Busy in Karlskrona!!!!

Ugh!  "Muck Out Monday" did not start well for me today.... I was so excited to open up my laptop and read the latest news from my favorite missionary.  Oh my!  No letter!  Trepidation, worry, and then the still small voice whispered and said, "He is fine...  He just ran out of time and will email later."  Blaine called from work around 8:45 am and was concerned.  We have watched the "Saratov Approach" and I guess that concept of kidnapped missionaries always lingers in the recesses of your mind.  I was happy to report to him that Carter received an email from big "D" but nothing for us.  He said, "how rude".  However, he was much relieved.  While I was talking to Blaine my phone buzzed indicating I had an email.  Sure enough, it was from Aldste Milne.

Aldste Milne sounds great this week.  His new companion is really working him hard which is a blessing.  He wants us to ask him more questions in our emails so he can have a little more guidance as to what he should write home about.  I suppose I need to stop pontificating so much and ask for more details.  I had a thought....  I'm not sure how many people are actually reading this blog, but if there is someone out there that has a question for Aldste Milne please write it in the comment section and I will be sure to ask him it in our next email.  It will be fun to post the questions next week along with Aldste Milne's answers.  I'm already compiling my list of questions to ask, so Dallin, be ready to give us all some great answers!

Here is Blaine's letter to Aldste Milne this week:  His subject line read "Dilly-Dal".  He used to call Dallin this all the time.

Hi Aldste Milne,

How was the week in Karlskrona? You're getting to be quite the world traveler over there.
I hope the week was enough for you to get your feet on the ground. Hopefully, you can get back to work again and find the second harvest there. I feel you really did a great job in finding the second harvest there in Umea. What a great experience you had as you left Umea. I hope you can get back at it again with the same love and interest as you had up North.

Dallin, the photo's of you, Daniel and Olle together is priceless. Amazing that you will be forever tied to those two Swedes. There has to be others just like them in Karlskrona. We will keep praying for your continued success.

Again, stay safe and remember to keep all mission rules. We saw your new mission president and his wife in the Deseret News Church News this Saturday. They are from the Fillmore, Utah area. It sounded like they will be coming in July. Hard to believe you have already served almost 5 months on your mission. Keep up the good work and remember it is never over until it is over.

Love,

Daddy Milne   

Here is the long-winded letter from Natalie (mom).  If you are tired of my nonsense, at least scroll half way through it and find the part that contains an analogy that Carter wrote.  Pretty Cool!

Moroni 10:32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Dear Aldste Milne!

How's my oldest son? I have really missed you this week Dallin! My thoughts and prayers have been with you as you are making the transition to Karlskrona. Thank you for the beautiful pictures that you sent. I am so happy that you are in such a wonderful area and have an awesome companion. Learn all you can from him. We pray daily for you and the people there in Karlskrona. We pray that their hearts will be softened and their minds opened to receive this precious message that you bring. Remember that the greatest invitation you can extend as well as receive is to "Come Unto Christ". You have already received this message in your own life, and now it is time to extend this wonderful invitation to others. The scripture I share this week is also the theme for the Young Men and Women this year. I think it is very interesting that this is what Moroni chose to share as some of his final words. Surely he knew that this was the most important thing he could invite us to do.
I have reflected a lot on this concept. This past week I was preparing a message for the youth for our third hour combined lesson. My thoughts were centered on this scripture. It caused me to think back over my own life and try and pinpoint when I first answered the invitation to "Come Unto Christ". I have a very clear and poignant memory from when I was five years old. I was sleeping one night and the wind outside woke me up. I allowed my thoughts get the best of me and I became very afraid. I remember that I instinctively climbed out of bed to pray to my Heavenly Father to protect me and help me to not be afraid. I knew without a doubt that I had a Heavenly Father that loved me and would answer my prayer. As I grew older I learned to recognize how the Spirit felt, especially when I bore my testimony. I really loved the warm and peaceful feeling that I felt in church, during family home evening, and at my grandparents' home. I had learned to listen to the still small voice at a very early age. However, gaining a relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ was quite a different story. For some reason, this relationship did not come as natural to me. I learned about Him in church, at home, and from the scriptures, but I really didn't recognize the need for my Savior until I was much older. Thankfully, when I needed Him the most, I was able to rely on what I had been taught about Him, and had faith enough to apply it to my life. The miracle of forgiveness is real! The love of our Savior is real! He is there for us each day. He is there to heal our broken hearts and to bind up our wounds. I am so grateful for all those who taught me about Jesus Christ, so that when I really needed Him I knew where to turn. I am so grateful for the relationship that I have with Him today! I love Him and I know that He lives!

Several years ago I was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting in Louisville, KY. You were a young boy of 4 or 5. The Bishop asked that I direct my comments to the youth of the ward. For several days I pondered in my heart what I should share. As I pictured you getting older I thought to myself... "What would I want Dallin to know more than anything else in the world?" The answer came quickly and powerfully. I would want you to know your Savior, so that no matter what life handed you, you would know where to turn. I based my remarks on 2 Nephi 25:26 And we ^atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we ^bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our ^cchildren may know to what source they may look for a ^dremission of their sins. I am so grateful that you took my and your father's teachings to heart. Dallin, I know you know your Savior. I know that you know to what source you may look for a remission of your sins, to what source you can turn to for peace, comfort, guidance, strength, and healing. It is now your responsibility to share this with others. Invite all that you meet to come unto Him!

Grandma Susan and Raymond spent a couple of days with us this week. Dad and I joined them for a fireside at the tabernacle on Wednesday evening. It was on the first trial of John D. Lee. Does that name ring a bell? He was the man implicated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre and then sentenced to die. His trial was held in the Old Courthouse in Beaver. It was an interesting evening. The next morning I attended the temple with Grandma and Raymond. It was a wonderful session, and then we ate lunch in the temple cafeteria with Uncle Jack and his wife Gail. They were working in the temple that day. They send their love and well wishes.

This week PVHS played Snow Canyon in baseball. Both our JV and Varsity won on Tuesday, but we played them again on Friday and both our JV and Varsity lost. Dad was disappointed of course, but there are always lessons to be learned, especially when it comes to baseball. Saturday we did some work in the garden. We have planted onions, spinach, corn, potatoes, and squash. We should have enough spinach for a spinach salad later this week. Carter thinks he is a cowboy now. He has bought a hat and everything - LOL. He really is just being funny. He made sure we took a picture of him on the tractor with his hat on! I will put a picture of it on the blog.

Ty has been called to be the Deacon's Quorum president. We counseled with him tonight during FHE how he could seek the help of the Spirit in choosing counselors and a secretary. Carter also shared with us something that he wrote today during Sunday School. His class was held in the back of the gymnasium, and as he studied the out of bounds lines he said the Spirit washed over him and caused him to write the following analogy: Life is like a basketball game, before the game, you are with your teammates and coaches in the locker room, preparing to take the court. Going through every offense and defense that you will run, but most importantly what the other team will run. As you take the court you warm up with your teammates until the warm up time is up, and you go to your team's bench. There you again review the game plan, and what each of your teammates need to do to win the game. The buzzer sounds, some players start the game, others sit on the bench and wait for the coach to call their name to go in the game. Some players can be taken out of the game, but then return after being taught what they need to do better when they return. Others are taken out of the game for the remainder of the game. Some players get so mad when they aren't allowed to re-enter the game that they choose to leave the team and the game. The players that stay in the game can react in two different ways, they can do their best and play well, or they can give a mediocre effort and play poorly. It all depends on how much they prepared themselves before the game. The opposing team throws everything they've got at the home team, full court presses etc... Sometimes they press, sometimes they don't. Most of the time the home team doesn't know when the opposing team will press. But even if they don't know when, some players will respond well, and not turn the ball over, and other players will react poorly and step out of bounds or turn the ball over. When this happens, the poor playing players are sent to the bench either to be told what they need to do better, or to sit there for the remainder of the game. As the game winds down, the best players are put into play the final minutes to win the game. In the end the home team wins. We are these best players - young men and young women. The youth of the church today have been reserved to play at this time in this game of life, to follow through with the coach's game plan, and win the game. We have prepared for these final minutes as the clock winds down, so when the final full court press put on by Satan's team is applied, we will be ready, and we will secure the ball, not step out of bounds, get the ball up the court, score, and ultimately win the game. We will then come back to the locker room with our coaches and the rest of our teammates, and we will celebrate the magnificent victory that just took place.

When he finished reading this we were in awe. He then proceeded to explain how it applies to our lives, beginning with the pre-mortal realm. He has an amazing understanding of who he is and what his purpose is here on earth. Thank you for being such an amazing example to him. He looks up to you so much!

Well Dallin, I have once again managed to write way too much. I know your time is precious. As always, thank you for being such a wonderful son. I love and miss you so much, but I am so happy you are serving a mission. We each have been blessed directly from your service as a missionary. Take care of yourself, be safe, and be obedient! I love you more than words can say!

Much Love and Hugs,

Mom

This week's letter from Aldste Milne:

Dear Fam,

Sorry my email time today got split up, we went and had lunch and got some stuff for a ping pong tournament tonight with members and non members. Sorry if I made you stress mom haha.

 

Anyways thanks for the emails, its always good to hear from everyone. I especially liked Carter's analogy, I guess he didn't turn out too bad after all. Thats cool that you guys are still doing the garden, send me some pictures when everything starts growing! Carter sent me a picture of the cowboy stuff with ty on the tractor, what a guy haha. Anyways I'm still hanging in there. We had a very busy week. This Finnish guy sure does know how to work, I've never taught so many lessons! And I've never taught so many immigrants. Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Africa, basically name any middle eastern country/african country and theres a high chance that I've taught someone from there. Its been really interesting to say the least. We are teaching some Swedes as well but not as much as before. But we have a lot of good stuff going on. On Thursday, I went on splits with my friend from the MTC Elder Corbin from Texas up in Vaxjö and we had a good time. We had a lunch on Saturday with a member who lives on an island so we got to take a ferry over to her place with the sisters and had a good time and some good swedish food. I don't think I have had a meal here that I haven't liked, these people know how to cook! On Sunday I blessed the sacrament, gave the closing prayer, and taught the primary again. The branch is small but they are all great people. It's really made me appreciate how nice I had it growing up where there are a lot more members. Sure does make it easier to go to church when everyone you know is there. I have so much respect for the saints here who come every week, very inspiring. I'm also looking forward to my first Swedish general conference this weekend, it'll be a good thing to see where I am at in the language. Ah I'm running out of ideas of what to write about ha sorry that I'm not as long winded as you mom. But everything is good, I'm healthy, eating well, and having a good time with the Fin. Time is going by super fast, already been 5 months, can't believe it. You guys should ask more questions in the future, that'll help me write better emails haha.

But yeah thanks for being the best family out there, it's great to hear that everyone is doing well. Don't worry about me, I'm having the time of my life, no doubt this is where I am supposed to be. Like you said Mom I've come to know my Savior and it is a privilege to be able to share his gospel with people from around the world. Sorry about the short email, ha I'll try to get more creative in the future!

Lots of love

Äldste Milne

 

Sunset in Karlskrona

 

 

Me and Sister Anderson from my district. She played tennis at Dixie State.

 

 

Town central park (don't mind the naked lady statue haha).

 

 

This picture looks exactly like a place we drove by everyday in Minnesota on the way to Carter's Middle School.

 

 

Me, my dude Elder Corbin, and the rest of the district.

 

 

 

Tractor driving Cowboys..... LOL!

 

 



The New Sweden, Stockholm Mission President and Wife (beginning in July).

 

 

James Earl Beckstrand, 56, and Tamara Condie Beckstrand, four children, Meadow Ward, Fillmore Utah Stake: Sweden Stockholm Mission, succeeding President Gregory J. Newell and Sister Candilyn Newell. Brother Beckstrand serves as a ward Young Men president and is a former bishop, high councilor, counselor in a bishopric, high priests group leader, elders quorum president and missionary in the Sweden Mission. Hospital administrator, Intermountain Healthcare. Born in Lynwood, Calif., to DeLyle and Joyce Slack Beckstrand.
Sister Beckstrand is a former stake Primary president, counselor in a stake Primary presidency, ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women president, ward Primary president and gospel doctrine teacher. Born in Salt Lake City to John Robert and JoAnn Mullins Condie.