And the work begins!

Jake made it to Iowa today! We got to chat on the phone while he waited in the airport for his flight. He sounds ready to get to work. We are so excited for him and we can't wait to hear about where his first area will be! It is also his birthday on Saturday! Hopefully it is a great day for him! We love you Jake!

Hello... It's me (pictures)

Goodbye selfie feat. grandma

Final pic with Dougie and Kerrbear

Og homies Elder Hansen and Milligan

District pic (left to right) Elder Hansen, Me, Elder Mcgiven, Elder Van Haren, Elder Robley

Companion Pic

-Elder Robley and Elder Milligan

Elder Milligan and "Van Halen" 

Elder Siosa, aka the one who hugs me every night and gives me chocolate.

Elder Siosa's Hugs (MTC week 1)

Hey everyone! Before I start off I just want to thank everyone who sent me letters or packages this past week, the MTC is a great place but there was definitely hard times here and there and it was awesome feeling so supported and loved throughout the week! I'll just give you a run down of how my week has gone thus far, after saying goodbye to my Mom and Dad (low key hardest thing I have/will ever do in my entire life) I was whisked away by this giant polly and basically ran the gauntlet through the MTC. I received a bunch of reading and teaching material and got to finally put on the legendary Name Tag, I then was introduced to my two companions (I'm in a trio) My companions are S-I-C-K sick. Their names are Elder Robley and Elder Van Haren, Elder Robley is from North Carolina and Van Haren is from Gilbert AZ! They are the coolest guys and I feel so blessed to have two normal, sports enthused, non-creepy companions. Elder Robley is going to play college lacrosse in New York when he gets back and Van Haren is super laid back and funny he is 3/4 hispanic but we have everyone we know in the MTC convinced he is actually a Navajo and that he knows the language super well so random Elders and Sisters will come up to him and ask him to speak it and he's like "They lied to you! I'm not a freaking Navajo!" Pestering Van Haren (We actually call him Van Halen) is one of the many joys that gets me through these 16 hour days. Also Elder Hansen is in my District!! We are in the same room and everything and spend our whole days together so that is soooo dope I feel blessed to have one of my greatest friends with me in this glorified prison we call the MTC. Just kidding I actually really like the MTC thus far, we are always busy like no joke we never are not doing something involving missionary work it's a nice change cause before I came out here I didn't spend much time on church so I feel like I have already grown so much. One thing I have learned in here is that you can find so much happiness when you are serving others and serving the Lord, I used to think of missions as these huge undertakings where you have to sacrifice so much and are bored and depressed for two years. But it is the exact opposite, I wouldn't change my decision to serve for anything! It is really kind of ironic, my life has never been so hard and so exhausting, but my life has literally never been so happy at the same time. Back home people used to always give me crap for never smiling and in here people make fun of me cause I am always laughing and smiling lol. I have ran into all the Eagle Homies multiple times in here especially Elder Christensen and Elder Kent, it's great being able to have the comfort of knowing we are all embarking on this adventure together and it's cool to think back on all the funny and stupid things we did when we were in High School, and now we are all learning how to bring people into the gospel. I also got to see Elder Smith and Sister Salomonson yesterday on their first day! It took a lot of self control not to run up to Jamie and hug her, but a vigorous, 30 second handshake was a nice substitute.

One of the cooler things I've gotten to do here so far is act as the Zone Leader for my Zone in the MTC, Elder Robley and I were called as ZL's on the first night so we were training with the earlier group of ZL's before they left. Now we are the "old guys" in the Zone and had to have an orientation with all the new Missionaries that came in yesterday. It's funny cause the new ones will come and ask me a question and I'll be thinking in my head "Dude I don't know I've only been here 6 days I still get lost trying to find the bathroom" but I play it cool for the most part lol. Oh by the way quick shout out to all the bold faced liars that told me the MTC food was "Great" and "Oh my gosh you will gain a lot of weight" no guys, no the food here is trash I wouldn't feed it to my dog that's how bad it is. But so far that's my only complaint about the MTC thus far, I love the people and the lessons. There is one Elder from Samoa he's gotta be pushing thirty I swear, but he comes into our room every night and gives us these huge hugs and tells us he loves us before we go to bed. It's by far my favorite part of the night I love Elder Siosa's hugs haha. 

I just want to tell you all that I love and miss all of you! You guys all helped me get to this point in my life and I am beyond grateful for all of the love and prayers, you're all the best. I hope your week is amazing, go share the gosepl!!

Loves,

Elder Milligan

First Email!

Hello to all of Elder Milligan's followers. Jake has survived his first few days in the MTC. I got a super short email from him tonight. He said his PDay in the MTC is Thursday, so we can expect another email (hopefully a lot longer and more detailed 😊) then. He also said he rates the MTC food a 2/10, which is not surprising for Jake's standards. We are looking forward to hearing all about the work he will be doing. I will try to update weekly so check back soon!
-Natalie