Pigs in trikes.....and a bday wish :)

Mabuhay!!

Well I really wish I could send you all a pic of the pigs in trikes cause it's the funniest thing ever! It just wouldn't be right for me to pull out my camera when one drives by and snap a pic......but I will keep looking for a good opportunity. The trikes in Lal-lo are not little side cars on a motorcycle....they have built like a little bullet looking thing around a motorcycle so more people can fit--oh the ingenuity. Anyway, sometimes we see these huge pigs in the back of the trikes and we just have to laugh at ourselves.....really wish I had a video camera like in my eyes so I could show ya'll when I get home everything I'm seeing here! It's just not normal!

So I already told ya'll about our fan problem and the rigging of our only fan. Well, last Monday we came home to find that it wouldn't start! We were like, there is NO WAY we can go even one night without a fan, it's like we're living on the sun. So we're spinning the blades and spinning the blades and it is not budging so sis Whitley had the brilliant idea to do the one thing we know how to do....PRAY!!! Haha, so we prayed for our electric fan to work until we could get a knew one....and once we stopped praying, we turned the blade once and guess what....yep, it started right up!! So that was our little miracle from Heavenly Father..so we got right back on our knees and thanked him :) Do not underestimate the POWER of prayer even for the littlest of things....but you have to be willing to DO something about it or there will be no answer. Just like with our fan....we still had to turn the blades after we prayed, so there had to still be effort on our part, but the Lord was there and DID answer our prayer :)

Actually, this week was just full of praying experiences....our recent convert, Maryrose, the 10 year old little girl i sent pics of last week told us a cool experience she had this week. She had a test in school and didn't know an answer to one question so she closed her eyes for a sec and said a little prayer then when she opened her eyes she heard something tell her what the answer was and something like nudge her hand to mark the right one. And she got it right! How exciting is that for a 10 yr old who was just baptized. Just a couple weeks ago, we were trying to help her remember to pray daily and say meaningful prayers....now look at her :) It just filled my heart with joy!! Little by little we truly grow in faith.

Now, my last experience with prayer this week.....but i need to give some background muna (first). We weren't able to work a full week because some personal things came up and we had this show in the branch that we were apart of and a training for the branch so just lots of stuff that made it so we weren't out proselyting a lot. I was really able to see where my true joy comes from....and that is when i am outside preaching the good word of God, when I am calling people to repentance--honestly, i couldn't be happier, even when there are legit reasons for not working i feel so useless and like not a good missionary. So anyway, during sacrament yesterday i was asking Heavenly Father how He feels about me and my effort. Then I decided to turn to the scriptures for my answer and the very first thing I opened up to was Alma 26.....its all about missionary work and i love this chapter but this time i felt like the Lord was telling me that I was a successful missionary, as in I have had the same success as Ammon. Now, I haven't literally seen THOUSANDS of people come unto God through making covenants with him (as awesome as that would be), but I have taught and helped a few come unto Christ and others will one day accept it. And how many generations (thousands) after them will be blessed because of the gospel that I was able to teach because I did "come up out of the land of [America]" I felt the Lord's approval of my work and effort and was so ever grateful that He was willing to answer me with comfort yesterday. I love the scriptures....if you'll notice, that is where I found my answer, AFTER I prayed :) How many times do we pray for help, then don't do anything to receive it? "the scriptures are laid before you, if you wrest them, it shall be to your own destruction" We need to open the Holy Word daily to receive direction for that specific day. I know for a fact that all our problems could be easily solved if we spend time in them, learning God's will.

How much Sister Whitley and I are learning together as we take the time to study and apply and talk about it! The Lord's plan is perfect and precious and it would do us all some good to acquaint ourselves with that plan while we are here on earth. There are SO many truths out there that we need to know if we are to one day become gods and goddesses. It's so much fun to learn! And we always end up so stinken happy at the end of every conversation. The gospel is the way to happiness, there is no other solution!

So.....I will end now with my testimony, Buhay and Diyos, buhay si Jesucristo, lahat tayo'y mahal na mahal nila. Kung gusto nating magkaroon ng pinaka-mataas na kaharian ng Diyos, edi, ito yung panahon na maghanda para dyan. Wag natin sayangin yung oras. Precious talaga at alam ko na meron tayong lahat na kinakailangan natin sa buhay para malampasan yung mga pagsubok at paghihirap. kayang kaya natin!!! Mahal ko kayong lahat! At mahal kayo ng Inyong Ama sa Langit. Andiyan sya, wag bali-walaing yung gospel nya dahil sa mga makamundong bagay na is hindi mahalaga. Si Jesucristo lang ay yung daan natin patungo sa buhay na walanghanggan aka eternal and everlasting GLORY!!!

You all rock, don't give up and don't give in :)
Sis Carroll