January 24, 2011

Dear Family:

I am way jealous that you guys are in Indiana!!! Give Izzy big hug and kiss for me:) I am also way jealous of the guys golfing at Wingpointe! I miss golf a lot! But I am not thinking about golf as much as I thought. Question though, one of the missionaries told me about the R11 and how it is all white? Tell me about please? I miss hearing about all the changes in the golf equipment. Also side note dad next month is when odyssey is coming out with a putter that is like Phil's if I remember correctly so check it out:)

So Mom you said that you enjoy visiting your grand kids, so I was thinking when I get back we should go to Florida, stop in at Indy on our way, and go to Disneyworld! It sounds so much fun! Just a though:)

So to answer your questions: Transfer news is today. I haven't heard the official word yet, but the assistance told us that we are staying in the same area which I am very happy to hear. The work is really starting to pick up right now and the work is great here. So I am almost 100% sure we are both staying here for a while. Transfers here you stay for a very long time. A lot of missionaries here who are past a year have only served in two places. Not all are like that but some. Either way, I will go and do what the Lord wants me to do.

The schools here are very different. What they teach and have the students do is very different than back home. The education system here could use some help but what can you do? I don't really know if they use latterns in the morning or anything, I have never really gone to one. Where I am, the houses are buildings, or at least parts of buildings. They are almost like unfinished buildings. So no huts but pretty much. Our apartment is nice though. We have water, electricty, so we are good to go. Speaking of which today I am going to make a withdrawl from my account. I am buying a "washing machine" today. Missionaries will buy them so they don't have to hand wash. I am not a fan of hand washing and having done it for one month have caved and am buying one. It will be about 250 cedis so maybe $170 or so. I am just going to take out 300 so i am not to sure how much that is in dollars but yeah just to let you know. the machine will be better, it cleans better and takes a lot less time. So yeah:) You know me:)

So as for the BOM and the scripture bags. I have given the BOM to a young man who lives close to our house. He is around our age, and we never taught him till now. They other missionaries who were here with us were teaching him and then dropped him. But everyday he would always call my name so we thought well, let's see if we have better luck since he seems to like me. Thus far we have been teaching a lot, we are now on lesson 3 and I gave him the copy of the BOM. He is keeping his promises and has a good chance of Baptizing.

As for the scripture bags I have given one to Sis. Maybell. She was my first baptism, she is our age, and just recently had her baby. I thought she deserved it after all she has been through and she is holding strong in the church. She carries her scriptures in the bag which is cool to see. I will probably be handing out more of that stuff soon.

As I said things are going really well here. We are working hard everyday and have a very large teaching pool. This past week we taught 34 lessons (3 w/ member present, 27 other lessons, and 4 Recent convert lessons). We don't really have a standard of excellence thing here but I have my own standard. And we are achieving it every week. I figure if we have over 30 lessons a week and are having a baptism either once or twice a transfer then we are doing great. We have 14 progressing investigators right now. We have another baptism on Feb. 5th and we are hoping to have quite a few. Right now we have 3 set for then but are hoping to have more by then. This baptism is going to have a lot of young candidates. Our youngest is around 13-14 (but is a very bright girl), and then the others are 16-20. It is neat seeing them embrace the gospel. Our branch is growing very well. Our school building for a meeting house is just not cutting it but we are waiting for them to begin to build the chapel. They have the land but the members need to pay their tithing and then we will be able to have a chapel.

So the baptism. Bro. Davies was baptized on Saturday! He is the most prepared individual I have ever seen for baptism. He has been reading his BOM is in 2nd Nephi, has finished Our Heritage and Gospel Principles. His faith and testimony are amazing. We really didn't teach him. We gave him a pamphlet,he would read it and then teach us about it. He truly is a fruit that will remain. He is old (late 60's early 70's sorry Aunt Sandra) but truly will remain in the church. I keep thinking about the scripture that says and you are able to bring one soul unto me, I have had now 6 baptisms that I could be a part of but he is definitely one that will be remain and be a strong member. I hope all of them do but he definitely will. The baptism was with our entire district. As a district we had about 25 people baptized. And a camera crew from SLC were here. They were filming a video for the PR department about missionary work that the church does and so they filmed it. You might want to ask Uncle Bart about it. But we made sure as a district that everything was perfect and it was. President Sabey said that it was the best baptism he had been to so that was really great! But yeah it was neat, the Spirit was there, and the camera crew. I was on camera no big deal:)

Yesterday though my companion and I had a very cool experience. So Friday we met with Bro. Davies and (oh and his last name is spelled Davis but pronounced Davies so maybe he is related to Steve:):), asked us to give his wife a blessing. She had a stroke a while ago and hasn't fully recovered yet. We said sure - Sunday we will come and do that. We fasted Sunday because we knew we would need all the help we could get. All day I kind of felt like I should bless her despite my track record (the first guy died two weeks later) but I didn't want to say anything. We got there and we explained the 3 parts to a blessing: faith of the individual and their family, the faith of the person giving the blessing, and the will of God. Bro. Davies told us he had faith, his wife had faith, and he understood the will of God. So my companion turned to me and said which do you want to do. I sat for a second and then said I'll bless and he said I feel that you should too which gave me a lot of comfort and confidence. So he anointed her and I blessed her. It was short but I feel like I said what was needed to be said. Now we will see how she does. I remember part of what I said, but feel like maybe that will be a post mission discussion. I don't know why but that's what I am thinking.

This week I have truly been learning a lot. I have been reading the BOM and I am somewhere in Alma. It is neat seeing all the references to Christ and what is tied to the reference. The one phrase I have noticed a lot is "through the blood of Christ." As I have thought about that phrase I see how important it. It because of the Garden of Gethsemene that we have the chance to repent, be forgiven for our sins, and return to our Father in Heaven. The Savior truly was the only one who could have come and be the Savior and Redeemer of the world. It is through His blood that we can come unto the Father. We truly are "ingraven on the palms of his hand." I know that many drops of His blood were for me, and I am forever indebted to Him. |I see the atonement in two ways: the first it always reminds us to repent, but also we can use it as a help and motivator to do what is right. He was mocked, ridiculed, beaten, and ultimately died for us; if I do what is right then I am not adding to the burden He took upon himself. I have truly enjoyed reading Jesus the Christ. I enjoy better understanding my Savior and gaining a personal relationship with Him.

I have also had 3 thoughts really come to my mind. The first was a quote that I reread in Gospel principles about service by Spencer W. Kimball. It said to the effect that you find yourself as you serve. A mission is the place to find out who you truly are. You always hear a mission is the best two years of your life. I believe it is the best two years for your life. It is hard, but great at the same time. As you serve God, you find yourself. You discover who you are and who you want to become. The next thought came from reading in Jesus the Christ and Gospel principles under talents and abilities. I have learned that even before we came to earth we each had varying abilities, talents, and power. This ties into the first thought about finding yourself. You learn what yours were. The last thought came to me at the baptism. I was seating thinking and almost as a joke thought "What am I doing here? A Mexican in Africa haha?" It really was a joke thought - you know the kind that make you smiles. but then the Spirit hit me. He helped me see that every baptism, every investigator were the reason I am here. I am the one who was called here so that I can help them and touch their hearts in some way. I am the one that is there inviting the Spirit to teach them. It was neat. A joke turned into a learning experience.

Well My time is up! I love you all and appreciate your sacrifice on my behalf! I miss you and love you all very much!

Love your son and brother

Elder Ryan S. Alba