Faith in HIM WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

 Hello, my lovely friends! Another week has come and gone!

This week was transfer week! We were almost positive that someone in my apartment would be transferred, but we are all staying!!

First, I want to tell you a little about the people we have on baptism date!

Jerome is going to be baptized this week! I am so excited for him! His wife is already a member, and they are so cute! I love teaching at their house. It is a safe place where I feel comfortable attempting my broken Tagalog! Jerome is so receptive, and I am excited for him to be baptized and grow closer to our Savior!

Angelica is another one of our friends, and she is so sweet! She is married to the grandson of Nanay Leonida (one of our recent converts). She has had a lot of challenges recently, so pray for her! But she is the best! She loves praying and she is always receptive when we teach her!

Aron is our 10-year-old friend! He is the sweetest! A lot of his family are already members of the church and teaching him is always a special experience. He is getting ready for baptism in 2 weeks, and I cannot wait to see him continue to progress! He told us this week that he really wants to be able to pass the sacrament! He has such a desire to learn about the gospel and be at church! It is so cute!

I honestly love that we have so many amazing people that we are teaching! Please send prayers their way!

The last couple weeks, we have not been meeting our goal of finding people to teach, and we have seen it affect our teaching pool as we sometimes don't have anyone to teach! So, we made some specific plans on how to find people and it worked! As part of those plans, we prayed a lot. There were a lot of lessons where we were teaching people, and they would invite their friends to listen! It was truly a miracle!! 

One of my favorite miracles happened through inspiration. We were walking down the road and we felt we should stop at a tindahan (a store in someone's house).  We stopped to see if they might be interested in hearing our message. We bought some snacks and then introduced ourselves. The sister there invited us in, and we shared the message of the Restoration. At the end, as we bore our testimonies, the spirit was so strong. Sister Nerissa (the woman we were teaching) started tearing up. It was so amazing. I am excited to teach her more and hopefully she will continue to see how our message can bless her life.

We had a little bit of an awkward experience this week… We were teaching at a recent convert's house, and they invited their friend, Nanay Elizabeth, to listen in! She listened and seemed interested! The next day, we returned to teach her about the Word of Wisdom. Anyways, we were visiting with her member friends, she came around the corner smoking a cigarette! She saw us and tried to hide her cigarette, but we caught her!

It was really sweet though. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and why we are asked to keep it. She does struggle with it, so please keep her in your prayers! She says she will work on keeping it!

Good news!!! We are fed really well here in the Philippines. A funny story from this week… On Saturday, we were invited to our Elders Quorum President's house for his daughter's birthday! It was fun and they gave us so much food! But it was a good time and I got to try a lot of new things (nothing too crazy). Then we went to our next lesson, and they offered us snacks (but a lot of snacks). Then we went to a recent convert's house who had invited us earlier that day. They also gave us dinner. At this point, I have basically had 3 dinners! I thought I was going to die!! I felt so loved by the members, but very, very sick!!

It was ok though. I did not throw up and I made it home and fell asleep very quickly!

It was a good week of working hard and giving my all to God! Next week is a mission tour though and that should be really fun! Elder Revillo from the area 70 is coming to teach us! I am looking forward to learning more and becoming a better missionary!

For my spiritual thought this week, I am going to be a bit vulnerable. I love being a missionary and I love the people we teach. There are a couple things that are going on here that are very challenging. I can feel Satan trying his best to convince me to go home. Don't anyone worry, I will not be coming home early, but there have been some really hard things that have happened here. In complete transparency, I find myself struggling like I have never struggled before. I have been careful not to share too many of my struggles here as I have faith that the Lord will help me. There are things happening here that—in charity to those I serve with—I will keep to myself. But with that being said, I know I talked about faith last week, but faith is my lifeline right now.

My mom challenged me this week to read a talk by President Nelson: “Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains”. I wanted to share this quote with you:

“Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest power available to us in this life. All things are possible to them that believe...Your flourishing faith will help you turn challenges into unparalleled growth and opportunity.” 

Faith is the greatest power available to us. I believe that. Completely. Right now, I am being given an opportunity to grow my faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ. Sure, it would be easier if I did not have to face some of the things I am facing, but then I would never grow. In life, we are asked to do hard things. But God NEVER asks us to do something we cannot handle. He asks us to exercise faith in Him. To lean into the Atonement of Jesus Christ and really learn what His suffering for our pains really means. I have a testimony that Christ can lift our burdens. He can help us.

Faith can move mountains. I am not sure how my mountain can be moved right now. But I have faith that it will help me in the end. I believe that I will be grateful for this experience, one day. I am sure I will be able to look back and say: "Wow, look how much I have grown. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for allowing me to experience that."

It is really hard to feel that gratitude in the middle of a trial, but I know that as I continually turn to the Savior, He will make me more than I am, and I will be grateful for the hard things that I am facing. Through Jesus Christ, we can find hope. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We can be carried through the storms we are all facing. God is a God of miracles. He never leaves us alone. Even when we feel completely alone, we can have peace knowing that there is a God who loves us. Jesus Christ knows perfectly what we are feeling. There are angels that surround us and lift us when we feel like we cannot go on. I have prayed for those angels, and I know this is true. I have a testimony of this, and I have seen it in so many ways this week. Challenges are a way that we can come closer to our Savior and Redeemer.

I want to reassure you all that I am fine. But if you could send prayers my way this week and for the next couple weeks that would be appreciated. 

I love you all. I love this opportunity to be a missionary. I love the work. I love the people, and I love the joy that comes from sharing my testimony. I know that this church is true. Nothing could shake my faith in Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the privilege of being in the Philippines!

Thank you all for your emails this week! Even though I cannot respond, I read them and cherish them! You are truly my best supporters!

I love you all!

The Church is true! God loves you!

Be happy, be brave, be smart.

Love, Sister Miller