Peace and Healing

Hello friends and welcome to another wild week in the Philippines!! 

This week was a bit crazy. We did not get to do as much missionary work as I would have liked, but it was okay.

First, my companion is going home today, which is absolutely wild. But it meant that last week she went on a trip with all the other departing missionaries. She left on Sunday and didn’t get back until Tuesday. I got to work with the other sisters here in Tumauini, which was really fun! But it also meant that we didn’t get to work in my area as much. But it was OK. They will also be my companions for the next 10 days until transfers. It was really fun to see how other missionaries do things, and I think it will be a good learning experience next week.

Here is the really crazy thing that happened this week:

Picture this: It is 10:00 at night. I am downstairs finishing getting ready for bed and suddenly, my companion calls and says: “Sister Miller, President Cobing is calling!”

I run upstairs as fast as I can and President Cobing says, “I need you both to come to the mission office tomorrow for an interview. Bring an overnight bag, we don’t know how long it will last”

My heart started beating out of control, my companion asked what it was for and all he said was that we needed to come to the office. 

With this news in mind, and having no idea what could be happening, I tried to sleep…not very successfully.

That was Wednesday night. On Thursday, we headed to the mission office. When we got there, we found out that one of the Area 70 (a person in leadership in the church) was there and had requested to interview a couple of missionaries and my companion and I were chosen!! It was a good time! I got to hang out with some of my mission friends who were also chosen. We also got to go out to eat at a fancy restaurant. It was a really good experience, and the interview was amazing.

 So…. Between having an interview with a general authority, my companion being on a trip, and some normal hiccups, we didn’t get to teach a ton this week. But we did have a pretty cool experience. 

Someone that we had found a few weeks ago came up to us as we were finishing a lesson and asked where he could get the “Mormon Bible”. I got so excited that I told him that we could get him one! My companion stopped to explain that the Book of Mormon is not the Mormon Bible, and we believe in the Bible as well. (A very good thing.) Anyway, it was just funny to have someone request a Book of Mormon from us! I loved the excitement.

Missionary work is so fun, but it is also so hard sometimes! This week was crazy, but it was also really good.

For my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share part of a talk by the one and only Elder Holland (send prayers his way). This talk is called “The Ministry of Reconciliation” (you should all go read the whole talk): 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-ministry-of-reconciliation?lang=eng

This talk is about forgiveness. He talks about how all of us have wounds and pains, but he says:

“Whether we have caused that pain or been the recipient of the pain, those wounds need to be healed so that life can be as rewarding as God intended it to be.”

“But notwithstanding even the most terrible offenses that might come to us, we can rise above our pain only when we put our feet onto the path of true healing. That path is the forgiving one walked by Jesus of Nazareth, who calls out to each of us, “Come, follow me.”

I loved this talk. It really opened my eyes this week. Sometimes others do things that hurt us: however, when we choose to not forgive, we only hurt ourselves. God doesn’t ask us to continue to be hurt by others, but he asks us to forgive others and find healing in Him. 

He asks us to come unto Him. It is only through Him that we can truly forgive all people. It is only through Him that we can be healed and find joy in life.

I testify that as we forgive others and turn to the Savior for peace, He will give us the peace that we so desperately need. Forgiving isn’t always easy, but we need to forgive to become like our Savior. We need to love the people around us, even the people that have caused us pain.

 I have seen the healing power of forgiveness start working in my life this week. It is a process, and it is not perfect, but I know that as we choose to forgive, we will be blessed with peace.

This week was wild. It was a good learning and growing experience on my mission. I cannot wait for the next week to see what other adventures it brings! 

I love you all!! Thank you all for your emails! You have no idea how much it means to me and how much it helps to just get a short message from you!!

I love you all!
The Church is True, God Loves You!
Be Happy, Be Brave, Be Smart,
Love,
Sister Miller