Baptized in Dirty Water

Hello my lovely friends!! There are some good stories this week so hold on for a wild ride, I promise it is worth the read!! 

It is good to be back in my area for a whole week! Last week, I went to Manila (for those of you who missed a week). But this week I was here in Tumauini and I loved it! I missed my area last week!!

 First, we have to travel back in time for a minute. Last week as I traveled, we traveled with a missionary who was heading home, and he told us that we needed to try Chicken BBQ if we ever got the chance…sounds pretty good right? Well, chicken BBQ is chicken intestines, BUT…I promised myself that if I had the chance, I would try it.

 WELL…we were very kindly invited to a dinner appointment at the patriarch’s family’s house (they might be my favorite family ever!). Anyways, we arrived, and they had sooooo much food! I sat down and they had pork BBQ (normal pork that is grilled), chicken BBQ, and this weird purple thing that kinda looked like tofu. I decided right then that I would try the chicken BBQ, but I didn’t like tofu, so I figured I would pass on that one. 

 We started eating, I tried the chicken intestines, and it was actually not too bad. If I thought about it too hard, I couldn’t eat it, but it did not have a bad flavor! Thinking I was out of the woods in trying new foods, I was having a good time! But then…someone said, “Do you know what that is?” (Pointing to the purple thing.).

 “No” I replied.

“Well, you have to try it.”

Sooooo…I took a tiny piece and ate it. It had the weirdest texture…and as I ate it, my kabahay looked at me and says, “It’s blood.”

I almost threw up. Not even joking. It was rough to finish off the last of it. I am not entirely sure how it works, but somehow, they make pig’s blood solid and put it on a stick and feed it to people. It was pretty bad. Maybe just because I knew what it was. Anyways, I hope I never have to eat that again. But yep! This week I ate pig’s blood and chicken intestines!

Other than that, it was a pretty chill week…other than the baptism—of course—, but we will get there in a minute.

We spent a lot of time teaching this week! I wish we could have spent even more time in lessons, but we have other things we have to do too. My companion decided this week that I have been here for a whole month, so I should be able to lead discussions now! Perfectly logical…but my Tagalog does not agree! But I am sure this will be good, because I am sure it will be a wonderful learning experience.

My first lesson leading the discussion, it felt like I fumbled out all of the Tagalog words that I knew…but then when I passed it to my companion, she asked them what they understood, and they replied that they understood nothing! All my hard work was wasted! But it was ok. My companion re-explained everything in good Tagalog that actually made sense. 

The rest of the lessons I led out on this week went better. So, I guess the benefit is that I am improving! Hopefully I will learn even faster so that I can actually make sense!

This Saturday, we had another baptism! I am in a high baptizing area, and it is a blessing! People here are so good and are so ready for the gospel!

This week Liam was baptized! He is 9-years old, and his mom is a member, but his dad is not. We have been preparing him for a while, and it was so good to see him be baptized! 

BUT…. there were a few hiccups…  We went to the church 30 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start to get Liam ready, but when we checked on the font, it was full of black water! We were so confused! The bishop came in and said, “We have a problem.” He explained that the water ran out and so a bunch of dirt in the pipes came out too. He assured us that he could fix it, but we needed to push back the baptism 2 hours. So, we agreed, because what choice did we have?

We taught a lesson at the church while we waited and helped Liam prepare, then 2 hours later we got ready to start! However, the water was still very dirty! Even though the bishop had tried to drain and clean the font, it still didn’t work. On top of that, 2 hours is not enough time to fill up the font, so it was now only half-filled and very dirty. But it was a good time! We proceeded with the baptism! It took poor Liam three times to get completely under the water, but he was baptized!! 

God is so good! There was a lot of hiccups on Saturday, but we still continued with the baptism even though the water was dirty and not all the way full, which was a miracle! It was an adventure we will always remember!

For my spiritual thought, I want to share a verse from Alma. Alma 32:27 says:

“But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

How beautiful is that?? God does not expect perfect faith, but he wants us to have a particle of faith, A desire to believe. That is all He asks. When we have even a particle of faith, we can see miracles. We can have our prayers answered. God hears us and He is listening!

This week was wild, but so good! My Tagalog is slowly improving! I am still working on patience…if anyone has any suggestions for learning a language…please, please send them my way!! 

I am so grateful for all of you! Thank you all who sent me emails this week! They were wonderful and I love hearing from you! God is so good! Look for Him in your life and I promise you will see him! I saw Him in so many ways this week! He is so so good.

I love you!

The Church is true, God loves you!

Love, Sister Miller

 

Pictures:

BAPTISM!!
The beautiful scenery of the Philippines!!
Putting too many people in a tricycle.
Selfies with my kabahays and with the elders.
Strawberry cheesecake shakes! But the twist is...it has real cheese in it! Like mozzarella cheese! But it wasn't too bad.