September 30, 2013

Hola Familia/ Amigos

Well this week was pretty intense! Probably gonna be another crazy long email if thats okay with you all, even though i have some crazy good stories to tell, but also i got a good little Story i actually wrote to help motivate other Elder and Sisters to want to Contact more often! Its incredible! Well lets just get straight to the point and Knock it out!

So this week i was able to give my Very first Priesthood Blessing in Spanish! I didnt actaully do the Blessing but i did the Anointing! It was quite the expereince, I was on Exchanges with an English Elder so there wasnt anyway of trying to get outta doing it! Not that i wanted to get outta, but i was so nervous i wanted to thats for sure! Hermano (Brother) Moreno, came to a less actives house after dinner at 8 one night to do the blessing while i did the Anointing of the Blessing! It was given to Felicianna. Felicianna is the Mother of Cristina who has 4 little boys! Alejandro who is 11, Alberto who is 8, and than 2 twins who are 5, but i dont know there names cause i cant tell the difference between them! They are also disabled so it is super hard to teach, cause they just want us to show them there cool trick constantly! Ha Ha! If you have any cool Tricks or Spiritual things let me know, so i can use it on them! They are amazing! Alberto and I are like home boys!

Elder Payne and I actually had the opportunity to go back and see a Lady name Carmin, that we tracted into one Saturday night! She had been sick so it took us a little while to get into her house and be able to actaully teach her! I do not remember which day it was because put here on the mission everything is a time warp! When we did get the opportunity to go by when she was feeling better her husband was there, we Immediately began to think this might not be a good sign, well it sure enough was a good sign! He told us to come in right away, and we began to teach them immediately about the plan of Salvation! It was an Increible expereince and we hope that the Lord will continue to water that seed in there heart and eventually enter into the Waters of Baptism!

Hmm here is were we are going to start getting interesting! Elder Aidukaitus, happened to come to the Santa Rosa, California mission this past week! He studied some of our surveys, and taught us on our weakness we have here in the mission! It was such a great expereince to be able to learn and grow from a Quorum of the 70! He taught with so much Authority, and the Spirit was so strong! Such and Increible Expereince, that i can now say i have shooken the Hand of the Prophet of the CHurch and one of his Disciples! But dont forget, as a missionary we are his disciples as well! We are Representatives of Jesus Christ! We were told that when we introduce ourselves to people we are not Missionaries anymore, we are Representatives or Disciples of Jesus Christ! So amazing! I took so many great notes from his teachings!

As i mentioned early in the Email, that i had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Olson, who is from Spanish Fork, Utah! He is such a stud! He was a convert to the church only a year ago, and is already back out on his mission! What a great guy, it was fun to be able to take a Greenie out with me into the Spanish part of Sonoma, and begin to talking with hispanics even though he didnt know a lick of Spanish! Boy was the pressure on me! Ha Ha We did amazing though! We actually set a record here in the Zone, and Contacted over 21 people! A contact in when you talk with someone and bring up some kinda a gospel doctrine, and leave them with a Phamplet! It was great, because he hadnt had the great expereinces with contacting on his mission yet, because he was born into the hardest area to serve SONOMA! I was to though, which is good, cause it will teach us both how to do the tough work and everything else will seem easier! 21 contacts, but we also got a baptismal invitation. Not a set date but an invitation to be baptized! Elder Olson was a stud at that, we were talking with an English man, and In the End Elder Olson just invited him to be baptized! Elder Olson and I definately would have hung out before the mission! But also plan to after the mission!

Wow, Brother Edwards who i mentioned in a email i think 2 weeks ago, Is legit! Talk about being dedicated to the Book of Mormon! He has Read it from cover to Cover 46 times in his life, with 28 of those times in the last 6 years! I cannot believe him! When we went and did service on his property again this week, we really got into some cool conversations! He ended up giving me a Red Lettered Bible! Which is where in the bible, Everytime Christ is speaking the words are prinited in Red! It is so amazing! I will probably end up sending it home, so i dont have to carry it my entire mission!

Okay, Story time now! Even Written by Elder Parker Albertson! Huh? Sounds wierd id write a story huh?

                                                                      Finding Your Best Friend
     In the Pre-earth life, you and your best friend have your call letter to go to earth. Your very excited to know where each other is going. You begin to open yours first, and begin to read... "Parker Albertson you have been called to be born in Boise, Idaho to a loving family, with parents who will raise you in the Gospel. You will never have to wonder what it is like to go without those blessings. You will always have the knowledge of the Savior, and his Love for you. You will go onto serve a Full time Mission in Santa Rosa, California! You will bless many people there and show them what it is like to have the blessings of the Gospel. After that you will continue to on to find your eternal companion, and be married in the temple for all time and Eternity! You will continue to live a worthy life devoted to service of the savior." After Reading, you and your best friend are pumped and so excited for the expereinces that will come your way!
     You encourage your Best friend as he opens his letter. As he begins to read....its says... " Dear...... You have been called to be born in Santa Rosa, California. You will not be born into a family with the Gospel. You will go through much of your life not having the blessings of the gospel. You will have many trials and struggles throughout your life! But all of these things will prepare you to recieve the Gospel!"
     You and your best friend begin to cry for the journey and steps your about to take. You Look your Best friend Square in the Eye, and tell him "I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL BRING YOU THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!"
 
     For any of you who have trouble talking to people about the Gospel, Remember that your best friend is out there somewhere waiting for you to find them, and teach them! Now... What are you going to do to find your Best Friend?

Well Family/ Friends, i hope this email has been well! I Cannot wait to hear what you all think of the Story i have come up with to help you think deep in your heart about what your doing to find that best friend you promised youd find and share the gospel to! I love you all! I love hearing from you all also!

Love, Elder Albertson

 Elder Ashton and I

 I found this picture in the church and it's by far my new favorite

Talk about some major rain!

September 23, 2013

Hola Familia/ Amigos
  Mi Semana fue muy bien. Nosotros hablamos con muchos personas porque no tenemos mucho investigadores. Esta bien si yo escribo en espanol? Porque no van a entender. JaJa
    Ha ha well there is a little Spanish for you all to try and figure out! I know Abe and Makaul will understand, because i keep getting letters from Makaul in Spanish! Even though i know she is using Google translate i love that she is trying! Maybe Abe could help her out a tiny bit!
    Well this week has been another amazing week! I had to say goodbye to Elder Ashton, and Elder Garity, as they got transferred! They truly are studs! I cannot believe how good of friends you become after only being around 2 guys for 6 weeks! They will be missed here in Sonoma, but i know the Lord has called them to another area because people there are waiting for them to come offer them the gospel!
   This week we had a few rough situations come up concerning some less actives in the ward and also a few of our investigators! This might be long if that's okay? If not you can just stop reading right here and ill understand... But anyways!
   So on Tuesday night i got the feeling that we should call one of our Less Active who we teach on a regular basis, and see how she was doing, also to see if we could come by real quick and talk with her! She said that would be great. We hopped on our bikes, and ran down to her house. She is struggling right now with the money being tight, and we have talked to Bishop about trying to help her out! He said she had to be paying her tithing which correct and so she agreed to begin paying her tithing! But when we Knocked on her Door, she grabbed a slip of paper and came outside immediately before her Daughter Maya had the opportunity to
to see us... She began to explain that she has 3 days to pay her rent or she was going to be kicked out, and that she owed $290 dollars and only had $25 dollars in her bank account. She began to tear up, and we expressed to her that everything would be okay, and we will help figure things out for her.
   Wednesday morning we went into the Real-state office where she pays her rent, and I translated for her, because i understand Spanish very well. We left with her in tears again, and so we decided we were going to call Bishop and explain the situation to him, and see what we could do to get her through the end of the month than try and find a new place for her to live, that might have a cheaper rent. I left Bishop a message before he didn't answer! Just stating that we had some news for him and would love for him to call us back so we could explain as best as possible!
    We got a call from Bishop on Thursday night while at the church, i decided i would explain to him, and talk to him about what we might need to do to help her out as best as possible before she goes homeless. As i was talking to Bishop on speaker phone, so that Elder Payne could hear the Conversation, Bishop kept interrupting me trying to say she needs to figure it out... Long history there, but Bishop does not like the Spanish group we have her in Sonoma. But That's okay cause Hermano Moreno, just got put into the Bishopric and he is our Strongest Spanish member! So now we are hoping the Spanish members will feel more included.
   Come to find out he doesn't like me any more either! He thought i was yelling at him, because it was on Speaker phone, and he kept interrupting me, and i politely asked him if i could just explain the situation, than we can visit about what need to be done. But with my Loud voice as is, and on speaker phone, i kinda tend to yell at the phone. I must get that from my mom. She is always yelling at the phone! ;)
    But anyways, we have it all figured out now, and Bishop had to come to realize that it is his job to help the members of the ward, when they are in a tough situation. But there are still hard feelings i think between Bishop and I which is Okay though, because his son Lucas ( Who i think has Down syndrome) absolutely loves me! Because Tennis is his favorite sport!
    We also had a weird situation with our Investigator Angel this week, where we scheduled a time for to come by, and teach him with Hermano Moreno. We had also planned to talk with him about how to help him with his Legalization papers. We showed up at 6:30 he said he was eating dinner to come back at 7, so we did, and He was gone. This was not the first time this had happened to us, so we decided to drop him. That was the hardest thing to drop him, but if he is going to drop our appointments, we have to drop him, and continue to focus on those who are ready and willing to accept the Gospel.
    Socorro is another wild story. Holy cow this week has been busy! We went over to see Socorro, and when we knocked to ignored it, but we knew they were both there, because her car was there and also the boyfriend Alejandro's car as well. So we knocked again a little loudly thinking they might not have heard it, and than she yelled.. (Quien?) Who is it? We said it was the missionaries than like 3 minutes later she answered the in a robe, and tried to explain to us in a frantically way that she was getting into the shower to go to a party that she was late for.... Were not so sure if we should believe her, because she has Struggled with Chastity, and Alejandro was there... She also told us we were not allowed to come over anymore sense school has started unless we call her first and let her know, so we are a little worried there might be things going on while the kids are at school! Not so sure what to do about it, but Elder Payne and I have decided we are not going to baptize her until Alejandro is completely out of the house. In an Ideal situation thats what would be best, but we are aloud to baptize if there still living together as long as there in separate rooms. We have decided we are not going to allow that though, and that she will have to wait until Alejandro is out of the house! We think this will spark a little bit of Serious in her to get him outta the house! We will see where it goes though!

Anyways i love you all! Hope you enjoy your week, and enjoy Reading the email! We will see what next week brings us! Love you all so much! Love getting packages and letters!

Love,
Elder Albertson
   

September 16, 2013

Hola Familia/Amigos
The time out here on my mission is flying! I hope it is flying for you all back at home as well! I cannot believe how many blessing i have seen come so many peoples way here in Sonoma, but also the blessing i have seen come your guys ways for me serving a mission! There is quite a bit for me to write about this week, so lets get to it! HERE WE GO!

Facebook! What a wonderful tool we have recieved to be able to teach people throughout the entire world! I cannot believe how many people open up over Facebook rather than when we knock on there door! Its crazy the way our world is getting these days! Personal Confrentation is Gone! Also many of you may have been noticing at first i wasnt aloud to Add all of you guys as friends! We are now aloud to be friends with everyone! For missionary purposes! So i need you all to help me out, If i post a Status that you all like, please dont just like the status SHARE IT! The reason behind that is because i am only friends with 200 people but if all my friends SHARE my Status than all there 200 friends see it, plus than all the notifications come back to me, and im able to go and talk to all the Less actives or non members who like my status and begin to teach them the gospel! See how far my Status can go? And How many People i can find through one click of a Button? Its incredible! Also dont be afraid to send me People you may know who could use the gospel! And If its yourself let me know, we can work things out! Family and Friends Lets look at Doctrince and Covenants 88:73 "Behold, I will ahasten my work in its time." Well... THE TIME IS NOW!

Transfer Doctrine! With it being transfers this Wednesday we receieved our Transfer Doctrine, Friday night around 9 Pm. This is a voicemail from the Zone Leaders tell us where were going, and who our future companions will be! It was pretty exciting to recieve, the only not so fun this is the fact im loosing Elder Garity (District Leader) and Elder Ashton! They are so much fun to be serving around! They will do great things in there next Areas though! We just have to understand that where they are going is for a reason! Elder Payne and I are staying companions for 1 more transfer atleast! We are so excited to stay together for one more transfer though! I can definately say we works so well together, but there are definately things we have to learn from each other! Elder Payne is becoming District Leader i think he will do a good Job, if he stays open to other Peoples advice and such!

Service! Wow service this Saturday was amazing! Brother Edwards lives up in the hills, His propertity kinda reminds me of Grandpa Deans Properity! Its only him and His wife to keep up all the land to, so we go up there quite oftent to help him and his wife out with things! They love us missionaries! Brother Edwards in The 1st counselor in the Bishopric Brick and is probably our most solid Member in the ward! During service we had the oppotunity to get out a chainsaw and Logg some wood! Now this isnt some good ol Wood from the Boise Forest! Were talking Redwood Forest sized trees that had recently Fallen over! We had to cut it up into sizes were we could carry it down the hill and put it in the truck! We filled to full Pick up trucks with logs! That is some heavy wood! I couldnt believe the size of the Logs! After Service he Made us some nice Hamburgers! Man i havent had a Hamburger that tasted like that in along time! It was amazing!


Sunday was Probably my favorite day of the week! We had the Opportunity to be apart of a less active who the english has been teaching, and completely turned his life around! Yesterday he was ordained into the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood! This was amazing to be apart of, to see where Gary Morinaga and come from and how far he had taking his life off the track, to being right back on track! He truly is an example of how the spirit truly can testify to one person so strongly! Its incredible! We also had the opportunity to go to a wedding of Javier and Valeria, who are both less actives in our ward, but us as missionaries have strengthened them, and now they are solid members in the ward! They were married Yesterday and now are already setting up a date to be Sealed in the Temple to there family for all time and Eternity! This was such an amazing experience to watch. I hope i am close enough to the Area so i can take a Special trip to the temple to be able to watch that! It would be amazing!

My investigators are doing alright! Last Transfer we taught about 45 lessons, and 20 of them were to less actives! So we are staying plenty busy with teaching people! But we would love to meet our Goal of 60 lessons this Transer with a Goal of 20 Less active! We are hopefull planning on being able to bring 2 people unto the waters of baptism this transfer!

Here are a few answers to some questions you guys may have that might come up.... As many of you maybe wondering, while i was in the MTC i had some ingrown toenails removed! This was very painful for the first few weeks but they are doing so well, i actually do not have any pain from them what so ever! My spanish is coming along great! Elder Payne and I actually speak about 50/50 in lessons which is exactly what we want! I cant believe how fast it comes with just praying simple every night for the gift of tongues, to be able to help me throughout my day through the faith that i have! It truly is a blessing!

Anyways i love you all! I did not get transfered so go ahead and continue to send me letters and Packages to the same Address..
19014 Hickory St.
Sonoma CA 95476

Love you all!
Love,
Elder Albertson

My Favorite Kid in my mission! I Absolutely love him! This is Alvin, The son of Socorro! He is such a Stud! Oh and Dad he just wanted to let you know he is a Georgia Bull Dog! Because he loves his hat! Ha Ha I cannot express my love for Alvin

September 9, 2013

Hola Familia/Amigos

Well this week has been a giant Blur! The time truly is flying and i cannot believe that Transfers are next week! This is crazy! I can see why the missionary say that it truly is a Giant time warp! I cant even remember what i did yesterday! Let alone what i did for the whole week, so i guess its a good thing i brought my Niffty little Planner that we use everyday! So ill see what i can Scramble up for ya!

So here we go i guess!
Lets just start off with giving you a few little facts of the week! This week i was able to teach 5 Lessons on Facebook! 2 to Kate Croft! 1 With Mogga Lado! And last but not least Grandma Cheney! This IPAD Thing, truly is a blessing! The windows of Heavenly Truly are opening up! Many of you who read my Email, arent on missions, but if you wanna join in with the Lords work, Send me a Message on Facebook with friends to teach! It truly is Amazing! Elder Parker Albertson!
Also i would like to mention that i have put on 200 Miles on my Bike this month! Holy Cow we ride a ton! Im gonna be in such great shape after this! Plus the fact that i work out with Elder Garity everynight! He destroys me! But its good for me i guess! Oh and Mom, dont worry im not gonna out grow my clothes unless im growing Up! (Taller)

Anyways just so you guys know, i want to update you guys on my baptism last Saturday night! We had so many issues, come up with her getting baptized, and rumors spreading about how she was living the Law of Chastity! Elder Garity had Interviewed her and found her Worthy, but with all the Issues, we decided to have President Alba come down and Interview her Saturday morning! She was completely read for Baptism, but she decided she wanted to wait until the 28th of September, so she could be completely worry free of any of her past! Im so Proud of Socorro! She has such a strong testimony of everything! It literally blows my mind when she bears her testimony of the gospel to us as missionarys! I know technically we are supposed to be teaching her, but honestly sometimes she ends up teaching us because how strong she is in the church! Its Incredible!

Hopefully this week will go a little better than this last week! I had so many flat tires come my way! From riding an average of about 7 miles a day, riding on pretty much a Mountain gravel road, even though here they call it a Street! I have gottan so many flat tires its rediculous! We have so much fun, there is 6 of us in 2 apartments that share the same area really, so we are always having a good time with each other!

This Last week I had the opportunity to have my first actual interview with President Alba! It was Awesome! He is such an amazing guy, and i found out that he will be my mission President for my entire mission! He will go home in the Beginging of July 2015 and i Come home on June 9th of 2015! That was cool to know because he truly is amazing, and his spiritual presence is incredible! I cannot wait to be able to get to know him a little more and continue to grow our relationship! The opportunity to be able to serve a mission under him is amazing! He has such a big heart for every single one of us! And would do anything to help us out with anything we need! It kinda hit me this last week when we went to lunch with President and Sister Alba After interviews that, we may leave our family for 2 years, and our parents! But they are my parents here on the mission and treat us with the same amount of love! I love them so much!

I know there isnt alot for this week! With the absense of the baptism! But i miss and Love you all! Dont forget that referrals are great!

Transfers are this week! I really hope i dont get transfered because i forgot to warn you all that my address might change last week! So if your going to send me a letter send it to the mission Office!
5301 Badger Rd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95409

Love and miss you all!
Love,
Elder Albertson

September 2, 2013

Hola Familia/Amigos

This week has been absolutely amazing! I have had a few more trials come my way, but I'm keeping my head up, and still plugging away at the work! The blessing i have seen come my way, but also the blessing i have seen this gospel bring to other peoples lives, as i teach them, has been the greatest thing i have ever been apart of! Even greater than the state Championship i worked so hard to win last year! This work is absolutely amazing! I can absolutely say with my whole heart, That the Santa Rosa mission is MY Mission! That I'm here because the people here need me! I can also say that, there is NO other place i would want to be in my life right now, than Here! Teaching the gospel i know will help bring families together and so they can be together forever!
 

I had a few more trials this week, but i was lucky enough not to have as many as Elder Medina! Elder Medina Lives in our apartments and is Elder Garity's Companion! Elder Medina the first 2 weeks rode a broken bike until i convinced him to just go buy a new one, that they would fit to his body size, considering the fact he is a big kid! But after getting this new bike, this last week he has had a few to many accidents, after riding for a week without any problems. Wedensday he was coming around a corner, didnt stop cause we just ride like we own the town! We pretty much do, considering the fact there is 6 of us missionaries in a town with maybe 10,000 people! But anyways he came out and got side swiped by a car! One of the Funniest things ive seen in a long time! We all could not stop laughing! The poor little old man, driving his Toyota Prius! Later that night, Elder Medina hadn't put his lights on his bike yet, and ran into a trash can and flew over the handle bars, because he could see the trash can! Oh boy I'm not to sure he will ever here the end of this! The only Trail i had, was while riding down the road cruising at about 20 MPH, i ran over a shattered Beer bottle that someone threw in the road! Yep, sure enough ruined my dreams of going my whole mission without getting a flat tire! Ugh so many bike issues! But i guess when your going hard in the missionary work, nothing will stop you! Right? 

To everyone who read my weekly email, please consider this... I am now a Facebook missionary! I am able to be on facebook, and teach people all across the world! We are aloud to use Skype, so we can personally talk with them! Now i know there are missionaries all over the world, who sometimes members just cant trust there referrals with, please take the time and to pray, and please consider giving me those referrals! My companions and I would love to spend all day Friday planning for investigators! It would be amazing!

Also i hopefully will be having my first baptism of my mission this Saturday!  Socorro who has been taught by the missionaries for over 8 years, is now to the step of baptism, where she has been many times, but the adversary has taking control of her, and convinced her not to be baptised! Her interview is tonight with Elder Garity the District Leader, and than we will be doing plenty of praying to get her to that next step of baptism! It will be such an amazing experience! I cannot wait!

Yesterday was my Fathers birthday! Its crazy to think its the first Birthday i have not been home for sense i was born! I just want him to know, that i love him so much! I also give him so much credit for the missionary i am, and the experiences he told me to make me want to get some of my own! He truly is the greatest father i could ask for! I love you Dad!

 

Yesterday was also fast sunday! If we have a dinner appointment at 5 than at 4 oclock we begin a thing we call "Mighty Hour of Prayer" We literally pray for a complete Hour! When i first heard of it i was like you have to be kidding me? Thats the longest amount of time to pray! Ive Never prayed longer than more than 5-7 minutes! The Elders than Explained to me, you take a few minutes to make a pray list, and during that prayer you have that pray list with you in which, we pray for every single person you put on your list! With my list including about 16 people! It was one of the greatest expereinces i have ever had! This "Might Hour of Prayer" is something our whole mission does, to help open the windows of heaven upon our mission! Gosh its amazing! I found so many scriptures that testify greatly for my invesitgators and such! It truly is amazing!

 

Well anyways i love you all! Will email again next week!

Ps: Thanks for the Speaker and keyboard mom and Dad!

PSS: You guys should send me a Jungle Gym XT! Its on amazon for $100 so i can work out!

 

Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Albertson