was a little bit tough to say that and not get emotional as well, we knew this was the end. But she has so much faith that someday we'll see each other again. And she will have been baptized and everything! Just right now isn't her time. So we said our "goodbye" and "I love you" and headed out. (side note: while I was backing Sister Gibson out, I saw the hugest possum ever. So gross.) As we drove home, we spent the first 5 minutes crying silently to ourselves. I finally said "Sister, I'm really discouraged. I'm really frustrated." And she said "I know. Me too." We cried and cried, and eventually pulled over into a parking lot. We talked about how disappointed we were that this all happened. Sister Gibson suggested we say a prayer, so she said it. Which is probably good, I didn't have a lot of happy things to say in that moment. She asked that we would be at peace, and that the missionaries that find them again will be able to feel of our love and the love our Savior has for them. It was a hard drive home. I had a difficult time trying to piece together my feelings. It wasn't so much that I was sad about what they'd done, but I was frustrated that Heavenly Father had let us work so hard for them just to come to this end. After three months of planning and teaching and preparing and praying and doing all we could for them, they just weren't there yet. I felt like I had failed as a missionary. I was frustrated and said a lot of angry prayers. But through that day and the rest of this week pondering about what happened, I've come to a couple realizations. 1. I didn't fail. If I did all I can, that's all I can. It's not my fault that they weren't ready right now. 2. I can't control their preparedness. Their agency is in their hands. Even though I know they know it's true, I can't make them do anything. 3. It's okay for me to feel angry and frustrated. But at the same time, I came to realize a little bit about how the Savior feels sometimes. I'm sure he doesn't get angry, necessarily, but I'm sure it's hard for him to see us make such dumb decisions sometimes. I thought I did a lot for that family, but just think about what he's done for us! From creating this world to giving his own life for us, there's nothing more he can give us. But sometimes we just don't get it. And as much as it broke my heart to see this happen for this dear family, I'm sure it broke his, too. So while it was a really difficult day and a hard thing to swallow, I learned a lot, especially about love. And when those you love don't make the best decisions, it doesn't mean you stop loving them. You don't have to love everything they do to still love them :) Anyway, Wednesday was a crazy day.

On Friday morning we went to see Marlene, a referral we received from the Elders a little bit ago! She cried and cried as she told us about how her and her daughter are having a hard time right now. We shared a scripture with her and invited her to keep reading in the Book of Mormon. I know that no matter what we're going through, there's always strength to be found in the scriptures. We're so blessed! We then went to the Habitat for Humanity site and worked on a house! Woo! We worked up in the second story, taking down some support beams. We had our hard hats and hammers and everything. It was sweet :) Grandpa Hillam would be proud for sure! We spent the rest of the evening hunting for some less-actives. We have hundreds in our ward, and we're not sure how up-to-date a lot of their information is. Since President Taggart has asked us to focus on finding less-actives and finding investigators through them, we've been going through phone numbers and addresses like crazy! We also met with Salvador again this night, and read in 1 Nephi 12. He's understanding a lot, woo! We were really hopeful he would come to church Sunday. But alas, not quite yet. But we have faith! We'll get him there! :)

On Saturday morning we went to find this guy we had an appointment with, but when we knocked on his door he told us he couldn't see us right then. We were literally yelling through the door, it probably looked pretty funny. Haha jukedddd. But then we went to the church and had a little lesson with Edwin. He's doing pretty well! We taught him the ten commandments with our nifty hand signals and it went well I think. We went less-active hunting some more, and found three people had moved. Dang. But we had a little miracle--one of them who'd moved lived on a street where an old un-contactable referral lived! Every time we'd tried to knock her door she wasn't there, and we didn't have her number. Since we were in the area, we knocked on the door. And boom! She was there! We didn't have a ton of time, so we shared a quick message and got her phone number. But she's really sweet and I think we can find some success with her! Yay! Then we went to dinner with the Stone family. Their mom is from Argentina, but the dad is from Idaho! Woo! So we all spoke english and their house was really nice and American and it was sweet! It felt like home :) We had some delicious empanadas, but other than that everything was very English. It felt so good to be there. 

Sunday was nice and busy! After church we had a lesson with Edwin and we brought Walter and Reina, which was awesome! They helped out a ton, for sure. Then we had a couple dinners! And oh man. That was rough. We had dinner first with the Montenegro family, our RS president's family. They're awesome! They've been having us over every Sunday with the Elders. They have a really great spirit in their home as well. We had some good food and good times, and then we walked outside and I saw their neighbors had chickens! And their neighbors are the Sanchez family from the ward! Woo! So we went over there and they let us take lots of pictures with a chicken, a rooster, and some ducks. It was a dream come true. Hahah! It seriously was so awesome. Except I really need to wash my shoes. Ew. But then they invited us in for a second and we had some ice cream sandwiches on some mexican sweet bread. It was yummy! Then we went to Rigoberto Sanchez's home and had ANOTHER dinner. Oh man. I seriously felt so sick. That's the most amount of food I've ever left on a plate and I felt so bad  :( But they were super sweet! We drove home and I just laid down on the floor. I've never been that close to being sick on the mission before! But I held it together. No worries :) 

Anyways, all in all this week was crazy. So many ups and downs. But I'm giving a zone training tomorrow about how we emulate Christ through our manners, posture, etc. and I'm excited about that! So thanks for keeping our elbows off the table, mom :) Haha! 

I love you guys SO SO much!! I can't wait to hear about all the miracles Sether will see down in Mexico and then down in Chile :) I know he'll be a great missionary. He's incapable of being any less than extraordinary.

Have an awesome week!

Hermana Millington

Transfers! - October 17, 2016

 

 

When we're helping we're happy
10-17-2016

 So here's the big news about transfers: I'm staying in Dover with
Sister Gibson! Woooo! Hahaha surprise!! :) I'm excited, it'll be
great! And we'll have thanksgiving here, so that'll be totally sweet!


So this week was good! The Elders in our ward had a baptism yesterday
and that was awesome! This 15 year-old Dominican guy, Benjamin, was
baptized. His dad is a member and was so happy to have his son finally
baptized :) it was way cool! And Elder Aybar, who just finished
training, is being moved to Perth Amboy. Sad :( I love that little
Dominican kid!! Also Alexiz got confirmed and ordained to the office
of priest yesterday as well! Super cool for him. We're trying help him
get going on his family history so we can go to the temple and do
baptisms with him soon. Wouldn't that be super cool??

Saturday was a good day! We went to see the chiropractor and that was
awesome. Then we were driving to try to find a referral in beautiful
Sparta, and ended up finding a Disney Princess instead! Haha her name
is Leah, and she takes care of the deer in the area! She's super nice!
We were driving by her back yard and saw this deer hanging out, so we
decided to stop and take some pictures. We started walking closer, and
noticed his back leg was all weird and his antlers were lopsided. We
were checking him out, and this lady walked out of her house! She came

Nehemiah the deer (over her shoulder)
10-17-2016

over and talked to us and explained how she feeds this deer (Nehemiah)
and the other ones that pass by! She gives them apples and corn, and
they eat grapes right out of her hand! How cute is that?! We were
going to try and share something with her, but she saw our name tags
and was like "oh, you're those Mormons.. thanks, but I've got my own
religion and I'm very happy!" Haha so we didn't get to share the
gospel with our Disney Princess friend. But it's all good :) I'll send
the pictures!

I don't have a ton to say this week! We spent some time
looking for people in their homes and on Facebook, and met with some
of our investigators and less-actives. We're seeing the Lord's hand in
the little things and counting all our blessings :) Dover is an
amazing area and I'm so happy to be staying here a little longer! I
can't believe I hit 9 months this transfer, though.. isn't that
CRAZY!? Good thing I've still got nine more, I've got so much more to
learn and improve before I have to go back to that big scary world out
there..

Ooh an important discovery we made this week: if you put
snickerdoodles that are a little old in the toaster for a second,
they'll soften right up and taste like new :) yum yum! Life lessons.


I love you and miss you all! I'm bummed I missed a good party last
night, I'm sure it was awesome! Good luck to all y'all helping Sether
get ready to go! I'm glad to hear things are all going well back home. I know the Lord is watching over and blessing all of you.

I love you!
Hermana Millington

 

Alexiz Got Baptized!!! - October 10, 2016



That awkward moment when your investigator doesn't know he shouldn't put his arm over your shoulder and the ward mission leader is giggling taking pictures of you.
10-9-2016

Alexis and Alexiz
10-9-2016

Hey family! I hope this week was good at home! It was a crazy crazy
week here in Dover. But so awesome :) and sorry this email is so late,
as a zone today we went to High Point, the highest point in New
Jersey! It was so beautiful to look out and see all the trees! Mostly
green, with some red and yellow sprinkled here and there :) I'll see
if I have some good pictures to send of that!

So Alexiz got baptized yesterday! It was an amazing experience to be a
little part of his journey. We taught him nearly every day, because he
still had so much to learn at the beginning of the week! We taught the
Word of Wisdom Monday night, and he hasn't had coffee since! Haha he
was pretty shocked to hear it, though. I guess his family business
back in Honduras is making coffee, so that was kinda tough to
understand a little bit. But he's so awesome. He had a bad headache
all week from not drinking coffee, but each time we asked him about it
he said "I know it's a commandment from God, so I have to do it!" We
had a great lesson with him and Bishop Haro on Thursday night and
Bishop helped explain more about why we don't drink coffee. Then when
we asked about it the next day, he was all "he was totally right.
They're going to come out with some study in like 10 years saying
coffee is bad for you. I just know it. And the church already knows!"
It was so awesome :)
So we had the baptism on Sunday and everything
went really well! We took tons of pictures, had some talks, a little
musical number, and then went to the font to have the baptism. The
first time he was baptized, he like.. bent his body all weird going
down and then went way limp and Elder Mendoza had a hard time bringing
him back up! Someone thought he hadn't gone under the whole
way, so they paused for a minute--just long enough for us to run up
and tell them they didn't use his full name! So they had to do it
again, and the second time it was a success!! He got a little tears
after, it was really sweet :) he also bore his testimony after and
that was way cool. We hadn't really talked to him about what to say
(oops), but he did it so perfectly! Talked about Joseph Smith and the
Book of Mormon, cosed in the name of Jesus Christ and everything! Such
a proud mama moment :) but it was really cool to watch him change
throughout the week. He totally came out of his shell (to the point
that when we were filling out the baptismal records and I jokingly
said "okay, the name of your wife?" He said "umm maybe... you?" Hahaha
*facepalm) and I saw a light come to his countenance. He was so ready
and so excited to be baptized. I realized this week, though, how small
my part in all this is. It was all between Alexiz and his Heavenly
Father! We taught a few things, but he had to act and grow and rely on
His Savior to help him change. And we were so blessed to have the
members so involved in the baptism as well. A bunch of people came to
support him and welcome him to the ward--many of whom hadn't really
met him before! It was all-in-all just a beautiful experience. We were
so blessed to be a part of it.

Other than that, this week was great! On Wednesday we spent a couple
hours in the morning around the train station and a couple later in
the park and on the Main Street here in Dover-Blackwell. It was fun! I
haven't been able to do solid contacting like that for a while--we've
been so blessed with appointments! But we talked to a TON of people
and gave out tons of Book of Mormons! It was really awesome. But also
overwhelming! Now we have even more people to love :) but I know that
I'm not alone at all--I've got my Sister Gibson and I have the Savior
to make what we do enough.

We had a rough lesson with one of our investigators this week about
the Law of Chastity.. and he's living with his girlfriend and their
son.. and I don't know what we could have done any better, but it
didn't settle super well with him... so pray for him..

On Friday we had zone conference! Woo! We got a lot of trainings of
being proactive in "returning and reporting." They were all uplifting
and great! Zone conference is always awesome. I helped out with the
musical number, and we had a good time. We have some really sweet zone
leaders and assistants right now. And of course, our stellar STL's :)

We had a cool experience on Friday as well, when we were teaching a
new guy we'd found in the park. We were just sitting at a table
talking about the restoration and stuff, and this recent convert, Noe,
rode by on his bike. Without a second thought, he totally shook our
hands and plopped himself down into the lesson! We involved him right
away and it was awesome! He's so great and so excited to share he
gospel. Alexiz is one of his good friends, so he was way excited for
his baptism too :) we hope to get them both to the temple for some
baptisms soon!

Anyways, this week was awesome. Crazy. But awesome :) I'm SO BLESSED!!
After so many prayers that Alexiz would turn up somewhere and his
heart would be softened enough to really be baptized and complete this
step, he finally did! And I have faith that he'll stay strong. I don't
worry too much about him :) and he has so much love and support in the
ward. They'll be good to him. And the Elders have another baptism for
the ward next week! Woo! This 15 year old Dominican named Benjamin.
He's super nice--his dad fed us mangu that one time. We're excited!

I love you guys so much, and I can't wait to bring you back here
someday to meet all these amazing people I love so much! I'll send Mom
some pictures :)

Have a good week, have fun at Sethers farewell! Take lots of pictures!
Get that turkey to send me a video before he leaves :) it's going to
be the best day EVER when he comes home and we can all be together and
eat fancy cheese on Sunday. And then he and I can talk Spanish about
you guys ;) hehe! But really, I couldn't be more excited for Seths
mission. I have no doubt it's the second best in the whole world :)
our missions will be pretty different I think, but I know it'll be
amazing. I'm SO EXCITED. I can't even stand it. So cool :)

love you guys!
Hermana Lexi

"As If It Were a Dream" - October 3, 2016

Hey family!! How is everyone?  I hope good! I've had an eventful morning so far here in New Jersey--we taught a lady we found in the laundromat, and shortly thereafter witnessed the murder of a chipmunk by a cat. I also bought a basil plant and a ton of tomatoes, and we went to the mall :) It's been great so far!

This week is crazy! I feel like it's passed by like Jacob said in the Book of Mormon: "as if it were a dream." Time just flies out here! I can't believe it's already p-day again. 

On Tuesday we had district meeting, which all went well! We had a fun zone meeting at the beginning where we had some trainings on obedience and then went around the room and each person talked about something they liked about someone else. It was adorable. Really boosting our family moral. Then we went on exchange with our STL's! That was such a blast! I was with Sister Pace (as you probably saw from our Facebook video!) and we had a great time. We talked in Spanish for a lot of it, which was super good for both of us. I just love Spanish. We were going to teach the Law of Chastity to one of our investigators who's living with his girlfriend (yikes), but he ended up bringing a friend to the lesson. And let me just tell you about that. This man. His name is Hans, and he grew up here in New Jersey, so his English is perfect. But oh man. He was telling us about how he has "so much faith" literally for like an hour. He was telling us "you'll never meet another guy like me. You'll see this guy again, you'll see another guy again, but you'll never see me. I have so much faith, man. I could walk out in the street and get hit by a car, and I would rise again. I have so much faith, man. Aint nothin gonna stop me and my faith." ... Hahaha we didn't really know what to do.. But then he was telling us about how he's struggling right now and he needs more God in his life. He kept saying "like, where do we go?" And we were like "like... after this life?" And he was like "no! I mean, we fight and we fight and we fight, but where do we go? What are we doing it all for?" And we were like "like, you feel like you're fighting and you don't know what the end goal is?" And he was like "NO! I mean, why am I still here? Why haven't I died yet??" hahaha oh man. So we promised we could help him find a stronger connection to his Heavenly Father through learning about and acting on our message. And at one point, he was standing up and acting out Christ pulling Peter back into the boat when he started drowning. It was pretty hilarious. We aren't sure if he was totally there or not, but either way, he was crazy. But he kept interrupting us and the investigator and the member we had there! But luckily we had another appointment we had to get to pretty quick, so we closed with a prayer and headed out. He offered to say the prayer, but I said "no that's okay, I can say it!" and I'm glad I did. We later got to experience a Hans prayer. (*see Friday)  Sister Pace and I were laughing pretty hard on the way out of that lesson, though. That night we taught a couple other lessons, and we contacted the Vega family! It was fun to talk to them over the phone. We also sent them a video of us saying hi and singing their favorite song. It was so cute! Yay technology! Then we sat in our pajamas (my chewbaca, her giraffe) and talked for a long time. I love that girl so much.

 

On Wednesday we had a good time in the morning visiting a less-active, Guillermina. She's a really kind little lady. It was fun to teach with Sister Pace, we already had our comp unity down! Woo! Then we had some evaluation and talked about all the things I need to improve ---there's always lots. But I'm working on it! Working on being more diligent, more obedient, more patient, more humble and kind, more everything. It's a process. Good thing I've got a few more months out here :) Then we met with Fabian and Imelda Hernandez at the church. That was a little rough, they're passing through some tough things right now. But we tried to do what we could to encourage them to read and pray as a family, and to look for the good in everything. I love them so much as well. That night after we'd exchanged back, Sister Gibson and I had the best lesson with Silverio. We went in and followed-up on how he's doing with the Word of Wisdom, and he said "good! I've been eating more fruit and drinking more water. I'm really trying to be good." Haha what?! He's the best. Then we taught the ten commandments with all those hand-signals we used in that video (we've had that song stuck in our head all week, BTW), and that was pretty funny. At the end he prayed that he would be able to remember what they are. He's pretty awesome. 

On Thursday we did lots of planning! We also served at Habitat for Humanity in the morning and went to tacos for lunch. YUM! I actually really haven't had as many tacos out here as I thought I would.. They're just a Mexican thing.. We also made our little ten commandments video that day, and that was fun. We went to the chapel that night to help open the doors for some members that forgot their keys, and we had a good comp inventory there. There's just so much to improve all the time! Ugh! But I'm taking it step-by-step and working on the little things I can control :)

On Friday we were going to help build a house, but it was raining pretty hard.. So we went and talked to the site manager and he told us they weren't going to be doing much today. But we met a nice member there from New York! Then we went out to Blackwell Street and passed out some fliers for an upcoming party--una Noche de Hispanidad! That was pretty fun. Then we had a lesson with a really awesome recent-convert, Noe. He's really trying hard to do the right thing and improve himself. He's actually going to baptize Alexis this Sunday! Woo! Then we had another lesson with HANS. Man. We invited just our investigator and a member again, but he just happened to show up. Oh heavens. This time he was less funny and more disrespectful, though. It was so frustrating! I don't think I've ever been so frustrated in a lesson like that. He was ridiculous! I'm sure it was pretty funny to watch, though. Haha but I got a little sassier than I maybe should have been. But this is what went down. He started by offering to give the opening prayer, so we let him. He started in Spanish, and then switched to English and gave the Lord's Prayer in the Bible. He finished with "amen," so we all said "amen" and started looking up. But he was definitely not done. He launched into a probably five-minute-long prayer telling God what a sinner he was and how he just couldn't stop. Sister Gibson and I had to hold ourselves together after the first "amen" because we were caught so off-guard. Then he finally closed, and we went pretty quick into a video. We shared it and then started talking about faith is good, but we have to be obedient to the laws of God to receive all the blessings He has for us. Then he started talking about "Christ flipping tables" in the temple...??? We tried to bring it back and talked about how the people were being disobedient and Christ was angry with them, but he just kept saying "no, they weren't being disobedient! Christ wasn't mad!!" And then he got up again and started acting out flipping tables. Hahaha! But then we were trying to talk and he just kept interrupting. At one point he started talking about how hard his life was, and was like "I bet you've never had the police put a gun to your back." And we were like "umm nope.." and he was like "I bet you've never had a boyfriend." And I was really prideful for a second and was like "yep, I have!" And he was like "Oh really? I bet he wasn't as cute as me." WHAT?!? Hahaha oh my heck this man. Anyway, long story short, he's crazy. So we quickly testified and got out of there.

Then Saturday we had GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! WOO!!!! Oh man, I loved Conference this weekend. We watched the Saturday conferences in English in the primary room of the chapel. Then after the second session, they had a little birthday party for one of the RS sisters! Then on Sunday we watched the first session in Spanish because we had Alexis, Edwin, and Silverio all there. And Edwin brought his little 2-year old son, Santi, and he was SO CUTE. I think they all enjoyed it! Then between the sessions a few members had brought food so we all sat and ate together. It was a good time for our investigators to get to know some of our members!  Then the second session we watched in English again, and then we went to the Hernandez family Sunday night. The Elders helped us out and we gave a good lesson about trials and how the adversary fights us when he knows we're on the right path.

So in conclusion, all our investigators are doing awesome, Hans is crazy. That's the Dover life, I guess. It's crazy to think we only have a couple weeks left in this transfer! It feels like I just got here yesterday, but also like I've been here forever. But it's almost been three months! I hope they'll keep me here for a while, though, I feel like I'm beginning to get my bearings and work with the members better. The ward is amazing! 

We were so blessed to have General Conference this weekend. I loved all the talks! I took like 10 pages of notes in my little notebook. (side note, I think I have like 6 different journals/notebooks I've gone through so far. I'll probably send some home in a few months) There were talks given that spoke directly to me and what I needed, and directly to some of the people we're working with. I loved Elder Rasband's talk about remembering. That's something I learned a lot about in the Book of Mormon the last time I read it, and something I see a lot in the Bible right now as well. We're taught all the things we need to know, so why are we disobedient? Why do we fall away? Why do our testimonies falter? Because we forget! The natural man is forgetful and lazy. But we can overcome those tendencies as we WRITE things down. Spiritual experiences, awesome talks, happy moments, how you see the Lord's hand in your life, etc. The little miracles because so much more visible and important as we pay attention to them and make note of them. As I've gone through my mission I've been so glad to have all my journals to look back through. I especially love the one of when I was at the MTC! That was a rollercoaster for sure, but I'm learning so much, and I can see it in myself and the things I write. I'm very far from perfect, but the Lord is so patient and so kind. His hands are always outstretched to us as we just turn to Him. Something the lady in the laundromat said this morning is so true-- sometimes we just forget to look up. He's always there, always waiting, always loving, always forgiving. All He asks is that we come with a broken heart and contrite spirit, and that we give up our sins to know him. That was another talk I loved--from Elder Bednar about really KNOWING our Savior. 

 

Anyways, I love you guys. This life is the best, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm blessed to be out here!! 

I love you and pray for you all the time. But I know like it says in Doctrine and Covenants, you're in the Lord's hands :)

Hermana Millington

"I Prayed About That Date!" - September 26, 2016

September 22, 2016
with Hermana Gibson

This week was crazy loco. So many meetings and so much service and so
many miracles!!

We spent quite a bit of time this week painting! It was so fun. We
helped paint the extension of our chapel-- those door frames are
lookin so fly. We also helped paint the walls of a member's home. They
just moved into our area from Passaic and are super sweet!

I was also pretty sick all week too. That was a bummer. Just nose and
throat stuff, so not bad, but I did have a good time taking NyQuil
that one night. Haha I hope you all enjoyed that video taken by my
beloved companion. She recorded for literally an hour and forty-five
minutes that night! She kept it rolling as we were falling asleep so
it would record all that happened. And I had no idea! Anyway. I was
super out of it, as you can see. It was so hard because I knew
everything coming out of my mouth was nonsense, but I couldn't stop
it! I started singing Friday at one point, and we argued about the
dinosaurs being dead. My companion was just trying to get me really
confused. Hahaha such good times.

We also went to Ellis Island on Thursday and that was lovely again! We
met like three LDS families this time, and that was fun! Yay for
family history work! We had a good night then visiting some members
and eating yummy chicken and rice!

On Friday morning we had another new missionary training meeting that
went well! On the way home, though, we were driving our elders and
they were being so dumb. Haha oh man, they're so funny. I sent a video
to mom about them bugging me when I was driving. But that night we had
an awesome lesson with Silverio about the Word of Wisdom! He's totally
living it already! He just kept saying "I just didn't know this was a
commandment!" But it went super well so we're happy about that. He's
awesome. But it was a little tough, we were teaching at the chapel and
the Cha Cha Slide was going on next door.. haha!

Okay Saturday? It was crazy. We helped get the foundation down for a
house in the morning, which was fun! Then we went out to the Hernandez
family, and that was just as fun as always! They started off a little
rough, arguing a little but about their short tempers and whatever.
But we were just like "okay, we can see things are a little tough
right now, can we have a lesson?" Haha but more polite, don't worry :)
then we taught about baptism. We showed the video of Christ being
baptized, and Fabian looked over to his wife and was like "what do you
think? Do you want to be baptized?" Long-story-short, they decided
they do! They were both baptized when they were babies, but they
didn't know what they were doing and they don't remember anything. So
next time we'll put them on a date! But at one point they started
arguing again about word of wisdom things (haha) and I could totally
feel the Spirit running out of the room. So I stopped them and we were
pretty much like "listen. I love you. You're so important to us. And
you're so important to your Heavenly Father. He wants you to have
happiness and harmony in your home. He's so happy with all your
progress. But there's one who doesn't want you to have that. He knows
you're reading the Book of Mormon and going to church, and he's
fighting you. You have to be stronger. You have the strength of the
Lord to help you and I know you can overcome this. But know it's not
going to be easy. But I promise it's worth it." Or something like
that. Anyway, it was cool. They all got quiet and he Spirit came back
and helped us out. I really felt like our power and authority as
missionaries helped us out for that one.

Then we left that appointment and went to El Catracho, a Hondurian
restaurant, with Alexis and Noe. We hadn't been able to be in much
contact with Alexis and we were so scared he'd fallen off the face of
the earth all over again. But we got him to go get Baleadas with us!
We ate and started talking and were like "so. We know we set you a
baptismal date in October.. how are you feeling about that..?" And he
was like "good! I prayed about that date and I know it's good. I know
I have to do it. And Noe is going to baptize me! Where will I be
baptized? Here in Dover?" And oh man. Our jaws DROPPED. So we
explained some things, like how we have to see him a bunch the next
two weeks, and he was totally down! So that was a huge miracle and we
are so excited!! But neither of us have ever planned a baptism
before.. but good news: the elders in our ward have a baptism that day
too, so we'll probably just do them together! Woo! Anyway, we were
flipping out :)

THEN. We were walking to the chapel and we checked our phone, and we'd
gotten a text from Edwin. We hadn't seen him in about a week, and
hadn't talked to him for a couple days. But he was reading 2 Nephi 31
about baptism, and we'd talked about that. But he texted us totally
randomly and said "hola! Could I get baptized October 27th?" ....
WHAT!?! What the flip?! So we flipped out all over again, and were
like "yeah! Of course! Totally!" So we're working on that one too!!
It's a Thursday, but it's his birthday! And the ward council is down
to help us out with his and Alexis' baptisms. Holy cow, though! It was
the craziest day ever. So many amazing miracles.

Then yesterday was good, too! We taught relief society, and that went
well. Luckily we only had about half an hour to teach and we had them
present things as a group, so we didn't have to talk too much :) then
we were talking to our ward mission leader about the FHE we were
planning for that night, and we asked if he had ice cream. He said no,
but we weren't sure if he was joking or not.. anyway, during lunch I
made some delicious chocolate chip cookies that were a total hit at
the FHE! And Edwin came and brought his cute son, and the Hernandez
family came too! And Silverio and Alexis were at church, so our
investigators all did awesome! And Imelda totally got emotional, I
know it touched her. It was way fun! I pretty much just sat at the
piano like I do :)

Anyway, this weekend was crazy, folks. But so awesome! The Lord is
blessing us so much right now. It's unbelievable. All I've ever wanted
my whole life was to serve a mission, be Hermana Millington, and see someone
baptized. And I have so much faith that it's going to come
through for us! We're working hard and the Savior's grace is helping
it all be enough :)

I love you, I'm praying for you all the time! Congrats to sether on
going through the temple, sorry you can't eat dinner shirtless anymore
;)

Hermana Millington

September 22, 2016
helping with chapel extension
they got permission to write their names on the floor before the carpet was installed

September 12, 2016
Zone bowling

Sept. 19, 2016
The Elders shared this with Lexi knowing she would appreciate it!!!

Sept. 26, 2016
I really hope she didn't buy this at the local Wal-Mart like she said she did.
I'm beginning to see a theme.