MTC Week Four

It's hard to believe Elder Milne has been gone for four weeks. It has really flown by, and I am amazed at the growth and learning he has experienced already. What a blessing and a privilege it is to serve a mission and to be the mother of a missionary. When I have a missionary in the field, I recognize that I strive each day to be more spiritually attuned; this is a good thing, but, Ty is my last missionary until I have grandchildren who might serve. I pray I can carry on this spiritual attunement beyond Ty's service. I notice I am much happier and focused on what truly matters in life.

Missing my Handsome Ty Guy!

Letter from Blaine:

Elder Milne,

I heard you blessed the sacrament this week at the MTC.  Because of that I attended the Rio Grande Ward in Albuquerque which is a Spanish ward.  I wanted to hear the sacrament prayers in Spanish and be able to think of you in that regard, so I went to sacrament meeting this past Sunday down there.

I hope you are doing well, and I hope you are enjoying being a missionary.

Love,

Your Dad in Arms
Blaine Milne

Elder Milne’s Response:

I love that Dad, my goodness. I sure love you, and I am so grateful for everything you've done. I'm loving the mission. Elder Jeffery R. Holland is coming to speak to us the 23^rd, and I'm so excited to shake his hand, tell him I love him, and tell him who I am.

Ty

Letter from Home:

Dear Elder Milne,

How is my favorite missionary doing today? Another week has come and gone. For me, this one flew by. I hope it did the same for you. I hope your week was filled with the Spirit, learning, love, and fun! I'm excited to hear all about it! I thought of you Sunday as I partook of the Sacrament and how you were going to be blessing the Sacrament in Spanish that day. It made my heart smile, and I whispered a prayer of support for you and a prayer of gratitude for the blessing of such a wonderful and humble son. I am so proud of you Ty, and I pray multiple times a day for your happiness, well-being, peace, and safety. I also pray that you will feel the love of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in great abundance, and that they will surround you with Their holiest of angels to protect you, support you, and give you confidence to do whatever the Lord requires of you. I also pray you will feel and know how much your parents love you and so very many more. We are all back here cheering you on!

Well, this past week I started back into my semester at DSU. I really like what I am doing, however, I was not very happy about having to get back into schoolwork. Ugh!! It was a bit of a rude awakening as each professor outlined what we would be doing this semester - lots of reading, writing, and multiple other assignments. One good thing though, we get to start seeing clients this semester. That is scary and exciting all at the same time. Dallin started at DSU this week as well. He graduated from SUU in December, but he has three classes left to take for his pre-dental stuff, so he decided to take it at DSU so he doesn't have to travel back and forth. Carter and Carley started at SUU on Thursday. Hayley still stays as busy as ever with her many jobs! Everyone is back into the swing of things, and we are all doing well.

I want to share with you some thoughts I had on Sunday during Relief Society. The lesson was on two General Conference talks, and they were really good. The first was by President M. Russel Ballard entitled, "Giving Our Spirits Control Over Our Bodies," and the other was by Elder Dale G. Renlund entitled, "Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ." From the first talk, my takeaway message is what I consider the secret to living a happy and productive life, and it is this: We need to truly come to realize who we are: we are divine sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Father, and He has a divine purpose and plan for our lives. His desire is for all of us to not only return home to Him but to become like Him as well. Through the Spirit, we will come to know for ourselves our divine nature and the divine plan He has for our lives. Once we have done this, then each day we must recognize the choices we make will either bring us closer to fulfilling our Father's plan for us, or they will move us further away. The next big takeaway is the importance of keeping the covenants we make with the Lord. When we keep our covenants with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, it opens the door for great blessings and even miracles to follow. When we don't keep our covenants, it doesn't mean the Lord stops loving us, it just means we lose those blessings predicated upon keeping those covenants, and it limits the miracles we will witness in our lives. Elder Renlund used the example of the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's from the Book of Mormon. These people were the converted Lamanites taught by Ammon and his brethren. Upon their conversion, they covenanted with God that they would no longer be a war-faring people, in fact, they buried their weapons of war deep into the earth. After that, there were multiple occasions when they could have broken their covenant with God and perhaps even been justified. The Lamanites were constantly attacking the Nephites (who had committed to protect the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's) and these new converts could have added great support to the Nephite armies, however, the leaders of the Nephites told them to keep the covenant they had made. We later read in the Book of Mormon, that the Lamanites came upon the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's and started slaying them. They bowed at the feet of these Lamanites and many were slayed, however, once the Lamanites saw that these converts would not fight or break the covenant they had made, many of the Lamanites were moved with compassion, and there were more Lamanites who joined the church of God that day than there were Anti-Nephi-Lehi's slain by the sword. This was indeed a great miracle. Furthermore, if they had not kept their covenants, we would not have the miraculous story of Helaman's Two Thousand Stripling Warriors. 

Ty, as you move forward in your missionary labors, I promise you that as you strive to keep the covenants you have made with the Lord, you will not only be abundantly blessed, you will also witness great miracles. Also, always remember that when you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to the Lord's blessings. Never hesitate to call upon the powers of Heaven for whatever you might need - the Lord desires to bless and help you, all you need to do is ask.

Well, I have said enough for now. Buster and Millie say "hello," and I'm sure they miss seeing your handsome face - I know I do! Keep up the good work my dear son. Work hard, play hard, and pray harder! Love you to the moon and back!

Mom


Elder Milne's Letter:

Hey Everyone!

Well, I have completed one month of my mission already, and I have two weeks left at the MTC here in Lima. We have been practicing really hard on teaching our missionary lessons in Spanish, and each time I get a little bit better. The language is still hard, but I am surprised at how much I am learning. I just got back from the temple and this time the session was in Spanish. I could actually understand quite a bit of it. This past week I had a couple of hard days. Some of my morning classes were difficult to get through. But I have learned that when times get hard and the Spanish is really hurting my head I just say a few prayers and soon everything seems better. I also read my patriarchal blessing and it really helps. This week a line really stood out and helped so much, it basically said that even if I don't feel like I have the abilities to accomplish the tasks placed before me, all I have to do is put my hands forward, trust in God, use the power of the priesthood in my life, and I will accomplish the great events laid out for me. This gave me some hope.

Two exciting things happening soon are we are getting a new MTC president this week, and Elder Holland will be visiting us next week. The new MTC president is Terry Wade from St. George, and he was one of the main law partners with my cousin Eli Milne at their firm. I'm also excited to see Elder Holland and tell him who I am and where I am from. He is good friends with my Aunt Glenda and Uncle Scott Hirschi. I have met him a couple of times before. It will really be awesome to have an apostle visit us here in Peru. This week I also get to go in to the city of Lima again and do some missionary work with the full-time missionaries serving there. It will be interesting to see if my Spanish is any better than the last time. 

I only have two weeks left her at the MTC, so I am going to do my best to enjoy the food. It is really good, and they feed us so much. Thanks to all of you for your prayers, love, and support. It really means a lot.

Elder Milne

PS... Elder Milne looked really good again this week. I love to see his eyes because they tell the full story. His were happy and filled with light. He said he had a couple of hard days but prayer really helped him through. I told him this was normal, and that prayer is the key to everything. He told us he was able to bless the Sacrament in Spanish for church this week, and that it was a really neat experience. Blaine knew Ty was going to be doing this, so he attended a Spanish ward in Albuquerque on Sunday just so he could hear what the Sacrament sounds like in Spanish. I thought that was really neat, and Ty really liked hearing that from his dad. I have been working on a blog for Ty. It will be for his mission as well as things happening here at home. I only have a few posts, but I will work hard to get it updated. You can follow him at www.eldertymilne.blogspot.com 

Natalie