Letter-October 11th, 2015

Well I finally got to watch Conference. Sorry I am a week behind. But it was such a good conference. I didn't actually know that Elder Scott had passed away but now I know and there is 3 really awesome new apostles. So my favorite talks were all of them. Joke lang, I really enjoyed Elder Holland talk. It made us all cry. Its so true about mothers. I sure and grateful for my Mom and all she does for us. I also loved Elder Durrants talk and the "ponderizing" I want to do that. We already kind of do that in this mission. But it's something that I want to keep going for sure. During conference I really noticed that they talked a lot about the Sabbath day and the sacrament. It's such an important part of the plan. I don't think I really realized how important it was until my mission.  I also got out of conference the importance of being able to recognize the Holy Ghost. That's something that I learn more about everyday. I have goals in my life to help me be able to recognize and listen to the spirit and than act on it without hesitation.

This week was good. We have more hours now that I am not training and there is no language study. So we did a lot more walking and talking. We did kind of get punted a lot this week. But that's ok too, some weeks are like that. We did have 3 investigators come to conference which was awesome! There is lot's of progress happening in our area right now. I just pray that we will be able to recognize the will of the Father for our area. I am really glad that I get one more transfer with my companion Sister Scicluna. This is her last one! She has been teaching me a lot and passing on all her wisdom on me. 

Until next week,

Sister Miggin 

 

Katie titled these last 2 pictures "The levels of tiredness!"

Letter-October 4th, 2015

Hello Everyone,

This week as it begins a new transfer means that my 12 week training is over and I am no longer a "bata" or baby in the mission. Now I am just a Jr. companion. We had a good week this week. Sister Scicluna had the flew so our hours were a little short. But all is well now! We are starting to see a lot of progress in our area. I am really excited for October and to hopefully see more progression. What else happened this week. Women's conference was amazing. I loved President Uchdorf's talk and his story. It was so inspiring. Its so true though. Happiness is a choice. We can choose to walk the road of misery or happiness. It was just a good talk. I could really understand why the Savior would teach in parables and stories. Everyone got something different from his story. It was really awesome to me. 

Our investigator Noel is doing awesome. He has given up his coffee in order to live the word of wisdom so he can be baptized this month. I am so happy for his decision. You can really see him start to come closer to the savior. Also this family we have been teaching for a while now. For the last few Sundays only the dad would come to church. But this week the WHOLE family came. It was awesome! The ward was awesome at fellow-shipping them too. They were nervous to all come especially since they have a daughter with special need. But the ward was awesome to them. It was a great Sunday for sure. We ended up having 7 investigators there. 

This morning we had our zone activity. We went to the beach and played games and had a cook out. It was a blast. I finally got to "get in the water." My companion knows how much I love the water she was like "Sister Miggin no swimming remember." I'll admit the water was very inviting! I hope you all had a good week. Thanks for your prayers. They are always welcome! 

-Sister Miggin 

Letter- September 27th, 2015

Well here we are again. This week was great. We were way busy all week. I'm not sure what happened with the time. Probably spent walking hahaha. Just kidding. This week I learned something. No matter how good you are at planning, the Lord is better at changing those plans. It really good though. Even though it wasn't what we expected it was what the Lord wanted.

So last week had a great Family Home Evening at a members house. We invited another investigating family, the Frial family, to come. It was a lot of fun. Bother Elmer (the member) planned out and all we had to do was provide the games. Its so important for us right now to make sure that our progressing investigators get fellow shippers. Anyway that was a lot of fun.

So I had a baptism this week. This girl named Judea. Well this is quite the story. She has been listening to the missionaries for a while now. Her family was inactive. Back with my first companion. We started working with the family too. Trying to reactivate them and teach this girl. Well slowly one by one the Grandma came back to church. Then her aunt and then another aunt. And finally her Grandpa. It took a baptism to get this family reactivated. It has been so cool to watch them slowly start coming back. Well the hardest one was her Lolo (or grandpa.) He was active before they moved and he used to have a calling too. But when they moved here years ago he just stopped coming to church. So we have been trying to fellowship him and work with him to get him to come to church. Because Judea wanted him to be the one to baptize her. Well we talked to the Bishop and he said as long as Brother Victorama came to church and had an interview he could be the one to baptize her. Well he came! We were so happy and he passed the interview! We were seriously so excited. He knew too how important is was to her and said he was ready to come back to church.

Well the baptism comes around and Judea and her Grandma and aunts showed up, but no Lolo. They said he wasn't back from work yet and that we should start with out him. But we knew that he needed to come. That if he didn't get to baptize her he may never come back again. Well as luck would have it the font was still filling up. They were running late. So Bishop told us we had a half hour till it would be time. We told the Elders that we were going to go get this man,and to call us if he showed up. My companion was like I don't care if we have to search the whole town. This man is baptizing his granddaughter. So we took off and got on a trike. We said a prayer on the trike that he would show up and beat us there or that we would be able to find  him. Well we got a call that he had shown up. It was one of those after the trial of your faith moment. I think Heavenly Father wanted to see how far we would go to get this family.

The baptismal service was awesome. One of her aunts gave a talk and got emotional because she was grateful to have the gospel back in their families lives. It was so crazy to think. This 10 year old girl because of her decision to be baptized brought back a whole family. She really had no idea what she did for her family. While Brother Victorama was baptizing her, he got emotional and I look and the whole family was crying. The spirit was so strong. It was such an amazing thing to have seen. To know I have been able to see it happen. It was humbling to see the change in their lives. And to think that I had a small part in it. It was the highlight for sure of the week.

Well that's all for this week. I hope everyone is doing well. Until next time,

-Sister Miggin

 

 

 

Letter- September 20th, 2015

I hope this email finds everyone safe and well.
This week was awesome! We had mission tour this week. It was for sure the highlight. Elder and Sister Bowen of the 70 and they are also area presidency here in the Philippines. They did an amazing job. I was inspired to work harder and be a better missionary. I know for sure this is where I should be right now and that I am really grateful to be a missionary. It's a lot of fun. No it's not always easy, especially working on the language.But I know that with the help of Heavenly Father I can do anything. I know for a fact that he is helping me everyday and in every way. Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I was really humbled this week. Knowing that this is really the Lords work. As I am obedient and work hard I will be able to do this work with the Lord's help, and I can't imagine trying to do it without him. Something Sister Scicluna and I were talking about is how amazing it is that our investigators are progressing. It's for sure not because of us or our teaching skills. We are 2 foreigners, even though she is fluent, people have a hard time sometimes understanding her accent, and me, ya I am just learning the language. But I am really able to see who the real teacher is. Its the Spirit. As long as we are doing everything we can to invite the spirit into our lessons and be worthy of the spirit always, people can learn.

   Something I loved about Mission Tour was Elder Bowen was gave us a lot of advice and motivation to be better missionaries. One thing I really thought was interesting, was he gave us a challenge. That as we are meeting people on the street we should just jump into the message, We should leave people thinking, "are they crazy," or leave them thinking "could that really be true." So we tried it. We went contacting and during our contacting we just started sharing about the restoration and what is unique about our message. It was a lot of fun actually. It brought a different power and spirit in our tracting. We even found people interested. It was a really cool experience. We plan to keep trying that. We have certain OYM (Open Your Mouth) goals we have everyday. Which just means open your mouth, or talk to people and invite them to listen or come to church or something. But he called it Testifying contacts. So making them more meaningful. Anyway that was something I really liked.

   Anyway this week was really good. It was for sure a spiritually high at mission tour. We worked hard though this week. Which I wouldn't have it any other way! I am excited to see what this next week has in store!!

Well that's all for this week! Until next time.

-Sister Miggin

Letter- September 13th, 2015

Kamusta Kamo?!

This week was really great. I'm not sure where the time went. But we sure were busy. We did more finding this week and our teaching pool is really starting to build up. It's so awesome. I was shown this week that as long as we are diligent and doing what we are supposed to, the Lord will bless us with finding people ready to hear our message. One new family that we found was indeed a miracle that we found them. IT took us 3 OYM's (Open Your Mouth) and this guy just led us though all these houses to this family, who really has potential. Sister Scicluna and I were so excited after we found that family. We knew 100% that it wasn't us who found them, but we were really led by the spirit to find them.

I really love our studies right now. We have mission tour this week. Which is when a General Authority is going to come and visit our mission. Well in preparation for that we have been asked to study the Abraham covenant, the House of Israel, the Baptismal Covenant, and the oath and covenant of the Priesthood. Its been really fun to study these topics and really have time to learn about them. I have been loving it. Also the more and more I study from Preach my Gospel, the more I see how helpful it is. Its like a missionaries study lifeline. I am so grateful for it. 

Well that's about it for this week. I am really grateful to be here. I have learned so much already on my mission.  Talking to people and different members really humbles me and makes me realize how strong their faith is. I realize how blessed we are to live where we do. This week was good. They days were long, but the week ended up going fast. I hope you all are doing well. Thanks for the prayers coming my way. I can feel the love through them. Have a great week!!

-Sister Miggin

Letter- September 6th, 2015

Hey Ya'll

This week we did a lot of finding and tracting. Like really a lot. It was awesome. I can have basic conversations with people now, well kind of. I at least feel more comfortable now with starting a conversation. Even though I don't really know whats going on a lot of the time. I get the idea!

So a huge blessing from this week was one of the people we found. We are so excited about him. We are going to teach him and take him a Book of Mormon tonight. His name is Noel Lorenzo. Well just one night as we were almost done with the day we decided we had time for one more OYM ( open your mouth, aka tracting) So we were walking down the street and we saw this little alleyway that we had never been down. So we were like ya lets go that way. It was totally by the spirit. He was telling us where to go. Well we walked down this little road and I stopped by this house. I could tell some one was home. So I called out and this guy comes out. So cheerful and friendly. He was like HI Sisters! For a second we thought he was a member. Turns out though he just had seen us and other missionaries walking around. He never had talked to them before though. He let us in to share a message with him. He was so awesome honestly! He was like " well I used to go to a Catholic church but I haven't been in years,my daughter goes to that church but maybe I'll go to the Mormon Church now." We were like, Who is this guy. He asked for a pamphlet or a book to read. We didn't have a book of Mormon with us, but we plan to take one tonight. Well we invited him to church and he said he would try. Well Sunday rolls around and we did have an investigator come, but it wasn't him.

 So I was sitting up on the stand because I was playing the piano in sacrament. I look outside and see him coming to church!!! My companion and I look at each other and were trying not to get to excited! He could be Golden, we will find out more tonight. I was so excited and so happy to see him come to church, after one lesson. It was so humbling for me to see that Heavenly Father directed us to find him. I don't know what will happen, but I just hope and pray that as we have the spirit with us in our teaching that we will maybe see him progress. He is so awesome. Its so humbling to think that heavenly father is trusting me with teaching and finding his children. So that was a good outcome after all of our hard work. Hopefully we can see him progress and see the spirit work within him. 

What else happened this week. We had a brown out. I'm getting used to them happening. It was fun though this time. We had milk in the fridge that we needed to use so it wouldn't go bad. We had cereal and milk for dinner. We sat out on the porch because it was to hot inside without fans. We just sat out there and told funny stories. Might as well have fun on the mission too right! This week was really good though. I enjoyed working hard. I really am starting to love it more and more. I hope you all had a good week!

-Sister Miggin

Letter- August 30th, 2015

This week was really busy,

The first part of the week I was in a 3some with the STL's. We had a good time trying to cover two areas. But I have my new companion now. Her name is Sister Scicluna. She is an Aussie! From Tasmania, Australia. She is one of the kindest people I know. I just love her. We have a lot of fun together. We have set some new goals for what we want to accomplish in our area. I am really excited to get to work! She has also helped a lot with my language. She has had to learn it, so she understands a lot of how to teach it. I am going to have 2 great trainers! 

I am staring to see a difference the gospel makes in peoples lives. Its really humbling to watch it. It's true what they say. The spirit is really the teacher. It does the conversion. Its so cool to see the light turn on in peoples eyes. One of our investigators agreed to be baptized. He said he finally feels ready. For him it wasn't until after he learned about the Plan of Salvation that it really started to make sense to him. I hope that he continues to come closer to our heavenly father. I was just so grateful for the spirit with us in our lessons. I hope to always do the things to remain worthy of it. It would be impossible without it. I had a really good week. It was full of hard work and fun times. The weather is crazy here as usual. I really don't mind the rain at all. You better believe I'm over here singing and dancing in the rain. I hope you all have a great week! until next week :)

-Sister Miggin 

Ps.Sorry guys my brain is like gone. But I did have a baptism this week! Her name is Jhana. I am really upset at myself for not remembering to include this. But I was really excited. She has developed quite a testimony. Her uncle and his wife and kids are active members and she was a referral. She was so excited to be baptized afterwords she just could stop smiling. I was really proud of her for making the decision to be baptized. 

Katie said that these children are showering in the rain.