Everyday is a chance!

Hello Family! It’s another great Monday! And we had a great week this week.  Im sorry if my email isn’t up to par, I know sister Pilkington is pretty great at writing in more detail so you can read her emails if you’re feeling up to it :)

Back to the 80's

On last Monday, we are trying to try new things so we ate at “Tito Bob Taco’s” it’s like tacobell but not because its in the Philippines! But it was pretty good! Then that night we had and FHE at a Families house and invitited some of our investigators and enjoyed a lesson on Unity and we played, the knot game, it was the first time I’ve done it that it didn’t work because there were so many little crazy kids ha but it was still fun!

The Knot Game 

The Knot Game 2

SO this last week we had transfers on Tuesday and I have been here for a quite a long time, I thought for sure I would be the one to be transferred, but that’s what I get for assuming :) I am still here in the Blessed Mandama with my beloved companion, Sister Pilkington! The work is still progressing like crazy here in Mandama and we found three new families this week and one of which was able to come to church yesterday and they made some friends really fast! This family is the Dabued family, their dad is working abroad and sister Jona lives in a nice subdivision, next door to a member with her daughter, Mitchie (11) and her two nieces, they are great and very interested to learn about the Gospel so of course, we are very excited to teach them!  The Llego’s also came to church again yesterday and Brother Fritz literally knows everyone, it’s the best! Sister Pilkington and I have made teaching families our goal.

We had our District Meeting on Friday this week and sister Pilkington got to give the workshop, we did it on opening our mouths and talking to everyone so that we can be effective instruments in sharing the gospel with heavenly father’s children! We opened it up to all the missionaries in the zone, they pitched in some ideas of how we can be more effective in finding and helping others come unto Christ. Then Elder K (his name is really long and hard to pronounce, so we just call him elder K) gave a spiritual instruction, he is from Sri Lanka, the same place as sister Jayaweera. I learned a lot from him about our desires in life. In thecounrty of SriLanka, there are no missionaries, they were pulled out in 2006 (I believe) and so  the only way they can get baptisms and help the church grow,is through the members. He shared a story about how he basically built the branch in his area and then moved to a place 2 hours from his house with a companion to build a branch that started with 6 people and he as a branch missionary, served full-time. He ended with saying that if we want something to happen in our lives, it starts with us. If we desire success, we will get it. “if you want it, you’ll get it.” I know his words are true and I know that “We gunna smash it!”. I am so grateful for the inspiration of my leaders. His story gave me a whole new meaning on the phrase “if there’s a will there’s a way”.

A Tree House

This has been a loaded week and I am just as excited for this next week because we have a straight week of work, no meetings, no transfers and we’re gunna hit it hard this week! President Dahle comes in this Friday and we are excited to meet him and support him as he becomes the new president of the Philippines Olongapo Mission.

I love you, Have a great week this week!

Love, Sister Rossberg

Sister Pilkington's 1 Year mark

Yes, he is 18 years old

This is life eternal

GOOD MORNING Family! And Happy father’s day to all the great Father’s out there, I love you and I hope you had a great day. Know you are appreciated and Heavenly Father knows you are doing your best for your family, so keep doing your best and I know the Lord will bless you! This week has been a whirl wind of a week Last Sunday, that family I mentioned, did come to church and man, they are beautiful! The girls enjoyed and stayed all three hours. 

Llego Family

Then on Monday, we had a mission wide activity, where we played field day activities and had a blast with the full mission, it was supposed to be because we met our goals, we didn’t quite get there, but we did beat the record, and mainly Filipinos just love parties.. and President leaves on the 30^th so it was kinda like a Farwell party for him too. Then afterwards, we got to go to Olongapo and eat at a MEXICAN food place, it was like Costa Vida or Chipotle. it was good :)

Mission Activity

Then Tuesday we worked real hard because we want to. And.. we were supposed to have a competition this week against the Zone Leaders.. (yea, we beat them). We had a great time finding families and loving the work! And we had our last Mission President interviews this week with President Querido. We will definitely miss him and I can’t thank him enough for all the love and support he has given me at the time of my life. He is amazing and I am so excited for him and sister to continue with their life. We also had exchanges this week with the sisters in Abucay, I love them and they are doing great, they have a pretty small area so we were working with them on finding and being happy in the WORK! They are the best! I love being able to work with the sisters and help them further their work too in their respective areas. When I got back from exchanges, all the people were so surprised that I was back, they had all thought I got transferred! But not yet, I love mandama and it was good to be back after being gone for a couple days, it gave me a new perspective on the work and we were able to find and teach some good lessons on Friday when I got back to my area.

It rained for like 6 days  this week straight and the water got pretty high, it started to flood but thankfully it has been sunny today and yesterday so maybe we can get our laundry done and get our clothes to dry and.. it just started pouring! … Welcome to the Philippines. :)

We also had stake conference yesterday about 45 minutes away, in Orani and it was a satellite broadcast form Salt lake just for the Philippines, so that made us feel special ;). It was really good and TWO OF MY RECENT converts were advanced to the Melchizedek Priesthood yesterday(Ronaldo Pesquisa and Adrian Aleta). I was so happy to raise my hand to sustain and support them. Big gulps huh? Wellp see ya later!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love Sister Rossberg

Eating Frogs

Forget the past and face the future

HI FAMILY!! What another great week it feels like March just ended but June just started! I don’t know where the days go. This will be the fourth week sister Pilkington and I are companions and it’s still going great. The families we are finding every week are doing so great and they bring the most joy to my life, we can never be in sad when we go into their houses because they just have such a desire and love to learn about the gospel and become part of this great work. So speaking of which, an update on my lovely  Llego family is that they are doing great, Brother is slowly getting down to less and less cigarettes every day and most days he dose’nt even think to smoke. He said he just reads the Book of Mormon and wants to invite his boss to listen to our message as well to maybe soften his heart so that he can have Sunday’s off and be able to go to church with his whole family on Sundays. I love them and I just pray I will still be here when they enter into the waters of baptism as a family!

So this week was the first time my whole mission I got to knock on real doors and.. our area isn’t the most wealthy area but we went into a subdivision and  it felt like America because the houses were big, far apart and the first two we knocked on were duds, one wasn’t home and the second one, slowly closed the door and locked it without even letting us say even a word. But we were persistent and only on the third door, we saw a little girl who had just run inside and a mom inside the gate , so we went to knock on their door and before we could even say three words, the lady opens the gate and says, yes, come in! We were shocked, we didn’t want to stay long because their whole family wasn’t home so we talked for a second and then set up a time to be able to come back and share with their whole family.

So this week I will be 6 months in Mandama and I cannot believe that I have stayed here that long… if any of you have looked at Mandama, Bataan Philippines on the google maps, you would see that it is not a big area and its all surrounded in Farms which have little to no houses. I love it here and have been positive even when people tell me how small my area is… I know that I cannot give up on Mandama, not now. I know the Lord has helped and prepared people for sister Pilkington and I to find and help come unto Christ. We just have to find them!

The ward is doing good too! The Bishopric is reorganized and we also have a new EQ presidency and this week they will call a new RS. The bishop and President have asked us to  give a special focus on those youth who are of missionary age but have not left yet and are still contemplating serving missions. We have been inviting those of age and all the youth for that matter to work with us and I encourage you too back home to work with the missionaries and help them find the people searching for the truth and to feel just a little bit of the joy that comes from sharing the gospel. The Lord needs missionaries. And all of you that are of age, 18 or older for boys and 19 or older for girls to be ready to serve Our Lord. I know this is the work of the Lord and he will no0t fail us. I’m sorry for my emails but I hope you have a great week and  thank you for your love and support!

Love sister Rossberg

Chocolate and Peanut Butter

Hello family!! This week has been crazy good!

So this week sister Pilkington and I are hitting it hard, Mandama, Bataan is NOT gunna know what hit them! We set some good goals this week and were trying to be better to follow the promptings of the spirit and be more obedient when those promptings did come. I learned that the only way to do that is to do it!  I have read the spirit to be described sometimes as a hunch or a thought but we know that these thoughts or hunches are not our own and we best act on them right away or we may not have the chance to do it later.

So this week we put those plans into action and scheduled a lot of time for finding and working with the members. And so we made a goal to talk to and invite at least 10 people to listen to our message everyday (we call them I2Ls). On Friday night when we came home and were planning, going over the day’s activities, we counted our ‘I2Ls’. We only had 9. I looked at sister Pilkington, she looked at me and we said let’s go! We ran out the door and planned to go up the street and invite the first person we saw to listen. I forgot to put shoes on and we booked it up the street and around the corner from our house, we talked to a couple who were outside and invited them to listen and said we could come back when it was a little bit earlier. We smiled, thanked them and left. Once we got around the corner, we booked it home to and finish planning. So that was a fun finding activity to spice up the day.

I know that the Lord has put sister Pilkington and I together for a reason and I have already learned so much from her as to what I can do to become a better messenger and advocate of the truth. I love her excitement and enthusiasm for the work, it really is contagious! We also have been working out and it has helped us to have more energy to talk to people and teach lessons every Day.

I know that life here on earth is precious and we can’t afford to take even one day for granted. I know the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us and it is up to us how we do with that plan. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can all be saved but it is up to us what we choose to do in this life and how to change whether it is for the better or worse! The atonement is the way and being humble enough is the key. This week I grew a little more in my faith and I learned that through being exactly obedient, we can feel that we are doing the right thing and the Lord has got our backs in the righteous choices that we make.

Love you, 

Sister Rossberg

Parade saves the day

GOOD Morning!! This has been a good week! Sister Jayaweera and I had a blast with the last couple days that we had together, on Monday we had a great family home evening with a couple families in the Ward and played some fun games to help build some unity. I loved it and we got to say goodbye to some of the members too in Mandama.

Tuesday we thought it was the last day of the transfer and were visiting all our goals for the month of JUNE. We went to Visit Nancy but when we got there,  she was out watering her garden and taking care of her mango trees, so we took a few minutes and helped her! I loved it, sometimes I do just what they warn about in Preach My Gospel and forget that we are here to help these people in every aspect of their lives. SO I was so glad to be able to help her even with a simple task as that. It is also in the Filipino culture that they are so hospitable that when you ask to help, half the time they are too shy to let you help them so when people let us help them, we jump on the opportunity! As we finished up watering and helping her in the garden, we taught her a lesson and ate mangos as the sun went down. It was great!

Picking Mango

Wednesday, our plans got all mixed up because transfers were actually on that night so we went to visit the Llego family. THEY ARE THE BEST. and they live in one of our further areas(even though all our areas are pretty close its further than most) but for some reason it always rains when we got to their house. And it just so happened that it was crazy thunder and lightening and within one minute of walking in their house the rain just starts coming! I don’t think it has poured that hard since last July! The Llego’s are a family that we found through our own finding efforts but I am so grateful for them! They are soaking up the gospel and I have loved watching  them change as they learn what they need to do to come closer to Christ. Tet and Fritz Llego and they have 3 kids; Ayla, Vin, and Princess. Brother Fritz used to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day and has gone down to 10 before we taught him the Word of Wisdom. And when we returned on Saturday night, he was already down to just 5 a day and has been trying really hard not to drink alcohol even just for social reasons. On Wednesday night we tried sharing with them a good spiritual lesson in the pouring rain so we had to get real close and speak in loud voices but they all listened so well. Even the little kids! This family is amazing and I know they will come to receive the gospel but I would ask all of your help to pray for these families, it is not easy, I know that trials are coming but they can do  it and  we all can because Heavenly Father is on our side when we follow his commands.

Llego family

On Thursday we got our new companions and SISTER PILKINGTON, from California is my new companion, I never thought in a million years we would be companions but I am so grateful for her and for the inspiration to continue to find and work hard in Mandama... 

Yesterday, after church, we were crossing the street to walk from the plaza to our next appointment and this 'girl' saw us and crossed the road too and started following us up the road when all the sudden there was a parade and a bunch of little girls dressed up and walking down the street to the plaza with a band. so we went on the other side and she got lost in the parade. then we ran into one our recent converts and talked to them for a little while.. its funny how the Lord works in mysterious ways!  I have been here for 5 months and have gone through  3 companions already, just here in my third area but I am so grateful for the time I have been blessed to spend here and to be with people I love. Our goal is to help Bishop strengthen the Ward and work more in unity so we are planning some good activities for the Month of June and more to come in July! Thank you for your help in strengthening the church wherever you are. I love you and hope you have a great week!

k love you bye,

SISter RossBERG

find.love.teach

Good week this week. Last Monday I was so glad to be able to talk with my family and I’m sorry I didn’t get to talk with you all but im sure Ill see you soon! So last Monday after skype, we ate at this pizza place in Dinahlupihan and got everything ready for Zone conference on last Tuesday. When we got home we jammed out to Mormon Tabernacle Choir and made no bake cookies in a kawali! Then we went out to work and visited a bunch of investigators and and some members to bring them cookies. There was a great FHE at a members house and we were privileged to share the message for that family.

Tuesday we has Zone Conference in Orion  chapel, it was very good and I learned lots.. of how we can all be better leaders, more dedicated and obedient servants of Heavenly Father, no matter what our calling is! That was also the last conference of President and sister Querido, this is their last transfer here on the mission and we will miss them so much! They have been the best mission parents who have helped me get used to and love the Philippines and especially the people and the culture here. They have served for three years and I am so excited for them to get caught up with the lives of their kids, four of them have gotten married since they have been out and have all moved to Hawaii so I am sure they are ready to get back into the groove of things and continue to serve in the capacity that they have here in Olongapo mission. I am so grateful for their service and love towards us!

After Zone conference the next day was Wednesday and we were all fired up to work and work like crazy. We are still finding here in Mandama and I have loved it , I love finding families and individuals that are ready and waiting for the blessings of the gospel in their lives. We are teaching some great families right now and we can definitely feel the opposition in this work but I know that we are the Lord’s side and he will not let us fail if we are doing what is right and following all his commandments! Then on Saturday we had a baptism! Brother Adrian Aleta was baptized and his family came!!! :) what a great baptism, he has worked hard for that day and I know that his family will be so blessed for the changes Adrian has made in his life. I am so grateful for the success and the support of the ward and the couple missionaries for brother Adrian! And yesterday was church, I had the privilege to speak in sacrament meeting and there was also a wedding of one of the investigators of sister Taylor and sister Echon! It was great, I think my first really wedding I have seen my whole life.. that I remember at least but it was exciting because now they can be baptized and start on the path to be married again in the temple.. in one years time!!

I love all of you and I thank you for your prayers and support keep working hard in your wards and stakes where you live, I know you will see the fruits of your labors in the right time. Have a great week:)

Mother's Day Skype Session

Sister Rossberg over Skype on Mothers Day

We had a great Skype session with Sister Rossberg tonight.  It was wonderful to feel her spirit and see how much she has grown.

The only thing that she wanted from us was some mango recipes, because it is mango season.

Brent wanted Abbi to feel at home, so he wore headphones too.