week 83

Hello!

THis week was a pretty good week. The area has officially split! Its exciting and but a little disappointed because the beach is no longer in my area but dont worry im sure we will take a couple trips over there some times. However my new companion is Elder Calmacio! He is straight from the MTC. hes from Bataan (olongapo mission). He seems like a lot of fun so i am excited. 

This past tuesday jay jay got interviewed for his baptism! So he will be getting baptized this coming saturday which we are super excited about. Its always fun going and teaching him because he always does his reading assignment or anything we left him to do. 

maybe some of you have noticed my name tag has been fading. Ive been wearing the same name tag for the last 20 months. Its my favorite name tag. I got it from the provo mtc and i like the way my name is written. like the font. the other name tags you get here your name is in a fat font and im not a fan, yes i know you may be thinking okay who cares? But this past week we came home and I took my name tag off and had the thought to look at it. So i grabbed it and just sat for a good 20 mintues and looked at my name tag. I didnt know why I needed to do so but i did. As I sat and looked at it I saw two names. My family name and the name of Jesus Christ. The most important 2 names I can think of. But as I looked at the two names I realized that the name of Jesus Christ had faded quite a bit. It took me a little to sit back and think about how this mission is not all about me. Its not the Elder Sackley mission neither am I sharing about my family. I am here to share about Jesus Christ. It makes me think of a scripture out of the new testament in galations... its says " For as many of you as have been baptized  in to Christ have put on Christ." I have taken the name of Christ upon myself and have the opportunity to share His name. I love this scripture. Well long story short I didnt think it was the biggest of deals but I put a new name tag on. And in the last 72 hours countless people have commented on my name tag and how much better you can read it now :)

Also its really starting to heat up and I am getting a lot of sun and I am dark now hahaha. Love you all lots! Hope all is well :)

Elder gsack

new companion

week 82

Hi hi hi,

this week was okay. Had a couple rough days but overall good week. yesterday morning President gave me a call asking me to train a new missionary this coming transfer. So this coming week I am getting a new baby! hahaha jokes. But ill be getting a missionary fresh off the airplane which should be lots of fun! I am excited for it. For elder sherwood the area is most likely going to split so he will stay as well and take over half of the area and ill keep one half. So we will still live together but will have different companions. It should be fun!

In terms of work this week we are working on expounding our teaching pool. We are looking for past investigators from the area book and using members to get referrals. Id like to share a small little experience with you... This past week we having been exploring more of the area and going to places we havent been before. Well while walking we came to a river and now bridge or way to cross besides a little boat. (ill send a pic of it in my pictures) so we got on and pulled ourselves across. We were looking for members in the area or anyone that new the missionaries. We had been turned down several times and felt almost kind of a waste of time so we started to make our way back out to the main road. Well right as we were walking out there was an old nanay sitting on her pouch who smiled at us. I was so tired and so sick of being shot down but i thought why not try once more. So i stopped and asked the nanay if she knew the missionaries or anyone that was a member of our church. She quickly got up and went inside and i thought of well there goes another shoot down. Right as we started to walk away she came running out with a Book of Mormon. She told us how she was baptized a long time ago and just moved into the area. She didnt know where the church was or where to find the missionaries. We were able to sit down and talk to her and found out she has 3 kids who werent home at the time but none of them are members! She told us that we were welcome back anytime to teach her kids. Its amazing the little blessings the Lord blesses us with. 

I am so grateful for the time i have to serve the Lord. Sometimes it can be really hard but I know that as I continue work hard the Lord will take care of the rest. Elder Jeffrey R Holland once said "If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Savior’s own anguished example: if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead" It makes me think of Batman hahaha. Harvey Dent shares "the night is darkest before the dawn, and I promise you the dawn is coming." 

Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

week 81

Hello!

Last week was a little rough but it ended okay and this week has been pretty good so far. However I have a story I want to share with you all...

Yesterday was rough. We are completely out of money and its just rough. We hadnt eaten all day and were dying of thirst. We had been punted by countless members and investigators and tried getting member help but even they flaked out on us. So I didnt have the best of moods and really wanted to give up. It was getting late and we had no where to go and in the back of my mind I thought of an investigator to go and see. We hadnt gone and seen her for a good six weeks and I had only been to her house once. Her mother had cancer so she was always busy and out of town helping her mother, But for some reason I thought we needed to go so we went. It took us a while to find the house and there was several times where I thought we were completely lost but we ended up at the right place. As we knocked on the door we could hear kids screaming and it sounded like madness inside. She opened the door and was so surprised to see us. SHe told us how busy she was at the moment but how her mother had jsut recently gotten out of the hospital and was staying at her house. She invited us in to meet her mother so we went in. We went into the back room where nanay was staying and immediately as I entered into the room there was a different feeling. I dont know how to explain it. But we sat down and talked to nanay for a little bit. She has been in the hospital over a month now and got released less then a week ago. She has stage 4 cervical cancer and is really struggling right now. She talked to us and told us of how much she just wants to get better and get rid of the sickness. We offered a prayer of comfort for her and by the end of the prayer the whole family was in tears. The family shared with us their feelings of the whole situation and it was incredible the positive attitude they had. it was just such a humbling moment for me. My trials and problems were nothing compared to nanay. Its truly amazing the trials and hard ships God gives us to become better. Logan shared with me almost a year ago now a quote from his mission president that really stuck to me. "God loves us enough to break us and remake us so we can qualify for exaltation". All trials big or small are from God and are in our lives to break us and re build us for the better.

As for the other work going on in the area. We are teaching two sisters named May and Jane. They are living with a member and Aiko right now. So they live in a great atmosphere and they always do their reading assignments. Its awesome. We are also teaching a part member sister. Her two kids were baptized last year and she has never shown interest in the church but just this week she has opened up to us and is really progressing now. Has accepted a baptismal date and all. Its awesome. 

Loving my time in Tanza and the area and people. I love serving the Lord and am grateful for the time I have to do so. 

Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

week 80

Hello,

This week was a pretty good week. This past weekend we were able to have both SIster Margie and Sister Aiko baptized! It was a super good service and they were both really happy to enter the waters of baptism. After they both gave strong testimonies of the truthfulness of the church and the answered they have received. 

other thing that happened this week is I went on exchanges twice! Once with the ternate elders and then yesterday with the naic elders! They were both really good experiences. What was way cool though is Ternate is the most province kind of area in our mission so more then half of our appointments that day were out in the middle of the mountains in little bamboo huts with dirt floors. It was kind of what I thought the philippines would be like and Ive been here all this time and now just saw it. Pretty cool thing. However the naic exchanges were legit too because I got to go on a boat! Hahahah woohoo! Its the first one ive been on since I came out. They are the only missionaries who have permission to go on a boat. It cuts across a part in the area and safes a lot of travel time so that was cool too!

This past week was also had zone conference. Many things were talked about and many things were shared but one thing I really like is President talked about how we are all Children of Heavenly Father. (Well yes of course I know that) But what he shared is what struck me so hard. He talked about how back in the premortal existence we had no race, we had no culture.. everyone was just equal. I knew that but i guess i had never really thought about it. its so sad how so many people get in fights and bad things happen because of race and different cultures. Why cant we all just love each other? We are all the same :)

Hope you are all doing well! Love and miss you all lots!

Elder gsack

week 79

Helllo! This was a really good week. This past Friday sister rhea and her daughter got baptized which was a super good service. It took a while to get started and to get everyone here but Lots of people did attend and it was a super spiritual experience for her. So we were super happy for her. And then of course on sunday morning she was confirmed a member of the church and received the holy ghost which was awesome! This coming week sister Aiko and Sister Marji are both being baptized. They were both interviewed this passed weekend and passed with flying colors so that is super exciting. Every time we go and teach them we can see them progressing more and more in being converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Its sweet. For a quick spiritual experience that happened this past week. We were talking to a group of kids and doing some magic tricks for them when i started a converstaion with the oldest kid in the group. She was only 15 or 16 but i was asking her about her family and she told me how her father passed away. So i told her that she could see her dad again and it kind of struck her and she asked us how? so we told a little about the plan of salvation, enough to get her interested but not to much. So we have a return appointment with her and her whole family this coming week we are super excited about.  Elder gsack

week 78

Hello,

my new email is garrett.sackley@missionary.org

This week was a really good week. I am really enjoying Elder Sherwood and the companionship that we have. We are really focusing on finding new people and talking to new faces. So we focus a lot on Testifying contacts.

We have two really progressing investigators right now that I really enjoy teaching. One of them is named Aiko. She is 21 years old and lives with her aunt and uncle who are both members. However she has been an investigator for over a year now and has not been baptized yet. We started teaching her again and its going really well. last time we taught her we committed her to read and pray everyday and last night we went backed and followed her up and she had been reading and praying everyday and knows this is the true church. So we are excited for her.

The others name is Marji... She is a part member. Her dad and her mom are both members but she and her siblings aren't members. So we have been teaching her the last couple weeks and she has been coming to church so its awesome. Even though her family is members  she is truly searching for the true church and wanting to know for herself.. its awesome.

I have lots of pics AND videos to send this week and I am so excited to talk to my family. The new church policy is dope hahaha i love it. Love you all lots

love

Elder gsack