TURNING 21 AND FEELING AT HOME IN PASSI

Week 76

Monday, November 27, 2017

Hello Friends and Family,

I hope you all had a great week.   Thank you for all the birthday wishes.  My birthday was literally the best!

On Sunday morning, I got a call at 5:30 am (waking me up) from a member here named "J". She told me our Nay (What they call mother in the Philippines) here was having an asthma attack and they needed our help. Let’s just say… I didn't believe her for one second! Then, I heard knocking on our door.  I woke up, got dressed and opened the door to a big confetti popper going off in my face and all over our house. Then, "J" and Nay "M" sang me “Happy Birthday” and brought me a cake... with trick candles. It was so great, and it made me feel so loved!  After that, I opened my packages and that made me feel even more loved. Thanks to all my family for the packages and cards, it was so amazing!  Next we went to church… church was great and a lot of members wished me a happy birthday.  The best part of the day was that we had soooo many less active members and several investigators come to church. After Church, Nay "M" made me my favorite dish here, Bicol Express… it was SO good.  I had such a great birthday.

The week was also really good.  We've been teaching a lot, and our investigators are doing great. "E" is great as always, and progressing so well. Hopefully the problem with her birth certificate will be solved this week. "L" is also doing great.  Her baptism should have been this past Saturday, but she is going to wait until Christmas for the Stake Baptism.  The "B" family is great as always.   "D" is also doing well, we just need to get him to church.

This week was amazing, full of great work and a lot of fun. I love Passi so much, I feel at home here, and I love serving Jesus Christ.  It is crazy because next week, I will hit my 6 month mark left on the mission. It is crazy how fast time has gone. 

Plangga ta kamo

Love, 

Elder Andersen

Study Time

Me and "L"

When"E" tries on my shoe and it is literally twice the her size.

Really good pizza!  One of them had croccodile meat.

The confetti mess right inside our apartment door...the picture doesn't do it justice!

Switching shoes with Sister Vea

"HOLY BIRTHDAYS"

Week 75

Monday, November 20, 2017

Hello friends and family... What a great and wonderful week... #miracles.

AND… HOLY BIRTHDAYS... I think every member in Passi, including the missionaries have a birthday in November.   Let’s say, I think must have gained a little weight this week with all the food and celebrations..haha and the celebrations continue next week…  A great part of the week was Elder Norris Birthday on Wednesday.  A party had been in the plans for awhile, but we had a surprise birthday party for him. It was so much fun, and we had so much good food!  Elder Norris was really surprised and happy that we had a party for him.   The funniest part was that as he was blessing the food, Sister "J"  pulled out a cake and I had a huge party popper that I was planning on pulling right after he was done with his prayer.  Right as Elder Norris said “Amen”, I popped the popper and we all sang happy birthday.  The only mistake I made was that I didn’t realize how much stuff was in the popper and how far it would go…I ended up popping confetti all over the food..whoops!  haha!  Needless to say, we spent the next 15 minutes cleaning up the confetti so that we could eat the food.  Look closely at the pictures. Haha!

Also this past Sunday was the birthday of "E", a member that we are close with, and our Nanay here in Passi.   So…we had another surprise party.  Onee thing I have forgotten to mention about Passi, is that they are notorious for amazing pineapple.  Let’s say…I testify that it is the best and sweetest stuff ever.

And now this upcoming week is my birthday!!! And one more story... On Tuesday, I heard our gate open up,  and the senior couple brought me not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 packages and a piñata. I am spoiled and embarrassed, but…love ya ma!  (It just happens that between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Logan’s birthday…he got a lot of packages that were all delivered at once…)

So this week was also great work wise.  "L" will be baptized on Saturday, we are all so excited!!!  It'll be so good.  The "B" family is doing great, and Sister "B" came to church this week. It was funny because she came to church and realized that several of her students are members…it was so funny.  It was so cool to see the Ward fellowship her. 

One of the best things that happened this week was on Saturday night.  We had set an appointment with a few people at this one house.  We got there and literally every one we invited,attended.  It was great!   Everyone definitely felt the spirit, and said they were happy because they knew God’s servants were in their house.  It was cool and we are very excited for them.

"J" is also doing great, and Elsie is amazing.  We're hoping her baptism will be on the 25 of December!

So yeah amo na this week was great and I love being a missionary! 

Have a great week.

Love you all, plangga ta kamo

Love,

Elder Andersen

PACKAGES

BIRTHDAY DINNER AND CONFETTI

BUSY IN PASSI!

Week 74

Monday, November 13, 2017

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week this week.  Passi is lit as usual. 

So this week I don't have a crazy super story, but a really funny one.  One of our investigators, "D", who we have recently started teaching again, has a brother who is deaf. It was funny because we taught them one night with "J" (a new member here) and our mother in Passi, Nay "M". For some reason when we went back the next time...just me and Elder Norris, the deaf brother  thought that "J" and Elder Norris were a couple. It was so funny... we tried our best in sign language, to say he wasn't. Then the next night, we taught them with Nay "M" and "J"... lets just say... he finally got that they weren't dating, It was so funny to see him laughing! haha 

This week we had a lot of success.  We are teaching the "B" family, and they are great as usual. They had to go out of town this week, so they werent able to come to church.  However, they are excited to come to church this next Sunday.  It has also been really cool, because Sister "B" has been sharing and giving us referrals... it's great!   "E" is great as usual... bad news about her marriage though. She doesn't have a birth certificate, and so we are gonna have to go through bunch of stuff to get her married. If things work out the way we're hoping, her baptism will be on Christmas day. "D" is also doing really well.  He has been reading the Book of Mormon, and he really wants so come to church, he wasn't able to come this week because they went out of town. Unfortunately, "L" will not be baptized on Saturday, she wasn't able to come to church yesterday, because she was out of town too.  DANG... everyone was out of town! hahaha.  Next is "J", she is a referral from our recent convert, "C". She is doing great and has been going to seminary and church, and is best friends with several members. The youth have been such a great help to us. Lastly, is the "C" family. We were able to finally teach them this week. the lesson was great. This is the family that we did a service project for and the guy who gives us rides all the time.  The lesson was great and very spiritual, and... lots of great questions were asked. 

Let's just say we're busy here in Passi, and the work is beyond great! 

I love you all, 

Plangga ta kamo tanan.

Love, 

Elder Andersen 

Midway...a restaurant/resort in my area.

Midway

Midway

Midway

"I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!"

Week 73

November 6, 2017

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week, this week was amazing capped off by the baptism of CJ and Mollie.  

This week was really just solid all around.  It was full of tons of work, and a good amount of success. The baptism of "C" and "M" was amazing, and it was great to see the support of the ward too!  I was so happy Elder Norris was able to baptize them, it was just sooo cool to see his first baptisms. It was funny why "C" picked him tho... apparently he was afraid if I baptized him, that I would drown him hahah, really funny. I was also happy they picked him, so I wouldn't have to go in that water haha joke lang, but really tho.  

So the work here is Passi has been great. The "B" family is so amazing, they are progressing so well, and really like the church. They are so prepared for this gospel. Unfortunately, they got stuck way out  on their farm on Saturday night and because of the rain they weren't able to make it home for church on Sunday.  They are so great though. Sister "B" has a business in Korea with some stuff for kids...this week she gave us math books for the kids at the church, and some origami books..., she gave us so much!   They are sooo cool, they read the book of Mormon a lot... I honestly can't say enough good about them. One of our other investigators is "L". She is the niece of the "B" family. She recently moved to Passi, and really wants to be baptized. She is coming to church consistently and her baptism is scheduled for next week! The work here is Passi is great, and I love it here. It's crazy that it is already November!

One cool experience I'd like to share is a thing I have been studying the last little bit, about Power and Authority. I know I have the authority, so I have been studying about power and how to get it and teach better. I had a really cool experience teaching a lesson to a long time investigator, where I used my Power and Authority...and I knew it, he knew it, and everyone in the room knew it because the Spirit was so strong. God is pouring his miracles into my life right now, and I couldn't be happier!

Plangga ko kamo tanan

Love, 

Elder Andersen

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