Sunday, August 7, 2016

Hi everyone :) 

Another good week here in taguig; week 4! so crazy, it seems like just last week the transfer started and its already almost done. GOOD NEWS! sister jueco will be getting baptized on Aug 20. whoohoo! sister peralta and i are soooo excited for her! brother jueco and their son, ralph, will hopefully be baptized sometime in Oct. brother jueco still has to work on his word of wisdom challenges; hes doing AMAZING! what else, what else? AY! i have a new found love for ISAW :) (grilled chicken intestine). hahah! i promised myself when i first entered the field that i would NEVER eat it...saturday afternoon we were out working and sister peralta says, "nanay, lets eat isaw!" i told her she was crazy and that i would NEVER eat it...after 10 minutes of her whining and telling me im not a "real" pilipina if i didnt try it, i gave in. haha! and it was actually really good :) "taste like chicken!' ;) our area right now is slowly, but surely progressing. there isnt a day that goes by that we dont witness the Lord's hand in our work :)

Before i go, i must leave you with my favorite scripture ever :) i am SO extremely grateful for the blessings ive received here on my mission. nothing makes me happier than sharing the gospel of jesus christ and the blessings that come with it. we teach families who, sometimes, have absolutely nothing; spiritually, physically, and financially. and the minute we introduce the hope and happiness found within the gospel, they seem to have EVERYTHING. my brothers and sisters here in the philippines mean absolutely everything to me. they have helped me become the woman and missionary that i am today. people always think that missionaries are such a blessing in their lives. if only they knew how much they meant to us, how much of a blessing they are to our lives :)


"And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

Alma 29:10


I love you all so so much and hope that you all have an amazing week! :) take time to notice the lords hand and blessings in your life. i promise you, itll surprise you how near he really is :) muuaaahhh!!!

Sister K. Leausa

pics: ISAW :)

Mendez is finally training :) im a lola (grandma) now :) 

"Nanay Escobia's Birthday. One of my favorite Nanays here in Taugig."

"Tell Dad that we pass by this gas station every night and it reminds me so much of him when we used to go on road trips in the semi truck. To be honest, it makes me a little home sick. haha!"

"Had zone interviews workshops this week.  Got to see my cute little anks (kids). "

"I have a new found love for ISAW (grilled chicken intestine)."

"Fried bananas coated with sugar....my favorite! I could have literally eaten the whole box!"

Sunday, July 31, 2016

"Cadizal Family - members. The kid in the far back in the white shirt and tie leave for his mission on Friday - Philippines Cebu Mission. Such a funny, happy family! Full of missionaries. Everyone in their family has served."

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Heyyyy everyone ❤

12 months down, 6 more to go! officially hit my one year mark last Friday :) yaaay! its weird, because i honestly don't feel like ive been away that long. i do feel, however, that this last week has taken forever to get to pday. haha! and it has. we didn't have pday this last monday because of our temple day this week. normally, we have temple day every other transfer. if you all remember, we had temple day last transfer. we got another one this transfer because the manila temple will be closed for the next 3 months due to renovation. so they squeezed us in one more time before it officially closes :) i cant tell you how grateful i am to have the temple within our mission :)

This last week has been another week full of smiles and laughs :) i love sister peralta! ive got an "experience" that i wanna share with you all. im crazy, talaga! haha! so, sister peralta and i are teaching this really cute family, the jueco family. i love them! :) they have a word of wisdom (WOW) concern that we found out about on Sunday night after sharing the WOW lesson with them. sister jueco took our challenge/commitment to live the WOW pretty easily; she said living the WOW wasnt going to be a problem. brother jueco, on the other hand, knows itll be a little more of a challenge and before accepting the commitment, thought about it for a good 10 minutes.

After letting the spirit do his thing, brother jueco said, "sis. Leausa kung susudin ko yung word of wisdom, kakain ka ng balot." translation: if i live the word of wisdom, you have to eat balot. (ill let you all google what balot is..) the spirit mustve been REAL strong because i enthusiastically said, "SIGE PO!" (okay!) shook brother jueco's hand and sealed the deal. im crazy! hahah! it took me a couple minutes to wrap my head around what i just agreed to, and when i did..i wanted to cry. LOL! sister peralta promised to eat chicken feet. balot wouldn't have been a legit challenge for her because she eats it, like, every other day. YUCK! i really dont know what i was thinking, and i really dont know how im going to eat this balot, but im sure if this cute little family can live the WOW, i can ATTEMPT to eat balot. haha! im gonna need you all to pray REAL HARD for me. im gonna need a MIRACLE to stomach this one. hah! the scriptures do teach that the Lord will provide a way for everything, right? haha!

I hope and pray that you all have a fabulous week this week :) whatever challenges arise this week, face them with a smile on your face knowing that, "this too shall pass." i love you all sooooo much and miss you like crazy! thanks for all your emails, love, and support! mahal na mahal ko kayong lahat!


Sister Leausa

Sister Leausa and Sister Peralta

Trainer Training Meeting

Sister Sarto (far right) is from Bicol. Sister Kumar (bottom) is from Auckland, NZ

"My one year celebration at MacDo."

Sunday, July 17, 2016

GOOOOOD MORNING AMERICA!!! (and wherever else this email is going. haha!) 

It's such a pretty day, here, in the pines :) a perfect day to go to the beach! :) too bad that is totally BAWAL! (not allowed) I am gonna assume my mama updated my blog last week, but if not, ill fill ya in...

Last week, Wednesday, was transfer day; I TRANSFERRED! :) whoohoo! haha! I'm currently in Taguig zone, serving in the Bonifacio 5th ward, Bonifacio 5B area :) my are is...OKAY *cheesy smile* hahaha! a whole lot different than Marikina, that's for sure! my new companion is sister PERALTA :) she is absolutely ADORABLE! im training again, so this transfer should be exciting :) i love the spirit the "greenies" bring to the field. because they're so fresh from the MTC all they want to do is work, work, work! which i love! :) s. Peralta is from Ilocos, northern luzon; her home is under bagio mission. shes 19, the oldest of 5, and the first missionary in her family. shes freaking hilarious! since we've been together, there hasn't been a day we haven't laughed till our tummies hurt :) i love it! 

The ward is good :) made up of a bunch of families that love to feed the missionaries! so much for my "go on a diet 6 months before you go home" plan. haha! 

The work is good. people in this area aren't really receptive, but the investigators that we have right now are golden! ahh! i forgot to mention, my new area is riiiight next to the manila airport. airplanes fly over head every 5 minutes. i haven't figured out whether its a sign from heavenly father saying "hurry up you've only got 6 months!" or "only 6 more months, you can do this." haha! time has gone by extremely fast! 

I can across a quote the other day in personal study that i really like and wanted to share with you all :) 

"Dont think of your task as a burden; think of it as an opportunity to learn what Love really is." 

-Cherly Esplin

I'm soo excited for this transfer and sooo excited for these last 6 months :) i hope and pray that you all have an amazing week :) dont forget: HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES YOU! :) 

Sis Leausa

Agustin Family

Condeza Family

Sister Leausa and her new companion Sister Peralta

Condeza Family

View from the Manila Hospital

Monday, July 11, 2016

Hello,

Sister Leausa has been transferred to a new area and a new companion. She is very excited. She will now be serving in the Tagiug Zone which is about 2 hours away from where she is now. Her new companion is from the Philippines and has been out of the MTC for about six weeks so Sister Leausa is back to being a trainer which she is very happy about. Here are some pictures from last week that she sent me.

New Mission President - Philippines Quezon City Mission

Philippines Quezon City Mission




Mary G. and David J. Koster


David John Koster, 45, and Mary Myrle Glazier Koster, four children, Twin Peaks Ward, Poway California Stake: Philippines Quezon City Mission, succeeding President Carlos Revillo and Sister Marites Revillo. Brother Koster is a former stake presidency counselor, bishop, stake clerk, ward Young Men presidency counselor, and missionary in the Philippines Baguio Mission. Chief executive officer, Instat Services. Born in Bellevue, Washington, to Rey Edward Koster and Marcia Monson Koster.


Sister Koster serves as a nursery leader and is a former ward Relief Society and Primary president, ward Young Women presidency counselor, ward Primary music leader, ward Relief Society compassionate service coordinator, and missionary in the Philippines Baguio Mission. Born in Provo, Utah, to Richard Penrod Glazier and Rowena June Sherwood Glazier.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Hello,

Sister Leausa and I exchanged a few emails and she is doing really well. She has kind of had a tough week and did not have time to write her weekly email.  She did tell me that she is very excited about her new mission president.  She had a wonderful first meeting with him and she told me that she has never felt so loved and concerned for in her life. She absolutely loved her time with him. She said " I absolutely LOVE President Koster and am so excited for these last 6 months with him."

"This is the only picture that I have for this week. We saw that this movie was out and
 we wanted to go watch it really, really bad.  But we didn't. :)"