I've gone Country

OI!

My emails have gotten lame. I apologize. SOOO I decided to write things down so I remembered them when it came time to write. And guess what? I have like 5 million things in my planner. So... turns out life isn't as boring as I thought?

First things first, I am so glad little Rory has learned to count to 4! What a little smarty-pants! And she knows her colors! Maybe she can be an inventory specialist or something when she is older? I'm just thinking ahead you know? I can't believe she will be two before I get home! That little snot growing up without me!!!

Second things... second? There is this feminist woman who comes to church every week, but believes none of our doctrine? Not sure why she got baptized, but when I asked her if she knows the Book of Mormon is true she goes- "It's just a bunch of men! Even (some company) has a WOMAN C.E.O! Women are hidden like toadstools." HAHAHA. Tell me you aren't dying. I've been laughing about it for a week now. Don't worry, I zipped my lip.

Vitamin D. I bought a whole bunch of it, because the doctor told me maybe I had a deficiency and that's why I've been so exhausted. SO I forget to take it and I take it right before bed. Then I am up ALL night with this psychotic amount of energy. I'm pretty sure that was how I was at home? The winter blues is real. That's all.

I noticed in the ward newsletter that everyone described their country. Well, I only have Montana, but it might as well be it's own country. Here are a few of my favorite things!

-Venison at every meal. Elk meatloaf is my fave to date.

-Deer are everywhere- people consider them rodents, my first week here I was like OH MY GOODNESS A DEER! Now I am like... can we swerve and hit it? -It snows everyday. At some point it snows. We are like sopping wet dogs shuffling around everywhere.

-The phrase "no front teeth" is found in the area book. In EVERY area book.

-We have more technology than anyone here. We whip out those little Ipads to teach lessons and people are in SHOCK.

-I have now used ice melt so much I know the perfect ratio, AND I can shovel snow faster than anyone else, obviously I'm considering entering a contest.

Compliment corner: (1) I was told I was "Really profound for a young twenties ditzy California girl." Compliment? Right? (2) I was told I'm a "day-walker?" AKA I'm losing my soul on my mission. Everyone calls me a ginger. I've finally given in and accepted my fate.

I was on exchanges with the Sister Training Leader this weekend... SISTER CHRISTENSEN my trainer! And we had a BALL! We decided to blitz Whitefish, then tract the rest of the day ourselves. Needless to say we found a ton of new investigators! It is crazy how prepared some people are, they just don't even know they are looking! We ran into this couple Charlie and Paula who are from California. They know lots of Mormons, but they said they had never had the missionaries over! We thought we must have accidentally ran into members when we knocked they were SO excited to see us! Sister Christensen turned to me and asks- do you know them?! No....? Well we taught them the first lesson on the spot and they committed to coming to church. Now here is the thing with that... It's a Canadian holiday, and we have the best skiing around. AKA our chapel plus overflow didn't have enough room for all the Canadians and they had to do TWO sets of sacrament stuff! So they may or may not have come? Rough problem to have right?

Then there is Trevor. He is dating a woman in the ward and has been coming for a while now. He didn't want to meet with the missionaries, but his girlfriend knows people in Mesa and we may or may not be best friends now. Point is, he loves me, and let us come over. We taught him the first lesson and he said he hasn't found any holes yet, and he is so confused why everyone hates the Mormons when they know nothing about it. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it. AKA GOLDEN. We are stoked.

Final words of wisdom. A brother in the ward shared this little gem in sacrament this week- "Take advantage of the situation you find yourself in." AND I called someone in the area book, when she asked how I got her number I said... "an old book?" Sister Christensen practically chokes to death holding down laughter.

Woahhh, sorry I'll stop there. Enough Sister Mills for the week eh?

Love you and miss you terribly.

Sister Haley K. Mills

I am a lot tougher than I thought

My VISA. I just looked and yeah, it says it's done! I haven't heard anything, so we'll have to wait and see. Travel plans take like 3 weeks I've heard, but who knows. They just had transfers in the mission down there, so I could be here for another 6 weeks if they wait for that!

Jenn is having a girl! Tell her I say congrats and her and Jamie will have to fight over the name Haley JR. Also, I got some emails about AAA getting preggers again so I'm glad that went public with a bang! Are we thinking A^4 for the next one or what's the plan there?

Oh nooo I HAVE been living under a rock! We didn't even know it was the winter olympics til just barely! And JAY LENO!?! NOOOO! Just kidding never watched that. Long hair don't care. But glad he finally gets to retire. Tell him congrats too? OH and we know the parents of "Ethan Thompson" who is currently on American Idol! They are in our ward and we were talking about all the people in the olympics from Whitefish and they mentioned we also have a star on American Idol. Soooo look him up, not that we heard his stuff, but Dad it's super hipster, you would love it.

Umm we have zero time today, because it is ZONE PREPARATION DAY! Although all my favorite missionaries can't even come. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Nevertheless we get to play!!!

We had an amazing missionary week, 2 people came to church who were not yet investigators and accepted the invite to take the lessons. We accidentally got stuck in 2 feet of snow and I learned how to use 4 wheel drive LOW? Whatever that is. We have a Chevy Colorado. We also got stuck up to our thighs in snow going to a sketchy house in the boondocks (it was -20 degrees) when the river soaked up through and I literally got stuck to the snow and probably almost got hypothermia. Also, the house looked like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and when we got to the door it was nailed shut, but we KNOW there was someone inside. 

UHH OUT OF TIME, but I love you and miss you dearly! And don't worry about me, I've learned so far this transfer that I am a lot tougher than I thought. 

Sister Haley K. Mills

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Let me teach you a little story about the boy who cried wolf. Or maybe the TRAVEL OFFICE who cried wolf? AKA I still don't have my VISA or an update to my knowledge. Supposedly once you do get your VISA it takes 3 weeks for your travel plans and everything. I've decided to drop the subject til I've got those travel plans in my clammy man-sized hands.

Also- SURPRISE Whitefish is maybe the coldest place on the planet. And we have practically zero investigators so we do a lot of tracting. [Note- the guy next to me in the library just told me it is supposed to be 20 below tomorrow night? Oh joyyyy.] And by practically zero investigators I mean the two we did have both had panic attacks this week and dropped us? They don't know each other, but we are thinking of setting them up as friends? We also had these two SOLID potentials who turned out to live right out of our boundaries. Curse Kalispell. Just kidding. Bringing souls unto Christ no matter where they live is our goal!

For the first time in my entire mission my companion was sick and I wasn't! [Sorry for the morbid exclamation point, but I am ALWAYS the sickly one! Shout out to Sister Helm who always called me a "hydrochondriac"] Yesterday Sister Wilbert passed out into a chair at church. Of course I forced her to go to our lunch appointment, but after we went home and she slept until today. Which is code for I was SUPER spiritually edified for hours. Being sick at home is sort of fun when you can watch television... luckily we have internet in our apartment and I got to watch mormon messages for 4 hours? ...after reading all of Alma? It's fiiiine.

I'm trying to think of any funny stories or miracles this week. The longer you are on your mission the more those things just become common place. Erry day we see miracles, and erry day we do stupid/hilarious things. It's a way of life really. Being a missionary is so awkward sometimes all you can do is look at yourself and LAUGH. 

Love you MUITO,

Sister Haley K. Mills

Whitefish, Blackfish, Redfish, Bluefish!

Our ward mission leader's wife was driving to work in her Bronco. When she looks over to see Nicole Kidman staring her down at a stop light. It's Whitefish. That's all.

This has been the hardest week of my mission. I won't lie. I'm definitely not best friends with this companion. AKA pray for my VISA? I would give you details, but when you warned me a couple of weeks ago about companions and I laughed because I hadn't had a problem. You were definitely inspired. Oh well, the stories I'll be able to tell when I get home about almost being punched during a Friday night planning session. What I've learned though, is without adversity our character would never be tested. Heavenly Father puts us in situations to learn and grow, wherever that may be.

I was reminded this week of a story President Price (Missoula Stake Presidency) told us at the beginning of last transfer at a missionary breakfast. There is a road next to his house that is maybe at a 45 degree angle. Every couple of days during the winter the snows melt and this road becomes a literal death trap. Parents will go to pick up their kids from various play dates at the bottom of the road only to find they can't get back up. Try as they might they slip and slide and end up rolling back down the hill into Bishop Olsen's driveway. So when they are home they pull out their chains and drag the vehicle up the hill with their truck. President Price went on to explain that sometimes we need that little push. We can almost do it alone, but we need a little extra help from our brothers and sisters. And we as missionaries get the opportunity to be that pull for people. So we leave the breakfast and as we go up the hill Sister Armknecht and I start to fall. All the missionaries run up and start pushing us up this hill. At the end we were all laughing as we realized that even missionaries need a little push sometimes. That went from story to object lesson real fast.

Miracles of the week:

 We stopped by this less active's house "Sharon." And as we go to say a closing prayer her neighbor "Rachel" comes in. Sharon asks Rachel if she wants to pray with us and she says absolutely. So I pray with ALL my heart that I'll say whatever she needs to hear during this prayer. At the end she goes... I just got goosebumps. Afterwards Sharon told us she has been helping them out with some health stuff and was looking for a church. She found this church she loves, but it's only in Whitefish and she has been concerned about what to do if she ever moves. We made a return appointment when Rachel could be there and we are stoked. Some people are looking for the truth and just "know not where to find it."

"Saul." Such a biblical name. We are completely out of miles for the month as usual, and we were driving home on Saturday night. We only had enough miles to get home and it was 8:00 so we couldn't just tract. I ask Sister Wilbert who lives close by that we can visit literally on the way home. She mentions someone who lives right off the road, but hadn't been answering our phone calls all week "Danielle". So we drop in, she lives in the smallest trailer I've ever seen, so we have no where to sit, but she had a friend over named Saul. As we try to share a message I feel inspired to tell Saul what we are sharing the message from- "The Book of Mormon." He asks what the Book of Mormon is about and I then explain the story of Lehi leaving Jerusalem and essentially all the stories until Jacob. The spirit was SO strong so I say- would you be baptized? He goes- why do I need to be baptized? I say- why did Jesus Christ need to be baptized? He drops his head for a second and goes- a light just went off in my mind and the spirit is so strong. I think there is something to this. Let me think about it for just one evening. The next day he showed up at church. He ran away after sacrament with the explanation that he needed to digest all the information (aka he got to come on the week that they talked about baptisms for the dead? They should really submit all talks to us for approval.) I don't know where Saul's journey will take him, but I know I felt the hand of God in his life that night and I know he felt it too. The spirit led us there I am sure of it. Afterwards I had to thank Heavenly Father for letting us run out of miles. It always turns out to be a blessing in disguise.

There are actually like twelve more, but just know that this was a week of miracles- as all weeks are. We just have to look for them and remain faithful. 

I love you so much and hope everything on the home front is going well. I know I never give you homework, but would you read about Abenadi this week? His story can remind us all that we stand for something, and that what we do effects others. Abenadi may have felt his mission was lost when he was killed, but little did he know Alma was converted through his testimony. Only to propel the WHOLE list of miracles that then ensue from that.

I love you!

Sister Haley K. Mills

 

 

White Fish Bound...

So just when you've got a good thing going...

The spirit guides. As in it guides you straight to White Fish for transfers. That's right. For the first time ever. I am being transferred on an actual transfer. In fact. All three of us are. 12 days. The ward is furious, but the Lord's plans always make more sense in retrospect. When I look back on all the places I have been so far- I remember being upset when I left Cody, I remember being upset when I left the institute, I remember being numb when I left 3 ward. Not to say I didn't know it was the Lord's plan, but looking back I KNOW it was the Lord's plan. I know the people I have touched and that have touched my life were there with me in the right place at the right time.

I sincerely love my companions. I am sad to see Sister Jackson go to Townsend and Sister Sherratt leave me for my beloved Wyoming (Worland though, not Cody), but I know that we made the impact on each other that we were supposed too. That we learned and grew from each other. And laughed. Well mainly we just laughed. A lot.

So I bet you can guess, this week has been CRAY. We received like 50 referrals. And had ZERO time to contact any of them. We went to this house to visit a former investigator only to find out that she had moved. Instead we found a woman named "Alysa." When we realized it was the wrong person we go- Oh, well can we come in? She goes- Sure! And opens the door and just walks into her house. So the 4 of us are just standing in her foyer all awkwardly until I finally say- well do you have a couch or something? HAHA. We teach her the first lesson and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. 

 

 

Missionary work is sometimes so uncomfortable, but I've learned when I do things out of the ordinary good things come. The out of the ordinary part was obviously just standing in her foyer awkwardly for 5 minutes. 

We met this other woman this week named "Elizabeth." Now. Let me help you to understand why she is my new favorite investigator of all times. She wants to know more about the church because her HERO Mitt Romney is a member which must mean it's true. Not kidding. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it on the basis that if Mitt Romney was a part of it... it must be stellar. We are obviously best friends now. We aren't allowed to talk about politics, so I sat on my hands, and beamed. Legit.

As for my Portuguese. Eu practico todas as dias! ...quasi. Sundays are hard, we have MINIMAL study time! 

Love you and miss you muito!

Sister Haley K. Mills

Transfers, Companions, and Throw up

I threw up probably for the first time in like 5 years. And then I threw up some more. And more. So much so that my new companions got special permission to go out without me. Then me, the hangout-a-holic that I am, ripped myself out of bed the next day to make sure I didn't miss anything. AKA I walked around like a missionary zombie and infected people. Awful for business. Sorry not sorry. The missionary work must go on! 

My new companions. What to say what to say. We will start with Sister Sherratt. She is 20 and from Diamond Bar, California. She is a temple square sister who just got sent here for her 3 months of a "real mission!" Yeah... I just said that. She came out on her mission the same day as me, but so far her whole mission has been tours and mormon.org chats, so it is a HUGE change for her. She is also crazy. Like... louder and more talkative than me. It's a little insane. But I kind of love it? Also fun fact she made it on American Idol a couple of years ago, but broke security by telling someone so she got kicked off. AKA she is my twin. In being a blabber mouth NOT in singing skills obviously. Sister Jackson is my other companion. She is 30 and from La Mesa, California. She is the sane one. Very... very sane. And possibly our mother? She has been out for 5 weeks and she has already cleaned up my vomit like a CHAMP. I'd say her training is more extensive than most peoples. HAAA. 

So with everything going on we haven't gotten to do much, BUT we did move into our new ward, which is Missoula SECOND WARD! WOOO! We got lost one day and met a crazy hoarder woman who didn't want to hear about the gospel, but wanted to show us all of her hoardings? We also almost got crashed into by an SUV fishtailing on PACKED SOLID ICE. We helped them escape with some ice melt and a little directional push (and some prayers and gospel talk). Then WE almost ran into others on the same road trying to leave our dinner appointment? Really a perfect week all around!

Boring for days. It's okay though, because I have become boring myself? It's missionary work all day everyday over here.

LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU MUITO!

Ice Ice Baby...

Uhhh.

So...

Sister Armknecht is getting mid transfer adjusted! :( We just found out through an email from President. She is getting sent to train two other sisters in a tripanionship in Bozeman. She is perfect for the job, but I will miss her dearly. She's quiet, but man that sister CAN TEACH. The spirit always abounds where she's involved. Funny story with her- we visited this house to look for someone. Turned out to be a group home? She goes, "What's a group house?" HAHAHA. After I tell her she panics and the whole rest of the night every prayer was- thank you for our safety. thank you for this safe car. thank you for our safe house... HILARIOUS.

Speaking of hilarious. I slipped on ice and landed STRAIGHT on my back (movie style) twice this week. I don't think Montana is my place? HAHA. The first time we were at a less actives house and her 3 year old daughter comes out yelling "ARE YOU OKAY?!" Over and over while I just laugh and laugh. Sister Armknecht thought she'd have to take me to the hospital FOR SURE. The second time it was at the ward mission leader's house and I fell out of the car onto my back. My legs were straight in the air. It wasn't very lady like. I was just so excited to see our ward mission leader (Who had been out of town for 3 weeks.) You don't realize how lonely missionary work is until you are LITERALLY doing it alone.

We had the coolest experience this week! We were tracting (because we dropped our two most progressing investigators this week) and we came up to this house where we had previously chatted with a 13 year old girl. We knock on the door and her older brother answers (around 18 years old) all of the sudden the first thing out of my mouth is, " Do you think there could be prophets now days like there were in Bible times?" (Not something we ever start a conversation out with?) And he goes... "Yeah, actually, I was just thinking about that lately." BOOOM. Then his mom came out and yelled at us and pulled her son inside, but it was amazing knowing that I had asked an inspired question without even knowing it. The Holy Ghost really does put what we should say in our hearts and minds. In the very minute, in the very hour which we need it!

 

Love you muito muito muito!

Sister Haley K. Mills