This week's letter from Blaine:
Congratulations Elder
Milne,
This week marks you serving 2 months on your mission. That is cool...
I hope you are doing well and coping with missionary life’s pressures and stressors.
If it wasn’t that way you might not appreciate your mission and your accomplishments on your mission.
Being able to “stick to it” will give you the much needed experience of following through and finishing an assignment. Finishing your mission no matter the difficulty, will allow you to reflect on your mission with confidence once you return home with a knowledge that you can do hard things.
Your mom went to church last week at Bishop Elijah Luke Milne’s ward with Jaclyn. Your mom taped it for me and sent the recording to me. I thought Eli’s talk was awesome.
He spoke in his ward conference and his topic was “The Gathering of Israel”
His points in his talk were these:
1. Who is Israel?
2. To whom does Israel gather?
3. How do we gather Israel?
He states that Israel is not necessarily the people of Israel but all people born on this earth with a desire for righteousness.
He states that Israel doesn’t gather to America or Utah or to the church or anywhere else, but gathers to “The Son of God, the Savior, Jesus Christ”
He states how do we gather Israel? First we need to be living righteously but once there we “invite them to come unto Christ “ as taught in the preach my gospel manual.
Through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, Repentance, Baptism and receiving the Gift if the Holy Ghost and then enduring to the end.
I listened to his talk over and over and enjoyed it each time I did.
Eli spoke about being “all in” with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and related the story of a young man who all he ever wanted to do was serve a mission. At the age of 13 this prospective missionary would rise ever morning and do jumping jacks and jump rope and read two sets of scripture for 30 minutes each. When he received his mission call he felt he was most prepared and was so excited he was assigned to the Lima Peru South mission.
This missionary did well in the early going of his mission but as time went on in his mission, the stressors and pressures of his mission began to affect his health. As his mental health continued to fail his mission president called him in and send “ Elder, the doctors in Utah feel it is time for you to return home and get well and then finish your mission in a stateside mission.”
The Elder was very saddened but said, “Presidente, I have prayed and i know if God thinks I need to go back to Utah , I will do it.” “If God wants me to stay, I will.”
Well, the missionary was able to stay and complete his mission in Peru.
Eli then said, “this missionary returned after completing his mission and married a wonderful women and had wonderful children and recently was called as a bishop nearby.” He said this missionary was “all in.”
So Ty, I loved this talk and wanted to share it with you because you are in this same mission and Eli when speaking of this young man on a mission to the Peru Lima South mission, was speaking of himself. This is how Eli’s mission went. Very hard but very rewarding....
I hope you can use Eli’s experience in the Peru Lima South mission to help bless your early hours so far on this same mission.
We are very proud of you and pray for you and think of you serving every day expressing your love of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Peru.
Stay strong my good hijo....
Mucho Amor,
Daddy Milne
This week marks you serving 2 months on your mission. That is cool...
I hope you are doing well and coping with missionary life’s pressures and stressors.
If it wasn’t that way you might not appreciate your mission and your accomplishments on your mission.
Being able to “stick to it” will give you the much needed experience of following through and finishing an assignment. Finishing your mission no matter the difficulty, will allow you to reflect on your mission with confidence once you return home with a knowledge that you can do hard things.
Your mom went to church last week at Bishop Elijah Luke Milne’s ward with Jaclyn. Your mom taped it for me and sent the recording to me. I thought Eli’s talk was awesome.
He spoke in his ward conference and his topic was “The Gathering of Israel”
His points in his talk were these:
1. Who is Israel?
2. To whom does Israel gather?
3. How do we gather Israel?
He states that Israel is not necessarily the people of Israel but all people born on this earth with a desire for righteousness.
He states that Israel doesn’t gather to America or Utah or to the church or anywhere else, but gathers to “The Son of God, the Savior, Jesus Christ”
He states how do we gather Israel? First we need to be living righteously but once there we “invite them to come unto Christ “ as taught in the preach my gospel manual.
Through Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, Repentance, Baptism and receiving the Gift if the Holy Ghost and then enduring to the end.
I listened to his talk over and over and enjoyed it each time I did.
Eli spoke about being “all in” with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and related the story of a young man who all he ever wanted to do was serve a mission. At the age of 13 this prospective missionary would rise ever morning and do jumping jacks and jump rope and read two sets of scripture for 30 minutes each. When he received his mission call he felt he was most prepared and was so excited he was assigned to the Lima Peru South mission.
This missionary did well in the early going of his mission but as time went on in his mission, the stressors and pressures of his mission began to affect his health. As his mental health continued to fail his mission president called him in and send “ Elder, the doctors in Utah feel it is time for you to return home and get well and then finish your mission in a stateside mission.”
The Elder was very saddened but said, “Presidente, I have prayed and i know if God thinks I need to go back to Utah , I will do it.” “If God wants me to stay, I will.”
Well, the missionary was able to stay and complete his mission in Peru.
Eli then said, “this missionary returned after completing his mission and married a wonderful women and had wonderful children and recently was called as a bishop nearby.” He said this missionary was “all in.”
So Ty, I loved this talk and wanted to share it with you because you are in this same mission and Eli when speaking of this young man on a mission to the Peru Lima South mission, was speaking of himself. This is how Eli’s mission went. Very hard but very rewarding....
I hope you can use Eli’s experience in the Peru Lima South mission to help bless your early hours so far on this same mission.
We are very proud of you and pray for you and think of you serving every day expressing your love of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Peru.
Stay strong my good hijo....
Mucho Amor,
Daddy Milne
This week's letter from Natalie:
Dear Elder Milne,
How's my favorite missionary doing
this week? I saw a sign yesterday that said, "Love is dancing in the
kitchen," my heart smiled because it reminded me of all the times you and
I would dance in the kitchen and then laugh! Then I became sad because I really
miss you - it's not as fun dancing in the kitchen by yourself š¢!
I hope this email finds you happy and well, and not too homesick. I hope you
have had a fantastic week of missionary work and that you are able to see the
Lord's hand in your work each day. I also hope you are able to see the Lord's
tender mercies and miracles each day. I find myself praying for you throughout
the day, and I know he hears and answers my prayers. Sometimes I am completely
overwhelmed with the love that I have for each of my children. You three boys
and your dad have been my greatest blessings in life, and it is truly hard at
times to have one of you so far away. But happy day, two months down and only
22 more to go, and there isn't any place else I'd rather you be. What an amazing
opportunity serving a mission is, and I am confident the Lord will lead you,
guide you, walk beside you, and bless you with whatever you stand in need
of.
This week has been another busy week.
Last Monday, Diane Eyre and I met up at her house over in Entrada and we made
20 boxes of chocolates and 40 suckers to give to people for Valentine's Day. We
had a lot of fun; she is a good soul and a wonderful friend. She also gave me
$500.00 to give to you for your mission, so I bought you an MP3 player and some
Reese's Peanut Butter cups and sent them to you through the same courier as
last time. They will be delivered to your mission home. The rest I will use for
future items and shipments. Please let me know whenever you need something. The
remainder of the week I was really busy with school. I have started seeing
clients on Wednesday evenings. At first, I was a little nervous, because I had
no idea how things would go, but now I love it! I have learned that even though
I don't feel like I have enough training or education right now to be the most
effective therapist for my clients, what they really need and want is to be
heard, to have their feelings validated, and to feel loved and accepted. This
has made me reflect on your situation with the language - even though you
cannot speak it as well as you would like to right now, you are still
contributing to the people you meet and teach. I am 100% convinced that the
biggest difference lies in how we make others feel - not what we say. When
people look back on their interactions, they do not remember the words that
were said, but how they were feeling at the time. It is the Spirit that
ultimately teaches and testifies of the truths you share. If you have the
Spirit with you, whatever message He wants conveyed to the person you are
teaching will be conveyed. It is the Spirit that counts, it is the Spirit that
matters most. Furthermore, it is through the Spirit that your own growth,
development, and language acquisition will occur. Therefore, above all, do all
you can to have the Spirit with you each day. The Godhead consists of three
separate beings all united in one purpose - to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man. Each plays separate and joint roles in accomplishing
this. It is important to nurture a relationship with each one. In your prayers
and in your thoughts, acknowledge the Holy Ghost and thank him for his help and
guidance. Take notice of how He communicates with you and how He makes you
feel. In Galatians 5:22 of the New Testament, the apostle Paul teaches us the
nine fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (these are things we experience
internally). Paul also teaches us about the gifts of the Spirit in 1
Corinthians 12:7-11. They are: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the
gift of faith, the gift of healing, the working of miracles, the gift of
prophecy, the discerning of spirits, the gift of tongues, and the
interpretation of tongues (these gifts are bestowed upon us so we can bless
God's children). These are all the wonderful things we receive through
the Holy Ghost - and they are given to bless our lives and to serve and bless
those whom we meet and teach. Pray for the gifts you feel you need right now
and I know Heavenly Father will grant you your desires.
Well, I have said enough! I can't wait to talk to you today! I love you to the moon and back, and I am so proud of you. I have already seen so much growth and development in you, and you truly have that missionary glow!
- Mom
This week's letter from Elder Milne:
Hey
Everyone,
Thanks for
the heart-warming messages – I really love reading them every week. The mission
has been such a blessing for me already. It´s been hard and getting harder, but
only because of the language. The language is coming little by little each day,
and even though I’m not great at it, I love bringing smiles to all I meet and
seeing the light in the peoples’ faces we teach. Our baptism went great; I´ll
send pictures. They had me sing “Nephi’s Courage” in Spanish with Elder Washburn
at the baptism - it was awesome haha.
This week, I
invited Abel to be baptized, and he said yes! But there is still quite a
process to go through with him, and we are hoping he comes to church next
Sunday. We also have a few more baptismal dates set, one of them is a family of
three, which will be awesome. They are really great. I really love serving in
this area. Things are pretty good here, we stay pretty busy, and we are
teaching a lot.
Today for
p-day, we went to the oasis here in Ica. Ica is a desert, but then there is
this beautiful oasis. We went to the top of the dunes above the oasis and we
ran as fast as we could to the bottom. I was running so fast that I totally
biffed it and tumbled halfway down the hill. I had sand everywhere – in my teeth,
eyes, ears, and in my clothes. It was pretty hilarious. My hips still bother me
now and then, but I just ask the Lord to help the pain to stop and sure enough,
the next morning it is gone. I'm building a really close relationship with God
and it's been great. I love and miss you all.
Elder Milne
Milne
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| The Oasis of Ica |
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| The Baptism |
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