The Miracle of Serivce

 Hello, my lovely friends!!

This week was an absolutely stellar week!

We spent so much time serving and teaching and helping. Oh, I just love being a missionary!

First, Erlinda passed her baptismal interview! Her baptism is this Saturday and she is sooooo excited! I asked her after her interview if she was ready, and she told us: “Handa, na handa ako” Or… in English… she was “very ready”. I am so happy for her. Her sweet spirit and desire to make a covenant with God is inspiring.

This week, there was a typhoon that hit part of the Philippines. We were safe, but it meant that we got A LOT of rain!

On Tuesday, we were supposed to have a service project at the school, helping them fix their outdoor area, but because of the rain, it got canceled. Sister Regorosa and I were so disappointed. Not only because we were looking forward to the service activity, but also because our Bishop’s wife had given us some supplies to deliver to the teachers while we were at the service project. 

Sister Regorosa and I decided that even though our service project was canceled, we would still go to the school and deliver the supplies. That decision created a miracle for the Lord’s work!

We went door to door (at the school) delivering school supplies to the teachers, and all of them were so grateful! With quite a few of the teachers, we were able to share a short message. Many of these teachers invited us to come to their homes to meet their families next week and share more of our message.

It was evidence to me that God helps us find miracles and find the ready people, even when our original plans fall through.

We had the opportunity to do one more service project this week. We helped one of our interested friends do her laundry. Laundry here in the Philippines is quite a project! But we were able to get all of her laundry done in 1 hour. If she had been doing it by herself, it probably would have taken at least 3 hours, so I am so happy to have helped her. We were also able to teach her whole family about Jesus, and they all came to church this week! The miracle of service is real.

Besides the miracles that came through service, I saw so many little miracles. 

One of our friends who will be baptized in August has been introducing us to all her family! It has been so much fun to meet them all, and then meet their families as well. This sister feels the joy of the gospel and she is spreading that joy to everyone she loves! It is amazing being a part of such an experience! This week, she told us that it felt like Christmas at church because all of her sisters and her mom came to church. I am so excited for them! Please pray for Maricel, Maureen, and Marisa, plus their kids! They all have a baptism date in August!

Another miracle happened through our Ward Home Evening. We had eight of our interested friends come! It was amazing to see them be able to build relationships with the ward members and feel welcome. We were so happy that they all came to participate! It led to another miracle on Sunday when most of those same people were able to come to church!

God is so good. The work here in Ramon is absolutely amazing! I see miracles every day. I have met so many people who are ready to learn about Jesus Christ and develop a relationship with our Savior.

This week, my mom sent me some inspiration about having our focus on Jesus. I was inspired, of course, and I decided to study about how I could better focus on my Savior. I read a beautiful conference talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard. In it, he talked about how we know our priorities to not get lost in all of the noise of the world. He gave 8 suggestions to help us focus on what matters.

-Take time regularly to think about our priorities
-Set reachable, short-term goals
-Manage finances and pay tithing
-Build meaningful relationships with good communications
-Study the scriptures
-Take care of physical health
-Hold Family Home Evening to learn the gospel as a family
-Pray often as an individual and a family

I loved how the suggestions had a focus on things both temporal and spiritual. Our temporal things need to be in order for our spiritual growth to happen. However, we need to have our focus on the things of God, not on the world.

Lastly, he instructed those of us who sometimes feel our efforts are not enough:

“Just do the very best you can each day. Do the basic things and, before you realize it, your life will be full of spiritual understanding that will confirm to you that your Heavenly Father loves you”

When we do our best to be like God, He will help us make up the difference. It is the little things that add up and are important.

I know that as we focus each day on God and on coming closer to Him, we will find true happiness.

I love you all!

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