week 87

Hello!

This week we had a couple of really cool experiences. The first one was the earth quake! Monday afternoon we were sitting in a little restaurant eating food minding our own business. When all the sudden the table started shaking really bad! I thought it was just some little kid shaking the time and then i realized no one was touching the table. Everyone in the place got up and ran out of the building. Mean time my companion and I finished our meal and then left and carried on with our day. Everyone was freaking out screaming for no reason. It was just a nice little shake from Heavenly Father and thats all :)

May and Jane got baptized this past weekend! It was a super good program! We finally got the baptismal font fixed up so we were able to have the program and service at the Church! Elder Calmacio baptized both of them and that was the first time he had baptized someone so that was super cool as well. After the literal service they both got up and bore their testimony which was really sweet. They both gave really simple powerful testimonies of the prophet Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and The Church itself. They will be amazing members. 

Now a story thats a little different but really sweet... So a couple weeks ago I talked about nanay one of our investigators. She had stage four cervical cancer and wasnt doing well. Well that was my old area and now i am on the other side of the area so I dont get to visit them. But last PDAY (thursday) elder sherwood and villanueva went and visited her and told us when they came home how sick and how bad nanay was doing. It made me really sad for nanay and the pain she was going through. Well that night i had a really odd dream. In my dream i saw lots of people walking around and running pass me. I didnt recognize anyone in my dream except one person.. Nanay. She didnt look the same. She had a little more weight on herself and was walking around. She didnt look like she was in pain and actually looked happy. She came up to me and gave me a hug. She said thank you and then turned away and walked away. I never saw her again in my dream and woke up a little uneasy. The thought came into my head... "Nanay passed away" So i told elder sherwood and villanueva my dream and told them to go and see nanay again. Well they just called me crazy but said they would. They came home that night and said " No one was home... all the lights were off at their house" So i pushed it off and kinda let it go until Sunday night. We got a text from our investigator saying "Sorry elders we haven't been home the last couple days... Nanay passed away last Thursday night/Friday morning and we have been at our in laws home" It really made me sit back and think. It brought peace and happiness though knowing nanay no longer was in pain. She was healthy and happy again. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and for what He did for all of us. Because He died and lived again all of us will Live again. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. 

Thank you all for your love and support. Hope you all have a good week!

Love 

Elder gsack

week 86

Hi my friends,

how are all of you doing? Today has been a great day. We went down to tagaytay and did the coolest thing ever. We did a foot spa,, however it wasnt your normal foot spa... It was a FISH foot spa. So you sit over a fish tank and then put your feet in the tank and all the fish come and eat the dead skin off your feet. It was the funniest thing ever. At first its super ticklish but after awhile you get used to it and its just super cool. It is almost like leeches but its not sucking your blood hahahaha

Me and my companion are doing really well. Elder Calmacio has been a member only 2 years and has a really strong desire to share the gospel. Elder Calmacios mother was baptized back in the 1980s but went less active super quickly. The missionaries found his family was found by the missionaries in 2009 and they pushed them away until 2016. They finally sat down and listened fully to the discussions. Him and his 3 sisters were baptized. Now everyone in his family is a member except his father. His oldest sister just got married in the temple 2 weeks ago to a return missionary. His other two sisters plan on serving missions in the future as well. His family is awesome. 

This past week we had a really cool experience with a new investigator. We started talking to a nanay on the side of the road and she quickly pushed us away but pointed us to a different nanay to go and talk to. So we went and started talking to this other nanay and it was almost a joke the things this nanay started telling us. I thought it was too good to be true. But this nanay shared her story to us how one of her friends gave her a book of Mormon about 5 years ago now. She wasnt told where the church was or anything. She was just given a book of Mormon. Well she continued to tell us how when she has hard times in her life or she has problems and she doesn't know how to solve them she opens up the book of Mormon and she always finds an answer or comfort. We were able to testify to her of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon right there on the spot and teach her a lesson. Its truly amazing the people the Lord has prepared for us. We just gotta go find them!

In other news May and Jane are both getting baptized this coming saturday! They dont live at home right now so we had to go talk to their mom to make sure its okay with her for them to be baptized and she was beyond nice to us and accepted the invitation to hear the discussions as well. Unfortunately it wasnt our area but we were able to refer her to the correct elders. 

Life is great in Tanza... Lots and lots of work to do! Love you all lots!

elder gsack

week 85

Hi dudes,

This week was a pretty good week. we had a lot of different activities that happened which made for a fun week. 

Last saturday we had a service project for a member who was moving in the ward boundaries. It was unlike any move i have ever been apart of. It was the most unorganized craziest thing ever but it was so fun. They didnt have any moving truck so we had to uses this government wagon thing that some how drove. At one point there was 4 of us on the roof sitting on couches while it was driving through the city. It was just a time in my life I had to sit back and just think where the heck am I? It was sweet. 

This past week though we had zone conference however it was a little different. It wasnt like normal where we had training and break out sessions but it was a fast and testimony meeting. We were all asked to come to the conference fasting and what would take place at the conference would be just testimonies. Everyone would have 2 minutes to bare their testimony about the Savior and the Atonement. Nothing more, nothing less. Just that. It went for about 2 and a half hours and as all 87 missionaries stood up front and testified of the Savior Jesus Christ the spirit was so strong it was tangible. I am so thankful for all that He did for me and better yet what He did for ALL of us. 

As for investigators May and Jane are getting interviewed for baptism tomorrow morning and their baptism is on the 20th of April. As for Nanay Misia as well. We are also still teaching the Cabrera family which is going okay. Brother still struggles with a few things but is making some major progress and is on track for their baptism on May 5. 

I am super excited to watch general conference this coming week as well. I have already heard lots of good things from members and family so I am ready to see it for myself. Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

week 84

hey!

This week was pretty good. We have had lots going on so its kept us busy. However the work of course is still going. Elder Calmacio is tons of fun. Hes only been a member 2 years but has lots of knowledge and is really teachable so it makes training easy.

We had Jay Jay baptism this past week. Man it was a great service and everything went smoothly once it got started. but we got a call Saturday morning from our ward mission leader telling us the font was broken and he needed help filling it up. So we headed over to the church to help., I didn't realize how bad it was until we got there... we had to fill up buckets outside the church one by one and then carry them into the church. Needless to say it took a long time. 

Blessings of church attendance... we have progressing investigators right now who are siblings. Well one of them accidentally burned her foot on Thursday night. Like really bad. She was making gravy for their fried chicken stand when the boiling pot got knocked off and onto her foot. So her entire foot got burned super bad. Well fast forward to Saturday night.  we went and taught them the importance of the sabbath day and invited them to come to church and she looked at us and said " elders i want to go but i cant walk really well with my foot" well i thought that was a valid excuse and was about to just leave it at that but i felt something tell me to promise her if she comes to church her foot will be healed.So i told her "Sister if you come to church tomorrow your foot will be healed." She gave me a little weird look and so did my companion but i felt confident with the prompting. Well the following day we were sitting at the front of the church greeting people when limping sister may came into the church. She looked at me and said "elder you better be right because my foot really hurts right now" She stayed for both hours and then went home right away. The following day (Monday) we went back to the siblings to follow up on church and how they were doing. Well right as we turned the corner for their house we saw May and her little sister running around in the street. She came running up to us and said "Elders Look! I woke up this morning and it was all better. it doesnt hurt anymore!" I felt the biggest rush of the spirit come over me. Its truly amazing that as we keep the commandments and put God first in our lifes we will be blessed. I know Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. I am so grateful for the miracles we experience because of our faith.

I love you all lots!

Elder gsack

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