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 

SUMMER IN STAFFORD - 31 July 2023

Let's goooo!! This week was pretty cool! Had a blast with my comps and we just filled this week up with miracles!!! It's also blazing hot, the past couple of days have been like 97 which if you've never been to Virginia, means it's 107 with thick air, it's basically a sauna outside. Needless to say I will gladly take a 120 degree dry heat over a 97 wet wet heat.

Anyways this week was pretty baller, some cool things that happened was we had zone conference! We had an awesome zone conference with our president and we also had a recent convert from our zone leaders ward come and share what his thoughts and feeling are when he was talking to the missionaries, kinda cool to see his side of the story. But some things our president has really focused on is truly Embracing The Suck! He really focused on praying for the confidence to stand strong against those who reject us! 

But another cool thing that happened was on Thursday we put Edwin, our friend on date to be baptized on the 19th of August!! And it was super cool because when he came to church he was telling all the members that introduced themselves to him all about his baptism and how he's super excited! So pray he doesn't have any issues because he gonna be baptized soon!! 

Being in a new area hasn't been all too bad! I have the best zone leaders, my comps are chill, I'm getting lots of member meals and I enjoy just being out and about! A big thing the mission has helped me with is for reals just talking to people. It was never in my best interests to stop a random stranger on the side of the road to talk to them especially when im talking about God, but I've truly become more converted to this gospel than I've ever been and truly can see how much the lord has blessed me in giving me the confidence to talk to everyone! I can't wait to see the many miracles God blesses me with in the near future.

Anyways this email is kinda shorter than my many others but hope yall have a fantastic week and if yall need anything, I'm usually free Mondays haha. Anyway love yall! Talk to yall soon!

-Elder Milius 

Pictures: 

New area? New comps? Dad? (My trainer not my real dad) - 24 July 2023

Holy smokes!! I'm sorry for not writing an email the past couple weeks! And a lot has happened since the past couple pdays!!! So ima get right into it because I don't have much time. And I'm doing a bullet point thing cause it'll be the easiest.

-So we got transfer news last Saturday and guess what!! I'm getting transferred, I'm heading up to Stafford to continue serving as district leader and now I get the chance to follow up train a kid who is waiting for his visa to go to Japan! So it's kinda cool and I'm hyped. Also my new address is 43 Hillcrest Dr, Stafford, VA 22556 and it's a members house. We are living in there basement 

-found out my trainer Elder Smith!! He is going to be my zone leader!!! It's gonna be so much fun serving with him!! I'm so excited 

-it was my birthday yesterday and seriously thank you all so much for the birthday wishes but it was a hype day, here in Stafford we cover two wards so we got to go to 4 hours of church and we had a member meal which was awesome! It's was the best birthday I could have asked for out on the mission!! 

-today we hung out with the zone leaders, we went to work out, then we went Thrift shopping, then we went and got Freddy's! It was a blast, and now we are heading to a member meal as we speak!!

-a couple weeks ago I was on exchanges with Elder Simper and we knocked into a crazy lady, she yelled and cursed at us through the door so I just said God bless and walked away, then she came out and cursed at us a couple more times, she also came at us like she was gonna hit us (we had the power of God so there was no way that was happening) but then we just wished her the best and walked away, kinda crazy 

-a bunch of my missionary friends are going home and I'm kinds sad about it, I know too many old missionaries that it's just gonna be so sad when they all go home. 

-I said goodbye to a lot of people in Mechanicsville including one the truest homies, Hunter! He I will definetly miss but I hope he gets baptized soon, he invited us for a cookout my last day in Mechanicsville so we got to hang with him for a while before I really had to say goodbye.

-back in Mechanicsville we had a delicious lunch on pday last week, we went to sushi King!! Absolutely bussin! Got all you can eat sushi! It was awesome!!! 

OK other than that things in rock Hill (my new area) are going awesome! I'm getting to know a lot of members as we are having a lot of dinners and I'm so cool with my comps! We get along very well! This members basement as well is so big! It's bigger than any apartment in the mission, there's like 7 different rooms for all our stuff! It's awesome!!

Anyways! Love yall! Miss yall! Enjoy yalls week! Im gonna do the same and I will see you guys in the next one!!!

-Elder Milius 

Pictures:

I've got too many pictures to explain each but they are all self explanatory lol

I’M THROWING OUT AN OUTFIT NOW - 3 July 2023

So this week was for real baller!! We had an awesome fun filled week for sure! It was filled with miracles and struggles but overall just the best! On a side note though, it's so hot! It has finally started climbing because it's getting to the middle of the summer, I'm lowkey super hyped for the winter time cause I'm not wet all the time. But the summer has been awesome because everyone is outside and it's just sweet to be able to walk around and talk to everyone. 

So this week we had exchanges with the ZLs and I had to ride a bike cause my comp took the car from me, so we were on bikes all day and it lowkey was super hype, we just biked around downtown Richmond, it was so fun. Then we were able to go to this one apartment complex and everyone was outside so it was like one big hangout, we had kids coming up to us wanting to ride bikes with us and we gave them all Jesus pictures and talked to a bunch of people outside! It was so awesome. The worst part about biking though was going uphill because on the way back to the apartment it was seriously all uphill and it was killing me. I'm surprised I made it back for dinner but then I had to deal with it again on our way back for the night and I seriously almost died. Another sad thing was there was a hole in my back pocket and I lost my knife! It just slid down my leg and I had it in my leg pit for a while but then eventually it jusy fell out. I would have stopped but my zone leader was on a bike team back home so he was already a mile ahead of me! But the zone leader  exchange was awesome! Now I have a really sweaty white shirt, pants and underwear, it's super gross and I might throw it out cause I was seriously so drenched after riding my bike. 

We then had a crazy miracle this Sunday!! Our friend Craig who we put on date for the 29th of July was planning on coming to church but then come Sunday morning he totally canceled and said he was nervous so he didn't want to come. And then our other friend Christopher got sick so he wasn't coming to church either so we were so upset that we weren't gonna have anyone to church. So we sent Craig a pretty disappointed text saying that we really need him to come to church if he wants to be baptized. He never responded to that text and so we didn't think anything of it but then we were sitting in church during fast and testimony meeting and all the sudden, CRAIG WALKS IN!! He just walked in, sat down and listened and we were like jumping up and down in our seats! We were so happy, then he stayed for second hour and had amazing comments during class!! Oh my gosh, we've been trying to get Craig to come to church for so long and he finally came and stayed! It was so awesome!! 

Anyways those are the highlights from the week! Been reading a lot of the old testament and am now in 2 Kings but the story I just read was about Elijah and the drought, the people of Israel were worshiping a fals God named Baal and Elijah wanted to challenge Baal, The Lord vs Baal. Elijah told he priest to make an altar and sacrifice an animal but not light it on fire and to pray to Baal to light it. Obviously nothing happened but when Elijah did the same, he told the people to pour water over his altar so that it would be impossible really to light it, but The Lord lit the altar and they all knew that The lord is the true and only God! It's just a great reminder of the power God has and that he is the God of the Heavens and the Earth and with his power, we can do anything! Choose God Today, Join The Winning Team!! Anyways, love yall, enjoy the week ahead!!!!

-Elder Milius 

Interviews

Zone P-Day last week

Exchange Pics

Dr. Pepper Ice Cream

New profile pic?