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