Thursday, October 28, 2010

10/25/10

Nick didn't actually email today, but we received this little note from the zone leader who's family is in my ward...

OK starting out Elder Albano, I love the kid. Of course i knew for like 2 weeks while i was his zone leader and did divisions with him and we figured it all out about his sister in the Smith family. He is a great missionary, he works really hard. He was with an Elder not so obedient but he handled it well and now he has a great companion who is Elder Javier. They are in a beautiful part of San Luis Potosi. It is a branch and they usually have tons of success out there, tell his family he is a great Elder and i love him.

Made my day : )

10/18/10







Guten nachte!
how art thou? i am glad to hear all is well. and mom, i hope you can forgive me!
who knows what happened last week, but i didn´t write and i am dreadfully sorry.
Wait no! i do know what happened!
I was on a bus almost the whole day, because i got changed from Irapuato to my new home in! Matahuala! Its the furthest area north for our mission, and actually, wasn´t even in our mission until about 3 months ago.
So! I have a new companion, Elder Javiere, who has about 8 or 9 months in the mission. he´s a neat guy.
I really like this place, not that i should care. Its really small, theres only one other companionship, and 2 branches. But i like it in the short time i have been here. Today we climbed a mountain, here! i will show you some pictures! in the last one is my companion, on my left hand side! closest to me! yep, thats him! neat huh?
ummmm
i´ll tell you a swell experience i had.
we went to lunch with a member of our branch, and her family.
well, we were about to eat these things that taste pretty good, but i always have a tough time downing, i think they´re called sope, and they´re basically tacos, but flat, and with a really thick tortilla. anyways,
i ate too many of them one time and now they give me this nauseous nostalgia (dont judge me for my spelling)of that occasion.
well, i sat down to eat them, with a little worry, as the hermana brought out more and more.
but then they turned on the tv and we watched this burned dvd of beautiful landscapes with smooth latinny mexican music, and i found myself at peace.
i don´t know why i felt inspired to tell you that. its just something about eating with members, and being in mexico, that i would like to share with you, because it brings me great happiness.
You have to eat what people give you! and its not a problem really, because you´re usually starving. did i tell you about the time the time the lady turned on the techno beats?
anyways, i wont waste more of your time.
PENSAMIENTO ESPIRITUAL!!!
i was talking about something two weeks ago, but i can´t remember what.
But i spoke in church yesterday, i dont think anybody was listening, because i probably didn´t make any sense,
but i´ll share a scripture that i think i shared yesterday, with you!
pablo dijo!
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith: prove your own selves.
Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
this makes me think of something i started to learn, and i say started to learn because im still trying, about the scriptures, and about prayer.
really the purpose, and the way we aquire and strengthen our testimonies, our beliefs.
this scripture is in 1 john, 2:21
i have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it...
When i have read the scriptures, when i have read them with faith, really searching for answers, really pondering over what i have read, and praying beforehand to ask for help in this aspect,
I find i don´t learn anything new.
I feel as if i find the words that were already within me. I feel as if i remember something i already knew, or i am given hope in something i had already hoped for.
the testimony, for me, is that that which i find, mirrors the yearning of my soul. in the times when i have questioned everything, fought to find a way out of believing, i have lucked, (or better yet recieved a little help), i have remembered something.
You cannot cheat yourself.
Even though you feel as if you are completely crazy to believe in something or someone like God, shoot! people talking outloud with arms folded and eyes closed and nobody around, and no, they aren´t talking to themselves!!! really, Its crazy! its absolutely ridiculous!
IF you skip out on faith
Its a rule! its a huge rule! one that we like to try to ignore at times! or that we don´t understand.
God has promised each and every one of us, that if we ¨ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you...¨ Moroni 10:4
I have a testimony of Christ, i have a testimony of God, his words in the Bible and in the Book of Mormon, and his words through living prophets today.
Search these things, and your life as well, with a hope to find, and you will. we all have the truth within us. align it with these gifts of God
I love you!
I wish you a nice week!
and have to go!
adiós
Elder Albano






Saturday, October 2, 2010

New Pictures!





9-27-10

Howdy y´all
Hows it going huh? I didn´t find glasses, because i can see close fine, its just distances that i have trouble. but it really doesn´t matter unless im trying to catch a bus and cant read where its going. No its not a big deal.
Horay! for street vibrations and the community show! did you catch a glimpse of grry? im sure he was there, ha!
Im not sure if im going to see much of general conference, i certainly hope so, but if we continue working like we are we won´t have any investigators to bring and we´ll probably be out in the streets!
the weathers dandy, it just started raining out of the blue, just now! I cant imagine having to knock doors in 101 degrees, and i hope it remains that way. Why do you think im discouraged? IM NOT DISCOURAGED!
I would be discouraged if i thought i was capable of this work.
im attaching photos, cause i don´t have anything to say!
the first is me after too many tacos. TOO MANY TACOS! no, this is when my face was swollen, before it started to puss, like a month and a half ago.
the second is called MAKING QUESADILLAS, i was in charge of the quesadillas while my companion created ¨frijoles puercos¨ i guess an authentic meal known only where he´s from...cinaloa, or something like that.Next is TORTA WITH PEOPLE SINGING, from today, when i ate a torta and people started singing.
luego, WALMART! i thought it was funny.
finalmente, a picture of part of CENTRO. where we ate the tortas! and where the mail office is!
PENSAMIENTO ESPIRITUAL
is following! we were walking, and i said to my companion, pointing to a hunched lady on a curb, ¿que le parece si placticamos con esta Señora?
how does it look if we talk to this woman...more or less, who turned out to be a member, selling peanuts and seeds, and whose two daughters were selling chicklets at a stop light. Apparently she had been a member for many many years, was teaching in Relief Society (she proudly noted) but felt as if she was judged by the sisters there, and decided to never return to the church again. She said she had learned much, but felt as if everyones words were beautiful but the actions ugly.
I tried talking to her, asking her why she was baptized, why she let these imperfect people get in the way of her following Christ, why she couldn´t forgive them, and a whole bunch of other things. But all in all, although she told me she had forgiven these people, it was clear she hadn´t, and she let this separate her from God.
i read once that pride is the universal sin. i reckon that means that everyone in the world has to overcome it. really, its the natural man we each have within us. the problem being its so easily seen in others and so difficult to see in ourselves.
but what do we let get in the way of our relationships with others, and what do let get in the way of our relationship with God?
really, this lady because of her pride, let other people choose for her. she let their actions stop her from partaking in the sacrament, from learning, overcoming, and following the Savior. Now her children suffer, and they don´t even know it. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught that we can choose to be offended, or we can choose not to be. It is very much a choice, and one that decides to whom we give our agency, the only thing we truly own. THE MORAL!!! We must never cease to forgive, just look how the Savior forgives us
¨for behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend on the same Being, even God...? Mosiah 4:19
im gunna go, i love you, and forgive you for not sending more swedish fish.
o yeah! i got the package! and the swedish fish! and the stickers! nice work with the stickers! I got a letter from Sister Racconi too! and Riley! Thanks alot!
Let all learn from these good people!
thanks!
ok, im gunna go, i love you! till next time huh!?!