Hey guys,

Sorry this is a short message but kulang horas. Things our still going good in Naguilian, I've been here a while and I'm going to transfer the 1st week of May. I'm going to miss it here. We are teaching this guy, Ronald, and he is in a wheelchair because of a stroke, and he can't move his left side of the body. we gave him a book of mormon a while ago, and because he has nothing else to do basically, he reads. The last 2 weeks, he's more and more excited to tells us the stories about the children of Ishmael, and laman and lemuel, and nephi. He says when he can walk again, he will come to church. Its super awesome teaching him and his asawa, she reads a little bit, she is super busy becuase she literally has to do everything, but she reads a little pag kaya. Remember, always read from the book of mormon, its a little thing, but so important in the long run. I have felt peace many a time reading from it. You can feel the same too. This is the promise off moroni, our Father in Heaven, if we do our part. I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Miklich

p.s. Sorry Mom walang pictures. A Sister missionary borrowed my cord and yup. Next week may marami!

Howdy yall

This week has been full of ups and downs, lots of dropped appointments, a few good lessons. Learning a lot still. The weirdest thing happened this week, and I'll send more pictures next time, a lot of viruses here daw. But wedsnday morning I went downstairs, heard some noises coming from the pot, and lo and behold, there were 5 kittens, and im pretty sure they were newborn, not the greatest smell. So we got them out. not a terribly interesting story, but its not every day a cat chooses one of the big cases inside your house to give birth. haha, its been a good week. I hope you guys are all enjoying the moments, cuz i hit my 6 month mark on Friday, and t feels closer to 6 weeks. Conti lang talaga ang mga horas natin dito sa mundo, so dont waste it. I hope you guys all have a happy week

Elder Miklich

This has been a great week it sure went by fast. Our bikes keep on breaking, so we are going to fix them for the last time today then turn them in. Haha, That just means that we will be walking more. We've actually been walking a lot the past month pala. It does make it easier to find people when there is none bikes. what looks like only a few houses can turn into an compound, and usually someone is interested. There are a lot of people hear that say, when we are finding, "Bawal sa amin, kasi catholico kami" or ganoon. So I ask them, why is it bawal? Then they get stumped, and then say, next time na lang. It makes it hard when people don't really know what they believe, so they get defensive. We, Elder Navarro and I, usually just leave because walang Spirit. Cool story, we found this guy who spends most of his time in San Fernando, he is being taught by the other Elders in the apartment of Elder Smith! He is super cool, super ready to accept. We haven't gone back to them yet but this week we should be able teach them again sana. Also, we met this old guy a long time ago. The first or second time we taught him, we asked him what will happen after our death, he said basically, nothing, tapos na. That made me really sad, and I think i told him that too, cuz he also said that Jesus, who is God, died on the Cross. I dont think he understands the Bible quite yet but we will work with him. Anyway, I mention him because last night we taught him and his granddaughter I think, about prayer, and he was ask about how could Dios hear all of us.So he went from believing in nothing, to believing that God is real. It's a small step, but an important one. I'm finding that the best joy comes from seeing people progress in their belief about our loving father in Heaven, and helping them realize the importance of knowing about Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the testimony that all of should share to everybody, that our Eternal Father in Heaven, and His Son, Jesus Christ live, and we have the opportunity to live with them again, if we are obedient and endure to the end. This is my testimony to you, that they love us, and they are real. we can make it. They know our trails better than we do. Trust them that they know what they are doing. One day, we will understand too. I hope you all have a great week. 

This is a picture of my kasama in daramuangan, a spider I found and shot with that poison spray stuff (He was pretty big and it kinda scares ya when you almost step on him in the bathroom haha) and our district at an FHE at the hernadez'sbahay

Letter on February 29, 2016

Hey Y'all,

Hope you guys all had a good week where ever you are. This week was fun. I tried Balut for the 1st time, and it was actually so good i had another. Balut is the 16 day old egg with the baby chick inside, and with the yolk also. It was like eating an egg, that tasted like a chicken. Wierd at first, but it was good. and my kasama said it is good for the knees.

 Another great thing happened. We had two investigators, joanna and Sunshine, two teenage girls from Suigidan Norte. i didn't think they were going to come, because we only taught them once, but we have been teaching their kapit-bahay for a few weeks. Hopefully they inspire their families to come to church, because that is the biggest challenge for people here in our area. Our purpose is to bring them closer to Christ, and there are a lot of people that are close, but there comes a kind of plateau when you've taught them all the lessons, and it's hard for them to progress. i love them all, but it is said to see them stop reading, or praying. i imagine that is how our Heavenly Father must feel when we become disobedient, or stop doing the things we aught to be doing.

 He is giving us the oppurtuntity for Eternal Progression, if we endure to the end. I'll use track for an example. I hope to be able to improve my times someday, after my mission, but for now, i'm ok with them. But my progression from 6th grade to senior year is dramatic. But what if I stopped at my freshman times? I would have never known what it would have felt like to keep progressing. Not the best example, but I encourage you all tothink about this pricniple that I did so poorly in explaining. Eternal progression. I hope you all have a good week and until next week, Ingat

Elder Miklich

Hey guys!

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week a bit crammed on time. So here's whats new. My New companion is Elder Navarro, and he is super awesome. he is so excited to find and teach people, but his English isn't that good and neither is my Tagalog, so the companionship unity was a bit rough in the begining, but it's getting a lot better. I'm learning a lot here on the mission, and this is the best place for me ngayon to practice living in acordance of the gospel the best i can. I getting a testimony of the Atonement more deeper than I have before. The more you use it, the more understanding you have about what it means, and what Jesus Christ offeres to us. It is the greatest at of love that has ever been done for mankind. I also love the book of Mormon, and for the peace that comes from reading it. We have one investigaotr, Ronald, and he is in a whellchair, so he has a lot of time on his hands. He keeps saying that it is a really good book, and i can't help but agree with him. It is hard to teach him though because he is always by the side of the road, and there aren't any trikes until after we pray first, the there are like a billion of them and it is super hard to let the Spirit be there. So we give him pamphlts for now and tell him to read the book of Mormon more. We worked out a time where we could teach him in his house on Friday, So on Tuesday babalik kami sa kanya. being a missionary is the hardest thing I've done in my short life so far, but it is the best thing too, no contest. Hard to describer talaga. I hope all of you have a great week and until next week, I'll write ulit sana. Sorry if hard to understand, but I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he stands at the head of this church. I love you all, 

Elder Miklich

Hey Guys!

This has been an awesome week. Lots of going ons here in Naguilian. One thing that happened is that we had exchanges again, I went with our district leader, Elder Richardson. This is his first area too, so we are both pretty new. He is awesome, works really hard. I got to see the fruits of his labors kasi, he really works hard, but he has had only one baptism, 1 more this saturday, but he deserves like 100 talaga. Anywas, I got to meet his investigators in Tuddingan, Casilagan, Gusing areas and they have some legit investigators. One asked how he could become mormon, others just listen so intently, it makes me excited for that area. He leaves next week, but the fruits will still be there. We have been having a hard time lately finding interested investigaotrs, we eventually found some in Suigidan Norte. They are super cool. Anyways, the lesson this time that I've learned is that we won't see the fruits of our labors right away. I'm still here for another like three months, but most of the work we do is planting I think. It is kinda frustrating, and I have faith in our investigators, but the more I learn about this culture, the more I understand them. And they like to take their time with things. It's still awesome being here, doing the work of the Lord, but it isn't easy. I love these people, they are all so nice. I love the Philippines. I love this Church. I love the hope that it gives us to strengthen our faith in order to deal with the many things of life. Til next week, 

Elder Miklich

P.S. This is our district on the back of a jeepney

Hey guys,

This week has been a good one. We found these two new investigators living in Suigidan Norte, and they are like totally prepared. We extended a baptismal invitation, and they answered why not? This was yesterday after church that we found them, so I'm excited to see if they will come next Sunday. One of them wsa even saying how Jehovah's Witness and Iglesia (a pretty big church here in the Philippines) have come to talk to them, and they things they said didn't seem true, but the things we were saying felt right. That was probably the best lesson we had his week, we have a lot of good ones though. My companion and I are finally getting to a point were we can both say stuff without him telling me where we are in the lesson, so people are more impressed with our teaching. I'm still not very good at Tagalog yet. I can say stuff to them, but I have a hard time still when they say stuff to back to me. Anyways, sorry this is a bit short, conti lang ang horas namin. I love being here on a mission, and seeing people want to become a part of this. I love this Church, and Jesus Christ stands at the head of it. 

til next time, 

Elder Miklich

Hey Guys!

This has been a pretty ok week. The other Elders had a baptism on Saturday, an awesome 11-year old. He is super legit. They are teaching his family too, but they have some WoW problems, but hopefully they will get resolved soon. They really want to be baptized, and they come to church almost every week, so they are almost ready. The Sister's had a baptism the saturday before, and we will have one this Saturday hopefully, so our district, this year will have a baptism every Saturday of this year so far. I think that is a pretty good way to start off the year. I hope we can keep this up.

 

 

So, one of investigators, Khenn, found my mom on Facebook and it sounds like they have been chatting. That was a new one for me, but it was still cool. He sometimes will come out to work with us, and he hasn't even been baptized yet! He's super excited to serve a misson too. I like how a mission gives you the opportunity to meet awesome people that just blow your mind, but it also gives you the opportunity to meet people that are on the other end of the scale. 

 

 

 

 

 

We met this old couple, and we taught them the Restoration, but the tatai, or grandpa, said he didn't believe it because after we die, wala na. Other words, nothing. It really struck me how much a hope for a better life to come, will change people down here on this earth. And this Gospel offers the best hope for us all. I was really kinda down after that lesson because we left because nothing we said or tried to teach would change their ideas. So we gave them a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation and left. I hope we get to go back there, and teach some more.

  

So I guess that is my message for you this week. Think about the Plan of Salvation, which is centered in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and it will really strike you how amazing the plan is, and our potential. I hope you  have a good week, all ya'll. 

Ingat,

Elder Miklich

Hello guys!

Another week here in Naguilian. New Years here is crazy. people enjoy to make noise. I don't quite understand it, but they do. My companion woke up around twelve, and then couldn't fall back to sleep for a while, so he was super tire all that day. I was just konked out, because we bike a long way, in a short amount of time, and so  I had no trouble sleeping til 6:30.

We celebrated New Year's by eating. That's all about all we had to do haha. There are 4 of us in the house, 3 Americanos and 1 Filipino. He is so funny, he is actually pretty good at english, but he talks in Tagalog most of the time. So that's what we did for New Years.

It was pretty great this week though. We are teaching this family, the Julaton's, and the dad is all for getting baptized, and the kids are pretty excited too, and they gave a strong commitment to go to church, pero walang sila. It really makes you sad. So we go back there tonight to see what happened. Well, nothing too exciting happened this week, but I sure hope you guys had a fantastic week! Til next week!

Elder Miklich

Richard's description of these 2 photos are:

A Roasted Duck

and 

A Cow with Grass