Independence Day

Happy belated 4th of July everyone! I hope you all had an awesome day celebrating our amazing country we are so blessed to live in! Yesterday was probably one of the most fun I've had on my mission thus far! Cedar Rapids goes HAM for the 4th, everyone is really patriotic which was cool to see. Yesterday was a blast though, we had P-Day and went to the local Wal-Mart and I don't think I've ever seen so many classic "Wal-Mart" people, it was hilarious. After we got groceries we decided to go to Chic-Fil-a for lunch and as we were ordering our food some nice guy from out of town came and paid for us! He was a super cool guy! The rest of P-day we just messed around and played ball at the Church with the rest of the Elders and Sisters in our Zone. The AP's actually cut our P-day short by two hours, but luckily a member came in clutch and fed us dinner at 4:00 pm so we didn't have to go knock doors at all ;). The best part of the day was after we had to go into the house at 6:00we had two other Elders sleep over and we had a big barbecue in the backyard of our house. We pretty much just chilled and played football and sting pong for the rest of the night and then watched fireworks from the roof! It was definitely weird being away from the fam on the 4th for the first time but it was still a solid day! 

Anyways this past week was pretty much a roller coaster, we had a baptism fall through which was probably the worst day of my mission. But the next day our investigator Kayla came to Church and it was so great! I can't even get started about Kayla, she's literally the best. I've never had an investigator like her, we knocked into her my first week in CR and she invited us to come back after we taught her and she has been great. She reads everything we tell her to, and she takes notes and writes down questions she has, then she goes over her notes and questions with us at the beginning of each lesson! She's probably got the most desire to learn of anyone I've ever taught! She was even taking notes during testimony meeting on her phone! (I was actually really worried that her first time at Church was testimony meeting, but it worked out in our favor for once lol). The best thing with Kayla happened on Sunday night, we stopped by and told her that if she wants to be baptized on the 16th she'd have to quit drinking coffee and alcohol that day. We were kind of nervous cause that was the only thing she was iffy on, but man she blew us away. She was just like "Ok I'll stop, here just take all my coffee and alcohol and throw it away." So she just threw it all out! She had this $250 bottle of alcohol that she got in the Caribbean and she was like "Whatever!" and just chucked it in the trash bag! She's so faithful it blows my mind! I'm way excited for her.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week, we are teaching a cool black girl named Mehzore, she's going to play soccer at Iowa State so we are trying to get her baptized before she goes to school in the fall!

That's all I have for this week, but I hope you all have a great week! I love you guys! God bless America!

Elder Milligan 

The Titanic

What's up fam?!

This past week has been interesting to say the least!  Elder Hansen and I had some pretty funny encounters this past week and met a lot of crazy people! We are still working with a lot of people we have around 15 people that are investigating but we didn't have our truck this week so we had to walk all week. About 12 of our investigators live by the college that is like a five mile walk from our house! This week has been the most exhausting week of my mission, probably my life too. The weather here is killer, literally I feel like we could die any day lol. We actually learned a fun fact from one of the members in the Ward, turns out Eastern Iowa, and Western Illinois is actually the most humid part of the country. I didn't believe him at first but he showed us online, so yeah if you don't hear back next week it's probably cause Hansen and I are laying dead on the sidewalk somewhere in downtown CR.

Despite the inhospitable weather, the work here is still going good! Our investigators are still in the learning phases and are still afraid to make big steps, one awesome thing was our Investigator Kayla came to a baptism for one of the Sisters Investigators. The Spirit was really strong and you could tell she was really touched. We are really working hard to get people to Church, most of the people we teach don't have cars, and most of the members in the Ward are rebelling and refusing to give them rides. So that's fun to deal with, but we have high hopes for all 20 of our new friends! We know the Lord will provide a way to get these humble people to Church and help them be converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! 

Funny Stories:

Ok Update on the Bird. So last week I wrote about the bird who got in our bathroom and was flying a muck. So we get home from P-day that night and Hansen goes up stairs, and again I hear "BIRD! THE BIRD IS IN OUR ROOM!" And he runs away again lol! So at this point I'm just sick and tired of this darn bird flying all erratic in my house. What happened next is a little fuzzy but all I remember is taking the little guy out with a broom. Problem solved.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe 4th of July! I'm grateful to live in the Land that is Choice above all others! Love you guys!

Peace,

Elder Milligan