MY COMP GOT PULLED OVER - 24 June 2024

So here I am, in scotchtown! New district, new companion, new area, ready to grind out the end of my mission. I hope everyone had a fantastic week! My week was pretty fun, filled with finding and transfers! 

So to jump right in, my last week in Fredericksburg was great. We still spent a lot of time finding but we were able to spend some time with some recent Converts so I could say goodbye. I really enjoyed the people here in Fredericksburg, even thought the work was challenging at times I still enjoyed the overall experience being in the wards I was in! 

Once transfers came we drove down to Richmond. I had to say goodbye to so many missionaries including my trainer. It was a sad day for a lot of people. Our mission has had so many amazing missionaries finish their missions recently and it's sad to see all my friends I know head home. But the work continues! The work was here before we arrived and it will be here after, all that matters now is how I can leave my mark on the people here in Virginia! And I'm getting close to being done so I have to do all I can to make the most out of my time here. 

Once I got my new companion we headed to Ashland Virginia where we started off the transfer with some street contacting! I'm excited to be here, I actually used to be in this district about a year ago so I am recognizing a lot of places that I have been to. 

OK so for the more exciting stuff, on Sunday, we had a baptism for our friend Jose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a way to come into the area, started off the transfer with a baptism! It was however the most stressful baptism ever, we had 6 people pull up to church so we were running all over the place while trying to fill the font, then we found out that there was no hot water in the building so we had to use the cold water which was not good. Then come to the baptism, we had an older member baptize him and when Jose went under, he tensed up and was like in shock because of the cold water so we had to do it again. Then after the baptism we had to quickly confirm him so that he could go to work and so that we could get to a meeting on time. Ah it was so chaotic! But in the end we witnessed a man make the most amazing decision in his life so far. And the spirit was so strong after the baptism and after the confirmation! 

Same day, we were at a food lion street contacting when the manager decided to call the cops, so we got in our car and waited and sure enough a cop pulls up. Now for some reason my comp decided he wanted to quickly leave and of course that looked suspicious. We also have a temporary license plate hung up in our back window that is impossible to see. So when the cop followed us out he quickly pulled us over and had a talk with us about not street contacting at stores (even though we literally aren't doing anything illegal, we are just practicing our first ammendment right) and he also talked to us about the license plate. He was chill, just a little confused and stern lol. But hey in the end, Satan will lose and God will reign! 

But that's about all my week was! Lots of fun! Lots of challenges! Lots of opportunities! I'm excited to see how this transfer goes, hopefully we can get another one of our friends baptized before the transfer ends! So that's what we've got going for the next few weeks! I love you all! I miss you all! I hope you all have an amazing week! 

-Elder Milius

FISHING FOR THE FINAL TIME - 17 June 2024

Yo hello everybody! I hope all us well with everyone! I'm gonna make this one quick as I don't have that much time. 

This week was an interesting one, it was definitely a grind. Every day we head out into the hot sun and stand outside walmart, Ross, target, gas stations and invite everyone we can to church. One really interesting thing about this area is it feels like we should be having a lot more success but everyone just says no to us. It's very sad when at the end of the day we don't have any new people to teach. But one thing I have truly come to know is success is not measured by the amount of people we find. It's about how dedicated we were to find, and even in the hardest longest days, joy is present as we focus on our desire. I'm coming close to the end of my mission and I've thought a lot back to the beginning of what it means to be a missionary and how to be a successful missionary. It's really enlightening to read and learn about a successful mission now in comparison to when I first started the work in 2022! 

Anyways, some fun things that happened was our ZL lost his keys at district council and so we spent an hour driving around town looking for them, when we finally had the impression to go back to the church and boom there they were! Thursday we were gonna go shop because we needed food, but we were gonna street contact before. We'll that didn't last too long and we ended up getting kicked out before we could even go shop! So we had to drive across town to another Walmart to get groceries for that week haha! We did some service this week for a lady and then they fed us dinner. They gave us hash brown casserole! It was delicious, apparently that is a utah thing I guess. She also loaded us up with goodies before we left which was really nice! We had a long lesson with a recent convert of ours and it was a really good lesson. He talks a lot though so it was a long lesson. He is trying to prepare for everything a little more, he feels a little pressured about doing the Sacrament and or baptisms in the temple but he wanted to relearn everything that way he is more comfortable when time comes for him to do those things so that was good to be there to start teaching him again.

I got transfer news on Saturday and I am headed out of the fredericksburg area and I'm going down 30 minutes, closer to Richmond in a town called Ashland! I'm so excited, I'm back in the same district I was 1 year ago, we have the APs in our district and so I'm super excited to most likely finish out my mission there. I've got 2 transfers left so I'm at 3 months until I'm the one getting on a plane to go home. I don't know if I will be sad or happy but I hope that once I'm settled in my new area that I will just forget about it until the week of haha. 

Sunday was my last Sunday in this area and it was super sad to say goodbye to all the members. We also got to go fishing today with a member and I got to say goodbye to Fernando who I helped get baptized in this area. I may have shed a little tear but this will definitely be a place I will visit when I come back! 

Anyways that's all I got for yall! I hope your week was incredible! Happy happy father's day to all the dad's out there but especially to my dad who is an absolute beast of a person. I will always look up to him as someone I want to be. I seriously wouldn't be the person I am without his helping hand through many years of my life! So thanks dad! 

Aight have a great week everyone! Talk to you later!

-Elder Milius

GETTING KICKED OUT OF WALMART - 10 June 2023

Hello everybody!! It is another beautiful Pday in the Might Virginia Richmond Mission right now. Things here are going good. We are grinding a lot right now. finding has been a struggle because everybody we talk to Is either not interested or kinda lies to us about coming to church and or having lessons. 

It's crazy to see so many people blinded by the spirit but I guess satan is really working his hardest right now to keep everyone from recieveing the gospel. In the grand scheme of things however our mission is doing amazing! We have 22 people on date to be baptized this week which if all 22 get baptized we will break the mission record again setting the record at 86!! I really hope by the end of my mission we break triple digits in one transfer! That would be a miracle!!! 

We didn't have any lessons this week unfortunately and like I said before we have been struggling with finding. We've been kicked out of walmart at least 3 times now and I feel like if we go again they are going to call the cops on us. But we will keep going until we are escorted off the property by police 💪 

We did meet this really cool lady who was so hyped and excited for church, we even extended a soft baptism date!! And she accepted. Unfortunately she didn't show up to church or her return appointment. But maybe if she responds to us we can totally get her progressing! 

We also had interviews this past week which was awesome. I got to talk to president Hutchison and he gave both me and Elder Davis a lot of council on how we can find better. Our Spotsylvania ward is absolutely motivated for Missionary work which our president told us to utilize and work with more than anything else. He said this is their season now! 

We actually had a Bishopric change in Spotsylvania ward and I love the old bishop a ton because he was so genuine and bright and hard working and now our new bishop is just the same with a continued strong focus on missionary work! I'm so excited to see how this ward grows zion right here! 

Pday today was super fun too, we went to Buffalo wild wings and then went and bowled for an hour! It was lots of fun.

Anyways this week was a tough week for work but we saw many blessings and many miracles throughout it all! I hope you all had a great week and continue to have a great week this week! Love each and everyone of yall, I will talk to you in the next one! 

-Elder Milius

I MISSED A WEEK - 3 June 2024

Whoops, I definitely forgot to send an email last week I am so sorry yall!! Ima make this email quick as I'm very unmotivated to write today too. 

So run down on the work so far, I am so so so so so sad to say that our amazing miracle friend Michael ended up heading another direction for his religious life. I honestly have never seen such an elect person drop us that hard before. So we were pretty upset about that. He actually ghosted us for quite some time until a couple days ago we were out street contacting at Walmart and he pulls up! We were then able to talk to him and he told us his path was different. We did however send him a talk to explain the Book of mormon and the importance of it and how we don't worship the Book but the Book points us to worship God and follow Jesus christ. Maybe that'll humble him and change his idea of what is the purpose of life. 

We have a lot of other people who we are finding but aren't really keeping commitments. It's been rough in that way but we do have this one friend who still just needs a miracle and he could get baptized. He comes to church every week and brings his kids too. His name is Eric so if yall could please pray for a miracle for him that would be amazing!!

Our wards are pretty snazzy still with missionary work, Spotsylvania ward is insane with their dedication to the work. They've scheduled lessons for us and set up appointments with members for us. They always make sure we have members on lessons so that is amazing!! They care so much about the work I just pray that we find someone elect and ready to recieve the gospel in their area. As for the other ward we have lots and lots of help from leaders. Our bishop has basketball nights every Tuesday and Thursday which we go share messages at and our bishop has said that there are 4-5 people who want to join us for church so eventually we hope to see some success with that. 

As for everything else, we are doing great! We had exchanges this past week where we got kicked out of like everywhere. It was pretty funny actually. We were at Walmart and my ZL who I was with was talking to this guy having a great convo and some worker just comes up to him, told him to leave but he just brushed her off and said one second. Then 5 minutes later she yells across the parking lot to leave and the guy he was talking to started yelling back at the worker!! It was so funny. Being backed up by our friends is the best.

This week should be good, we have interviews with our president this week which I'm excited for, I'm getting closer and closer to the end which I am so excited, nervous and sad for not gonna lie hahah! But I love yall, keep being awesome! Stay strong to what you know is right and you'll never fall away from the light!! 

-Elder Milius 

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