Brothers and Sisters Aloha,
I figured that was my last justifiable time to say that, at least until i’m back in Hawaii
It is a little different to come home to a new ward but I've heard amazing things from my family and I felt so welcomed last Sunday. I'm excited to be here! My name is Emma Miller (Holly and Roarke are my parents :) and just this last week I returned home from my mission. I was assigned to the Italy Milan Mission but due to covid restrictions I was reassigned to the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. So after 6 weeks in the homeMTC I flew to Hawaii and loved the 10 months I got to serve there. In August I flew halfway across the world to Italy where I served the last 7 months which was incredible.
About 3 summers before I left on my mission, our family took a vacation to Hawaii. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like to serve there, I was wrong. Our mission ended where the sand began and I learned so much about culture! The polynesian and Hawaiin people are some of the kindest people on earth. As president Hinckley says, “The spirit of ALOHA is the spirit of the Savior”. I learned to love eternal summers, to appreciate tradition, and confirmed that I cannot handle cockroaches or centipedes. It would be an understatement to say that I loved it, and while I still hoped to get to Italy, I was prepared to spend all 18 months there. But Heavenly Father had different plans. I was called in June to head to Milan, Italy. It was quite the adjustment and it was really hard, but Italy has my heart. The language, the food, and above all the super loud, fun, family oriented people that I was blessed to serve with. My two assignments couldn’t have been more different nor could they have been more wonderful.
I’ve heard just about all the comments from, “you won the mission lottery” to “was it really a mission, or just a vacation?” I’m here to tell you, yes, it was a mission! It came with its ups and downs, but I feel so completely blessed to have served around so many amazing people and to be changed by the last 18 months. God is so good!
Towards the end of my mission, I found my new favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 26. I feel like I could read it as my talk and it would put how I'm feeling into words. It is when Ammon is reporting about his service among the Lamanites but I’d love to just share a few verses.
Verse1: “How great reason we have to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla, that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?” Verse3: “ We have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about His great work”
It feels impossible to wrap up my mission in 15 minutes, but I would love to try and give you a glimpse of three of those great blessings during my time as a full-time missionary. My hope is that you will feel the joy and importance of missionary work and the blessing of the restoration of the gospel in our lives. Dallin H. Oaks said, “We sometimes talk of the Restoration of the gospel as if it happened all at once. Two hundred years ago, the First Vision began the process, but of course the Restoration did not end there. We have been asked to redouble our efforts and our effectiveness in sharing the gospel, to accomplish the Lord’s purposes in this great work”
Auntie Renee & Manoa
One of my favorite things about Hawaii is the literal sense of Ohana. Those people really just know how to love! At church, one endearing thing was instead of brother and sister we used auntie and uncle which grew on me quickly. I was blessed early on in my service to meet auntie Renee. She served a mission in Canada when she was younger, but if you met her you would think she never got released. I have never met a more missionary minded disciple in my entire life. Auntie was go go go- always seeing and filling the need before being asked. She is who I think of every time I read Mosiah 2,17: “that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” She made such an impact on me which carried with me my whole mission.
→ About 6 months into my mission, transfer news rolled around and I found out I would be leaving my greenie area to serve in the Manoa ward in Honolulu. My new companion and I were both coming fresh into the area where neither of us knew anything about the people or the work. I was terrified. I remember waking up the first morning in this new area and feeling completely lost. Where were we supposed to start, who should we visit, how should we go about any of this? It was overwhelming and I felt completely inadequate to the task. But I remember my sweet companion, who is now one of my best friends, offering a prayer to start our companionship study and from that moment forward we were blessed to know how to work. There were a lot of days where we didn’t have set lessons. But we pushed on in the work. Sister Lamprey and I were blessed not only to bake cookies and to plant seeds but we were able to make so many life long friendships and to see SO MANY miracles that have a tender place in my heart. After I had arrived in Italy, I was able to participate virtually in a baptism of JR, a man that we had found and taught together in Honolulu, in the Manoa ward. I loved when Dallin H. Oaks shared in regard to missionary work, “ How do you do it? Well, you need to begin by beginning. Revelation comes most often when we are on the move.” We can have an active part in the Ongoing Restoration, but we need to commit to start!
Language
Back to Alma 26, Ammon says “ Now when our hearts were depressed and we were about to return back, behold the Lord comforted us, and said unto us, “Go amongst thy brethren, and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success”
It took about a week in Italy for me to realize that the 7 months I had there would be really difficult. I had gone from a mission in English where I had learned over 10 months to preach the gospel. When I got to Italy I felt like I went back to square 1. My first companion in Italy was from France, and while they called her my transition specialist, she was in almost every way my trainer because I couldn’t communicate in this new language. Beyond the obvious hurdle of Italian, there were so many cultural differences that took some adjusting. We had to sort every piece of trash based on material, there were like 7 different trash cans. If you ordered a pizza, you’d better be ready to eat the entire things in one sitting, or bold Italian men, enough said there. It was really frustrating and oftentimes discouraging to know what I wanted to say and to have absolutely no idea how to say it. I felt like Enos when he recorded his “wrestle with the Lord” there were lots of tears and lots of awkward mistakes but learning to struggle with the Lord is one of the greatest lessons and blessings of my mission. I strengthened my relationship with the Savior! I needed to learn to trust Him. To let Him prevail, even when I couldn’t understand. Italian started to come, slowly but surely. I know that God gives us what we need, when we need it. I know that He is our loving, all-knowing, Father in Heaven who does everything for our benefit. TRUST HIM! He knows!
Viviane
My very last area was a little city about an hour west of Venice, called Vicenza. I had been serving there for a transfer and had met with a lady named Viviane once. In our second lesson with her, the Spirit was so strong confirming to both my companion and I that we needed to extend an invitation for her to be baptized. You can imagine how ecstatic we were when she accepted! It wasn’t smooth sailing from there but her faith continues to amaze me! I remember getting ready for a follow up lesson on the word of wisdom, in Italy coffee and cigarettes are the cultural norm, and I remember being worried if she would accept it. Looking back it was an issue with my faith, not hers. I watched as she put the Lord first and put habits behind her. Viviane taught me many things, but being a part of her journey and watching her progress and choose to put the Savior was such a testimony builder to me that Heavenly Father is preparing people like Viviane all around us. He knows each of His children by name, He knows you and He knows your neighbors. I truly believe that He allows us to cross paths for a reason. Viviane found us. She always says, I saw some members and there was just a light about them-i knew that I wanted that”
Brothers and Sisters please don’t underestimate your impact, good or bad, on the people around you. It reminds me of the quote, ““Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.”
As I shared some of these experiences, I hope you were able to ponder how you can more fully participate in the ongoing restoration.There isn’t a need for a nametag and an assignment, but learning to lift where you stand and allowing the Lord to use you as an instrument. Start by starting. There is always someone you could serve, someone lonely needing extra love, and you never know who is ready to accept an invite. Trust in your Heavenly Father to lead you to those who need you. Strive to serve and love like the Savior. Want to be your BEST! Pray for opportunities to share the gospel!
Brothers and Sisters, I can promise you that this is God’s work, and it is the most important work that we can be doing. To the youth & anyone else, if you have wanted to serve a mission, DO IT! It is the best decision I ever could have made! It was hard, but without it I would have never come to know my Heavenly Father the way that I do. It is worth so much more than it ever cost.
If a full time mission isn’t right for you now, find other ways to further His work. I love President Nelson’s definition of gathering Israel, “Anytime we do anything that helps anyone — on either side of the veil — to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.” Start small, and start now. There is nothing that will bring greater joy and needed blessings into your life.
Vorrei portare la mia testimonianza in Italiano, la più bellissima lingua nel mondo.
Questa Chiesa, La Chiesa di Gesù Cristo, e’ la chiesa restaurata sulla terra oggi
Grazie a Gesù Cristo e la sua Espiazione possiamo pentirci e ricominciare nonostante i nostri errori
Gesu cristo vive e ci ama più che possiamo comprendere
Dio ascolta e risponde alle nostre preghiere ma ci dà le risposte secondo la sua volonta perche lui e consapevole fa tutto per il nostro benessere
Abbiamo un profeta vivente oggi di guidarci la nostra chiesa di aiutarci specificamente durante questi tempi difficili
Gesù cristo può guarire ogni dolore e sfida nelle nostre vite
Gesù ha reso tutto possibile per noi
L’opera missionaria e il lavoro più importante nel mondo adesso e tutti noi possiamo avere una parte vitale di radunare Israele!
Dico queste cose, nel sacro nome di Gesù Cristo, AMEN
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