Sunday, October 30, 2016

Hello!

I havent sent pics for awhile so i figured my pics can highligh this week :)

Saturday, brother romulo sumalas and his cute son, adrian were baptized. whoohoo! the following day, they were confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. such a sweet experience for this family. sister collins and i have been teaching this man and his 3 boys for a couple months now and to finally see them make sacred covenants with our heavenly father brought us sooo much joy :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! the philippines doesnt really celebrate halloween, but its one of my favorite holidays, so we just had to "dress up." [Maori]

Trunky letter number 2 :( this one is a ton more detailed and mentions my "last night in Manila." such a heart breaker..going home is becoming sooo real. boooo!

Heavenly father continues to shower his blessing on me and sister collins :) he never forgets about his children in our are. i love this work sooo sooo much and am so blessed to be apart of it! i love you all tons and hope you have the best week ever! :) hugs and kisses from the pines!


Sis. Leausa

Bittersweet day on Friday..."trunky letter" number 2.

Sister Leausa and Sister Collins

Filming at the MTC.

Exchanges with Sister Manfoste. She is so cute. She is from good ol' Cottonwood Heights.
 She is a Brighton High graduate....boooo!

These emoji pillows pretty much sum up me and Sister Collin's companionship. LOL!!

"Free KFC because our apartment was "celestial" (suuuuuper clean!)

Mendoza grandkids :) my favorite!

Brother Romulo Sumalas and his cute son Adrian

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Hey everyone!


Ahhh man :) this last week has been such a great week! and i have to add that its such a beautiful day here in the Philippines. i dont know if you all have heard, but we have had 2 typhoons come through in the last couple weeks. neither of them did much damage, it was just suuuper gloomy and rained a ton. id say the past 2 weeks has been nothing, really, but gray, cloudy skies. BUT TODAY! the sky is super blue, the clouds are super fluffy (like in paintings), the sun is shinning and theres a perfect breeze :) such a great way to bring in this upcoming week :)

Okay, so lemme just tell you all about this past Saturday. well, it actually started Tuesday night at the mendoza families house :) so, because the temple has been closed for a little bit, of course, no one has been able to go to the temple. statistics show that recent converts who enter/or go to the temple within 60 days of their baptism are more likely to remain active in the church, in years to come. we have 18 recent converts in our area. recent convert means baptized within the past year. sister collins and i have been focusing super hard on preparing our recent converts for their "temple trip." not only will we tour temple grounds, but a lot of them are of the appropriate age to do baptisms for the dead (12 and older). so we have been helping them with their family history and stuff like that.

Tuesday night, we invited the mendoza family to start their family history "search." we set a date for Saturday morning at the chapel. there are computers, a family history consultant, everything would be provided in order for them to start their family history. so, Saturday we meet them at the chapel and everything went great! They've made profiles on familysearch.org and it was just a super cool experience for them to be able to find their family members :) sister collins and i watched with huge smiles on our faces as they added their family names to their family trees. it was such a cool experience!

After the mendoza family was done with what they could find and do, i wanted to check my own family tree. i logged in, did some research..and BOOM! found family names who haven't had their temple work done for them yet :) 8 names to be exact! yaaaasssss! hahah! i was soooo excited :) not only will we get to take our recent converts to the temple to help them do the temple work for their family, but ill get to help my own family and do names of my own :)

Not only did heavenly father help the mendoza family to find the names of their family members, but he also opened up a way for me to help my own family. its a testimony to me that he hears my prayers about my family. i have to admit, i haven't ever prayed about my family on the other side...but every night i pray that my family (not generalized) will be taken care of and provided for. Saturday morning, he definitely made sure my family on the other side was taken care of and provided for :) i am sooo excited to be able to do their temple work for them :)

I love, love, love missionary work and i loooove family history! :) i know that God and Jesus Christ live. heavenly father knows each one of his children; hear on earth and on the other side of the veil. im sooo excited for the temple to re-open! :) i love you all sooo much and hope and pray you all have an amazing week :)

Sis. Leausa

ps: sorry i have no pics, the computer cant read my memory card :/ next time na lang :)

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Magandang umaga po sa inyong LAHAT!


I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! :) i sure hope you all got to watch it. if not, you missed out BIG TIME! this past general conference was such a wake up call and invitation to the WORLD! an invitation to come unto Christ and learn HIS gospel for yourselves. i really wish all our investigators had come to listen to the missionary discussion be perfectly explained. haha! of course, everything we share and teach, as missionaries, is important, but to me, the most important and "heart-catching" lessons we teach are, "the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ," and "the plan of salvation," or the plan of happiness. these lessons were executed PERFECTLY during conference.

One of my favorite talks this last weekend was given by elder craig c. christensen, member or the presidency of the quorum of the 70. towards the end of his talk, he stated and facts and things we enjoy today "because Joseph was a prophet." Joseph smith, the prophet of the restoration, in the spring of 1820 was visited by two heavenly messengers; god the father and Jesus Christ. heavenly father and Jesus Christ used Joseph smith as an instrument to restore the true church of Christ on the earth after its fall and preceding the crucifixion of Christ and death of his 12 apostles. after centuries of being lost, a restoration of the fullness of the gospel was necessary in order for us to, one day, return home to our heavenly father. because of one 14 year old boy's faithful prayer in seeking the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ, in its fullness, was restored to the earth :)

A lot of times, when we teach about the restoration and Joseph smith for the first time, we get questions like, "si Joseph smith, siya ba yung founder ng simbahan ninyo? siya yung founder ng mormons?" (is Joseph smith the founder of your church?) Joseph smith IS NOT the founder of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and he is not a god that we worship :) he was simply a prophet, an instrument used in the hands of the lord to restore the fullness of the lords gospel here on the earth :) 

I am so extremely grateful for joseph smith and his faith in Jesus Christ. i am grateful that he heeded the call of god and went through as much as he did so that i could have the knowledge that i do about the restored gosel of Jesus Christ.

"Because Joseph was a prophet" i am able to read from the book of mormon (my favorite book ever!) and deepen and strengthen my testimony every day.

"Because Joseph was a prophet" i now that some day, my family will be together FOREVER :)

"Because Joseph was a prophet" i am able to share the JOY of the gospel with my brothers and sisters here in the Philippines :) and by now you should all know, nothing makes me happier :)

I am so in love with this gospel. i hope and pray, just as the invitation from our church leaders was given this past weekend, that you come and find our for yourselves just how "delicious" and "desirable" the gospel truly is. there are missionaries all around the world waiting to share the good word of god with you and your family :) and you can expect when i get home, ill be continuing my missionary service by inviting you MYSELF :) haha! so be ready ;)

I love, love, LOVE you all so much and hope you all have an amazing week! :) hugs and kisses from the pines!


Sis. Leausa

Monday, October 3, 2016

Hi everyone :)


Lowkey sadest week of my life, here in the field. thursday afternoon...i got my first of 3 "trunky letters." ahhh maaannn :( i was lowkey depressed the whole day. haha! "trunky letters" are the letters you get close to the time youll be going home. crazy to think about, but ive only got 3 transfers left. after this transfer, ill be starting my LAST 12 weeks..what is this!?

I'm SO not ready to go home. the trunky letter i got on thursday just asked me about how im gonna get home and stuff and who's picking me up..all that boring stuff. so crazy, right? by far the fastest 15 months of my life. what else happened this week? transfer day is tomorrow and neither me or sister collins will be transferring :) whoohoo! 

I continue to be amazed with the Love heavenly father has for the people in our area. there isnt a day that goes by that sister collins and i dont see the hand of the Lord in our work. i can truly testify that heavenly father hears AND answers prayers. in these last 6 weeks, he has heard and answered sooo many of mine. there arent enough words to express how grateful i am to heavenly father for all that he has blessed our area with. ive really come to realize that i am nothing but an instrument in his hands. its beautiful to watch the Lord's work unfold before me. my favorite part is when we, as missionaries, only have to testify to the things our investigators learn and feel from the spirit. i love when the spirit "skips" us and heads straight to our investigators. 

I testify that missionary work is the work of god. he is gathering his children and preparing them for the second coming of the Lord. i testify that the holy ghost is real. he is our friend and comforter. through him, we will know the truth of ALL things. i love this work with everything in me and sometime, wish that i didnt have to go home soon. haha! i love my heavenly father and jesus christ and testify that they live :)

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


Sis. Leausa

"Trike pic: told ya miracles are real! haha! i dont know how we made it to the house without popping the tires, but we did :D"