Miyerkules, Mayo 22, 2013

Welcome to Santa Rosa California Mission!

Welcome to the Santa Rosa California Mission! And welcome to the greatest mission in the world and the most OBEDIENT MISSION! I got here last Tuesday, marami akong kasabay na missionaries galing sa MTC, 28 kami lahat. Sobrang bait nila at madami silang tanong about sa Philippines. So far ako pa lang ang the only Filipino na andito sa whole mission. We were welcomed by our mission presidents at sinalubong nila kami sa airport nung dumating kami, ang babait nilaaaa. Sobra! :) They brought us in the mission home and had us take a nap in what we called "the celestial room" kasi it was sooooo ganda! hahaha then we had lunch! They had us stayed in the hotel overnight.

 

Nung Wednesday, binigay na sa amin yung mga companions namin. My companion and trainer now is Sister Facer, from Utah! And she is sooooooo Bait! Pauwi na siya this coming JUNE 25TH so ako ang last compnaion niya. Magaling siya at marami akong natututunan sa kanya! :) So we had a lot of appointments during my first day in the field. I met George, one of our investigators, and taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon. At first, I couldn’t believe that I was teaching a "real" investigator already! We had like a lot of role plays in the MTC, haha, but then I thought, this is real! George is very special; he doesn't usually go to church but he has a lot of questions about our beliefs. After that, we taught Mauricio, he has had a lot of baptismal dates before, (he had 4) pero laging hindi natutuloy kasi he can't quit smoking! Kind of hard for him. Now we set another baptismal date for June 1st. We know he's been struggling with the ‘Word of Wisdom’, but we have members here that are soooooooo willing to help. Ngayon ko narealize yung importance talaga ng MEMBERS.


By the way, we are serving here in the Redwoods Singles Ward! It's all new to me, well, because we don't have "singles wards” there in the Philippines. Hehe Pero, basically, lahat ng YSA ages 18-30 in the whole stake of Santa Rosa ay sa amin, so we have a really wide area! Narealize ko nakakapagod din kahit my vehicle kaming gamit. Sometimes, we have to go to the very end of the city, and then have to travel back to the other end of the city, nakakapagod! Haha, but then I'm still grateful, sabi nga ni Sister Facer, we are somehow being spoiled here, we have vehicles, good apartments, good members (yeah, we have dinner appointments every single day, we are well fed here, please make sure you also feed the missionaries, it's really a big thing.)
 

The weather here is fine, parang nasa Baguio lang ako. Mainit pero sakto lang. So the highlight of our week, nag-attend si George ng sacrament! yey! And he stayed for the whole 3 Hours! Isn't that sooo amazing? We are soooo happy! I love this work! I know that saving their souls will make our Heavenly Father so happy, and I'm grateful that I am part of this Hastening! Ang daming new missionaries coming in :) Sa MTC pa lang sobrang dami na. Anyway, I met our ward mission leader, Kellen, and he is soooo awesome! He always call us every single day and ask if what help could he give. So far very eager to help ang mga members ditto. The YSA's, most of them are RM's, and some will be going on mission! So, they really help our Recent Converts, Less Actives, and Investigators be fellowshipped. They have a lot of activities here every week. Every Wednesday is "Mid-week Forum" where they can watch church movies and have indoor games, and eat. Then every Thursday night is sports night! haha this is really a helpful tool to invite non-members so we could meet them. Mondays are for FHE! We also have an activity called "Linger longer" held once a month after church service.
 

I am really having so much Fun in this work! Last Wednesday, we went street contacting and it kind of scares me at first but Sister Facer told me to just be confident and follow the Spirit. We took turns. When I opened my mouth to the first person I talked with, the words just came out to my mouth. That was Matthew, we were about to cross the street and he was standing behind us so I talked to him. We introduced ourselves as the Servants of the Lord (Our mission President said we should introduce ourselves by saying "we are Servants of the Lord” rather than we are “Missionaries of the Lord"). I asked him "Do you want to know more about our Savior Jesus Christ?" and he said, "Yeah, maybe yes, cause I was losing faith these past few days...maybe i should try" :)) Made us so happy. We got his contact number and address.

I also met an atheist! haha It was so funny! They were like asking us a lot of questions about our church then at the end of our conversation he said that he was actually the President of the Atheist club-stuff. But he asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon, because they need some resources because they're doing some kind of like research about the different religions. Anyway, we just bore our testimonies :)

 

Being here in the mission is really tough. You have to deal with a lot of stresses :) But for me, the most remarkable thing to witness is when I see miracles happening in the lives of these people... And that we know, the Lord will open the windows of heaven in this mission, we have what we call the VISION 101 this July, (101 baptisms).



Anyway, I'm out of time :)

 

_Sister Agura

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