Week 37

Well, today is deep clean Monday and Sister Labrum and I have been ripping apart our apartment and

trashing so much stuff.  We realized how much unnecessary stuff we own so we decided to let it go.

We find out transfer news on Sunday so that's exciting!! So this week was interesting as usual.  We

went to see one of our investigators Libby and she kicked us out of her apartment because she has

bed bugs!  We are in the clear but her reaction was hilarious.  We also got stopped by this guy on

the street who wanted us to meet him down at the laundry mat.  He had a few questions.  Turns out

he had questions about Vampires and the book of Enoch.  It was so strange. Never a dull moment!

Sister Labrum birthday was this week so we trashed the apartment with confetti all thanks to the

package mama Miles sent.

We had interviews this week as well.  President Wadsworth is just the best!

General Women's Conference was great.  I definitely needed the spiritual boost.  Ya'll need to watch

General Conference this weekend.

I was sick for 3 days so the work this week has been slow.  Had to go to the doctors and all that fun

stuff but I am better now.  Thank you for all of your support.

I leave you with my Testimony that when you are lost or feel abandoned, "The good Shepard will

find you" Press forward onto the Tree of Life that represents the love of God.  I invite you all to

read 1 Nephi chapter 8.  Love you all.  Keep the Faith

Love,

Sister Miles

Week 36

Good morning lovelies! Well another crazy eventual week in the Helena 4th area with my amazing companion Sister Labrum. It went from the high 80s to SNOWING here! I had sent home all of my winter clothes so I was wearing my companions for a few days. She's a lifesaver. 

So last Monday we went on a fun train tour with the other sisters and this was my second time going since Sister Labrum had never gone. It was fun but super hot! Later that evening we met a man named Sunny who was a referral from some members. Nicest person ever! Him and his wife are actually Hindu so I won't lie I was careful with my words. We set up a time to come back so that was exciting! We went back over later that week and Sunny wasn't there but we met his wife and guess what her name is...Gina! She is seriously so sweet! She invited us in and we chatted with her for a little and she expressed that she was comfortable with her religion but wanted us to come back because she wanted to learn more! No lie I have never taught anyone who practiced Hinduism so I'm nervous but excited! 

Tuesday was exchanges and I got to be with Sister Medley again! Let me tell you, Sister Medley is the most kind and loving person on this planet. At the beginning of the exchange her and I talked for a good 45 minutes and just venting basically. As I cried she continuously expressed her love for me. Sister Medley is an example of a Christlike person hands down. She truly is a huge example to me and I love her to pieces! We both had a great day teaching! That day I was able to see the joy of missionary work since I had been struggling lately to see the good. Tuesday was an uplifting day! 

Wednesday was district meeting and as always I leave there spiritually uplifted and recharged. The rest of the day was a bit challenging. Not a lot of people answered their doors and were interested in talking with us. We did however put our investigator Kayd on date for baptism! Kayd is 10 and just a crack up. At the end of the meeting we asked Kayd if he would say the prayer and it brought tears to my eyes. He said this: "Thank you for sending me people to help me find the way. Please never leave me." A 10 year old! The gospel is good. 

Thursday...the most traumatic day of my life. HAIR EMERGENCY. So Wednesday night I decided I would bleach my hair to get it lighter. After I had done that I realized I had made a horrible mistake. My head was like five different colors. I had another box of hair dye that was red so I figured the red would even it out and fix it. I colored it that morning again and boy did I make a huge mistake. My hair was blotchy and funky. In the morning it didn't look to bad but throughout the day I began to realize that my head was actually orange. I looked like thanksgiving literally! I even matched my Halloween oreos! We had a stake meeting that night and there was no way I was showing up like that. So with the little time we had we ran to Walgreens to get hair dye and I ended up coloring my hair at a less actives home while Sister Labrum washed my head in the sink. After coloring my hair THREE time within 24 hours my head was so stiff. I had to put tons of coconut oil in my hair that night and woke up luckily with softer hair. Basically I'm lucky to have hair on my head. 

Another fun thing happened when we went to go visit an investigator. We knocked on the door and a lady answered. She had said that Troy was hooked on meth and broke into someone's home threatening them and went to jail. We really have the most interesting area ever. This week was a little slower for us and we dropped alot of people so it's been a challenge but when life gets rough, keep going! 

This week as I was studying in Preach My Gospel, I was looking into Christlike attributes. I studied faith one day and the story of David and Goliath. David blows me away at the great faith he had. There's a scripture is 1 Samuel 17:45 that says:

"Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." 

David came in the name of the Lord. We have Goliaths in our lives that we have to face but we need to run at the Goliaths and have faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. We doubt because Satan tells us that it's okay. Christ even said "Wherefore didst thou doubt?" 

I have a growing testimony of this gospel and in my Savior Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon is my safe place in times where I may lack peace in my life. I know I can always turn to the Book of Mormon and be uplifted. 

This week is Sister Labrums birthday so her and I are going to party it up on Wednesday! I actually took her discussion for her so she didn't have to speak on her birthday haha. Also transfers are October 4th (my nine months mark)!

I love you all so much! Keep the faith. 

Love,

Sister Austin Miles ♡

1557 COLORADO GULCH 
HELENA, MT 59601

Montana Billings Mission 🇧🇿

Week 35

Zone Conference

why not jump on the bed?

Putting a squirrel out of its misery

Hey everyone!

Welcome to another exciting week in the life of Sister Miles. Helena
is full of smoke and it's residence are slowly withering away. The
inside of my lungs are probably black and everyone we talk to is
positive the end is near.

This week had it's ups and downs, but I would like to focus on the ups.

I got my haircut on Monday at the only salon open in town
due to Labor Day.  We were the only ones, along with the hairdresser
who started asking questions about the church! She said that she hoped
to see us around so we left her with our number and I'll probably go
back to get my hair done soon.

That night while driving around we saw this less active. we pulled over and Sister Labrum yelled "MICHAEL! COME OVER HERE!" And I am positive she scared him half to death since he had no idea who she was. But once he saw me hop out of the truck all was cool.

Tuesday we pretty much street contacted all day and no one was interested.

Wednesday we woke up early and dropped our car off at the body shop.
The Sisters from 6th Ward picked us up and we drove to Butte for zone
conference.

But zone conference was really great and uplifting. I learned a lot of
great stuff about helping people make and keep commitments and really
felt the Spirit.

The next 2 nights we stayed with some members, the Zullos, since their
house is in a central location and we could easily walk to most of our
appointments. At one point we were walking when I decided
I just really needed chocolate. We walked in a gas station when a
lady approached us and said she always wanted to met with missionaries
but her boyfriend was against it. They have since broken up and she
moved out. Also turns out we are teaching her sister and she lives
there too!

Thursday was really great. We had our first lesson with a new
investigator named Terry. We taught him the Restoration and he told us
he could feel the Holy Ghost telling him what we said was true. Sister Labrum
invited him to be baptized and before she finished the sentence he said
yes and set a date for October 14th!

That night we met this man Sister Labrum and I now call "Spiritual
Scott". The conversation started off normal as we talked about Christ,
faith, and all that good stuff. Then he started going on about child
birth and crying and it was really weird. At one point he started
telling me how beautiful I was and then he turned to Sister Labrum
and said "And you have really bad acne." A sentence which really
boosted her fragile self esteem. And we keep running into him! Like
everywhere! It's super weird.

Friday was rough and a day that I don't want to go into detail about
but some events from the day include guys rolling joints in the
library and finding a member of our ward on the side of the road
drunk.

We got our truck back early that evening and were able to go back to
our house. The next morning we were greeted by the Nielson's cats, who
brought us a mangled ground squirrel, still alive and writhing in
pain. We couldn't just let it suffer. I suggested we crush its head to put it out of its misery, but Sister Labrum suggested a more humane approach. So we put it in a trash bag and tied it to our exhaust pipe. Afterwords we held a funeral service for the rodent in its grave of pine cones.

That day we also taught Steve. Missionaries have been meeting with him
for a long time and he's never gotten completely on board with the
entire gospel yet. We asked him if he believed the church was true. He
said that he's read the Bible and from what he can gather, we have the
closest organization to what Christ established when he was on the
earth, but he wasn't sold that we were in fact, the same church Christ
established. Sister Labrum asked him if he believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and he said yes, in which Sister Labrum rebutted "If Joseph Smith was a prophet, then isn't this Christ's church established on the earth today? The one, true church?" In which he reasoned "I guess you're right. guess that means I need to get baptized now. I'll pick a date and tell you next week." And he went on his way.

Libby came to church on Sunday! She told us she was only going to stay
for Sacrament Meeting but ended up staying all 3 hours and she loved
it! She said she was definitely going to come back and that church
inspired her to clean her house more.

But Sunday was also pretty rough. We had a rapid succession drop fest
of people telling us they were no longer interested in meeting with
us. Including one investigator who we couldn't get a hold of for 2
weeks. She came to church and we stopped by her house that night, in
which she yelled thorough the door that if we ever stopped by again
she would call the cops on us. We're not sure what happened to make
her feel that way but it was definitely heartbreaking.

I love you! 

Love,
Sister Austin Miles ♡