"How Great Thou Art"

TyBlog12.9.2012

Hello everyone this has been another good week. So to start off we had a good family home evening last week with some people to help prepare them for the temple. We played the usual games and then ended up having a talent show.  I sang "Better Together" by Jack Johnson and it was a fun enjoyable night.  Then we were supposed to have a Super Typhoon here in our area, but it didn't hit here - it was no problem. It just rained a little bit and was a little windy. Unfortunately one of our doors of our house upstairs is broken so a bunch of rain blew in from the balcony and flooded the house, which was pretty tiring to clean up.  Also, we ran out of water this week for a couple days so it was back to getting water from the neighbors in a bucket and showering and it was way hard to wash the dishes. I can't believe I went through that for like 2 months.  I am way thankful for running water, that is for sure. Then once the water came back, a faucet was left on and the house flooded again which was so tiring ha ha.  This week we had to balance our work in Stop and Mabini.  It has been way fun to work in a threesome and I have really enjoyed it.  Elder Hagen has helped me with the language too because he is way smart and good at grammar.  We have been studying a bunch of flash cards and learning a bunch of random words to become fluent.  Also this week we made some chicken curry and chicken adobo which was way good because we haven't done that for a long time.  I am also so thankful for the power of priesthood blessings. We have had many opportunities to use the priesthood lately.  Last Saturday we blessed Edwin who had some sickness in his feet and legs but had an interview for baptism the next day and needed to go.  The next day he was fine.  Pretty cool.  Monday we blessed some members who were sick and they recovered fast.  Tuesday we blessed some of our investigators to have help overcoming word of wisdom problems and some members too.  They are doing well. We also blessed an investigator who was way sick and is ok now and one other person who was sick and then like 10 minutes later walking around.  I know the priesthood is the power and authority from God to help bring souls back to Him.  I am so thankful for fasting too. Last week I fasted on Sunday and saw blessings.  Then on Tuesday I fasted for my bro to get a job, and then on Friday we fasted to help one of our investigators Edwin who is 18 and had his baptism on Saturday but his dad was very angry so he didn't know what to do.  He also needs a job to stay in his home and not get kicked out.  He has so much faith and decided to be baptized which was way cool.  So I know that fasting can do miracles and just like in Ether 12 we need faith before we can do any miracles.  It was way hard on Friday to fast because I felt like I hadn't eaten this week ha ha, but in our lesson with Edwin on Ether 12 and faith to be baptized and follow what you know is right, I knew from the Spirit we had to do a group fast.  We hiked so much later that day and it was so so hot, also the next day we did a CSP in Mabini where we dug a hole for a bathroom or we helped with a eternal project that had already been started ha ha but it was way wet sticky mud that was so so heavy and our feet kept getting stuck and it was way hard.  We wore these big boots and it reminded me of Thomas Thorup saying "Nothin boots can't handle" when he would wear these huge hiking boots when we hiked ha ha.  Then later on Saturday we had a baptism service.  It was so cool.  We had four baptisms.  It was awesome.  We weren't sure if Edwin would be baptized because of his Dad.  But he was there and so excited and knew from prayer and fasting that it was the right thing to do.   I respect his faith and know that our fast helped.  So they all wanted me to baptize them and it was such a cool experience.  It is so awesome to feel the spirit so strong just knowing this gospel is true and we are helping these people prepare for eternal life.  The other 3 were part of the Gepiala family which is so cool I am still here to see them baptized and they were so happy that I could do it.  In that family we just have one left, the old nanay.  She says after all her kids she will be baptized so we will see.   Elder Hagen, Elder Agustin and I sang "How Great Thou Art" before the baptism.  It was way cool.  Anyways it was a good week.  We still will work in both areas and be companions this week.  Love you all and know that this church is true and Jesus is the savior of us all.
Love Elder Mifflin