Happy CONFERENCE!

Wow so much to write and let's be honest. I have been very poor about my time today I guess, so I will write as much as I possibly can.

 

To start off, this week I went on trade-offs with Sister Hooper and Sister Gittens. Sister Hooper is 32 and is such a kind loving wonderful missionary. We were able to see many miracles as we went about talking to the students on campus. We picked up 4 new investigators that day. We were so happy about it :) This week alone we have picked up 60 potential investigators and 6 new investigators. We are hoping and praying that we can turn some of these into more solid investigators. We have been finding a lot. Right now many of the students are just looking for the truth so it is a perfect opportunity to talk to them. I am pretty funny when it comes to talking to them. This one boy, was saying how god and science can't co-exist. He told me he is majoring in math. So I decided to ask him some more questions relating to math. He said well we just don't have proof that their is a God. I asked well do we have proof for everything in Math? He said well ya, because they are proving things everyday. Then he goes on a tangent about how everything keeps improving in the world. I asked him how he knows that a line goes on forever. He said well because there are things that show it, and then they keep adding on to the algorithm to keep it going, but we just believe that it goes on forever.  I smiled and said exactly. That is how God is. Your belief will turn into more and more faith. You can see him a little bit each and everyday and then one day you will have your perfect witness. Let's just say we walked away smiling and with a new potential investigator. hahah You could say I'm ruthless but it was funny and God is good and it worked. Everything denotes there is a God.  You just have to look for the opportunities.

Sister Gittens is also wonderful. She is having a hard time out here though and doesn't really want to change anything about it. So that was a little bit of a struggle. She doesn't want any help so we just were able to work a lot and get so many great things done.
Elder Snow also visited the mission this week. We had an early morning meeting with him and about 8 other people. It was great, he talked to us and asked how we found the mission was doing. He told us that President Monson is not doing well at all, his health and memory are failing. He said that we probably won't see him at conference at all. Keep him in your prayers. We received some great training later with all the missionaries. We talked about the different names of the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost really is a constant companion and as members of the church we truly need to use the spirit to our advantage.

Sister Eisert and I were grateful by the end of the week to be companions once more. We love each other so much. Both of us have such a strong desire to work together and be diligent missionaries. We got the giggles about 30 times last night. Then we were talking and said that was probably the hardest we have laughed our whole missions. Let's just say... Toes are a weird thing hah.

We've each other so much, We have found some new investigators. One in particular. His name is Jaylen. He is great. He is agnostic, but is very curious and secretly you can tell he wants to know what God means to him. He is just scared that he will have to act once he receives the answer. Which to be honest he will. We have met with him a few times and he is progressing really greatly.



Kate's baptism!



Saturday we got to go back to Cadillac. KATE GOT BAPTIZED!! It was so great to go back and be a part of her baptism. She was so very happy :) We showed up just in time. Sister Hughes is doing so great and is a whole new person up there.

We got back to K-zoo just in time to get ready to go to women's conference. It was so fantastic. For all the men out there, you've got to go and watch it. The talks were so inspiring. My heart just melted as the spirit was so very strong. I loved all the talks but one quote that I absolutely loved was by Joy D. Jones. She talks a lot about comparison. Comparison is the thief of Joy. We are bound to Jesus Christ through eternal ties. If the pull of the world is greater than Heavenly Father, we need to evaluate and change. The Savior will lift us to higher ground where we are safer. SO KEEP CLIMBING. We never want to reach a plateau in our lives, when that happens there is no climbing occurring which means we aren't improving at all.. So as Dori would say, just keep swimming.

I love you all so very much. I hope that you have a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear about all your conference experiences. Keep working hard and being the best people you can be.

 

Love Always, Sister Milar



Sister Eisert Hughes and I



Sister Hooper and I

 

Welcome to Kalamazoo!!

Welcome to Kalamazoo!!
What a busy week this has been. Well I have officially left Cadillac and have started a new adventure in K-zoo. My new address is 232 Lake Ridge Dr. Kalamazoo Mi 49006. So I hope to hear from you all soon. I love my baby Sister Hughes in Cadillac and she is doing so great! She is having a baptism on Saturday and I am so proud of her and all the hard work she is doing. So much improvement has happened.

My new companion is Sister Eisert. She is from South Weber. She will be going home in December. We are opening the Western Michigan University Campus area for the sisters. The zone leaders have been serving here but since missionaries were down the shut the sisters area down during the summer. So we are up and running. :)

It has been a good week though. Lots of wonderful meeting with the Mission president and stake president. We do a lot more paper work than I use to. We are like the parents of the Kalamazoo zone so everyone calls and talks to us when they need anything. So to be honest I have been very short on time lately. We usually just barely make it to bed by 10:30 and a few nights later than that by the time we get everything done. I love it though. I love being able to serve the missionaries I am out here with.

The best story this week. Since we are serving on campus we don't have a car. It only takes about 5 minutes to walk and then there are students everywhere. So yesterday we decided to walk to church which is about 40 minutes away. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. We serve at the KUB which is the Kalamazoo University Branch. So we got in there and sat down after visiting and this girl walked in that none of us knew. I looked at her and stood up to sit by her. Her name was cash and she is just looking for a friend. She was really quite. Sacrament started and she was out cold. In a deep, deep sleep. My heart melted as I think she might be homeless. I tried to poke her awake for sacrament but to no avail. So after the meeting she followed us to gospel principles where once again she fell asleep. Then I ran to the restroom after that class and she was gone... We are hoping that we will be able to see her again. After church we ran over to a members home for lunch. On our way back it started to sprinkle but we all know what happens in Michigan. When it rains in pours. So with in 5 minutes we are completely sopping wet. So we walked back to the KUB just dripping wet. We walked inside and just got the giggles. We looked like disasters and still had to walk 45 minutes home to change. Life is so great. We were happy the whole time because we love the rain and as a missionary that is the best thing that you could possibly ask for!

This week is going to be crazy busy. Elder Snow is coming to visit on Wednesday, Sister Eisert and I have to be there early for a meeting with him and then we will be with him all day. We also have trade- offs with sisters that are serving in Three Rivers and St. Joseph. I am excited to see all of them and meet the ones I haven't met yet. Then I hopefully can head back to Cadillac for Kate's baptism!! Happy DAY!

I just want to close with one of my favorite scriptures found in 2 Nephi 31:20. It says, "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

I love you all so much.
I hope you have a wonderful week!

LOVE SISTER MILAR

 

 

Transfers!!

Where to even begin. These last couple weeks have been hmmm kind of weird....Last week, Richard Marvin (49 years old), a guy that I have been able to reactivate called just crying and told us, that he can't do it anymore and that he won't be at church or anything... Uhh....

 

We tried asking him what happened, if someone had offended him or he doesn't understand something etc., but to no avail. So we left it at that...

A couple of days later, he called us back and asked to talk to Sister Hughes, anytime people call though we are both on the phone. So through the tears he confessed, "I am invested with Sister Milar. I am in love with her."

Let's just say I almost died right then and there uhhh.... WHAT IN THE WORLD!! So awkward. So now days I feel super awkward all the time, he texts and calls like no exaggeration, about 15 times a day. The latest worst thing is that he wants to move to Utah....He keeps asking where I live and every time Sister Hughes replies she either ignores it or says, "someplace outside of SLC."  That leads us right into transfers. Bless our dear mission president. President Brennan. I love that dear soul. He called though on Thursday night which only meant one thing...

 

I am getting transferred to Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University and I am being a Sister Training Leader! I am kind of excited, but I don't know how I feel about going back to college town. It will be great. My new companions name is Sister Eisert. I have met her before. She was Sister Garner's companion at one time. Sister Hughes is going to be heading up the area and will be just perfect here. I know she will do so great.  We are also having some visitors here in the area.

 

Elder Steven E. Snow was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 31, 2001. He previously served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy from 2007 to 2012. During that time he had supervisory responsibility for the Utah Areas as well as the North America Central Area. He has also served as Executive Director of the Priesthood and Family Department and as President of the Africa Southeast Area of the Church. He is currently serving as Church Historian and Recorder and is the Executive Director of the Church History Department.

They will be coming this next week and we will have a conference with them. It will be so great. I can't wait for the counsel that we will receive from them.
 

Well I just want to end with a quote this week that I loved. It says,

"Only when we fix our gaze on the Heavenly things do we begin to understand the eternities. Only with the help of Christ can we fully overcome tragedy. It is necessary to develop our faith in him as the Redeemer of the World, In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

 

I love you all and home that you have a truly amazing week.
Love Always,
Sister Milar

 

 

What a week!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been just great!
Once again you never know where or what is going to happen with missionary work.
The Begging of the week started out pretty well. It has been cold though and the leaves are starting to change colors.:(

 President Brennan called us on Monday night and wanted to know if he could take us out to lunch on Tuesday and see our apartment. We went out with him and his wife and their daughter who had just returned to them from serving her mission in Kentucky. She was just staying for a couple of days so they were taking her around the mission. We went to my favorite restaurant here in Cadillac called Herraunduras. It was so delicious I got this giant burrito. Then after lunch President told us to drive safely the next day to Holland and then gave us what he called "love money" to stop and get ice cream on the way home. He is such a wonderful person!

So on Wednesday we took a trip to Holland! I wish it was far far away in a land across the ocean, but this Holland is only about 2 hours away. Only kind of far away. We went to a doctors appointment and got to see a little bit of the cute town. We also had to get our oil changed and tires changed at a place that the church has an account with so we stayed there for sometime as the mechanics were working on the car. We got some delicious Ice cream and had a joyful time :)

Then we met with Kate. Kate is just so great! She was referral from a member just a couple weeks ago. We have seen her at church two weeks in a row. The first time before we had even had a lesson with her! She was put on baptismal date the first lesson and has been truly prepared. She loves church and the doctrine and knows that it is true. We will keep meeting with her but she is scheduled to be baptized on September 30th. However, we are going to change that because it is GENERAL CONFERENCE!! So tonight we are going to change it to September 23rd. Sad Fact, sister Hughes is extremely allergic to her dog and her eyes puff up like balloons every time we meet. No worries, I always make her take non-drowsy Benadryl before the lessons now.

Then a true amazing experience,  Change has happened and it is absolutely amazing! Most of you have known that Sister Hughes has been struggling out here. It has been a constant battle to keep her out here but completely worth the fight. On Sunday, something happened. Both of us aren't sure what happened but I know it is definitely part of Heavenly Fathers Plan. We had an appointment with one of our investigators Bar. Barb has been a challenge from the begging, but has done a complete 360 in the last few weeks. At first Sister Hughes really hated her and asked why we had to go back to see her. All I would say is something good is going to happen and I have faith with in her.

 After a good lesson with her Sunday night, Sister Hughes was asked to give the closing prayer. I started to tear up in the prayer. I had never heard her pray like that before. She had real intent behind it, desire and love. It was so incredible to witness. As we walked out of the room I said, " You love her." and kept walking. Before I knew it Sister Hughes was in tears, but these were happy tears!!! We stopped and talked for a second and I told her that this is the joy of missionary work and she gave me a hug and said thank you. We had a good talk that night. Well things have been improving since. She is excited for the work.
Monday night We went door knocking and she was excited, smiling and laughing even while door knocking. While we were door knocking we found this incredible couple who sat and talked to us for 30 minutes. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and they were so excited to begin reading it. They invited us back and to have dinner with them. Their names are Lindsay and Grant. I would love if all of you could keep them in your prayers and pray that they can continue to study the Book of Mormon and come to know the truthfulness of it.

Lastly, this week everything that I have been studying has been somehow related to family history. It is kind of weird. I know it is a message from Heavenly Father. The spirit of Elijah is speaking to all of us as well to the Prophet and apostles. I have a challenge for each and everyone of you. I want to invite you to all open up family search and do something with it this week. Whether it is to add a story or a picture to someone or find a name to do something for your families. I know that as we follow Malachi's promise that we will be truly blessed. Our families all have people that need to be found and added to. I know that this is one way that we can all contribute to missionary work and that through our Savior Jesus Christ all will be resurrected and we will be able to be sealed to them for eternity.
I love you all and truly don't know what I would do with out you. Keep being so great.

Love Always and Forever,
Sister Milar

 

IT IS TRANSFER WEEK!

So We find out where we are going on Friday and I will be emailing on Saturday!