NFL PROSPECTS AND TURKEY - 28 November 2022

What up y'all!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Hope you guys enjoyed turkey day as much as I did. But before I get to Thursday...

Our week was all planned out before we even started which was a blessing because we didn't have to sit around at 6:30 in the morning wondering what we were gonna do each day. 

Monday we had a lesson with a new person and it went really really well! There was a RM that came with us and he was actually a super cool guy!! He asked amazing questions and me and my comp were just blown away at how good this guy was!! Maybe it's because he's been doing this for the past two years and we haven't but still!!

Tuesday we had a lesson with one our really progressing people. And this lesson was super wack. Me and my comp didn't know what we were gonna teach her so we prayed about it like every day leading up to Tuesday and also asked the members who were hosting what they think. They said we could do something with prayer. But We ended up preparing to read 1 Nephi 10 and talk about how Nephi wanted to know for himself what his father was talking about. We didn't know why we chose this because It didn't make any sense when we tried relating it to prayer. But we felt like this was right so we just went in with it trusting God. Come to find out this was her favorite story from her personal reading in the Book Of Mormon, and we had a great discussion about Jesus Christ and how prayer is how we can diligently seek to find answers to our prayers!! It all worked out great and we were super grateful we kept the lesson where it was at!!

Wednesday we had another lesson with a really progressing couple, and we also didn't know what to do so we prayed about it and decided to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went super great because they ask amazing questions and we shared a lot about the spirit and how after we are baptized that spirit is just poured out more abundantly upon us. Shared Mosiah 18 to go with that. And then her dad straight up testified of the atonement and how it has blessed his life so much, was in tears at the end, she was also in tears and the room was just filled with the spirit!! It was so cool!!! 

Thursday was Thanksgiving and in the morning we played in a turkey bowl with our ward. It was so much fun but they are like so serious about how they play football, so much so that the opposing team had a person bring their cousin who runs track for BYU, almost made it into the olympics!! And plays football on the side!! Luckily I didn't have to play him but my companion did hahaha, but it was so fun to run around for once lol. We then had a Thanksgiving lunch with the lady we do service for, and that was fantastic!! Then we had a dinner with a member and that was also fantastic. At the end of their dinner tho I was so full and starting to get sick, but remembered we told another member we would come be for dessert. So we went to their house, ate some more dessert and almost puked, then we went home and passed out, after we talked to our families though. Overall a Thanksgiving I will never forget.

Friday we had an exchange with the Zone Leaders and it was a blast!! Me and Elder Matthew's did a ton of knocking and when I say a ton I mean we knocked from like 5:30 till 8 at night. We talked to so many people and I've honestly gained so much confidence in just testifying of the Book Of Mormon every chance I get. We also talked to this one guy who said no to a prayer at first but then said if we go get his package from downstairs he would let us in. So we did and he let us in! We prayed with him and he asked us a question, he asked why is there so much evil in the world if god is all loving? Elder Matthews hit him with an amazing explanation about opposition and agency and the plan of salvation and i got to add that because we know evil, we know what true joy is. He said he liked my explanation better which was so not true cause Elder Matthews had an amazing explanation i just added to it! But Elder Matthew's is a great ZL and I learned a ton from him!!

Saturday me and my comp were kinda both sick 😰, it had to have been a mix of Thanksgiving, dinner with the ZLs and working out really hard that morning. We got home and were just dead, we both laid on the couch wanting to be put out of our misery but just so that it didn't look like we didn't do anything that day we called like 20 people! And it got so boring super super quick, I definitely don't recommend getting sick on the mission because it sucked!!

Sunday was just that. Love going to church and had some meetings after that went pretty well! We went home and finished out the day with some calls and just trying to get over Saturdays sickness.

Crazy stuff is happening in Virginia!! If you haven't heard Walmart has been having some trouble, not to make y'all worried but I will remind you! I am a disciple of Jesus Christ!! Set apart as a full time missionary to bring to pass the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! Nothing can stand between me and this divine work!! I am a Missionary of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints!! But don't worry I won't do anything stupid cause God won't protect me from stupidity!! Anyways hope y'all had an amazing Thanksgiving!! Love you guys so much, ya'll truly don't understand how much you guys mean to me, everyone in my life who's made me who I am today!! Have a great week!!

-Elder Milius

Designing boats, check out my sweet design lol

Made some enchilada style burritos!

Jesus

Christ

Thanksgiving day, you can't see it, but I want to die

Pictures:

1) Designing boats, check out my sweet design lol

2) made some enchilada style burritos!

3) Jesus

4) Christ 

5) Thanksgiving day, you can't see it but I want to die

I RODE MY BIKE FOR THE FIRST TIME - 21 November 2022

Yooo how's it going!! Elder Milius here with another banging email!! Mondays are coming a lot quicker these days I'm almost running out of things to say but that doesn't mean my week was boring cause it was actually pretty fun!

Last Monday we went Mountain biking with our zone leaders and had so much fun! We then went to this like tunnel that goes under the freeway and we climbed to the other side of the tunnel. It took us a good 5 minutes of just squat crawling and when we got to the other side there was nothing over there that made it worth it, but now I can say I crawled under a freeway and not a lot of people can say that. We then went to this place called Mission BBQ and lemme tell you, that place slapped hard! It was so good. If your ever in Chesapeake VA you gotta try it. 

Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with our guy on date and we really think he's understanding what we are teaching him now. The whole time we were trying to figure out whether or not he actually understands what we are saying or if he's just going through the motions but he has great comments when we talk about things. We were talking about the Word of Wisdom and he was so on board with it!! He also has been coming to church a lot so I wouldn't be surprised if as long as we keep meeting with him, he might be baptized before Christmas!

Wednesday we had dinner with another person we are teaching and they made clam chowder......I wouldn't say it's horrible, but I wouldn't buy a bunch of ingredients to make it again lol. We then tried to have a lesson but it went a little south, they're main concern was that they don't like how the church doesn't do community activities which is literally just a problem for this area, I know so many areas that are a lot more community involved. But we just explained that our church isn't really there for activities and we don't have to have a bunch of community parties because our church is based on our doctrine which is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. There's nothing we can do to fix the problem she has so we just testified and then left. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday we did a lot of knocking. And from the headline, you already know, I rode my bike on Friday! We went to a neighborhood not too far from our apartment but with winter rolling around, it is getting really cold here. It's not snowing but it's definitely like 40 degrees all day. So we rode our bikes in the freezing cold air, and ended up knocking till dark. Which by the way dark is now at like 5:30. We rode home in what felt like midnight skies with freezing cold air in out white shirts and ties. Let's just say today we went to Ross and got beanies and next time I'm gonna wear my bigger jacket. 

Sunday we had three of our progressing people come to church which was amazing!! And then we went to a members house for dinner. This family is so fun, so nice and super cool. We had an amazing spaghetti dinner and after shared an amazing lesson about family prayer and had some amazing scotcheroons and then we went home and finished out the night pretty much.

Overall, great great week! Lots of stuff happened and I'm super happy with all the things I experienced. I've had a lot of thoughts about feeling the spirit and a lot of times where I've heard and felt distinct feelings from the spirit. I mean we didn't find anyone who was crazy ready to be baptized but I can honestly say that you dont need to have a crazy spiritual experience to recognize the spirit and how it can influence your life. If you feel a prompting to do something and nothing comes out of it even though you listened to the spirit, it doesn't really matter. One, our minds don't understand what God knows, and two, it's important that we always follow prompting regardless of the outcome because it shows God that we are willing to listen to any prompting and he can use us for his work wherever that may be. 

Anyways hope yall have a fantastic week, enjoy Thanksgiving!!! And remember to always be grateful for what you have!! Don't get too fat over the holidays!!!! Talk to yall in the next one!!!!!

Mission BBQ

Dred!!

Say what you want about Virginia, but they do got some pretty fricken sick skies!

Mountain Biking with the bros!

I DROVE THROUGH A TSUNAMI - 14 November 2022

I never really know how to start off these emails and or what the heck to write in them so I apologize if yall think I'm weird. But the mission has been going by crazy fast it's already been 1 whole transfer! And I got some crazy news about where I'm going!!! I'm staying in Chesapeake Virginia!!!!!! Wooooooo!!! We got our transfer news on Saturday and yes I'm staying in my same area, still in training. We did however get a bigger district so now we have sisters in our district as well as a trio in our district now! Pdays gonna be lit for real! 

Tuesday was awesome! We had a dinner appointment with this awesome family! They made us chicken Alfredo and cookies!! They also talked a lot about missionaries and apparently they had a missionary who served in Gilbert Arizona!! Small small world, I don't think I ever met him but still super cool. On Wednesday we went knocking and we didn't have like crazy crazy success until the last door we knocked on. We knocked on this door and nobody showed up so we left and as we were driving by to leave, there was a lady outside and she was like flagging us down asking if we knocked on her door. We parked the car ad fast as we could and went to go talk to her. We prayed with her and actually shared a quick message about the Book Of Mormon with her! We then got her number and she was super down for another message another time!! We then went to another area and met a dude who's grandpa apparently was a temple president at the D.C. temple! He said was never really religious but recently lost his anchor in life and was willing to learn more. He already had a Book of Mormon so we invited him to read it and we got his number as well!

Friday we had an exchange with our district and my companion went to the other area while the greenie came to our area. This meant that I was gonna be the lead of the area!! I got to drive a car!!! But of course, God never makes things easy so the day I was supposed to drive it was down pouring like crazy!! I had to drive on the freeway for like 30 minutes in what seemed like a tsunami. I kid you not, all I saw was red brake lights from the truck in front of me and just waves of rain! Fortunately we got home safe and spent the day knocking and making calls. It was so fun and I felt so comfortable being the lead of the area!! It was a great exchange!!

Sunday we had another dinner appointment and the family we went to are absolutely amazing!! They made a delicious dinner and we talked and laughed and had a great time. We also shared an awesome message about how it's important that we pray for others. Like Enos, he prayed for his brethren and his enemies. We too can pray for our friends and our enemies.

Well it's been a fun 2 months so far, in case yall don't know, saturday was the mark for two months since I've been a missionary, I don't really know what to think about that other than the fact that I've been having so much fun and learned so much from everybody around me. And since it's November and Thanksgiving is literally in 10 days! I'll share what I'm grateful for! I'm so grateful for my family, I don't really know what I would do without them, each night I pray that I will recognize how much love they have shown me and I can honestly say that I don't think I would be where I am today without them. I'm grateful for my friends and everyone else who has influenced my life, going to school, growing up, being stupid with all my friends has been a blessing like no other. I'm grateful for this gospel especially the apostles and prophets that we have to guide and direct us. My testimony has always been strong but after listening to our leaders talk about their testimonies, preaching what they know has astronomically strengthened my testimony. Listening to the Prophet and the apostles talk with power, with no doubts, with love, has shaped the way I think and the way I want my life to be. As Thanksgiving comes around it's important we recognize all the many many blessings in our lives and to prepare for the feast of a lifetime 😋

Hope yall have a good week, talk to yall in the next 

P.s. I suck at taking pictures so I don't have any this week. 😅 maybe next week I'll have some 

 

A 40 YEAR OLD STRIPPER WAS FLIRTING WITH ME - 7 November 2022

Well I'm trying to do better with shortening my emails cause I feel like they get way too long and then y'all don't read them. BUT you will definitely wanna stick around for this one, boy do I got a story for y'all. 

To start off though, we had pretty casual days on Tuesday and Friday and Saturday. But last Monday!! Happy late Halloween to y'all, we got flipping Texas roadhouse!! And we went crazy too! We had so much food, we like saved up money from people who just gave us random cash so we had like 140 dollars in cash. We all got like the biggest steaks with the best sides, And appetizers and like tons of the bread and butter. We were stuffed to the max, the worst part was the check too, it felt wrong being missionaries and looking at how big this check was. The total actually ended coming out to about 150 dollars so we did go over our budget but I mean us only paying 10 bucks out of our pockets for all the food we had from Texas roadhouse! Crazy!!

Wednesday we went to a funeral for a guy who passed in our ward. It was super sad because his family is so nice. But it was super super cool to hear his life. The guy was a war hero! He was in the Air Force for like 30 years and he had like 2 bronze stars and some other medals too. He also flew in the angel plane which is the plane that like brings home the bodies of soldiers who died at war. The guy was a flipping legend!! So it was great to be there with his family and just talk about his awesome life.

Thursday we had an amazing lesson with the guy we have on date. I felt the spirit so strongly, and during the past couple weeks I've been really trying hard to find out how to teach by the spirit. Cause I talk to so many people who say they have these very distinct voices and words that pop into their minds and I'm like bruh I've never had that. I've always questioned like am I doing something wrong. But as I've thought about it, I think just listening to what's going on In the conversations is how we teach by the spirit. As we care about those around us we are given thoughts of what to say in the moment. And that's exactly what happened at this lesson!! The spirit was crazy strong and we were like all just feeling so good after we left. I can definitely testify that the spirit is real, he is so powerful because it's through the spirit that we know and learn, and ultimately grow closer to what's true and what's right.

Alright my email is already so long, BUT, it's time for the crazy stripper lady. So, we are knocking doors yesterday, on fast Sunday. We get to this one door and this girl answers, I couldn't tell if she was an adult or not so I just did the usually "hi how are..." and then she ended up saying she was Jewish and we just left. About 30 minutes later some lady called us over to her and we walk up and is like "you talked to my daughter!!" So we just kinda were like we are really sorry, we didn't mean to. Then she like got more relaxed saying we shouldn't be walking up talking to little girls the way we looked. She said we were too attractive and we could be like Ted Bundy, she said Ted Bundy was like super hot! And we were like uh what? Then she's like "walk with me" so we walked with her to her car and she starts saying that we are really attractive, saying we are angels and we look super good. She then said she's a stripper and starts asking if we ever gone to a strip club and if we wanted to come. We were like bruh no!! She then goes on saying we should be teaching the sinners so that we should go to strip clubs. This lady was crazy! She then proceeds to look at my comp and is like you seem like a rule follower, then she looks at me and is like you ask questions. I'm like uh I like to find the truth I guess. She then is like that's right good for you. She then grabs like a spiritual crystal and gives it to me and asks if my hands are warm. I was like uh I mean my hands are kinds sweaty right now. She then straight up just takes my hand and starts rubbing it and just caresses my hand. She then is like so what do you feel. I was just like uh warmth, she then goes you feel energy, I just transferred you energy, then says that I have the gift of healing. Meanwhile she is like smoking a cigarette. Then looks at my comp and says he's super stiff and needs to open up. Me and my comp were so confused. Oh and that rock she gave me, she said to keep it. Then she wants to give my comp and rock but can't find the right one so she gives him another. But then as she was digging for her cigarettes in her bra, she like digs deeper in her bra and pulls out a rock and says Oh there it is!! And gives this boob rock to my comp!! So gross!! My comp was so concerned for his own well being haha. Anyways she finally gets to the end of our convo and asks if we want us, well she actually asked if she could have a hug. We were like ah nah we're good. Then she just is like nah give me a hug. She like side hugged my comp and then comes at me and basically jumps on me to give me a hug! I wanted to die, I was so uncomfortable. Finally she let us leave but moral of the story is that I think a 40 year old stripper was in love with me, my companion has a boob rock, and she originally was mad at us but then proceeded to give two random strangers hugs! Oh yeah and she also thinks my companion is gay! But fortunately after that horror just happened we had some great conversations with a couple dudes and we do see some great potential. These guys were so nice and I'm glad we at least had some success after the worst 30 minute conversation with some stranger lady ever. 

Anyways that's my week for y'all, hope y'all are doing well. Sorry my email was super long and sorry I sent it out super late. But if there's anything crazy that happens in y'all's life send me an email. I'd love to hear some of y'all's crazy story, bet it won't beat some of the things I've dealt with though hahahaha, but yeah love all y'all. Enjoy your week. Talk to y'all in the next one.

Texas Roadhouse Baby!

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meme

Some delicious dinners!

Boob Rock