Tuesday, October 31, 2017

"LIFE IS AMAZING IN PASSI!"

Week 72
October 30, 2017

Hello Friends and Family!

This week was another great week as usual.  The work here in Passi is so great, and today I found out I will not be transferring, so that is great!  

Nothing too crazy happened this week... just an average week. All our investigators are doing great. We have the baptism of "C" and "M" this upcoming Saturday...we are so happy and excited for them.  We are really looking forward to it...it'll be a lot of fun! Our other investigators are also doing great! "E" is literally sooo awesome.  This week she washed one of my shirts because it had a few bad stains on it. It's weird to actually have a white shirt haha.  (Elder Andersen has been washing his clothes by hand.

We have also been finding a few new investigators!  One of our new investigators is named "S". She is so dope, and she actually lives right next to us. She came to church yesterday too! Another family that we found is the "B" family.  It is amazing to see how the Lord prepares families for the gospel. They are the best. We've only taught them once, but the lesson went great, they love what we taught, and they love the book of Mormon! 

This week was also cool, because one of the members here got married.  We were able to attend the reception.  It was a lot of fun.  The food was great...we're still eating leftovers.

That is about it...The work is great ,and life is so amazing here in Passi. I could spend the rest of my mission here! 

I love you all.  Have a great week!
Love, 
Elder Andersen

(My camera was in a weird mode with vibrant colors for the wedding pictures... I'm not that red.)


Free Ride

Free Ride

Wedding

Wedding

Wedding

Wedding
Wedding



Monday, October 23, 2017

"ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN MY LIFE!"

Week 71
Monday, October 23, 2017

Hello Friends and Family, 
I hope you all had a great week, this week was great and so much better!

This week there wasn't anything too crazy that happened except that we had crazy rain. We were having an FHE (Family Home Evening) at the "B's" house and right as we were finishing, we realized that the area was flooding.  We got out of the house and headed home right away.  Nothing happened at out house, but the area where we do a lot of work had water waist-high in one of the houses... so crazy!  It was so sad and luckily, nothing got too damaged.  I just felt very grateful and happy to have a safe home. 

One really cool story that came from this flood... "E" lives right next to the "B's" house, so her house flooded too. She was telling us that as her house was flooding, the first thing that she grabbed was her Book of Mormon. Her husband asked "why is that the first thing you're grabbing?" 

Her response... "Because this is one of the most important things in my life!" SO AWESOME!  I love "E" so much. She is now reading in Alma 11. 

Other than that, the week has been really good. We are looking forward to having "CB" and "MB" baptized on the 4th as long as they keep progressing.  Elder Norris and I have also been trying some new things with planning and stuff, so I am looking forward to trying them this upcoming week.  

Lastly, a cool thing we got to do this week was we work with the youth. We basically had a little activity with them and we challenged them to give out copies of the Book of Mormon.  It was fun and I'm looking forward to hearing the results from the challenge.

The work is great, I love Passi, and hope you all have a great week!

Also, if anyone is reading my blog and has any questions about serving here in the Philippines, please feel free to email me!

Plangga ta kamo tanan

Love, 
Elder Andersen








Pictures from the cave we went to last Monday.

Cave from last P-Day

Cave

Cave

Cave
Cave

Cave

Cave


When you wake up to a dead rat outside your door!



Working with the youth.
Working with the youth.

Monday, October 16, 2017

DOWN BUT NOT OUT!

WEEK 70
Monday, October 16, 2017

Maayong aga sa inyo tanan. 

I hope all you had a great week!  

So first things first...I would like to wish my mom a Happy 50th Birthday!!! Wow so old!   haha joke lang.  But like I said last year, I love my mom so much.  I look up to here in every way, except height.   She really is the best, most Christlike person I've ever met. My mom is a true super hero in my eyes, and I don't know why I was blessed with literally the best mom ever. Mom I love you so much!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

This week was honestly not the best week ever.  Elder Norris and I both struggled with sickness, but we are much better now and we are ready to get to work this week.

Even though we were sick, we still had the opportunity to get a lot done. So about our investigators...they are all great. "E" is as great as ever and just doing so well.  "M" and "C" are also doing great...we have their baptisms scheduled for November 4th.   We also had the opportunity to do a service project for a new investigator, "J"...the guy with the wolf gang car. The service project was fun, but we still haven't been able to teach them because we were so sick this week.  We had the opportunity to talk a lot with his wife, and his family. They are so cool. "J" is so cool too, he literally calls us all the time telling us to come to his house to get food. I cant wait to teach them.  

Last night was also a lot of fun, We had a FHE  at the "B's" house,  ("C", "K", "M", "C", and their parents...who are starting to come out of inactivity.)  It was so much fun.  The games here in the Philippines are soooooo funny, and the punishments if you lose, are even funnier.

Other than that, the week was still a solid week, even though we dealt with sickness, I love this area and the Philippines so much!
Have a great week. 
Patchon ta kamo tanan!!
Love,
Elder Andersen





Halloween Candy

Lunch after church on Sunday

Monday, October 9, 2017

STICKER SHOCK

Week 69
Monday, October 9, 2017

What is up friends and family?
I hope y'all had a great week.  This week was so awesome. 


This week was fantastic, mainly because we had the opportunity to watch General Conference. I loved all the talks, and definitely had some questions were answered. Among my favorite talks were the talks by Neil L. Andersen, Richard J. Maynes, Jeffery R. Holland, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Needless to say, I really look forward to General Conference...the days I get to hear from our leaders are some of my favorite days of the year.  The leaders of this church are so amazing and they work so hard let us know what the Lord wants for us.  I love and sustain them all.  

This week was also a great week for the work! Elder Norris and I are getting along sooo well, and we are killing it here in Passi.  The work is just so amazing and we are seeing miracles every day. This week Elder Norris and I got to know each other a lot better. We found out that we pretty much like all the same things...music, television shows, movies, etc. It has been a lot of fun talking to him and getting to know each other better. This week has been a lot like the past few weeks... the work is great and almost all of our investigators are progressing...it is so amazing.  We're struggling a little to teach "J", "E"s husband, but we're still working on it. 

We had one funny story happen this week. One day we were walking to an appointment, and this car stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride.  That doesn't happen very often... so we hopped in... as we were hopping in, Elder Norris was freaking out, he was super nervous and thought it was the scariest thing ever. I didn't understand why...  so when we eventually got out, Elder Norris told me that the car had this "Wolf Gang" sticker on it. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently, Wolf Gang is a super bad gang and he thought we were gonna die.  The next day, the same car drove by again, and was like "hop in!" The man's kids and wife were in the car and I saw the sticker, and it said, "World Gang Realty Management" haha (not a gang...there's not really that stuff here.)  Elder Norris hopped in, and I rode on the hood... super fun and pretty scary!  Then, the next day he drove by on his motorcycle and gave us another ride and he asked if we could do a service project at his house.  We are going to go and help him and he is going to cook for us afterwards.  He asked us what we wanted to eat, and we said frog...haha...hopefully he pulls through.He is way dope and we are going teach him and his family! They are such nice people, and definitely NOT gang members. 

Let's just say that was a lot of fun, for me, haha... and is gonna result in some great things!

That is all I have for this week. 
Love you all.  Have a great week.
Plangga ta kamo
Love,
Elder Andersen

I forgot to take pictures this week...here are a couple though.

Elder Norris eating Isaw

When a kid runs into a chair.

Monday, October 2, 2017

UNEXPECTED CHANGES

Week 68
Monday, October 2, 2017

Hello Friends and Family, 
Let's just say this was a crazy week.  What I said in last week's letter about me and Elder McAllister being together for six more weeks is completely NOT true... I'll walk a little through the week. On Tuesday, we had interviews and so we spent the whole day in Iloilo, unfortunately not much work got done. Tuesday night we got a call telling us that Elder McAllister would be transferring and that I would be training. Let's just say Elder McAllister and myself were super bummed. I felt bad for him, but he is alright. Wednesday he said goodbye to everyone...I was a tiny bit jealous of him because "E" has these super nice pillows that she made and she gave one to him.   After saying goodbyes, we spent the rest of the day packing. Later that evening he and I said goodbye and I slept in Iloilo for the Trainers and Trainees meeting.  

Okay... and the big news is my new trainee is Elder Norris, my first KANO trainee. He is from Mississippi, but has been living in Germany for the past 3 years. He is  tight and I'm happy to be with him. I really miss Elder McAllister but I think both of us will grow more being in our new companionship's. We got back to our area Thursday night and we got to work on Friday. I feel kind of bad for Elder Norris because I have been working with him really hard. He was happy for some sleep today.  

This week has been great to though. Our investigators are great and are doing better than ever. 'E' is so great and we have been able to teach 'j' again.   "M". "J" and "L", their daughter came to church on Sunday and they really liked it! All of our investigators are so great. This work is the best!

My favorite story this week was from "E". We went to "E"s house on Friday, and she was telling me that her 9 year old daughter, "D" (who has cerebral palsy) asked "is Elder McAllister coming back?" "E" said, "No.", thinking she was missing Elder McAllister. Then "D"said, "but my pillow!"  SO FUNNY! I was laughing really hard! 

I love this place!  I miss  Elder McAllister, but I love Elder Norris, and Passi is on fire. Have a great week!
Halong kamo
Love, 
Elder Andersen


Elder McAllister's last visit with Elsie

Dirty sleeve after only 3 hours of work...no idea how that happened

Dirty Sleeve..weird!

Elder McAllister's Last Day...saying goodbye to "E"

Elder McAllister's Last Day



Training Meeting

New Companion, Elder Norris

Elder Norris

When you ride on a trike with "E", and don't fit!

Our Area