...therefore what?

Still here in Montana.

This week has been... testimony building. To say the least. I was sick (whaaa? You aren't surprised?)  The good news is I had a flu. Meaning it wasn't some crazy random sickness. And I am not going insane. I was on the phone with one of the Zone Leaders and he goes- "well have you been eating sugar?" I look down at my third dairy free ice cream bar and slowly put it behind my back... "nooo...yes?" "Well sugar feeds a sickness!" Whoooops. Fruity Pebbles for breakfast everyday is probably a bad idea then???

The better news is I feel WAY better and to kick off my improved health the whole zone went snowshoeing all day yesterday! In Glacier Park... in the negatives.... don't worry, we prayed I wouldn't relapse.

After snowshoeing we went to the Shaws (senior couple) and had a devotional. It was so cute. Reminded me a little of home. Not often do we take some "us time" and regroup. Holy cow did I need it though. BAAAAD. My companion has started a public (aka the whole ward even knows?) counting down until transfers. In case you were wondering... EIGHT DAYS. We can do it right? If I can survive this companionship I literally can survive anything. (Famous last words) I've just been practicing all of my Christ-like attributes, that's the only thing I CAN do. And I pray for her like... all day errr day. And I am NEVER praying for patience again. Everyone only has to learn that lesson once!

So I know this week is sounding lack luster- but let me tell you about our favorite investigator "Trevor." He is SOOO prepared. I don't know if I mentioned him last week, but he just gets it. We talked to him about the fact that we lived with our Father in Heaven before we came here and he just jumped on that. He was like- well I'd never thought of where we came from, but it only makes sense, since we all believe we "return there." 

Then... we addressed some concerns he had with the age of the Book of Mormon. Which turns out lots of people are concerned? Who knew? He thought Joseph Smith wrote it in the 1800s. We cleared it up for him that it was a record of ancient peoples and prophets JUST LIKE THE BIBLE. His mind was blown. Obviously. {And fyi- I just taught the whole first lesson to the guy sitting next to me who thought the same thing apparently? So sorry if this message is a little disjointed, DUTY CALLS.}

We also go to the addiction recovery program every Tuesday night (which turns out I LOVE! I don't even know what I'm addicted too [food? whaaa?], but it is just so inspiring! I leave there going- WE CAN DO IT! THE WORLD IS OUR OYSTER) anywayyyy, we ran into a less active family who had been ignoring our attempts to stop by. WELL they apparently were just as stoked as I, for they invited us over! We are now teaching them and their son (who is not a member) every Thursday. I love it when people have a desire to change and just want our help!

"...therefore what?" - President Mecham says that all the time. What have you learned lately? ...therefore what? What are you going to do with it. The principles of the gospel are meant to be lived, not just talked about. I invite you this Sunday after your lessons to ask yourself the question ...therefore WHAT?! It'll change your life. 

You're welcome in advance. 

I love you and miss you! 

Sister Haley K. Mills

 

 

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