Philippin' Awesome: December 2017

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Week 80

Monday, December 25, 2017

Magandang Pasko sa inyo lahat!

I hope you all have a great Christmas!

So, this will be a shorter email... the work here is great! We spent a lot of time this week helping the Zone out by teaching them all the things that we learned at MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference). It was fun to spend some time with all the missionaries in the Kalibo Zone!

The work here is great... I love serving my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love him so much, and as I have served him for the last year and a half, I have really come to know him and I have found out that he is truly my Savior. Jesus Christ's birth was one of the most important things to ever happen on this earth. His life was the only perfect life ever lived. My testimony of Jesus Christ is so big. I know that over this last 18 months, Jesus Christ has changed me. One of my favorite quotes is "Christ changes people, and changed people can change the world." I love Jesus Christ and I know He lives and guides this church. I miss you all soooooo much, but honestly there's no place that I'd rather be than wearing Jesus' name on my chest every day, bringing back his lost sheep.

Merry Christmas to you all. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Andersen

Pics:my last night in Passi, the broken window in the ceres, and 18 month mark pants burning

Kalibo

Beautiful Aklan

18 Month Pants Burning

18 month Pants Burning

My last night in Passi-

Last night in Passi

Broken Ceres Window

Floods After the Typhoon

Floods After theTyphoon

Jeepney Rides

My Apartment in Kalibo

Christmas Lights in Kalibo

Celebrating Christmas

Christmas Skype with My Family

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

"TAGALOG IS HARD"

Week 79

Monday, December 18, 2017

Hello Friends and Family... Tagalog is hard... haha.

This week was lit. I forgot how hard being a Zone Leader is...hahah!

On Tuesday, I headed up to Kalibo. Let's just say... I miss Passi soo much, and I didn't really want to leave. However, if there is any other area that I would want to be in, it would be Kalibo!

Monday was also great. On Monday, we had a gift exchange with the Sisters, and Nay and "J". It was a lot of fun, but it was kind of hard to enjoy because I was so sad, but it was good.

So, I got here on Tuesday night, it was about a four hour ride from Passi. I met up with Elder Merrill, my new companion and a good friend from the mission...this next transfer will be great! We headed home, then went right to a dinner appointment with some members. The members here are so great...we could literally eat at the "G" family's house every night. My plan of getting skinny is not going too well... haha.

Wednesday, we woke up and headed to Iloilo for MLC (Misisonary Leadership Conference). We were at the MLC on Wednesday and Thursday. MLC was so great... it was so inspired and so amazing.

Thursday night, we got on a ceres (bus) to head back to Kalibo. The best part was that all the ceres' stop in Passi. Nay and "J" and the missionaries met me in Passi, and I was able to see them all again. Nay also made me some Bicol Express... I love that stuff!

As we were leaving Passi, some kids threw a rock at our ceres and shattered the window...that was an ordeal. The whole window broke and eventually shattered. We rode most of the ride without a window in the bus...it was miserable.

We finally got to Kalibo at around 12am. On Friday, we spent the day doing Zone Leader stuff...just helping some missionaries out, and unpacking.

Saturday and Sunday was hard because there was a typhoon here. Don't worry about the typhoon though, nothing too serious happened, just flooding everywhere... haha.

Kalibo is so lit... I love this place. The members are doing great and we have several really good investigators! I'm excited to get down to work here.

The language here is interesting. It is mostly Tagalog, with some of the language here, Aklanon, which is crazy. I pretty much understand everything...but it is a whole different world speaking it...haha. I'm sure I'll have it down here in a few weeks though!

The work here is great, and I love being a missionary. I hope you all have a great week, and a very Merry Christmas!

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Andersen

Christmas Gift Exchange

Christmas Conference

Christmas Conference- With Elder Estrada and Norris

MLC with Sister Cruz

Monday, December 11, 2017

GOODBYE PASSI, HELLO KALIBO...and another new language!

Week 78

Monday, December 11, 2017

Wow, what a week! This may be a longer letter than usual. Honestly this last week was one of the best weeks of my life.

So, I'll start from the beginning. Monday and Tuesday were great days with a lot of good work done.

Wednesday we had a great lesson with Sister "B". She told us all about some challenges and struggles and trials she's been going through. This day was super special because it was literally my 6 month mark from going home. Towards the end of the lesson, it came my turn to testify and so I talked about how I had been on my mission for 18 months now... and I go home 6 months from today. When I said this, I got choked up with tears, and I actually realized how much I love my mission, and how honestly I don't want to go home. My testimony ended with how prepared Sister "B" is for this gospel. and how over the past 18 months she is one of the most prepared people I have found. One of her concerns though was her baptism scheduled on the 25th, and she didn't know if she'd be ready. (I'll get back to that though.)

Thursday and Friday, we had a mission-wide Christmas Conference...let's just say that was super lit...as in so dope! Thursday was tight because we did a balloon drop thing where we wrote a message on a #lighttheworld pass along card, and attached it to a balloon.

Friday, the conference consisted of dancing Zone presentations, and a whole bunch of other things. That day was amazing. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs and super spiritual moments that brought almost everyone to tears. It was so great. It really got me in the Christmas spirit!

Saturday, we had another great day where we taught a lot and ended the day with Sister "B" again. The lesson was amazing again. She said she has a conflict with the schedule for her baptism on the 25th of December and asked if she could just be baptized tomorrow, Sunday. Oh, how I wish! She is so great.

Sunday rolled in, and I got call Sunday morning informing me that I would be transferred as a Zone Leader to Kalibo. I am excited for the opportunity to become a zone leader again.So, a little bit about Kalibo...Kalibo is a city in Aklan, it is in the northern part of Panay. The language in the city is mostly Tagalog, so I'm excited to finally learn Tagalog! My companion will be Elder Merrill, the guy with all the tattoos. He is dope and we are already really good friends! Another cool thing that is happening in Kalibo in January is ATI ATIhan. This is one of the biggest festivals in Panay and it's gonna be so sick! I can't wait!

Church was great, we had six investigators. . I was asked to bear my testimony during Sacrament Meeting. Let's just say, it's hard to leave a place you love so much. But that is what a missionary does. One funny thing that happened was I gave Sister "B" all my Mormon Messages, Mormon videos, and "Meet the Mormons" video on Saturday. On Sunday at church she told me that I had made mistake to her, (so weird to say that in English haha.) But I asked her what I had done, she told me she was up until like midnight last night watching "Meet the Mormons." She told me that as she watched the last story "Missionary Mom" and she cried realizing how hard our ,mission must be and she thanked me for finding her.

I'm sad to leave Passi, especially right before all our baptisms happen. but I'm excited for my new area and calling. I love being a missionary, and this last part of my life has been without a doubt, the best part of my life. I'm so thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know he lives and I'm so thankful we have the opportunity to be celebrating his birth this Christmas season. I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!

Ingat Kayo

Plangga ta kamo tanan

Elder Andersen