Free Sushi and Surprise Weddings - April 24, 2017

 

4/19/2017
 

 This week was super awesome :) man, it went by fast! But

I'm exhausted and I know we did good work! This is what went down in

the city:

Tuesday and Wednesday we had an exchange and I went with Sister

Morinvil from Haiti! She's super funny. We had a good time together :)

and her Spanish is pretty good, she participated in some lessons and

contacts! Wednesday we had zone conference and I sang in a quartet

with Sister Allen, Elder Hicks, and Elder Spenced (who was in Men's

Chorus!). It went well, I think! I don't know.. I haven't watched it

yet. Haha but I'll send it to mom probably. It was sweet, though. And

that evening we had delicious flautas with the Martinez family. The

BEST. I'll make those for you guys.

Thursday was a crazy awesome day!! We didn't get any weekly planning

done.. but it was great!! After a juked appointment at like 8am we had

some quick studies and then went to an appointment with this funny

guy, Alex, in a park. He is super funny. He really understands the

doctrine (in his 7 minute closing prayer he talked about making it to

the celestial kingdom and getting baptized), but he makes the

strangest, most random comments during our lessons. Hahaha. Good guy,

though. We're going to see him tonight as well. Then when we were

walking with a recent convert, Ghener (he's from Spain!), to lunch we

found a lady that they'd taught years ago and she invited us to come

see her again! That was random and awesome! Then we had this AMAZING

Spanish food with Ghener. It was way too fancy, though. I was in a

skirt and feeling so under-dressed for this place. It was way nice and

WAY GOOD FOOD. Yum yum. On the walk back to the car we started talking

Our new friend, Nyo
4/20/17

Spanish to this lady who ended up being from Singapore! We started

talking and explaining who we were and she pulled her phone out and

put our number in! And she said "friends! Now we're friends!" Aha she

was so cute! This darling little lady with very little English. She

told us to come see her in the afternoon one of these days and she'll

make us sushi "my present." Then she started pulling sushi out of her

bag and giving it to us!! It was so nice! So we took some selfies in

our iPad and her phone :) man, it was so random and made me so happy!!

I couldn't stop laughing as we walked away! That's why we talk with

everyone!! Her name was Nyo and we're buddies now :)

That night we saw Brenda and Jorge. And can I just tell you? The

Atonement is real. The Book of Mormon is true. Wow. That house is so

different than it was when I got here 4 months ago. And Brenda has

changed so much in the last 2 weeks. They've been praying and reading

together as a family and you can actually feel the Spirit in their

home! And their kids don't run and scream during the lesson, they sit

and want to read with us! and if they do cry it's quiet and short! And

little Abby always opens the Book of Mormon, finds the first picture

of Christ, and says "Jesucristo!!" Man, you guys. I wish I could

express adequately the change that has happened in that home because

of the Book of Mormon and the reliance on the grace of the Savior.

That's been one of the biggest miracles I've seen in my mission and my

life. And I'm so hopeful that she continues on the up and up and they

can get married and baptized and everything! We know it'll still take

some time, but that's their goal. That's a family I'll remember

forever. I know I had to come here for them.

On Friday at 7:15 am Patricia called us!! Haha she was in the airport

coming home from the Dominican Republic and wanted us to know she got

home safe :) we saw them that night and it went well! And guess what?

She got MARRIED. Haha what the flip?! We didn't even know she was with

anyone over there! It's her middle son's dad. But she'd already talked

to President Castanier about it and he was supportive and everything,

so that's good! Haha but she hasn't told her mom and her grandma that

she lives with.. but she showed us the pictures and the ring. He's

still there, but he'll be here in a year :) she's so happy!! It was a

huge surprise but we're super happy for her, too! And when we were

talking about baptismal covenants with her she told us "yeah, that's

why I got married! I'm not in the path following Jesus Christ and I

need to follow his commandments, so I got married!" So awesome! You go

Patricia. Love her.

 It was a dream come true to wear the helping hands vest
 04/22/17

Saturday was sweet, that morning we did a fun Service project at the

Passaic River. We picked up garbage and found some really interesting

things. But it was super fun to be there with our zone and zone 2, I

spent a lot of time with Sister Holguin and her comp Sister

Villanueva, and Sisters Fernandez and Hernandez. Literally all the

Spanish sisters that were there were Mexican. Except me. Sad day. Haha

I felt pretty white when they started talking about different Mexico

accents and foods and stuff. Hahah ah man!

My Mexican homies! 4/22/17

 

We had a few great lessons that day, it was great!

Yesterday was great, too! This random guy Sister Gaytan met in the

street on exchange the other day came to church! Bernardo! The members

were super awesome with him, we actually had a member that knew him!

So that was sweet. We also got working with Hermano Pichardo to go to

the temple soon! Hopefully we can go soon with him. We had a ton of

appointments and were running around like crazy. It was sweet. We also

did some laundromat contacting and that rocked. Sister Gaytan is the

bomb.

Anyways life is good here :) this week coming up should be pretty

normal, we just have a couple exchanges. I'm probably way behind in my

Book of Mormon reading.. it's been hard to have full studies lately,

lots of meetings and things in the mornings. But I'm working on it!

 

I love you guys! I pray for you all the time. I know the Lord is

looking out for you back there. I feel so blessed to be a part of His

marvelous work. The work of the missionaries today has been prophesied

about for ages and now we're a part of it! We are gathering Israel! So

cool. I love the gospel and I love being a missionary. I wouldn't

trade these 18 months for anything in the world. I've learned and

grown so much more than I thought possible. And I don't always see

that growth in myself, but I know He's helping me reach higher than I

could on my own. The Atonement has an amazing power to forgive and to

change hearts, but also to strengthen us and make us better little by

little. His grace is so real.

Que tengan una semana llena de bendiciones y amor :) les quiero!

Hermana Millington

New Jersey Morristown Mission

Birthdays and Ellis Island - April 17, 2017

Ellis Island
4/3/17


 

This week was awesome :) it went super fast, actually! You know how time flies. And I also got the dreaded 4-month email about flights home and my release date and everything. Man, that was weird. Good thing I still have a lot of time, though :)

Here's some awesome things that happened this week:

We had an Ellis Island training with almost all the sisters in the mission and that was way fun! I  mostly hung out with Sister Davis and Sister Hettinger, my MTC homies. I love them a lot :) it's crazy to see how much we've grown and changed through these months.
 

Then a couple days later we had our shift at Ellis! It was really fun, it was nice and busy. I met some people from France, Germany, and Finland! So I added those to my list. I'm up to 43 countries now!

Sis Gaytan  & Lady Liberty

We had some good times contacting on the street this week, including finding some guy that had to have been a preacher. He kept quoting scriptures and telling us to be brave and prepare ourselves for when Jesus comes again. We also went contacting in ShopRite, this grocery store, because there was no one on the streets. We invited some people to English class and I was blessed with the opportunity to give some lady a quarter to be able to pay for her groceries :) she'd better be at class! Haha. We also got called "mi amor" a lot of times. That's good too.

Also this week was Sister Gaytan's birthday!! Wednesday! She's 20! Woo!! It was fun. That was the first time we went to Ellis so she got to see all her old comps and buddies. Then we accidentally left our phone in another sisters van so we had to drive to Passaic to go get it (about 45 minutes away) After that, we went to a froyo place to find ourless-active that works there. We got an appointment with her! And we contacted in the street and met a lady from Mali and a Dominican guy named Julio that we're going to see this week. Then we had dinner with the Guevara's and Sister Gaytan ate so much she had to unzip her skirt to be able to survive he car-ride home. Haha! She's such an angel. Seriously I love her a lot. She's so quick to just laugh and loves to have a good time :) but she's so good with people, her love is so apparent in the way she talks to them. And she works so hard! Such a good contacter. She's awesome.

We had a cute branch Easter activity that night and that was fun :) the kids in our branch are literally my favorites ever. The people here are just amazing.

Me & Sis. Smith
 

We had our first exchange this week-- and Sis Gaytan's first exchangeas STL! It was with Sister Flinders and her brand-new companion Sister Court. Poor thing literally has like 2 weeks in the mission. I asked her if she had any questions at one point and she was like "yeah, um..I just feel like there's a ton to do and I'm so afraid of forgetting things.. will it get better?" Haha YES! IT DOES GET BETTER!! And we found out they'd been waking up at 5 to get all caught up with the Facebook training videos and everything and poor little Sister Court had no idea that that's not normal! But Sister Flinders is a great trainer, she's helping her a lot. Sister Court grew up in the Marshall Islands and was adopted when she was 6. She remembers a lot about it, though. She told me about her childhood a little bit: she literally had nothing and her parents were good to her. Everyone on those islands is super poor, but her family was even worse off. She has a cousin serving there and she read me some of his email- they shower with buckets, the ocean is the bathroom, and all they eat is rice with fish they've caught or birds they've killed with sling-shots. Crazy!! Anyway, she was adopted by a sweet LDS family in Utah. She was baptized when she was 8 but definitely knows the other side. Her testimony is so sweet and pure. I really came to love her a lot on our exchange. She's still new and pretty timid about things, but she's going to be great. And we taught this lesson and she couldn't understand a word of it, but she walked out and couldn't stop talking about how awesome it was!! Haha greenie fire. It's the best!! And it was an awesome lesson, totally a miracle that the whole family was there and involved with the lesson. It was with some less-actives we have a super hard time meeting with. Also she told us that Sister Flinders' birthday was the next day! So that night we had mug cakes and ice cream. Then when they went to bed Sister Gaytan and I decorated the kitchen a little for her. We had a good little lunch together and enjoyed the rest of the exchange. I love exchanges. I love my assignment as an STL :)

Easter Sunday was fantastic! We had a lovely program with the English ward and Korean branch and it went well. I got to conduct the congregation songs! That was fun :) there were some beautiful musical numbers and I felt the spirit really strong testifying of the truth of it all. It really is all true. I don't know any clearer or simpler way to say it. But Jesus Christ, our older brother and best friend, died for us and overcame death for us. It's truly the biggest miracle and most important thing that has ever happened in the world ever. I felt His love and the power of His grace many times throughout the day.

We had a couple lunches with the Rondoy's and the Mendoza's. The Mendoza family is one of my all-time favorites ever. Their dad served a mission in Mexico and the mom is from Switzerland, but she speaks Spanish and English as well as French. They have three adorable kids. They're super willing to have us over and help us out with our missionary work.   We had a sweet lesson with them about the atonement.

Also I'm working on memorizing the Living Christ again! It's going well so far :) I love that document a lot. It's been cool to study it a lot again.

Anyways. Life is good here :) we have a couple exchanges coming up this week, and interviews with President, and zone conference! Nonstop party cause the party don't stop.

I'm praying for you all the time! I love you :)

happy easters (RIP Bunny ❤️ ps I tell all my comps about Bunny-- his legacy lives on)

 

Hermana Millington

 

Welcome to Englewood, Sister Gaytan! -- April 10, 2017



 Walmart



Some of my favorite people EVER. Sister Smith and Hettinger are companions in
Morristown, and Sister Hettinger was Sister Gaytan's trainer! So cute.
 4/8/17

This week has been a really good one :) but oh man. So

tiring. Those are the best kinds of weeks :) here's some good

highlights:

Tuesday I picked up sister Gaytan and dropped off Sister Allen.

Transfers are the BEST. I love seeing all my buddies and singing our

mission song :) so fun! And sister Gaytan is awesome! She's from

Mexicali, the border with California. But her family has lived in Cali

for the last 4 years. Also her birthday is on Wednesday :) she got

baptized 3 years ago with her mom and older brother, and is just

waiting on her dad and younger brother. She's been in the mission 11

months. And she thinks I'm funny. Haha!! Score!! Finally! She

seriously never stops laughing! We had a super great week together and

I know it's going to be an awesome transfer :)

Thursday she had the new leader's meeting in Morristown, so I went

over to S Smith's apartment with Sister Moss (who's companion is a

newly-called STL down in Tom's River-- I ❤️ that place). We made some

pancakes and I tried to make one in a NJ shaped cookie cutter and it

failed. Haha!  Then we saw the twins, Victor and Daniela.

 They're awesome! They want to get baptized but they have

sports on Sundays :( so we aren't sure what to do.. Then we saw some

members that night that gave us a couple referrals and said they'd

invite some other friends to church for Easter! Woo!

Friday we had some weekly planning because we didn't get it done

Thursday, but we didn't finish Friday either. Haha you know how it

goes. But we were out on the street that evening and we were talking

to this guy and when we finished S Gaytan was like "don't walk that

way. Come this way." And so I followed her, and she was like "there's

some guy who was staring at us over there and then when we started

walking he started walking.." so we casually walked into the Arabic

meat store across the street. Crisis averted :) also delicious cookies

bought. Yum. Then on our way home we met some funny Jamaican guy that

didn't stop talking! Hahaha Good times in the street. That's where all

the good stories come from.

Saturday we had Mission Leader Council (MLC). And it went really well!

Really tranquilo! I got to sing the post-lunch musical number, I'll

send the video to mom :) then this Elder that was giving a training

right after got up and said "thank you Sister Millington, your voice

is like a blanket..." haha it was pretty awkward and funny. Good guy,

though. Ha! We then got some bailadas with Jared and talked about Alma

5. We preached repentance hard core. Good stuff. Then we talked to

Jorge over FB video call and he's doing well :) he said when he knows

it's true he'll be baptized and he wants to come to church, he just

has to figure out how to get a Sunday off.

Sunday we went to our ward council and that went well, and then we

drove to Elizabeth for a baptism of a Sister Gaytan's investigator!

They found him through FB. Sweet, right? And sister Pace was there

too, because she taught him, so that was fun to see her. I was able to

help and play piano and that was cool. I love to serve :) we ate some

tamales on the way back and I decided I don't like driving in New

Jersey. I'd already decided that, but I decided again. This place is

loco. But we actually saw some really stellar people that afternoon-

we took Jared cookies for his birthday, we saw Hermana Estevez (who

gave us saltines with butter. So Dominican.), then the Mendoza family

that is crazy and super Mexican and I love, and then Patricia and

Michael! Patricia's phone has been super dumb lately and she's been

working a lot because she's going to be DR for spring break at the end

of the week, so we hadn't been able to see her for a long time. It was

really rough, actually. But I'm so happy they were home and we got to

talk to them :)

So listen. I started this Book of Mormon challenge, but I had a lot of

meetings this week and didn't have a lot of personal study..  but I'm

trying! It's also Spanish so it has 100 more pages! But I'm determined

to do it:) the Book of Mormon is the BEST.

Anywayzzzz life is good out here :) we made yummy cookies this week,

but we didn't eat dinner a lot because we were so busy. So I ended up

having 9:30 cereal a couple times. Haha mission life. But I really am

super happy and everything is good :) I know I'm doing the best i can

and the Lord is making up for the rest. I'm getting a lot better at

talking to everyone and Sister Gaytan is helping me a lot! She's a

great contacter. I have a lot of faith we'll see miracles this week :)

Transfers! Dun dun duuuun...April 3, 2017

 

glamour shots by the fire escape
4/3/17

Hopefully you had an awesome week and an even awesomer

weekend watching General Conference! I LOVED it. I had so many

questions answered. It was super great as well to hear from President

Monson about the Book of Mormon! (Ps I'm going to finish it tomorrow

in Spanish woot woot) I watched the two morning sessions in Spanish

but the afternoons in English. It was a little rough Saturday

afternoon, we watched at a member's home and their internet was bad.

But we absorbed most of what they were saying!

So like my email title says, tomorrow is transfers!! Man. Wanna know a

crazy thing? I only have three left. So that hurts. But it's okay :)

I've decided that it stinks to go home because I love this place and

these people, but that there are a lot of ways I need to progress back

there, too. But for now I'm here and happy and learning and growing

and having the best time :) so this is all the transfer doctrine: IM

STAYING!! Yay :) and Sister Allen is going to Jersey City! And I'll be

her STL :) and Sister Holguin is going to Paterson and I'll be her

STL, too! Fun, right? And I'm getting a new companion, Sister Gaytán!

She's from Mexico, but lived a while in California. Remember Sister

Hettinger from the MTC? She's her trainer! So Sister Gaytan is just a

couple transfers younger than me. But she's an awesome missionary! And

Mexican, and I'm pretty much Mexican, so ya know. It'll be awesome,

though, I'm excited :) sad to lose sister Allen, she's super awesome.

She's helped me and these people a lot this transfer. I'll definitely

miss her. But I'll still get to see her around, it'll be good!

Here's some highlights from the week:

We had two exchanges! Monday night I went out with Sister

Higginbotham, that was cool! We met some interesting people on the

streets of Englewood while advertising our English Class. This one

guy, Jorge, kept asking us questions about when the Bible was edited

and if God and the Devil are two separate things or the same person..

anyway, come to find out he'd taken some seminary in his country for

nine years and just wanted to see if we had our facts straight. Haha.

Punk. But it was good anyway, we met some other nice people and got

some numbers!

Tuesday night I was with Sister Murphy. She's super cute! She's a

great conversationalist. It was a really nice and easy exchange- we

were full of appointments and she teaches well and was easy to talk to

as we drove around. We came home and the other sisters had gone to see

someone that gave them chicken feet and hearts for dinner.. luckily

they had to leave for an appointment and they took them to-go, but

they're still in the fridge. Ew. But sweet of her to give us food!

She's a nice little lady :)

Thursday we had TAC- transfer apartment cleaning. It was great! We

scrubbed everything. For hours. It was insane. But the apartment feels

better now :) then we tried to get some planning done at the chapel,

but ended up going to see an investigator that the elders are teaching

that decided last-minute she didn't want to get baptized on Sunday :(

so we went over to see what was up and to meet her parents that are

Dominican and don't speak any English. We talked a lot with her about

the Holy Ghost and how bad she needs it, and hopefully it helped a

little. Her mom gave us some cake and orange juice so we're buddies

now too ❤️ we also got tacos for dinner and they were SO GOOD. Real

tacos guys? They're so good.

Friday we ended up going way North in our area to pick something up

from a member and may or may not have accidentally crossed the border

into New York. AGAIN. But it's okay, this time it was still in our

mission and our zone :) we just had to get back on the turnpike and

make it back into Jersey. Haha oops. I know how to drive. We also made

banana bread muffins that morning during planning to take to some

members when we took their dishes back and that was good :) we saw

cute little Hermano Pichardo and he gave us some yummy yogurt and we

got drenched in the rain. All good stuff. I learned what shoes NOT to

wear in the rain. Haha

Saturday was the bomb! Conference is the best. I seriously almost

cried like three times. I loved it a lot :) it's amazing how inspired

those people are to speak to our hearts through the spirit and tell us

exactly what we need to hear. And how we can find comfort and council

simply by the spirit that is there, not necessarily because of what

they say.

We also had a face-time lesson with this guy, Jorge Argudo from

Ecuador, that was awesome! He was the one we had the crazy hour-long

phone call lesson with the other week. He still has a ton of questions

and we ended up teaching about the Plan of Salvation and some of

repentance and some of the commandments. Man! But he told us he'd been

looking for the true church his whole life but didn't really know how

to find it and hadn't really taken the time to. But he said he would

pray and ask and we promised he'd find his answer :)

#moderndayecuadorianjosephsmith and then he said a beautiful closing

prayer, that was good too :) he's a funny man. We like him a lot.

Sunday was great! Conference. Between sessions we ran to see

Gloria Coba and her family and Brenda and Jorge to put conference on

their phones. But unfortunately they didn't have enough gigs to watch

it :( but we sent her a talk after and she loved it! After the second

session we went to see the Calderon's and have some dinner with them.

It was awesome, I love that family. Ana is such a sweet mother to her

kids and so kind to her husband :) and she wants to share the gospel!

Woo! They're sweet.

That night we had our call and found out what's going down! It's super

crazy.. I'll have spent a fourth of my mission here in the EngleHood!

But I know there's more the Lord needs me to do here :) I'm excited to

stay and help and serve and love these people!

 Hope you had a great week and a great

conference and a great week this next week too! :)

Les amoooo! :)

Hermana Millington

New Jersey Morristown Mission

March 27, 2017

 

 

 

This week was a good one, folks! On Tuesday night we had a branch FHE

and we watched meet the Mormons. Unfortunately our investigators

couldn't be there, but we had a good time watching it with the little

branch. It's funny when they show the part about the guy that went on

a mission and I get all excited and I want to go on a mission too! And

then I realize that I am on a mission. Haha silly me.

Wednesday was a super interesting day. We had a lesson with this

inactive lady and when we got there she was feeling pretty

sick. But she'd made us food, so she dished it up and said she was

going to go to sleep. We asked if we could share a quick video with

her and she said no... what? That had never happened to me! People

always say yes! So that was kind of bizarre.. then she went into her

bedroom and talked on the phone with her daughter for like twenty

minutes. So I'm not sure what that's about, but ya know. We had a good

time sitting there eating chicken in awkward silence anyway.

Then we went to a member's house for an FHE and she had a

little panic attack while we were there. But it was amazing to see how

the spirit was brought back to their house from simply listening and

testifying and trying to love her the way the Savior does. She's so

awesome.

Thursday we actually finished weekly planning!! That was a miracle!!

And our heads hurt so bad by the end.. but we did it! Woo! Then we got

juked a couple times, but it was all good! That night we also saw Olga who lives

close to us and we made an appointment to go back and teach her

friend, Ester, tomorrow! Then she fed us some yummy Guatemalan

tortillas and cheese. Love her so much!

Friday we saw some twin kids of an inactive member what were being taught by the sisters a long

time ago. We taught the Restoration, but they asked a TON of random

questions about the fall and the second coming and why Satan is in

outer darkness and all this stuff. Haha it was crazy! I don't know

what those sisters were teaching them before, but they remember a ton

and had a ton of questions! They're super cute kids, it'll just be

hard to get them to church because of their sports on Sundays. But we

love them! Then we went and saw Nora and Johnny who brought us Chinese

food! Johnny is the bomb. He said he wouldn't be able to come to

church, but we had a good lesson and he's good. Then we saw Brenda and

Jorge with Hermana Torres. It went well, Hermana Torres helped them a lot and

we made some solid plans for them to get to church Sunday.

Saturday was a special day, the day we got ready for Sunday. Hehe it

was so crazy busy, totally non-stop! I was really tired and my back

hurt pretty bad by the end of the day. It was a good one for sure! We

did service in the morning at some church that does a food pantry and

we got a TON of bananas. We'll be making some banana muffins here soon

:) then we went to this Salvadoran restaurant with Jared and I got a

GIANT pupusa. It was so funny. I'll send pictures :) but it was really

good. We got down to his core needs and wants in life. And we're gonna

help him get them and have the spirit with him! He's super great. Then

we saw Hermana Estevez from the branch and talked to her about member

work! Woo! She's awesome, too! Then we met this cute little old man,

Marino, that said he would never change his religion. But he gave us

juice and cookies and was so funny and cute. And he told us we should

try to teach his neighbors! So we'll try that! Yay referrals! We came

home and had a video chat lesson with this guy named Jorge that was

great! He had a ton of questions about how we know God chose the

prophet and what happens when the prophet dies and how the quorum of

the 12 get chosen and all that stuff. It was sweet! And he really

wanted to know what Christ said to the Nephites so we invited him to

read it! And he also wants us to talk to his son in Ecuador and try to

teach him, too! YEAH REFERRALS! Then that night we went to the women's

general conference and loved it! Our little RS had a cute little

party. It was lovely :) empanadas and everything. Good stuff.

Sunday was cool! We actually went to church up in Morristown because

Sister Allen went back, 4 of her old investigators got baptized! So

cool! So we went to all the meetings with them there and it was fun to

be with Sister Smith and Holguin for a little bit. And I sat next to

the cute Stake Relief Society President in Relief society and guess

what! Her daughter is engaged to Thomas Ashworth!! Haha what?! I guess

it's not officially official yet.. but so crazy! So we took some

pictures to send to him, it was cute :) The baptisms went well and

there was a ton of good food after. Like the Hispanics do :) it was

cool, though, President Taggart was there! Yeah PT! Then we came back

and saw a couple people and made a ton of calls. We found out Brenda

and Jorge weren't able to make it to church, but Johnny did! So we

called and talked to him and he said he loved it and wants to keep

going! He said he prayed about the Book of Mormon and knows it's true

and that Joseph Smith was a prophet! Wow! And we invited him to be

baptized and he said yes! Except not this week because he has a work

trip out of town hahah! But we'll get him a date and get him all

prepared soon :) it was really cool!

All in all, it was a crazy week. All full of good things! We have two

exchanges this week, then general Conference, and transfer calls this

Sunday night. I can't believe it's already almost done, all 6 weeks!

Time has never flown so fast in my life. It literally feels like I've

been with sister Allen for like 2 weeks. But we'll see what the Lord

has in store for our next six weeks! I'm super super excited for

conference! It's going to be the BEST.

Hermana Millington