August 26th, 2013

Hola Familia y Amigos

 

Just want you all to know, I got an ipad this week, so yall can be a little jealous, in the fact, im probably a step ahead of all of you even though im on my mission! HaHa

 

Also, so sorry for not telling you guys what exactly a Facebook missionary is, but let me give ya the low down on it! When i first came into the mission, Facebook was granted our way, for another way to prosolite, and teach people who didnt have the time for us to come into there homes and teach them directly! But as of Wedensday, i receieved my cool new little best friend, named Ipad Mini! I still need to come up with a name for him, but as of right now we call him Ipad Mini! Its so cool, because he is actually mine! I take him everywhere i go, even when i get transfered he stays with me, instead of staying in the area! Its going to be awesome! No more Area Book! And i have everything i need right there on my Ipad Mini! We were also granted the opportunity to contact as many friends, and family back home via Facebook, as long as they are Less active, or Non-Members! So mom if you want me to be able to teach you, gotta stop going to church! Ha ha JK! So many of you have probably seen, but i have began to start contacting some of you, and hopefully will be able to set up times, where i can teach or share a message with you via skype, or facetime, with my companion! So if anyone of you are Interested, just find me on Facebook at Elder Parker Albertson, ill Add you, and see where things will go from there! You can definately tell the lord is work on the people here in Sonoma though, we have went from when i came in, and we opened the new area, from 2 investigators, to now we have 6 and hopefully a 7th here soon! It just truly goes to show how much obedience truly does make a difference, and not just that but being diligent in the work we do as missionaries!

 

 

 

This week i also had the opportunity to go to the Oakland, California Temple! Wow! That was quite the experience to do with just my district! That temple is absolutely beautiful! We get to go to the temple every other transfer which is awesome! We have to find members who are willing to drive us to the temple, but most of the time the missionaries say it is very easy to find a ride! We are serving in an older ward, so everyone is retired, and always willing to feed us, but also take us to the temple! Ill include some very beautiful picture, thats are just absolutely amazing! The temple is so much different from the boise one to, its crazy! Considering i have only ever been to one temple! But it was awesome! Also, our mission is really cool because we dont have an actual temple in our mission, so it depends on what part your serving in, because you could potentially go to 3 different temples, if your lucky! The Medford, Oregon Temple, Sacrement California Temple, or the Oakland Temple! Its crazy, but amazing!

 

We have 3 baptisms schedule for the 7th of september, I hope they all 3 will fall through! There is a mom and son, named Socorro, and Alvin! Socorro, has been an investigator in the church for 8 years now, and hasnt been baptized! I guess the time has come though, she is absolutely stoked for baptism! Alvin, who is Socorros 19 year old son, has some kind of disabilty where he has ceisures, were not exactly sure, but we have given him a preisthood blessing, and socorro understands, that he is perfect and doensnt need to be baptized as a saving ordanince, but Alvin has mentioned it to her that he wants to be baptized! Which will be a great expereince for both of them! Im so stinking excited! Angel, is our other investigator, he is a catholic, and is struggling a little more with excepting a new gospel, because all his family is catholic, and he just doesnt understand, we are working with him, and hopefully, he will have the opportunity to be baptized that same day with the other 2! It will be incredible considering our Area, has been struggling with convert baptisms, for years, to the point where missionaries have actually, been taking outta Sonoma! You can also definately tell the lord has been working on the people here in Sonoma, considering when we came in, we opened up this area, and now we are at 6 Investigators, and 2 with a baptismal date! Alvin doesnt count, cause we werent planning on baptising him! 

 

Not much else to explain or tell you guys about! Im doing so well, and love it here! Thank you for all the Hand written letters, sorry i havent written back, im just slowly starting to loose myself in the work! Its the best thing i could be doing right now, and way better than anything else i have ever done! Its incredible! Even winning a State Championship!

 

Love you all!

Elder Albertson

 Me and my new Mini Ipad

Oakland California Temple

August 19th, 2013

Familia y Amigos 

Aww man what to talk about this week! Ill try and keep it short but I'm not so sure how well that will be! Its kinda tough when you have so many things to share! But ill do my best, i know you guys probably don't like reading my 5 paragraph emails! Even though Kamryn did say i was a better email writer than Abe! What a compliment NOT! ha ha 

Alright well anyways, just so you all know, Im enjoying the mission so much! I have had many trials sense being out here, but i know that the lord is just testing me to make me a better and stronger missionary! I have come upon many struggles that have truly frustrated me so much, because they all have ended up costing me money! UGHH i never knew i would be such a tight wad on my missionary, especially with only receiving $131 dollars per month here in California is a struggle! My bike has broken down twice now, and I have only been out 2 weeks, oh boy this could get expensive if it keeps up the way its going! So first my pedal broke, and so i bought new pedals and lights, cause the one my father sent worked great, except the mount broke, so i had to tape it so i just bought a new one! When putting the new pedals on, a while bike while mountain biking my dad may recall i hit a rock, and wrecked while breaking my crank on the bike, we were lucky enough to get a pedal in it the first time but when i went to put the new pedal in it, it was completely stripped out, and i couldn't even get a pedal to work in it! I took it to the bike shop, they replaced the arm on the crank which completely fixed it, until i realized that pedals had a certain side on it so i had stripped out the other side! The bike shop has been really great though and giving me quite the deals for fixing my bike but its still frustrating to have to stop the lords work to fix my dang bike! Its gonna end up costing me about $65 dollars, and than i should be good to go forever! HOPEFULLY! 

Like i mentioned last week in the email, ive got 2 investigators with baptismal dates, which has been exciting to continue teaching them both! Hopefully they follow through with the baptism! We cant force them to be baptized, we just have to invite, and bring them unto Christ, and let them choose for there own, whether they want to except the gospel! 

Last night i got the opportunity, to teach an investigator named Socorro who i have mentioned in past emails, when we walked in she had a friend over, named Maria! We had the opportunity, to begin teaching maria, while having Socorro present! I got the opportunity to teach about prophets, and how they are still living on this earth today! I also had to recite the first vision in spanish! Which was killer! It brought the spirit into the lesson like no other! In the end she was catholic and wanted to know how we pray because she didn't think a recited prayer was correct! I got to teach her how to pray, and hopefully she progresses quickly and they can be baptized on the same day! 

I'm truly Enjoying this so much! Its incredible! 

I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Albertson

Address: 19014 Hickory St. Sonoma, California 95476 

Letters are great! 

 View from our apartment

 Wheelie on the Rental Bike

 Want a Book of Mormon?

 Lots of Vineyards everywhere! Which means free grapes!

 Panera Bread that we deliver to those in need every morning

 My first sandwich in the Mission

Elder Albertson, Elder Ashton, Elder Payne, Elder Mullenaux, Wheeling time! Sorry Elder Medina and Garity are disabled on bikes, so they took the photos!

August 12th, 2013

Hola Familia y Amigos!

WOW my mission truly is the post card mission! With Palm trees,
Sleeping with the windows open at night, never getting above 80
degrees! What else could i honestly ask for?? Anways sense everyone
has so many questions, let me just give you a weekly low down, of what
all went down! So here it is....

Tuesday, Woke up at 3:45 to be at the airport by 5:45 and be on a
plane to the Greatest mission, and Most obedient mission in the world!
After calling my family, and talking to them for about an Hour and 15
minutes, i had to rush back to the gate, and check everyones name off
the list as we boarded the plane! When landing in the Oakland airport,
we all waited after getting off the plane and traveled to baggage
claim where everyone was taking photos, and we got to greet our
mission president, and his wife! One of the Sweetest ladies ive ever
met! Besides you MOM!
We than traveled to the mission home, where we ate lunch! Awww it was
the greatest meal i think i have ever partaken of, or the fact i had
just been eating cafeteria food for a month and a half! Not sure which
one! We had a small devotional, just kinda hung out, and continued to
visit until around 8 oclock when we were taking to the hotel were we
got to sleep until Wednesday! The beds in that hotel were so amazing!
A QUEEN!

Wednesday, I had to be up and ready to go by 7:15 in which the AP's (
Assistants to the Presidents) Picked us up to take up to the mission
office, which was an addition to the Stake center there in Santa Rosa!
We had a quick Devotional and our companions were assigned and we got
in our cars, and took off to the mission! My companion is Elder Tylor
Payne, from Blackfoot Highschool! What a Quacidence that me and him
were assigned to be companions, both from idaho, and both knowing the
city of blackfoot like the back of our hands! Let alone the girls in
blackfoot! Aww Jk! I had to take a driver safety course so eventually
i can be a registared driver here in the mission! Now that i think
about it, i dont really want to drive, these people in california are
crazy in the lamburginas! My first area i was assgned to serve in, is
in Sonoma California! With 4 spanish Elders, and 2 English Elders!
With a 6 man Pad it is the funniest time when were all at home! We all
get along so well, and laugh so much! I dropped my bags off and went
shopping for food! Came back and we were off Knocking doors in the
Spanish language! Had a dinner appt at 5 with the Pena Family! Aww the
food is amazing but we ride bikes so imma be alright!

Thursday, we had a few appts set up, but manly were figuring out
goals, and how to do things, that night we visited a Investigator who
name is Socorro, she has been getting taught for about 8 years from
the missionaries, but has a disabled son, Alvin who is keeping her
from going to church, and also has a boyfriend living with her, this
is whats keeping her from getting baptized! The missionaries before us
dropped her, in our first lesson, i felt the spirit to, invite her to
be baptized on the 31 of August! She said she will be baptized, but
needs to come to church!!! What a great day!

Friday, we visited Socorro again and i committed her to going to
church on sunday! Yep! She showed up with Alvin, and came to church!
We now just have to focus on getting the boyfriend out, which
hopefully wont be hard, and ill have a baptism on the 31st! That night
we also visit a former investigator named Angel, again, i felt he
needed a baptismal date, so i committed him to baptism on the 7 of
September! I am loving it so much! Its incredible to see the gospel
change peoples lives!

Our Daily Schedule:
6:30 Outta bed, and starting our jog
7:00 Return to Apartment, and get ready
8:00 Personal Study
9:00 Companionship study
10:00 Language study
12:00 Lunch
1:00 12 Week training
2:00 Begin day, teaching lessons, Tracting, Seeing Less actives,
Former investigators
5:00 Dinner with a member
6:00 Continue day!
9:00 Return to Apartment, and begin planning
10:30 In bed!

Its such a busy Schedule, but you get lost in the work, and just wanna
keep going because you are constantly seeing the gospel change lives
so much! Its incredible!

Love you all,
Elder Albertson

Ps. My new address is... 19014 Hickory St. Sonoma, California 95476

August 7, 2013

I made it to Santa Rosa! I cant believe it so much fun! The mission president and his wife are awesome! figured out my trainer Elder Payne from blackfoot Idaho! also had my first dinner apptment! Love you all! Monday is P day!

August 1st, 2013

Hola Mi Familia/Amigos,

 

My time here in the MTC, is about to come to an end! I have so many mixed feelings about leaving such a spiritual place! The Spirit here is incredible, i thought, the spirit was strong at EFY, when they sing the song "The Army of Helaman" but when we sang it Tuesday night at the Devotional, it gave me the chills, all the way up my spine, and the hair on my arms, and legs was standing straight up! This whole six weeks i have been here, i have not had the opportunity, to listen to a general authority speak, and the reason behind that, is because the month of July is there month of, to spend with there family's! That's okay though, because we had so many other great speakers, and many talks we have been able to watch, that have been given here at the MTC, by general authorities!

 

This week has been incredible! We got out travel plans, and I happen to be the travel leader, over 29 other English speaking missionaries! I can personal say, that i think English speaking missionaries need to be in the MTC longer, because when we leave the MTC, and call our families, i have heard they all just cry the rest of the way! I'm not going to be willing to put up with that, even though i will have to figure a way out, to get them off the phone, and onto the plane! We will see how it goes! I cannot wait to get to Santa Rosa, and begin teaching, real investigators! I am also a bit scared, because I'm worried about my Language, but i know, and have enough faith, that the lord will bless me, and will feed the words out my mouth of whatever i will need to say to those investigators who may be looking for the gospel!

 

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had the opportunity to be a new missionary host. Many of you may not know what exactly a missionary host does, but we pick the missionaries up from the curb, separate them from there family's, and take them to check in, and than a quick tour of the MTC, and than to meet there teacher! The first missionary i hosted was a missionary from Czechoslovakia and didn't speak a lick of English, it was quite the experience trying to teach him how to use his combination lock, with grunts and such! ha ha I than hurried out, and tried to see if i could watch for Elder Hower, at 1:15, i waited until about 2:15 for him, than i just grabbed a Tongan, who was from Dallas, who Played football at Trinidad, who is one of the greatest high school football teams in the Nation! They put a whooping on Bingham! ha ha He was huge and his bags weight a ton! I than went to Elder Howers class room and there he was, sure enough come to find out, his grandpa dropped him off, and the whole time i had been looking for his mom, and Kenzie in the cars driving by! Its okay though, i went and visited him last night, and took him so laundry detergent sense i knew he would need it, and cause I'm using the stuff Aunt Genny sent me!

 

This week has flown by, my whole district leaves Monday Morning at 4:30, and than me and my Companion leave Tuesday Morning at 4:30, my Flight for Santa Rosa, is not until around 8:37, which will be great cause i will probably arrive at the airport at around 5:30 and than through security by 6:15, so that gives me plenty of time to check in at my gate, and to call home! my Call home will hopefully be sometime around 6:45 or 7:00! It would be so cool, if Kamryn and Abe were there so i could talk to them also, but i understand if you guys cant make it, because its early! ;) Not Really!

We got the Fridge in our district this week, as the district before us left, this fridge has quite the background, our Zone leaders, who left suspect is has been in our district for over 8 years! The story behind it is awesome! A kid who was in our zone along time ago, has Diabetes,  and had to keep his diabetic stuff refrigerated! When he left the district below him took the Fridge, and it has not been returned! When the Zone leaders were packing a maintenance man came by, and laugh and said they didn't even know it was missing, so he wasn't gonna take it back! It is now our fridge, and with our Zone closing, we are the last district, so we have offered it to other zones for a certain amount of ties, that have to be Gem looking ties! We were wanting at least 8 ties, that way everyone would get one, but we now have bids of up to about 15-16 ties for this fridge! Its crazy what you can do with something over the Black Market in the MTC!

 

The MTC has been such an incredible experience! I wish i could share it with more! But the missionaries that are here, are so amazing! My testimony, has definitely grown so much sense Ive been here! I feel like i am so much closer with my heavenly father! I haven't missed a single day in my journal because i have such amazing experience each day to write down! I cant wait to fill it so i can send it home, and you all can read it! I hope that me sharing these experiences, have increased everyone faith! Touched many of my Cousins and friends hearts to serve a mission! It truly is incredible! 

 

I guess the next email, will becoming from the great part of California, Santa Rosa!

 

I love you all!

Love Elder Albertson

 

 Ps: Today i also had surgery at 1:00 to get some ingrown toe nails removed, that were hurting me everyday to walk, let alone trying to get my excersise i needed, after eating all this cafeteria food! It was a horrible experience, but now the lord will heal me as soon as possible according to my faith, because he needs me to be on the streets of Santa Rosa, preaching the gospel in 5 Days! 

"Elder Arce with his Light Saber" 

The District with Hermana Beirdneau

 Hermano Arce and I

The District With Hermano Arce

 The Map and I ( Pointing to The great state of California!)

 YEP Missionaries covering the whole world!

 Elder Howlett and I

 The Crazy but best District! (California & Texas)

 The Tree that smells like Cream Soda! No Joke!

 The Nampa Boys! Elder Hower and I