July 15, 2013

The update this week is short....we had a lot of work. We worked a lot with our investigators and had some really great lessons. I felt the Spirit very strongly as we shared with one sister about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are teaching her about the right authority...there is something difficult in people understanding that you need the right authority in all things. But I know that there may not be fruit from our efforts with her, now...but there will be later down the road. I am understanding so much more about people and their agency and the reality that it plays into all that we are doing as missionaries. I wish some days to really help people use their agency to choose the right...always. But Heavenly Father loves them all to much to force them...and so I shall continue forward in faith...in the will of the Lord, knowing that as long as I give the effort to share with all....there will be a time and place for all of them. We had a really great lesson with an investigator, who we contacted on the street. She is interested in learning more about Jesus Christ (our perfect opportunity to jump in!) and so we have shared with her about the Restoration....she was like a sponge....and she had questions for us...and it was just so much fun teaching her :P some days... I think I enjoy this missionary work too much (Alma 26:35).

We are hoping to find a way to work more with the members, especially now that we have 8 missionaries called to one branch. We have a lot of work to do and I know that there is a reason for all things. I am hoping with my new trainee that we will be able to find those that the Lord has prepared for us. I am still learning everyday how to become a better missionary....and I hope to accomplish that someday...siguro yung last day ko sa mission. But I have learned so much from the opportunity to train Sister Andrada....there is so much to say about a companionship...everything that we do as a missionary, begins with the person that you are around 24/7....what a blessing it is if you lean upon the Lord and seek to learn from the person He has chosen for you to serve with. I hope that this next trainee will be ready for one of the best transfers :) Hope you all have a great week :)

Mahal na mahal kita!!

Sister Pace

July 7, 2013

This week was a good and rough week.  In fact, I can't think of a week that wasn't good and rough....because you really can't have one without the other. We had a lot of lessons with our less actives and investigators....but it is funny how sometimes we feel like we are working so hard....and there is little to show for what you felt you did. But this is a part of missionary work. Some days you wish you could just force the people to listen to your message and follow your commitments....but that isn't possible....because that would be contrary to the plan of Heavenly Father and He wants all His children to choose for themselves the gospel and act in faith. I have learned so much more about the plan of salvation and our purpose here...I know that the Lord loves us all. I know that He wants us to use our agency in the best way possible. 

As a companionship we are learning how to become better everyday and how to help the people here. It takes time and we are already close to the next transfer....so next Monday I will tell you what is happening.

We met our new mission president....It was a really great opportunity and we all felt really inspired by his love and conversion to the gospel. We are all excited to serve with him and hope to improve the Legazpi Mission. They shared with us this video called Origin, under Mormon Messages.It was a really inspiring message :)

I have been sick this week, due to my sinuses and a cough...so the work has been a little difficult some days, because I have been left voiceless at times.But I know that the Lord answers  prayers....On fast Sunday, I prayed that the Lord would bless me with health to have the strength to preach His gospel and teach....and He made it all happen :) And then it (all the sickness) came back when we finished our planning for the end of the day. Simple things like that help me know that the Lord loves us and watches over us.

I am sorry that this email is short....I am glad to hear that there are individuals that are enjoying my blog and I hope that you get a chance to learn more about this marvelous work among the children of God, here in the Philippines Legazpi Mission!

Ingat lagi!

Sister Pace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 1, 2013

Kumusta!

This week was really good. We were trying really hard this week to find more investigators and try to help the less actives in our area. Sometimes a little hard because there seems to be a never ending supply of less actives, but the investigators only trickle in after a little while. We had some really great lessons with our investigators this week:

Sister Briagas- she is searching for the truth and in the process of finding the way that the Lord wants her to live. She is very much into listening to our message and believes us to be missionaries of the Lord. She loves to learn about the plan of salvation and how she can receive the reward of exaltation. We have invited her to be baptized, but she is not too sure, that she would have the right heart for it right now. We are trying to answer all her questions and help her to find the truth for herself, through prayer and diligent searching. We are really excited when we get the chance to share with her, because we know that the Spirit is making an impact on her heart and helping her to find the right path.

Sister Nevares- She is a 20 yrs old mother. She is really sweet and just really quirky and funny. We contacted her on the street and she has been so willing to listen to our lessons and even share with her family and friends. We love talking with her, because she is so kind and willing to pray and find for herself the blessings that are promised to her and her family through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Boridor children- These three sisters are really great. Their mother and father are less active. We are in the process of helping their mother to become active again in the church...but they have made some really great progress since I have started sharing with them. We have a scheduled baptism for them and we striving to help them to prepare for the covenants that they will make with our Heavenly Father. The oldest reminds me of myself...she is really searching and studying the scriptures and loves to learn about the gospel and its role.

Buenconsejo Family- This one is a touching story for me. We were walking home from an appointment in the morning and there are many stores that line the street. We walked past one store and we had someone call out and say "Hello!" It was a shock, because here there are not many people that will say hello to a foreigner and to a Philippina together. So with the shock we went up to his store and started to talk with him. He asked us who we were and what we were doing. We explained to him and shared with him a pass along card, with a brief description of the Church. He shared with us some of his beliefs and the desire he had to know the truth. We shared with him that we believed that we had the truth for him and asked for a return appointment on Sunday. So on Sunday we went to his house and shared part of the Restoration with him and his family. It was so beautiful and you could see that the brother had questions he needed answered and sister wanted to know a way to properly raise her children. I feel that we have found our golden family! We taught them and they weren't like all the other investigators....they just listen. They were asking questions and interacting with us and we were finding ways to share with them the joy that we have through the gospel. I am so excited to continue to teach this family and help them find the way in this life and in the life to come. 

This week has been full of learning experiences and knowledge from on high. I have studied about the plan of salvation and the role we plan into it. I felt that I have a stronger idea and belief of where my part in the plan of salvation is....I just have to hold firmly to that eternal perspective. How grateful I am to the kindness of the Lord to help me to understand His will and desire for His children here on earth. I also studied more about self-mastery and ended up in conversion. It was a great adventure to the role of our desire and our works here on earth and how we must use the two (our desire and our works) to make an impact on the outcome of our self-mastery/conversion/salvation.

We had a nice tropical storm move through on saturday, so we weren't able to work as much as we wanted to. But there was definitely lots of rain and wind...

We will be meeting the new mission president this week and so I will tell you about it next week. I got the chance to watch The Work of Salvation....I love it! It is so wonderful and I am so excited for all the things that are possible to happen in the work of the Lord. I desire so much not to lose sight of this once I leave my mission, because whether set apart as a full time missionary or as a member of the church....we each have a role and a responsibility to help the Lord in sharing the blessings of His plan with all His children. Kaya natin iyan! With the help of the Lord all is possible!

June 24, 2013

This week was filled with a lot of time to opening our mouths and talking to anybody who would listen to us. Sometimes it is not the easiest thing to do, but what a blessing it is when you find out more about the people and you strive to help them to see the joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The hard part of teaching this week was everyone was busy...so there was plenty of time to find new people to share the good news with. We have been working to commit people to read, pray, attend church or continue to listen to our messages. And it was wonderful to feel the power in helping these people understand the power of repentance and how they can receive of the full blessings of the gospel. However, by the end of the week, very few stayed with their commitments. But we will continue to help these people to understand what is required. We had some really great lessons with the less actives in our branch...it was great to feel the power of the gospel and to learn more about our purpose here in earth. I learned a lot this week about obedience and our purpose here on earth. We are to become even as our Father in heaven...but it requires our obedience to His commandments. He has given us the power of agency. But agency is not the power to choose between good and bad. Our agency is the power to choose between good, better and best. We do not have the power in agency to choose bad. When we "choose" bad, we simply are not using the power of our agency. I am striving to keep in mind as much as possible the potential that others  (and myself) have the sight of Heavenly Father.  The work that we are enlisted in, is great. There are so many blessings to be found as we strive to share this wonderful news with others, despite our fears, our differences, our challenges, or our circumstances. The Lord has covenanted with us in this work and we shall be greatly blessed through His love and mercy towards us. I love the story from Jacob 5:70-77. We shall labor together with our Lord and we shall receive blessings with Him (D&C 18:15-16). I know that as we continue to have our minds and our hearts open to the Lord and His will we shall find those that the Lord is preparing for His members :) I hope you all will join the vast amount of full time missionaries, to bring the truth forth to the world!

Mahal kita!

Sister Pace

 

******NEW ADDRESS*****

 

Philippines Legazpi Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
P.O. Box #225
Legazpi City Post Office
Legazpi City, Albay
4500 Philippines

 

June 17, 2013

My companion and I had a really great week! It was filled with appointments and opportunities to talk to as many people as possible. It was a little tiring, but that is missionary work. It is great when you can sleep through the whole night....unless you get leg cramps all the time.

Here are some pictures...I am sorry that I haven't gotten any to you last time....it depends on where we go for internet. But I will try to get more to you.(#1 is the Mayon from one of our areas called Mariroc, #2 is a picture of two of my companions--Sister Andrada is in pink and Sister De Leon is in purple, #3 is a picture of part of our room, where we study) As for a padjack....it is driven by a driver and we ride in the side cart. I will try to take a picture of it, so you understand what I mean. It is like the one that was at the restaurant that we went to in Albuqurque. Our area is beautiful. We are very close to the Mayon. It is the volcano that has started to smoke recently...so the area is very green and full of fruits and vegetables. I will send more pictures next week of the area and apartment. The apartment is okay. We have issues with ants...even after using the Permitox...they are chewing holes in all my clothes. So we are trying to find a way to fix that problem. The apartment is good. I can't say that it is any "higher" in status as compared to other apartments, because it is slightly far from central. But it works out and we find ways to get through everything. We are trying to figure out how to do laundry at our apartment, because the area is just not large enough for us to do our laundry or have a place to dry our clothes. But it works out :)

We will be meeting the new mission president for the Legaspi mission on July 4-5. It will be very exciting! We do not have a new mailing address yet, but I will get that to you ASAP.

This week was filled with a lot of appointments of following up on previous commitments, teaching about the principles of the gospel, testifying, promising blessings and committing our investigators and less actives to act in faith upon the things that we have taught them. It was really a special feeling to feel the power of the Holy Ghost as we taught these people the way unto repentance and the peace that can be had in their lives. But people still have their agency to chose what to follow...and so we are back to where we started. Missionary work is not walk in the park...it is a lot of work to try to help people to understand the importance of their salvation. We had many wonderful opportunities to find new investigators and share with them and help them to feel the joy and peace the gospel can bring to them. I am really excited about the area. I am still trying to learn the roads and how to get around, but it will come with time :) And the people are really great here and there is much promise among the people. How great and glorious is the work of the Lord.

I hope that you all have a great week and I will talk to you again next week! Happy Father's Day dad!!

 

 

 

June 10, 2013

Kumusta Pamilya,

Maganda and linggong ito! Transfers has been really great…a lot of learning but the transfer has been to a very beautiful area. I am now in Tabaco 1C with Sister Andrada. She is from Rizal, Philippines. She is the oldest of three girls in her family….and she is just a fire ball of energy. But it has been great having the opportunity to work together. I am training Sister Andrada in her second half of the twelve weeks training program. (The Elders were teasing me that I am just the finisher of training…but I have learned a lot from being able to help these sisters in the second half of their training). She is a really great teacher and I have had many blessings through our companionship. Our area covers a large area…or at least right now it seems really large. But we don’t travel around by tricycles like in Sorsogon and Iriga…we travel around by padjacks—they are bicycles with small (when I say small I mean small) sidecar. It has been a fun experience trying to fit me (a large American) and a Pino in one of these….but maybe I will learn. The people here are very kind and loving…I am really excited about the area and I am trying my best to learn the people and the language….because, you guessed it…it’s not Tagalog! There is some Tagalog, but to be able to communicate with a lot of the people here, you have to speak Bicol. So that is one more thing to add on my list of things to learn. The apartment we live in is beautiful. It is a up-down (that is what they call an apartment that has two levels)—the area is great and there is so much to see from our bedroom window (Saging trees or “banana trees”). It is a little difficult in the apartment, because the water pressure is really weak….so for Monday…I had to send my laundry out. We will have to see how to make everything work here J. 

I don’t have much to write about the work, because we have only had a few days this week to work, because of transfers. But I am really excited about working with the people and helping them to gaining a stronger faith and trust in their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We are striving to reactivate many parents in order to baptize their children and we are striving to understand how to help those who have a Catholic background understand their personal relationship with Heavenly Father. I am learning more about my relationship to Heavenly Father and how much He desires for us to know of His plan for each of us.

As for details on the new mission…The new mission president will do orientations with us on July 4^th & 5^th. There will be a mission division the week before, but we all know what areas are in each mission…so I will have to update you more as we get closer to the new president coming in. If you look at the email I sent to you about the mission presidents, he is the Philippino. It will be really great to see how everything goes J

I think that is about all that I have for you this week, but I am excited for this next week and I will try to get more pictures for you…I am having trouble getting my pictures to you...next week...

Pero…mahal na mahal kita!!!

Ingat lagi,

Sister Pace

June 3, 2013

Pamilya ko,

oh....where should I start?! This week was a great week...the work was really low and we did not have a lessons...but that is not how we should really measure the success that we have in an area. I felt the most benefits or blessings this week, than any other week that I have had here in Iriga. We had many lessons with less actives, to help them to come to church and return to the gospel. The lessons were really great, because you could feel the Spirit so strongly and there was a commitment to become better. We had a family home evening with the branch on Saturday, and we had invited some of our less actives and some of our investigators....how grateful I am to the Lord....almost all those that we had invited, came. And so we then committed them to attend church services the following morning. We fasted that the Spirit would bless them and help them to come and listen to the testimonies of the members. I have gained such a strong testimony of fasting....the Lord may not be instant in answering your prayers or your pleas through fasting...but He does answer. We had two of our investigators attend sacrament meeting. And one of our long time less actives attended with her children. It was such a blessing. Mom...you were so right about the reason why I was sent here. I may not have the opportunity to reap the blessings of being a missionary in the area....but I am playing a crucial role in planting seeds in the hearts of the people that are here. Which leads me to my second note of business. Transfers are this Tuesday...Sister Pace has been transferred to....Tabaco 1C with her new companion Sister Andrada. I will now be in the Philippines Legaspi Mission. It has been a challenge to think of what to expect or how to overcome the fears that come to mind. But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and for the people that I will be assigned to. I may not understand the reason now, why I am being sent to a different mission...but I know that there are still souls that need saving. I don't think I can express enough how grateful I have been for this opportunity that you have blessed me with...without you....I wouldn't be here, to turn to my responsibility and be a righteous servant of the Lord. And how grateful I am to have the opportunity to learn about my Heavenly Father and His plan for His children on earth....how glorious it is! So now it is time to look forward to another six weeks...and then we receive another assignment :) There are 16 missions total in the Philippines....and probably many more to open in the future.

My birthday was a good one...time with the people I love the most and doing the thing that I enjoy the most too...the branch was so loving and it was nice to have wonderful birthday wishes. As a district we celebrated today....not too many pictures, but a few. I bought a cake for them and we went out to eat....and then we went to a member's house and had ice cream and played billards. It was a good way to celebrate with my fellow missionaries.

I will try to let you know about my new area next week...it should be an adventure :)

Mahal na mahal kita!!!

Sister Pace

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!