Miracles in the MTC

Provo MTC Companion: Sister Snow July 6, 2013 Ano po an Pinagkakaabalahan EVERYONE!!! Another week has come and gone, I really have no idea where the time went! It has been such an amazing week here at the MTC. So much has happened I don't even know where to begin! Last Saturday was our last temple trip as a zone--the temple will be having summer cleaning done for the rest of my stay here in Utah, so hopefully I'll be able to go to the temple once I get to the Philippines at some point! Sunday was our last day together as a zone before two districts took off to the Philippines, very bittersweet, they were all so awesome, but I am so excited for them to start their adventures out in the Philippines! We had a temple walk Sunday afternoon where we went and took pictures as a district and as a zone which was great. I was able to run into some really good friends-Elder Peter Puertas, Elder Christian Earl, and Sister Lauren Ockey. We had a fireside by President Swenson, he gave all of us missionaries some really great advice on how to have the most successful mission possible. "Be Thou Humble, Trust in yourself and your capabilities--he will fill in the rest." He was incredibly inspiring and spoke of a lot of things that I really needed to hear which was awesome. Directly after that amazing fireside I was able to go watch the Character of Christ by Elder David A. Bednar--I invite each of you to look his talk up on lds.org; it will change your life. He spoke about how Christ turns out when the natural man would turn in. He is the most selfless person to ever walk this Earth. He prayed for peace of the others when dying on the cross, saying they knew not what they had done--nothing selfish pointing in to himself. Elder Bednar told a personal story about the Relief Society President in the stake next to his. One night he woke up to a phone call at 3 in the morning from this Relief Society President, she told Elder Bednar that there had been a really bad automobile accident not too far from his home--that one of the girls was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other two were in critical condition. She asked if he could go to the hospital to identify who these girls were--one of them being her daughter. While she is on the phone with him, he realizes that she is also on the phone with the nurse at the hospital who is with the three girls. He can hear the nurse talking on the other line--she told this lady that the girl that was dead was her daughter. He said what happened next was a true testament to him that this mother had the character of christ--she had just found out that her only daughter had passed away, and without taking a second to think about herself, and mourn for her loss, she spoke into the phone to Elder Bednar and immediately turned out, telling him that he needs to call the other two girls parents and let them know what is going on so that they can get to the hospital in case their daughters lives slip away as well. Elder Bednar went to the hospital and identified the girls, and proceeded to call their parents. The next day he received a phone call from the same woman, she told him that the mortuary had done a really good job of cleaning her daughter up--they weren't planning on having an open casket, but she wanted him and his wife to come down to the mortuary to see her daughter so that he could have a peace of mind of what she looked like--in midst of her greatest personal anguish, she again turned out. On the morning of her daughters funeral, a lady in the ward called her and chewed her out for not checking up on a sister in the ward who was sick with a cold, or bringing her food. On her way to the funeral, she dropped off food to this lady who was sick with a cold. Again, she continues to demonstrate her selfless love for those around her, not taking a second to think about all of the anguish that she is going through. THAT is the character of Christ. What an inspiring story--and oh how it makes me re-evaluate my life. It inspires me to be a better person, to turn OUT, when the average person would turn in. I encourage each of you to begin a lifelong pursuit of knowing Him--become deeply converted, and turn outward. On Tuesday we had an amazing devotional by Matthew O. Richardson. I had been having a rough couple of days, so I prayed that this devotional would be inspiring to me, that it would be a message that I needed to hear, and would be comforting to me, it was exactly that. The theme of his talk was about Missions, and oh how applicable to my life that was. He told us "the days that you are living right now will stretch you to your core--but it's for a purpose. Christ sees something in you, he has confidence in you." This phrase hit home for me--a mission is really really HARD, but it's meant to be that way. We as missionaries must always remember that it is not our mission, it's His, it's our privilege to serve amongst an army, we weren't just called, we were called my God. The greatest happiness and joy in our lives will come from things that we are apart of that are far greater than we could ever image. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve the Lord, there is no better team to be on than His. For I have such a strong testimony, that he will NOT let us fail. We are his servants, and He will lead and guide us through our entire journey if we let Him. After the devotional, we got together with our Districts, and talked about the things that we had learned, or things that touched our hearts--my heart was pounding and was so full of the Spirit. I poured my heart out and the tears began to flow. I had been trying to be strong and hold it together but I couldn't do it anymore. I am so PROUD to be a missionary. I know it will bring so many blessings to my life, and I hope to bless the lives of many others. I love this gospel with all of my heart and would be absoultely no where without it. I feel so fortunate to have the fullness of the gospel in my life, and look forward to sharing it with others. On Wednesday I had an incredible experience--my kasama (companion) and I had planned a lesson for our investigator Sanny, but it turned out that he ended up getting really sick--so ten minutes before our appointment we were told that we would be teaching his brother Fernando. We didn't have time to prepare a lesson, all we could do was pray for the Spirit to guide us, and hope that we knew enough of the language that we could get our point across and touch his heart in some way. The past week I had been praying for the gift of tongues, to know that it was a real thing, and to experience it in one of my lessons. Well, exactly that happened. We went in to teach, and at first were a little bit hesitant about what we wanted to talk about, but then it all began to flow. Out of no where, I opened my mouth, and phrases of Tagalog began spilling out, and I was able to understand what he was saying--I didn't even know where it was coming from, half of the words that I said I had never heard in my life. Our investigator's eyes were beaming, he was so open to our message and committed to coming to church with us this Sunday. After the lesson I said a prayer, thanking my Heavenly Father for allowing the Spirit to guide me in what to say--the Spirit is a real thing, and what a sweet experience that was. Fourth of July was awesome! I was a little bit sad that I wasn't able to spend it with my family, but it actually turned out to be a really great night! We had our normal day here at the MTC, but then we had a mini devotional that night and then watched 17 miracles. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the room--I've never watched a movie with 4,000 people before, it was so awesome. That movie is so inspirational. If my ancestors could trek across the plains, many of them literally freezing to death, then I can definitely serve a mission. It put lots of things into perspective for me. After the movie we all went outside and had magnum ice cream bars and watched an incredible firework show, it was a very successful fourth of july! :) This week has been awesome, I love it here at the MTC. I just want to thank all of you for your support on my journey, for all of the amazing Dear Elders I have received, and for the packages!!! Thank you so much Mom, Meghan, and Jan Steed! You guys are awesome, you all made my day! It's every missionaries best day ever to receive letters and packages :) It helps to cure the home sickness for a little while! I love each and every single one of you, I hope you all have an awesome week, and that you all had a great Fourth of July!! Mahal Kita, (Love you), Sister Pilkington xoxo.