Road TRIP!!!!

 

Hello friends!

This week passed in a blur! If you can’t remember, or if you didn’t read my email last week, I left my mission! Just kidding. Well, sort of.

I technically did leave my mission for a short period of time, but don’t you fret, I am back!

Last Friday, I got a call from the office that I would be traveling to Manila to finish my visa processing. However, most of the time, they would send missionaries by plane, but there were no plane flights from Cauayan to Manila at the time so we would be riding a shuttle down! I would first need to travel by myself to the mission home.

Well, Tuesday rolls around, and my companion and Kabahays take me to the bus stop and load me onto the bus. It was the first time I had been alone while on my mission and it was kind of weird! But traveling was completely fine. I just rode the bus until it stopped in Cauayan and then the office elders picked me up.

But…here is where it gets exciting!!! I got to see Sister Hammari!! Ahh! She was one of my MTC companions. It was so special. And, Extra bonus…we traveled together to Manila! It was like we were companions again!

It was a good adventure! But…the ride down to Manila was probably the scariest car ride of my life!

Picture this:

The roads in the Philippines are already kind of small sometimes… So, we were on a windy road on the side of a mountain (the views were gorgeous), and when I say windy, I mean it felt like we took 100 U-turns, but it was just the road. Anyways, super windy road, which is kind of scary by itself, but then it starts dumping buckets of rain. There were parts of the road that were covered in water. I don’t know if our driver really noticed as he was driving very quickly. Then, there were random mud slides covering half the road in some areas. Again, we just cruised right on by them! It was absolutely insane. I didn’t even do a very good job explaining it, but it was absolute madness!! I am positive my mom’s prayers kept me safe, because otherwise—I should’ve been a goner.

Also, about two hours outside of Manila, we got stuck in stand still traffic for about two hours. Come to find out, the road was completely flooded, so cars were stuck and had to go slow. That was an adventure too!

 

When we finally got to Manila, it was after midnight! My body is used to sleeping from 10:30-6:30! I was sooooo tired! But we were told we could sleep in the next day until 7:30 so that was a win!

 

Being in Manila was actually pretty chill. We did our fingerprinting and then just hung out at the hotel. The temple was closed, which was really sad, but it was ok. The real bonus of being in Manila, was we got to see the rest of our MTC district! (Except for Elder Solosko and Elder Lighten, they couldn’t make it.) We all did fingerprinting at the same time! It was sooooo good to catch up!

BUT THE BEST BONUS OF ALL—we had air conditioning!!! AND a HOT SHOWER! All of you need to give thanks for air conditioning. I did not realize how wonderful it was until now.

That was about it for our Manila adventure! We got to fly back which was awesome! It turned a 12-hour bus ride into a 1-hour flight. That was pretty magical. It’s the little things in life that make all the difference…

When I got back, I got thrown right back into the work!! I loved it! We had two baptisms this week! Tatay Pascual and his daughter were baptized on Saturday! They were so cute and it was amazing to be a part of their special day. I just love that I have the opportunity to help people come to Christ. It is so cool and so special!

 

For my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share part of a BYU devotional I read. It is called, “Wresting with Comparisons”. It is awesome and you should all read it!

 

At the end of his talk, he shares how we can truly stop comparing ourselves to others (I am paraphrasing it):

1. Find a mirror.
2. See ourselves as we are actually seen.
3. Say: my contest is not with anyone else, my contest is with myself. The race is against satan, not each other.
4. Pray to be filled with the pure love of Christ.
5. Walk out the door, forget ourselves, and start concentrating on others.
   
   

I loved this!! I love the idea that we are not competing against anyone on this earth. We are all trying to get to the same place: back to our Father in Heaven. When we focus on serving others and loving people, we forget to compare, and we become more like Christ. It is something I have been working on this week and I can’t wait to continue to grow. 

Life is so good in the Philippines! I love it here. Quick update on some food from America…I got Wendy’s this week! That was pretty cool! I also got another McDonald’s apple pie…it seems like everyone forgot about their homework to get an apple pie and email me about it…so I will extend the deadline another week. Go get an apple pie!! And then email me:)!! Tell me about your life changing experience!

 

I love you all! I love your continued support and prayers! I can feel them lifting me when I have hard days! You are all awesome! Don’t ever forget it!!

 

The church is true! God Loves you!

Love,

Sister Miller

Pictures:

Pictures at our hotel

Elder Stathis, Sister Hammari, and I on the streets of Manila

Sister, Mcginn, Sister Hammari, and I at the MTC after fingerprinting (visa stuff)

Wendy's!

The views on the way to Manila! (Plus some crazy fog we were driving though)

One landslide on the road

Baptism!!