LAST TRANSFER

Week 98
Monday, April 30, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week.  This last week was great...we were super busy which was amazing.

So, like I said last week...we had departures, and arrivals this past week.  It was so sad and weird saying goodbye to one of my favorite companions, Elder Santos. I really miss him. I'm glad we were able to be together our last few months.  And then in came the arrivals...they are awesome.  It was weird when they asked me, “When do you go home?” my response… “Six weeks."  They were just like “WOW!” It is weird being the in the group of the oldest missionaries in the mission. It has gone by so fast, it is unreal. 

The rest of the week was also great. On Friday, we had two meetings in Guimaras with the coordinator of the huge festival there, Manggahan.  We have actually rented some space there and we will have a booth where missionaries will be there running games and giving out copies of the Book of Mormon, pamphlets, and pass along cards. We are excited for it... it is going to be a lot of fun!! 

After our meeting with the coordinator of the festival, we met with the Branch in Jordan Guimaras. It was a great meeting and all the branches are going to help and be involved. Saturday, we went to San Jose, Antique with President and we had a couple of meetings there. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of driving. 

Sunday, we were able to go to church and prepare for the week. It was a great and successful week.

This week should be great too! tomorrow, we get to drive President and his family around Guimaras, so that should be a lot of fun. Then the rest of the week, we will drive around the whole island, conducting apartment checks and we’ll finish off the week in San Jose Antique again where we will train all the Branch Presidents, and the District Presidency. It'll be great!

That’s about it for this week.

I love you all.  I hope you have a good week.

Plangga ta kamo

Elder Andersen

Me and President Cruz.  I love this man!

Big Chillin'

Big Chillin'

Big Chillin'

Assistants

Trainers and Trainees

POWER AND AUTHORITY

Week 97
Monday, April 23, 2018

Hello Friends and Family,

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

First of all... it's crazy that I am now going home in 6 weeks. It's also crazy that one of my best friends,Elder Santos is going home tomorrow. I just can't believe it, it's really weird. 

But, this week was great. We started out with MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference).  We all trained about power and authority, it was just so amazing. Mine and Elder Steiner's training was awesome and so enjoyable.  I really felt like it was spiritual, and  I was extremely happy with how our training went.  After that, on Wednesday, we had the Area Mental Health Adviser come to our mission.  He talked to us about mental health. He and his wife, the Mcombers are such great people and they are gave a really good training about stress. For the rest of the week we spent a lot of time with transfers and all the things that had to be done for them. It was a lot of fun doing transfers is way cool.

Now we are in the middle of departures, today we are going to Guici light house, the same place that we took the departing Missionaries last time.  It'll be a lot of fun. Then we will have the new missionary arrivals...they are so fun.  I love arrivals! So, that's about It... the mission is great. I love being a missionary! It's crazy that my ful-l time missionary service is almost over.   

I love you all!

Plangga ta kamo tanan

Elder Andersen

Pictures from our trip to the Guici Light House with the departing missionaries

President and Sister Cruz

HUMBLING EXPERIENCE

Week 96

Monday, April 16, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

This week was a lot of fun!

So, this week was honestly a little  bit more of a relaxing week. We had a cool experience happen during the first few days of the week. So in the world right now there are a lot less missionaries going on missions, and because of that we are receiving less missionaries in Iloilo, and because of that we have had to close some areas.  This leaves us with extra refrigerators, and just everything in a house.  We have a  surplus of things we don't need anymore.  President Cruz had a great idea that we open up our own little DI store and sell all these things to the poor for dirt cheap.  So with the Stake President here in Iloilo a few families were selected... It was a really cool opportunity because we were able to help give all this stuff away. It was so cool to see how happy these people were and how much they really appreciated what we did. It was a super humbling experience and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of it.  

For the rest of the week, we were able to work with some Elders which was also a lot of fun. It love working with all the elders in this mission. 

Today we had or MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference). All of us Assistants focused on power and authority for our training's, and the missionaries loved it. That is one of my favorite topics, and I'm glad we were able to share what I have leaned about the power and authority God gives to us. 

Thats really about it for this week.   I'm kind of short on time but I love ya all and I hope you all have a great week!

Plangga ta kamo

Elder Andersen

The Assistants at Yaki Mix...The best buffet ever!

GENERAL CONFERENCE

Week 95

Monday, April 9, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

I hope you all had a great week.  This week sure was a lot of fun, ended off by the best General Conference!

This week we started off by working in Jaro 1^st (my 5^th area).  Man... it was so much fun and the work there is so amazing. The elders there are working so hard and they are seeing the fruits of their labors.  It was also fun to see some members, and recent converts. 

We also went to Passi this week...that was soooo much fun. It was amazing to see some of my best friends from my mission, and work with my trainee, Elder Norris.  It was great to see all my recent converts, and former investigators. I really miss that place.  Our night was ended with Nay Marites making my favorite dish, Bicol Express. I miss that so much!  It is SO GOOD! 

The next day, we went to a District Meeting in Passi, did some apartment checks, and then headed home. Friday we spent the day working in Jordan Guimaras. That was also a lot of fun.

Although the week was so amazing, the highlight of the week for me was General Conference. I would just like to testify that I know Russell M. Nelson is a living Prophet of God. He is the mouth of God in our days, and I know with the revelations he received, is what the Lord want.  I know all the Apostles and General Authorities are also called of God. Some of my favorite talks were by Jeffery Holland, Neil L. Andersen, Devin G. Durrant, M. Russell Ballard, and Taniela B. Wakolo.  But, I think my very favorite talk was by Larry Y. Wilson. Honestly though, all the talks were great.  I loved hearing from President Nelson too! It was amazing to receive inspiration and love from the leaders of this church. I love General Conference. I have said my whole mission once the April 2018 conference comes around, I’ll be close to coming home, it has come and past, and I am now under 2 months.

This week was great I had a lot of fun and I loved General Conference, I love being a missionary and serving my Savior. I’m so thankful he gave me the opportunity to serve a mission.   Elder Steiner and I just had a really spiritual talk for about two hours this week while driving about how much the Lord does for us missionaries. He really changes us, and we have both seen how much we have changed and grown in the last two years. His plan is perfect, I know it!

Pics: none sorry I forgot 

Have a great week!

Plangga ta kamo tanan

Love, 

Elder Andersen

YOUTH CONFERENCE

Week 94

Monday, April 2, 2018

Hello Friends and Family, 

This week was dope...

This week started off by us taking a trip for a Zone Conference to San Jose, Antique.  It was a lot of fun...the Zone Conference was great and went really well!!!  An awesome part of the trip was we were invited to come teach the youth at a youth conference. It was amazing and a lot of fun. It was great to see so many people from Pandan, especially my recent convert Leandro! It was a lot of fun spending time with them and teaching them missionary skills. I really enjoy being around youth!!! After we were done in Pandan, we then went to Guimaras and worked with the missionaries there...it was also a lot of fun.   Guimaras is such a great place.  We had a meeting there with the District President and one of his counselors, the meeting was great and went really well.  After that, we came back and went to church.  We watch General Conference next week.  I really can’t wait!  We did get to watch the Solemn Assembly yesterday.  It was such an amazing, spiritual experience  We did learn about a lot of the announcements... wow!  There are sure a lot of big things happening in the church! 

Today we had a really cool opportunity to go to the new Marriott Hotel in Iloilo and deliver 400 copies of the Book of Mormon.  We had a meeting with the General Managers, it was us Assistants, and President and Sister Cruz.  We had the opportunity to tell them about the Book of Mormon and testify about it. It was a really cool, sweet experience for me, and it was a lot of fun.

Well that’s about all I have for this week.  The work here is great, and the mission is soaring into new places! I hope you all have a great week

Plangga ta kamo

#9weeksnalang

Love,

Elder Andersen

pics: Youth Conference 

Youth Conference

Youth Conference

Youth Conference

Youth Conference