Sunday, September 25, 2016

Mendoza Family

This last week has been a week full of miracles! there is so much i want to say, but its all just racing through my mind..i cant come to one main idea. haha! basta! i am so extremely grateful to be a missionary. especially right now in Antiopolo. this area is amazing and the people are even MORE amazing! there are so many things I've already learned here.

One of my favorite lessons so far has been learning what "LOVE" truly is :) the family in the pic is the MENDOZA family :) i loooove them soooo much and am so grateful to have met them here. they are such a blessing to my life :)

The gospel of Jesus Christ was made for families. because of Jesus Christs atonement, families can be together FOREVER! the Mendoza family isn't quite yet "complete" (all members in the family being baptized) but they are definitely making their way there :) they know and understand that because of the plan of salvation, they, one day, will be an eternal family :)

I hope you all know how special your families are to our heavenly father. his main goal is for us ALL to return to him AS FAMILIES :) im so grateful for my family and the opportunity we have to be ETERNAL :) I'm grateful for my savior and his atoning sacrifice for me and my loved ones.

Spend some extra time with your families this week :)

I love you allll SOOOO much! :) hugs and kisses from the pines!

Sister Leausa

Exchanges with Sisters Balucos and Sister DeLa Cruz

Exchanges with Sisters Balucos and DeLa Cruz

"Bountiful District - I looove these missionaries! One of the vest districts I've been in," 

"One thing I LOVE about Sister Collins is how "samoan" her hair is. hahaha!!"

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Hey everyone! :)

Best miracle of my whole mission happened this past week! first order of business, i have a new companion :)  SISTER COLLINS! from the beautiful island of...SAMOA! whoowhoo!!! my prayers of having a poly companion have finally been answered. haha!

This last week, our first week together, has been nothing but hard work, tons of laughs, lots of eating, and night time conversations about Samoa. quick side note, last night sister collins said our night time comp prayer in Samoan and i started crying. hahah! im so lame, i know. but it made me miss home sooo much! it made me miss my daddy :) haha! along side tagalog, im sharpening my samoan ;) the gift of tongues is REAL! :)

Okay so back to my miracle for the week. during comp study in the mornings, sister collins and i have been reading from this book called, member missionary work and finding the elect of God. we decided to focus on tracting because we're in need of new investigators. we decided to tract in our neighborhood. we were nervous at first, me especially. walking up to someone on the street and actually knocking on someones door are two totally DIFFERENT things. i was quite hesitant at first. buuut, i eventually got over it :) we tracked about 20 houses...id say about 5 of them slammed their doors, 10 of them said, "we dont have time for your sharing," and the other 5 kindly let us down. haha! might i add, this whole time, collins and i were thinking, we arent getting anywhere with this..no one wants to listen..why are we even doing this..okay, so we were on our way home and we walked passed this house. collins took a second look and walked up to the door. we introduced ourselves aaanndd...SHE LET US IN! like, with no hesitation!

This sister is a mother of SIX and she and her husband are happily married :) which means we scored with a family of 8! ahhhh!!! it was so great! before we met sister, like, my first couple of houses, i kept saying to myself, "i dont like tracting, but i love my heavenly father." i kept repeating that to myself. meeting and sharing the gospel with sister bernardo (thats the sisters name) Friday night was heavenly fathers way of saying, "i love you too, kathleen." :)

God lives! and he loves us all soooo much! here on my mission, ive come to realize just how much my heavenly father loves me, as an individual. my relationship with him is something ive come to treasure sooo much and its a relationship i plan to continue to strengthen and build. when we truly understand how important we are to him, and understand that he has a perfect plan for each one of our lives, life in full, becomes so much more beautiful and meaningful :)

I hope and pray that this week, you all come to know of how much you truly are loved and just how special you are to our heavenly father :) i love and miss you all!


Sister Leausa

Sunday, September 11, 2016

I have a story for you all :)

Once upon a time there was a little boy. each day, this little boy traveled to the beach to "save the starfish" who had washed up on shore. one day, one by one, the little boy picked up a starfish and threw it back in the ocean. He knew that if the starfish stayed on the shore, they would dry up and die. one day while "saving the starfish," an old lady walked by and asked, "little boy, what are you doing?" the little boy replied, I am saving the starfish. The lady then responded, "there are so many! you'll never be able to save all of them; what difference does it make?" the little boy leaned down to pick up another starfish, threw it in the sea, turned back to the woman and said, "it made a difference to that one."

There's so many things i could say about this story..but I'm just gonna let the spirit talk to you :) just remember..you never know the impact/affect you have/can have on someone's life. go out and "save the starfish!"

I love and miss you all soooo much! :)

Sis. Leausa

Pics: exchanges this week :) sisters balladares and vaitaki! sooo much fun working with these sisters. especially sister vaitaki!

Sunday, September 4, 2016

MEEERRRYYY CHRISTMAS!! :)


We have officially started celebrating the Christmas season here in the pines and i looove it! :) people and all the stores have started selling Christmas stuff, people have Christmas lights hanging everywhere...i havent heard any Christmas music yet, but im sure its not too far behind :) 

This past week was a lot of fun. i had my first two exchanges :) as STL we have "routes," which is just the companionship of sisters that were assigned to do exchanges with for the transfer. well, the marikina 1B sisters just so happen to consist of SISTER SWANSON :) whoohoo! it was sooo good getting to see her! i didn't get to work with her, but thats okay! just being with/around her made me happy :) i like exchanges, they're fun! i learn SO much from the sisters and i love it! Wednesday, i got to work with sister toromon, my apo (grandchild, sister mendez anak [trainee]. i felt sooo old in the mision! haha!) shes from kitibus! (cool right?!) she helped me understand what it means to have a "pure testimony." while being here on her mission, she isn't only learning tagalog, but english as well. (i cant even begin to imagine that battle.) on Thursday, i worked with sister romrell; sister swansons current companion. cute girl! shes from good ol' idaho :) she helped me understand how important that i "finish strong." 

During personal study this week, i was reading a talk from one of the liahona magazines and there was a reference to a scripture found in 1 Peter 2:9. the scripture talks about out generation being a "chosen generation," a "peculiar people." Former president of the church, president hinckley always referred to our generation as " a royal generation." growing up, throughout my youth days, i guess i never really understood what all that meant. i think i just thought it was cool to say that i was "royal." hahah! (as if.) but now, i think i might just get it! have you ever wondered why you were born when you were? why you were saved for the "last days.." sister revillo, our former mission presidents wife always used to ask us, missionaries, those questions.

 Here is what i think :) we were some of heavenly fathers most valiant spirits in the pre-mortal life. we had "pure testimonies" of our heavenly fathers perfect plan for all of us. we were maybe some of the first to promise him that we would come to earth and "finish strong." i think heavenly father saved us for this generation because this is when he knew his vineyard would produce the most fruit; the harvest would be the most bountiful :) i don't know, just some thoughts :) its cool to me to think heavenly father saved me and you for a time like this. not everyone will be able to say they have been able to witness the gathering of Israel at full speed :) 

Ah. I'm just so grateful to be a missionary and even tho sometimes its hard, i LOVE absolutely every minute of it! nothing in the world brings me more joy than sharing his good word :) each and every day we get closer and closer to the second coming of the lord and i CANNOT wait! i testify that god the father and Jesus Christ LIVE! i witness their hands in our work each and every day :) i love this gospel sooo sooo much and am so grateful the lord allows me to be an instrument in his great work.

I will leave you this week with two quotes i fell in love with this week :) i love you all so soooo much and cant thank you, all, enough for all your love and support!

"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

"The greatest decision i ever made was to give up something i dearly loved to the God i loved even more."

I hope you all have an amazing week! hugs and kisses from the pines :)

Sister Leausa