Multitude of Tender Mercies

 Hello, my lovely friends!!

 

I hope you all had a fantastic week! Our week was a good time! We had Zone Conference, Zone Interviews, and of course—missionary work!!

 

This week was full of little miracles. I absolutely love miracles, so I am so excited to share with you our miracles!

 

First, just in general, we were able to have a lot of powerful lessons. I felt promptings of what to say to our friends to help them resolve their concerns:

 

One specific time, we were teaching our friend, Amy, and she asked us if it was okay that she join any religion as long as she believed in God. We got to explain to her that God has restored His church on the earth and that He has a plan to help us come back to Him. The spirit was so strong in the lesson and when we asked her what she would be willing to do if God’s church was here on the earth today. She responded that she would go to church every week! She even asked in her prayer that God would help her go to church. It was so cute! And she did come to church this week, so that was a miracle!

 

Another miracle of this week is that we got to extend baptism to our friend, Mia! Mia is so receptive to the truth and is so good at keeping commitments. Last week when we visited her, we invited her to read a specific chapter in the Book of Mormon, and she did! This led to an amazing lesson with the spirit. I am so excited to keep teaching her and helping her towards baptism! Please pray for Mia!

 

A small miracle, but a true tender mercy is directly a result of some members and their service to us. We have an area that is very far away from our apartment. It is hard to get out there and a little expensive especially if we must travel back and forth for our morning and afternoon schedules. But there is a member family that has opened their house to us. We are able to work all morning, then when it gets really hot in the afternoon, we have a place to eat lunch and study, then get out and work again. It is truly a miracle. Plus, the member is American and cooks us American food! We love them and are so grateful for their support.

 

And now, for my favorite miracle this week: Angel got confirmed! 

 

This one was truly a tender mercy… All week, she said that she would be able to come to church. Sunday morning hit, and she still said she could come. However, around 8:30 we got a text stating that because it was raining, they didn’t think they could make it (they only had a motorcycle). We immediately started calling members to see who could pick them up. We were able to find a member who said they would be able to take her (Miracle 1). We still felt that we should go to her house and make sure everything was ok.

 

When we arrived at her house, she was in the middle of doing her laundry (which is quite a process here in the Philippines as it is mostly done by hand). Feeling overwhelmed—she told us that she didn’t think she could make it anymore after all! I was so stressed! She said she wanted to come, but there were a lot of things that she needed to do to have permission to go. However, we were able to talk to her dad, and he decided to let her come! (Miracle 2).

 

Now, at this point, it was almost 9, and Angel still needed to shower and change, we were in Bonfal Proper (pretty far from the church) and we only had 30 minutes before church was supposed to start. By 9:10, we were on our way to the member’s house who said we could get a ride to church. 

 

But when we got there, they were not ready either! We waited until about 9:25, … I was starting to get pretty anxious… church would be starting in 5 minutes, and we were definitely farther than 5 minutes away. I started to pray for direction—Angel had to be at church on time to be confirmed…

 

Knowing our situation, one of the family members hopped into one of their cars and drove us straight to church! (Miracle 3). By the time we arrived; however—they were already singing the sacrament hymn... It was truly a tragedy. For those of you who are not aware, usually, the confirmations need to happen before the sacrament, otherwise, the confirmation waits for the following week.

 

I was absolutely distraught. We had gone through so much that morning, only to have her not receive her confirmation! It felt like all of our efforts were wasted. 

 

As we were sitting down, the Branch President must have seen us rush in as he sent us a text asking for Angel’s full name. My hope returned.

 

Sure enough, after the sacrament, Angel was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

It was a miracle. (Miracle 4).

 

I testify to the power of prayer. From the moment we got the text that Angel might not be able to make it, to the point that she got confirmed, I was pouring out my soul to God. I was pleading with Him. I had done my very best, but there was nothing else I could do. God helped magnify our efforts, making them enough.

 

I felt a little like Lehi when he said:

 

“I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.”

(1 Nephi 8:8)

 

I needed God to send me a miracle on Sunday. I needed His tender mercy to help the situation. I know that God is a God of miracles. I saw the evidence of it repeatedly this week, especially on Sunday. God was aware of our situation and helped with the little things to make the big things happen. He orchestrated Sister Angel’s confirmation. He heard my pleas, He answered my prayers. God is a God of miracles!

 

I love you all!

The Church is True, God loves you!

Be happy, Be brave, Be smart,

Love,

Sister Miller