ONE OF THE GREATEST WEEKS EVER - 20 May 2024

So as you all know, the work here has been slow lately, but this week changed everything!! We've had a couple people to teach throughout the last weeks but nobody that is close to baptism. But I hope yall had an awesome week, ima get right into what went down this week! 

So on Tuesday we had zone conference and it was of course amazing! President gave a powerful speech on how we've been singing and praying and preparing for our time to serve a mission our whole lives and now we only got two years to give God everything! I also had to give a book of Mormon thought, and I think it went well, I was pretty nervous though not gonna lie. 

Then we had exchanges this week with our zls and it was lots of fun, we went to their area so I got to try out my Spanish for the day and boy was it rough, but I did get a couple Spanish peoples numbers and i met a cool guy who wanted a book of Mormon! 

Those are the only two different things from this week compared to others, the rest of the week we were finding all day. We've actually been finding quite a few people which has been a major blessing! But my focus turns to an insane miracle we had Saturday night. So we have been struggling to teach someone who will be baptized this transfer but I think God answered our prayers! Saturday night at literally 8:50pm we are out at Walmart when this guy walks out and literally walks up to my companion. After inviting him to church he was so excited to come to church, he had been lead to the Walmart to go get another Bible cause he wanted more scriptures and then boom we show up right when he is walking out. We ended up putting him on date to be baptized on June 8th! Then we also gave him a Book of Mormon since he actually used to have one then lost it. He was so happy we were there, he gave us both hugs and said he'd be at church. Well come to church, he pulls up so excited to learn more. He had so many people come up and say hi, he genuinely felt at home. And we just solidified his date to be baptized so if everything goes to plan he will be baptized in 3 weeks. He is the definition of elect, he is the Israel we are trying to gather! 

Well anyways that's my week, we had lots of success. It was pretty cool too cause our ward said that everyday this past week they've all set a timer at 5pm to pray for Missionary work in the area and it is actually working!!! God answers and hears every prayer and he is just moving the work forward and forward at a fast pace. Now all we need to do is keep up! 

OK I hope yall have an awesome day/week! I love everyone of yall! Keep being absolutely awesome and always have Christ on your minds!! 

-Elder Milius

TRANSFER WEEK!!! - 13 May 2024

Yo! How is everyone doing! I hope yall had an awesome week!!! I had a pretty decent week, I cannot complain when I'm in the service of the lord!!! Time just keeps flying by! It's honestly crazy that it is 2024! God is so good!! 

So let's get right into the week! This week was transfer week so it was pretty slow leading up to Friday when me and Elder O'Donnell drove to Richmond to drop him off and so I can pick up my new companion! 

My new companion is named Elder Davis and the past few days we have been getting along real well! He's super funny and we just have so much fun together! We are hopefully gonna get the work picking back up in our area soon. We haven't had much success yet but we have super high expectations for the work. Ive had to put a  lot of trust in the lord which will be super good!! 

As of what happened in the week, we have been doing lots of street contacting, when Elder Davis got to the area we started hopping around lots of gas stations. We talked to a guy who needed directions to Cracker Barrell. It was funny cause we asked if he wanted to come to church and he just said no I want to go to Cracker Barrell! 

It was mothers day on Sunday, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!! and to all the mothers out in the world too I guess lol. I had to give a talk in church on Sunday and for some reason I was so incredibly nervous, I don't know why I was so stressed but I made it through, but literally this past weekend I got asked to speak in another ward and I have to give a book of Mormon thought in zone conference. I guess I just get to speak this entire month lol. But Sunday was good, I got to call my mom in the evening which it was good to talk to her! She'd pretty awesome! 

Anyways I wish I had more time talk about but this week was kinda dry. Our recent convert Fernando got the priesthood this Sunday though which was super super cool! But other than that and everything else I talked about nothing else has really happened. Hopefully this week will be more eventful and we will be able to find more people to teach so we don't have to be at gas stations all day everyday getting told no lol. 

But that about wraps it up! I love yall! I miss yall! I hope you all have an amazing week!! Can't wait to talk to yall again!! God speed yall!! 

-Elder Milius

WORTHY TO SUFFER SHAME - 6 May 2024

Hello everybody! It's yet another pday and another week has passed in the Mighty Virginia Richmond Mission!! Things here are still chugging along and while we did see more blessings than last week, it was still a tough week for us. But I'll get right into the good stuff...

So throughout the past two weeks we have been struggling not only to find people but to just get someone to say yes to church. That was until Thursday this week when we finally got to meet two people who were in the looks for a church and we both were jumping for joy when they agreed to come to church!! We didn't get solid return appointments which was sad but it was a blessing in its own that they actually said yes to church!!! Hopefully in the next week or two we can get in touch with them and help them progress.

Just yesterday we actually had an awesome phone call with this referral we got. He said he is currently looking around for a church home because he tried to do things on his own and it didn't work so he needs the strength! We ended up talking about baptism and he was so down to be baptized again! We got a solid appointment set to go show him around the church building so hopefully that will stick! Please pray for that to go through, we've been needing people to teach for a while! 

On Saturday we had a very unique opportunity to hear from and visit with Elder and Sister Haynie of the presidency of the quorum of the seventy over our area! This was such a unique and wonderful blessing as we were uplifted and edified by a general authority. He talked to us about the rapid growth of the kingdom of God on earth and how the North East area in America is the highest baptizing area of the entire country! This past month we had about 1050 baptisms which was incredibly higher than previous months and years. He then talked about the faith and drawing upon the powers of heaven to work smarter, not harder. He encouraged us go have faith to baptize every week. Now this will take some time to get going, I believe it is possible to see blessings and miracles according to our faith we have!! 

To get into what the title is about, we were at 7/11 standing at the front inviting people to church and this truck pulls up. I didn't say anything to the guy in the passenger seat cause I just was gonna wait till he got out. But then while I was inviting other people he asked me about what I was doing. He started questioning where I was from, why I was here, why I have so much faith in God. I took this as an opportunity to share my testimony and so I did. But then It quickly turned to something I never had experienced on my mission. To be fair, he was under the influence but he started mocking me, laughing at me, calling me an absolute delusional idiot. He started yelling at other people about how dumb I was for spending money as well as my time to come teach people about God. He said I'd never stand a chance in this world if I kept believing what I believe. I just sat there and took each insult as they came my way. I didn't say anything but inside I was so distraught. But after he finally left, we headed home as well and my mind took me to what the early saints experienced, being kicked out of states and killed for their beliefs. Then my mind took me to Jesus Christ, being spit upon and mocked at his whole life. I then remembered the scripture in Acts 5 that talks about how the apostles were cast into jail and beaten but walked away joyful because they were worthy to suffer shame for Jesus Christ. As I pondered that experience, that's exactly what I felt. I am joyous because of my worthiness to suffer shame for representing Jesus Christ. I will never shake from that faith I have. No crude comment, insult or mockery can keep me from experiencing the blessings of heaven as I keep the flame of my faith alive! 

OK now that I've ranted a bit, I hope yall had a great week and that you have a wonderful week ahead. We are getting into summer soon so keep cool and love God. I love each and every one of yall and know for a fact we are all sons and daughters of God, a God who loves us perfectly!!

-Elder Milius