Miracles

Hello friends! 

This week was a solid week! We taught lessons and focused on teaching to the needs of the person. We had some amazing miracles and I definitely saw the hand of God every day.

One Miracle was with Sister Judilyn. A couple of weeks ago, our stake president referred Sister Judilyn to us for us to teach. This week, we felt inspired to put her on baptismal date and she said yes! We are so excited for her! She has been keeping commitments and even when we teach her a difficult principle to follow, she is always receptive. Pray for her! She is absolutely amazing and for real, I am so excited for her.

 Another miracle happened when we went to teach one of our recent finds. We have been teaching her for a couple of weeks now, and as we entered her house, she asked how she could join our church. Sister Nacar and I were a little stunned. Normally, we come to the people and ask them if they are interested in our message or being baptized, but she came to us! We taught her a little bit more and she said she wanted to talk to her whole family before deciding what she wanted to do. But regardless of what she decides, I am so happy for her and her desire to come closer to Christ!

 Hehehe, I like sharing miracles…so you get one more: Two days ago, we went back to an area to teach someone we had tried to teach earlier this week, but they had not been there. This time, she was there! When we started to meet with her, she stopped what she was doing and gathered her whole family. She kept on saying she was so happy that we came at the time that we did because she only had a few hours of availability. She also said that she had been waiting for us to come back all week and was so excited to hear from us. We taught her how to pray and she was so receptive again. It was amazing to see her desire to come closer to Christ.

These miracles that we saw this week were a big deal to me. For the last few weeks, our area has been struggling. We have had a hard time helping people keep commitments. Sometimes, we have gotten discouraged. There have been moments when I have wondered about my purpose here and if I was helping anyone at all. This week was a testimony to me that when I focus on the people and continue to be patient, God will help me see how to help. He will help me see the miracles that He is preparing.

A funny thing this week is that it is Barangay Elections! A Barangay is the smallest form of government here in the Philippines. It is kind of like a big neighborhood, but it also has a government system. Anyways, it is elections for them, and it is a big deal! There are people blasting personalized songs for the candidates about what they are going to do and why you should vote for them and there are signs everywhere! It is crazy. I am a little excited for it to be over because it is very loud, and everyone is busy with the election preparation. Luckily, the election is this week! It has been a cool thing to experience the culture like this, but I will be happy to have it over!

One time when we were teaching a lesson, a group was campaigning for the elections and came up to us and started talking to us. The person running for office got a little excited… (We were in an area that is a little remote…so there would be very, very, very few white people ever going there if any.) Anyways…people are fascinated with my nose because it is pointy. And these people campaigning started reaching towards me and my companion to touch us…or grab my nose…it was weird. Needless to say, my companion and I hopped up and skirted out of that lesson as fast as possible. It was definitely an experience to remember! 

Overall, this week was amazing! We felt a lot of love from our interested friends, from our ward members, and just from the people of the Philippines. I love it here, and I love that I can feel my Savior’s love so clearly.

For my spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share a verse from the Book of Mormon. This one is a bit of a missionary verse, but it is beautiful. In 3 Nephi 7:18 it is talking about Nephi sharing the gospel:

“For it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily.”

And then in verse 20:

“And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed.”

First of all, I love the faith of Nephi. He taught with the authority of God. I want to become like Nephi! He taught with so much faith that people could not help but believe him! However, in the next verse, we see that there were few who were converted to the Lord. Having few people converted to the Lord spoke nothing of the faith and desire of Nephi. Despite being a good missionary, people chose not to listen. That was OK! 

We had a lot of miracles this week, but we also had a lot of rejections. Sometimes in our missionary efforts, it is easy to see the rejections and the failures and wonder what is wrong and what we could be doing better as missionaries. It is important to try and improve too, but it is also important to recognize that people are going to choose not to listen sometimes and that is okay! I want to find “the few” who are ready to be converted to the Lord. 

I love you all so much. I love the miracles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that it is true. I am grateful to be able to share it here. Even if people don’t listen, I am grateful for the opportunity I have to grow in my faith and build my relationship with my Savior. I am grateful for the opportunity to find “the few” who are ready. Being a missionary is amazing! 

I love you all! Thank you for your emails and support! I hope you all have a great week!

The church is true, God loves you,
Be happy, Be brave, Be smart,
Love,
Sister Miller