PRAYERS ANSWERED

MAGANDANG ARAW!

How is everyone's week?? I hear it's super hot back at home! Hope you are all surviving alright ;) Just be glad you have air con and don't have to rely on electric fans...

This week has been....AMAZING!!!!! The Lord has answered so many of our pleading prayers. :) I wish I had time to highlight it all. 

Romel is doing great!! His whole family has been coming to church for 2 weeks now :) He and his wife! And their two boys :) Cyrus is excited for his baptism as well! He is such a brilliant kid. And the very first thing he does when we walk in their home is start telling us about what he read in his Book of Mormon Stories book. Haha! Not even a "hello". It's just, "Ah! Nephi went back to Jerusalem! And...." Hahaha he cracks me up :) I love him. Romel and his son will be baptized on July 11 :)

We are also teaching a guy named Noel! He's doing great too!! His baptism will be on July 19th! If I had more time, I'd tell you about him too. 

What I want to highlight most is the powerful lesson we had last night...

First off, there are 2 recent converts. Brother Orly--the elders had just contacted him on the street (Orly is a trike driver). He was baptized back in January. Then he was able to help his wife accept visits from the missionaries and was baptized back in April. They really really want their 3 kids to be baptized, but they aren't really interested and are all going to church to different religions. We first contacted their youngest, Jet. He's 17 years old. But he was super shy. He said he would come to church that next week. Well...sunday came and Brother Orly and his wife had someone with them!! But it wasn't Jet... haha. It was Reymart, their nephew! He was really receptive, we went to their house that night and taught him. We thought he would come to church yesterday....but we were surprised to see that he wasn't there...but somebody ELSE was with Brother Orly and his wife!! Haha, their 2nd oldest son, LA! He is 19 and he also brought along his girlfriend, Alexandria! They were awesome! 

They actually really enjoyed church! The ward here is so great, they had friends welcoming them with open arms right away! We visited them as well after church. Well just LA. He said that he was impressed that it felt like one big family when he came to church.

We taught him Lesson 1. It was incredible :) I don't have the words to describe it. The Spirit was just so powerful! I literally don't know how to describe it. Everyone in the room was just smiling so big. We could all feel it! LA wanted to be baptized right away. We invited him to first pray to gain a witness from the Spirit about the message and the Book of Mormon. And we set a baptismal date for July 25!! We asked him to give the closing prayer. As he began to pray, he got emotional....It was a beautiful prayer. When we said, "Amen." All of us had tears streaming down our faces and smiles so wide. It is one of the sweetest moments that I will never forget. Natalie and Orly were especially emotional. Their long, patient prayers that their kids would join the church, have begun to be answered. :) This work is AMAZING!!

We are going back to teach LA and Alexandria tomorrow! They will probably both be baptized on July 25th!!    

M I R A C L E S!!!!!!!!!! I can't even describe how much I've seen the Lord's hand in our work. Yesterday, we had 8 investigators at church! We are just amazed at this fruit that He is unveiling in front of our eyes. 

I know this is true. :)  Our Father loves us so much. He DOES answer our prayers. In His own way, and in His own time. And it is always for our good, because He loves us that much. He is aware of us all. Every single one of us. Even you. Yes, you. The one reading this :) Don't ever forget that.  HE LOVES YOU.

I hope you all have incredible week. Take a little more time this week in your prayers to Him. Because He truly is listening. Are you? :)

MAHAL KO KAYO!!

Sister Oyler

FLOODWATERS

MAGANDANG ARAW!!

KAMUSTA!!

Congrats again, Harrison, for your mission call!!!!!!! I am so excited for you!! Ecuador won't be able to handle Elder Oyler, they'd better get ready! :)

We got to do a temple session this morning :) Hence, our P-day is on Wednesday. This week has been GREAT! I wish I had time to tell about everything. Ahh.

But I will tell you about the storm that hit.. Haha of course :) 

There was one evening we were walking between appointments when it started to drizzle a bit...so we got out our umbrellas...it started to pick up pretty quickly....and then...BOOM!!!!!

A huge clap of thunder right over our heads with a clap of lightning, and it was POURING buckets of rain!!!!!!!!!! HAHA! Okay, buckets is an understatement, it was pouring...SWIMMING POOLS, of rain!! Ha, it was honestly the heaviest rain I have ever seen in my life!! Our umbrellas were useless, even though we were using them, we were drenched from head to toe within a minute!!! I'm not even kidding! And then the road started flooding. It was literally that fast. Within 10 minutes, we were wading through floodwater up to our knees!! I'm not exaggerating!

Haha I felt so bad for my poor anak. She was almost close to tears with the huge claps of thunder and striking lightning. And I was just giggling with excitement!! Haha I know you can imagine it. :) Yep, Sister Oyler was grinning from ear to ear as we were trying to "run" through the water, literally in WAVES flooding through the streets. We were both screaming...but I think we were both experiencing opposite emotions. Hahaha. 

Although, we did get to one point, where the water was suddenly filled with hundreds of IPIS!!! (cockroaches) coming from the sewer.....yeah then I was close to crying too. The water is pretty nasty though. Deep black, with a bajillion who knows what diseases floating in it. (There are open sewers here...I'll just leave it at that).

ALL IN ALL, it was one of the funnest experiences :) We finally made it to the bigger main street and caught a jeepney and made it to our next appointment which was miraculously an appointment at the Bishop's house. Haha they helped us dry off and clean up. :) Haha but my anak told me she was glad I was just laughing the whole time, or she probably would have had a panic attack! Poor thing. 

Ah, so there was a brown out earlier in the computer shop while we were emailing. Good thing this email saved, we just hopped back on to just send these emails. So, I've got to go!! I have no more time.  But I just wanted to share a quick message with you all:

How true this is!! I encourage everyone reading this right now to look and find one way right now that you can make somebody happy. Just do it :)

MAHAL KO KAYO!! Have a great week, everyone!

Sister Oyler

 

 

THE MIRACLES ARE REAL

MAGANGANG BUHAY!!

It just started raining right now out to my left! :) It's rainy season right now, so you know Sister Oyler is happy :) I love the storms!

We had a really great storm this week around lunch time, where it just started POURING! And....me and my anak decided to go for a shower...:) It was so much fun. It was honestly exactly what I needed. I needed some fun in the rain, and I feel like all my stress went out with it. :) 

Avery, you would love it, too. I sat outside one night before bed, and filmed the lightning. You wouldn't believe it! It was non-stop lightning. No breaks! Non stop thunder too :) ahh you would love it. The camera didn't do it justice.

ANYWAY, this week has been great!! I want to just share really fast about one of our investigators namin na si Romel. His wife is a member, just less-active because she works on Sunday. And Romel has been taught by the missionaries for 3 years now.  I think I mentioned in one of my other emails about him and the lesson we had a while back with him about polygamy. Well, turns out, that lesson REALLY helped him. He was able to pray and gain a witness for himself that Joseph Smith really was a true prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon is true and that this Church is His true church on the earth today. When we had gone back to him shortly after that visit, he expressed this and then asked, "Kailan ako puwedeng magpabinyag?" ("When can I be baptized?")   We were so excited! He wants to be baptized with his 9-year-old son as well.

Well....I feel like every time an investigator makes an important decision, the devil always tries to step in their way.... I won't go into detail, but something really heartbreaking happened within their family. Something that left individuals--especially Romel-- deeply hurt and betrayed. He texted us and told us and then said that he has no more hope, he doesn't want to be baptized anymore, he's going away, he even expressed that he wanted to commit suicide. 

We helped him through text and asked to come visit him. He didn't want to. But I remember bearing my testimony to him about the reality of our Father in Heaven and the power of the Atonement in our lives. And I invited him to come to church to get the help he needs. 

Well, for the first time, HE CAME. 

We talked to him for a while, and then we directed him to bishop who really helped him. And for the past week, we have been visiting their family. The lessons have been some of the most spirit-filled lessons I've experienced. We have been fasting and praying for him and his family. And we are seeing pure miracles :)

They are getting back on track, and I am witnessing the power of the gospel in their lives.

Just yesterday, we received this text from Romel:  (I'll translate into English)

"Sister. Thank you so much for your big help. You have saved my family. I am slowly forgetting the pain that I feel because of the things you are sharing with me. I feel the Spirit and I am blessed. I will overcome this trial in my life. Thank you so much for your help. I am ready to be baptized with my son."

I was brought to tears. Sister Lonitenisi and I just cried with overwhelming joy. 

As we are visiting them, they are truly learning to rely on Him. Their goal is now first, baptism, and next, the temple! :) They want so badly to be sealed as a forever family. I know it will happen. :)  This is His plan. 

The miracles are real. This work is real. I know that this is His true Church. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us SO much. More than we will ever comprehend. He places people in our life, and guides us to Him. It is up to us to act and come unto Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. And if we will truly humble ourselves and discover Him in our life. We will see miraculous changes, and will experience a kind of happiness that you can find no where else. A kind of eternal happiness that only God can give.

I'm sorry that I didn't get to reply to anyone this week. But I read your emails! I love hearing from each one of you. Know that I love you all!! Have a great week!

MAHAL NA MAHAL KO KAYO!

Sister Oyler 

 

Playing in the rain :P

 

Our zone! Just missing a couple elders yata

 

 

ASTIG NA LOLA :) Elsie!! She is such a ganster haha

Fresh coconut milk :)

 

It's more fun in the Philippines.

 

My little Olaf gang :)

They call me Elsa