Dear Family and Friends,
As you know I had to return from my mission early. I am ever grateful for the time I was allowed to serve as a missionary. My homecoming is scheduled to occur on the 20th of February at 9:00a.m. All are welcome to come. There will be brunch following the meeting. Please RSVP for food assignments. The church building has changed, again. So the new address of the building will be sent out soon. If you have any questions don't hesitate to call.
Sincerely,
Alaina Mills
P.S. Also as a special note. Eric is officially engaged to Kendra Ames. Their wedding will be on June 11th.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Unexpected
Dear Friends and Family,
First, I just want to thank everyone for all the love and support. Due to some recent medical challenges it became necessary for me to return home from my mission. I flew home on Tuesday the 25th of January and was honorably released from my mission due to medical reasons. Originally we were hoping to have me recover while on my mission. But I have increasingly become worse and we came to realize that the best thing for me would be to come home. It has been hard to say the least. But the spirit has strongly witnessed to my Mission President, the Stake President, a General Authority and me that the Lord was pleased with my service and that I needed to return home. I have cherished the memories and people I was able to meet on my mission. So many people have touched my heart there and I will never be the same. The lessons I have learned on my mission will benefit me for the rest of my life.
And now as I embark on a journey I never wanted or expected, I take courage in the knowledge that this is the Lord’s will. Sometimes his plans for our lives are different than what we expected, but his plan is always for the better. I know as we have faith and trust in the Lord, he never leaves our side. That has become very real to me, especially in this difficult time. I am also so blessed to have the love and support of so many friends and family. I am working with my doctors, and we are very positive that I will make a full recovery. I thank-you, in advance, for the support and love as we, my family and I, are adjusting to this change.
May the Lord bless and guide you in your lives.
With Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
First, I just want to thank everyone for all the love and support. Due to some recent medical challenges it became necessary for me to return home from my mission. I flew home on Tuesday the 25th of January and was honorably released from my mission due to medical reasons. Originally we were hoping to have me recover while on my mission. But I have increasingly become worse and we came to realize that the best thing for me would be to come home. It has been hard to say the least. But the spirit has strongly witnessed to my Mission President, the Stake President, a General Authority and me that the Lord was pleased with my service and that I needed to return home. I have cherished the memories and people I was able to meet on my mission. So many people have touched my heart there and I will never be the same. The lessons I have learned on my mission will benefit me for the rest of my life.
And now as I embark on a journey I never wanted or expected, I take courage in the knowledge that this is the Lord’s will. Sometimes his plans for our lives are different than what we expected, but his plan is always for the better. I know as we have faith and trust in the Lord, he never leaves our side. That has become very real to me, especially in this difficult time. I am also so blessed to have the love and support of so many friends and family. I am working with my doctors, and we are very positive that I will make a full recovery. I thank-you, in advance, for the support and love as we, my family and I, are adjusting to this change.
May the Lord bless and guide you in your lives.
With Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
So it is official I am in my new area. This area is called, Hafer. It is called Hafer after Hafer road where the mission office is. Yes, the mission office is in my area. I am in the Houston Zone now in the Houston 6th ward. My previous ward was Woodlands 3rd ward. It broke off of this Houston 6 ward. My new ward is a lot bigger than my old ward. We actually fill the chapel. So they will have to open the overflow whether they want to or not. I say this because Latinos always seem to sit so close to one another. We have some great members here. But more than half of the ward is not allowed to go out with us. Because when they changed bishops the last time. There was a member who wanted to be bishop and started gathering a following. I am serious. Like he was gathering a group who were going to not listen to the bishop and do what they wanted to do instead. Uprising, how dramatic. The ward is all together. The stake put those members in their place. But it was crazy from what I hear. So my companion and I and 2 Elders serve in this ward. We cover the west side of the ward and they cover the east. It is nice not to be the only missionaries in the ward anymore.
Also this ward feeds us on a regular basis. We have weekly dinners with like four families a week. The same families. They want to feed us and insist that we come over. There would have been more, but we aren't allowed to go over to those families who were involved in the uprising. So my new companion's name is Miriam Rodriguez. She is from Guatemala. So needless to say her spanish is amazing. She is helping learn a lot more. I am grateful for her help. She is a very chill kind of person. She is the youngest of 2 children. She has an older brother. Her mother and father and brother now live in California. But she and her brother were raised in Guatemala by their grandparents. Her English is pretty good. I actually help her with that as well. So we help each other with the language. She has a fiancee in Guatemala named Angel Eli Rodriguez. He asked her to marry him right before she left on her mission. He is waiting for her in Guatemala. She plans on marrying him about 6 months after her mission. She has been on her mission now for 10 months. She goes home the end of September. We are getting along pretty well. We keep working hard teaching and finding.
My new address is
14131 Cornerstone Village Dr.
North Bend Apartments #1003
Houston, TX 77014
I love you all and miss you all. Be safe and stay close to the Lord.
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
So it is official I am in my new area. This area is called, Hafer. It is called Hafer after Hafer road where the mission office is. Yes, the mission office is in my area. I am in the Houston Zone now in the Houston 6th ward. My previous ward was Woodlands 3rd ward. It broke off of this Houston 6 ward. My new ward is a lot bigger than my old ward. We actually fill the chapel. So they will have to open the overflow whether they want to or not. I say this because Latinos always seem to sit so close to one another. We have some great members here. But more than half of the ward is not allowed to go out with us. Because when they changed bishops the last time. There was a member who wanted to be bishop and started gathering a following. I am serious. Like he was gathering a group who were going to not listen to the bishop and do what they wanted to do instead. Uprising, how dramatic. The ward is all together. The stake put those members in their place. But it was crazy from what I hear. So my companion and I and 2 Elders serve in this ward. We cover the west side of the ward and they cover the east. It is nice not to be the only missionaries in the ward anymore.
Also this ward feeds us on a regular basis. We have weekly dinners with like four families a week. The same families. They want to feed us and insist that we come over. There would have been more, but we aren't allowed to go over to those families who were involved in the uprising. So my new companion's name is Miriam Rodriguez. She is from Guatemala. So needless to say her spanish is amazing. She is helping learn a lot more. I am grateful for her help. She is a very chill kind of person. She is the youngest of 2 children. She has an older brother. Her mother and father and brother now live in California. But she and her brother were raised in Guatemala by their grandparents. Her English is pretty good. I actually help her with that as well. So we help each other with the language. She has a fiancee in Guatemala named Angel Eli Rodriguez. He asked her to marry him right before she left on her mission. He is waiting for her in Guatemala. She plans on marrying him about 6 months after her mission. She has been on her mission now for 10 months. She goes home the end of September. We are getting along pretty well. We keep working hard teaching and finding.
My new address is
14131 Cornerstone Village Dr.
North Bend Apartments #1003
Houston, TX 77014
I love you all and miss you all. Be safe and stay close to the Lord.
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10th, 2011 Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
Hello!! Well this has been a pretty average week overall. One thing I will say about Hispanics is they really love their vacation time. A lot of our appointments this week were rescheduled because many people still had family over finishing up their holidays. But our next week here in the Woodlands is already packed with appointments. We have an investigator here who is close to getting baptized, but refuses to set a date. He says he is waiting on God to give him the date. Some people don't like to make any decisions on their own. This investigator also says he won't get baptized unless I am there at the baptism. This brings me to the big news.
I got transferred!!! I am going to a new area with a new companion. My new companions name is Hermana Rodriguez. She is from Guatemala. So yeah my Spanish is going to soar!! Whohoa!! This will be nice, because with this last companion, I felt like I knew more Spanish than she did. She is going home in three transfers. She goes home in May. But it is all good. We all have our own struggles on the mission. Well I don't have the address yet for my new apartment, so just send any letters to the mission office address for now. Here in the Woodlands, we are surrounded by English speaking Elders. We are the only Spanish speakers. In my new area, we are in a district with all Spanish speakers. This means we will get to have Spanish study together. Also, my old MTC companions are in my district. Weirdly enough my two MTC companions are now companions again in a trio with another more experienced Hermana, Hermana Maylett. Hermana Maylett goes home in two transfers. It will be so cool to see my old MTC companions more. And there will be other missionaries covering the ward I am in. Yeah, I am no longer in charge of a whole Ward in regards to missionary work. So needless to say, I am excited. I will give you more details next week.
Stay safe everyone. I love and miss all of you!!
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
Hello!! Well this has been a pretty average week overall. One thing I will say about Hispanics is they really love their vacation time. A lot of our appointments this week were rescheduled because many people still had family over finishing up their holidays. But our next week here in the Woodlands is already packed with appointments. We have an investigator here who is close to getting baptized, but refuses to set a date. He says he is waiting on God to give him the date. Some people don't like to make any decisions on their own. This investigator also says he won't get baptized unless I am there at the baptism. This brings me to the big news.
I got transferred!!! I am going to a new area with a new companion. My new companions name is Hermana Rodriguez. She is from Guatemala. So yeah my Spanish is going to soar!! Whohoa!! This will be nice, because with this last companion, I felt like I knew more Spanish than she did. She is going home in three transfers. She goes home in May. But it is all good. We all have our own struggles on the mission. Well I don't have the address yet for my new apartment, so just send any letters to the mission office address for now. Here in the Woodlands, we are surrounded by English speaking Elders. We are the only Spanish speakers. In my new area, we are in a district with all Spanish speakers. This means we will get to have Spanish study together. Also, my old MTC companions are in my district. Weirdly enough my two MTC companions are now companions again in a trio with another more experienced Hermana, Hermana Maylett. Hermana Maylett goes home in two transfers. It will be so cool to see my old MTC companions more. And there will be other missionaries covering the ward I am in. Yeah, I am no longer in charge of a whole Ward in regards to missionary work. So needless to say, I am excited. I will give you more details next week.
Stay safe everyone. I love and miss all of you!!
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
Monday, January 10, 2011
Monday, January 3rd Letter
Group Shot from Christmas Conference
Dear Family and Friends,So I have a New Year's Surprise!!!! We had a baptism!!!! On the 2nd of January one of our long time investigators was baptized. He was found in a Jack-in-the-Box. He said that he usually goes through the drive-thru, but on this day he wanted to go inside and he didn't know why. He went inside and saw three white girls with tags that were in spanish. He is from Colombia but very much Americanized. He speaks better English than Spanish. But he likes associating himself with the Latino population. So he asked the girls if they spoke spanish. They replied to him in Spanish that in fact they did. He was so surprised and intrigued. To make a long story short he came to church the next day and has been an investigator ever since. He has been ready to be baptized since July but there was always an excuse. He wanted his family who were in Colombia to be here. When they were finally here he had taken a new job that makes him travel. He would still go to church wherever he was. We would have lessons over the phone with him. So he finally decided that the next time he got off time for work he wanted to be baptized. So they began teaching him in February of 2010 and he was baptized January of 2011. He is a very sweet guy. He is 44 years old. He was a Marine and loves to watch the Discovery channel. His name is Guillermo. (William in English) We had a lot of visiting Hermanas at his baptism because they had all taught him at one point.
It was a very nice service. They bishopric decided they wanted to have a musical number right before the actual baptism. They didn't tell us they wanted this until the day of the baptism. So no one wanted to or couldn't put together a musical number that fast so my companion and I put something together. We didn't even practice. We were copying the programs. We just picked a hymn and talked through what we would do. Then we just did it. Everyone said it was beautiful. I had someone come up to me and asked if I had studied music before. It was a nice way to bring the spirit in. We also had two investigators at the baptism that we hope will be baptized soon. I pray all of you had a very Happy New Year!! New Years I was sleeping and working on a baptism book. We had to be in by dusk which is like 5:30 ish here.
Love you all,
Hermana Alaina Mills
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27th, 2010 LETTER
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year one and all!!! I hope your Christmas' were bright and your New Years will be full of festivities. Here in Houston we had a Wednesday celebration as the Texas Houston Mission. All the Missionaries in our mission gathered for a large service project. We gathered food for N.A.M., hung up donated clothes at N.A.M., and cleaned the highways. Following which we had activities such as gingerbread house decorating, Ultimate Frisbee, Rope Pulls, Stickpull, and Cowchip throwing. The Cowchip throwing was very interesting because we were using frozen meat pies that were frozen in the beginning but near the end... Let's just say that there were some disgusting smears on peoples hands and shirts. Then we had a wonderful Christmas devotional full of missionaries singing and talks given by the Area President (I think that is what he is called. The guy over all the Stake Presidents.) and his wife. This took up our whole day Wednesday. Then on Christmas Eve we just had District Meeting and went out for lunch afterwards as always. Oddly enough unlike Thanksgiving where we had four dinners we had zero for both Christmas and Christmas Eve. So instead we did our weekly planning on Christmas Eve. We got a call around 6 p.m. from one of the recently returned sister missionaries in the ward. She invited us to a party at her inactive Dad's house.
In the Hispanic culture they usually have a late devotional on Christmas Eve, they eat lots of food, open all of their presents at midnight, and then dance the night away. We were going to do the little devotional. It was a trial to get there. Our car needed gas so we stopped to get gas. It was pouring outside. Then our car told us it that a tire needed to be pumped up. So in the rain we are trying to pump up our tire. I nice gentleman stopped to help us. We gave him a card of course. Then we get back into the car and the car still says that our tire needs air. We think our car is having a little bit of a problem electrically. Our vehicle coordinator told us that our car has been recalled for that reason and we needed to take it to a Chevy dealership. Anyway, we get on our way and get to the house. Only to find that they pushed back the party to 9 p.m. So we couldn't teach a lesson. But they had some food ready for us. So we ate while they finished getting ready for their night and then we left. Christmas day we had a normal morning except we opened up all our presents. Then we went to the Mission Home for crepes that afternoon. We came home because we were not allowed to proselyte or go out unless we had appointments. We had none, not from lack of trying. But all the Hispanics were busy and or sleeping off the night before. So we came home, called our families, and just chilled. I ended up sleeping until the next morning.
I absolutely loved talking to my family. They are so wonderful. As I like to say my family may not be perfect, but they are perfect for me. I pray for all of you and wish you the best this Holiday Season.
Hermana Alaina Mills
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year one and all!!! I hope your Christmas' were bright and your New Years will be full of festivities. Here in Houston we had a Wednesday celebration as the Texas Houston Mission. All the Missionaries in our mission gathered for a large service project. We gathered food for N.A.M., hung up donated clothes at N.A.M., and cleaned the highways. Following which we had activities such as gingerbread house decorating, Ultimate Frisbee, Rope Pulls, Stickpull, and Cowchip throwing. The Cowchip throwing was very interesting because we were using frozen meat pies that were frozen in the beginning but near the end... Let's just say that there were some disgusting smears on peoples hands and shirts. Then we had a wonderful Christmas devotional full of missionaries singing and talks given by the Area President (I think that is what he is called. The guy over all the Stake Presidents.) and his wife. This took up our whole day Wednesday. Then on Christmas Eve we just had District Meeting and went out for lunch afterwards as always. Oddly enough unlike Thanksgiving where we had four dinners we had zero for both Christmas and Christmas Eve. So instead we did our weekly planning on Christmas Eve. We got a call around 6 p.m. from one of the recently returned sister missionaries in the ward. She invited us to a party at her inactive Dad's house.
In the Hispanic culture they usually have a late devotional on Christmas Eve, they eat lots of food, open all of their presents at midnight, and then dance the night away. We were going to do the little devotional. It was a trial to get there. Our car needed gas so we stopped to get gas. It was pouring outside. Then our car told us it that a tire needed to be pumped up. So in the rain we are trying to pump up our tire. I nice gentleman stopped to help us. We gave him a card of course. Then we get back into the car and the car still says that our tire needs air. We think our car is having a little bit of a problem electrically. Our vehicle coordinator told us that our car has been recalled for that reason and we needed to take it to a Chevy dealership. Anyway, we get on our way and get to the house. Only to find that they pushed back the party to 9 p.m. So we couldn't teach a lesson. But they had some food ready for us. So we ate while they finished getting ready for their night and then we left. Christmas day we had a normal morning except we opened up all our presents. Then we went to the Mission Home for crepes that afternoon. We came home because we were not allowed to proselyte or go out unless we had appointments. We had none, not from lack of trying. But all the Hispanics were busy and or sleeping off the night before. So we came home, called our families, and just chilled. I ended up sleeping until the next morning.
I absolutely loved talking to my family. They are so wonderful. As I like to say my family may not be perfect, but they are perfect for me. I pray for all of you and wish you the best this Holiday Season.
Hermana Alaina Mills
Monday, December 20th, 2010 Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas on and all!!!! I hope everyone has happy plans for Christmas. If you don't go find some. There is so much to do. Everyone keeps telling me that what a great opportunity I have to focus on the Savior so much this Christmas season. I don't know what they are talking about. I have always focused on the Savior at this time of year. And I actually miss the opportunity to get presents for those that I love, including the Savior. I had a tradition of giving a gift to the Savior every Christmas. But this year I am struggling to come up with one. Everything I do every moment of every day is for the Savior so I don't know.
As for the work this week. Ana was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this last Sunday. The bishop confirmed her and all the single adult males that she grew up with who had the priesthood were in the circle. It was such a cool experience. She said she felt the spirit so strong. Stronger then when she was baptized. This actually makes sense because I baptism is not complete without the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have a new family we are teaching. I think I may have told you about them in my last letter, but just in case. They have a little 3 year old boy and a 2 month old girl. They live in this trailer that has no heat. Brrr... a little cold. They use a space heater. They are doing pretty well at progressing. They have so much interest in the gospel. The mom especially loves what we teach her.
Other than that it has been a pretty normal week. The only difference is everyone basically wants to put the lessons they are taking on hold until after the holidays. You would think people would be more willing to listen to our message during the holidays. Nope that is a lie. People are less willing to listen. Also, unlike Thanksgiving where everyone wanted us to come over and eat. Christmas we haven't received a single invitation. Christmas is special and everyone just wants to focus on family. I can't blame them. But we have some special activities this week in the mission to make up for the lack of lessons. I think the mission planned these activities for this week just for this reason. But I will tell you all about the activities next week.
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
P.S. I just want to thank everyone who has sent me their Christmas cards or a package for Christmas. You have no idea how those little things have been lifting my spirits. So thank-you. May God be with you this Christmas season.
Merry Christmas on and all!!!! I hope everyone has happy plans for Christmas. If you don't go find some. There is so much to do. Everyone keeps telling me that what a great opportunity I have to focus on the Savior so much this Christmas season. I don't know what they are talking about. I have always focused on the Savior at this time of year. And I actually miss the opportunity to get presents for those that I love, including the Savior. I had a tradition of giving a gift to the Savior every Christmas. But this year I am struggling to come up with one. Everything I do every moment of every day is for the Savior so I don't know.
As for the work this week. Ana was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this last Sunday. The bishop confirmed her and all the single adult males that she grew up with who had the priesthood were in the circle. It was such a cool experience. She said she felt the spirit so strong. Stronger then when she was baptized. This actually makes sense because I baptism is not complete without the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. We have a new family we are teaching. I think I may have told you about them in my last letter, but just in case. They have a little 3 year old boy and a 2 month old girl. They live in this trailer that has no heat. Brrr... a little cold. They use a space heater. They are doing pretty well at progressing. They have so much interest in the gospel. The mom especially loves what we teach her.
Other than that it has been a pretty normal week. The only difference is everyone basically wants to put the lessons they are taking on hold until after the holidays. You would think people would be more willing to listen to our message during the holidays. Nope that is a lie. People are less willing to listen. Also, unlike Thanksgiving where everyone wanted us to come over and eat. Christmas we haven't received a single invitation. Christmas is special and everyone just wants to focus on family. I can't blame them. But we have some special activities this week in the mission to make up for the lack of lessons. I think the mission planned these activities for this week just for this reason. But I will tell you all about the activities next week.
Love,
Hermana Alaina Mills
P.S. I just want to thank everyone who has sent me their Christmas cards or a package for Christmas. You have no idea how those little things have been lifting my spirits. So thank-you. May God be with you this Christmas season.
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