Emergency Transferred

Hey everyone! This is a little awkward. I'm writiting from my new home in the East Des Moines area! Some stuff went down in Iowa City and long story short I got sent out here to after the transfer was over. Pretty crazy stuff but I'm just glad it's over.

Just kidding!!! Shame on any of you who thought I would ever get ET'd lol. I did get transferred though, I'm out here in the Des Moines ward now! It's lit! I love being back in Des Moines this place is poppin. I've only been here since Thursday but we've already been seeing a ton of blessings in the work. My new companion is Elder Obray! He's a STUDDD. He's from Layton, Ut and is a total baller, plays piano, and guitar, basically the full package. 

Des Moines is a blast though, there is so much work to be done and it's so diverse here it's insane! The Ward has a ton of people from Africa and Burma! I love it, the atmosphere at Church is very unique because of it. 

Right now we are working with a ton of people it's awesome! We had 7 people at Church on Sunday and have 9 on date for baptism in the coming weeks. Our main Guy right now is named Edward, he's so dope. He is really chill and super laid back, his family is from Mexico and they are all super nice. He's been learning for like 4 months and he's pumped to get baptized on Oct. 7. He's super solid. 

We are also teaching a guy named Junior, he's a really cool guy as well. He is working through a lot of stuff right now. But he's doing great, he came to a baptism on Saturday and really enjoyed it. 

There's also a family that we are teaching from Liberia we are working mostly with them Even and her son Abraham. They are really cool and fun to work with. They have a crazy life story and are kind of famous in the IDMM. They should be getting baptized Oct. 21st. 

Last guy I'll talk about right now is named Usufu, he's cool guy. Super solid, after our lesson he asked us if he can come out and teach with us after he is baptized, he's from Liberia and is super fired up about the Gospel. He was torchin it up in Gospel Principles, just spitting fire about stuff he learned from reading the BOM. The whole time I just kept looking at Obray like man is this guy for real??

the work is awesome here! Please pray for our 9 investigators that they will keep progressing and be able to get baptized. 

One of my favorite things about serving in Des Moines is that we get to drive "Heather". For those of you who are uniformed, "Heather" is 2017 Ford 15 Passenger Van. She's beautiful and I love her. It's pretty fun navigating the streets in down town Des Moines that were built for Mopeds I'm pretty sure, but she's a beast. If people didn't think we are weird already they probably do now seeing us roll up in this Silver machine. 

Well that's about it for this week. Still getting used to the new area, I'm pumped to be in Des Moines though, it should be a party these last 3 months! Let's Go!!!

Love you all.

Jake.

PS: Big news here, I am a Great-Grandpa. My Grandson began training this transfer. I'm stoked I got to see my lineage continue for another Generation! 

PICS: 

1. Pic with my Grandson and Great Grandson

2-Infinite. Lots and Lots of goodbye this transfer.  

Things are looking up!

What's up all?

This week here in IC has been pretty good. We are slowly pulling a teaching pool together and finding some people with a lot of solid potential. We found a cool family, a single mom named Alisha and her kids Nehimiah, Amaya, and Rashad. They are a really cool family that is genuinely  interested, we are working hard to get them to church and out to the Ward BBQ this weekend. We are also working with a girl named Karia that we found this week, she's 15 but I thought she was like 22 when she answered the door lol. She's really cool and has been reading in the Book of Mormon so that's good stuff. 

We have a few other people that are intrested as well. Things are getting better though, we basically started from ground zero out here, literally had 1 person in the teaching pool my first day here and we dropped her my first day. So things are picking up a little. If I've learned anything on a mission it's a testimony of hard work, pretty much every area I've served in had nothing going on in the beginning and we didn't start seeing blessings until we labored as hard as we could. So that's the gameplan, hopefully some of these new people are prepared to progress. 

So on a funny note, school started at the University of Iowa today. Here are some fun facts about the U of I

-There's about 25,000 Kids

-The acceptance rate is 84% 

-It's the 2nd Ranked Party School in the Nation according to Forbes

So it's safe to say we meet some entertaining people when we are out and about. 

There's also a ton of girls here, Elder Zinn and I always joke that God sent us here to slowly acclimate us back to seeing pretty girls because we've seen more attractive girls here in the past 3 days then we've seen in the last 20 months lol. 

So with that we've been trying to talk to as many of them as possible, about the gospel of course. So we are approaching this one group of girls and I'm thinking "Alright, just be normal, talk about the gospel, you've done this before, don't be weird." 

First thing that comes out of my mouth "Hey how are you SISTERS doi..ah freak. " 

Good thing I'm not called as a YSA elder cause I have no Missionary-game. 

This week should be good though, we should have some people at church and get them working towards baptismal dates. 

Love you all, Hope you have a good week.

Shout out to my boy Elder Langford finishing strong and returning to the motherland 

Iowa City; Where The Grass is Green and The Girls Are Pretty

Greetings.

I'm emailing from my new home and hopefully my last area, the BEAUTIFUL Iowa City!! Yes the dream came true and Elder Zinn and I got our shot at serving together in a college town, yes! I'm super pumped to be here in IC it feels like I'm back in civilization after spending 6 months out on the frontier in Nauvoo. One of the things President Badger said while telling me I was going there was "Elder Milligan, I believe they have a Huhott in IC, I knew you'd be excited for that." He knows me to well.

So Iowa City is lit. There's college kids everywhere and school is about to start up, so everyone is moving in. Sometimes when Elder Zinn and I are sick of knocking we will just walk by the dorms and offer to help move people in and invite them to institute and Church lol. 

My New comp is Elder Zinn, we came out together and he was in our district in Nauvoo so I know him well, he's one of my good friends in the mission so we were stoked when we found out. Our zone is a party and we've had a lot of fun so far. He is super creative and abstract so it's funny being his comp. 

So I just got here and our teaching pool is kind of trash right now lol. So I don't really have anyone to talk about but that will change by next week cause we are goona build this place up right quick. Sunday was cool though, we cover the 2nd ward here which is all the famalies that moved here for residency at the med, dental, and law schools. So a lot of young families and doctors so I love talking to them. Our ward is diverse to there's families from Africa, China, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Scotland and more, it's sick. 

That's all I really have for this week, I'll send a lot of pics I took saying goodbye to the families I loved in B-town and some final pics from Nauvoo. I love ya'll have a good week. 

Greetings from Nauvoo

Hello Friends and Family!

So big news guys, transfers were this week! So I am no longer in Ankeny, I'm now in the great city of Burlington, Iowa! I'm so pumped because Burlington is the closest Area to Nauvoo so we'll be spending a lot of time here and I'm actually emailing from the family history center right next to the Nauvoo temple! 

But yeah B-Town is pretty tight, pretty ghetto which I'm pumped about as well. Most of the people that live here are "Chicago Refugees" that came over here and brought the hood with them haha. But it's awesome here. Cool old city right on the Mississippi river. 

My new companion is Elder Gundersen! He's a homie, it's a blast serving with him. He's from Bear Lake, Idaho and he's like 6'9! He's goona play ball in college in  Wyoming. He's way cool!

We've been in the car a lot together the past few days going to the different district meetings and meeting all the cool people we'll get to lead and work with in our zone. But yeah we're the "Nauvoo Zone" so there's goona be lots of opportunities to see some church history sites and hopefully I'll get to go to the Temple for the first time in about 17 months...haha yikes. 

But yeah not a ton more to report. I'm so excited for the next chapter here in Burlington. Hopefully I'll have some people to write about next week. 

I'll send some pics as well!

Love you guys! 

Saying goodbye to the Zoeduahs:

Tracy, Margret and Mufasa lol:

Last P Day in Ankeny:

Madi, Our awesome investigator who WILL be baptized someday!:

Nauvoo Temple:

Elder Gundersen and I, featuring the Nauvoo Temple!:

Welcome to Des Moines (it's been waitin' for ya!)

What's up everyone! Hopefully someone gets the T-Swift reference I slipped in the subject line lol.

 

So this week was awesome, like really really good. This area was Dead at the beginning of the week. Our only investigator on Date was our girl Madi. But outside of that we had no one. But that's all changed now! This week we found two awesome African families,they are so cool! One of the families came to church and we have a date to baptize their three daughters; Laverta, Larvetta (12 year old African twins, brutal.) and their little 8 year old girl Faith. They are the cutest little African kids I've ever seen. I literally can't wait to adopt black children. They are going to be baptized on November 19th!

Our investigator Madi is doing pretty well. Her mom is still being a hindrance in the whole baptism process but we have a lot of faith that she can be baptized on the 12th of November. Please pray for Madi, she's so awesome and wants nothing more than to be able to be baptized!

A lot of funny things happened this week and it was really easy to find happiness in the work this week. One of my favorite things that happened this week was that our African family came to Church! Yesterday was the primary program which is always fun to watch, but it was even better this time because the Primary President came up to the younger african kids and invited them to come up and participate in the program! They gave them parts to read and everything! I was blown away at how well this ward does at fellowshipping new comers. I love the ward here it's like an actual fun, loving, real Ward that you'd find back in the West. I feel really at home here it's great actually having fun at Church and at member dinners lol. 

My new Comp Elder McCain is really funny, he's like a female version of Hermana Annie Johnson, totally granola, tree hugger, kind of Liberal. But really chill and funny. We also just found out that two girls we kissed at College are roommates now so that's building our comp unity as wel. Lol.

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you guys!

Jake

Ankeny

What's up friends and fam, I'm writing to you from my new home, Ankeny, Iowa! (Every time I try and type it, auto correct tries to change it to Kenya.. yeah not that cool.) But it Ankeny is a great place. It's basically the "Eagle" of Iowa it's a really wealthy suburb of Des Monies. I was kind of sad when I found out cause I thought Ankeny was like only rich neighborhoods and all that jazz. But luckily our area actually has a ton of North Des Monies in it so it's super ghetto there. So I'm way happy ;)

My new comp is Elder McCain, he came out with my son Elder Esplin so I'm "Breaking" him. He's a stud! He's a really solid missionary and he loves the work. I'm really excited work with him. It's funny he's like 6'5 so when we show up at all the tiny African doors they are always like "Ohhh Mormons, always so tall! Like giants!" it's hilarious. 

So I don't have a ton of stuff to write about because I've only been in this area a few days but I'll just make a list of some cool stuff that's happened. 

- We set a date with our Investigator Madi! She's awesome she's 15 and wants to be baptized soooo bad! I've only met her once but I just love her to death, she's so brave. Her mom does not want her to get baptized at all but we are working with members in the ward to help fellowship the mom. We had a super intense lesson with her after Church when we extended her baptismal date and I was so drained afterward, it was arguably one of the most spiritual lessons I've had on my Mission so far. 

- My investigator in CR Jasmine is all set to be baptized on Oct. 29th! So I should be able to go back and be there to baptize her I'm way pumped!!

- We taught this crazy drunk guy who was in the Military and the night before, he had to clowns try and break in his house and he shot one of them in the arm! Iowa is insane.

- Back in CR Esplin and I met a less active who wanted us too help him move (classic.) and he showed us his Machete he keeps by his bed and his loaded pistols he keeps under his pillow. "It's all just for protection though don't worry!"

Well that's all I got guys. I hope you all have a great week. PLEASE PRAY FOR MADI'S MOM TO SOFTEN HER HEART! 

I love you guys! 

Jake

Elder Hansen and Elder Milligan vs the World

June 13, 2016

What's up everyone?! This past week has been C-R-A-Z-Y!  So this past week I found out that I would be leaving Waverly, Iowa and be going down south to Cedar Rapids! I also found out that my new companion was going to be ELDER JESS HANSEN!!! I flipped a biscuit when I found out, actually at first I got mad at the AP's cause I thought they were pulling my leg, but then I realized they were telling the truth and I freaked out! I'm beyond excited to serve with my bro, I've never been so pumped about Missionary work. 

I would say I was sad about leaving Waverly, and it would be partially true. I met a lot of wonderful people there and was blessed to be able to see three people get baptized in that tiny area. But I was way to excited to be sad about leaving lol. I did get to say goodbye to all of the people I taught and that was pretty hard, but I'm very excited and happy for them to continue to progress in the Gospel!

Saying Goodbye to Elder Madsen was way rough though, I love that guy he is an amazing missionary and I know he'll keep killing it in Waverly. 

The work here in CR is off the chain! We have met a lot of cool people! and I am literally living my dream because there are tons of Africans in the Ward here and they are great at fellowshipping and finding us new Africans to teach! The Ward is multilingual and there's tons of different cultures that come together, it's pretty neat to see. This past week we had our investigator named Siraj come to Church for the first time. He's really cool, he's like 4'10 and is from Nepal he's super humble and awesome! We also have a few other investigators including a guy named Sunzu from Africa, he should be getting baptized soon. 

I don't have a whole lot to say this week mostly because I've only been in this area a few days. But I'm super pumped to be serving with such a sick companion. Cedar Rapids 3rd East better watch out, cause Elder Milligan and Elder Hansen are here to do work. 

Elder Milligan Out. 

Here's a Pic with Hansen and I with a dead bunny lol

Missionaries of Waverly Place

Greetings friends and family! Well the time has finally come, I am officially in the beautiful, icy, frozen, snowy, cold, windy, teeth chattering, knee knocking, face numbing, ear burning, state of Iowa. And I love it! So a lot has happened since I last wrote, the MTC didn't do me any solids P-Day wise so I'll just have to catch you up on everything that has happened since the last time you heard from me. So the second week of the MTC was pretty cash, we got to watch an awesome broadcast that went out to all the missionaries in the world. It was held by David Bednar and Neil L. Anderson and they basically just talked about how we can improve in every facet of missionary work. They also had an awesome music video about a family living their everyday lives and being missionaries through acts of service and kindness set to "I'll go where you want me to go" that song always gets me going so safe to say I was pretty fired up after that one. But anyways the rest of the week played out pretty routinely, I got to see my dear friend Emily Clegg at the Temple and she brought me and Van Halen some solid treats so shouts to her for that. She also got me yelled at by one of my leaders wives cause she "Shook my hand for too long" but that's a story for another day. I also got to see Spencer and Jamie a lot this week, and to counter Jamie's accusation of leaving without saying goodbye  I stood up on a chair in the cafeteria trying to find her and got yelled at for it so I tried my best. The food improved somewhat as the time went on, they set us up with Chic Fil A one day so that was a tender mercy for sure. Elder Robley and Elder Van Halen and I got to practice teaching fake investigators quite a bit and we found out one of them actually was a real investigator, so it ended up not being a complete waste of time like it felt for the most of the week! But all bitter feelings aside I really enjoyed the MTC and my district Elders became my family so I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to grow close to them. 

So on Tuesday night we woke up at 2 amand got ready to drive to the airport, we all piled into this giant van with like 14 elders in there and drove to the airport. It was kind of funny as we were going through security all these people were yelling encouragement at us, apparently we looked terrified I guess? Anyways after that I got to talk to my family on the phone and that was such a blessing, especially hearing my dog's voice through the phone lol. On the plane to Denver I sat next to this guy from Chicago who was way cool, he works in Stocks and wanted to know all about my mission and he thought it was awesome. He kept accidently swearing and apologizing and it was really funny haha. Then on the plane to Des Moines I sat next to this Hindu guy from India that now lives in Des Moines, we talked about my mission and he had a bunch of questions and ended up giving me his card cause he wants to have me over for dinner if I'm ever in Des Moines lol! We landed in Des Moines and met President and Sister Jensen then stayed the night in the mission home. I then was assigned my companion, his name is Elder Sjoblom (he's Swedish) and we are serving in a small town called Waverly in northern Iowa! I haven't met many of the members yet, the branch is tiny and there were only about 25 people at church on Sunday but they are all super nice so far. 

We have been teaching 4 investigators so far and this week was insanely good. First we have Tyce and Jenny they have come to church twice but have been shaky about baptism but we asked them again and they committed to be baptized!! I'm so excited for them their date is set for February 13th. Next we have Michael who referred him self online, the old elders gave him a BOM and when we met with him he had already read 20 chapters! And he committed to be baptized!! Then we taught a referral named Sherri, she is a single mom of three. She read some of the book of Mormon and she believes it, and wait for it, she committed to be baptized! This week has been a huge testimony builder of the Holy Ghost and how it can touch peoples hearts! I love the people of Iowa even though I have been cussed out and had the door slammed in my face by many of them (I thought Iowans were known for being friendly), I wouldn't change my decision to serve them for anything. I love you all very much. Thank you for the Birthday emails and packages this week it feels so good to feel loved especially when I spent my birthday tracting in -20 degree weather lol. I hope you all have a great week. Go share the gospel. 

Loves, 

Elder Milligan

P.S. Apparently there's a huge storm coming in that's apparently going to kill everyone that ever lived in Iowa ever. It's supposed to be worse than "The Winter of 03" whatever that means. So if I don't write next week just assume I succumbed to the elements I guess?