WINNING-but in Tagalog (Panalo); June 6, 2023

Hey friends!

I can’t believe another week has passed! It is crazy! But it has also been sooo good! I am completely loving it! It can also sometimes be really hard, and I sometimes feel like I am pushed to my limits. And yet—all at the same time, my mission has also helped me grow and gain a stronger testimony, which I am so grateful for!

We had our first full week of complete Tagalog classes. It was crazy hard. I thought that maybe the language would start coming quicker now that we hear Tagalog so much, but it seems to me that I hear a word and it immediately slips out of my brain. It is sometimes a little frustrating, but it is teaching me to be patient and it gives me the drive to work harder-

One of those ways that I get to work harder at the language is by constantly speaking it. Yesterday, we were challenged by our teachers to use Tagalog whenever we get the chance to. I feel like it is already helping me. It feels a little ridiculous to say one or two words in each sentence in Tagalog (and sometimes it feels obnoxious when the person you are talking to doesn’t speak Tagalog😊) but I know that it will help me so much.

One of the biggest blessings of my week was Fast Sunday. I know it seems crazy that I would love Fast Sunday. Usually, I drag my feet a little bit when it comes to Fast Sunday. Going without food for two meals is hard! But the day before Sunday, I was talking to my teacher about some of the things that I was struggling with, and she told me that Sunday was going to be a glorious blessing for me. I decided to try and look at it like a blessing and as I did, I saw miracles. I was able to focus on what I was fasting for and remember why it was important. It reminded me how much God loves me and helped me feel like I can do hard things. It was an amazing experience and probably one of my favorite Sundays I have ever had.

Another amazing thing that happened this week was that Elder Renlund came to our devotional! It was so cool! He talked to us about how we can ask questions that can help bring people closer to Christ. It helped me think about how I want to ask questions and how I can use them to teach the Gospel. 

While I am at the MTC, I get the blessing of getting two devotionals each week! This week was powerful. The second devotional was given by the MTC President and his wife. It was also amazing. They talked about how we can feel the spirit and shared some of Elder Bednar’s talk about feeling the spirit! The best part about it was that my Grandpa Terry had sent me the talk earlier this week, so I felt like I got extra spiritually enlightened, and it felt like God was really speaking to me and answering my prayers. (Talk about following the spirit… how cool is that!) 

Being at the MTC is a special experience. I know I have shared some of the hard things with learning the language, but the spirit here is truly so strong. I feel like I'm coming closer to my Savior every day and I am so grateful for it!

Something really special for me and my companions is that we were asked to be STL’s for our branch. This means that we are the Sister Training Leaders. It is so fun! We get the opportunity to get to know the sisters in our branch better, and help support them with whatever they need. It is a little daunting because we have only been here for two weeks, so it doesn’t feel like we know a lot, but I love it and I love the opportunity to grow!

For my spiritual thought for this week, I wanted to share an experience that I had in class this week. For one of our classes, we were asked to write down our testimony in English and then translate the words we were unfamiliar with into Tagalog. 

After we translated some words, our teacher told us that we would bear our testimony in Tagalog to her with no notes. We went outside and had some time to just ponder and pray to prepare to bear our testimonies to her. As I prayed, the song A Child’s Prayer kept running through my head. (If you haven’t ever heard it, it is amazing, and you should listen to it.) As I was thinking about this song, I felt God’s love testify to me that He was hearing my prayers and that He would answer them.

When it was my turn to bear my testimony, it didn’t exactly work how I wanted it to. I only was able to say three phrases, and I am pretty sure my grammar was horrendous, but I felt the spirit and I felt God’s love as I testified in my imperfect speech that God loves us. It reminded me that I don’t have to be perfect to share my testimony, God can make up the difference and help my testimony be heard when it comes from my heart. 

I love this Gospel! I know that it is true. I know that God loves each of us and that He is aware of our trials. I know that He answers our prayers. I know that through Christ, all things are possible.

I love you all! Thank you for your love and support! 

The Church is true, God loves you! 

Love,  Sister Miller

Pictures: We had the chance to go to the temple as a district! There are some cute selfies of my companions and I doing personal study and us outside in the rain with the beautiful mountains! Also, my sister made some super cute shirts for my companions and I and we got to wear them to our service activity!