Magic Hands

 Hello friends! This week was a bit of a wild week. 

For the wild part…I am not sure what happened to the people this week…I had 2 people tell me that they loved me. One Tatay asked me to marry his grandson, and someone professed that we were the “light of his life.” It was definitely a little wild. For sure an experience that I won’t forget. Hopefully, people will stop…it’s not my favorite thing. But we will make it! 

Something funny from this week: some kids were touching my hands, and when they pressed on it hard, my skin became even more white. They told me I must have magic hands because my hands turned whiter.

As far as the work goes, we spent our whole week preparing the Caliguiran family for their baptismal interview! We got to go to them every single day! I loved visiting with them, so it was a win for me. We finished teaching them all of the lessons and then reviewed some of the most important lessons. It was a good time. Every time we went there, they gave us food and just helped us to feel loved. They are seriously the best family.

This family is getting baptized NEXT WEEK! We met this family when Sister Nacar first came to the area. Which means that we have been teaching them for almost 4 months! There was a time when they were simply not progressing. In fact, Sister Nacar and I were getting ready to stop teaching them. But then, a promise we made to them changed everything. (I remember writing about it in one of my weekly emails.) Just before we dropped them, we felt impressed to make them a promise that the Lord would bless them if they would be willing to give up working on Sunday and come to church. That Sunday, the miracles started. They came to church! We were so THRILLED!

But that Sunday was just the start of the miracles! After coming to church, they knew the Lord was blessing them. They began gaining a stronger testimony, and yet despite all of that—something was still holding them back—they couldn’t commit to baptism. We waited and waited, but they still weren’t ready. Finally, we received another prompting from the Holy Ghost. During our next lesson, we explained to them the importance of making goals to make their hopes a reality. We told them that their baptism would never become a reality without a date and a commitment. It was in that lesson that we extended the invitation for baptism, and they said YES! That was probably one of my happiest moments. But the miracles kept coming…

At first, they still seemed a little nervous about baptism; however, slowly their commitment truly began to be solidified in their hearts. They are now so ready, and they are excited to come closer to Christ through baptism! I can see their faith growing every day. They are a miracle, and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of their conversion experience. Please pray for them this week as they take the final steps before baptism!

The Caliguiran family was for sure the highlight of the week! 

Other than that, we spent a lot of time trying to teach lessons, but often our appointments fell through. It's all good though because we got to spend lots of time finding!

The best part of our finding this week was service! Everyone seemed so busy this week and every time we went to a certain area, people were doing their laundry. Sister Nacar and I decided to just jump right in and help! We just grabbed the clothes and started scrubbing or hanging them. It was a good time! We talked to people about the gospel while helping them with their everyday chores. It was a win, for sure!

We also had our interviews with the Mission President this week! Mine started pretty good, but then he asked me to teach a principle to him in Tagalog! I was a little surprised. I shared with him the importance of keeping the commandments and having faith. He told me my Tagalog was so good! It was definitely a win! I was a little nervous, but it was good to hear that I am improving on my Tagalog! 

Our other friends are doing well. We are having some struggles with the Astudillo family still, so if you can all keep them in your prayers, that would be amazing. 

Satan has a way of discouraging us sometimes. This week, I felt sooooo exhausted! Every morning when my alarm went off, I felt more tired than when I had gone to bed! It felt like Satan was making double efforts to discourage us. Every day a new problem popped up. But, it was also a good learning experience to rely on the Lord even when things are hard. To trust that He has a plan for each person. 

While I was tired this week, I kept thinking of the scripture that says: “Don’t run faster than you have strength”. As I pondered that, I wondered if maybe we were running a bit too fast over here in Tumauini. But then, I read the best verse in the Book of Mormon: Alma 43:1 says:

“And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth.”

I love this! Alma could not rest. I feel that. Of course, we cannot run faster than we have strength, or we will get sick, and not be able to run at all. But I only have 18 months here on a mission! There is no time to rest! There are people to be found. People need to hear the most important message on the earth today!

So, while it was a bit challenging some days and I felt tired sometimes, I also felt so much joy helping people and working here!

For my Spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share a few lines from the new youth album song: “He Still Chose Me”.

“His strength can move the mountains, And His grace can part the seas. He’s the King of all creation, And He knows who I could be. In my heart, I keep on saying I’m the last thing He would need, But despite my scars and all my flaws, He still chose me.”

This song has really resonated with me this week. I am not sure why, but it is so easy to doubt myself sometimes and ask why God would have called me to speak another language or just doubt my abilities as a missionary. But I love this song because God chooses each of us. Of course, God is perfect, He could do this work on his own, but He still chose me to be His missionary.

This is also true for all of us. No matter what we are doing, it is easy to doubt our abilities, But God trusts us. He wants us to succeed. He chose us to grow. Despite our flaws, He still wants us. 

I know that this church is true. I love it with all my heart.
I hope you all have another great week!

The Church is true, God loves you,

Be happy, Be brave, Be smart,

Love,

Sister Miller

P.S. The snake pictures are from our Zone Activity :)