EDWINS BAPTISM AND THE STAFFORD STALLIONS - 28 August 2023

Yo, what is good? Everybody good to have everybody here. This week was pretty Baller. We had a great-great week. I know, I haven't emailed in like, 2 weeks. So this email is gonna be really long. So best with me. 

So just started off last week we had an awesome week. We were preparing for Edwin's baptism. And it just went so well. We had great lessons with him. They just went awesome and he ended up getting baptized on Saturday!!!!! WOOOOOOO

Edwin got baptized which was amazing. It was funny because we showed up and People were all showing up for his Baptism and we were getting close to the time. And Edwin hasn't shown up yet. So we were desperately giving him a call trying to find out where he was and he finally pulls up 5 minutes before his baptism, which was totally fine. Then he gets baptized and as soon as he comes out of the water he just says "Thank you Jesus!" It was so cool! He is so awesome. Then the stress came to Sunday because he was gonna get confirmed and Edwin was struggling to show up on time for church and we seriously needed him to show up. So we don't hear from him for a while until this brutha pulls up in a full tux looking like a million bucks! He was awesome and got confirmed in church!! So Edwin is a member!!!! Let's goooo!!!

Aight well now that we baptized Edwin we really didn't know what to do since that's all we spent our time on this whole transfer. So now we have to do a lot of finding and try and find someone else to help progress towards baptism, which shouldn't be too hard hopefully. 

But other than that, last week we had to move our pday, hence the reason I haven't emailed, and it was because we all got to go to the temple on Thursday!!! Oh man it was so awesome to go to the temple again, seriously I am so happy I get to go to the temple once a transfer because it seriously makes life so much better. What was super cool was when I was in the Celestial Room I didn't want to leave because I was like this is the best I've felt in a while but then I heard a voice in my head tell me that it was OK and that I can come back soon. Our heavenly father is truly the best! Love him so much and I can't wait to go back to the temple to talk with him again! After the temple we got to go to bodillaz which was absolutely bussin! Then we went and checked out this really cool antique store and then headed over to president hutchisons house to say hi! Overall one the best Pdays I've had! 

Other than the temple and finding a bunch of nobody and just being completely exhausted every day, we did have zone pday today and it was so fun! We played water balloon volley ball and some other yard games, then me and my zone leaders all went and got dressed up in cowboy stuff and we brought our guitars and played our Stafford Zone theme song! It was so cool! We looked so sick, we definitely messed up but it was such an awesome zone pday! Our band is called "Wild Willie in the West plus Cade" lol  

Anyways I don't want to make this email any longer but I truly want to share my testimony of the gospel, I haven't done it on here in a while and I just feel it's important to leave yall with the spirit. Yall, the gospel is so true, I've never been more converted to something in my entire life than I am to christ and his gospel, Jesus Christ is at the helm and this is his work, this is his family and he is not gonna stop the gathering of Israel, people will mock, people will murmur, people with persecute but people did that to prophets years and years ago. People did that to Jesus Christ and yet his plan was still fulfilled and so will his plan today! We are the armies of helamen taught in our youth and we will be the lords missionaries to bring the World His Truth! HIS TRUTH! HIS LIGHT! HIS GLORY! HIS LOVE! 

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! 

-Elder Milius 

YOUNG DUMB BROKE MISSIONARY KIDS - 14 August 2023

Never thought I'd actually send an email out on time but hey here I am! Motivated to write my email! Anyway how's everyone doing? Hope yall have been doing very well! Time just keeps flying by, we are already on the 5th week into this transfer and it feels like yesterday I was driving up from Richmond to be here. What's even crazier is I hit a year in 1 month!! That's insane! Never thought I'd actually be at the point in my life that I am right now. I've always dreamt of the day I serve a mission and when that day came I was like this is it! And now I'm a year in and I don't even know what to think! 

Anyway my week was pretty awesome! We had some good lessons and activities to fill our week! One of which was helping our friend Edwin get closer to baptism, we taught him everything he needs to know and now all he needs to go over is the interview questions! I'm so excited! He should be baptized this Saturday so that's gonna be fantastic!!! 

On Wednesday we got to go teach the teachers in our ward how to be missionaries, and it was kinda fun! Kinda weird as well because I remember activities where I was the one watching the missionaries demonstrate being a missionary and now I'm the missionary! But it was really fun. We talked about what the mission can offer and all that, then we roleplayed knocking a door and having to talk to a random stranger. The kids were loving it! They definitely were having a great time and I was just reliving those days when I was a teacher haha. 

Thursday was crazy! We had four lessons that day, and only one fell through! First we had a lesson with this super cool guy who has like every story you could possibly think of happen to him. He had so much cool stuff in his office too. Lots of arrows of light, bear skin, deer skin, turtle shells. He's got native American blood and he definitely lets it show! It's so cool! Then after that we went to a lesson with edwin and that went awesome of course! Then we went to a member lesson and that went well, we shared mosiah 24 with them and it seemed to be perfect for what they've been going through, the spirit was very strong in that home that day. 

We also went out knocking with one the priests in our ward and that was a blast as well, he was having a blast knocking with us and we even met a couple cool people. One guy has been a gospel guitarist for longer than I've been alive and so I told him maybe we could jam out one day, so ima figure out how to have some fun with that haha. I also got to meet a member named Marc allred, who is a sweet guitarist and makes his own music, he basically has a studio out in his yard to just jam out and make songs and I was seriously jealous cause thay would be the dream! Maybe it's a sign hahah, maybe I should come home and make music lol. 

Other than that, that's about everything cool that happend this week, rock hill isn't the fastest area but we are going to be baptizing someone and that is all that matters. As long as we bring one soul to Jesus christ our joy will be great, And that is what I'm living off! Anyways! Love yall! Enjoy your week, don't be stupid but "if your gonna do something stupid, be smart about it" -my dad 

-Elder Milius

FOOLS MOCK BUT THEY SHALL MOURN - 7 August 2023

Whats up yall!! It's another Monday(even though this is going out Tuesday) I'm having a blast up here in Stafford. Things have been going really well, I've seen lots of miracles and the power of God has truly influenced my life and those around me! 

So this week was pretty sweet! Lots of things happened! First we had zone leader exchanges this week and heck ya! I got to to go with my trainer!!! It was so fun to be hanging out with him doing missionary work with him again! We had a great day too, we talked to a lot of people and got to go to a Walmart just to talk to random people, it was nerve wracking! But once I finally got talking to people things git easier, I did however ask this one lady if she wanted to come to church and she put her hand up and yelled CREEP!! So I kinda just laughed at her and said God bless, then my comps reminded me of the scripture in Ether that says, "Fools Mock but they shall mourn." It's a pretty boss scripture if you ask me, especially when you get called a creep lol.

Other than the zone leader exchange we were able to have a lesson with our friend on date on Sunday, things went well and he is super open to this restored gospel and wants to learn more and more. We talked about the word of wisdom and although he did have minor issues, he still was like I absolutely will follow this commandment! So that was pretty sick! 

Sunday we did get to have a member dinner and it was a delicious dinner on a fast Sunday. But the awesome part was they had a cello sitting in the room and so we started talking about cellos and orchestra and they let me play the cello! I mean this was the first time I've picked up a cello in like a year but it was seriously like riding a bike and I never thought I missed it so much till I played. I was a little trunky that night for some cello lol. Oh well it's OK, I've just been grinding at the guitar day in and day out, I've also got a harmonica that I'm trying to master, I've also got a ukelele out here as well and I have a banjo that once I replace the strings ima start mastering that as well hahah. So I guess I'll live without a cello till I get home.

So Monday night was crazy though!! We had a member dinner which went really well, the member made us steaks and pasta so can't complain about that. Then we had time to go visit some referrals. Little bit of background, we got a text from the office missionaries saying be careful for thunderstorms and even tornados! But we didn't care so we go visit this referral and as soon as we get there, it starts flooding out the sky. We were just stupid enough to get out and knock and the lady who answered was like dude! Go away! Come back later!! So we decided we would go home and it's jusy absolutely storming! Once we finally reach the road to home, there were cars stopped because there was like 2 trees that had collapsed on the road and from what we heard, there was a tornado funnel that formed and started causing dammage on this place but it never touched the ground. Still we had to move this giant tree to drive through so we had 10 guys all chucking tree sticks off the road and a couple guys with chainsaws chopping this tree trunk down. Finally the police and fire department showed up and with all the help, we were able to get the tree off the road and get traffic moving. Of course that didn't happen till it started raining cats and dogs again so me and my comps, in our white shirts and ties, were covered in dirt, grime, and lots of water! It was insane, but an experience I'll never forget and I'm sure other won't forget we were there either! 

Anyways this was sorta a long email so ima end it here! But hope yall had an awesome week and are just having a blast! Stay safe out there and I'll talk to you guys in the next one!!

-Elder Milius