A GREAT TIME TO BE IN THE MTC

Week 2- MTC

June 28, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow!   This week went a lot faster! I feel like I was just sitting down to email you a few days ago.  The Spirit here is sooooo strong, and sometimes it hits me so hard.  The language is coming along great.  Sometimes I get stuck on some of the grammar concepts,  for example: each sentence can be either object focus, subject focus, or location focus.  Because of the different focuses, you have to conjugate a few words and choose certain filler words.  It's really hard to  know what focus the sentence is,  then it's also hard to conjugate the words and filler words correctly.  Our teachers told us that one day it'll just click.  Hopefully that comes soon…but I am feeling great about everything.    

This week was cool and odd at the same time because of the Mission President Seminar that was going on all week.  We weren't allowed to eat in the cafeteria all week so we ate in the gym.  It wasn’t all that bad because they brought in good food like Chick-fil-A, and some really good island type of food.  The island food was bomb…definitely worth eating in the gym.  Other than that, the experience was awesome.  All 12 apostles and many General Authorities were here.  It was really cool that they were all here and that we got to see them.  The best part of the week was getting to meet our Mission President, President Cruz and his wife.  They are both from he Philippines.  I don't remember where President Cruz is from in the Philippines, but his wife is actually from Iloilo.  They both speak English, but it is a little broken.  When I first met him,  he thought I was Neil L Andersen's grandson because apparently his grandson just entered the MTC too.   Talking to them made me just want to go to Iloilo already.  They said Iloilo has the best mangoes in the world, can't wait to try them.   He also said you haven’t been to the Philippines unless you’ve tried balut… so I'm going to have to do that when I get there.  Other than that, they really focused on how we have to be exactly obedient and how we must love the people.  It was a really spiritual meeting and I just can’t wait to get there.  

Today we went to the temple to help with the renovations they are doing in the temple.  We spent all of our time in three endowment rooms ripping up carpet and scraping glue off the ground.  It was nice to help with the renovations… it was really cool because that only happens once every 10-15 years.  Even though the experience was cool, I did miss doing an endowment session.

Elder Gunter is still awaiting his new assignment.   I feel bad for him because I would not want to be learning a language that he will literally never use, but he always seems happy and he doesn't mind learning Ilongo.   

Other than that this week has just been a normal week... grinding away.  Have a great week!

Best Wishes,

Elder Andersen

Logan's Zone Leader-

Logan met his Mission President and his wife.  They were in the MTC for The Mission President's Seminar  President Cruz will be the new Mission President in July for the Philippines, Iloilo Mission. 

Logan's companions, Elder Gunter and Elder InFante

Logan with friend from home, Sister Madison Siebers

Classroom Instruction

Logan met up with two of his cousins that work in the MTC, Jake and Jon Wagstaff.  I'm sure he was excited to see them.

WOW...What a Week

Week 1- MTC

June 21, 2016

Dear Family and Friends, 

First of all, Happy Father's Day.  I hope everyone had a good Father's Day!

WOW... what a week!   This was probably the longest week of my life.  I guess I've never really worked so many hours in one day.  It is totally fine though because I really want to learn and I am excited about what I am learning.

  

A little bit about my companions... I am in a three-some right now.  First, Elder Gunter aka elder Chris Traeger (character from Parks and Rec.)  is from South Carolina.  He's awesome- very spiritual and smart. We call him Elder Traeger because he is a literal spawn of Chris Traeger. Ha! He is all about health,  I rarely see him eat anything that isn't good for him.  He always eats salad and fruit and if he ever slips a little and eats something that isn't healthy I tell him that what he's eating is probably going to kill him.  He says, "Yes, it will!"   He loves to work out  and before his mission he would run every single morning.   He can always be seen with a one of those squeeze things that work out your forearms.  It is really funny how many similarities he has with Chris Traeger. Unfortunately, the day Elder Gunter got here he had a really bad allergic reaction to something and they can't figure out what it was.  He was informed that he won't be able to go to the Philippines anymore.  I think he will be getting a new assignment today or tomorrow. 

My other companion is Elder InFante.  He is Filipino and was born in the Philippines but moved to Calgary, Canada when he was six.  He speaks a lot of Tagalog which has made it easy for him to speak Ilonggo.  It's great because he is able to help Elder Gunter and I a lot.  We all enjoy being together and we get along really well. 

  

Our District:

Our District consists of seven elders and two sisters.  The sisters and  two of the Elders are going  to the Bacold mission.  All the rest of us are going to Iloilo. We've got a really good District and love spending time together.  

Our Zone:

Our Zone is our District plus two Elders and two Sisters who are going to the Cebu East Mission, speaking Cebauno.

This week has been really good.  I knew we would be immersed in the language in the MTC,  but I had no idea we would be only hearing Ilonggo from our teachers and working 16 hours a day. The language is great... It's really cool and interesting to learn about the different aspects of the language. The reason I've been calling it Ilonggo instead of Hiligaynon is because Ilonggo is what most people in Iloilo speak.  Hiligaynon and Ilonggo are the same language,  but Hiligaynon is much "deeper" than Ilonggo.  Ilonggo is very similar to Cebuano and has some Spanish influences...for example "how are you?" is "kamuesta" (Pronounced like "como esta").  The gift of tongues is real, I have already experienced it. It is awesome.   In the six days I've been here I already know more Ilonggo than the Spanish that I learned in three years of high school classes. 

So an update on our mission is that after we leave the Provo MTC, we will spend five days in the Manila MTC where we'll have to do some visa requirements and apparently we get to go tracting in Manila in Tagolog.

Every day here is a struggle to stay awake.   I've fallen asleep so many times... I just cant help it, no one really can.  The days here are long... the first week the days felt longer than they really were.  By the time Thursday was over,  I literally felt like I had been here for 2 weeks not 2 days. The days are moving faster now and I know in no time we'll be packing up to leave.  This week was also tough because I caught a really bad cold.  I was really out of it on Sunday and my throat was really sore.  I went and saw the doctor yesterday and he just told me to take some cold medicine... "Thanks Doc.!" I'm okay and I am feeling a lot better today.  

This morning we went to the temple.  It was awesome.  The Spirit is so strong there.  I am already looking forward to going back next week.  The plan for the rest of our P-Day is to finish our laundry and take a  loooonnngggggg nap... I'm very excited for that. 

The goal for my mission comes is a challenge from Braxton.  It is to be the happiest missionary ever.  I want people to become happy when they see me.  I really believe that if i can be happy all the time and have a good attitude I will be able to bring many people unto the gospel.  

The MTC is great.  I feel the Spirit so strong here and I know that everything that happens here is inspired from our Heavenly Father.

Have a great week everyone,

Elder Andersen

My District

My Zone Leader and the District Leader of the other District in our Zone

My District at the Provo Temple- June19, 2016-

My MTC Companions- (Three-some)
Elder InFante and Elder Gunter

Iloilo

Milo Church, Iloilo City

Logan enters the Provo Utah MTC on June 15th to begin his two year service as full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He has been called to serve in the Philippines Iloilo Mission. Like any missionary, Logan will have the chance to serve in many areas while in Iloilo. Over the course of the next two years, we will get to know those areas too through his weekly emails. Before he leaves, I thought I would share some things we've learned about Iloilo.

Iloilo is the capitol of the province of Iloilo. It is on the island of Panay, one of the many islands that makes up the Philippines. Nearly one million people live in the Iloilo metropolitan area, so it's a lot larger than the little town in Connecticut Logan leaves behind. It has, like much of the Philippines, a long history of colonization by the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese. Spanish is still spoken by some of the area's older residents, but the primary language is Hiligaynon, with English used in business and education.

Iloilo is a place where Logan will not have to worry about snow. The average daily year-round temperature is 81 degrees. It rains about 76 inches per year and as a result, the average humidity is 81%. There may not be snow, but he'll be wet.

A jeepney

Hopefully he can stay dry when he's getting around by riding one of the jeepneys that make up the primary means of public transport in Iloilo and the Philippines. Not only will riding the jeepneys be a new experience, Filipino food will be new as well. Some of the things he may be trying include:

Batchoy - a hot noodle soup made up of pork organs and cracklings, chicken stock and beef loins. This soup is an Iloilo original.

Siopao - a Filipino take on Chinese steamed buns. They are sold by street vendors and bakeries all over the area.

Tsokolate - Filipino hot chocolate

Batchoy

Jeepneys, batchoy, Hiligaynon. This mission will introduce Logan to all sorts of new things. It will also, and most importantly, introduce him to the Filipino people. As he has prepared to go to the Philippines, Logan has already developed a love for the people he will be serving.

We are so excited for the next two years. Logan is going to be an amazing missionary. Check back here frequently for his weekly updates.