miracles

kumusta everyone. im here at the computershop enjoying the aircon while its raining outside. im sorry i wont be able to respond to everyones emails they sent ive printed them out and will read them later and respond next week i got here late and still have a million things to do. i didnt get transfered so no worries there! we just apent all morning cleaning our house so thats why im late.

i called this letter miracles because i wanna talk about that. miracles. things ive been seeing here that are miracles and things that ive realized happened in my life befor and all our lives that are miracles. hopefully this will make sense ha if not well bear with me.

every week president carlos sends a weekly letter to all the missionaries and he always has a miracle story that has happened in the past week. sometyhing that happened in the life of an elder or their investigators and its always so cool to hear them. so i figured for just this once i would kinda do the same.

yesterday i had the opportunity to go to a hospital here to visit the sick kids of one the paz family that was recently baptised 3 of their kids have been hospitalized this past week for dangaue ( i dont know how to spell it ha ) and one of the less active members we have been working with his son has typhoid fever right now. with fivers going from 104 degrees to 95 degrees up and down, and stuck in a hospital room with a whole bunch of other people with various other sicknesses with no such thing as privacy and not a penny to any of their names to but food let alone pay hospital bills. when i went there i thought about how spoilled i was in the hospital back in the day with my kidney surgery and last week with the food poisoning thing. nice room bed food and a way to eventually pay for it ( well not me i guess my parents and ensurance but you get it ) but anyways as we went there and started talking to them when they found out that they were both members ( they were in the same room but didnt know they were both members ) and then another couple with i kid that broke his arm was in a different ward they found out they were all members and instantly i saw a feeling of belonging. kinda like brotherhood or something i dono it was just cool but anyways we had the opportunity to give each of them a blessing. the son of brother paz wouldnt let us at first he was crying when we got close just cause hes so sick, so we went to the others first. the couple in the other ward told us that they had a goal to go to the temple a while ago but it didnt happen and the husband had been so busy he hadnt been able to do all the things he needed to do. i had the feeling that maybe they werent all that active... at least the husband. but after they asked us to bless their son they expressed a renewed desire to make it to the temple and make it to church every week. sioster said maybe this happened so we could be humbled and have this experience to remember how important heavenly father is. that to me is a miracle.

when we blessed the son of the paz family he didnt cry. he sat very still and wasnt afraid. that was a miracle. we didnt command them to rise and walk like christ did so many times in the bible, but this is every bit as much of a miracle to me as what happened back then. it might not be as amazing but the things they were blessed with touched the lives of the people there and i dont doubt they will get better and soon.

we talked with sister paz later that day and she talked about how if this had happened ( all her kids getting sick at once ) before they had been taought the gospel they would have been depressed right now, she said that back in the day their house was so just empty of emotion she said i didnt notice it back then but there was just kulang ( lacking something) like we were happy but not really ) she tried to explain how she felt but didnt have the words) and then she said but now even though this is happening she was just as happy as can be and she said that their house is always just full of something different than before. thats a miracle.

brother and sister ali aly ( the ones that we had to work forever to get married before their baptism ) are just sometyhing else i cant explain it. when we go there they are the ones who pray they are the ones it seems that are teaching us. before their baptism and confirmation they were super great investigators but now that the spirit ( gift of the holy ghost) is a part of their life i can literally feel and see a difference. i had always heard about taking upon you the name of christ and having his countanence or what ever and heard people say they see light in peoples eyes that are living the gospel and i never understood it. i dont if it hass to do with the being set apart as a missionary or what but after they were confirmed i see a light about them and i can feel a difference in their home and so can they, thats a miracle.

tatay llaneta just was called to be 2 councilor in the sunday school presidency. 5 months ago he was hiding from missionaries. now he comes with us to our appointments when we teach about tithing because his testimony about it is so strong the he wants to share it with everyone he can. thats a miracle.

we pray to our father in heaven and he doesnt always answer right away and sometimes i dont feel like im going to get an answer... but then i remember all the times he did answer my prayers. feeling god listening to your prayers, that is a miracle to me.

story after story i could go on for hours because here i get to see them every day. IF im watching. i spent so much of my life alreeady missing out on the miracles that happen every day. i feel like god is more a part of our life than any of us even know. my faith is never as strong as i want it to be and i feel like nephi when he says...

17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great agoodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O bwretched man that I am! Yea, my heart csorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily abeset me.
19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have atrusted.
20 My God hath been my asupport; he hath led me through mine bafflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his alove, even unto the bconsuming of my flesh.
22 He hath confounded mine aenemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.
23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me aknowledge by bvisions in the night-time.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty aprayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me.
25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been acarried away upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I should not write them.
26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath avisited men in so much bmercy, cwhy should my dheart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?27 And why should I ayield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to btemptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my cpeace and afflict my soul? Why am I dangry because of mine enemy?


ive realized that if were not careful were gonna miss the point of it all. i love life and i believe it all. i believe in a god of miracles and he shows them to us every single day. if nephi the best example of faithfulness we have in the book of mormon feels like this, then ive definately got a long way to go. i think he just enderstood something that we could all learn from him. god is real and there and shows himself and we just need to take a step back and notice his simple mercies in our lives every day. ive never seen anybody raised from the dead but like president holland said ive seen and myself experience the spirit come back into my life. i think about myself a year ago and a year now and its a different person. ive never seem a mountain moved but again like elder holland said ive seen a mountain of doubt moved by the exact same seed of faith they the brother of jared used to move hte mountain that we find in ether and moses used to parth the red see. ive never been instantly healed from a sickness or even seen that but i have heard a story from someone i care deeply about share her mission experience and how she battled with sickness the whole time and it didnt go away... and christ carried the burdon with her. thats a miracle to me.

the words nephi says after verse 27 are napakaganda ( so great ) and this is the attitude i hope to be able to gain some day ....

28 Awake, my soul! No longer adroop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the benemy of my soul.
29 Do not aanger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions.
30 Rejoice, O my aheart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the brock of my salvation.
31 O Lord, wilt thou aredeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out of the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of bsin?
32 May the gates of hell be shut continually before me, because that my aheart is broken and my spirit is contrite! O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may bwalk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road!
33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy arighteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine benemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.
34 O Lord, I have atrusted in thee, and I will btrust in thee forever. I will not put my ctrust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his dtrust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.
35 Yea, I know that God will give aliberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I bask cnot amiss; therefore I will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the drock of my erighteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen.
I dono why i decided to talk about miracles but i guess im just greatful to have this chance to witness tso many miracles. i love this work here im far from perfect and its hard but i know its real and i know that if we just look for them we will be able find the miracles that god works in our lives every day, we just need to give him the time to look.



i love you all sorry if this is boring but well this is whats on my mind right now. mahal ko kayo! and ill talk to ya next week...... elder landeen