This week was the week every missionary dreams of. First and foremost, they had a baptism. She is the wife of a member, and her husband baptized her. Elder Milne spoke at the baptism about the First Vision. He said he hasn't felt the Spirit that strong since his very sacred experience at the MTC when he prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He said everyone in attendance had tears in their eyes. The baptism was also live streamed via Zoom, and they had many missionaries and nonmembers watching as well. After the talk, the bishop came up to Ty and told him his talk was amazing, and how grateful he was that the Spirit so strongly testified to the truth of what he was saying. This same day was also Elder Dopp's birthday. What a wonderful way for a greenie missionary to celebrate his birthday in the mission field. All of the missionaries watching the baptism said how wonderful the entire service was and that their nonmember friends were very touched by it. The next day (Sunday), they held a Sunday School meeting on Zoom, and they had several nonmembers in attendance. One of them was a man named Leo. He was someone Ty had contacted on the telephone as part of going through the area book and contacting old contacts. Leo really enjoyed the meeting, and they are super excited to begin teaching him and his family. He has several kids. That night they met with Jerry and his daughter Megan again, and Megan told them she wants to be baptized. Ty was also able to give her a blessing in her car (LOL). On P-day this week, the entire zone met at the baseball field, and Ty threw them all batting practice. I sent him a bucket of balls, his bat, and a couple of mitts, along with some sunflower seeds and Big League Chew. He said they had so much fun. During his phone call, he was happier than I have ever seen him. He literally glowed with the Spirit. I told him that this week was a result of all of the hard work and endurance he and his companions have exhibited over the past several weeks. There were so many moments of discouragement, but they kept pressing forward, and chose to continue to put their faith in God and trust that the work they were trying to do would somehow amount to something. I told him that had he quit and come home during those difficult days, he would have never experienced this incredible joy that he is feeling today because of the amazing baptismal service and the events that took place on Sunday. How very blessed he and his companions are. Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing Elder Milne with an abundance of they Spirit and with the knowledge and testimony that thou art very mindful of him and his companions. My mamma heart is so happy.
Letter from Blaine:
Hola El
élder Milne,
Hola, mi nombre es Blaine. Yo estudio Espanol en la manana y yo trabajo en
officina dentista en el tarde. Mi ayudante de dentista habla Espanol. Yo
practico Odontologia con mi ayudantes de dentista. Ellos hablan
rapidamente. Yo no hablo rapidamente.
Mi ayudantes de dentista hablan Espanol y Inglès. Daniel, mi ayudante de
dentista toca la guitarra. En la oficina de dentista, nosotros escuchamos
a la musica cuando nosotros trabajar.
Yo practico Odontologia en mi oficina en la manana y el tarde con Dr Stewart y
Dr Jensen quién habla Espanol y Inglés. Ellos practico Odontologia muy bien. Yo
llevo uniforme quirurgico con yo trabajar en mi pacientes dental.
A veces mi hijos Dallin y Carter practica odontologia en la escuela de
odontologia. Ellos estudian odontologia en su escuelas.
Did you understand mi carta?
I noticed where Peru extended their state of emergency and quarantine with
curfew another 30-90 days. Maybe you won’t make it back to Peru in time
before your mission ends.
Don’t worry though. It sounds like you are moving forward on your mission there
in Newport Beach.
Are you in the same area or did they move you recently? Are you still in an
English speaking area? Any chance at speaking Spanish there? Any areas in
that mission that is Spanish?
I was given a Spanish workbook from a patient and I am learning a few
things. That is why I wrote you the above letter in Spanish to help me
work on it.
Hope you are holding up. You are very lucky to have such a good mom and
brothers to help you with your mission. Use their help and experience to
aid you in your efforts.
Take care
Dad
Letter from
Ty:
Buen hecho mi padre su español esta mejorando. Etendì todo de su carta. Keep practicing haha! Yeah peru isn't doing good at all, we'll see if anything changes by 2021. But I'm doing good here I had a great week. I am in the same area. Speaking English, I am training a new missionary so it's been good for me. We just had a baptism on Saturday which was awesome. I'll have mom tell you about it later.
Dad thanks for reaching out love hearing from you. Thanks for working hard I pray everyday that the Lord will strengthen you. Love and appreciate all you for me. Would love to facetime you soon. Have a good week
Letter from
Home:
Dear Elder
Ty Adams Milne,
How's my favorite missionary and youngest son doing today? I hope this email finds you happy and well and is able to convey the deep love that I have for you in a way that you can truly feel it. I love and miss you so much Ty, but you also know there is no place I'd rather you be at this time in your life. My heart thrills when I reflect on the tremendous growth you are experiencing and how your relationship with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost is becoming even more precious to you. It truly is an awesome thing to witness, and I am so grateful you have made this choice to serve your Savior and your fellowmen. You have been blessed with a kind, loving, and compassionate heart, and because of this, you will bless so many lives. Because of this fallen world that we live in, everyone experiences pain and suffering, so if you treat each person as if he or she has a broken heart, you will not be wrong. The more I learn about people, the more I recognize that we all have a basic human need to be seen - to have our suffering acknowledged and validated and to be valued for who and what we are. Only the Savior and His infinite atonement can truly mend broken hearts, but hearts cannot heal if they cannot accept the Savior into their lives. That is our number one job in this life - to bring souls unto Christ, and not just so they can be baptized, but so they can experience His love, succoring, and healing. Gathering scattered Israel is a mission of love and healing.
How did your baptism go? I pray everything went well, and I sent up extra love, thoughts, and prayers for you and all those involved. What a wonderful thing to be a part of! I can't wait to hear all about it. What an amazing privilege you missionaries have to administer this saving ordinance to those who desire it. How awesome it is that you have been given this authority to baptize and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is the gate to eternal life, and it puts us on the path back to our Heavenly Home. This path is not easy and is full of distractions, temptations, pain, and suffering, so that is why the gift of the Holy Ghost is so vital to our journey. Can you imagine how lost we would all be if we didn't take the Spirit as our guide, if we didn't have his comforting influence, and if we didn't have His witness of the truthfulness and divinity of Christ and His gospel? How blessed we are to have this very sacred gift as members of Christ's Church. Our relationship with the Spirit is vital to our success and very existence. How grateful I am for the Holy Ghost. I truly believe that this gift for most of us is highly underutilized. We need His teaching, guidance, peace, and influence today more than ever. There are so many compelling voices that echo in our ears each day - we need to be able to decipher truth from error, and that is where He comes in. President Nelson has promised us that as we read from the Book of Mormon each day, we will have the Holy Ghost with us, and we will not be deceived. This is an incredible promise, and one I think about often. I love the Book of Mormon with all my heart, and I am so grateful for its powerful teachings and its sacred witness that Jesus is the Christ. A few days ago, I was reading in 3 Nephi 17. This has always been one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon because of the experience shared about Christ and the children and how precious they are to Him. I was truly moved this time of reading it because of the compassion he has, not just for the children, but for all of them. If you think about it, just prior to His coming, there was great destruction throughout all the land. Entire cities were destroyed by earthquakes, fires, whirlwinds, etc.. Countless lives were lost, and homes and places of business were destroyed. Then to make things worse, there were three days of complete darkness - so dark, that there could not even be a fire lit. There literally was no light - just complete darkness. The people that survived that were in the land of Bountiful gathered to the temple (which is significant in and of itself). Surely, they were seeking comfort and peace there, and that is when the Savior appeared. In Chapter 17 we read how he gathered the little children and then He prayed, and not only did He pray, but He wept for them. Think of how frightening all of this death, destruction and darkness must have been for them. He truly recognized this, prayed for these precious children, and wept with them. He knew their pain and suffering, and He knew how to heal it. He showed the highest form of compassion - acknowledging their pain and suffering, sitting with them in it, and then weeping with them. As a therapist and also the times I have been a client in therapy, I have come to realize how powerful and healing it is to acknowledge and validate someone's suffering, sit with someone in their pain, and then weep with them. It is truly a beautiful gift we can give to others, and your precious heart is so capable of doing this Ty - it is one of your greatest gifts.
I love you Ty, and I am so proud of you and your efforts to work hard as a missionary and to serve your Savior. It is the greatest privilege in the world, and nothing compares to it. I know that your situation right now is not ideal, but I also know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of you and all of His missionaries. He will send an added measure of comfort and strength if you will but receive it. I can't wait to hear from you today! Love you to the moon and back and to infinity and beyond!
Mom
Letter from Ty:
Thank you so
much for the sweet letter mom. You always know exactly what to say to me. I
love you so much. I had a fantastic week, I'm excited to tell you all about it.
It's awesome you mentioned 3rd nephi 17, I read that chapter earlier this week
and loved it. I made a member lesson out of it. To start out we'd ask what is their
favorite name that Jesus Christ has, like savior and redeemer and why? We had
some great lessons with this, and the spirit is always there. I then shared
that my favorite is Healer. We then read verse 7 with them. "Have ye any
that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or
blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf,
or that are afflicted in ANY manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them,
for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy." I love
how it says afflicted in any manner, because he connects and heals us in any
way. We then ask them if there is someone in their life that needs the healing
of the savior and what they can do to reach out to them. Christ has healed my
broken heart and has brought me so much peace. Especially in the mission field.
Love you mom; can't wait to talk to ya!
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