FRONTENAC!!!

 New city, new me, but same Jesus Christ and same message of peace and hope and joy!!! This city of Frontenac is about 20 minutes outside St Louis and full of thee sweetest people ever!!

This week my new companion, Sister Jarman (who I ADORE and hope to be like one day!!!!) were able to rake some leaves and help people clean up Christmas decorations and share some scriptures about hope (Roman's 8:35-39, John 16: 33, Hebrews 6:19) and man I am so grateful for my knowledge of Jesus Christ and that He suffered and died for me so that I can have hope regardless of life's circumstances!!! 

Days may be hard and things might not go according to your plan, but it's all done in wisdom of God, and if you don't understand that plan, that's ok join the club haha! I definitely don't understand everything about why my life is how it is right now, just like Moses did not understand how his people who cross the Red Sea or how Nephi would get the brass plates from Jerusalem, but I DO KNOW that when we trust in God we can do all things through Christ!!@

Hope yall have a great week and see little tender mercies like extra flower bouquets and free gloves and hot hot chocolate and funny pictures!! I love you but God loves you even more!!!!!

Te amo!!

<3 sis mill

Christmas miracles!!!

 Hello hello all!! So sorry it's been a minute but wanted to check in and share some of the miracles they've happened here in Columbia MO the past few weeks!!

By far one of the best things that happened was getting in contact with a young boy that was baptized the beginning of this year! Weve been trying to talk to him since I got here in the summer, and a few weeks ago we finally connect over zoom!! Hes such a sweet kid and knows that God is real and wants to do what's right and what an inspiration!! 

We've also gotten to know one of the single sisters in the area better and she has reminded me how the small things line praying and being gratitude and reading thr scriptures bring joy and the Spirit more into your life!! 

Christmas Eve we were able to visit with a family and help tie a blanket for a family in need which was so tender! I'm not a huge quilter like my grandpa, but it was neat to sew/tie strings for a blanket! On Christmas we were able to talk to some new people on FB and a few of our member friends and actully ended the day reading the Book of Mormon over zoom with a man who reached out to us wanting to learn more and what an incredible way to end Christmas reading another testament of Jesus Christ and remembering what He has done for each and every soul on earth today as well as in the past and future!!!! Amazing!!!!!

We just got news I am leaving Columbia. I'm sad to be leaving but I know there are good things in store for me wherever the Lord sends me! As I've reflected on my time here I realized I have grown so much in my relationship with Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father through PRAYER!!!! Your Father in heaven, God, the greatest being ever, wants to hear from you and you can talk to him anytime, anywhere through prayer!!!! I know God hears and answers every prayer even if it's not the way we expect :) if you want help seeing how God can answer your prayers, let me know!

Hope yall have a great week and a Happy New Year!! Don't forget to see the little tender mercies like Walgreens photo printing, hand written letters, washing machines, and the love of Jesus Christ felt through reading scriptures!!! I love you but God loves you even more!!!

Te amo!!!

<3sis mill

Some of our friends

Christmas morning ft matching christmas pjs with my sisters at home:)

LIGHT the WORLD!!!!!

 the amount of times i've typed that sentence this week haha but for all of you that don't know light the world is a service initiative by the church that EVERYONE is invited to participate in during the month of december, regardless of if you are a member of the church or not! these service prompts are things each of you can do!!

this week was hard. like so hard. BUT it was also one of the most rewarding weeks!!! we had a sweet family that moved here from las vegas a few weeks ago finally come to church and all the members were so nice and talked to them and showed all their love and it was the most beautiful amazing thing ever!!!!! also we met some cute girls at a cafe that was such a tender mercy because we had gone to another restaurant first but it was closed so we randomly went to this one but it was actually part of God's plan because we met these two cuties!! so crazy!!!

life is so crazy but i hope yall see the tender mercies like a new vacuum and pita bread and raking leaves and doing service and prayers and rocks and CHRISTMAS!!!!! hope yall have a great week, i love you but God loves you even more!!!

te amo!!!!

<3333 sis mill

christmas sweaters

the cutest fam ever-Godfreys!!

out ad to invite people to paint rocks with us woot woot!

the OUTSIDE WORLD!!!

 we got out of quarantine on friday and what an amazing reminder of how much i love the sun and fresh air and seeing people face to face even from 6 feet apart and with masks!! there were so many miracles while we were inside, but i would be lying if i said i didn't prefer the option of going outside :)

this sunday we were able to see our friend Mary again!!! we were able to print out the very first chapter of the Book of Mormon for her in larger print so that she could read it and wouldn't have to try and figure out her phone, and wow i'm so grateful for printers!! technology is also amazing but sometimes holding paper in your hands is nice, especially for the older generation ;) we were able to testify to her about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and invited her to read the introduction on her own, even if she doesn't understand all of it, and she said that she would!! oh so amazing!!!!!! also little miracle we had a member, Sister Chambers, call Mary last week and just talk about life and how much the gospel has helped her with the hard times in her life recently and Oh so incredible!!! friendship is so important and Christ is the perfect example of being a friend to everyone!!!!

just wanted to share a quick thing i learned from doing President Nelson's #givethanks challenge (our church's leader asked us to do 7 days of expressing gratitude on social media and see how we felt after) and one of the biggest things i learned is that there are so many things to be grateful for, but that doesn't discount the pain that we feel. Jesus Christ was the perfect example of expressing gratitude in prayer to His Father often, but the scriptures also have multiple accounts of Jesus weeping and feeling emotions that aren't necessarily happy. and because Jesus Christ has felt all these things He can help us to FIND the things to be grateful for even in the MIDDLE of hard or sad times!!!!! so incredible!!! if you feel like He hasn't helped you or you don't know how to personally feel this love and support from Christ, please send me an email and i would love to help you out :)

i love you all so so much and hope you have a wonderful week and start LIGHTING THE WORLD!! i'll attach a picture with ideas of little things you can do every day of december to focus on gratitude and others and living as Christ did!! hope yall have a great time and see the tender mercies like a tank full of gas and ugly christmas sweaters from the little boys section of walmart and pretty sunsets!!!! i love you but God loves you even more!!!!

<3 sis mill

Ps almost forgot-- I do a facetime with a sweet family in brazil and a member they know there every Sunday and this week the member couldn't come so it was just me and this husband and wife that speak very little english and we were able to talk for a whole hour with only the occasional google translate!! Lots of repeating but we made it through and I understood most of it!!! Persistance pays off guys!!!!!! 

Miracles from inside!!!

 Hello hello everyone and happy Monday Nov 23rd!! Hope y'all are enjoying all the wonderful things life has to offer, especially the sun and fresh air!! This week my companion and I got exposed to COVID and have actually tested positive so we've been in our apartment this week! A great reminder of just how much I LOVE the sunshine and rain and wind and all the weathers the world has to offer haha. Excited to get back out there in t-5 days! 

Butttttt even though we've been inside this past week we have seen so many MIRACLES!!! I wanted to name a few of the blessings that have come from being inside!!!

1. We weren't able to get in contact with one of our older and super high-risk from Mary last weekend and we were super bummed about it! Turned out to be a HUGE blessing because if she had opened the door and let us in we might've exposed her to COVID and that would not have been good. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

2. We were actually able to do a lesson OVER THE PHONE with Mary this week!! She wasn't feeling great and if we had showed up at her door like we usually do, we probably wouldn't have been able to talk with her but because we called she let us teach her a little more about the Holy Ghost and how she can find PEACE even during this crazy time!!

3. We scheduled more lessons fri+sat than we've ever had! Although not all of them happened we were able to be prepared to help so many of God's children!

4. I was able to study Portugese everyday this week!! Miracles!!

5. Our friend Giovanni finally received permission to be baptized and will be baptized in TWO SATURDAYS!!!!!!! We were ready to wait months for this, but now it's happening before the new year and I'll be able to be here for it!!

6. Zoom church!! Most congregations for the Church of Jesus Christ offer some sort of streaming for their services now so we were able to watch church even though we couldn't go in person!

7. PRESIDENT NELSONS MESSAGE OF HOPE AND HEALING!!!! Delivered Friday WOW what a tender mercy and reminder to be grateful in all that we do!! It definitely lifted my spirits!!! <3333

8. Had a very spiritual zoom lesson with a member of our ward I'd never met. She shared some hard but amazing experiences when she relied on the Savior and how others have blessed her life and it was exactly what I needed to hear to feel the Spirit and remember why the gospel is so important to me and why I came on a mission in the first place!

9-29483901!! I can't list all the amazing things I was blessed with this unconventional week!! Life can still be so good even when it's unexpected, if the focus of your life is on Jesus Christ!!!!

I hope you all had a great week and have another wonderful week leading up to Thanksgiving!!! I encourage all of you to join President Nelson's challenge to flood social media with thankfulness for the next 7 days with the #givethanks!!! I love and miss you all so so much but I KNOW this is where the Lord needs me to be, even if it's for reasons I don't quite understand yet :) look for the tender mercies like dominoes pizza, walmart delivery, electrolyte drink mix-ins, new music, and amazing roommates/family members!!!! I love you but God loves you even more!!!

Te amo!!!

<3 sis mill

Nightly zoom district call because we all got COVID (guys don't take off your mask even if it's to play volleyball. That's how it'll get you haha)

Cute member friend ordered us dominoes when we had to cancel our lesson!

Getting to sit in the car when we got tested. The sun was shining so bright wahoo!!!!

Crumbl opened in columbia!! (pre-corona;))

LIFE IS SO GOOD

 Life is so good and being a missionary can be that because you love people and want to help them so much and all you can do if offer them the gospel BUT THE GOSPEL IS TRULY THE BEST BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS CHRIST AND HE IS THE SOURCE OF ALL HAPPINESS!!!!!! I encourage you to find some small way to thank your Heavenly Father for Jesus Christ whether that's by having more meaningful prayers or writing someone a more that has helped you become closer to Christ or any other thing you see fit!! So grateful for olive garden breadsticks and unseasonably warm weather and fresh vegetables and good shoes and smiling eyes even when wearing a mask!!! I love you but God loves you even more, keep going you've got it!!!!

Te amo!!

<3sis mill

halloween and happy things!!

 hello hello my people!! i hope you all had a swell halloween day/night and were able to enjoy whatever you like to enjoy in the fall :) 

this week was wild!! i think i say that every week but it's so true!! so many things are learned and so many funny things happen, and it is truly the greatest honor to get to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ every single day as a missionary! for all of y'all that have been baptized, you are ALSO a representative of Jesus Christ, you promised that you would bear his name always so you can experience all these amazing things as well!!!

this week was so very full of tender mercies including but not limited to: revisiting an old friend, making and giving away treats, watching some stellar devotionals, walking around a lake with some sweet ladies, organizing an office, eating mexican food in a garage, using Facebook to talk to so many cool people about hiking and the gospel of Jesus Christ (two of my FAV topics ever:;)), laying peatmoss, going on a run outside, driving out to the countryside at sunset, cleaning an abandoned house, and visiting with lots of people: new and old friends!!!!! this week we also had our ward halloween party that we dropped off lots of invitation for and we actually saw some of our friends in their costumes and it was so fun!! we also had the opportunity to spend a day with another Sister missionary, Sister Sampson on Halloween and to learn lots from her which is always exciting!!

one of the things i learned this week that i wanted to share with y'all is how loved y'all are!!!!!! a scripture story that i studied this week was the woman who was caught in adultery at the end of Luke 8. she has just gone through probably the most humiliating experience of her life, and what does our Savior Jesus Christ call her? He calls her "daughter". that was such a reminder to me that i, as well as each one of you, am a child of God and are SO LOVEDDDDD!!!!!! He also says to be of good comfort, her faith hath made her whole, and to go in peace. it didn't matter what situation she had come from, Christ wanted her to be comforted and to go forward with PEACE!! our faith in Jesus Christ can bring us comfort AND peace, even in the worst of circumstances. i have also been reminded how loved each person on earth is as i have had the wonderful opportunity to become friends with people and see just a glimpse of how much they are loved by our Heavenly Father!! guys life can be hard but it is so good!!! what is one way that you are going to show your love for someone special to you this week? i encourage you to do that one thing and i promise that in return you will feel more loved yourself, not necessarily by the world but by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ :)

sorry for all the crazy thoughts, hope y'all have a great week and see God's hand in your life through halloween sugar cookies and new laundry detergent and cute stickers and yummy soup and all the tender mercies in your lives!!!!! i love you but Heavenly Father loves you SO MUCH MORE!!!

te amoooo!!

<3 sis mill

pics in no specific order: zone conference with a bunch of other missionaries a few weeks ago, hiking!, halloween, cool yellow statue in front of the regional library, and some other ones too probably!