Aldste Milne sounds like he is hanging in there after his first full week in Vasteras. It sounds like the work is slow right now. Please join with me in saying extra prayers that the hearts of the people there in Vasteras will be softened and their minds opened to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. How frustrating it is as a missionary to know that you have the most important message on the earth to share and nobody wants to listen to it. It is so sad! Why do we as God's children deny ourselves of the blessings He is waiting and wanting to bestow upon us? Puzzling!!! You can do it Dallin! Don't give up the fight!
Blaine's Letter this week:
Dear Elder Milne,
Well, you made it to Vasteras. I am so glad you have taken your talents to Vasteras. I hope you will be able to find the same motivation for this area as Lebron is trying to find in Cleveland.
Keep saying your prayers and the "Good Lord willing it will all work out". (A line from Bull Durham)
Carter has turned into quite a pitcher. I have named him "White Lightening" because his stuff is so unreal. He pitched 6 innings of a 3-1 win against Herriman the 2nd place team from the Salt Lake Valley league in a critical losers game bracket this past week to keep the St. George legion team alive in the state tournament. The legion team continued to win in the losers bracket and ended up in the championship game against Helper legion. St George won the first game in a 8-0 shutout and looked primed to win the deciding game. Carter actually got the start and left the game in the third behind 2-0. The relief pitching from the 4th to the 7th ended up giving up 7 more runs and we lost 9-0. Helper's pitcher threw a 1 hitter so he was the real story in this one.
Overall, St George legion went 6-2 in the state tournament and finished 25-10 so they had a real successful season. Carter went 3-2 with a 5.50 ERA in 31.3 innings pitched. His wins were against Price, Bear River and Herriman legion teams. His losses were against the Salt Lake Gulls travel team and the Helper legion. I was real proud of ol "White Lightening" for his efforts on the mound even with a sore arm.
Carter is a really good boy. He countinues to play the piano and played in the opening exercises of priesthood with Tybo Johnston leading the music. He played I Stand All Amazed for the priesthood brethren. Tybo then stood up on the pulpit and reported the legion games because Bishop Jones is a big fan of the sports the kids are involved in.
I do stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. The Hymn has played a big role in my life. I remember when I was hurt in the motorcycle accident when I was in the minor leagues and I returned home. I stayed at Kim's home and the following morning when I awoke I remember this hymn was playing in my mind. I remember feeling so sad for the events of the injury but felt the Lord's love for me in my life.
I do have a testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for us. Dallin, I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul. May God bless you in Vasteras and may you continue to be an instrument in His Hands.
Love,
Daddy Milne
Letter from Me this week:
God sees us in terms of forever; He sees us as glorious beings capable of becoming.
In the following video Apostles of Jesus Christ testify of the Savior's power to heal, change, and purify us through His Atonement.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-10-38-lifting-burdens?lang=eng
Dear Aldste Milne,
I hope this week has been a better one for you and no more nose bleeds. How are things in Vasteras? I hope you have recovered from your exorcism... What a hilarious experience. I am typing this email from Monticello, UT. I am at Uncle Cade's brother's house. They have a daughter serving in the Bulgaria/Turkey mission with President and Sister Wilstead. Aunt Julie and her family send their love. I have taken some fun pictures of Julie and her family that I wanted to attach to this email, but my Sprint service stinks here and I cannot email them to myself right now. I will put them on the blog and send them to you in a couple of days. Ty and I have been here since last night. We decided to stop in here and spend some time on our way to Steam Boat Springs, CO. The Lewis' are such a cute family. I am always so impressed with how well behaved their kids are and how sweet they are. Ty is having a blast with all the cousins. We attended church with them today, and Ty even helped Colton with fast offerings after church. Cami gave me a tour today of the farm. She is so cute. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. They have two full-sized trampolines next to each other in their front yard. Ty was in Heaven. I became a little nervous when they all started jumping off the roof onto the trampolines. Then Uncle Cade got on with them and things got really crazy. I can't believe no one got hurt!
This past week was spent following the St. George Legion Baseball team. I'm sure dad and Carter will tell you all about it. They did awesome! Carter pitched in a big quarter-final game midweek, and then again in the championship game. What an incredible experience he had. He did awesome! Of course we were sad to lose the championship game, but Carter certainly made some great contributions and at least gave them a chance to win. We just couldn't hit the ball. I am continually amazed at his perseverance. I honestly believe that most players would have quit long ago if they were Carter's size and didn't get the respect they deserved, but Carter has hung in there and it has paid off for him. I love the lessons we learn from baseball. This week Carter even told us of how he is learning to listen to the Spirit as he approaches pitching and he relies on the Lord in the face of adversity. He is also doing some missionary work with his teammates. He is a great kid. I can't believe he will be a Senior this year. Where has the time gone? Where are my little boys that used to spend hours making Lego-stop-motion movies or playing wiffle-ball in the backyard? I am so proud of the men you have become. Carter also had a big birthday this week. We didn't get to celebrate with him because he was in Logan, but his teammates sang to him as they put pie in his face. He had an awesome time up in Logan. They stayed all week in a huge cabin on a lake.
This week was also Aunt Irene's funeral. There weren't too many who attended, but it was wonderful to be with family. Both her daughters, Mary and Diane, spoke and did a wonderful job. It was fun to learn more about Aunt Irene and her 94 years of life. They thanked dad for remodeling the old adobe so she could go home before she died. I'm sure there are not too many 94 year olds who get to return to their childhood homes to spend the final days of their lives. Dallin, your contributions to remodeling that house will always be greatly appreciated. Cousin Diane has been staying with us for a few days before she heads back to Hawaii. We have been helping her look for jobs here because she wants to move back home. She has an interview Monday, so keep her in your prayers. She would be so blessed if she could be here around her family more.
Today dad, Carter, and Diane went to cousin Luke's ward to participate with him in blessing his baby girl Julia. That makes three girls for Luke. He is such a great dad. He even crocheted the blessing blanket for his new daughter. Dad said he gave a beautiful blessing and testimony today. They then went over to his house for a luncheon and had a nice visit with everyone. Adam's family was there and he said that Cooper asked about you and of course he gave everyone hugs. Jaden his oldest will be a freshmen this year at PVHS. He has his first high school golf tournament next week. He will be awesome. He has also been working out with Coach Eves this summer for basketball. Yay, there will be another Milne to cheer for.
Ty and I will be staying in Steamboat until next Saturday. We are sharing a really nice condo with Luke Green, Suzanne, and Maddie. I am excited to have some down time. I have a ton of work this week to do on the book, so when Ty isn't playing I will be writing. I will try and take some time to do some fun things like river rafting and going down the alpine slide. I am mostly looking forward to the cooler weather. It has bee so hot in St. George. We finally had some decent rain, but instead of cooling things off it just made it hotter and more humid. We are grateful for the moisture though. Can you believe that the kids go back to school on Monday, August 11th?
How has the work gone this week? Are you meeting many new people? How is the apartment working out with four missionaries being there? How big is the ward there? Are you being fed?
I pray that you are happy and well. I can't wait to hear from you! Take care of yourself and keep up the great work. You are awesome. Stay persistent and persevere. I know that it can become frustrating, but try to mix things up a bit and get a little creative. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Love you Dallin - Take care of yourself. Can't wait to hear from you!
Much Love,
Mom
#missingyou, #holdtotherod, #swedishfish, #sundaydinner, #familiesRforever
Letter From Aldste Milne:
Dear Milne Family,
Well I survived my first full week here in Västerås. It has been very hot here the last couple of days in the high 80's and even touched 90 here today, and the humid makes it seem about 100! So not like Sweden, everyone is freaking out haha. It has made me very excited for winter to come around again, as crazy as that sounds. I've decided that you can always add more layers to take care of the freezing cold but you always have to keep the long pants on with the collared shirt and tie. And we don't have a car here like we did in Karlskrona so we spend most of our time out walking or biking with me sweating like a dog. So uncomfortable. The good news is that it is already August so fall is right around the corner.
The work was pretty slow this week. I kind of knew going in that it wouldn't be like Umeå or Karlskrona but it still sucks not having a lot to do besides knock doors or street contact. Apparently a lot of people that they taught before I got here have been out of town and should be coming back in the next couple of weeks so hopefully it will pick up as the weather cools down later this month. One thing that we have been doing for morning exercise is biking to a beach close by and playing volleyball in the sand and American football out in the field. The city here had just remodeled the beach before I got here and it is way cool. We'll be going out there later tonight for a branch family home evening activity. But I like what you said about mixing things up and getting creative, we are currently trying to brainstorm some stuff that could maybe be more effective or at least more exciting then knocking down doors. The branch here is around the same size as karlskrona, about 40 who come every week. I blessed the sacrament this week as well without any mistakes so I redeemed myself from last week and hopefully got some respect back haha. I also bore my testimony later in the meeting because earlier in the meeting a young boy whose family was visiting from America went up and bore the classic 7 year old blessing in English just as loud as can be over the pulpit. I thought it was really cool though because it reminded me of how me and the brothers used to go up all the time and basically repeat the same simple testimony during fast sunday meetings. I then began to think about how my testimony has grown and matured over time and how it eventually took me here to Sweden where I was sitting. So I got up and just talked about how grateful I was for my testimony and for the guidance and peace it has brought in my life. My faith has been tried many times since I have been out here but it has always prevailed and grown stronger through those trials. What a blessing it is to have a strong testimony that keeps you on the straight and narrow.
That's cool to hear that everyone had a fun week. Sounds like Carter did a heck of a job on the mound. I still can't believe how big he has gotten! I'm sure he will sound completely different to me as well haha. And I am looking forward to hearing about Ty's steamboat experience next week. That is sweet that you stopped by Cade and Julie's on the way, they sure have done a great job with their family. That is exciting about Luke's family as well. When I think about the nicest guy in the world, Luke is definitely right up there contenting for the top. You really won't find a higher quality guy. But anyways, that is crazy that school is already coming right around the corner, Carter a senior and Ty an 8th grader. Wow.
Anyways that's about all I have to report this week, no exorcisms or missed trains, sorry. But speaking of that, as far as I know the exorcism worked because I haven't had a bloody nose or a headache since! But yeah, take care everyone and be safe during the traveling! Love and miss you all!
Love
Elder Milne
Beach Volleyball Complex
We teach an english class once a week to some of the more seasoned members of our branch. They are so sweet and we have a great time.
Cool Bridge Picture
Long Picture of the Beach Here
Cami doing an aerial from one trampoline to the other!
(Two trampolines - too lucky!)
Mya showing off her front flips
Ryan showing off his side flips
Ryan, Mya, and Cami on the Lewis Farm
Speckles the Dog
Rosco the Dog
The Three Amigos
The Lewis' are Wheat Farmers
The whole crew enjoying pillow fights with Cade (he's the dad).
Cade, Ty, Colton, Camden (another cousin), Shane, Ryan, Cami, and Mya
Ty trying to avoid being hit by Cade with his powerful pillow.
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