Sweden Here I Come!

Sweden Here I Come!

Monday, January 20, 2014

Hooray it's P-day! January 20, 2014 Email From Elder Milne

     The first thing Blaine and I did this morning even before getting out of bed was grab the laptop from the side of the bed and check the email.  We were not disappointed!  We had another great email from Dallin today.  It is such a wonderful way to start a new week - reading an uplifting letter from your favorite missionary!




Here is the letter Blaine sent Dallin this week:




Hi Dallin,

I hope you had a great Sabbath day over there in Sweden.  I have been thinking of you and felt to ask you if your reading your book of Mormon in Swedish?   I felt that if you weren't , you should.   That would make sure to teach you the language and would give you a chance of being successful over there. 

We have had a good week over here.  Work is going OK and everyone is progressing.

Your brothers are doing well.
Your mom is doing well.
PVHS is doing well.  Our ward is doing well.
The church is true Dallin.  There are so many blessings we receive from doing our best and serving others the best way we know how. 

Keep these things in mind.  I can't wait to see you again,  but that won't be for another 21.5 months.  You have a lot of time to help build the kingdom over there.  Listen to the Holy Ghost and He will lead you safely.  Remember safety first.  Keep yourself safe...

Work with the ward members,  they are likely to have the best investigators.  I would start there.

Love,

DAD






Here is this week's letter from Natalie:




Alma 7:11-12
     And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people.
     And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Dear Dallin,

I know this is a scripture that you are familiar with, but it is truly one of my very favorite ones from the Book of Mormon.  I will address that more in just a minute, but first of all, how are you?  I pray, as always, that you are happy, well, safe, and warm.  I pray that you are daily feeling the love and guidance of the Lord.  I pray that you are daily feeling my love and gratitude for you.  What a wonderful blessing you are and always have been in my life.  You're the best Dallin!  I love you and miss you.  You are constantly in my thoughts and prayers. 

This week has been a rough one for me.  I came down with some icky stomach virus that shut me down for about three days.  Thankfully it has passed and I am back in the swing of things.  Being sick, however, did allow me some time to reflect more on my life and the things I am currently involved in.  I gained some much needed insight for my Young Women's calling as well as some inspired thoughts and ideas for the book I am helping Dr. White write.  We have produced a pretty good outline of what we want the book to be and the main message we want to share.  Even though it is a book about pornography addiction and the effects it has on the wives and daughters of LDS men addicts, it is essentially a book about hope, the hope that healing and forgiveness can occur through the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Our lesson today in Young Women's was on coming unto Christ and being perfected in him through the enabling power of His atonement.  That is why I chose to use the scripture from Alma 7 to start your letter.  I have referenced it not only today during the lesson, but in also writing the book.  There are so many powerful insights gained about the atonement in these two verses.  Truly the Lord has suffered all things for us in the flesh that he may know how to succor and heal us.  This is surely a message that all need to hear.  I am so grateful that you have the opportunity to share this message with the people of Sweden - members and nonmembers alike.  We all need to come unto Christ on a daily basis.  We all need his mercy, love, succoring and healing.  We all have a broken heart in some form or another, and only He, who is the great physician, can mend them. 

There is another aspect or level of the atonement that I have learned in my life.  There is additional healing for each one of us that occurs when we are able to reach out and serve those who are suffering in the same ways we have suffered.   We have been commanded to be like Jesus Christ, and this is one way we become closer to that goal.  As we empathize with and succor those who are suffering, as we once did, we are acting as Christ did for us.  We succor as he succored us, we love as he loved us, and we serve as he served us, especially during our darkest hour.  This not only strengthens and blesses our life, but it will bring those we serve closer to the Savior as well, and through our love and service they can learn to rely on his atonement to mend their broken hearts.  In Sweden there are many that are waiting for you to bring them unto Christ through your loving example, service, empathy, and succoring.  It will surely be because of you they will come to know their Savior.  Surely this is the greatest gift we can give to anyone.  These type of experiences are the ones that inspired the words to a song that I wrote shortly following my own mission:  "Because of You I Know My Savior".  Here are the words:

You my friend you walked with Him, before this life you already knew of His ways all He would do, He'd give His life for me and you.  And when He sent you to earth He gave you His words to help all His children back home, and when you came and first spoke my name it was His voice calling to me....  Because of you I know my Savior, because of you I feel His love.  In all you do I see my Savior, I know you were sent from above.

You took my hand helped me understand the daughter I was meant to be.  I chose the right as I followed your light knowing he was right by your side.  And when the path seemed too hard and the road grew dark it was you who ransomed me.  You bade me to come and partake of His love, and now I'm beginning to see.....  Because of you I know my Savior, because of you I feel His love.  In all you do I see my Savior, I know you were sent from above.  I know He sent you from above.

I pray that you will take these words to heart Dallin.  As you truly love and serve the people of Sweden I know that doors will be opened, and you will have success, joy, and rejoicing in your labors.

Dad, Carter, Ty and I are doing well.  Every day is a life's lesson, and it is so wonderful to see the Lord's Hand in the finite details of our lives.  We are being abundantly blessed because of your service.  There is a very special spirit that has permeated our hearts and home since you left.  Our thoughts and actions are more finely attuned to the Spirit.  Thank you for centering them for us.  Keep up the great work.  Take care and press forward!

Much Love,

Mom

PS.  I will forward to you a picture of Kyson Milne and his Sweden project.  What a cutie!  You are inspiring generations as dad said you would Emoji!

 
Kyson you are so Handsome! What a wonderful job you did on this project!
(Dallin's cousin Kyson. He was recently baptized)
 



Here is Elder Milne's Letter:



Dear Milne Fam,
Good to hear that everything is good back home. Thanks for the great email Mom about the atonement. That has been the biggest topic that I have studied this last week actually is how to teach the atonement and how to help investigators understand the significance of it and how they can benefit from it. I love using that scripture from Alma 7. I'm excited to see how that book turns out Mom what a great opprotunity.
This last week was really great. We had zone training and President Newell came up to do interviews. He is the man, such a spiritual giant. It'll be sad to see him leave in July. I also went out on splits for the first time with one of the zone leaders. It was dang good, we taught a lot of lessons and I was really surprised on how the Swedish was coming out for me. I've learned that the less I worry about it, the easier it comes. And yeah Dad I usually read the BoM in Swedish for language study. Another thing that has really helped is listening to conference talks at the church in Swedish. But I've come to find out that the best way to learn the fastest is to simply talk to people. When I tell people that I have just been here for a little over a month they are always blown away. Thats really helped build up my confidence. And you are right paps the members are definetly the key to success as a missionary. We've been trying to get the members pumped up these last couple weeks about missionary work and how they can help. The work is progressing and we are teaching a quite a bit and there are a few who I feel like have a lot of potential. The biggest road block for us has been marriage. People just don't like to get married over here. It's called having a "sambo". They'll have kids and all of that but will go their entire lives without getting married. Thats just the way it is. I know a lot families where that's really the only thing holding them back from baptism. Just takes more time. And so so many people here just straight up don't have a belief in God and claim that they have never thought about it and that even if he did exist that they wouldn't need him. Just the way they were raised. Really interesting and quite depressing.
I also found out this last week too that my trainer will be transfering 4 weeks before my "12 week training" is over. He's been here for almost 6 months now so I guess thats why. So I'll be getting another trainer. Kind of sucks, but its also kind of exciting. I'm still healthy and am having a lot of fun. So much to learn still but that is what makes it exciting. Time sure goes by fast on the mission, just trying to make the most of it. And trying not to freeze to death.
So yeah I'll talk to you guys next week. This week will be very big for us, we have a few people who we feel like can be baptized very soon, our goal is to have a couple dates before the week is over. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers they help a lot! And the project that Kyson did is so legit! That is awesome be sure to tell him that I love it! Har det bra!
älska,
Äldste Milne



This was the only picture Dallin sent this week.  Not sure what the significance is, but it is beautiful! And it looks quite cold!



2 comments:

  1. It is so true, Mondays are the best! I'm so excited that you and Blaine are experimenting this--having a missionary. I love reading your letters as much as I do Dallins. Wasn't that quite the statement about how people think they don't need Heavenly Father in their lives. Quite depressing for sure! Dallin sounds like he is doing great except for the Brrrrrr. . . . so cold. I can feel it looking at that picture. Natalie, I'm glad you are feeling better. Love to all. Kimbo

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  2. What a great saturday morning - I received the information from Natalie on Elder Milne's Blog and for the first time, I went to his blog and have been so inspired and spirtually uplifted as I read the messages from Elder Milne, and from his mom and dad. Such great friends in the gospel and forever our next door neighbors:) We Thank You for sharing this priceless gift with us. There is no doubt, that Elder Milne will find great success in Sweden as he shares the gospel and has this special kind of support from home.
    Much Love, The Allen's

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