Protesters, Parsley, and a Pity Party

This week has literally flown by! I can't believe its already Saturday again! So much has happened this week. Lets start from the beginning....

 

Sunday: So every Sunday we go on a walk up to the temple. Some of the Elders from the district that has been here two weeks longer than us were telling me how they saw protesters their first two weeks. For some reason these dear souls had decided to quit showing up as soon as I got here... which was a bummer for me because there is only a certain level of excitement that goes on in the MTC and I was craving a little adventure in my life. Well, yippidie-doo-da-day, we finally got us a protester!!! I was so elegantly trying to sneak some pics of him that I tripped over a curb and looked like a fool, but I got the shot. 

Later the FUNNIEST thing happened! My branch president's wife is seriously the craziest woman I have ever met, but in all the right ways. I seriously love her! Well, my kasama and I were walking back to the MTC and she says, "Oh, would you just look how nice all this parsley looks between all the flowers!" She then proceeds to, and I kid you not when I say this, she reaches down, picks some parsley, smells it a little, and then EATS IT!!! Ahhh man, I was trying sooo hard to not break out into a fit of laughter! She then said, "It's temple parsley... It's gotta be good for you, right?" I would think back on this moment throughout the week and it still made me laugh! In fact, I'm laughing as I type this! 

That night we had our Sunday Night Devotional and Via Sekihema came to talk to us. Now, I had no idea who he was but maybe some of you older BYU fans remember something called a miracle bowl... I guess it was some kind of big deal or something... something about a national championship... :) He gave an amazing talk and it shed more light on the personal side of missionary work. He brought along one of the investigators that he baptized. They have been close friends ever since and have played huge roles in each others lives. Brother Sekihema was one of those people who was super funny but you could also feel the spirit so strong when he spoke. When the devotional was over, my kasama really wanted to go talk to him (ya know cause he was Tongan, too), so we got to go shake his hand and just talk a little bit with him. It was awesome! Then, quick as lightning, we ran to go meet up with good ol' Elder Evans! We had been seeing each other all over the MTC but I hadn't gotten a picture with him yet. He was about to peach outta the MTC in 6 hours! I was so jealous! But it was so cool to have a familiar Kansas face around here. I guess I'm going to have to rep KS solo from now on! 

The rest of the days of the week are really blurred together! I think it was Thursday I had a mini melt down! My teacher told us we could no longer use notes while teaching our investigators and I just got really discouraged because I already had trouble expressing myself in Tagalog WITH notes and felt there was no way I could do it without them. Needless to say, I had a nice pity party for myself that night. The next day we taught our investigator Jeffery and it went waayyy better than I was expecting. It's still hard, but I know that I can do it, slowly but surely! I read a scripture that really helped me. It was 1 Nephi 9:6 and it said, 

"The Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words." 

I know that I am called to the Philippines and learning Tagalog for a reason. I know that I am doing His works and He will bless me as I strive to be the best missionary I can be! 

Farewell until next week....I love you all!

P.S.  Some hand-written letters would be much appreciated! :-)  Salamat!

Sister Marissa Noelle Miller
SEP11 PHI-OLO
2007 N 900 E Unit 28
Provo UT 84602