week 90 I want Molasses french toast with homemade syrup so bad

Hello!

I dont have a lot to share this week. With calling home for mothers day i feel like i have shared everything but there is something i want to share and its about Moms!

The last while since i have been on my mission  i have seen such an importance of Mothers. Of course i saw the importance in my own mother growing up but since being out its my seeing of the importance has only gotten bigger. Ive seen mothers give everything they have for their kids. Even if that means they go cold for the night so their kid can have a jacket they will do it. I think of a scripture verse from the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 56.. When the 2000 stripling warriors are about to go off to fight.. its says

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

These boys had no idea what they were going to do. They had no experience and had every right to be scared out of their minds but they had no fear. They had been taught by their mothers and had faith in God. As i little boy I remember reading this scripture and thinking what would doing something like that feel like. Well coming out here on my mission I feel thats the closest to that I can get. Everyday with out fail something happens and I can manage because of what my mother taught me. Without my mom I would be no where and I think we can all say the same. Moms are the best. 

Hope you are all doing good. miss you all lots!

elder gsack

week 89 I want fries and a frosty

Whats up team? How are you all doing? 

This past week has been pretty laid back. We were all super excited for transfers and nothing happened.. hahaha so i am still with elder calmacio which i am actually happy about and then we still live with elder villanueva and elder sherwood. The only cool thing that happened with transfers is that our district got huge! We are now a 7 companionship with a senior couple district! So its super exciting and district councils should be a lot more fun now. 

I dont have a lot to share about our work this week but i have been asked questions so i will just answer those instead. My favorite part about missionary work is helping someones family become an eternal family. So often you hear the quote "i leave my family for two years so other families can be together forever" and i have come to see how true that quote is. It makes me think of the quote as well from President Nelson when he said " If you have concerns about your family, ask the missionaries! They can help you! Strengthening marriages and families is of utmost importance to Latter-day Saints. Families can be together forever. Ask the missionaries to teach you how this is possible for your family" Its such a great joy to me that I get to take all my time and efforts to serving Heavenly Father and His children down here on earth and its up to me to help them make it back to his presence. 

okay thats all i got for you this week. Sorry i just got an unexpected interruption and gotta get going. Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

week 88 I want a snicker-doodle so bad

Hey!

Well this past week we had a follow training for Elder Calmacio at the mission office. But mid way through the training we had a break out session and at the start they passed around a plate of cookies. It was like a little half time snack but they were snicker doodle cookies sister speirs had made and oh my goodness. They were beyond magical. It was the best tasting that i have had in a long time.

Well not a whole lot of exciting has happened this week so this email wont be that long. I apologize in advance. However in the mission right now we are really starting to focus on DAILY CONTACTS. Its one of the things mentioned in Preach my Gospel but its a lot easier said then done. We as a companionship try our best to stop by all of our investigators in the day but of course its not always possible. So if we dont stop by them we give them a phone call that night and if they dont answer then we shoot them a text. But we do our best to reach out to all of our investigators every day. The other night we were following up an investigator on the phone and I asked them if they had read and prayed that day. They replied with "Yes elder sackley we have but thank you for the reminder. We appreciate you reaching out to us.. we really see the love you and elder calmacio have for us" it was in that moment I realized why daily contacts were so important. Its not just to follow them up but its to show your love to the people you are teaching. Even with a small quick little phone call it can mean the world to someone else. I love this gospel and the chance i have to share it everyday. 

This coming week is transfers so stay tuned for the report. Hope you are all doing well! Love you all lots!

Elder gsack

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