HAPPY 6 MONTHS!

Hello lovely friends!

Wow! This week flew by so fast! I cannot believe that we are already here at another P-Day! 

I hit my 6-month mark on my mission!! AHH!! I can hardly believe it has already been six months since I left my family and started on this grand adventure. I have had some highs and lows for sure, but I am so grateful to be a missionary and I am excited to see what the next year will bring!

This week was soooo good! From Zone Conference to adventures in our area there was hardly any time to rest! But these weeks are my favorite kind of weeks!

Zone Conferences were sooo fun! We got to go to Tuguegarao, which is always a blast because the chapel there has air conditioning. It was a spiritual experience where we learned how to become better-consecrated missionaries. We were given 4 questions that we should be continually asking ourselves to simply keep ourselves on track! Plus…the one and only Sister Hammari (one of my MTC companions) got transferred to Tuguegarao, so I got to see her at Zone Conference!!  

Another exciting thing about Zone Conference was that for the last few weeks, Sister Nacar has been working on writing a song, and for Zone Conference, we got to perform it! It went so well, and it was such an exciting experience to see her hard work come to life! I could see her excitement and I felt truly grateful that she could share her talents with others. I cannot wait to keep on growing as a missionary.

Here in Tumauini, the work continues! One of the absolute best parts of this week was getting approval for our baptisms! We are teaching two kids right now, and they are so eager to be baptized, but because they are minors, we need approval from the area…and this week we got approval! We are soooooo excited! When Sister Nacar and I found out we did a little happy dance! I absolutely love these two sisters. I love teaching these kids because it builds my faith as I see their commitment to the gospel—they are always so eager to hear about the gospel, they take notes while we teach, they are reading the Book of Mormon, and they come to church! They truly are amazing! And teaching them is amazing! Their baptism is scheduled for December 2nd, so if you could keep them in your prayers, that would be great!!

 Something else that is really exciting is that we have been getting a lot of referrals from members!! There is one member who has a lot of relatives around him who are not members of the church, and he keeps introducing us to them in such a normal way. It is so exciting! We were at his house this week for a dinner appointment, and one of his nieces walked in and he said, “Oh! She's not a member of the church yet, but her mom is.”

He then turned to her and asked, “Do you want to listen to the missionaries?” She responded that she did!! That happened at least 1 more time while we were there. Plus, we ran into him while we were walking home one day, and he had another niece with him…and the experience was the same! So, we are so excited to start teaching his family and bring them closer to Christ. And I am grateful for his example of being a member missionary.

 Our area is finally blossoming, and it is amazing to be able to help more and more people come unto Christ!!

 In other news, on Saturday morning, we were daily planning and the bishop called us. As we answered the phone I turned to my companion and said, “He's going to ask us to speak tomorrow”. And, sure enough…we were the speakers on Sunday!! (I am getting really good at writing a talk the day as this is the 4th time that it has happened! I really should just start writing a talk at the beginning of each month!) After my talk, people from my ward told me that my Tagalog is getting good! So that was exciting! We love the opportunities to serve the ward.

Also, it is starting to get a little colder here in Tumauini! It is almost time for CHRISTMAS!! AHH!! I am so excited. It is truly the most wonderful time of the year!=

This week, Sister Nacar and I have been working on keeping the end goal in mind with all our friends. I have loved the opportunity to focus on each person and see how we can help them meet their goals in coming closer to Christ. Each person is different, and each person has different needs. I love trying to help them. Sometimes I am not very good at it. Sometimes there is a language barrier or a miscommunication. But it is amazing how things work out when you are doing God’s work. I truly believe that as long as we are trying, He will not let us fail.

Not a ton of crazy things happened this week, I have been doing a lot of thinking about how I can be a better missionary and how I can better help the people here. It is definitely hard. I have so many things I want to improve on right now, but I have a year to figure it all out and become the missionary I want to be. Sometimes I just need to be a little more patient.

For my Spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share a little about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

For my personal study, I have been focusing on the new PMG this week. It is soooo good!! I want to share with you one of my favorite quotes:

“Although we are imperfect and may fall short again, there is more grace, love, and mercy in Jesus Christ than there is failure, flaw, or sin in us. 

I absolutely love this; I feel like sometimes it can be a bit discouraging. We try our very hardest, but then we make small mistakes again and again. But because we have the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can always come back. We can keep trying. It doesn't mean that we can just sit back and do nothing. But as we continue to try our best and repent every day, the Atonement of Jesus Christ can heal us, comfort us, and help our efforts be enough.

I love this Gospel and I am so grateful for the Atonement in my life. I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He does for me. 

I love you all!! I hope you have another great week! 

The church is true. God loves you!

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart.

Love, Sister Miller