FORE!!!

Week 93

March 26, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week.  This week was well… crazy hahah.   I have never driven so much. 

Tuesday, we started our travels and headed up to San Jose, the main city in Antique...around 2-3 hours from Iloilo.  We had two meetings there on Tuesday night.  After the meetings,  we got a phone call from President telling us that we needed to bring a missionary to Iloilo, from Bugasong. So the next morning, we woke up, had a meeting with the District President in San Jose, then went to Bugasong.  It was around a one hour drive from San Jose, north.  We picked up the missionary and then headed all the way back to Iloilo and took him to the hospital in Iloilo.  On Thursday, we drove back to San jose, had another meeting, then drove up to Tibiao...around 2 hours from San jose.  We  had a meeting there, then drove back 2 hours to San Jose, slept there, then woke up the next morning, and headed to Guimaras. The rest of the week was spent cleaning out an apartment that had been closed.  Sunday, we went to church in  Iloilo. 

THE highlight of this week, tho, was today, because for the fist time in nearly 2 years... I  PLAYED 18 HOLES OF GGGGGOOOOOOLLLLLLFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man it was lit! I actually hit the ball very very solid, didn’t score too well because I really struggled off the tee...the driver shaft was not stiff enough.  But it was so much fun!  I don’t really want to say what I shot but let’s say, I was soooo happy with how well I hit my irons.

This week was a lot of fun.  We drove a lot and I played golf!!!  The course we played was the oldest course in all of Asia, so that’s pretty cool!  The work here is great. I love being a missionary and it’s crazy I go home in only 10 short weeks!

Plangga ta kamo tanan

Love, 

Elder Andersen

Philippines Sunset

Philippines Sunset

Golf

Golf

MIXED EMOTIONS

Week 92

March 19, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week.  This week was for sure a lot of fun!!!

The highlight of this week was definitely "The Arrivals."  It was so amazing to see ten new missionaries enter this mission.  The best part is that I have an apo (grandchild) now.  His name is Elder McClure and he's dope. Elder Estrada is happy to be training!  This week was filled with a lot of mixed emotions...I had so many of my close friends going home, but I was also able to witness a lot of new missionaries coming in and seeing their new fresh faces and white shirts (mine aren’t not so white anymore.)  So yeah, it was a good week. The rest of this week was spent preparing for our travels for the rest of the transfer.

Another cool part of this week was  Stake Conference for the Iloilo Stake with Elder Bowen of the Seventy, who is the Area President of the Philippines.  It was amazing because most of the things he shared were about missionary work. It was sooo cool and amazing...President Cruz said, “My prayers have been answered.” It was a big help for our mission. It was amazing to talk to him. The General Authorities are literally the best and nicest people anyone can ever meet. It was amazing to feel the Spirit he brings with him. It was such a great experience. My favorite part of what he shared was how members can talk to others about the gospel. He said all it takes is asking anyone a four word question. “Are you a Mormon?” He talked about how he asks this to most everyone he comes in contact with.  After he asks that question, he tells them how they look like a Mormon and talks about all the things they have in common. It was really cool. I think it helped members a lot too! I am extremely thankful for him and for his service to our Savior.  

That’s all I have for last week.  This week should be fun.  We just scheduled a lot of appointments with stake leaders, and bishops, and branch presidents.  We will be going to Antique, Iloilo, and Guimaras this week.  It should be great.

I hope you all have a great week.  I love ya all, it is so crazy that my mission is now coming to an end. I honestly don’t want to go home...I have super mixed feelings.

Halong kamo, Plangga ta kamo

Elder Andersen

My family

My name is now on the departure board!!!

My Family

My Family

Elder Estrada meeting his Trainee, Elder McClure.

My name is now on the "Departure Board."

LOSING 18 GREAT MISSIONARIES!

Week 91

March 13, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week.  This week was a lot of fun!

This week was spent preparing... a lot! haha.  We did get to work a little though, which was fun.  So what were we preparing for?  Well, today we lost 18 missionaries, which was honestly soooo sad. We just lost some of the best missionaries in this mission, so today was a pretty sad day.   However, I am so excited for tomorrow because we will be receiving 10 new missionaries... we are also pumped for that.  This week we also did our transfers, which was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.  It is so cool to see how President receives revelation, he is just the best guy in the world!

Another big change  this week is that I have a new companion.  My new companion is Elder Steiner!! We are excited to kill it! Elder Hanks and I are also sad to be separated but we are also excited for the new change! Another cool thing that happened was a change to the areas I am over.   Last transfer, I covered three Zones, Roxas, Iloilo, and Kalibo, I had only one area in those 3 zones that I had served i... Kalibo,  Now my new Zones are: Iloilo North (where I served in 3 areas), Antique (where I served), and Guimaras (where I also served).  I I am so excited and blessed  to have the chance to work in my old areas! 

All in all, this week was a lot of fun and a lot was accomplished.  Yesterday was cool, because we were able to go sightseeing in Guimaras with the departing missionaries.  We went to this really cool place called Guici, where there’s this really cool light house, and the nicest beach I have ever seen... the water was so unbelievably clear!

That’s really all I have for this week, I love this work!  It is crazy to say, I have less than 12 weeks until I will be coming home...sooo crazy.  These past two years have gone by so fast!

I love you all!

Plangga ta kamo

Elder Andersen

Most of these pictures are from our trip to Guici with the departing missionaries.

Elder Steiner

MICKEY DEES

Week 90

March 5, 2018

What's up Friends and Family? 

This week was a lot of fun!!  Last Monday, we made the long trek up to Kalibo.  We got there pretty late, and on Tuesday and Wednesday we over-saw the zone interviews.  We were able to give a few trainings about repentance which was a lot of fun, and also very humbling. It was great seeing all my mission friends (lots of them are in the Kalibo Zone), so it was fun talking and catching up with everyone. Then on Wednesday night,the Kalibo Ward, (the ward in my last area) had a Ward Family Home Evening, so I literally got to see almost all the members I was really close with, and a lot of my investigators. It was sooo great, and a lot of fun.   I feel so blessed and lucky that I was able to be there for that!  

The Zone Conference was great.  On Friday, we drove back to Iloilo and got in around about 8:00pm.  We went home and slept, and woke up early in the morning because we were headed to Guimaras.  We took President's van over to Iloilo and we spent the day with President and Sister Cruz.   Sunday, we had the Guimaras District Conference.  I  was blessed again to see all the members from Guimaras (another one of my areas), that was sooooo much fun, I loved it.  It was such an amazing experience! 

The District Conference was awesome too.  It was very spiritual, and a lot of fun. This week was kind of funny food wise... every day from Tuesday to Friday we ate at McDonalds once or twice a day.  Let's say... I lost a lot of weight when I first got to the Philippines, and with this new calling I am gaining it back... bummer! (It's alright hahah.)  That's really all I have for this week.  We have MLC this week, so that'll be fun!

I love you all.  Have a great week!

Plangga ko kamo

Love,

 Elder Andersen