TUCK AND ROLL

Week 33

Monday, January 30, 2017

What is up Family and friends??? 

I hope you all had a good week!    Since my "crazy" stories haven''t been so crazy lately...I'm going to make up for it...i've got two great ones this week! 

Crazy Stories:

First,  this week we were walking to our Branch President's house from the Plaza...he probably lives about 1-2 km away from the Plaza.  We were walking, and luckily a trike pulled up next to us and gave us a free ride.  I was riding on the back of the motorcycle and i was turned around slightly, talking to Elder Estrada who was inside.  I turned back around and me being me... I fell off  haha.  It was insane!   We were probably going like 30 or 40 km per hour.  I  kind of landed on my feet then rolled a few times.  It was soooo funny.  This is a literal testimony that the Lord protects his servants because I literally don't have a scratch on me.  This was a super embarrassing!  

Next... Let's say... I completely believe in ghosts now!  So, I have heard from several people that our apartment has some ghosts that live in it.. and I believe it!  One night last week we came home and I thought that the cat was on our roof because it was being super loud.  I hit he ceiling, and it suddenly stopped...but just then i  felt  and heard something brush up on my leg!  (I compare it to the Disneyland show of "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" where the things run over your feet and legs.  It was wacky!  There's also been some other stuff happen in the apartment that has been freaky! Needless to say, we didn't sleep much that night!  Then the next night, we said a prayer and told those spirits to get the heck out of our apartment!  All has been good sense.  Good stories eh?

The week: 

Even with these crazy experiences, this week has been great!  We've been doing a lot of finding and we have been having a lot of success.  The biggest success stories of this week are two referrals we got from members.  One is "N".  He actually just moved here from Bcolod, so he is pure Ilongggo... soooo nice! (This is Logan't main language!.) He lives with his cousin and he is progressing very well.  "N" knows this is the truth and has a baptismal date for February 18th. The other referral is the "A" family.  They are so dope!  Sister "L" is friends with several members and is really progressing.  We are also working with her husband...The entire family lives in this compound, so we plan on baptizing all of them! haha.  All of the kids love us because we've spent some time with them teaching them magic and stuff.  The "S" family was gone all week so we didn't get to teach them.  The work is good and we're really working hard helping and teaching a lot of people right now.   

Some other cool news this week:

Yesterday, I finished the Book of Mormon for the third time.  This time was way different though.  I really remembered so much more and I learned so much from my reading this time.  My favorite parts of the Book of Mormon are all of the prophets last words for example Moroni 7-10, and 2nd Nephi 30-33. I've been thinking a lot about our message.  I love that we literally ask people to read this book and ask God if it is true.  I know this is the true church!

Some other news is My "BFF", Elder Cobabe, was transferred this week... He was made Assistant to the President.  I'm very happy for him.  He's going to do such a great job for this mission. 

Well, that's about all I have for this week I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your Prayers. Have a great week!

Mahal Kita 

Elder Andersen

Questions answered from our personal letters:

Question:  How is your new companion and the training going?

Answer:  "Elder Estrada is great!  The language is coming along great for him.  (His first language is Tagalog.) He studies hard all the time and he is picking it up quick.  We get along really well.  He is a super obedient missionary and loves to work!"  

   

Transfer meeting...waiting getting my new companion...my "son"  (I am training him.)

Meeting Elder Estrada

Love him already!

David and Goliath

Beautiful Pandan

Love this Kid!

Church yesterday

Church two weeks ago.

TRAINING AND A NEW COMPANION

Week 32
Monday, January 23, 2017

Hello friends and family, I hope you all had a good week!

This week's crazy story:

So the craziest thing that happened this week was me getting my Bata (child).  (The missionaries call companions that are brand new in the mission, their "child", and the Trainer is considered their "dad".  haha  Logan is training his new companion and Logan is his first companion, so Logan is considered his dad. HAHA)  He is dope... his name is Elder Estrada.  He's from Laguna Luzon, which is about 2 hrs South of Manila. He speaks Tagalog.  He doesn't really understand Ilonggo or Karay-a yet, but he'll get it quick.  He studies hard and I'm teaching hm.  He's pretty good at English and he is so prepared. I love him, he's awesome and we are going to make a great companionship.

Transfers were great.  All the Trainers went to |Iloilo for transfer meetings and to pick up our Batas.  It was way dope because Elder Infante (Logan's MTC companion) and  Elder Steiner (friend from MTC and in the same mission batch) are also training, so I was able to see them and hang out with them on Wednesday night and Thursday.  (Not too much of a crazy story, but the biggest thing that happened this week!)

This week:

This week was a lil' different...actually, a lot different.  On Sunday, I went down to San Jose.  From Sunday to Wednesday, I was on splits with Elder Cobabe. (One of Logan's Zone Leaders).  It was so much fun, he has become one of my best friends, I love being with him. On Wednesday night, Elder Kortus and I (another missionary in my zone) went to Iloilo.  We got to the Mission Home around 8ish.  I was so surprised when we walked into the Mission Home and Elder Infante was there.  I was so excited to see him.  We ate dinner then went and slept at the Assistants' house.  On Thursday, we came back to the Mission Home and had some trainings and were told who our Batas were.  After the trainings, we headed back to San Jose because it was too late to catch a bus back to Pandan.  Friday morning, we woke up and left for Pandan and got here at about 1pm.  We did some shopping for some things that Elder Estrada needed and then came home and did our weekly planning that took about three hours. Then, Elder Estrada unpacked and we went to bed.  

Saturday, I had to conduct some Baptismal Interviews in Tibiao, which is about 11/2 hrs away.  So,  we were there until 4pm.  When we got back to our area, we taught "L" and "K".  

Finally, on Sunday, we were able to work!  We taught the "S" family.  It's unfortunate because they went to a Catholic church yesterday, but we committed them to come to our church this upcoming Sunday.  After teaching the "S" family, we got punted a bunch of times... literally 4 times in a row.  We ended the night by being invited to a birthday party where there was so me great food and a ride home.  It was a bit of a rough week because it wasn't a normal week and we weren't able to work that much.   I am excited for next week when we can work hard.

Cool experience:

So I didn't talk about this experience last week... but I had a super cool experience when Elder Cobabe and I were in Pandan together.  We were doing a study and he asked what i would like to learn from him.  I told him I wanted to learn how to baptize families.  He told me some stuff and game me some suggestions  The best part was when he closed our study with a prayer.  While he was praying, he asked our Heavenly Father to bless me to be able to find families.  As he said that, I literally saw a place in my mind in our area that I should go to work.  it was so cool! (I literally had a vision.) I can't wait to go there and work!

I am so excited for this work.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to train and have a companion that is so excited to work at my side. 

I love all you so much! I thank you for your prayers and all your love I hope you all have a great week!

Ingat kayo dyan

Elder Andersen

Our new companions, my companion...Elder Estrada

Met up with my MTC companion, Elder Infante and another MTC friend, Elder Steiner at the transfer meeting

MORE CHANGES, TRAINING AND BAPTISMS

Week 31

Monday, January 16, 2017

Hello Family and Friends,

I hope you had a great week, I sure know I did! haha

Crazy story of the week:

The craziest part of this week was our baptism.   It was an amazing experience and I loved EVERYTHING about it.  So yeah, I accomplished one of my goals of baptizing in the ocean. It was really cool!  After I baptized "K", I had the coolest feeling...  I am here to baptize people and that is what I just did.  Way cool.

This week was kind of a different week.  We didn't spend a whole lot of time in our area.  But I had the cool opportunity to go on splits with Elder Alambay.  It was a lot of fun and we tracted in some pretty crazy places.   (You'll be able to see a little from my pictures.)  We also prepared "L", "K", and "L" for their baptismal interviews.  On Friday,  Elder Coababe and I went on splits for the interviews.  It was great... Elder Cobabe told me that these three kids were the most prepared kids he'd ever interviewed. That was a good feeling!  After the interviews, we went to a party for JJ and Elder Zabs.  Then on Saturday we had the baptism. And on Sunday, We came down to San jose and Elder Zabs headed home.  

So, this next transfer, I will be training.  I don't  know who it is or  where he's from, and yeah...I know nothing about him. But, I am excited to train and so grateful for this opportunity.   I'm also really excited to train in Pandan.  It's gonna be a blast!

Sorry this letter is so short I had a better one typed,  but somehow it got deleted, so I'm really mad about that... haha

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Halong kamo,

Elder Andersen

Tracting in the Philippines...in a rice field.

Baptism

Great Baptism

First Baptism in the Ocean

Goodbye Elder Zabs

One of the biggest burgers I've ever seen...the picture doesn't do it justice.

GREAT WEEK IN THE PHILIPPINES

Week 30
Sunday, January 8, 2017

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week, because I sure did.  

This week's crazy story is a little different than usual... more spiritual than usual.

Church yesterday was awesome and one of the best experiences I've had.  We had ten investigators at church, the best part was that seven of the ten investigators bore their testimonies. It was an amazing experience and it was so cool knowing that I had helped build those testimonies. Church was awesome. There's more though. four of those investigators have only heard one lesson... the law of chastity haha.  It was cool to hear them say they know this is the truth. 

This week was awesome, and I am extremely excited for next week because we have three baptisms.  We'll be baptizing in the ocean around sunset, it should be really beautiful!  

The work here in Pandan is great right now.  We have been teaching a lot and we're committing people to baptism.  Our main focus is the "S" family.  They are recent instigators that we contacted when i was on splits with Elder Lopez.  They are cool.  There are five people in the family...they know so much about this gospel.  They remember everything we teach them in the lessons, and they are so ready to be baptized...We just need to get them to church.  One of the sons in the family has come to church several times and actually worked with us the other day.   He'll definitely  be baptized, hopefully his family can follow his example.  The members here in Pandan are extremely excited too.  This Saturday will be the first convert baptism in more than a year in Pandan, everyone in so happy.  

It is amazing how much I love this work.  Like I have said before, this is by far he hardest thing I have ever done but by far the most rewarding... seeing peoples lives change is unreal.  I love the Philippines, I love the people here and I love being a missionary.  Have a great week, I love you all.

Love, 

Elder Andersen

District Activity

District Activity

District Activity

A sign I didn't ever think I would see...

Church attendance yesterday

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Week 29

Sunday, January 1, 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hello family and friends,

I hope you had a great week, Christmas, and New Year celebration.  It's crazy that it is 2017!!!  I can now say I go home next year...haha.

So I'll start off the usual way... Crazy story of the week:

New Year's is pretty crazy in the Philippines. The past three days we had to be in our apartment at 5:00pm and we couldn't leave.  I took the opportunity to  study and sleep a lot, it was nice.  Yesterday after church we were able to go out and really work.  It was unbelievable how many beer bottles were everywhere...haha.  People really turn up for New Year's here.  Nothing really that crazy happened to us, except for people offering us beer and shots over and over again... haha.  That's it for the crazy story... sorry, not really that crazy.  

The teaching here in Pandan is going great.

We have three baptisms scheduled for Jan 14 and I'm 99% positive all of them will go through.  All of the baptisms  are for pretty young people.  We've been trying to teach their families, but they don't seem interested at all.  These three  have a desire to be baptized though.   I'm way excited for all of them.  Hopefully these baptisms will jump start this area.  We also have a few families that we are teaching and they are doing really well.  The "S" family,and the "V" family.  I'm excited for both of them.  This week I had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Brown.  It was a good time, we had a lot of fun and we worked really hard, and...we walked... A LOT.  It was good though.  It was nice for me to test my self on a few things and I'm happy how everything turned out.  Also, today we had a District activity here in Pandan.  It was a lot of fun, we had members and investigators there.  It was great and everyone had a great time.

That's about all I have for this week. Sorry for no pictures, it's just too had to send them here in Pandan.  We're going to the city next week, so I'll send them then.  

I love you all and  I hope you have a great week.

Ingat kayo

Elder Andersen

CHRISTMAS SKYPE

Week 28

Sunday, December 25, 2016

We didn't get an email from Logan this week since we got to Skype him on Christmas Day. (Our Christmas, the day after Christmas for him since he was 15 hours ahead of us.)  He sounded so good and so happy.  It was so fun to hear his voice and see how happy he is.  I loved seeing his personality and hearing his laugh.  We got to hear him speak quite a bit of Ilonggo, his language.  We couldn't believe how good he sounded and how fluent he is.  We love him and miss him so much but know he is happy and changing lives.

The Best Christmas Gift Ever!

Playing Santa at the church Christmas Party

Pandan, Antique Philippines