Letter #31

Hey Family, 

This week was good and upsetting at the same time! Of course I love the Holiday Season, and I love that I got to chat with y'all on Skype too :) It was
good to talk to you and see how whats new with everyone. I just wish I had gotten to talk to Steve in Spanish, but I guess he was busy! I really enjoyed talking
to all y'all and being able to talk with Dad in Spanish. I hope y'all got a kick
out of our investigator he is literally crazy! Funny story from
yesterday; We taught this guy named Tintan and he was drunk like most
of our investigators. We tried talking to him about El Libro de
Mormon but he was crazy! At the end we prayed with him and he said
the prayer. In his prayer he talked about how he didn't understand
our Spanish because we were "White Americans" and then he thanked God for
sending us even though all of us are B's sometimes. He CUSSED IN A
PRAYER!!!!! I was like really dude?!?! So hopefully we can help this
Fool! ;p

Thanks everyone for the presents! I will be sending yours off this
week because I am late on my shipping! They are all the same gift so
don't get to excited! I hope y'all love them :) This Christmas was
very cool to me. We got to go teach some lessons to some members and also some less actives in the ward. We were stuffed with food that day, and we took home
a lot of Tamales!!!(if you didn't know yet; I love tamales!) So of course I had those for breakfast, lunch and dinner! :) This year was really fun
to experience away from home. I got to learn about helping others on Christmas! I know that is what God wants from us!

This is a story that really got to me this week:
We went to the Hospital to give a member a blessing before she went
into surgery. Of course everything is fine, and she made a through
with no complications.(she had to get her gallbladder removed) Right before we were going to give them a lesson, Giovanni and his
sister walk in.(They are members and we are working with him to get
him on a mission) We talked a little more and Elder Bushman gave
the lesson to the other people while I talked to Gio. I asked him about his testimony and he doesn't have a very
strong one, so I bore mine to him and talked about the restoration
a little bit. He does believe that there is a God and that this is the
true church, or else he wouldn't be the person he is now. Then he
said something that really hit me and I know I am here for a
reason.(This guy is very hard headed and doesn't listen very well) He
told me that I am here for him. He said when I teach lessons that he
understands perfectly and he gets what I am saying. He said that when Elder Bushman
teaches he doesn't always get it and he gets upset. So he loves me and really looks
up to me! I love that I can teach to his needs and say what he needs to hear. I think I am the one really getting him on a mission. He wants to go, but
he doesn't have the funds to really do it, cause he supports
the family! I just tell him the blessing of me serving a mission. I know without fail the Lord will provide! His brother also told me
something that hit me. He spoke about how bad his dyslexia is, and how he feels that we think that he is retarded. Honestly hearing
that, he doesn't know how much I really look up to him. He has a
beautiful family and he is happy in life. He might not have all the
money he wants, but I know how he loves his family and how he makes
them happy. He is one of the most generous people I know. That
whole family is super nice and I am really happy I have the
opportunity to help and serve them. I know that I am
here for a reason, and I know that I am helping them in their lives! I know this church is true, I know Joseph saw God the Father and his Son! I testified of it last night and I always get a confirmation when I say it that it is true! I love to quote it! It is the best feeling ever! One of the
sisters in my Zone said she is "In love with the spirit!" when I first heard her say this I thought that was kinda funny. Now that I have been on the Mission a little longer I know it is so true. I am addicted to what it feels
like, it is definitely the best feeling in this world!
I love y'all so much!

Love Elder Andersen

Christmas!!~~

WE were able to GOOGLE PLUS on Christmas with 

Elder AND Sister Andersen... 

enjoy the pictures we snapped!!~~

 Elder Andersen with his adorable smile!

 Sister Andersen with her sweet smile!

 Some of the people at G&G Andersen's... Hailey, Crystal, Grandma, Kylie and Melissa...

 Dad (Lovin' the beard) Kylie and Matt sleeping, Mom

The Richardson House...

The Ray House...

 Preston at the end of the call giving us a WINK...

 Sharon at the end of the Call giving us her WINK!!

It was SO fun to talk with them! LOVED IT!!

Letter #30

Hey family,
So this week has been very fun! We have no had many lessons
this week, but it has been very fun and spiritual. This week I have
received so many letters and Christmas Cards! I love it!!! I just
love getting cards from the family! This year has brought a differnt
aspect to my life about the Christmas Season. We all know what the
Christmas Season is all about, and we are kinda accustomed to it. We go through the motion's but this year was a big eye opener to show me what
the true meaning of it is! That is something to think about for the
next couple of days!

Yesterday we had a mission party. We got to get together as a
mission and eat a bunch of good food and have a very spiritual and fun
day! The begining we started off with a devotional by the Stake
President, then the Mission Presidents wife, then the Mission President!
They were all really good talks and then we got to chance to chose
between acouple movies. We ended up picking Ephraim's Rescue. It was
soooooooo good!!!!! It has been the most spiritual movie I have ever
watched! It was about the pioneers and the story of this guy named
Ephraim and his life and how he changed for the better. One of the jokes he says
in there that I thought was pretty humorous was "What is the worst
part of multiple wives? ...Multiple Mother in laws!" I was laughing
really hard when I heard that. It was very spiritual and I would
suggest y'all watch it if you can!

Spiritual Experience:
We have this investigador named Chris Estrada. We did not know what
to do with him. After we heard the talk called Safety for the Souls by
Jeffry R. Holland. (If you haven't watched it, you should!) It is life
changing! (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng) 
It testifies of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and it is
so powerful! It was another of the many wake up calls I needed to know
is true! :p After we watched it, it was quiet. He tried to say
something funny to break the spirit and I just ignored it and testified
as simply as I could. I pretty much said I know its true and we left. I know
as we left they definatly felt the spirit so strong! We left that lesson and sat in the car and I was thinking... did that really just happen!?!? He pretty much smacks down on everyone that trys to say the Book of Mormon is wrong and tells us before we go to the judgement bar that
is it true! It is definatly my favorite talk I have listend to in my
life!

So we will be skyping from around 1 to 2. I don't know when we will
start because we dont know if we will have to set up anything or having
lunch first or whatever. So just be ready for me :)

Love y'all! Thanks for all the presents and prayers!
Love Elder Andersen

Letter #29

Hey Family!
Dad, before I forget; Yes I did receive your letter about family
history.(I forgot to tell you last week) It was a really good story,
I might have to use that in some kind of lesson! :)
I think the Campos Family loves me! I often talk about you serving in
Columbia so they give me the good stuff! They made empanadas last time
we were there, and they were sooooo good :) Sadly, we didn't get to try
any of the fruit I talked about before, but I hope to try them soon! Also, Dad the beard is sweet!!!

I think the cold's have been coming around to everyone. Last month I
have had the sneezes and a cough. Luckily Mom replenished my cough drops with the last package, so now I am good now,:) Thanks!!!!!!

We had a Christmas Program also. However, we were not able to go to it. We have been having a lot of planned out lessons, but they all end up not being home or "too busy." It is pretty difficult to help people if they don't want our help. I know we are out here to find the people that are being prepared!

Oh and another thing I found out is I get to stay for another transfer in Kemah! I will be in the same apartment for the next 6 weeks! :) You
can send the letters now! :p

This week I went on exchanges to Galveston. I was with Elder Ve'e, we had a lot of fun!! It was also very funny!! It was very weird because I was able to teach in English. While on the exchange we met this guy named Smug! (that is his baseball name) We tried to teach him but he would talk about how a serpent told him he was going to eat him back in 1964. (and he is only like 35) I am thinking like Ok, this guy is crazy! Then he took it to another level! He started talking about when he was in prison he saw Christ's dead body. Elder Ve'e told him we know that Christ has been resurrected. Smug was like "No he isn't, he is dead!" and then he told us he saw his spirit 3 days after they put his body in the room. So then I was convinced that this man is crazy! I told him we needed to go, and asked him if we could leave with a prayer. He made us go around saying a prayer. Elder Ve'e said it in English and then I asked if I could say it in Spanish. He is like "Yeah definitely." So I said one in Spanish, he was amazed that I knew another language. After my prayer he asked "Do y'all know Hebrew?" So me being me I said "Of course I do!" and so he went on saying his prayer in Hebrew... but it was the farthest thing from Hebrew. It was just random noises and Elder Ve'e and I were laughing so hard in the middle of the prayer and we just could not stop laughing. It was so funny that I just had to record this crazy man! So I told him "I am a little rusty on my Hebrew can I record you to brush up on it a little?" he accepted and let me record him. So y'all will see it when I send it. :p I was laughing through the whole video too! At the end of it he spoke in his own made up language. Needless to say it was a very crazy day! A little later Elder Ve'e fell of his bike and ripped his pants down the crotch. That was funny, and then we ran into the Spanish Elders in the area and one of them got pooped on in the face! It was a very funny day! Missionary work can be very fun and very amusing sometimes!

Next week President Ashton changed p-day to Tuesday. (December 24th) So that is when I will know when we will be able to skype on Christmas. So look forward to that, and remind me to tell you! :p

Today I just finished John in the Bible. I have read all of the
Testaments, and it has really helped my testimony grow in Jesus Christ and his ministry! It was wonderful to read that! I am trying to read the whole Bible while on my mission!
I love y'all so much!

Love Elder Andersen

Letter # 28

Hey family,

So to start off, I wanted to talk about my trip to NASA!! It was super cool, I have some pictures at the bottom of this letter so y'all can see how awesome it was! (I have some more pictures on my camera, so when I send it home you can see the rest of them! :) The first picture is Apollo17. NASA did not have the funding; so it never launched! It was a huge rocket!!! The second picture is of Elder Preece in front of one of the blasters. There were so many blasters!! This thing was huge!!!! (I hope Landon love's it.) I loved the whole trip! We were able to take a tram to the Mission Control Center, that was the coolest thing ever!!!

Oh, and Dad I went to the Campos house again. They told me about all the good fruits from Columbia. I wondered if you remember any of these?!?! Mamoncillo, Guama, Lulo, Zapote, Pitaya and they made a super good Mango Guava drink!! Colombians make the best drinks ever!!!

Miracle:

We had two really good lessons with the Penillas, they are a part-member family. Brother Penillas is a member, his wife is not. We were able to find out both of their doubts during our visit! We shared two different lessons with them, and Brother Penillas shared with us that he doesn't think there is a God. He said this because he was watching The Discovery Channel and saw a show that said that Aliens created us. Apparently this show said that they did it to find gold, and somehow the Aliens died and so now we are alone. I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith translating the plates and how he had the vision. Brother Penillas was like "Yeah, it could be true."  So I asked him if he wants to find out if its true or not. He said yes, so I challenged him to read the Introduction to the Book Of Mormon. I asked him to read it everyday for a week, and to pray and ask God every time he reads if it is true. I promised him he will get his answer, so we will see if he keeps his promise and takes on my challenge. 

SIster Penillas his wife said she is not doing anything because she feels like she can't come closer to God because she has hatred to her mom for abandoning her for 13 years of her life. She also has a hard time because her husbands parents don't like her, so she is feeling like God wont help her if she has bad feelings with them. We told her we have the perfect lesson for her about those things, and that next time we come over we will have an amazing lesson planned for her! We are watching this Mormon message about forgiveness. It is a story about a father forgiving this teenager for killing his family while he was driving drunk. That is true forgiveness! I challenge all y'all to go watch it. Here is the link: http://www.mormonchannel.org/come-follow-me-the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?v=911104787001

It is very awesome, and it will brighten your day! It shows you true Christ like love. I know that she will be happy after this lesson! :)

I love y'all, and keep up everything you do! :)

Love, Elder Andersen

Letter # 27

Hey Family,

This week has been kinda hard, but really funny! My companion and I have been arguing over dumb stuff lately. We have it all pretty much sorted out; he is just a little "cray cray" so I have a lot to adjusting to do! This week has been one of the funniest weeks ever! When I send my SD card home you will understand more. I will tell the story at the end of my letter!

Thanksgiving was amazing. I had a bunch of food, we were at the Amezquita's house playing Pictionary with them that night. I was teamed up with Rayanin, she a very cute 6 year old girl. She has the word PIE, but she can't read yet so she asked me what it said. I told her it said PIE but she must have mistaken what I told her for "PIG". She went up and started to draw and I was like that looks nothing like a pie... what is she doing?!?! The team guessed PIG and then I realized and thought... Oh no! Did she understand me? So I had to tell everyone that it was supposed to be PIE. After I said that they all laughed. It was a blast, the family really loves me so much. I have helped them so much, I feel like I am here in Kemah for them specifically! We had all the traditional thanksgiving food, and then they made Tortas. They were to die for, they were so good. I think I ate so much food that day its not even funny!

As an apartment we made our own turkey this year! At Wal-Mart they were selling turkeys for 65 cents. I was thinking that was good, so we were going to buy it. Then some lady told us the HEB is selling their turkeys for 22 cents. So being a decedent of the Andersen's and learning from Matthew Bird of course I knew I was going to have them price match it!! So we got this huge 24 pound turkey for 6 dollars!! It was amazing!!! I cooked it and seasoned it and it was perfect! We still have a bunch of leftovers so that is probably going to be my lunch for today :p

Funny story of the week!

So we are teaching this guy named Hugo Martinez. He is a "Drunk Mexican", we have talked to him 4 times and one time we actually caught him sober. He is soooo different when he is sober. When he is drunk he thinks that he is God's protector from the devils, and without him there would be no God! So my companion and I decided to go deeper into this plot of his.  (all the things he tells us is in his dreams when he sleeps.) So he told us that he had fought 1000 devils to save God and as he was killing him then two angels came and picked him up and carried him away. So my companion and I said "We are those two angels that saved you. Now we are here to help you in real life!" He goes on and says something about how we are good but not as good as the angels... this was all being said in Spanish and I understood most of it. I asked him how he killed the devils and he says that when he was 10 he learned from the Chinese Karate guy who is a master and then he proceeds to show us his skills! (Yes I just happened to record some of this, so y'all will get a kick out of it. Dad will have to translate it.) So he tells us that with his bamboo he kills the devils, and then he tells us he is a cobra, then he kills them with oranges! So this guy is all over the place and crazy! He is the funniest guy ever! That is why I always go over and talk to him!

I thought a funny story would be good for this week! I love y'all and y'all are always in my prayers.

Love, Elder Andersen

Letter # 26

Hey Family!

Papa estoy animado que le gusta leer me cartas en espanol, yo debe escribir todo en espanol entonces puedo tener mas practica en eso. Me companero me dijo que en nuestro lecciones estoy mejorando en hablando con fluencia y claridad. Estoy agradecido por me Padre Celestial que siempre bendice me en me idioma y en su obra. "Dad, I am excited that you like to read my letters in Spanish. I should write all in Spanish; then I can have more practice in that.  My companion told me that in our lessons I am getting better at talking with fluency and clarity.  I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who He always blesses me in my language and in His work."

To be honest, I  like Spanish way more then English.  There are some things I like more in English; like it is very descriptive and Spanish is not very descriptive at all. Sometimes I think they are just very lazy! :p

I hope you have fun at family's house for thanksgiving, I am getting very excited for mine here cause we are going to the Menendez house. They will be making Floutas and some other Spanish specialty's! I love Spanish food, I just can't get enough! When there is something new to try I am so excited, like yesterday I tried persimmon's for the fist time. (even though we have one in our back yard) I learned that I really like Jacotes rojo, (dad you will like this) its like a plum but only grown in El Salvador. I love eating it, the people tell me the best is to suck on the pit of it, and they are right! It is delightful!! Yesterday we had pasole which i did not like the first 3 times I tried it, but yesterday it was really good! I don't know what it is but it was really good!!!!

The Menedez family has 3 kids, and they are the coolest! One lives a mile away from the parents and he is super cool. I talked about how I saw this sweet hammock and I wanted a special one from outside of this country. He said he has some of the ones that I wanted that his friend dropped at his house awhile ago. He said that he doesn't want it so he said I can have it! Now I am going to get a super sweet hammock! (Yes Dad, I will send it home and you can use. Or whoever has room for it to use they can borrow it!) The members here are the nicest, they always ask if there is anything we need or want and they will give it to us. That is one of the thing that I love about the Hispanic culture, they are always nice and willing to do anything for others. They members are especially helpful to missionaries. :p

Nothing big has happened this week, but I have seen some big changes in our branch. We are bringing a lot of "Less Actives" back to strengthen the ward and then they get their friends to come to the church! The best way for missionary work is through the members! :)

I love y'all and y'all are always in my prayers!

P.S. This picture was really cool even though they aren't doing good this season :P

Love Elder Andersen 

Preston Sent me other pictures too...

 I asked for a sunset picture ~ Isn't this beautiful!? He said the camera just does not do it justice!

This was the early Thanksgiving Missionary Meal.

Letter # 25

Hey Family,

This last week has been very good -- not too good in lessons and investigators, but spiritual has been amazing!

We had zone conference and we do many role plays and we learn so much stuff. One of my favorite things to say in an OYM (open your mouth, talk to everyone that you come in contact with) [yo siempre digo, "somos representantes de Jesucristo."] Because normally we are accustomed to: ["somos misioneros de la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias." Para me, el Espiritu Santo puede testificar mas fuerte si empiezo con, "somos representantes" o "Jesucristo nos envio aqui para ayudarles."]
[I always say, "we are representatives of Jesus Christ."]  ...  ["We are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints." For me, the Holy Ghost can testify more strongly if I start with, "we are representatives" or "Jesus Christ sent us here to help you."
I can feel the spirit testify so much better when we testify and tell them we are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ! The best companion is definitely the Holy Ghost!

 

And dad, that's cool that you saw all those people this last week! It's good to hear some things from home to keep me sane and to hear about football. People don't talk about football here cause the Texans are doing horrible!! They are like on a 8 game losing streak or something crazy like that! But I do need some sport news every week :p

 

Miracle for this week:

We had an investigator named Sharon and she was very solid. Her aunt that is a strong member in our branch had a family home evening with us and she was doing really good for a couple of weeks. She told us that she received an answer that she needed to be baptized and then she falls off the deep end. She has been here about 2 months from Mexico and she lives with a different aunt that is catholic. She has been taking her to clubs, dances and introducing her to guys, and all this bad stuff. After zone conference is when I talked to president about some things and then the aunt called us on the way home and told us she wants to see us again. I feel like I did the right thing by talking to president and then I was blessed by her coming back to us. We just think that is a huge miracle that she has came back; we are trying to get her to live with the aunt that is a member but its kinda difficult. But this week has been very spiritual and it's been really good because lately I have been really stressed! But the spirit has really helped me a lot!

 

Me gusta dejarles con mi testimonio que esta obra es la obra del Senor. Y solamente por medio de El podemos traer nuestros amigos a El y todos de nosotros podemos ser salvados. Esta semana yo aprendi mucho de arrepentimiento y como recibir muchos bendiciones por eso. Se que esta iglesia es verdadera y el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios. Se que Dios nos ama y quiere que regresemos a El despues de esta vida. Necesitamos leer y orar cada dia para obtener eso. Digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen.

[I would like to leave you with my testimony that this work is the work of the Lord.  And only through Him can we bring our friends to Him and all of us can be saved.  This week I learned much about repentance and how to receive many blessings because of it.  I know that this church is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that God loves us and wants us to return to Him after this life.  We need to read and pray each day to obtain that.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.]

Con Mucho Amor

[With Much Love]

Les Amo, Elder Andersen 

[I Love You] (plural form)

Letter #24

Hey family,
This week has been very rough. We had many scheduled appointments and then they all seemed to fall through -- they either weren't there, drunk, or busy with something. But I have learned that the power of prayer is the key. God knows where we need to go but it is hard to be in tune with the spirit; so we have to listen closely. Lately, Elder Bushman and I have been relying on prayer to know and see and the last couple of weeks, we have seen many miracles we felt we needed to go see. And it's pretty sweet how the Lord's hand is in this work, and we find out that we are just instruments and he tells us what to do and were to go.

A cool story:

Yesterday we went and saw an investigator and her name is Gabby and she is cool. We want to teach her family but they are always busy. But one thing that is cool about them is the husband makes ribs and he charges 30 dollars for a rack of ribs and, as we were leaving the lesson, he asked us if we wanted some. Of course, ya'll know me; I will never turn down food. So I took them and they were soooooooooo good!!! The meat just fell off the bone and it was amazing!

But of course, mom, nothing is compared to your food :)

I love ya'll and keep up everything! Keep me in your prayers and pray for me to be a better missionary. :)

Love, Elder Andersen

Letter #23

Hey family!!!

Yes dad I am a little jealous of your partying; but I am satisfied here too :)  We received transfer calls today and I am staying here again :) I LOVE it here in Kemah! Even though it's very hard to find people; but I know the Lord will provide a way!

Every day I am out here, I find out that this gospel is more and more true as I read the scriptures and pray! It is an awesome opportunity to serve a mission. I do have hard days and weeks; but I know the Lord is here with me and I have have angels holding me up cause there are days where I can't go on but there is literally a force pushing me and guiding me of what I need to do!

Funny story:

We helped a less active move out of her apartment and we thought it was going to be an easy move -- just putting things from her house in the truck and leaving. But when we got there, we found out that we will be moving her into her next place too; so overall it took 5 hours!!!!! But we arrived there to a messy house that hasn't even been packed, so we help pack and then put everything in the truck. I used the dolly to take the dryer to the truck while Elder Bushman was getting the washer prepped and I come back to water squirting everywhere. And I was like man, what happened?!?! We thought they would have turned off the water but they didn't, and the knobs didn't work so we had to turn of the complex's water so they were out of water for a little. But that happened for a good 10 minutes -- it looked like Elder Bushman went swimming at the end and her kitchen was in 3 inches of water. (When I send my camera stick, you will see some funny videos of this and some pictures) but yeah it was just a crazy day!!!  

And yes, we did have a Halloween party and the picture below is of our Halloween party there. It was an English ward and a Spanish branch mixed; so it was really fun! The girls with the mustaches are in my district in our branch and the guy behind is a missionary in the English ward named Elder Sami, he was Captain Moroni and me and elder Mastergeorge are duck dynasty representatives. We also got to judge the chili, (one of the good perks of a missionary always gets to judge the winner of food contests:)) The other girls are in the English ward; so I don't know them but they loved mine and elder Mastergeorge's costume :)

Today I studied Integrity and it really hit me what it means and what we have to do. One story that I read today was in Daniel 6. It is a story about how Daniel went against the laws to know what God wanted him to do, and I know if we have integrity cause we know it to be true, then we will receive alot of blessings :)

Love ya'll and don't forget about integrity.

Love, Elder Andersen

MELISSA EXCLUSIVE E-MAIL

I don't usually share my personal e-mails that Elder Andersen sends to me... but I HAD to share this one AND the picture he sent with it! I sent Elder Andersen a Halloween Card in the mail with a longer letter and some money in it. A girl from college that he was dating before his mission "wrote him off" which we call being "Dear Johned". On my husbands mission when you got a Dear John letter they made you a cake. So we decided to send him some money to go and BUY a cake because we were not there to make one for him!! So glad that he is able to really serve now that he is not worrying about any girls back home!! :) Oh and also I made friends with someone from his mission on FB and told him to give Elder Andersen a hug for me! :) ENJOY ~ 

whatssssss uuuuuppppppp!!!!!!!!!????

So your letters are awesome! They totally make my whole week! I took advantage of your offer for the "Dear John Cake"! I will attach a picture of it too! I decided to splurge a little, so I got myself a Red Velvet Cake Roll!!! It was heavenly- defiantly worth the "dear john letter"!!!

Well as you can see in the picture it doesn't look like i was smiling. I tried real hard to make a funny face but it didn't turn out so good. :p Thanks for everything you do for me you are the best!!!

And Ivan gave me a hug :p He showed me the conversation with you on FB! He is the funniest guy ever!! He comes out with us sometimes and he is hilarious!

Thanks for the pictures too!  :)

Love Elder Andersen

Letter #22

Hey Family,

Well, I can easily say this was my favorite week in my mission -- when you go through hard times the Lord makes up for the rest! We have seen many Miracles this week and I am so happy to be here!

 

We had Zone Conference with President Ashton, and we also had individual interviews with him. I had some very good conversations with him and asked him questions and he answered everything perfectly, (if I was one-tenth as spiritual as my president, I would have a good life!) He is the MAN!!!!

 

My favorite part of this week was a couple weeks ago we had talked to Josh Amezquita about him serving a mission. He told us that he wants to go; but he does not want to leave his mom because she has diabetes and his dad has passed away. He does not want to see her pass and he brings in some money for the bills. I told him that my mom has diabetes too so I can see his worry. But I shared with him this that since I have left on my mission; I can testify that my mom is in better hands (the Lord) with me on the mission than with me at home with her. I was just bearing my testimony and I was bawling because the spirit was so strong. He started crying and he told us that he was going to pray about it. We followed up on Tuesday this week with him and he made up his mind that he is going on a mission! After I heard that I gave him a huge hug and told him that I loved him because that is the best thing for him to do! He really loves me and we get along so well! After that experience on the way home, I just felt like my mission was complete! I feel like I am here for him to help him out. I do know that there are others for me to help; but I know I was here to help him specifically :)

 

President Ashton has given us some new training and I really took it to heart! I applied the training in my lessons and found a lot of miracles and new potential people. Every day I am here I love it more and more :)  Here is a sweet picture of Texas.

 

I love you all and pray for ya'll all the time :)

 

Love, Elder Andersen

Letter #21

Hey Family,

This week has had its ups and downs, like all weeks. However, I know that we all can grow from these experiences. We just need to rely on the Lord and keep doing what he wants us to do, and he will help us through all of our trials.

 

No, I did not go to the Football game! I really wanted to, but we had Stake Conference. It was AWESOME!!!!  Saturday at the Adult Session it was very powerful! One thing that I received revelation was for one of our members. She has told us that she really wants to get her Patriarchal Blessing. She needs to ask the Stake President for it! I know that I need to help her with this because she has a chavo (bum) husband that works and comes home and does nothing. He isn't progressing to the Melchizedek Priesthood so he can bless his 4 month old daughter. He is holding her back so much! She is an awesome member and they are active, but he just never prays or reads scriptures! So I feel like part of my reason here in Kemah North is to help that family because I know that they love me :)

 

Another other cool thing about Stake Conference was as a surprise the Missionaries sang in with the choir. The choir started singing an E.F.Y. melody, then we all stood up and walked to the front of the stage and we joined with them. After the meeting was over we had lots of investigators asking "What was that feeling they got when we sang that song!?" A ton of the members also came to us and told us that they feel the spirit so strong when we sing! I love singing, but I am not good at it! :p

 

But Miracle for this week! We meet this guy from the Dominican Republic (he looks like he is from Africa with dreads and everything... haha) He only speaks Spanish! We had a very powerful first lesson with him and we are going back tonight to extend a baptism date He has only been here for a week and he told us it's not an accident that we met him! He knows that we are the real deal!!!

 

Keep up the good work and I love all you!!!

 

Love Elder Andersen

Letter #20

Hey Family,

So the picture I am sending is a family my companion and I baptized! They are the hermanas converts (Sister Missionary Converts) but they asked us to do it cause they like us more that the other Elder companionship! I baptized Giovanni and Felipe. (to make it easier they have on gray shoes) I had the opportunity to play some basketball and football with them on Saturday night. While I played Elder Bushman was interviewing them one by one. These kids are sooooo cool!!! They were fun to hang out with. The last song we sang after the baptism was Familias pueden ser Eternas (Families can be Together Forever) and during it I looked at the Mother of the children and she was crying. I know the spirit was there! I know it was able to to touch her heart and tell her that this is the path she needs to take, and her family CAN and WILL be together forever.

This week I had a wonderful opportunity to listen to Elder Golden of the seventy. He came to our mission and gave us a very powerful lesson and lecture. Some of the revelation I received was that I need to be EXACTLY  OBEDIENT to the rules and not to assume things. When I teach with clarity, obey the rules, and do the things I am supposed to do I will have better lessons; and the spirit will be with me more as I teach! Elder Golden made some promises to us that were very bold, but I KNOW that if we do what he says, and follow what God whats us to do then we can obtain these goals. 

To answer your questions: 

Dad; No I don't have much beans and rice now, I have a lot of soups!! I am getting a bunch of different variety. I am starting to love the food here!! It's really good. Also YES I finally do love beans and rice!! And Yes I got the Package and it is amazing!!! We listen to the Vocal Point CD everyday in the car!! Where did you get it from?!?! The case was broken and the CD holder inside is broken; so it doesn't hold the CD anymore. I have another one I keep it in! Did you have it before of just buy it?!?! My favorite songs are Danny Boy, He is Born, and Holy Infant. All of the songs are good, I don't have skip any songs I listen to the whole thing!!!  

Miracles:

This week after the conference we had I decided to be "Exactly Obedient" and I saw many miracles! A couple of weeks ago we had a member call us and tell us she wants us to teach her niece Sharon. We set up that we would meet them at the English class that we hold every week. So we went there and the hermanas (sister missionaries) told us that she lives in there area so we told them about our plan. Then last Sunday Elder Bushman and I were going through the Potential Investigators and found a lot of names in there. We wrote a couple down in our planners to go visit. (we planned to bring the paper with us but we ended up forgetting about it) Luckily we had written down a few and this one address just stood out to us! So we put it in the G.P.S. and we went there. We were looking for a mujer (woman, wife) named Stella and guess who came to the door? . . . Sharon!!  We were like "Hey!" and introduced ourselves and asked if we could come back later; however we had actually set up to see her at the English class! Then we found out that class was cancelled so we called the member that wanted us to meet her and asked if she can bring her to church so she did. Then The member told us to come to her house after the baptism and we could teach her a lesson in there house. So we went to the Baptism and went the the members house and we had the BEST lesson ever! I felt the spirit so strong and I know that it testified that what we teach is the truth. It wasn't us who brought in the spirit ~ it was defiantly the members! We taught them but then the Aunt testified and was telling her how the much the church meant to her and why she is a member. She told Sharon that it was us that brings the spirit but Elder Bushman and I were like no it was defiantly the family! The Aunt and niece were balling and we extended a date for baptism and she accepted with ease! I know that she had been prepared by the Lord and then we were put in her path. 

Another short miracle is we were walking in Scarsdale Park and we saw this Hispanic walking and we said "Hi!" my companion just stopped and stared at him. The guy stopped and looked back and my companion and said "I don't know why, but I need to share our message with you." We ended up talking to him for a little and at the end he said "I felt some kind of attraction to y'all!" He wants us to come back and teach him too. 

We just need to follow the spirit, and he will guide us wherever we need to go!

Love y'all and I pray for y'all all day :)

Love Elder Andersen   

Letter #19

Hey Family,

Well to start this off, YES General Conference was amazing!!!! All the talks were amazing, but my favorite quote was from Edward Dube. His story about when he was in the cotton field struck me; he said "Never look back, always look ahead of what we have to do". When I heard that my eyes opened big. I have always reflected on how I was last week, and what I did. Always thinking of things that happened in the past, but after hearing that talk I was like; Man It's all about NOW!!! It feels the same that I can't look back and think of stuff, I have to act on things now. One of my new goals is to forget the past and focus on what I need to be doing now. One goal our mission set was to baptize 1000 people this year. It really hit me that I need to be focusing on hitting that goal and other goals too. Of course there are small goals I need to work on to eventually hit that goal, but we need to always be setting and trying to maintain our goals so we can achieve them.

 

This is something I can use for my investigators and the members. I have told you about Josh Amezquita before. He is 20 and he wants to serve a mission, but he is kinda "in the world" right now. He is trying to save up money for his mission, but all his money is going into the house and fixing his rice rocket car. Elder Bushman and I are trying to get him to set short term goals to obtain it. He is always bringing up things from the past, and saying he can't do anything. Some of his problems are that his family doesn't have money, and won't be able to afford for him to go. I am going to tell him that the Prophet just asked us to donate more so that we can have more missionaries serve. Hopefully that will help him, but he has some work to do. I just need to promise him blessings, and he will go; but it will take some work though :) I am excited to work with him and help him out! :)

 

I know that God puts people in our way, this week we randomly parked next to this guy and we started talked to him. He was saying that he wants to change. We told him that we didn't park there on accident; that God lead us to him. We ended up trading his beer for a picture of Jesus Christ and we poured out his beer and threw it away. He seems like he really wants to change and be a better person. I am really excited to go see these people that the Lord has blessed and prepared for us to teach them the gospel.

 

I love y'all and keep up the good work :)

 

Love Elder Andersen

Photo Fun!!

For my birthday (THIS IS MELISSA WRITING) I asked my siblings (the ones on missions) to write me ON my birthday and send me pictures from the mission... Elder Andersen knows of my LOVE for Duck Dynasty and so he took it to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!~~ LOL!

I guess the other missionary in the top picture (Elder Mastergeorge) asked his mom to send something FUN for them and she sent them these... Duck Dynasty Beards!!
haha! I LOVE IT!~ 
Elder Andersen and Elder Mastergeroge enjoying the mission life!!

Letter #18

Hey Family :)

So all y'all knew that I was going to receive a new companion, I was like What the heck!? This is my 3rd transfer and my 4th companion. Hopefully my new companion and I will stay here for awhile! His name is Elder Bushman and he is from Wala Wala Washington. He is very sweet, we work hard and have fun. He is also diabetic and mom he told me some cool things to help your blood sugar. He learned from his doctor the the more carbs you get the faster your blood sugar goes up and down. And the more protein you eat the less of an incline, he tells me the more he eats protein like peanut butter or anything like that than it lasts a lot longer cause it stores and uses it when its needed, so that will  help you have a more consistent blood sugar! But the Crazy thing about elder Bushman is that he served in the exact area we are in now 2 transfers ago, so when i came in the mission he moved from Kemah to Port Lavaca and then after 2 more transfers he moved back here with me!!! When the people in this area saw him, they were very happy so see him and they love him! It is probably a good thing he is here because he knows a lot of old investigators and he knows what to do.

This week has been really good, when Elder Bushman came in he said "Ok, we are going to change this whole area, and we are going to be awesome, and we will baptize weekly!" (our Mission President has a goal for us to baptize weekly, and it is very possible if we do certain things. It is a process and it takes some time to set up, but it is possible) So i am very excited to see some miracles happen!!! :)

Miracle this week: Story below

I had a feeling we needed to go see Manuel one day. We went over to his house and knocked on the door for about 3 min!  I was like man why would I get a feeling to come here if he isn't even here?!?! So I knocked one more time and then I heard "Hola como estan amigos." (Hello, how are you my friends)  I look around and there he is walking out of the laundry mat, so we walked over to him and we begin talking to him. Elder Bushman asked if we can share a quick message with him, he said yes but only 5 min. So we walked into his apartment and I brought up a story in 2 Kings about Naaman and how he had leprosy. I read it to him (see below) and asked him what the story meant to him. He hit it right on the dot with his response. I then told him the part about what I thought was cool, how I look at this story is this; Naaman is a normal guy who wants to be healed or find the truth. The prophet Elisha is God, and when he sends his messenger  to go tell him what to do, that is a prophet or missionary or a member of the church. So God sends his messengers to tell what people need to do to be healed or find the truth. So Elisha tells the messenger to tell Naaman to go to the River Jordan and wash 7 times. When Naaman heard this he was angry. First, there were other rivers closer than the river Jordan and Second, why did the prophet send a servant to tell him... why didn't he just go out and tell him?! Naaman came to his senses and then did it and was clean from his disease.

When I look at this story I can totally see the people I teach (Naaman) and Myself (the Messenger of the prophet or GOD). I know that they really want to find out if there is a God, if The Book of Mormon is true, and which church to join. We teach them what God wants them to do. That they need to pray, read the scriptures, and go to church. They always have excuses like they don't have time, or why go to the church its farther then this local church, or I don't believe this or that. The moral of the story is that the messenger sent from God is there to tell him what they need to do and then they need to act. Naaman wasn't cleansed of his leprosy until after she showed his faith, and did what the messenger had said. So my job is to show people this, that they can find what to do with their life by reading the scriptures, praying, asking questions to God, and by being baptized. It is hard to get them to do that stuff because all the worldly things make it so difficult. Oh man, do I try to get all this people to come unto Christ!

 

I love all y'all so much. Keep up your studies and prayers, Heavenly Father Loves You!

 

Love Elder Andersen

 9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

 10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and ^awash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be ^bclean.

 11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.

 13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some ^agreat thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?

 14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,^aaccording to the saying of the man of God: and his ^bflesh came again like unto the ^cflesh of a little child, and he was ^dclean.

Pictures

Elder Andersen sent pictures to my Parents... enjoy ~