February 17, 2014

Hola Familia/Amigos

Holy Cow! I cannot believe how fast time flies on the mission! I
realized the other day that I will be hitting my 1 year mark in

less than 3 transfers! Isn't that Crazy? Then that means I am half way
done with my mission! That scares me!  I was thinking about it the
other night, and I'm kinda scared to come home. Just because I feel my
life has come to an end there in Idaho! I feel like Santa Rosa, is my
home now! I guess that’s a good thing though right?

Valentines was this Friday! It was kinda weird being on the mission,
even though it was the same being at home! Not like I ever had a
Valentine back home right? Well this year! I had a few.

Thank you all so much for the wonderful packages I received in the mail

for Valentine’s day! There was a lot of great stuff, that I'm sure Elder Mullenaux,

 who I'm living with again, would love to eat! I gotta watch it since I’m

 trying to lose some weight and get back into shape.

I love living in this 4 man pad! We are always having a good
time! Elder Mullenaux and Elder Page are the Zone Leaders so it is
 fun to get let in on all the info going on in the Zone! Ha ha
Last Night, like every night Elder Mullenaux starts to pick a fight with me,

 next thing you know were wrestling in the living room, with Elder Page

coaching Elder Mullenaux, and Dunlap looking at me like you’re an Idiot

 because I don’t know what I’m doing! I just try to out muscle him! Doesn't

 always work out that way though! Ha ha

So, Sunday at church, our recent convert Agustin paid his tithing
for the 2nd time now since becoming a member!!
It is absolutely amazing to see him exercise his faith in that principle!

 He also had an interview with Presidente
Johnson on Sunday and will be receiving the Priesthood next Sunday! I
am so excited to see his future in the church! It is going to be
absolutely amazing!

This week we had a pretty crazy package show up to our apartment.
Elder Page received a package with like a stripper tie in it! It was
so weird! So we all took a little photo shoot with this Stripper
tie that he got! It was pretty interesting but a great laugh all night
long!

Sorry my email this week is so crazy!  If you all would help me with
missionary work by praying to find those in my area that the Lord has

prepared to hear our message, that would be great!! It’s been a bit of a

 struggle since our Baptism with Agustin, which is normal! Especially
after a Baptism! That would be great!

Oh shoot, I forgot to mention, that we had a musical Fireside
last night! Holy cow, I am completely jealous now that I don’t have any
musical talent whatsoever! So the Fireside was put on by all 50
missionaries just here in Santa Rosa! It was incredible! I recorded a
lot of the songs that were performed during the fireside I’ll try to send
one home, but I’m not too sure it will work! It was Incredible though!


I love you all so very much!
Love, Elder Albertson!

PS: Dad some Beef Jerky would be appreciated! :) Love you!

February 10, 2014

Hola Familia/ Amigos

  Well, this week definitely has had it’s good times and bad times! Ha
Ha! You will see! The fact that I do not even know where to begin
should give you a little bit of a fright! Nahhh! Just kidding, overall
this week was great! I am so happy to be here in Santa Rosa!
Especially, just overall in the mission! As some of you may know that
the first Sunday in February, the leaders of the church asked all of
the state of California to fast for rain! Well sure enough, we fasted
for rain, and now I am just wishing for a day when I can see the sun
again!

   Monday the entire zone went to the beach. However, Elder Dunlap wanted
to stay behind and go to the Petersen Lane building to write letters and
shoot some hoops! So, that is how I got Hermana Bryant to write letters
to Kamryn, MaKaul, and Channing! Ha ha! I only had to make a half court
shot, and she gave me 3 chances. The first 2 were so close but just
didn’t drop. Then all the sisters who didn’t go to the beach started
singing.... "Your under pressure..." Well enough said! I threw it up
and Bam! 3 letters got written for me! Such a great relief to not have
to write a few letters for a few more weeks!

   Maybe today I can work my basketball magic and get a few more
letters written! For you guys who would like to receive letters from
me, they will come it’s just that they will be written by a sister missionary!

Ha ha!! No worries! It’s all the same, it’s just written by someone else but still
signed by me, Elder Albertson! ha ha!

   Tuesday, we had zone conference, which was one of the longest meetings of
my life. However, it was also one of the best meetings I’ve attended. You can

 learn so much from what they teach you, and what the spirit brings to you, as you
sit and concentrate on what your investigators might need during this
time of their life.  It is absolutely amazing to see how everything
comes back into play! President Alba is such an inspired man, and is
so great! His assistants are amazing as well! They all receive
revelation for the mission so powerfully, its incredible!

   We also had Car inspections today which means my car got inspected and
I was a little nervous just because you never know how critical they
are going to be during the inspections! Luckily I passed with Flying Colors!

No worries with that!

   Wednesday the rain began! Welcome to Rainville! Holy goodness, I don’t
think I have ever seen it rain like this before! When it flat out,
drenches you in your white shirt and tie in seconds and doesn't stop
for 3 of 4 days! This is ridiculous! It is kinda starting to fulfill
my ideas of what my mission was going to be like when I imagined
Northern California! Missionary work today was kinda fun though! Well,
its fun everyday, but when your battling with the rain things get kinda
interesting! Such as the fact that I found out that my shoes are waterproof,

Which is such a huge blessing!

  Thursday we didn’t have anything to exciting going on, except the fact
that it was still raining cats and dogs! I think, on Thursday, we had to
change our outfits two times throughout the day! Just because we were
completely drenched! Pretty interesting, but let me tell you after a
while you get pretty sick and tired of just being completely drenched!
Yes, I have Rain gear! Thank you Grandma Cheney! However, I have allowed

a missionary in my District to use my rain pants because of the fact that
he is in a bike area, and I figured he is gonna need them more than I am right now!
However, the rain jacket is working miracles, but after so much rain I
don’t think anything is truly waterproof! Ha ha

  Friday was just weekly planning! No worries! That day is always kind of a
blurrr! ha ha!

  Saturday, alright now were talking! Saturday, was probably one of my
most favorite days on the mission so far! Well, at least when it
comes to service! Now you have to remember at this point it is still
raining cats and dogs, and we realized it wasn’t going to quite! So at 9
o'clock Saturday morning we get ready to go help a non member family
move! They got themselves a nice big Uhaul truck and about 8 of us
missionaries were there to start loading it up! So they Backed it up into
the driveway, however, the driveway was at a downward slant... you know
what I mean? So when we open the Uhaul truck door, we suddenly
realized that the rain was blowing directly into the back of the
truck, and was starting to flood at the end of the truck! Well that
was a huge problem, so I immediately grabbed a tarp and climbed to the
roof, had some bricks tossed up to me, then jumped to the truck and
took the tarp with me! Well, long story short I made a nice covering
where I was even able to make the water so that it was  going to drain into
the gutter rather than puddle up there and eventually fall on us! Sure
enough stopped the rain from filling the truck! But now I am
completely drenched! Well to make the story short, by the end of the
day we were all completely drenched. I myself actually moved 2
couches, 2 washers and Dryers, 3 Fridges and a huge entertainment
center! All this with the help of 1 other missionary named Elder Wright! He is
my District Leader! He is From Gilbert Arizona, and is a great
missionary! I didn’t realize how many LDS Members are in Arizona until
I got on my mission!

Well, that’s kinda my week in a blitz! We had a good week, however, we
struggled having to drop a few investigators this week. So we definitely
are going to have to hit the concrete and pound it out! Contacting and
knocking doors! Which will be good for Elder Dunlap to help with his
Spanish but also his contacting!

I love you all so very much, and pray for you all with your success
and also safety! I love you and will definitely start getting some
letters out to you all, if you know what I mean! ha ha!!!

Love you all!
Love, Elder Albertson

February 3,2014

Hola Familia/Amigos,

Well, here is the news right out of the gate! Agustin Lopez became a
member Saturday night, and was confirmed a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints yesterday! What a great experience
that was to be able to be a part of such a life changing experience. I
think that night completely changed who I am and who I will be from
here on out! It was such a miracle! With everything that has gone
on with the situation to finally be able to be baptized! Well, there it is for you all!

However, I guess I should probably give you a low down of how the rest
of the week went! Even though I do not remember much because of the fact
that someone entered into covenants with our Savior means more to me
than any of the other small miracles I may have seen throughout the
week. I guess I will still run you through a small weekly summary
though!

Monday was absolutely amazing! Even though we ate with this one family
that I do not like eating at. I guess I need to become more thankful for at
least getting feed by the members! However, MondayI messed my shoulder
up again dang it! I was playing basketball and I went up to block a
shot and got my arm on the backboard the wrong way and popped it out
pretty good! Let me just say I cannot wait for the resurrection so I
can have a perfect body again and won't have to worry about having
stinking problems with my SHOULDER anymore!

Monday night President Alba and I had a nice long talk, about things
we need to do to change the branch! It was good to go over things and 

set some goals to work toward. Tuesday we had the Regular District Meeting 

that went really well! Other than that Tuesday, was nothing special! However, 

during companionship study Elder Page who I live with and who is my District 

leader decided to come in and just put me in a head lock and so then it just
turned into a giant wrestling match between the four of us! "Well that
Escalated Quickly" ha ha

Wednesday, man I was stressing so horribly! I had to make a program for
the baptism and had to call all the members and get some of them to
take part in the Baptismal service! It was so great to know that it
was all finished and then the next thing I knew I was getting a call
from President Johnson saying he was leaving town! Yikes.  We handled it though.

Saturday, the day of Agustins baptism we had a great day! We had a few
lessons as well as a baptism! Probably my favorite day since being on my
mission! I even had President and Sister Alba show up to the baptismal
service! As well, as the Stake President, President Henderson! Man I
love all those guys! Early in the day though we had a blitz for an
area in the zone that is struggling so Elder Johnson and I got put
together for a few hours during the day to go contacting for the
Sisters Area!

While doing so we had some crazy experiences and such! We went to 
downtown, Santa Rosa, and contacted the homeless or the people who
are struggling in life! Well as you all know,  marijuana is legal
here so every single person we contacted was living the "Good" life
up in Cloud 9! Ha ha Gosh dang this one feller was dropping quite
the nasty words towards us, we got a little defensive and had a good
time with some small talk!  By the end I thought he was going to try and 

have a piece of us! It was a great time and Pretty funny! ha ha not to 

mention Elder Johnson was pretty scared!

Then, around 4 o'clock we had to take off and head to the Petersen Ln.
Stake center to begin preparing for our baptism because from what we
had heard,  to fill the font with warm water it takes about 2.5
hours! Plus, we had to set up all the chairs and the entire room with
all the things that we would need for the baptism! It was so great!
President Henderson told me that it was one of the best put together
baptismal ceremonies he had been to which is pretty impressive
considering the fact that he probably goes to a ton of baptisms!

Here is a bit of backgroud on Agustin! So when I first met
Agustin he had only been taught the restoration! But after talking
with President Henderson he explained that Agustin had been referred 

to the missionaries multiple times! However, I guess every time the 

missionaries would go over he would not answer the door or had no desire

 to talk to the missionaries! I share this with you because look Agustin now. 

He is a member and he accepted the gospel! Only because  missionaries 7

years ago planted that seed by leaving a simple photo of Jesus Christ
with him!

Well that was my week in a glimpse! I love you all so much! I hope you are
all doing okay with the passing away of Grandma Petersen on Sunday! I
know that we will all be able to live with her again as well as
Grandpa Hunt! You guys truly are all amazing! Thank you for all the
etters!

Love you all!
Love, Elder Albertson

 Chilling on the Beach! On a Rock in the water! Pretty Relaxing day!

 Another day just relaxing  on the Beach! Just North of Bodega Bay!

 Elder Teisina and I Just Kicking it!

 Elder Teisina and I saying our Goodbyes!

 Getting my New Missionary! Elder Dunlap from Ririe, Idaho!

 Elder Dunlap and Hermana Hardies first Dinner in the Mission! 

A Greenie Dinner! :) So much Fun! Oh and Also their Trainers!

 Baptism of Agustin Lopez! 

Such a great experience to see him 

enter the waters of baptism!