Elder Gavin Milius: CALLED TO VIRGINIA RICHMOND SERVING IN RICHMOND ZONE

Good Morning Mechanicsville!! Also what's up gang! So from my last letter you learned that I was heading up to Mechanicsville! Well I'm here!! Things have been quite interesting here and I'm not sure what to think. I've basically been trying to figure out how to be a district leader while learning a new area and a new comp! So it's been a ride for sure. This place is really beautiful though, it's the outskirts of Richmond and it's just filled with green hills full of trees and beautiful houses. Not too many humble humble areas which I do like but hey there is a reason I'm here and I've been super motivated to find out!

Tuesday was the day before transfers so it was full of goodbyes. We went and had service at the farm and I got to say goodbye to Judy, she was sad I was leaving but I know I've got a lot of time left on the Mission so maybe I'll be back to see her and the farm. Then we went and helped a member move a mattress for like 20 minutes but it was good to say goodbye to her as well. Then we came home and got ready to head to Dinner with Sister Neer. This was kinda funny cause i pull up to the restaurant and I couldn't see her car, so we sat outside calling her but no answer, so we finally go inside and she was sitting right up front. She gave me some flaming for that 😅 but all was well and after we got to go have a lesson with her and another member. It was great to say goodbye to them as well. By the time we got out though, it was already 8:30 but I promised the guy we have on date I would stop by. So we rushed over there and talked with them for a little bit and said goodbye to them as well. It's sad to leave but I'm so excited for him to be baptized next month.

Wednesday was transfer day and it was hype!! We drove up after I finally packed all my stuff, don't know how I got everything in but I did. When we got to transfers we parked and just said hi to everybody then went tk go watch the new missionaries meet their trainers. Something awesome was I got to see Nora Maher, aka sister Maher! It was a party to see her and I'm so excited for her to just grind the Virginia Richmond Mission!! But after that I met with some more elders sad found my new comp and we headed to Mechanicsville. It is so nice not having to drive though. The rest of the night we went out knocking and I've kinda lost a little juice from knocking so I'm gonna try my best to gain that confidence back.

Thursday we went knocking before lunch and boy was it a great first full day hahah! I'm being sarcastic, we knocked a neighborhood that was pretty nice and everyone got mad at us, there was only like one nice person. So we left because we didn't want to cause an uproar in the neighborhood even though we aren't solicitors. Oh well. Then I had a District Leader meeting talking about how important a DL is, needless to say it made me more stressed. But then we had some weekly planning and went out knocking the rest of the day, all of our lessons fell through so we just grinded all night.

Friday was a full day of lessons and most of them went through!! It was great! We got to meet a guy named hunter who they were teaching before I showed up and had an awesome lesson with him about the restoration. We then knocked a lot more doors then went to a lesson with a new member who got baptized in December, his name is Matt and he is a genius, a never fall away saint if I've ever seen one. Then we went out knocking some more and taught a couple new people which was awesome!

Saturday was amazing! We got to go work at the Temple Open House and oh my goodness!!! The temple is so beautiful and I love being there. It was kinda uncoordinated which was surprising but we parked ourselves at the exit so we got to say goodbye to all the people that came and the smiles on those people's faces were so big!! They were full of joy and the spirit!! It was so cool. We then got to go through after our shift ended and I don't think I've missed the temple more than when I went in there. It was so beautiful and full of so many original paintings and beautiful architecture! I remember walking through the Celestial Room and I forgot how much spirit is there that it almost made me cry. But when we came out we got to wall around the grounds and take pictures! Gosh Virginia is so lucky to have such a beautiful temple!!

Sunday was the first Sunday here and I got to meet a lot of the members and they were all so welcoming! After church though I had to give my first District Council 😅. It went relatively well, I didn't really know what I was doing but they all seemed to be uplifted, even the APs! Crazy how that works but It was good. My district is almost elders and it's fun to hang around them. I'm still getting used to all the responsibilities because I don't think I know everything that I'm doing because nobody told me how or what to do so I know as the weeks go by I'll figure it out.

Today obviously is still going on but we woke up early morning around 4:10am to go play pickle ball with some people from our ward! It was so fun! But I am so tired now so I'm gonna go take a nap. They are like legit serious pickleball players so it was intense.

Anyways I'm so happy and hopeful for the future, my comp is awesome and we get along really well, we play poker every night so it's a good comp bonding moment haha but he's so cool. I can't wait to fully adjust to the area and to the people and just grind out some baptisms!! I lobe all yall and hope you guys have a fantastic week! I look forward to talking to yall in the next one!

-Elder Milius