Hello Baby son turned full time missionary,
We are excited to hear about another adventurous week in
Ica, Peru.
It’s fascinating to see our youngest son engage himself
with such devotion and dedication for such a cause. We are proud of you Ty, we
know the road has often been difficult, but you have hung in there and risen to
the challenge of missionary labor.
We have seen you participate in and witness baptisms
already on your mission. We feel this to be a great blessing for you so
early in your mission because it allows you to experience something very
similar to when Christ himself was baptized and Heavenly Father sent the Holy
Ghost in the form of a dove for all in attendance to see and feel. Baptisms are
a special time when the Spirit is extra strong and truths are seared into our
hearts. Have you been able to reflect upon the significance of what you witnessed
as covenants were made between God and man and a newness of life came forth.
Those who are baptized and those who participate in that baptism will always
remember the way they felt and the beauty of their surroundings just as the
people of Alma in the Book of Mormon did. Mosiah 18:30:
And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon,
yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon;
yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how
beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their
Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise
forever.
Ty, we know you are feeling frustrated with the language.
Every missionary does for at least six months. Continue to work at it each day,
and little by little you’ll start seeing improvement. Carter recommends reading
the Book of Mormon in Spanish alongside your English Book of Mormon each day.
He felt this made the biggest difference for him. We will continue to pray for
you and that you will be blessed with the gift of tongues and the
interpretation of tongues. We also pray for your safety and happiness each day
as well. Today we have included you in our fast. We are here together in New Mexico
writing this email and then off to church with the Searle’s.
We attended the BYU vs UNM baseball game yesterday in
Albuquerque. You’ve played on that same field. Dad, 30 years ago, also played
UNM in Albuquerque as a BYU Cougar. He never dreamed he would be living and
working here 30 years later. It was a fun outing, but BYU didn’t play so well.
Hope you are happy and doing well. We will be together in
Bloomfield tomorrow and both of us should be able to talk to you. We can’t wait
to see your handsome face!
With Love,
Mom and Dad
Hey Everyone,
I'm sorry this is going to be short. We only have one hour
to email and call our friends and family. I look forward to hearing from you
each week and hearing how everyone is doing. I just wish I had more time to
respond to each of you. Uncle Kirk and Barbara, thank you for your
email and love. Diane and Connor Eyre, thank you for the money - Love
you guys. Again, thanks everyone for your love, emails, and prayers.
I am loving my mission, but I'm not going to lie, this week was tough. We had a
lot of cancellations and had to do a lot of walking. Plus the people we are
teaching that have accepted baptism are making all kinds of excuses for not
coming to church. So we have to figure out how to motivate them to come to
church so they can feel the Spirit there and meet the awesome ward
members. Then they can be baptized.
I am feeling less stressed about the language. I am
learning a little each day. But I am feeling really stressed about this
upcoming transfer. My trainer Elder Arnold will likely be moving on, and I will
stay here in Ica. I will get a new companion, but I have to show him around all
the area and everything. Today for p-day we made copies of the map for our area
and I had to make sure I know it. We have great ward members and bishop so if
all heck breaks loose I know I can count on them to bail me out - haha!
I also want to give a shout out to my good friends Luke
Green and Logan Wilstead. Luke just received his mission call to Milan, Italy.
I am so pumped for him. Logan is in the process of getting his papers turned
in. They will both be great missionaries. I've already decided that serving a
mission is the best decision I've made in my life. It is really hard sometimes
but during the hard times I say an extra prayer and the Lord always blesses me
to feel better. Love all of you.
Elder Milne
PS... Ty looks really good (nothing like that missionary
glow), but he still tears up every time we talk to him for a few seconds, and
then he is fine. This time I asked if it was because he was homesick, and he
said no, it was because he is nervous about this transfer, getting a new
companion, and not being able to tell the new companion everything he needs to
know about the new area. I could feel his stress and recognized his struggle,
but my heart smiled a little because I recognized his stress stems from wanting
to be prepared and do a good job. This tells me his heart is in the right place
instead of back home and that he wants to be a good missionary. We miss Ty like
crazy, but there is no place else we'd rather him be right now. Serving a
mission is hard, especially when you are in a completely different culture, but
I can testify that it is worth the wrestle. The growth and development that
takes place is incredible. Thank you all for your love, and please keep Elder
Milne in your prayers. I just copied and pasted his email, so if you want to
email him directly, his email is: ty.milne@missionary.org
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