Sweden Here I Come!

Sweden Here I Come!

Monday, October 13, 2014

All is Well in Vasteras!

Monday, Monday.... Here you are again and I'm so happy!  Dallin sounds great and the work is progressing.  It is hard to believe that he has less than a month to his year mark.  Which shirt are you going to burn Dilly-Dall?  Please send pictures!  I truly can't believe how quickly it is going by.  It will be over before you know it so make the best of it.  Dad and I are looking forward to making the trip to pick you up! If anyone wants to join us start saving your money and let us know.  Make sure you have your passports.  We want to spend some time touring much of Europe, particularly Sweden, England, and Scotland.  We have been enjoying family history stories and would love to visit the places our ancestors are from. I think it is fascinating to learn from whence we came!  We both have been blessed with a rich heritage.  I am still waiting for Halloween party pictures to be forwarded to me.  I will most likely post them next week. Have a wonderful week Dallin and all those who are reading this!  I am loving this Fall weather! Goodbye heat!!!!

Blaine's Letter:

Hello Dallin Boy

I am finding the best time to write you a letter is during the week.  Today is Saturday morning and I have finished a long week at work.  I find that having completed the work this week that I have been greatly blessed in many ways.  Simply by seeing how things worked out have shown me the Lord's involvement.

The Apostle Paul defines charity as longsuffering, is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,  is not easily provoked,  thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth.

He also says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And thou I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, I am nothing."   

Paul's discourse on charity has been a huge theme for me this week.  I am sure you have had a great week with charity too. 

Moroni says, "If ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth.  Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail.  But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever;  and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."

He goes on to say, "Pray unto the father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he has bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope;  that we may be purified even as he is pure."

Today being Saturday and knowing that today you have a baptism scheduled,  your day must be filled with charity.  So talking about charity is appropriate.  May your baptism go well and help us all be reminded who's name we take upon ourselves at baptism and renew during sacrament meeting each Sunday.

Have a splendid day.

Love,

B. G. Milne


Aldste Milne's Response:


Hello Doc Milne

 
Glad to hear about another successful week grinding in the dental office.  Even better to see that you recognized the Lord's hand in your success (D&C 59:21).  That is what is most important, that we show our gratitude to the Lord no matter what our circumstances may be.  That is one of the big lessons that I have learned as a missionary.


I really like your comments on charity.  We actually taught young men's yesterday on charity as the pure love of Christ.  Like the scriptures say, everything else faileth except for charity, therefore it is the greatest of all.  That is what the Lord will be looking for in us when we see him again.  And developing charity is a life long commitment.  One of the biggest blessings of the mission for me is the chance to begin to try to develop these Christ-like attributes and to trust that the Lord will strengthen me in my weaknesses as I try to follow his example (Ether 12:27).
 
Thanks for the nice words Dad.  I'm excited to hear about the upcoming hunting trip. 
 

Love,
Dallin
 
My Letter:
 
"Gird up your loins, fresh courage take, our God will never us forsake." (Come, Come Ye Saints, Hymn #30)

C.S. Lewis observed that "courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point.... Pilate was merciful until it became risky."

Moroni had such great courage in remembering which way he faced that it was said of him, “If all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” (
Alma 48:17). (Taken from Elder Robbins Saturday morning session talk of General Conference)

Dear Elder Milne,

I pray this finds you happy and well, and feeling loved beyond measure by your family and your Heavenly Father.  We are always so excited to hear how your week has unfolded.  We miss you so much, especially on Sundays, but we are so grateful for the many sacrifices you have made to hasten the work in Sweden.  We are so proud of you!  We pray that you are readily recognizing the blessings of missionary service and the eternal impact it is having upon you and your testimony.  We have surely been blessed as a family for your service.  There is very little that compares to the special spirit we feel in our home that we know comes as a direct result from having a missionary in the field.  We are so grateful for the foundation that you are laying and the pattern of Christlike service you are establishing for the remainder of your life and throughout eternity.  What a blessed opportunity you have been given. Way to go Big "D"!

For at least two weeks leading up to conference I had the theme of fresh courage on my mind.  Every morning after I would pray for the sustaining and enabling power of the atonement to help me fulfill my many responsibilities throughout the day the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" would be playing in my mind, particularly the phrase, "gird up your loins, fresh courage take, our God will never us forsake." I began to ponder on the concept of fresh courage. I began to realize that it is fresh courage that is required every day of our lives.  I am inspired by the pioneers for whom this hymn was written.  At the close of everyday as they said their bed time prayers I am certain they thanked their Heavenly Father for sustaining them through another day, I am also certain that each morning as they knelt to pray they asked for fresh courage - a renewed courage to make it through whatever trials lay ahead that day.  I was so impressed with Elder Robbins talk in General Conference.  It is so important to remember which way we face, and to not allow the world to turn us in another direction.  It takes courage, fresh courage, everyday to stand up for what we believe in and to stand with the prophets and apostles.  It takes courage to be a missionary each day.  I am certain that you daily face many trials and much adversity.  Remember to have fresh courage - ask for it from your Heavenly Father.  Remember the quote we had above our dining room table in Minnetonka?  It read, "We Can Do Hard Things."  I would today change that quote to "We Can Do ALL Things in the Strength of the Lord."  Keep up the great work Dallin!  Have faith and be courageous!

This week has been your typical week at the Milne home.  Dad is still working too many hours, but loves it. I am still crazy-busy with my young women's calling and school (thankfully Candace is coming on Tuesdays to help me with house cleaning for a few hours) I am also studying for the GRE and I spent some time at the DOVE center volunteering.  It is a crisis center for women and children who have been abused and/or sexually assaulted.  Carter is finally over his fever, but I had to take him to the doctor because he has some inflammation in a thigh bone that is causing him a bunch of pain.  He seems to be healing.  He is a little frustrated because it is so close to basketball tryouts, but I am confident he will be better in no time.  He has actually been studying for the ACT.  He needs to increase his score by one point in order to receive the presidential and regent's scholarships which are worth about $37,000.00 so I told him he had better get with it!  Ty has been playing a lot of basketball this week and he will be getting into some fall baseball starting next week.  Dad and I went to a fun Halloween costume party last night at the Johansen's.  I went as Cleopatra and he went as a Dentist (truly the scariest person anyone could be - right?)  We were an odd couple, but when we were introduced to the group Dad explained that Egyptian history is wrought with dentistry.  The first implant was actually performed by ancient Egyptians as well as the waxing technique still used today for crowns, etc..  I told the partygoers that your dad performed his first root caNILE on me and that drew a laugh.  We had a lot of fun.  By the end of the evening dad was already planning our costumes for next years party - LOL.  PVHS beat Hurricane this week in football.  Their final region game is on Wednesday.

Bishop Jones and Blake Ence are our home teachers.  They visited with us tonight.  Bishop Jones brought dad a family history book on George Jarvis.  Bishop Jones and Dad are both great, great grandsons of George Jarvis.  He is the one who did the exterior walls of the St. George temple as well as being the one responsible for placing the baptismal font in place.  Dad learned tonight that George Jarvis' wife, Ann Pryor, is of royal descent.  Her father was the illegitimate son of Prince Edward of England.  His mother was a maid for the royal family and once they discovered she was pregnant by Prince Edward they released her from her duties.  She never told her son who his father was until she was on her death bed.  Before this was known everyone always told Ann Pryor that she looked just like Queen Victoria who actually was her aunt.  Very interesting stuff!!!!

We are planning to go deer hunting this next weekend.  We are going to rent a trailer and head to the hills.  I will be the chief cook and dishwasher I'm sure.  It will be a fun family outing.  We will leave Friday night and stay through Monday.  We will have some adventures to share next week I am sure of it!

Please let us know all about your week.  I hope your baptism turned out well. I am so excited to hear about you and Alf's many adventures.  Take care of yourself Dallin.  My thoughts and prayers are with you always. 

All My Love,

Mom

Dallin's Response:


Dear Milne Family,


Another week come and gone.  The days are getting more and more blurred together it seems like.  Which is good I guess, time is flying.  Transfer calls were this last Saturday.  We didn't get a call but the other Västerås elders did.  Elder Hansen will be leaving and we'll get Elder Zaugg (who was my last companion in Karlskrona) to join our four man apartment.  I'm sad to see Hansen go but I'm excited to get to hangout with Zaugg again, we had a really good time together in Kkrown.  I must have been unclear about it in my last letter but the baptism is this coming Saturday.  But the other two elders had a baptism this last Saturday and it all went well.  All of the members here in Västerås are getting really excited about all the success that we have been having lately.  Yesterday in sacrament meeting we had 6 investigators show up.  There were too many to keep track of haha.  I think a lot of it has been because we have been working well lately with the mission leader and members.  Everyone is all fired up.

 
I liked your comments on fresh courage.  It is definitely true what you said about how we need fresh courage every day of our lives.  It is especially true as a missionary haha.  It is always hard to just stop random people on the street and talk about God in such an atheist land.  But when we decide to be courageous throughout the day by opening our mouths wherever we are, the Lord blesses us in many ways and guides us to the prepared.  This week we were blessed with a super positive referral from mormon.org.  Whenever we get these I am always a little skeptical because a lot of times they will just be pranks but this Swedish lady we met was no joke!  She has a good friend in the states who is a Mormon who had recently started talking to her over facebook about the church after general conference.  Those wonderful talks on missionary work must have inspired him.  But anyways, she liked what she heard from him and ordered up a pair of missionaries to come visit her haha.  We had a very powerful first discussion with her and she is very excited to learn more and find out for herself the truthfulness of our message.  Teaching the prepared sure makes life a lot easier.  And things are looking really good for the baptism on Saturday.  We will finish teaching the commandments tonight with him and start making the program.  He will be turning 19 and has already talked about wanting to serve a mission.  We are so excited for him.  

 
Sounds like all is well at home.  Hopefully Carter will be in good shape for tryouts though.  You guys have no idea how excited I am to hear about basketball season.  And that is good that he is getting geared up for the ACT.  Sounds like he has his head on straight.  Be sure to tell Ty to enjoy his last couple of middle school years before the grades get too serious haha.  And that is funny about the Halloween party, you should definitely put some pictures of that on the blog or send them to me if you have any.  Glad to know that you guys are having a good time.  That sure is nice of Candance to be helping out as well.  I hope she is enjoying Dixie!  And I will be looking forward to hearing about this upcoming hunting trip and seeing some pictures.  Gosh that makes me so jealous and quite home sick honestly haha.  But I'll get through it I guess.  

I am healthy and happy.  Some days are better than others but I am really liking Västerås and I am excited to be able to stay here another 6 weeks with Alf.  He sure is a good kid.  This whole training experience has been so good for me.  Thanks for the letter and thanks for the love.

Med Kärlek 

Äldste Milne
 
This Week's Photos:
 
 
 
I love the bright colors and the streets


 
District meeting at Pizza Hut


 
It's Definitely Fall in Sweden
 
More Beautiful Fall Photos
 
 
Beautiful
 
 
Gotta throw in an occasional selfie


1 comment:

  1. Big D is looking good and sounding good. All your letters sound good and uplifting. I'm excited that you are going deer hunting this weekend. Have a great time. I love all the pictures of Sweden and the bright colors. You should print and save one of those awesome pictures in your house along with Blaine's letter honoring you Natalie. Love to all. Kimbo

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