Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Week 21

Week 21

We took all of 1 picture this week which I just realized. Bummer. Next week I will do better! This week I got some super masarap pouch from a few hours north and from Honduras. My two favorite missionaries! Shout out to Elder Volpe and Sister Despain for the letters! It got cold again this week but apparently summer is just around the corner. Goodnight...it's about to get super hot here!

This week was SO good and SO hard at the same time. There's the mission summed up into one sentence. We had some really neat experiences with some referrals we have gotten from members. One sister who is 20, has been taught by 4 sets of missionaries now and has had the longest conversion process! But in the last few weeks her faith has grown so much. We are so excited for her baptism in march! Yesterday we stopped by to see her and she asked if she could come with us to share the gospel that has made her so happy. We went with her to teach a lesson to a family who was recently baptized. It was THE coolest thing. They talked a lot and really helped her with some concerns she was feeling about baptism.

We are trying to get an activity together for our recent converts to go to San Pablo's family history center and research some family names for a temple trip. In training the other day me and my anak read about how baptisms for the dead is something that should happen as soon as possible after someone is baptized. So they can experience going to the temple. It kinda hit us that was something that had not been taken care of with the recent converts here, so we decided to try and plan going to the FH center. Our ward mission leader is the best so hopefully it all works out!

This transfer I have been reading The Book of Mormon just focusing on The Atonement and highlighting wherever that applies. I quickly figured out that the whole Book of Mormon is about The Atonement. We are here on earth experiencing all this happiness and sorrow and really hard things to learn how to apply the sacrifice of our Savior every day in our lives. Especially the enabling power we draw from Him to become more like Him. Whoa. I kinda had one of those moments like: Umm...am I the last person on earth to realize this? NOPE. There are people all around us that turn to all the wrong places to deal with the challenges we have in this life. As members of the true church we need to direct them back to where we all came from: The presence of our Savior. I loved my studies this week because I just had like this glorious epiphany reminding me of why I came here! It was literally the best thing ever.

Have a good week all!
Love,
Sister Gaspar de Alba



Me and my anak!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Week 20 - 6 months and 2/3 to go

Week 20

Okay first of all I hit my 6 months last week...WHAT. weird. But this week was really good! The same as last week just lots of finding and tracting and OYMs. Also...cool thing- the sister here that was baptized 2 weeks ago has a sister who is a member in San Antonio and is in the Helotes ward! Probably knows my aunts. Also quick shout out to Sister Washburn for sending me an awesome valentine's day package! And Aunt Jen&fam for the letters and the valentine's love!

We are really working with our ward mission leader since 1. he is the coolest. 2. he needs our help, lots of it. Yesterday he asked us if we could all fast together next sunday for ways to improve our missionary work here in Calauan. We talked for a while and made some really great goals. I am so greatful for him! He is so dedicated to his calling.

We had a really neat experience this week getting lost and finding a lady who has been being prepared for years. She told us about her family and we were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation. I have learned over and over again the last 2 weeks what it takes to have miracles on the mission. Every day before we go out we pray with everything we have to please find the right people. Then we go out ant talk to everyone who will talk to us. We have found so many people that way! half of them after a lesson or two are not interested and it's hard, but we have been so blessed is being led by Heavenly Father.

Have a good week all! Love- Sister Gaspar de Alba


 
me and sister Vivian! from my last area

okay this kid in the front is half filipino and half african-american. he is literally the cutest kid i have ever seen

this is the calauan crew. and this is how we celebrated valentines day! with our WML brother ronnie and sister mayce

every day from 5 pm to 7 pm (:

shout out to my bro! i see so many kabayos here

Week 19 - one week late

Week 19

I literally cannot even begin to explain this week. I haven't even processed it all yet! My brain is kind of a scrambled mess at the moment! For starters, it is getting hot and hotter over here in asia. And I am getting brown and browner. YES. Also, i found the best pandesal and homemade peanut butter in my first week which pleases me probably more than it should. The peanut butter here is so addictive.

So my anak (sister pajo) is basically the most mabait person i have ever met. She is such a sweetheart. She is really teaching me by example what it means to be teachable. Our training is awesome I have never felt like my teaching has improved very quickly. But she is teaching me how to teach. Lots of teaching. I seriously love her so much, her desire to be here is so strong.

We did lots of tracting this week! Basically what happened is we took the addresses of former investigators and went hunting. We found 1 of them and taught 0 of them. But every day we were led to other people who have been prepared to hear the gospel. I have no idea where these people came from and really am having a hard time understanding how we even got to them. The Spirit played such a big role in finding. I have never taught so many lessons in a week. And I have never reached all of our goals. But this week we hit every single one! I was so excited, I texted President and told him.

Some really amazing lessons happened this week. One sister who had been taught by 4 other sets of missionaries opened up to us about not understanding really The Book of Mormon. As we listened to her, we gained her trust enough for her to ask us the questions she needed answered. Then we got to hear her pray for the first time...EVER. The Spirit filled the room and she was able to feel the truthfulness of our message that day.She came to a baptism on saturday then to church on Sunday and is hopefully being baptized on March 8(:

I love this area already! The people here are so ready. This week was a miracle. And I really think we had this much success because of the great faith of Sister Pajo. Last week we had a lot of heart-to-hearts about faith and relying on The Spirit. And because of that faith we are leaning to have, Heavenly Father is blessing us with more opportunities to share His gospel. I love my mission. I love this opportunity and I love what I am learning! These lessons take time and patience but the reward is better than anything.

d&c 123:17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us acheerfully bdo all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the csalvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

Have a great week all!
-Sister Gaspar de Alba




welcome to my new area(:

zone p-day! at come water falls outside of san pablo city

me and my anak

this is what missionaries do on p-day in the pines. some super magaling elders cook delicious food while we sit around a water fall to talk and play games. the BEST.

this sister is from indonesia. sister napitupulu. i was SO excited to find out she's in our zone. we met in november. she is hilarious!

a super old cemetery we drove by kanina. there is so much history being closer to san pablo city, i love it.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Week 18 - new companion, new area, training, aaaahhhh!

This was probably the longest week since my first transfer! I was anxious waiting for my anak to come on thursday and i totally thought I would get an American. Psych! i got a filipina. She is the most sincere person I have ever met. She is 20 years old and might be even smaller than my last companion!

So on Thursday I went to the meeting by myself. All the way to San Pablo with my luggage...rough. But the Elders said no rides for me! But it was okay, I got there fine. Then we got our companions and drove 30 minutes to my new area. It is SO beautiful! I have never been somewhere so gorgeous. It is a smaller town and most people are related. We took a look in our area book and i started panicing. There were 0 investogators and hardly any information. So my companion was worried as she noticed I began to worry. So President came to our house and sat with us and we made some plans. The next day we went to see the bishop and RS president with our ward mission leader. He is awesome, and the bishop was so appreciative of our willingness to help him. The area was previously split in half by the other sisters but we changed that as adviced by bishop. We have plans to see a lot of Less-Actives, Members, and former investigators this week so we can start to get a teaching pool.

This week I am really being humbled. The first day when i tried to do this on my own, we totally failed. We got into 0 houses after tracting all afternoon. But when my companion and I really took the time to plan and pray, we were able to be led by The Lord. He led us to our ward leaders, they really need our help!

Thanks for the prayers everyone! Training is going really well, my companion is already an amazing teacher and she really loves the people she teaches. I am learning patience. I keep praying and just telling Heavenly Father that I dont really know what to do. But I have faith that through The Spirit, we will be led to those who are prepared for us. I really know that is true. He is there for us, waiting to bless us. As we remain faithful to him even in our trials.

Love

-Sister Gaspar de Alba

these cool kids are kavsat with us! me and elder toro hail from north west vegas *kinda. and elder callianga and sister galabo are from the same stake in cagayan de oro in visayas. needless to say we were best friends last transfer! also they are in the other cabuyao ward, so we always would see them on p-days. clowns.

Saying goodbye to the Pichon family. I love them!

The Obungin family. This woman is amazing. She truly is a member missionary to everyone she meets.

this is AP Merriam at his finest. But really, this picture describes us perfectly. I was sad he got released as AP! Mostly because he always used to drive us home and have sweet life chats. He goes home in one transfer.

sister beaumont finally made it! YES. and the best part is that her trainer is Sister Williams! hilarious. She was in our district in the MTC as well

we finally took a normal picture. my nanay is training too! 

me and my anak! sister Pajo! She is from Bohol, so we are learning how to speak tagalog together, her language is Cebuano

Athough our time was short as house-mates....this girl is one of my favorites. i am re-opening her old area! Sister Tua One

me and the cutest little filipino kid ever- camille