Alexa Milad said her close relationship with Jesus Christ has led her to feel deep love for others and created a passion for service and intercultural peacebuilding. She said on her first humanitarian trip to Brazil at the age of 14, she taught English, empowered the children there and expanded her own views of the world. She also met a young man named Douglas Oliveira, a skilled and passionate dancer who specializes in ballet.
She said she created a program that allowed him to develop his skills and eventually participate in New York Dance Intensive, a dance program full of intense training for highly skilled dancers. Currently, Oliveira teaches full-time as a dance instructor in Vancouver, Canada, she added.
“It’s so easy to go into these countries and think they don’t have anything. People can, in a way, almost victimize themselves because they feel bad for them. … They have so much they can do with their lives when you give them those opportunities or help them do something with their passions. Eventually they don’t need any help from you. They are just flying.”
Milad’s close friend, Hannah Bromley, said Milad’s passion and drive for service have inspired her to look for service opportunities and be more open to those around her. “Everybody should talk to [Alexa Milad] about what she’s passionate about, which is peacebuilding. I’ve learned the world would be a little bit brighter if everyone would talk to her and learn from her passion.”
Eye-opening experiences
Milad, a sophomore from Vancouver, Canada, majoring in intercultural peacebuilding and elementary education, said her parents always taught her to be grateful and aware of her blessings and to give back to those in need. She said this sparked her desire to serve in humanitarian work. She also credited her grandparents for teaching her the importance of real-life experiences in her education.
“My parents and my grandparents have this big belief in traveling. My grandpa has always said [people] learn more outside of the classroom than in a classroom. That’s where my love for traveling, meeting new people and learning about different cultures comes from.” She added she is studying intercultural peacebuilding because she loves coming to understand why people are the way they are through getting to know them.
Because her dad immigrated from Cairo, Egypt, and worked hard to create a life in Canada, Milad said she has “always been aware of poverty.” In addition, she said her grandparents came from “humble beginnings” and made it obvious to her “not everybody has everything they need.”
Loved through every mistake
Bromley, a former roommate and close friend of Milad from Utah, said Milad has a great capacity to learn and wants learning to expand her world views. “Alexa has a great capacity to learn and soak things up. I also admire her determination to keep going and learning until she gets it. I don’t think the girl ever gives up.”
Milad said her mother has been another inspiration for her desire to serve as a humanitarian. “My mom has been this incredible example of seeing people as people and seeing their humanity. She gives selfless service and puts others above herself. She always tries to be [like] the Savior and make time for him by attending the temple weekly.”
She shared her drive and ability to do humanitarian work comes from having a deep testimony of and love for Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ is the reason why I’m doing humanitarian work. I am so imperfect, and I need so much help, yet he loves me through every mistake, through every trial, through everything I go through in my life. He has given me relief and support throughout everything.”
Lisa Milad, Alexa Milad’s mother, said when Alexa Milad was born, she was conflicted about what to name her. She explained “Aaliyah” was her first choice, but after seeing her daughter’s big brown eyes and dark curly hair, the named seemed too gentle. “Alexa is a strong name that means ‘defender’ and ‘helper of mankind.’ If you know Alexa, she lives up to that meaning.”
From a very young age, Alexa Milad has always had the light of Christ within her, Lisa Milad added. She explained her daughter’s nickname was “Sunshine” due to her bright countenance. “People gravitate towards her. Alexa is someone who knows how to reach out to people, and she just naturally loves them. She does it genuinely.”
Alexa Milad said while in the Missionary Training Center prior to serving a mission in Montreal, Canada, she heard a quote from the talk “In the Strength of the Lord” by Elder David A. Bednar. She said the quote greatly impacted her life and how she chooses to serve those around her.
She explained charity is not a love people inherently have inside, rather, “It’s Christ’s love that gives [people] the ability to love others. It’s a direct connection from him to others. I’ve noticed I have a very deep love for people because of that deep connection with Jesus Christ.”
She shared she could only fully understand this while being on her mission. “I finally understood my mission wasn’t my mission, but it was his. When I tried controlling things, I had to learn how to give it to him.”
She said as she learned this principle, she started giving not only her mission to the Lord, but she also gave her life to him too.
Recognizing self-worth
A struggle Alexa Milad shared she faced before her mission was feeling like she was worthy to serve the people.
“I started making choices that went against what I believed, and as it started to spiral down, I started to feel depressed. I would do something to make myself feel better, but [because it was] a temporary fix, I’d be even more depressed.”
She said she asked her father to give her a blessing before the upcoming school year and was surprised with how closely it related to her current struggles. “My parents had no idea what was going on with me and what I was going through. When I asked my dad for a blessing about something completely unrelated, at the end of the blessing he expressed he felt impressed to tell me I was enough.”
This experience taught her God was not so much focused on what she had done but rather on who she was becoming, she shared. “I used to beat myself up over mistakes I would make, but I think the lesson I learned on my mission was when we mess up, we have to own what we’ve done, acknowledge it was wrong and then move on. I can’t imagine a God being up there happy [people] punishing [their selves].”
Alexa Milad suggested if others are struggling with feeling like they are enough, they should use Christ’s Atonement every day, pray and have a relationship with God as well as try to become worthy to attend the temple again. •