The Lord Always Answers Prayers

I can't think of another email that I needed more than this one today.  Last week was a challenging week for me on many fronts, but as we all know, the Lord answers prayers and is quick to apply the balm of Gilead.  It sounds like Elder Milne's prayers were answered this week as well.  I am so grateful for the strength of his testimony!  May we all love one another and dutifully pray for one another.  This life is hard.....  The only way through it is with the love and help of the Lord!



"Look to the lighthouse of the Lord.  There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue." - President Thomas S. Monson

Dear Dallin,

It was great reading your letter last week.  It sounds like you are hanging in there and really working hard.  I hope things are going well with your new companion Elder Hitch and that your investigators are progressing.  I pray that you are healthy, strong, and happy, and that you are feeling the love of our Heavenly Father each day.  I also pray that you know how much we love you. 

I always look for scriptures and quotes to share with you, and I found this one on Carter's key chain.  On one side it has a picture of President Monson, and on the other side this quote.  I read it last night, and I'm not sure if it is more for me or for you.  This week has been a challenging week in multiple ways.  Don't worry, everything is okay, life is just more difficult at different times, as you know.  It is amazing though that as you really look to the Lord during times of trial and difficulty, you can feel his love and strength.  Above all else, this is the reassurance that we need - to know how much we are loved by our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.  Make sure those you encounter come to know this first.  Once that is established they will progress. 

We have had Cade, Julie, and their cute family staying with us this President's Day weekend.  They are so much fun.  We watched the RM tonight and laughed and even cried because it reminded us of you.  It is so touching to hear your little cousins pray for you.  Their parents have taught them well.  I hope you can feel their prayers.  We also got the world globe out and little Ryan could not believe how far away Sweden is from our home.  I can't either.  I miss you Dal..  Ty has really been missing you lately as well.  We were in Dick's Sporting Goods on Thursday and he said, "mom, it is so hard coming in here because it really reminds me of how much I miss Dallin."  He then said it again today during church.  He was trying to figure out how many days before we would see you again.  I am not trying to make you homesick, but just know how much you are loved and missed.  Today has been an unbelievably difficult day for me.  I will tell you all about it someday when I have more time.  All is well, but there are just so many people right now that need our prayers.  The world is so wicked, and Satan is having a field day with the saints.  The number of families being destroyed by him is unfathomable.  I cannot express enough to you the importance of keeping the Spirit in your life each day.  When we let up on this, the door is open for Satan to step in, and the results are astounding.  He goes right to the throat. 

This weekend Carter and PVHS played in the RMSB President's Day Tournament.  Carter pitched better than I have ever seen him.  He has been growing since you left, and he has a lot more stamina.  He has pitched eight innings so far with only one earned run.  On Saturday he threw five shutout innings.  His team has advanced to bracket play on Monday.  They beat Davis, Salem Hills, and American Fork.  They lost to a team from Minneapolis 2-1.  Pine View  baseball is looking better than ever.  Dad had a great weekend.  He is helping PVHS this year with their team.  I haven't seen him this happy in a long time.  He had so much fun, and really had a great experience with the team.  Ty's team beat Desert Hills in basketball and Ty played really well.  His team was so excited because the Desert Hills kids had been trash talking them all week.

Dad says to tell you to keep up the great work and get a win!  He is falling asleep as I am typing.  He is exhausted from all the festivities this weekend.  He loves you so much, and is always saying how proud he is of you.  There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't talk about you at work with one or more of his patients.  Brother Miller always asks how things are going and says to tell you hello.  This week is the play in game for the basketball state tournament.  PVHS has struggled the last three games.  I hope they can make the necessary adjustments and win this game.  Carter made the game winning three point shot with five seconds left against Desert Hills this week.  That totally made his whole season.  I know Carter really misses you as well.

I want to send you a package Dallin, so please tell me what I can include.  Maybe things that you really like that you can't get in Sweden.  Sorry, I don't think I can mail Mexican food or a cheeseburger.  Anything else though I will do my best to get to you.  Let me know.  Okay, so dad is snoring right now.  I guess I had better get to bed as well.  I can't wait to read your email.  It truly is the highlight of my week!  Stay warm and safe.  Be obedient, and pray always to have the Spirit with you.  I love you so much!

Hugs and Kisses,

Mom

Dear Milne Fam

 

What a week we had.  Not really sure where to start.  It's funny because as far as numbers go it was one of our slowest.  But one thing I've learned is quality definitely wins over quantity, and we had some really good quality lessons with some good quality investigators.  Of course we would love to have both quality and quantity but sometimes you can't control the quantity but we have complete control over the quality.  And we did a great job opening our mouths and talking with everyone that we can.  I'm absolutely in love with Swedish, its so fun to learn and to speak with others.

 

First I don't know if you guys remember but like my first or second week in Umeå I wrote home about an experience I had on the bus where I sat down and got the strongest prompting I had ever felt in my life to talk to the African woman sitting across from me but I didn't do it until she finally pulled a bible out for no reason whatsoever and by that time it was to late and she had to get off the bus.  It was a really good learning experience for me but at the same time I felt really bad a prayed for the rest of that week that we would see her again.  Over time I forgot all about her.  Now lets go to Friday night.  Me and Hitch are planning and we had about a 3 hour block where we had nothing to do and we had no idea where we should go.  We thought for a while and then for whatever reason I was just like "hey hitch take this pen and throw it at the map on the wall.  Wherever it hits is where we will go, and we will find someone to teach and to baptize."  Sounds crazy but that's just what came to mind.  he was like alright whatever, and he threw it and it hit on a place that I had never been to before and wasn't even sure if there were homes or anyone there but we were like whatever that's where we will go.  So that next day that's where we went.  Turns out there were a few apartment buildings right where hitch hit on the map.  So we were like okay looks like we're going to do some knocking.  We chose the biggest one and started to hit up some doors.  For the first 30 minutes or so we had a few positive contacts but nothing seemed too special.  I was kind of starting to think that we were just wasting our time but then lo and behold the same African lady who I ran into 7 or 8 weeks ago answered one of the doors!  I recognized her immediately and started to freak out inside but I kept my cool and we started to talk to her.  At first she was not very positive at all, she was all about Jesus Christ and didn't want nothing to do with a living prophet because she only worships Jesus.  Of course we explained the role of a prophet and why they are important but she just wasn't understanding.  But then out of no where her roommate comes around the corner and invites us in right on the spot!  We taught a really short version of the Restoration because they had to leave to work soon but it went really well and we will meet both of them again tomorrow night!  So that was super cool.  The Lord always answers prayers in his own time, and its always for our best.

 

And you probably remember when I wrote home about the entire dorm of students that we taught one night that went way good.  Well we haven't been able to meet with them for a couple weeks because of conflicting schedules and stuff like that but we were finally able to set up a time to meet with them yesterday (Sunday).  We showed up but only one was there which made me sad at first but this guy was very happy to meet with us and said he had been thinking so much about everything we talked about last time and had so many great questions about Adam and Eve and what it means to have Faith and how do we get it. Money questions for a missionary!  We proceeded to teach a combination of the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the main focus being on following Jesus Christ and what that means.  It was too unreal.  He understood everything and you can tell how he has been prepared by the Lord.  He said that he will absolutely be baptized when he receives his answer through the Holy Ghost and through reading the BoM.  Such a cool guy, we'll meet with him again a few times this week.  So now we can trust in the Lord and in Moroni's Promise that he will receive a spiritual witness.  I just hope I am here when it happens.  I've grown to love Umeå so much.  I hope that I'll get at least 6 more weeks here after my 12 week training is over. 

 

Another big lesson that I've learned since being out here is to not let your circumstances determine your happiness but have your happiness determine your circumstances.  Happiness is a choice, and if we let only our circumstances determine how happy we are we'll never truly get there because life will always be tough.  And like that quote from President Monson we can always look to the Lord and find peace and joy no matter how hard it may seem.  What a blessing this gospel is.  This has been so good for me and I love sharing it with others.

 

Always good to hear that everyone is doing well.  I'm excited to start hearing about baseball season and that's awesome that Ty and Carter both had good weeks as far as sports go.  Keep your head up Mom you are awesome.  Love you to death.  Don't worry about sending a package or anything.  Everything that I need I can get here in Sweden just keep it up with the love and prayers like I know you all do.  And be happy for heavens sake, we are so blessed. 

 

Love you all hope everyone has a good week!

 

Äldste Milne

 

first pic is me on a pile of snow, second is a live pic of me emailing you guys with hitch haha