Super bummed but I'm heading out of Virginia Beach after 6 months of the best memories and work I've had my whole mission. Yes I got my transfer news on Saturday and yes I am leaving. I kinda expected to leave but after it has set in, I'm kinda sad knowing I'm leaving. But I'm headed up to Fredericksburg just north of Richmond. I'll be in an area called Massaponix with a companion I actually was with a year ago. Me and Elder O'Donnell are getting back together and I'm pretty excited!
Anyways to go quickly over my last week because I'm super unmotivated to write an email today. This whole week we were preparing for an event our ward was putting together for Easter. They called it the Book of mormon walk through and it basically was a tour through our church for people to learn and see events that lead up to the coming of Jesus Christ in America. It was a grind all week cause we didn't get much other work done other than sending out lots of invites and planning logistics. Eventually on Saturday we held the event all day and it was super super awesome! We as the missionaries were the face people saw as they walked in and the face they saw when they walked out. In fact there were lots of non members that showed up and it was super cool cause we collected about 60 book of Mormons and when we left there were about 40 so that was successful in its own!
I had to say goodbye to a few members on Sunday which was very sad, I felt so blessed by this ward and they all helped me through the hard times I went through in this area. I'm leaving the area with great potential my comp is getting a trainee and we've got two super cool people that we have coming to church. We also had an awesome phone call with this one guy who straight up asked us about baptism. He was thinking about it for himself so we promised awesome blessings and hopefully today we will put him on date for sometime this next month. So the area has great people to work with and I feel like I know my purpose here. I've met amazing friends, grew so many relationships and helped ty enter into the waters of baptism.
While things keep moving on this train I'm on, sometimes I feel queezy about everything, especially when change is in store and I have no idea what to expect with my new companion or the new area. I've also had the thought of fearing God more than man on my mind as I sometimes struggle when I worry about things I've done or just the thought of having to talk to everyone about Jesus. A couple days ago I was standing at Walmart alone and I genuinely felt alone. People were walking by but it felt like a cat got my tongue, I couldn't even speak if I wanted to. It felt like how Joseph Smith felt in the garden when Satan overpowered him. But as I opened my eyes and realized exactly what Satan was doing, I took a second to read some scriptures. I stumbled upon Mosiah 2: 41 which talks about remembering the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God. While sometimes I fear man, and sometimes that fear can bring sadness. When I turn back to God and focus on keeping his commandments I will find joy and I can speak to all about his church because in the end, I fear going up to God and looking back on my life just to see I missed out on opportunities that could have changed my life. So If you ever have fear unto sadness, remember that joy is found in keeping commandments, make it a daily routine to remember the commandments and how you can follow them because in them, like I said, is the promise of never ending joy.
Anyways that's my week, I hope yall had an awesome week and I hope you have a great week ahead. Keep Killin it wherever you are! God loves you and so do I! Take care!!!
-Elder Milius
