I LOVE BEING A MISSiONARY!

Week 20

October 31, 2016

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a great week and are enjoying Halloween.  

This week's crazy story...

New companion... Whatttttt!!!!! Like I said last week his name is Elder Salamatin, which is kind of a funny name because in Ilonggo,  Salamat means thank you... so he is Elder Thank You.  Elder Salamatin is from Laguna which is just like 3 hours outside of Manila.  He's great and he's been helping me learn Tagalog which is a language I really want to learn.  He loves to play basketball and he's really good.  We make a pretty good basketball duo...not as good as me and Elder Richards though.. haha.  We play "Canos" vs. "Pinoys" a lot,  and "Canos" do not lose!!  haha.  

This week's teaching stories:

This week a member of our ward passed away.   It was so weird because we were at his house the night before he died, and he was fine.  It has been so sad, but it has also opened up a lot teaching opportunities.  We've been teaching the Plan of Salvation a lot.  In the Philippines, funerals are different.  After someone dies,  there is a wake for an entire month at the house.  We have been teaching a lot of people about where this member of our ward is right now.  Unfortunately,  a lot of the people have been drunk, but they seem to like the message haha.  One guy gave me a cool gold ring too.  Some more awesome news is that Brother "M" and his whole family came to church today.  It was great.  His wife hasn't been too interested but hopefully she will gain some interest.  

HA-WAS

This whole week has been the Ha-Was Festival for Dumangas.  It was awesome.  There's always music playing and on Wednesday, there was street dancing.  Every town here does their own dance.  It was so cool and awesome to see how the whole community supports each other.  I really enjoy that part of this culture... and every other part as well haha.  

The work is great and the Lord is blessing me every day.  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! I do not want to be any other place right now.   Have a great week!

Love you all, 

Elder Andersen

Some freaky animal, we have been asking around but no one knows what it is.

Halloween Party

Halloween Party

More Halloween Party- the owners of the bake shop we go to were there and also some of our investigators were there.  It was a lot of fun!

Basketball this morning

Ha-Was Festival in Dumangas

Halo-halo

Halloween Party

CHANGE IS COMING!

Week 19

October 24, 2016

What's up everyone?  I hope you all had a great week.  This week was the best week of my mission so far!

This week's crazy story: 

Not too crazy...but Elder Paxton is on his way home.  It's weird losing my mission dad (trainer) but he was great.  He served a very good mission and I can't wait to see him after the mission.  My new companion is Elder Salamatin, he is Filipino.  It sounds like I might be finishing his training, but I'm not sure.   We will meet each other tomorrow... I am excited.  

The dopest week:

This week was great for several reasons, the best part of the week was church yesterday!  Bro. "M"came to church and seemed like he really enjoyed it.  Every time I looked at him we was ultra focused.  This week we also taught a lot of less active members and most of them came to church.  It was awesome!  We were starting to feel like we weren't having much success and then we ended up having awesome attendance at church.   It is amazing how the Lord blesses us when we submit to his will and work hard.  

Because it was Elder Paxton's last week, we took a lot of pictures and so I will send a bunch from this week. 

The Language:

The first four months learning a completely new language has been awesome.  I believe I am really close to becoming fluent.  I can communicate pretty well and I'm not scared to talk to others.  It is amazing! 

This week was awesome and I realized how much I really love being a missionary.  The Philippines is the best place in the world.  The people are awesome and I love this culture.  

Love you all.  Have a great week,

Elder Andersen

The "O" family.  Nay "O" is our Mom in the area...

peanut butter and rice flower with coconut juice

"R" and his famly

The "L" Family

I got my name tag painted at the Dumangas Festival.

Ube- my favorite thing here.  It's usually purple and the put it in pastries and on bread.

Brother "M's" family and the Bishop

IN a bakery called "Gamers."  The owners give us free drinks and pastries every day.  They are also having us over for a Halloween party.

Everyone saying "goodbye" to Elder Paxton at church

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Week 18

October 17, 2016

Family and Friends,

This week was great, but instead of a crazy story this week I wanted to say something else:

This Wednesday is my Mom's Birthday!!!! So...HAPPY BIRTHDAY,  Mom.  I hope you have a great day.  My mother is the most Christ-like person I know.  She always turns outward to love others... no matter who it is.  I could not ask for a better mother.  Only one more birthday til I'm home... haha.  

This week we had some great experiences.  The best one was with a new family we started teaching... the "A" family. They were taught years ago... one morning this past week we decided to find them.  We found them and ended up teaching them on Friday.  They are so excited to learn and we are definitely excited to teach them.  During the lesson. the Nay (mother) would blurt out... ohhhh, I remember that! (She was pumped!)   I'm excited for them.  Brother "M" and "R" are doing great! Brother "M's" family is mostly healthy now,  which is so good.  

The language is really coming along great I feel pretty comfortable talking to people.  I still make lots of mistakes, but i guess that's expected.  

This work is great and I love the Philippines.  It's the best place in the world!

Sorry for the short letter.  Have a great week!

Elder Andersen

Some pieces from our personal letters...answers to some of our questions:

Our week was great!  Our investigators are doing great.  I'll get a new companion next Tuesday when Elder Paxton goes home.  The new apartment is dope!  As of now I still want to play golf when i get home, but it's great to have that option.  (Logan received his acceptance letter to BYU this week and we let him know.)   My health is pretty good...(He has been a little sick this past week.)    There's been a little news about the typhoon,  but not a ton.  We have our 72 hour kits ready and we've been getting prepared.   It could hit Panay (our island) but we don't know yet, we'll see. 

They don't have mattresses here, they're just called "foams".  We got new ones this past Friday though and they're only 6 INCHES thick... crazy... haha!   They're pretty comfortable...we literally pass out at night so it doesn't matter too much if they're comfortable.

Mission President's Conference

Happy Birthday, Mom!

WILD RIDE!

Week 17

October 10, 2016

Family and Friends,

Wow! What a great week.  I'll start off as usual.

This week's CRAZY stories:

First,  the jeepney we took to General Conference on Saturday was crazy... like insane!  The jeep was around 10 feet long and there were about 30 people inside... it was packed! haha.  My favorite part though was the driver.  The front seat of a jeepney is a bench seat that normally 2 people and the driver sit on.  On this ride though, there was an extra person in the front.  The driver literally had the stick shift to switch gears  between his legs...i don't know how he was able to reach the clutch, but he did...haha! 

The next crazy story happened this past Tuesday.  It was pretty funny.  It was about 9pm when we got into he center of Dumangas.  We were hungry and were getting some Angles (a burger stand here) to take home to eat.  There were two drunk guys  who had their kids their kids with them.  I was taking to them and they were so funny because they were completely hammered.   Eventually, one of the guy's kids played some music from his trike and both  of the men got up and started dancing.  It was so funny...we were dying laughing!   We left,  and as we were getting to our building, who did we see...he drunk guys driving home with their kids...SO SAFE!  haha

On to the week.  This week was amazing, the highlight of my week was definitely General Conference. (This is a broadcast where we get to hear the leaders of our church speak.)  The talks were amazing and truly inspired by God.  It was so great to hear from our Prophet a couple of times.  The best teaching experience we had this week was teaching "R". We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation.  Once we got to talking about Jesus Christ, he literally testified to us about how he is our Savior.  Without this we are nothing.  He cares so deeply about our Savior that when he started talking,  he also started crying.  It was an amazing experience.  I know that he truly knows Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for us.  It was an amazing lesson and we are so excited for him.  

The language:

the Ilonggo is great...I am really progressing a lot.  Yesterday,  a lot of people told me that I was doing really well with the language and learning fast.  SO,  it's great to hear that!  I've still got a ways to go, but it's coming!

I loved conference and I am on a spiritual high.   I want to leave my testimony.  I know that Jesus Christ lives.  I know that he is our Savior, and without him we would not have a purpose in this life.  I know that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God and that he restored the Gospel that we have today.  I know Thomas S. Monson is a true Prophet and he is the leader of our church.  I love being a missionary and I love serving my Savior.  

Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Andersen

The kids love stickers. 

The trike driver was on Grandpa Duty.  I like how his grandson was just chillin' on his lap.

Elder Paxton really enjoyed the noodles I got in my last package.  It was a great meal...spicy Chicken Alfredo

My breakfast, Pandesal (the best bread ever), peanut butter and a liter of Pepsi

NEW APARTMENT, GREAT LANDLORDS, AND....NO RATS!

Week 16
October 3, 2016

Family and Friends,

So this week was great and super busy!

On Thursday, we went to the city and bought a bunch of stuff for our apartment.  We bought a refrigerator, tables, stove and a bunch of other stuff.  It's great that we aren't living out of our suitcases anymore and that we can cook now.  It was really nice because our landlords took us to the city.  They are awesome...they said they'll refer to us as their kids and that we are a part of their family now.  So, it's a really good situation at our new place. Saturday, we had to go again to the city, and now we need a spare key for our apartment (by today) so we are headed there again for our p-day. 

We didn't get to teach a lot this week.  We got "punted" several times (people cancelled).  We did get to teach  Brother "M" though which was great.  He is super excited about the gospel.  He said he was going to come to church, but he didn't make it.  We don't know why, but I'm sure he had a good reason. Th "B" family is also doing great. We taught them last night, and the father really understands what we are teaching so hopefully they'll be able to make it to church.  It's tough for them to make it to church because they live really far away and he is out of work right now.  Hopefully, things will change for them. 

Other than that, we had a "off" week but that's alright...we'll continue  to work hard and are excited for the upcoming week. 

The language is really coming a long great.  When we taught the "B" family last night, I was pretty comfortable speaking.  It was dope because they told me that I was a really fast learner.   

Sorry for the short letter.  Have a great week!

Love you all,

Elder  Andersen

Questions answered from our personal letters:  

(How are you feeling?) "I'm great and I am a lot better, not sick at all anymore."

(How is the new apartment?) "The new apartment is great and soooo much better than the other one.  The air conditioner is so nice when we turn it on for a little bit."

(Did you get everything you needed for you new apartment?)  "We got most everything we need for the apartment, we still need some more stuff, but we can cook now."

(Did you get to watch conference?) "We will watch conference next Saturday and Sunday here, so we have to wait another week.  I'm looking forward to it.  We will watch it at the Stake Center.  Our Ward will rent two jeepneys and we will all go together."  

(What was the best and hardest part of your week?) The best part of my week was definitely the lesson we taught last night, I spoke really well and I felt so good.  The "B" family complimented me... It was really great!  The hardest part of the week was having to go to the city twice.  It takes forever, and I would rather be working.  

OUR NEW APARTMENT...WE ARE STILL TRYING TO GET ORGANIZED

GETTING READY FOR A FESTIVAL IN DUMANGAS THAT WILL START IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS.