Rain, Rain, Mud for Days

February 8, 2016

Hola todos!

Ant hill taller than her comp!

So this week I really have no time. My comp has surgery in like half an hour.Hahah. But this week I definitely felt like I was in a jungle because it has been SOOOOO hot and then when you get to the point that you think you can't go any longer it rains. Oh blessed hot rain....where vapor rises from the asphalt on the street. It is crazy! Then it is cooler for like 3 hours and then it is hot again. But hey...i will take fresh and cool for a little bit.

So this week we were able to work almost normally. I love my comp. She makes me laugh quite frequently. We are working to help those that are progressing to really make the big step towards baptism at the end of this month. We were able to teach Juana and she was able to accept a baptismal date for the 5th of March. We will see how it goes. The great thing is that she is already married! Win!!! Love that!! 

Our guide to an investigator's home

I have been studying a lot about how as a missionary I can make the sabbath day a delight when it really just feels like any other day, but as I have studied the scriptures I have found that the Sabbath Day is really all about forgetting oneself and trying your very hardest to do all the things the lord would do, say, and feel on that day. As we ask ourselves this question it becomes super clear and I can testify that the day becomes a delight and something different from the rest of the week! 

I also found a killer scripture in Alma 5:40 that really defines how I feel about the work and my part in it! I hope that you all have a great week and remember who you are and that the Lord is calling each and every one of us to do a great work. We just have to call upon him to know what, when, and how, and then be willing to go and do!!!

Love,

Hermana Albach

More photos:

Ouch!

Frozen bananas keep us cool!

Beautiful countryside

Ah! Blue skies.

Rural Paraguay

Don't Give Up...You. Are. Loved.

February 1, 2016

Hey all,

So this week was full of good-byes and hellos. It was definitely bittersweet to leave Rama 2 (Encarnacion) and so very many people that I love and hope for the best. You just end up giving your heart to these people and areas. It is amazing that I still have any left to give. But I do! Had a great finish to my time with Hermana Castillo. I learned so much from her and she made me a card with a dead grasshopper covered in glitter. That is unique and memorable!! ;) 

Thursday came way too fast and I was headed with my new comp H. Velàsquez to Obligado which is about an hour away from Encarnaciòn on bus. What the what? I left Encarnaciòn.....if I had stayed until the 25th of February I would have been in Encarnaciòn for an entire year!! Crazy! But hey. My new area is HUGE and gorgeous. It is a German community but they speak Spanish too. So it is really pretty and the people are blonde and white. Freaks me out. Not used to seeing so many blondes or people with colored eyes. 

We did some nursing stuff with H. Velasquez because she just so happens to be the same girl that was hit by the motorcycle. I have been able to do some infected wound care and that has been fun....maybe just for me and not so much for her. Hahaha. We visited a recent convert and then he came to church.....two weeks in a row now. Super great! Church was great. Way different. Still leading the music. Fun stuff. And rocking the primary participation where they give us snacks. All about that life. It truly is like a green version of Montana to me. Lots of farming and fields and open skies. I LOVE IT! I am excited for the weeks to come and to see the progress and work we can get done here in this new area. A scripture I found this week that was awesome for me was Acts 20:19. So true and just what the mission is all about. LOVE IT!!! 

Well I hope this email finds you all well and happy and that you remember how important you are all. Don't give up. In the words of Josh Groban "remember that you are loved!!!!" Sorry my comp is really trying to learn english so I write down lyrics for her in english and the last one/first one was this song. But it is SO TRUE!!!

Love,

Hermana Albach

Obligadooooooooooo!

January 25, 2016

Hola todos!!!

Just a few of the faces I'm going to miss most

Espero que tuvieran una semana productiva y buena!! <I hope you have had a productive and good week> So this week was spent almost none of it in our area. We were doing things for the health of my companion, for the hermana that was hit by a motorcycle, and interviews, and a worldwide missionary training for all 75 million missionaries. It was awesome. 

Obligado

Something that I learned from the training that Elder Bednar gave about the Spirit was priceless. It wasn't anything that he said. It was something that I felt and learned. It was about how we are truly the instruments in the hands of the Lord. So I was thinking of a violin. The Spirit is the music that we hear when we have tuned, practiced, and prepared sufficiently that the Lord can play a part. We truly have to do our part and then we are promised the Lord will do his. He will use our instrument and he will be able to make beautiful music that is truly the spirt playing through us. I also know that the Lord prepares us to face all challenges. I have learned SO MUCH about charity and loving even and especially when we don't want to. I know that as we turn to our Savior he will truly make all our challenges light and possible to overcome. 

Hermanas Merchan and Velasquez
She's sporting sunglasses to protect her eye.

I love this work and I am so excited to be headed to Obligado to work with Hermana Velàsquez and have some new exciting challenges!! You are all such great examples to me and I hope that all is going well! Remember that we are truly strongest, tallest, and supported when we are on our knees. Get working on getting that knee callus!! Hashtags: #realthinginthemission #reppinthekneecallus

Love,

Hermana Albach 

That time someone go hit by a motorcycle...SuperNURSE

January 11, 2016

Hey all,

So this isn't just a fun title. It is actually something that happened this week. One of our missionaries was hit by a motorcycle. I was able to visit her and assess the healthcare being given and then we were able to do divisions with her and her companion in their area after she had been released from the clinica. She was incredibly blessed. She didn't break even one bone. The Lord truly protects his missionaries. It was crazy. I was able to do some serious nursing this week and by serious nursing I mean I changed bandages and watched other nurses give injections. ;) 

But my testimony was strengthened so MUCH!!! We were able to only be in our area for half the week but my comp reminded me of my calling as a nurse and that it is my primary assignment and as I give my all to it the Lord will bless me with opportunities when I am available. It was incredible. The days we were able to leave and make visits we were introduced to 4 new investigadores by a member that have such potential to progress. We are still working with Richard and Carin and trying to help them progress but they haven't come back to church yet and we are unsure. 

We are changing a lot of the goals we have as a mission and going to be talking a lot more to those we pass in the street and focusing on not letting a single opportunity pass us by to talk with everyone!! I am SUPER EXCITED to get out there and get talking. I know the Lord will fill our mouths with what we have to say. I was able to share with two ladies in our time in the other area and on the buses. It was a great experience. I also came closer to my Savior this week. I know that when all is hard and wrong and that when we feel all alone he is there and he gives us the strength to carry on. he will help us have the love for others. he will give us the power to forgive others. he is truly the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE!! With him...we can do all things. I love my savior and I love the chance I have to testify of him and of the joy that can be found through this gospel each and every day!!! Have a great week and remember him....come closer unto hiM!!!

Love,

Hermana Albach 

Mujerdocio -- Not really but almost

January 18, 2016

Hola todos!!!

H. Castillo and K80

Como estan?? Well this week was super great!!! Loved it! We had a great zone meeting on Monday where we set up some other key indicators to help us talk with everyone and have people progressing towards baptism! Then we went to get ice cream and there just so happened to be a sale of 3 liters of ice cream for the same as one. So H. Bowen and I took them up on that and needless to say all the elders were REAL surprised. We had ice cream for the rest of the week. hahaha. Not good. but nice in this ridiculous calor <heat> that we have right now. Then our comps headed to Asuncion for tramites and Hermana Bowen and I were together for a day. it was SO MUCH FUN!

We got to teach together once again and it was just awesome to fit right back together without much problem.

We had a great day! Then we had a bunch of nursing things for my comp this week but even with that we tried to actively talk to people on the bus, on the way and just everywhere. I will admit sometimes I chickened out..yeah even still it is sometimes hard for me. But we are just loving life and the area. We are getting prepared for the capilla abierta <open house> that we will be having this upcoming Friday! 

<This sister was hit by a motorcycle driving too fast down a sidewalk. Her eyelid was sliced open along with her leg. She is doing much better now and on the mend.>

Carne asada!

And now for the reason behind the title. We were officially the only two women at the elders quorum home teaching activity. There was no one and I had been at the church doing nursing. THey invited us to eat the asado they had prepared. so we accepted but little by little more and more sacerdocio <priesthood> arrived. It was pretty awkward  but the branch presidente said I only have to come to two more activities to be actively assigned as a member of the quorum. MUJERDOCIO! <women in the priesthood> I laughed pretty hard. Good times.

Also was able to give a talk this week and I realized something really great. Our conversion to the gospel is best measured by our desire to share it with those around us. Are we taking an active part in the obra misional <missionary work> in our specific parts of the world or are we laying back thinking "oh the missionaries will do it". We are all a part of this precious work and when we truly have participated in the atonement of Jesus Christ, we naturally want to share and bring others unto this joy!

Love you all,

Hermana Albach

Oh, how I love this girl!

Feliz 2016!!

January 4, 2016

Hey everybody. It has officially been three days and it is already p day again. So not much new stuff has happened. I am super grateful for my companion who has designated herself as the official nursing secretary and she even takes phone calls sometimes. It has been a great relief because we have some pretty sick missionaries that have taken a lot of my time lately. But as she reminded me today, I am doing things that are really changing and helping those around me. It was a good reminder that even though I may not be helping those in my specific area, I am helping the Lords children and even more importantly the Lord missionaries so that they, in turn, can help even more of His children. 

I love this work and we are excited to get working and helping others to come unto their Savior Jesus Christ. I am currently reading in the New Testament and I came upon a verse in chapter 24:24, i think. It talks about even the very elect being led away by the false christs that will come and do miracles. As I was thinking about how much I don't want to be led away, the thought came to me, or probably inspiration: I won't be led away if I KNOW and have FELT the true love of my Savior. We must come to KNOW him so that we are NEVER led astray. How do we come to know Him? We do all the things he asks us, we pray and talk with the father, and we read the words that he taught. I have felt much closer to my Savior as I have read the new testament and thought more about who was and is Jesus Christ and what was he like? How did this happen? I know that as we strive to come to know our savior we can have the experiences and confirmations that the apostles or authorities have. We have to determine what we want and then ask in faith believing and it will be given unto us. Incredible promise. Try it out!!

Love you all,

Hermana Albach

Prospero Ano Nuevo

January 1, 2016
<Happy New Year!>

Hola todos!!!

I LOVE this girl and will miss her immensely!

I hope you are having a wonderful first day of year 2016. We are spending it having p day instead of on Monday. Don't have much time but being able to see my family for Christmas was a special treat but also to be able to spend so much time with those that I love here in Paraguay for both of the holidays and feel so wanted and needed was incredible! I know this church is true. It is so interesting to me when we contact people and ask if they have ever asked if their church is true and they respond with "no but it is tradition of the family." I am so grateful every time I can reflect to myself and be grateful that I have asked, and I have received an answer and I know that this church is true. I do not attend just because all my family does, I go because I know it is the only way to come closer to my Savior and renew the covenants I made with Him at baptism. What a great promise. 

K8, Elder Hodson, H. Castillo, Elder Gosch
New Year's Eve Dinner with Familia Sanchez

So we had transfers this Monday and surprise, surprise I am STAYING in Rama 2 and I am now with Hermana Castillo de Lima, Peru. She is chiquitita <small, petite> but super spunky and sassy and is so strong! I am very privileged to be her companion and learn from her and her experiences. She has been a member for 6 years and she is the only member of 11 people in her family. What faith...and whenever we talk about struggles our investigators have she always says, "they can do it, they just need more faith." 

So I challenge you all to evaluate your faith and read Ether 12 and Hebrews 11 and strive to be as the people written about!!

love.

hermana albach

Not sure I want to let her go

Elders Hutchison, Cabrera, Gosch

Cheeeese! Happy Day, Alejandro

Gosh! Elder Gosch trying out my sun hat.

Elder Cabrera