Trade-Offs!

I hope that you are all doing well! This week has been incredible! We were snow free for about the whole week! And it warmed up to high 40s the past two days! Unfortunately the snow is back today but hey it was a nice break!

Tuesday was really busy, we had a lesson with Hector and picked him up as  new investigator. We have seen him around campus quite a bit lately and every time he says hi! We also taught Michael our investigator and he is doing really well. And we also had a lesson with Jaylen. He is so funny and complicated but I have learned so much trying to teach him the gospel! He asks such inspired questions that really make you think! Unfortunately he is missing the fundamentals and we are working with him on that!

 

This week was a busy week of trade-offs. We got to go with two different sets of Sisters. It is nice to have my companion back one more. I just do love her and am so grateful to be her companion. We had a busy week this week and were able to see lots of miracles.
 

Sister Mortensen, (brand new missionary) and I went and had a good lesson with Andrew. He is starting to build a relationship with Christ as he has never had a belief in Christ. We read, John 3:16 and we had him substitute his name for 'the world' and after he read it he said, man this has a whole new meaning to it. I am so happy. He has made so much progress over the last couple of weeks.

Sister Larsen also had a great lesson with Jaylen. We think that he is finally understanding more about agency and God. He said something really cool this week. He wants to know God because how amazing would that be if we had a supreme creator. Someone who loved us unconditionally and it would completely change his life. Well he is definitely on that path to find God and is slowly making progress.

 

This week honestly is going to be crazy. We have over 20 lessons scheduled. It will be super super busy! I am also going to St. Joseph so that will be a new adventure. I get to spend the day with Sister Christensen.

 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

I love you!

Love Sister Milar

 

Craziness

This week there was a lot of craziness going on. To start off, we had a great lesson this week with our investigator Andrew.

Andrew came to church last week, and as we met with him he said that it wasn't what he was expecting and he was a little bit disappointed. Well we went into the lesson and he said that he was done wanting to meet. That he just felt that Buddhism was what was right for him. Anyway, I felt like I should share something with him, so I opened my book of Mormon to where I had read that morning and one little verse stuck out to me. It is about Sheram, Helaman's son. He talks about how the Lord will be there through all the trials, adversities and afflictions. So we read that and kept talking about how there are trials we all face in life and how God can truly help us. Sister Larsen started to share something and then midway through, he said wait can we go back to Sheram? WE told him of course. So we started talking about that again and he really opened up and told us that he wanted to stop meeting because his girlfriend is angry at God right now and he isn't sure how to help her. We talked about what he could do to help her. Then he scheduled two meetings with us this week instead of our regular one. Which is really great. Keep him in your prayers!

Then we had an interesting lesson with a kid name Michael. We met him at the beginning of December and when we met with him after break he was meeting with the elders. He didn't seem to serious as he didn't show up to our next lesson. So we were going to stop meeting with him. As we were walking home from campus one night, he stopped us and said sister I need to change. I am addicted to Pot and it is going to ruin my life. So we started talking and turns out he said he was willing to do almost anything. As we were meeting with him he was definitely high, so we tried to keep it short and move on. I invited him to church Sunday and he said he wanted to go. So I told him he is more than welcome but don't come high. He chuckled and said okay. Then the most awkward thing happened. He stood up and came to give me a hug and I had a bit of a panic attack and threw my hands in front of me and said, "We don't hug!" haha it was so funny and I am such a missionary. He came to church on Sunday though for all three hours and loved it. IT was exactly what he needed to hear. It was wonderful.

The most adventurous thing this week that happened. Well I went to a YSA activity with the branch which was volleyball. I jumped up and hit the volleyball, but sometimes boys don't think girls can play volleyball and he stepped right under me and well my foot landed on the edge of his foot and it popped very nicely. Long story short, it was starting to be colorful a little bit, but i was pretty sure it wasn't broken, just nice and sore. I was sure that I just bursted my vein. Well we went home and I iced it for awhile. The next day Sister Larsen wasn't very happy with me because I told her I wasn't going to go to the doctor as I was pretty sure that I just burst the vein and that is why I had a nice looking tumor thing. Well we ended up going to the doctor and guess what he said, I burst my vein and have a hematoma. The xray came back normal. Well thank goodness. I was very happy about that.
I have been thinking about agency and Christ lately. I have been thinking about the choices that we make in our lives. Sometimes, we make choices not because we necessarily want to do that certain choice but because it is either what God wants us to do or because it is what will make someone else happy. "If our lives are centered in Jesus Christ, He can successfully mold us into who we need to be in order to return to His and Heavenly Father’s presence in the celestial kingdom. The joy we experience in this life will be in direct proportion to how well our lives are centered on the teachings, example, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

Our agency is because of our Savior. Sometimes when we do things we do them not necessarily because we want to but because we need to. This week we are going to attend an Addiction Recovery Program with an investigator. This program is amazing. It is a program that the church sets up. It is something that we can all do to come closer to Christ. I encourage each of you to find something that is in your life that seems to may be taking over or something small that you want to improve on. The church's website is https://addictionrecovery.lds.org/home?lang=eng

This week is Honesty. I love this program and invite all of you to try it. It really does work miracles. I have been able to do it multiple times out here and I have see an improvement in my life. Come join with me in the program!
I love you all.

Hope you have a wonderful week.
Love Sister Milar

 

Transfers

I honestly don't know where this week has gone. As for today, I don't feel like today has happened. IT HAS BEEN SOOOO BUSY!

This week started off with Stake PEC. (Priesthood Executive Committee), which is when the Stake Presidency, the Mission Presidency and the Zone and Sister Training Leaders all get together and talk about different things going on in the stake related to missionary work. Well let's just say I LOVE PRESIDENT WITT! He is the stake President, he is absolutely amazing. He is 100% in with missionary work and will do anything to help the work hasten. He often finds very inspiring things to share with us. Usually PEC follows a pretty tight schedule, but this time, from the get go, President Witt was very chatty. He started to tell us a story about how he met his wife and all through out would refer back and tell a little bit more of the story. Yatta yatta yatta.

We ended up only talking about one thing, but the spirit works in very perfect ways because the one thing that we ended up talking about was absolutely exactly what we as the Kalamazoo Zone  needs. So we were all very happy that what we talked about was exactly what needed to happen. After PEC, President Witt finished his story and this is about how it went, "So after my wife and I were married, I was interviewing at JC Penny for the business. There were lots of places I could try and interview for. The Northeast, the South, West etc. Well it was a very competitive job to be interviewing for so I asked where most of the people were trying to go. All of them said the South and the West. I looked at my wife and said perfect, I will go apply to Georgia. He went into the interview and got the job on the spot." Long story short, this is where his wife served her mission. He looked at Sister Larsen, Elder Pfau, and I and smiled and said, " When you all get home, I expect you to do the same, Elders go where your wife served and Sisters you better come back here." Then President Brennan said, "Elders you better start looking for a wife out here!" Oh we all about died right then in there. Let's just say we are all incredibly awkward about things like that.

We also had an incredible lesson this week with our investigator Andrew. Andrew has been raised Christian however, has had some bad experiences with Christianity and has moved away from it. He now focus's on the Buddhist lifestyle, but really has enjoyed meeting with us. Well we were running out of a lesson with Jaylen (which also went great!) and going to Andrews lesson when we texted our friend Stephanie and asked her to try to remember to invite Andrew to come to church, as he has been very hesitant because of bad experiences. She replied that she slept in and would try to hurry over. We begin the lesson and about 5 minutes into the lesson, a member named Michael Clark, comes over and asks if he could join us. Apparently, he was supposed to meet and have a lesson with the Elders and their investigator, but it fell through, and he saw us so he came to join. It was such a miracle. It was exactly what Andrew needed. He shared an amazing experience that he had over the break with us. He said, he was reading in the Book of Mormon and he had such a wonderful peaceful feeling, it was a feeling he had never experienced before. He knew that it was from the Holy Ghost and from God. Michael was able to relate to him more and Andrew opened up a lot, told us he is also hesitant because his girlfriend isn't very happy that he is meeting with us as she is very upset at God right now. We helped him as much as we could and then invited him to some activities and church. He ended up coming to an activity last night as well as bringing a friend. He also said that he will come to church tomorrow! We are praying so much for him. We hope that he will have a wonderful experience and enjoy his time.

Another cool experience we had is with an investigator named Michael. Michael, is a kid that we found a while back but haven't been able to meet with yet. We went into his lesson and sat down and started talking with him. Well about 20 minutes into the lesson, he happens to mention that well, he met with the Elders on Monday. We were like uhhh not sure what to do. We kept teaching him though and helped answer some of his questions and concerns. It is just amazing how great God is and how he truly does prepare people for the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The last most wonderful thing that happened today was Cooper's Baptism! He was so excited for this day and we were so proud of him. He had many of his friends and family there too support him. The Relief Society room was completely full. People were there to support him left and right! The baptism went really well. Everything went extremely smooth. People did a wonderful job. There were some little details before that we were a little stressed about (like the TV didn't play a USB but thank goodness for laptops and wonderful members.), but it all worked out perfectly. We actually got some pretty great comments about it so that is always good. I am so grateful that I got to be a part of this special day with him.

Lastly, Sister Larsen and I. What happened on Transfers... Well we got the most interesting phone call on Thursday morning from President, first of all he told us that he knows the weather is nice but we probably shouldn't go lay out in our swimsuits in the sun. Second off he has been thinking a lot about us and wanted to now our opinion for transfers. Usually we don't get out call until Thursday night and most people don't get there call till Friday morning, but he wanted to chat. So we talked to him and he said that he has decided that we are going to stay together for another transfer! We are so excited. He will end up bringing in two new sister next transfer but felt that we should stay together longer. We are so grateful :) I hope that you are all staying strong and healthy. I love you and pray that you have a wonderful week!

Love Sister Milar!!

 

Coopers Baptism!!

The Elders found this picture and said it looks like me, just the black version..

My district: left to right (Sister: Ott, Smith, Gittins, Larsen ME. Elders: Anderson, Holbrook, Nielson, Pfau

 

 

After Christmas

It was so good to see and talk to everyone on Christmas!

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas. I know that we did. We were able to go to a members home (Ariel) and spend the day with her family. They were so gracious in making our Christmas a delight. It was a wonderful experience to be able to spend time with them and get to know them a bit more.

This week has been incredibly cold here in the Michigan. Ya know how they talk about those "Michigan" winters? Well folks it is coming in and it is coming in freezing! This week we had one day out of the teens. It was very cold. We were sweat pants under our dresses and like 8 layers underneath that. I have worn two coats sometimes but after limited arm movement you try not to do that too much. Overall, it takes us about 20 minutes to get all of our crap on, but then we stay nice and toasty except for our cheeks! We decided to weigh ourselves after going out one day, because our bodies were so exhausted and I my clothes  weighed 19.2lbs! Yes that is including my boots but after calculating those, they weight 2.2lbs (Thanks to mom for finding me incredibly warm, light weight boots.) We had a really cool experience the other day. We were walking home from the KUB and as we are walking, we usually just walk. Don't pay too much attention to everything else because, well sometimes (most times) it is very hard to see. So as we are walking we just cross the streets and keep going, hoping cars will stop for us. haha probably not very smart, but we stick out like sore thumbs. Anyway, as we were walking for some reason at this one street we both stop and rotate ( we can't just turn our heads) our bodies and here comes this car flying around the corner. He definitely wasn't going to stop for us. Let's just say we know that it was the spirit that directed us to actually stop and check for a car.

Cooper is also doing so fantastic. We met with him again this week. He told us that he has been telling all of his friends about his baptism and inviting them to come. It was interesting, he is nervous to tell his mother because he knows she won't be too excited about it but he is still going to do it because he knows it's right. That just showed us how much he desires to follow God's commandments and how he is willing to do anything he can to follow in his footsteps.

This week I was reading the talk, "His Grace is Sufficient." By Tad R. Callister. I wanted to share a little bit with you. It says, " Grace is not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light that moves us through the tunnel. IT is not a finishing touch; it is the Finisher's touch." I truly know that to be true. His grace truly is sufficient for all of us. Christ has been here before, he has walked the paths we walk. I know that he lives, with my whole heart. I know and can bare solemn testimony of his atonement and the enabling power in which it holds. I am so grateful for my savior and that we got to celebrate his birth this past week.

I love all of you so much. I appreciate all that each and everyone of you do for me. Let me know how I can serve you. I pray for each of you each and everyday. Keep being wonderful examples, and please know how much your Savior  and Heavenly Father Loves you.
Love Always,
Sister Milar

 

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!
 

 Oh I just love this time of year! It is so great to feel of the spirit and see the joy that the light of Christ brings to everyone's lives. This week we were able to go on trade-offs with two different sisters. I first went with Sister Pierce. She is from Pleasant Grove and is so adorable. I loved the time that I got to spend with her. We were on campus and were able to see some miracles. 
 

We ate lunch with a less active named Daniel. A couple of years ago he said that he didn't ever want anything to do with the church again. Well a few weeks back he stopped us and asked if we had eaten dinner yet, we told him no but we were needing to go to an appointment sooner than later. So he said well I'll just run in and grab you a quick snack. So we followed him in and he told us to get whatever we wanted. Not knowing who this kid was we just grabbed a little something. He continued to ask us all about the KUB and President Volz (Branch President). We were a bit surprised. So we asked President Volz about him and he told us that he was a Do not contact and that he is so happy that he reached out to us. He set up another time to meet with us and we had a wonderful conversation with him and we are praying that he will make it to church tomorrow!
 

Then we had a wonderful zone conference. It was great to hear all the talks that were given. We watched a wonderful video called Nativity. IT was incredible. We were able to see more of a different kind of portrait of the nativity scene. I really enjoyed that it showed that it wasn't all easy and dandy. That Mary did struggle when she was giving birth, that they were probably very frantic searching for someplace for her to deliver. 
 

Another interesting thing we talked about are Angels. Angels have been a huge part of God's plan from the beginning. Adam saw angels. Angels appeared to Mary to Joseph, the shepherds.  Through out the ministry of Christ there were angels. Angels appeared to Joseph Smith and they can appear to us too. I truly do believe in angels. I feel them around me at all times. My favorite scripture is D&C 84:88 It talks about how angels are round about us to bear us up. I truly know that they are all around us. Especially during these holidays. 
 

I love you all I hope you know that. 

I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!

Love Always,

Sister Milar

 

Sister Larsen and Me



Our Merry Christmas card!



My baby Sister Hughes!