TYPHOONS, THANKSGIVING and TURNING 20

Week 24

Monday, November 28, 2016

(Logan turned 20 this week, celebrated Thanksgiving and had a typhoon hit his island...quite a week.  I am so thankful for family and friends here in the states that wished him a happy birthday and for all those in the Philippines who made his birthday great when we couldn't be there!  Thanks to Elder Richard's family for the Thanksgiving Dinner...looks like they loved it!)

Hello family and friends, 

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes... I really appreciate it.

This week's crazy story: 

Typhoon, Birthday, and Thanksgiving... what a week!  So this past Thursday was great we were actually able to kind of have a Thanksgiving dinner thanks to Elder Richards and his family.  We made instant potatoes, stuffing, chicken, ice cream, rolls and a lot of butter.  It was amazing ...I'm pretty sure our Pinoy companions were a little confused and thought we were crazy!   Next the typhoon...on Friday, a typhoon hit Iloilo.  When we woke up it was dark.  it was so dark it felt like one of those days where you just really wanted to stay in bed.  We of course got up anyway and got ready.  After we got ready and started our studies, we got a call from our Zone Leader saying we couldn't work and we had to stay inside, so our "Black Friday" consisted of doing laundry and chillin' while we studied.  Next my birthday... My birthday was great, even though it didn't really feel like my birthday because we of course worked all day.  Birthdays are a big deal here and almost every member has wished me a happy birthday this week.  I was given a cake by a member and another cake from the bread shop that we love and have become good friends with the owners. It was awesome.  We had dinner at Sister Nava's which was fun, and surprisingly... I tried SQUID (don't throw up mom).  It was actually really good.  Who would have thought I would ever eat squid. Thank you to everyone for all the birthday presents and packages.  I love everything!

The work:

This week was a good work week as well.  One big focus in the mission right now is extending a baptismal invitation during the first lesson.  We did that as much as we could this week and it was awesome.  The coolest moment happened yesterday.  We were working with a few members from our ward...all older youth.  One of the members, JM had a friend that lived close to where we were working, so we decided to go visit her.  She's awesome!  We ended up sharing a short message and extending a baptismal invitation, and she accepted!  The best part was JM though, he was so excited!  Everywhere we went he told everyone his friend had a baptismal date!   WAY COOL!  Another cool experience this week was contacting one of the OYM's I talked about.  His name is "A"  He is way dope.  When we contacted him, he told us he was almost done with 1st Nephi...also, WAY COOL!   He also accepted a baptismal invitation.  

The Language:

The language is coming a long really well, I am getting better and better each day.   

Thanks you everyone for all your prayers, birthday wishes, and support.  I love you all.

Elder Andersen 

Thanksgiving Feast...Thanks to Elder Richard's family

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving Feast with ice cream

Free trike ride on a trike that's meant for pigs

Trike Ride

Birthday Dinner- Squid

Squid

Birthday Cake from the bread shop we frequent.

After church yesterday

MISSIONARIES SHOULDN'T BET!

Week 23

Monday, November 21, 2016

Hello friends and family hope you all had a great week!

Crazy story this week...(there's always a crazy story in the PI.)

One night this week we stepped outside our apartment and there was this huge lizard called a Toko (I sent pictures of it.) It was kind of scary because it was huge and they bite.  I made a bet with Elder Planilla...I bet him that if he could catch it, I would give him half of my chocolate covered raisins.  I didn't think there was any way he was going to be able to catch it.  Let's just say after a lot of laughing and being scared, half of my chocolate covered raisins are now in Elder Planilla's possession. It was a great fight though, and TOTALLY worth it.  

Investigators:

This week was kind of a struggle with our investigators.  I'll start with Brother "M".  He is really struggling right now.  He has some tough trials and and has lost his testimony.  He keeps telling us he wants evidence that Joseph Smith is a true prophet.  We tell him that he is literally holding the evidence in his hands and all he has to do is read it.  it's very tough, hopefully he comes around.  Next, "R",  I'm not sure if I have talked bout him before, but he investigated the church about 3-4 years ago.  We contacted him, and he is awesome.  He knows all about Joseph smith and he really wants to be baptized. the only unfortunate part is that he is going to Thailand really soon and will not be here anymore.  So, I don't think we'll be able to baptize him.  "C" family- They are doing really well they're really interested about learning more.  The big news this week was about one of our investigators, "K"... I'm not sure I've talked about her either.  She is a long time investigator (as in 3-4 years)  She knows the church is true and is ready for baptism, but she is not married to her "live in partner" who is a member, just less active. She told us that they are getting married in February...so dope!

The language:

Funny experience this week with the language.  We were talking to this guy this week and he asked how long I have been in the Philippines.  I actually miss understood him and thought he was asking how long we are here in the Philippines for our mission.  I responded 2 years.  He and a couple others were like... WOW... you already know so much Ilonggo and you've only been here for 2 years.  I was like...oh... I've really only been here for 4 months.  That was pretty cool. There were some other people that were around during that time and asked if I knew Ilonggo, he would pipe up  and say, "YES!"

The work is great and I love the Philippines.  I love serving my Lord and I have been extremely blessed because of it.  

Til we meet again,

Elder Andersen

Other pieces from our personal letters:

It's crazy that i am almost 1/4 done...my 1/4 mark is really next week at transfers.  It is so crazy and has gone by so fast for me.  I was reading my journal the other day and had written at my 2 month mark.  I hit five months a few days ago...where did time go?

Elder Richard's mom sent a package for Thanksgiving.  We aren't really doing anything special, but we are going to come home after working on Thanksgiving and have a feast.  She sent him some instant potatoes, turkey spam and a bunch of stuff...haha!  

The language is really good.  I'm comfortable to the point that i can have a normal conversation and not worry at all about the language.  I'm feeling okay about transferring (if that happens) and possibly learning another new language.  Elder Richards and I were talking and think that this is probably the one of the only missions that when you get transferred you ask, what language you will be speaking...haha!  It  would be nice to stay in this area so I can be here for Christmas, but I will do whatever I'm asked.

I"m great and loving the Philippines.  I absolutely LOVE this place.  I can't believe that I have been gone for 5 months.  The time has really flown!

Toko- A lizard here that makes a really loud sound ("TTTTOOOOOOKKKKKKOOOOO")  This one was huge.  we walked out of our apartment and it was right there on the wall.

Zone Conference 

The best sign a business could have.

FHE at the "L" Family's home.

STILL WORKING HARD IN THE P.I.

Week 22

Monday, November 14, 2016

Hello Everyone, I hope you all have had a great week!

This week's crazy story:

The best part of this week was yesterday when we got to attend a special conference where we were able to hear from President and Sister Cruz, Elder and Sister Hainey, and Elder and Sister Cook.  It was great and was super spiritual!!  Before Elder Cook talked, Elder Hainey bore a great testimony and testified that Elder Cook is an Apostle of God.  He has been called by God and helps to lead this church.  It was awesome to be able to hear him speak.  Another awesome part of yesterday was the opportunity to see every missionary in the mission..It was so good to see Elder Infante again.  

On to the week...

This week's teaching was not the best... we were only able to teach a few lessons, but we still did a lot and worked hard.   A big focus in our mission right now is "OYM" or open your mouth.  This is where we talk to random people and share a little message about the gospel and maybe give them a Book of Mormon, and ask if we can come back to teach them.  We "OYM"ed a ton this week and there are a few people I am really excited to go back and teach.  Other than that, it was a pretty slow week.

Investigator update:

Brother "M"  is progressing very slowly and is unfortunately still smoking 1 cigarette a day but he still really wants to be baptized.  We have had to push his baptism date beck to December.  

"R"  is great.  One cool experience we had with him this week was him testifying of the Book of Mormon.  He mined gold in his last job.  we were talking to him and he pointed right at the Book of Mormon and said, "This right here is my gold."  It was way cool!

This week was great and the work here is great.  I love the Philippines.

Have a great week all, 

Elder Andersen

Some additional questions answered from our personal letters:

Q:  How are things with your new companion?  Is he speaking much Ilonggo yet?

A:  This week was great!  Things are great with Elder Salamatin.  We get along really well and are able to          communicate really well.  A big thing here is for the Pinoy missionaries to learn English.  We have study time    each day where I teach him English.  I'm picking up a  lot of Tagalog too. I use some tagalog words instead of    ilonggo words now.   

Q:  How is the weather now?

A:  Right now is the Bhurrrr months.  The hot months are coming soon.  It is going to be soooooo hot.  We'll get  through it though!

FHE 

FHE

FHE

Brother "A" gave us a catfish he caught for us.

I got to see Elder Infante again.

Thanks for the packages!

Iloilo Missionaries with Elder COok

Dinner at Nanay "F''s house

CHAMPS!

Week 21

November 7, 2016

Hello friends and family, 

I hope you all had a great week!

This week's story:

This week I had the opportunity to go on splits.  I was with Elder Richards, it was a blast and we had so much fun together.  Honestly, I was a little bit worried because we are both pretty new, but it went great.  It gave me a lot of confidence in the language because I was able to really lead the lessons.  

Teaching experiences:

This week we taught Brother "M" a few times, all the lessons went really well.  He is progressing and just needs to stop smoking his one stick a day.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to teach "R" this week.  He has been has been gone and really busy with his work.   The "B" family moved.  The dad went to Manila for a few months and so the family moved to a different town... A real bummer,  but it's okay.  We did pick up a new family this week, the "C" family.  They are the DOPE.  We're really excited for them.  They were taught a few years ago and they seem really interested. 

We had a Zone activity today, it was great.  We had a basketball tournament...  It was district vs district and of course the DUMANGAS district won.  The Zone Leaders also got this huge trophy that is now in our apartment! That's where most of my pics are from this week.

Real exciting news!  This Sunday, Elder Quentin L Cook is coming to our mission so we all get to meet him.  I'm extremely pumped!  

Sorry for the terrible English...my Ilonggo is getting better, but my English is getting worse! 

Love you all and hope you have a great week.  

Elder Andersen 

Some questions answered from our personal letters:

How's your new companion? My new comp is great, he's funny and way cool.  He's speaking a lot more Ilonggo, but always uses some Tagalog.  I'm picking up some Tagalog which is good.  It has gotten a lot easier.   

How was the Hawas Festival?  Hawas was great.  It's over now, but was so fun.  The whole town changed. It was right next to our apartment, which was kind of hard because they literally played music all night long.  Those ear plugs you sent with me were nice!

A member of our Bishopric

Zone Champs!

Dumangas District wins!