Basically Taylor Swift

 Hello my lovely friends, and welcome back to a wonderful week here in the Philippines!!

 

Ahhh! What a week! It was sooo busy! We taught so many appointments, found people, and had Zone conference! It kinda felt like we were running to everything to do all the things we needed to do. But it was so wonderful!

 

We had Zone conference this week which was so fun! We got up super early in the morning to get ready, then headed to Tuguegarao! Tuguegarao is a beautiful place. I hope one day I will be assigned there. But Zone conference was amazing. We learned about how to better help the people we are teaching and it was an uplifting experience. Plus! Me and my companion matched so that was fun! (See pictures:)). Overall, it was a really good time!

 

Also….at least 2 people told me I looked like Taylor Swift this week…so I will take that as a win. It could be because my hair is curly and I am white…but still a win in my book.

 

Other than that, we hit the grind over here and got to work! We had a lot of unexpected expenses, so we were a little short on money. This meant we walked a lot, but it was great because we got to find a lot of people! And my companion and I found out we really enjoyed walking so that was a win overall.

 

I want to share with you all a spiritual experience I had this week and a reminder that God does hear and answer our prayers:

 

This week, we faced a lot of rejection. I really felt the weight of leading the area and I was not really sure what to do next. On Wednesday, I was just feeling really overwhelmed, so at the end of my personal study, I said a prayer asking God if I could just see a little bit of the miracles that He had promised me. 

 

When we went out to work, we went to our first appointment, and the person we were going to teach wasn’t there. Where I would have just left and gone to our backup appointments, Sister Nacar started talking to the person who was there. (We had seen him on previous appointments, and he never seemed interested before, so I had never thought to ask.) Turns out he had been taught about 5 years ago by the missionaries, and he was simply waiting for the missionaries to talk to him again. 

 

We taught him about faith and who Jesus Christ really is. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson. I felt so strongly that we needed to extend baptism to him. I looked at Sister Nacar and said we needed to extend the invitation to baptism, so we did! And, he said yes! It was a complete miracle. I had heard of people extending baptism on a first appointment, but I have never done it or felt good about it. But the spirit was so strong. 

 

After the lesson was over Sister Nacar told me that when I asked her about extending baptism to him, she had been thinking the exact same thing! The spirit had been working with both of us and it was beautiful.

 

I am so grateful for this experience because it was God answering my prayers. That morning, I felt completely overwhelmed by the challenges of our area, and I was not sure what else I could do. But God had a plan. I need to work on trusting His perfect plan and having more patience too.

 

Overall, it was a fantastic week. There were some really hard times when no one wanted to listen to us, and we spent a lot of time walking from barangay to barangay in the heat of the day. But there were also some really cool miracles. I saw God’s hand in every little thing. When we were rejected, he helped us find more people to teach. We were also able to stay positive, despite discouraging moments. And I felt the spirit so much this week. I truly felt the love of God over and over again. It was a week of work and a week of miracles!

 

For my spiritual thought, I wanted to share a quote from President Nelson

 

“In the coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."

 

I know most of us are probably familiar with this quote, but it is so important! In General Conference, a theme that was emphasized was daily repentance and how through daily repentance, we become more receptive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

 

Recently, I have felt that I have not felt the spirit as much as I would like to. As I listened to General Conference, I felt that I needed to make sure I was using the power of daily repentance in my life more fully. I really worked on it this week, and I saw the difference. Whether it was the spirit guiding me in what to teach, where to go, or warning me of danger, I felt the Spirit so much more this week. I testify that as we repent daily and strive to become more like Christ, we will have the Spirit with us to guide and direct us. I also testify that we truly do need the spirit in our lives. It is how we survive.

 

I love this church so much! I love being a missionary! There are for sure hard moments where I miss home, or I am exhausted, but there are sooooooo many wonderful parts. I love being able to bring the good news to the people here. I am so grateful that I am a missionary.

 

I love you all!! Thank you for your continual love and support! You are the best!

 

The Church is True, God loves you!

Be happy, Be brave, Be smart,

Love,

Sister Miller