Labing dalawa days until the Philippines??! Ano Bayan???

Kumusta Fam!!!

AHG! All the photos of the grandkids are so cute! Please tell Branson and Kyra happy birthday for me! Also, please give all my cousins aggressive hugs and kisses for me.Tell London, Aaron, and Isaac that I'm waiting for their letters! They're getting so big and so cute! Jude's long hair will forever make me melt. I cant wait to see McKenna Junior!! Mom, you are looking so good it's not fair! I love all the photos you send me. You are all such attractive people. Especially Gma ;) Thank you for sharing.

Last night my district and I received our travel plans and we all screamed with excitement! Our hearts were exceedingly glad!! I love my district so much it's going to be sad to leave them. Luckily three out of the 6 will be going to Legazpi. The flight plans say that we fly from Salt Lake to Tokyo, Japan, then to Manila on the 19th! WOWOWOW. It's gonna be a long flight but I'm excited for the adventure.

This week has been fantastic. We learn about the gospel everyday and it never gets old. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ! Oh how grateful I am to be the Lord's servant and learn more and more about His doctrine everyday. Our devotional this past Tuesday was about keeping the commandments and being converted to the Lord. During our district discussion we started talking about what it means to be truly converted. Being converted unto Christ includes obeying the commandments and keeping your covenants. We learn as missionaries that we actually deprive investigators the opportunity of being convert when we don't invite or commit them to do something. I never thought of it that way...But it's so true!! Because Christ's restored gospel is true, investigators dont need to take my word for it. If they seek to know if something is true with diligence and sincerity, God promises that He will reveal the truth unto those who ask in prayer. Alam ko po na totoo! 

Another great experience I had was when we were in class and we got to dissect the 50th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. I love how it emphasized over and over again that we are to teach with the Spirit. We are not asking investigators to join the church for us, but for our Heavenly Father. Part of our purpose includes bringing God's children unto Him and helping others become closer to Him that they may feel of His love and find purpose in this life. Bearing our testimonies of what we know to be true to investigators will never be enough because they must learn of the truth for themselves. That's another thing I love and appreciate about this gospel. It's not on me or anyone to literally convert people. No one can do that except it be through the Holy Ghost and the Savior. My first couple of weeks I sort of struggled because I felt like it was on me to ensure that people are converted unto the gospel. I was secretly outcome orientated and it drove me nuts. I'm so grateful the MTC is teaching me how to teach with spirit and rely upon God more than I ever have before in my life. God is truly the at the head of this work. Alam ko po na God will bless my investigators and our lessons as I'm obedient to the commandments and missionary rules, have harmony with my kasama, study diligently and hard in both tagalog and in the gospel, and try my best every single day. I'm glad to say that no matter the outcome on my day, I gave the Lord my all and I will continue to do so for the next 17 months. 

I would invited you all to study the doctrine and gospel of Christ found in 2 Nephi 31 and Moroni 6. But this time, dont just read it. Ponder upon its teachings and read slowly. I especially love these chapters because  our heavenly father's plan for us is so simple and so plain, yet immensely powerful. I'm so grateful Christ atoned for our sins and God loves us enough to send us our Savior. 

I love my Savior so much and I feel His hand in my life everyday. I think one thing that's super hard is that sometimes we forget about Him and mistake our lack of remembrance to be his absence. He is and never will be absent from our lives because He loves so much! He died for us and literally felt every single pain in the world. He and the Father are the only ones who truly knows us and will help us when no one else can. If ever you feel alone, please don't deprive yourself. Turn to the Savior. He is your advocate to the Father and loves you unconditionally. 

Sometimes when we feel life is so hard, it's good to take yourself to Gethsemane and Calvary. Take yourself back to where the Savior suffered and bled for you. I promise you will come back feeling different. 

This week has been wonderful. Everyday is hard, but i love it. Weird huh? Haha. 

MahalMahalMahal Kita!!

Sister Delgado 

Getting our travel plans felt like getting a mission call all over again. SO MASIGLA

So another thing I did this week that I didn't mention in my last letter is that I was able to host new missionaries coming to the MTC. So that meant I had to watch parents say goodbye to their missionaries and take them to their new place to get settle. Took me back to literally a month ago when I first came here to the MTC. I'VE BEEN ON MY MISSION FOR A MONTH OMG! Haha so I was crying a lot that day too. 

Something funny I wanted to share was that my tagalog teacher sat me and kasama and our elder down to evaluate us on our tagalog. He asked us to say a couple of things in tag and ask us to share an experience to the best of our ability. So we all shared. Then after my teacher said that I was the best one at sharing experiences in tagalog because "she just goes for it and filipinos will at least be able to understand that" I thought that was super funny because I definitely wouldn't have thought that, but it makes me happy that I'm at least understandable. So thank you for your prayers for me in learning the language. It's coming and I'm so happy. Since it's my last week here I'm do my best to learn as much as possible AHG! I definitely have a long ways to go but I love it all. 

Thank you so much grandpa for the email about prayer. I love that scripture in Alma and have it marked in my scriptures. Indeed prayer is the key to heaven! You are amazing. I'm so grateful I have such a righteous family who loves me and keeps their commitments to God and keeps the commandments. I love you all so much and miss California. My feet hurt already and my skin is dry. But no worries because the Philippines will change all of that. I'll constantly be wet and my feet will have lost feeling. haha. 

Mahal Kita

Sister Delgado 

GRABE I MET ANOTHER SISTER DELGADO FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
 She's legit. Obvi bc she's a Delgado. I dont think we're related. But WOW!

Oh how I love these sisters!

Best zone ever!

I Feel My Savior's Love

Kumusta Pamilya! 

So this week has been pretty great! One of my favorite parts of the week is the Tuesday devotionals! But what made this week's devotional better than the previous ones was singing in the chior! We sang "I feel my savior's love" and oh wow it was beautiful. It sounded so wonderful. When we got to the part where we sing " He knows I will follow Him, give all my life to Him..." I cried SO much. The spirit was so strong. Brother Katcher from the quorum of the 70 spoke, and he talked about the kind of missionaries we ought to be, and how we should never deny God the opportunity to perform miracles for others and how we need to earn his trust.He also said that without our faith, God cannot perform miracles (Ether 12:12). Everything he said was sobra susi! (So Key). I loved everything he said to us because our mindset determines our faith and our capacity to serve. At the end of the devotional Brother Katcher asked us to not to give up on loved ones who do not want to accept the gospel because God will perform miracles and give tender mercies. 

My companion learn so much about teaching others every day. And I'm so grateful for the MTC because I know everything that I'm learning will truly bless the people of the Philippines. I know God called me to the Legazpi mission to meet the families in which He's prepared for them to accept His restored Gospel. 

One of the highlights of the week was when my kasama and I did TRC, which is where we teaching members of the church that speak tagalog. We got to teach Sister Konishi, and she moved to the states from Manila. Her daughter graduated from BYU when she was like 20 and is now graduating from BYU Law this May. Sister Konishi was so sweet to us. We all spoke tagalog and it really makes me happy because as we practice more and more, I understand SO much more! We honestly didnt teach her much because she was already an active member,  but we shared with her our a message of obedience bringing blessing and a couple of scriptures from the Helaman, then bore our testimonies in tagalog. Oh how I love bearing my testimony in tagalog. Before we said the closing prayer Sister Konishi started to cry because of how much she felt the Holy Ghost. It was such a tender moment for both my kasama and I. As a companionship, we've decided that we want to do all we can to always invite the spirit in every lesson we teach through strict obedience and having harmony with eachother. I would never want to deny anyone we teach the chance to feel the spirit of feel of its teaching because we were slacking off.

I'm so grateful for this gospel and I'm so grateful to be the Lord's servant. I'm giving Him my all and pray that He is pleased with my efforts. I love the Lord and am grateful for Christ's atonement. I'm so grateful Christ loved us enough to die for our sins and gave us an opportunity to return back to our heavenly father's presence. 

I love you all and would invite you to seek Heavenly Father through prayer and studying the scriptures. I know He loves you and will graciously help you as you seek Him. I testify that to be true.

Mahal Kita,

Sister Delgado

A temple worker said," Wherever you sisters are serving,
they should be prepared for a gospel explosion!" 

Is it already week 3?

Kumusta pamilya at mga kaibigan! 

So this week here at the MTC, We got to hear from the apostle M. Russel Ballard at our Tuesday devotional. And the previous Tuesday I got to hear from Elder Nelson! How lucky am I! 2 apostles in the span on 2 weeks! This is evidently the best time to be at the MTC. Although I am jealous Jeremy got to hear from Elder Holland when he was at the MTC in 19something. I'm still waiting for him to come though. I loved hearing from the apostles of the lord. Both brought powerful messages. 

Two new districts have joined our Philippines zone and I LOVE them already. I can tell they're feeling a little overwhelmed with all the tagalog thrown at them. BUT they're doing great. I love seeing incoming missionaries. 

So this week I learned a lot about the gospel and its role in missionary life. My district was selected to be an example class for teachers to evaluate how to teach their classes. So, it was like a workshop where MTC teachers observed  us while we were being taught by the teacher in charge of all the teachers. We were practicing how to invite someone to read the book of mormon. It felt like CHRISTMAS because I got to do in english. It felt so much easier. It reminded me that I need to be more patient with myself in striving the invite in tagalog. But as the weeks go by it's getting better. I love SYLing  (speak your language)  outside the classroom with my kasamas. Even though our tagalog isnt perfect, our teacher said it shows our desire and commitment to be fluent and strive to do what the Lord has asked us to do 24/7. 

Our teachers have been increasing their expectations of us and constantly driving us to be better and it's working. I've been learning more about the principles of baptism. Now last week, I said that our purpose as missionaries is to not simply baptize members, but to help them come unto Christ. However, the gateway is through baptism.

 Robert D Hales said " When we are baptized, we take upon ourselves the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Taking upon us His name is one of the most significant experiences we have in life. As we follow the example of Jesus, we, too, demonstrate that we will repent and be obedient in keeping the commandments of our Father in Heaven. When we understand our baptismal covenant and the gift of the Holy Ghost, it will change our lives and will establish our total allegiance to the kingdom of God. When temptations come our way, if we will listen, the Holy Ghost will remind us that we have promised to remember our Savior and obey the commandments of God."

I can testify this to be true because we absolutely need the gift of the holy ghost in our lives ensure that we can live in harmony with God's commandments and make and keep covenants with him. The MTC has so many amazing teachers teaching and strengthening my testimony and faith. An hour once a week isnt nearly enough to share it all. 

This week has been a little tough, but with God on my side, I feel entirely strengthened. Revelation 3:19 "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore,and repent."

I'd like to bear witness that this is truly the Lord's work at hand and His restored gospel. I'm so grateful the Lord loves us enough to bring us out of darkness and tell us exactly how to return to his presence. Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan ng ebanghelyo at pagsisisi, babalik po tayo ng Diyos. pahmagmahal ng Diyos. Tayo anak ng Diyos. Alam ko pa na totoo ng ebanghelyo. Naniniwala po ko nagmamahl ni Jesu Cristo at pinatay po siya ninyo para mga kasalanan. Alam ko po na sa pamamagitan ng espiritu santo, malalaman po ninyo ang katotohanan ng lahat ng bagay.

Sobra Mahal Kita 

Sister Delgado 

The Best District out there.

Happy Sisters

"Seek to understand before you seek to be understood"

Kumusta Pamilya!

I absolutely love receiving all your emails. They warm my heart so much and it makes me happy to know that you are all doing well. Don't be offended, but I thought it'd take a little longer to for me to miss you all, but I already do! Haha. I love you all and pray for you every night. I hope it continues to stay that way. 

I just realized in my last email I said "these past 3 weeks have felt like weeks" when I meant "these past 3 days have felt like weeks".... hahaha. I'm assuming you all got the memo. 

I'm starting to enjoy my time here at the MTC. My district and I are working hard everyday studying the scriptures, studying Tagalog, giving service to the facility. Now that I've been here for 10 days, my body has adjusted to the rigorous MTC schedule. At about day 5, I got super sick. The district next door to us got the flu, and with little sleep and no down time, I just crashed. I didnt want to go back to room at all. But after sacrament, one of our zone president's wife thought I didnt look well and sent me to my room. Thankfully I didnt get the flu, I just got an ugly cold. I definitely feel the Lord's hand in my time here. I feel Him blessing me to be alert and effective no matter how many hours of sleep I get. One of my favorite things to do here is play volleyball with Sister Killian and the Tongan elders serving in Cebu, Philippines. They are crazy good at volleyball! A good portion of the game turns into to dodge ball because of how hard they spike. Hahaha. 

I was able to see two people here at the MTC from my ward at BYU last semester Elder Keck (serving in Germany) and Sister Lui (serving in Taiwan). They brighten my day. I still adore my district. We're constantly laughing and smiling and having too much fun wherever we go. They all call me crazy kasama. aka crazy companion. I really don't know why. It's not like I'm crazy or anything... ;) It was definitely an adjustment getting used to being with a kasama 24/7, but I'm getting better at it. People are people. In our language class our teacher Brother Kaka wrote a quote on the board that said, "Seek to understand before you seek to be understood." I really like that quote. It helps me get along with my companion and try to see things the way she does. It helps me strive to be more diligent and patient with her when we're planning lessons for our investigators when we dont meet eye to eye. Everyone wants to feel adequate and valued, so it's important to consider others in all you do. 

My tagalog is progressing. I love it. We all set individual goals for ourselves as far as the language goes, and I've set some pretty high ones that I plan on achieving. They're insane, but I know the Lord will help me. I've been hearing that our flight to the Philippines is February 19, then we'll be staying at the Manila MTC for a couple of days. I'LL BE ABLE TO GO INSIDE THE MANILA TEMPLE AHH! YAY! I'm so excited to go. 

So our last investigator, Beverly taught me an abundance about being a missionary. She taught me that without the Holy Ghost present during our planning and during our lesson, nothing will be accomplished. Nothing. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which begins with baptism. Missionaries dont teach lessons. We teach people. Missionaries try to help with the needs of others by helping them feel of God's love by inviting them to join his restored church to receive the fullness of His blessings. The gospel is so plain and simple. Our lives should good and happy. They dont have to be hard. As long as we have the gospel in our lives, we will be happy. I can testify of that to be true because this is the happiest I've been in my long 19 years of living. Hahaha. Also, in learning about missionary work, it's important to know that a missionary's purpose isnt baptize investigators for the mere increase church statistics, but to rather invite them to understand the reality of Heavenly Father's plan and desire for all of His children to return to His presence. We can only reach the highest degree of His blessing through HIS priesthood authority. Through HIS gospel. Through HIS plan. I'm so grateful for the love God has for His children. My mission is teaching me a lot about who God really is and how he feels for his lost sheep. I especially feel this when I teach investigators. 

So I have to tell you, Beverly ended up being an MTC worker and former missionary from the Philippines. I'm so gullible I genuinely thought she wasnt a member. Her purpose as an investigator was to teach us what it would be like teaching a filipino. I about died when she came in our classroom and she introduced herself and our third teacher. I literally cannot tell you the amount of shock and embarrassment and happiness I felt all at once. It was weird/ funny/ I wish I wasnt so gullible. 

In the midst of still learning tagalog and teaching in tagalog, we map and script everything we'd say when teaching. I already told you I hated doing that, so I stopped. As the days go on, we're becoming more confident in simply preparing scriptures, experiences ,and our testimonies. It gets easier and we work hard in the language and in personal/ companionship study. I've come to learn that as  long as my kasama and I do our part in studying and being obedient to God, the spirit will take care of the rest.

This coming week, we'll be teaching two new investigators. They're actually our other language teachers that we've had for the last 10 days. Brothere Kaka and Sister Macklachi. Our district feels sort of intimated to teach brother Kaka because we know he'll make it challenging and will try our patience. But I know it'll be a great experience and I cant wait to tell you all what I'm learning.

Anyway, I love you all and hope you're doing well. Life is good. Be happy. :)

Mahal Kita,

Sister Delgado

We Love Class!

I adore these sisters :) 

         

Sister Snyder and Me at the Provo Temple

I definitely just saw this on my companion's computer....I'll get her back! 

Philippine Missions

Study Time

Temple Pics

It's already P Day? WAHOO!

Ang Pamilya! Kumasta po kayo! 

Wow. The past three days I've been here feel like weeks. The Missionary Training Center is awesome. I love it here. My day usually consists of hours of personal scripture study, companionship study, language study (aye nako), meals, devotionals, lectures, and then more language study. I have to say that I'm not used to being awake for like 16 out of the 24 hours in a day. I've probably averaged a good 6-5 hours of sleep every night because of how busy I am and how restless my mind is, but surprisingly I feel FANTASTIC! ish. haha. Thank goodness for my vitamins grandma! Salamat po! (thank you) 

Where to even start. SO much has happened and there is not enough time to write it all but I will do my best to share the most profound experiences I've had thus far. Also, if I make spelling or grammar mistakes, it's this computer's fault. Haha after I type something I cant click on it and fix it without deleting everything I've written in front of it. So please bare with me and the wonderful MTC technology. :-) 

I absolutely ADORE my district/ kasamas (companions)! We have 5 sisters and 1 elder. Poor elder has to put up with us sisters but he's a good sport. Two of the sisters are from Kiribati, Sister Mullen and Sister Bandibu. Sister Killian is from Washington. And Sister Snyder and Elder Madsen are from Hurricane Utah. Sister Snyder is my Kasama and is also going to Legazpi! And so is Elder Madsen! wahoo! WE are the funnest district. Our inside jokes are endless, we are always laughing. They make the hard times not so hard. haha. All of these wonderful missionaries lift me up and make me smile whenever things get hard. Nagpapasalamat po ako para kay sila. 

So I know you're all dying to know how I'm doing with the language. Let me just tell you. Even though I remember a good portion of tagalog, I still have to work hard. The tagalog I'm learning is more polite/ propper and there is gospel vocabulary we're learning as well. But sometimes I feel like a walking dictionary with my other kasamas. I'm glad I'm able to share with them what I do know, which is more than I thought I did. (Salamat po Dad and Mom Josie) After just one day of learning the language, our district already had to teach an investigator in tagalog. Once they told us that, my eyes popped out of my head. 

We were to teach a woman from the Philippines, who moved to the U.S to work. She is alone and her husband died. She grew up Methodist, but because her life is so hard, she's starting to question if there even is a God. You all know I would have so much to say to her in english, but in Tagalog I knew would be such a challenge. 

So my kasama and I prayed for her and prepared a lesson for her in tagalog. We figured out what we wanted to say and translated it. It was almost like we were reading a script, and I hated that. I'm not one to completely prepare myself when I give a talk. I like to bullet point concepts and let the spirit guide what I say. But this lesson basically constrained me and it was painful. During our lesson however, we did let her know our father in heaven does love her and asked her to read Alma 7: 11-12 in the tagalog Book of Mormon, and also an excerpt from a pamphlet that also talks about Christ's atonement. She said "Ang Magaling" after she read, so it's safe to say that she liked it. The spirit was strong during our lesson because she could just see in our eyes how much my kasama and I cared for her and how much her father in heaven loved her too. I've come to find that I get attached to my investigators and cry a lot. We've been teaching lots a handful of investigators, so you can imagine how emotionally drained I get. But in Beverly's case, I felt especially sad because it felt like I couldnt give her all of me, or the real sister Delgado because of how illiterate I was. At the end of the lesson, Beverly said she would pray to feel God's love, as we asked her to to feel God's love and to know he's there. After that lesson though, Sister Snyder and I walked back to class. Sister Synder was content with our lesson, but I carried such a heavy heart. When we got back to our language class Brother Kaka, who served in Manila and is our tagalog teacher explained to me and my kasama that we CANNOT measure the success of our lesson on what we said, but rather if we met the needs of our investigator and if they will make commitments that we set for them to draw closer to the savior. That made me feel a lot better. But from that point forward, I recommitted myself to do better next time and to not get so discouraged. I've only been here for three days and have learned so much, but I know I have so much more to learn to be a better missionary. This mission means the world to me. Even though I dont know them yet, the filipinos I will teach and help prepare a way from them to join the restored church of Jesus Christ mean the world to me. My life is changing. I can feel it. Every night before I go to bed, I think about my day and what I learned, then I start translating my thoughts in tagalog. Which keeps me up until I fall asleep. But it's amazing. I'm truly feel the Lord's gift of tounges upon me as diligently study and help my district. My branch president President Howard gets a kick out of me being half filipina and went crazy about my hair. Made me smile. 

Well Fam that's all I got for this week. Hope you are all doing well. Dont worry about me. Life is wonderful. 

Mahal Kita 
Sister Delgado

My District! :)

My Filipia Sisters from Naga and Manilla :)

Kasama!! My Companion!