Week 64: 4 Seasons Every Day, Remembering Bishop Ryan, General Women's Conference, What Are You Giving To Christ This Year?....

Well we are experiencing all four seasons in one day! It starts out all pretty and perfect, like spring. Then by lunch we are dying of heat, like summer, and then right after lunch (I mean right after) it pours like no other, I mean there are rivers in the street! It´s not really like autum, but we will just say that it is. And then in the night it is soo cold that is is almost like winter. Well really, it is more like autum, but for the sake of the story it is winter. Jajaja. We have gotten soo wet these past few days, we had to return to the house to change because we where just sooooo wet and it was so cold. What can I say it is an adventure every day. :) There is a saying in the mission, that every time we are out working in the rain our future husband gets better looking. Well by this point, I should be marrying an Aman or Nefi. Jaja. 

This week we helped a family prepare their new house so they could move. It was fun I got to use plaster and it riminded me of Bishop Ryan a bit, but ssshhh don´t tell him that. jaja. 

This week we also had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the General Women´s broadcast! Woohoo! It was the best! I was really touched by the video of all the testimonies of the temple. Especially one about a young girl who her mom passed away, and the girl and her family got baptised and then she went and did the temple work for her mom. That story really hit me hard, because right before the conference we were visiting with a mom and her daughter and they told us their story and five months ago the father had passed away. The mom was a less activ and her daughter just got baptised. It really struck me that, these conferences are made to touch the heart of every person. Just like that message was especially for that family, there is always something that is directed epicifically to YOU. You just have to be prepared to recieve it. 

One of the other talks that really struck me was just a one liner, it wasn´t even the main theme of the talk but she just said "make a Christmas gifot for Christ"  and well we still have time between now and Christmas but I want to leave you all with the challenge to pick something that you want to do to give a gift to Christ this Christmas. It could be many things, give up something or even better make a habbit of doing something good or do something special for you Savior this Christmas. There is pleanty of time to decide and start doing it so. Go for it! I still have yet to decide but I leave you with that challenge and I will be home around Christmas to ask you all in person so you can´t just ignore my followups! :P jaja

There are trully many many miracles in every day. Are you prepared to see and reconize them?

LOVE YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH!!! 

Hna Milligan

Week 63: A Long Awaited Baptism, John 4:37, 2 More Transfers...

Well this week we were able to finish with a very beautiful baptism of a wonderful sister named Inés. 

So for starters this ward has quite a few eternal investigators, that in many cases are more active than actual members. Hna Inés was one of those. But because of a chain of, what some may call, unfortunate events, and what others would call miracles, she was at last able to be baptised. She had been waiting 3 years! Right three years, she had only missed one or two sundays in the whole process, and she was just waiting for the time to come when she could be baptised. And Septemper 20, 2014 came. During the whole process I was reminded of a scripture John 4:37. More or less it says, that to some it is to plant and others to harvest. My companion and I have been planing A LOT and we were given the oportunity to harvest. Honestly she knew everything, she knows more than some members, and so we just set up the interview with the DL and yeah. Lights. Camera. Action. She was just ready. It was such a special experience, she had been waiting for quite some time and at last it came. It goes to show that, truly, it is soo important to keep on keepin´on. Keeping the commandments even when you don´t see the results(blessings) you want right away. Sometimes we have to wait 3 years or more. But the blessings will come.

So that was the high light of the week. The funny moment of the week: when an investigator told us that he milked a dog. Umm Akward....jajajaja we died laughing, the poor hermana that came with us was dying of laughter. That was one of the funniest things ever! I can´t look at the dogs the same anymore. Bajaja. 

So, this week we had interviews with Pres. Christensen, and well he told me that I have two transfers left. Ouch. What did I say? "Presidente, that hurts more when you say it." Honestly, the time is going by so fast, but in the words of a very wise person I know "the mission is the MTC for life" I feel like I am being prepared to become someone far better than I was, maybe there won´t be much of a change but I feel like I am being molded so much in this time. This is truly the Lord´s work here on the earth. It is the most amazing ever. 

I love you all sooo much and hope you have a wonderful week and keep on keepin´on! SMILE!

les amo,

Hna Milligan

Week 62: WWJD?, Listen To The Still Small Voice, And I Found A Hobbit Hole Here In Middle Earth...

Oh the good ´ol What Would Jesus Do. I have been thinking about that a lot in these past days. How would Jesus respond to critisms? How would He handle a bad day? What would He do if he wasn´t feeling well? That has been a big motivating factor this past week. We are here to follow His example  and to do as He would. Work on becoming more and more like Him. It is hard but if we continue in a life of repentance it is more and more possible.

So I just want to share a little experience with you. So Sunday I felt the need to bring a Book of Mormon with me to church, normaly I have a lot more books to carry in my backpack and we are in meetings most of the day so I almost didn´t give heed to  this small impression. But in the end I put in in my backpack. Half way through the sunday meetings. They call us out of Gospel Principles to talk to a señora. Turns out she is a member from the Galapogos islands and she came here to recieve an opperation but didn´t have time to bring her book of mormon and she just asked us if we had one so she could read it while she was recovering in the hospital. And well, I had that book of mormon in my backpack.

And we gave it to her and she went about her way  but trully it was an amazing experience for me to help me recognize the promptings of the Spirit. It is a lot of the time hard to recognize these small, quite promptings. But we are blessed when we listen. I know that this is the Lord´s true church, restored on the Earth. I know that God answers prayers and that he wants to guide us in this time. For this we have Prophets. This is an amazing Gospel and I am soo grateful for the opportunity to help others in the Gospel.

Love you all soo much and I hope you have a geat week! REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR.

Hna MIlligan

After a year of exploring and adventuring I have finally found evidence that Ecuador is trully "Middle Earth".... IT¨S A HOBBIT HOLE!!

Week 61: Broom Of Destruction and Other Funny Translations, "Oiga Gringa!", Just Keep Smiling....

So for starters reading Isaiah in spanish makes it funny. I was reading this week and in 2Nefi 24:23. In english it almost doesn´t make sense (at least for me) but in spanish is says "escoba de destrucción" I about died during personal study. It was soo funny! I love translating some of the things here. There is a street here that is called "Josefina Barba" barba means beard, so Josefina has the last name beard. I don´t know if anyone else finds that funny but I do. Or a church that is called "La iglesia del Señor de los puentes" o sea the church of the Lord of the bridges. It makes me think of Lord of the Rings but with bridges.... I don´t know if anyone else is going to find any of that funny but así es.  

This week has been really full of funny experiences. We were with an investigator and he asked us "If I am chastity, where do babies come from?" Oh my goodness, I know it wasn´t very profecional but we couldn´t help it and Hna Negro and I laughted out loud. It didn´t help when he tried hitting on the hermana that went with us that day. But wait. It gets better. I was saying something, I don´t remember what but the investigator interrupts with some other topic and so trying to bring it back to topic I interrupt him and what does he say "Oiga gringa escúcheme!" Or in english "Hey gringa listen to me!" I died laughing to this day my companion says "Oiga gringa!" Oh good times. It is always great to find the funny in life and there is a lot of it here. And remember SMILE (Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal) 2Nefi 9:39. We have something that others don´t even know they want and if you smile when you´re happy and smile when you are sad they will begin to wonder what they are missing and what it is that you have. You have no idea the power of a smile. 

I love you all so much and I want you all to know it! Keep SMILIN´!

Les amo mucho!

Hna Milligan 

Week 60: Pleasant Surprise, Making It Through 2 Nephi,

Hot dogs Chulean style!

My hot dog!

So we had a very pleasant surprise this week. One of the investigators that we were visiting she is about 75, and has problems with her back, told us that we shouldn´t keep visiting her for a list of reasons. And when we left we were a little mad because they were all just excuses. But we stopped visiting her and then a week later we both had the impression to go back and visit her. And when we knocked on the door she came out says "Heavenly Father listens to my prayers! I was praying that you would come back!" She then tells us that she can hardly remember how to recite prayers anymore because she has been praying like having a conversation with God. It was such a sweet experience and she is a really sweet lady, she has a lot of fear when it comes to getting baptized because her back hurts her a lot but we are going to see what we can do about that. :) She is such a sweet little old lady. 

"the church of the lord of the bridges"

Our District Leaders
are the best.

So right now I am in 2Nefi in the Isaias chapters and it is just as hard in spanish. So I set the goal of reaching 2Nifi20 this last week. I started in chapter 9 or por allí. and today I am in chapter 21! Woohoo!! Yeah baby! And I didn´t understand most of it, if I didn´t understand I asked my comp and she would eather tell me what it was or say that she didn´t know jajaj but hey! Woohoo!! blessings..

Keep praying! Keep studying! Keep Smiling and going to church!!! 

Les amo mucho!!

Hna Milligan

Week 59: Changes, But No Changes, Member Support Is Awesome, Talking To Drunks, Repentance Is Not Just For Doing Bad Things...

So 6 weeks have come and you know what that means....Changes! But no. There were no new changes WOOHOO!!! I am still here in San Rafael with Hna Negro! Yay baby! Things are going really well here in this sector. There are really great people here. All we have to do is tell the members that we are visting someone and they ask for the direction and go and visit them or invite them to Family home evening. Wow. Estoy bien asombrada y feliz :) I can´t believe how fast the time is flying trully it is going by before I can even say "hola" I don´t know, it is just going by too fast. Well I had a lot that I wanted to say this week but I don´t know I always seem to forget...

P-day fun

Oh yeah! So my companion likes to talk to drunks and it makes for a really interesting time jaja. So one day a drunk man contacted us, he was living in New York and so he spoke english and he started to tell us about some dreams he had when God told him to stop drinking and then Satan came and told him to drink and do drungs and whatnot and at that point my companion asks him, so who are you listening to? SHNAP. Machete! But it is true, many people want signs but when they have them, do they listen. No. But we have a lot of experiences like that. It makes life interesting :)

Reminds me of Utah!

So this past week I decided to study repentance every day. And you know what, it was amazing what I was able to learn and I now have more goals and just wow it was amazing. I still don´t really understand a lot about repentance but it gave me a nice strart to really be able to put it in practice more in my life. I realised that repentance is a word that I grew up hearing and I thought that I knew what it meant, but I don´t really understand what it means in my life. It is an everyday act. Not just after doing something bad. In True to the Faith it says that every night we should do a self assesment and ask The Lord to help us know what we should do to start getting better. It doesn´t say that we need to do that on just the "big things" but every night. And so well I tried it and to be honest I fell asleep. Jaja But it was a start, and tonight I am going to do it again and I am going  to keep trying till I can do it right. I really love this Gospel. I love that I can continue learning and improving everyday. I love that my Savior made it possible. This is truly the Lord´s true Church and that we can have real happiness, real peace, families that can be forever. It is amazing. It is possible to really change. Well that is my spiritual thought for the week. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

LES AMO

Hna Milligan

My Awesome District