TODAY!!!

TODAY IS THE DAY WE GET TO SEE HIM!!!

After TWO LONG YEARS...

ONE amazing young man is 

RETURNING with HONOR!!

GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN...

tonight at 5:48 p.m!!!

ONE...

And LAST but not least...

Doesn't it seam fitting for the last day to be a picture of a pinata!? 

ONE DAY LEFT!!!

TWO...

I let Kylie pick this number since it is how old she is...

TWO DAYS!!!

THREE...

This many days away is special because it is my FAVORITE Number 

(and my dad's favorite number...) any guesses...

 

BLING BLING... THREE DAYS!!~

FOUR...

Let me give you a hint for how many days are left... this is something you say when you hit a golf ball and it just might hit someone...

FOUR!!!

FIVE...

We can count on ONE HAND how many days until his safe return...

FIVE DAYS PEOPLE!!!

SIX...

How many days until we get to see our AMAZING missionary you ask...

Hailey picked this picture... don't blame me...

SIX DAYS!!!!

ONE WEEK COUNTDOWN!!

ELDER ANDERSEN will be returning home from his Mission on NEXT Tuesday, May 5th 2015. We are very excited for his safe return!!

 SEVEN DAYS ... 

Letter #100

Hey family,

I am so happy to see that you are doing the Lords work! It really is the BEST thing EVER!!!!!!! I am getting sad to leave my mission, but like another missionary told me just last week; he is depressed to leave the mission, but excited to see what the Lord has in store for him at home! I feel pretty equal to what he said! I am excited to go home, because I know I can always be a missionary at home too!:) It is literally the best thing in the WORLD to see people coming unto Christ, it is true happiness and it lasts!! :)

Just to let y'all know, this will be my last message! I don't think they let us email the day before we go home, so this is going to be my last official email that I send off to y'all!

To answer your questions dad;

-No, not at all. But I will now!

-I will take about a normal time, so 15 min. but if yours is short I can fill in for you :p Don't worry, I have a lot of stories to tell!

-Yes, I would love to go car shopping! :) I always love car shopping! If you can wait for me to go that would be awesome!

-and last, yes! I am down to go on that camping trip. :)

Glad you have gotten everything situated for when I come home! It will be nice that we are not scrambling around everywhere! Hahah Everything sounds good for all the meeting times! :)

I am very sad to hear about Ashton and his mother! If you see him, tell him I will be praying for them and that I love them! I love that song Glorious too! That is a great song.

This week, Sam was not baptized. As we walked in to give him the interview, he had drank that day and was still a little buzzed. As we walked in, he woke up and told us that he just had his last beer with his buddies. We went on with the interview and about 20 minutes into it Sam slams open the door and tells Elder Carter to get out of his house. Obviously, we left his house when he was mad. To start off, Sam was soooo excited to get baptized on Sunday and nothing would stop him from it. Then when Elder Carter told him he will have to wait another week, that got him really mad because he was so set on doing it on that Sunday! He got really mad and kicked us out of his house! We all leave and Elder Carter tells us what happened and said he pasted the interview portion and that he was golden, but that he would have to wait a week to get baptized because its a rule that they have to be clean for a week. My companion and I said a prayer and we decide to go back to his house and talk it through. We opened the door and he was still super mad the Elder Carter because he would have to wait a week, however we calmed him down, and told him that it was our fault for not telling him that he couldn't drink. (even though we told him every day that week not to drink). We talked him into getting baptized next week and that he was going to go to church. So Sunday rolls around and he send us a text that he doesn't want to get baptized anymore. We are guessing he is still mad. We have an appointment with him today so we will try to help him feel the spirit again and have the same desires to get baptized this Sunday! If y'all can pray for him that he can soften his heart and can get baptized this Sunday would be awesome!

Other than that, I cant think of any other things that have happened... I guess I will see y'all soon!

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen

Picture of the Victoria District!

Letter #99

Hey Family!

This week was pretty dang fun! Sorry about not emailing yesterday; we were invited by a member to do some service work at his business. He owns a Fish Hatchery! And man, it was a blast working there! We did about 6 hours of service and he showed us a lot of different things. I got to drive a Bulldozer (that was fun, I would definitely like one of those. haha) I learned how to dig out a trench, and he let me weld some things together. I feel like we pretty much learned all the ropes to work in a Fish Hatchery! At the end of the service we gave, he told me that if I wanted to work for him during the summer he would happily let me live with him and work for them! So... that will have to be taken to thought!

Along with that story, the same family (their last name is Picard) invited us over on Sunday to have some craw-fish! They are originally from Mississippi and he knows how to make some dang good craw-fish! I will have to make it when I get home sometime! It was sooooo good and spicy! It was delicious! ( see the picture below) They are my favorite family here in Port Lavaca! I dont know if this is bad to say or not... But they made us change out of our white shirts because they knew we would get them dirty! ;p Hahah

While we visited the Picards' one night we were talking and the father said to me "Two more weeks huh?" and I looked at him and said "Yes!" and he told me when he went home from his mission and when he walked down the airport terminal that he knew his mission was over, then he said no matter how much you beg or ask President Monson, your mission is over! When I heard that, I kinda lost my breath and got super depressed! I don't want to go home, the mission is literally the best! So; mom, dad and family when I am depressed at home don't be to mad at me!

Another thing that happened this week is that we received training on how to teach English! That was a fun meeting to see all the other missionary's! :)

So this week we will have a baptism with Sam! I don't know if I told y'all about him but we meet him and he was super cool from the start! We asked him on Saturday if he wants to get baptized the following Sunday that comes up, and he is soooo excited! We just hope we can get him an interview and help him get baptized! :)

Love y'all!

 Elder Andersen

Letter #98

Hey family,

This week was pretty dang crazy and fun at the same time! Time flies and I still cant believe how fast it goes! So some cool things that happened this week: First off, we went on exchanges with our Zone Leader Elder Dennis. He is pretty cool and a really good missionary! I learned a lot from him and we did a lot of things that day too!

Next; one of our investigators was drunk when we visited him. (we actually stole his beers, see picture below) We were inviting him to church and he asked us if we sing and dance in church, so I told him that it depends on the dancing. I let him know that I would have to see it to tell him if he can do it! So he said it is called the "C-walk", and since I am from California that I should know what it is! I guess it is really called the "crip walk"! So I asked him to show me because he was drunk and I knew it would be really funny... so as i am persuading him to do it, I grabbed my camera! He complys and says that he needs some music to dance, so his friend puts on music and he does his dance... MAN it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO funny! I almost died of laughter! I got it all on video, so in 3 weeks y'all can see his "Crip walk"! Hahaha

This week we visited a part member family and they have the coolest house ever! The husband  is a non-member and he invited us to go fishing with him! :) I am excited to do that with him soon, hopefully we can get him to come to church and accept the gospel. When we went over he was fishing and caught a huge catfish, and he was scaling it and cutting off the meat and throwing the stuff he didn't want to the seagulls! He would throw it into the air and the seagulls would catch it mid air! I have to admit it was pretty entertaining!

Another thing we did was help a member shine his rims. I told him that I was good at it because I worked at a car wash before the mission; I may have mentioned that I know how to do it even though I know nothing about that! :p Hahah It was still fun and we shined his rims for awhile! They were super dirty! The next day we helped them move furniture because they are re-doing a room in the house! I am starting to love doing service and getting dirty!

That is all I can think of!

Love y'all!

See y'all soon!

Elder Andersen

But here is a joke for all y'all Spanish Speakers: mujer al volante, peligro constante!

***I don't know why but for some reason this will only post SIDEWAYS... probably because it is a Missionary holding a beer! HAHA! Hope you are enjoying the Letters! ~ Melissa

Letter #97

Hey family,

This week was pretty cool! I loved General Conference! It was super good! It was really funny because it seemed like all the talks in the Saturday Morning Session were all about marriage! At the end of that session my companion and the members were asking me what I learned. I told them all that it looks like I need to get married fast! :) Just like what Elder Ballard said in the Priesthood Session; returned missionaries need to hurry and get married! My favorite talk was by Elder Holland... he is probably my favorite speaker of all! He has such a powerful testimony!

This week we had quarterly interviews with the Mission President. After mine I don't know what to think! Last year when we meet he shut down my idea for working for the Police, he told me that I should not be a Welder because I would get bored of it. Then he asked me what else I wanted to be, and I randomly thought of doing something with the FBI. He said that would be perfect for me, so hey, maybe I will look into going into the FBI now! I just need to talk to President Sharp and see what I should do to be able to get the best chance to get in there! I guess we will see how all that goes! Hahaha

So today, I woke up and threw up a ton! I swear that I lost 10 pounds! How cool is that?!?! Hahah I called the Mission Doctor and he told me it sounds like I have food poisoning. It has been fun running to the bathroom every 10 minutes and throwing up everything I eat! Welcome to the missionary life i guess, everything goes on and you just suck it up! Hahahah

Also this week I did some service and picked up a dead cat! How do y'all like my face in the picture? HAHA Man it was gross! :p

Love Y'all!

Elder Andersen

Letter #96

Hey family!

I am learning that I hate writing emails. I think I noticed this more coming down to not having too many more left to write!! Times flies!!!! Some cool things that happened this week: First an investigator we found made us this amazing plate of food, and oh man was it good! It was brisket, sausage, collard greens, beans, potato salad, peach cobbler, with a bunch of yummy side treats! It was delicious! (picture below) I love Texas food!

Next; after church we had a Linger Longer. Our home ward in California needs to adopt this! :) It was soooo good, because we had Stake Conference then we were able to enjoy that! I talked to some recently moved in members from Mississippi and they said their ward did that once a month! I am going to start that in California for sure!:) Hahaha

This week we helped a member mow his huge lawn!!!!!!!!!!!!! He let me drive his riding lawn mower! :0 Oh man it was soooo fun! Dad; we might need to invest into buying one of those! It was probably really fun to me because I haven't driven for like 2 months! It sucks having your driving privileges taken away while on the mission!

Something that really boosted my testimony this week was teaching this less active guy in the ward. He is 68 and he is a High Priest he was telling us that he is fine were he is being less active and not going to church. He did not mind not taking the sacrament, and pretty much said he was fine not progressing at all. After a gentle rebuking a little, and my companion and I telling him what his role is and specifically how much responsibility he has. Then reminding hims that if he doesn't do what he is supposed to then we did not want to think where he will end up! It was sad leaving him thinking what he is doing, but it was an eye opening experience for me because it made me really things about it and I never want to be like that! (even though I know I am not going to be like him).

Well, that is all I can think of! Love y'all

Love, 

Elder Andersen

Letter #95

Hey Family,

Espero que no estoy olvidando mi espanol pero claro que si vamos a hablar chismes de los de mas! jaja (I hope I 'm not forgetting my Spanish but of course if we talk gossip when I get home! Haha) That was in response to my dad asking him in Spanish "Como te le va con la idioma Espanol?  !Espero que podremos hablar mucho cuando regresas!" which translates to: How is it going with the Spanish Language? I hope we can talk alot when you come back!"

There has not been too much that has happened this week that I can think of! There is one cool thing that I actually loved... we went to a Pentecostal Church! Don't get worried, of course I know that it is not the true church; but I liked it. It was very different, but I liked how they sang and praised the Lord! Haha. The funny thing is that they sing our Church Hymns! Quick Question; are our Hymns copyrighted? I was not sure if they could do that! :p hahaha.

Another cool thing that happened is that one of our recent converts called us to his house to help him out. He used to be a hard core druggie before he was baptized, and he called us over to help him out because he was wanting to do drugs again. We sat and talked to him and tried to help him get his mind off of it, so we ended up going out to dinner! We spent about 4 hours with him that night, but I know that is where we needed to be to help him! I was really happy to help him out!

OH, and another cool thing is that we had 68 people at church this week! It was a Miracle! The normal average is like 30, so it was a huge change to see so many people there! I was really surprised, but also really happy to see them all! :) We also had 2 investigators at church this week to top it off! It is kind of hard because I am not used to having just 2. I am used to having like 5 investigators in the old wards I served in, but it is a good start for here! :)

Mom and Dad: I sent a package home with some shirts and jackets in it. :) A lot of the stuff was given to me throughout my mission! Feel free to wear it if you want! JUST... don't mess it up! :p ahahah

That is all I can think of for now! 

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen!

P.S. Did y'all know you can own a peacock? Well... a member here does! Mom... I want one too!

Letter #94

Hey family!

Man, I can't believe that it took so long! (replying about Sharon and Harris getting engaged and married in June) I thought that they would get married like the next Saturday after I get home! It is all good, it gives them a lot of time to plan and have fun! I am happy for them! Man, I still remember the joke that I would get married before Sharon! I guess that won't come true, you beat me Sharon! :p ahaha 

This week was pretty cool! First, to start off we spent a day with a farmer. (He is a member in the ward.) We spent the majority of our day there and just offered our service to him for the day. So what we did was that we helped put up a long fence to hold his cows in. We put more poles in the ground, and welded (he taught me a little bit about welding), and man was it fun. Don't get me wrong, it was hard but fun! Still thinking if I want to do that or not! We will see. At the end he wanted us to fish and fix the fish he has. Can you believe I caught 5 fish! Man, did I feel cool because that is the first fish I caught in my life! You should have seen me, I was super scared to grab the fish at the beginning, but near the end it was a piece of cake! ahah  I also got super sun- burnt, the good thing is that I am getting a good tan! :) I sure do miss the Cali sun to tan in! ahaha

This week at church was pretty bad, everything that could have gone wrong did. I am really disappointed with this branch. We are still trying to help them out as much as we can, it is hard but we are trying our very best!

One thing that was sad this week was when we had to see our little "mini missionary" Hugo go home! He says that he wants to come out again with us, but for a week next time! We will see what happens! That is exciting to think about!

The picture I sent this week is next to an investigator apt. His neighbor thinks that he is the Messiah! I guess  you can tell he is a little Nutty! We have never talked with him but my companion says he is crazy and we should talk to him! haha. You will have to tell me what you think about him by the picture!

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen

Letter #93

Re: Stake ConfeHey Family,Hey Family, 

Hey Family,
How are y'all doing? This week was pretty cool, but like always I can't think of anything that has really happened!!!!!! I guess one cool thing is we have a new "Mini Missionary" with us for 3 days. A member in the branch wanted to come and tag along and spend the night with us! It is super fun, but it takes away from my sleep because we ended up wrestling last night! Man that was fun! Today we are playing Basketball and of course that is super fun too! We are doing a lot of work, and we have a lot planned for the next couple days! Today I bought a cowboy shirt to go with my outfit I sent home. :) Don't worry because it was a cheap one at Walmart. I am trying to watch it because I am almost out of money in my account, I guess I need to stop spending all the money... hahah!

So there was a cool miracle that happened this week. We got a referral from a member who is from Thailand. He speaks English and Karen (?), and he has 11 friends that are interested in the church. They all speak Karen (?), so we only taught one of the 11 friends so far and he accepted a baptism date! We will teach the other 10 soon! It was a fun lesson that we had with him, we said a few sentences and then the member translated it for us. We taught the whole Restoration and it super interesting to watch, now I know what it feels like to not know what people are talking about! Haha. I haven't felt like I don't understand a language for awhile!

Hey Dad, when I get home I am going to start my diet and workout plans! Can you sign up for a gym so that when I get home I can lose some weight!! I am losing it little by little here!!

Also, please let Jake know that I miss him! Tell him I still don't know what I am doing after the mission! I have an appointment to talk to the Mission President so hopefully that will help me out!! I am for sure going back to BYU- Idaho so hopefully we can hang out there!

I heard that Kaylee is engaged?!?!? Were you planning on going to go to her wedding?!?! I guess it is 3 days after I get home! I think I kinda want to go! We can talk more about that later.

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen

P.S. The picture is of my birthday cake that mom sent me for my birthday! It was soooo yummy!!!!

Letter #92

Hey Family,

This week was pretty cool! I think I told you last week, but if i didn't we were able to attend Heiliey Penillas baptism back in Houston! It was an amazing experience to see them again and see her get baptized! I also enjoyed being able to see all the missionaries in the area again too! It has been hard in my new area because I am only with one person all the time!! I feel bad for my wife when I get married! haha I like getting out and seeing other people for some reason, so I guess I better find someone who feels the same way! The trip was super fun! We had a member drive us in his HUGE Dually Truck, it was soooo nice and he drove fast. He was going about 95 mph all the way to Houston! It was soooo crazy!!! Picture below!

I wanted to say Thanks for everything I got for my birthday! I really loved all the different things I got! It was funny to open the present and see just a bunch of treats... The only problem was that it was fast Sunday so I could not eat it until later. I kept thinking to myself; Well it is my birthday.... so I can do it! :p haha

Something funny that happened this week is that we talked to some drunk Hispanics... actually I guess that is kind of a typical day! ahah However, this one was really funny. He was talking about how Obama is a horrible President, but how he hates Republicans because they don't like immigrants. I wanted to say some things but I did not want to offend him. He was super drunk and crying and saying that he thought all white people hate Hispanics. I asked him "Why are we talking to you then? We are out here to help!" and then he changed his attitude toward us. He was pointing his finger at me and getting in my face a little bit, I was getting ready to punch him in the face, but I kept my cool. At the end of talking to them, they came to love us because we spoke Spanish. We even got a return appointment with them! It was a funny thing I am sure for others to have watched! They also really thought my Spanish was good, so I decided to tell them I was from Bogota Columbia and they both believed me, and started asking me how it was there. After that they talked about how there are a lot of drug cartels there and that I should join them so I can get more money! Man, I love Hispanics, they are sooo funny sometimes!

Oh, and after the baptism I got to see the Canos'! They brought me a birthday cake and empanadas! I really love and miss them!

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen

Letter #91

Hey Family,

Man; these weeks seem to go by faster and faster every week! I don't like it!!!!!!! Hahaha! It needs to slow down! I am trying to enjoy my time I have left here... like nothing left, but it's going really good! I am going to be so sad to leave this! It has been the best life ever!!!!!!!!!

And; I can't believe that I am going to be 21 soon!!!!

I can't think of many things that have happened! We went to a part of our area called Palacios which is a tiny town too! It was 30 min away! I learned that we are very isolated from everything! It is crazy! Haha I am starting to fall in love with this new area! There is a young man here named Hugo! We have gotten very close so far, and he wants to come on a "Mini Mission" with us for a week! I am super excited for that! We have everything in common the only difference is that he is Hispanic! Haha.

One thing that I have been thinking about a lot is future jobs! I don't know why, but it has been bothering me for a while! I am going to need a lot of help when I get home! 

One cool thing is that I got a knife belt last week! I will have to take a picture next week and send it to y'all! It is super sweet! Dad; you will be jealous!

Oh, and this week I got to translate for the Branch. Oh man, it is hard!!!!!!! I guess God has blessed me with the "gift of tongues" but not the ability to translate! Haha! 

We made a meal calendar for this week, and now the members all want to feed us, so I am excited about that!:) They all ask me what I want to eat, and oh man do I love Hispanic food!

I cant think of anything else! But I love y'all!

Here is the funny picture of the week! 

Man I love Texans!

Love, 

Elder Andersen

Letter #90

Hey family!

I did get Mom's package, and I loved it! I am glad that y'all got my package! Now I am scared to come home because I bought a lot of shirts! Haha. I was worried that Mom would freak out at me!  I got a lot of them as memorabilia from Texas! I also bought a couple so mom can make a quilt for me later too! THEN there are just some that I thought were too cool, so I had to buy them! I think I have a suitcase full of things that I bought out here... Hahah!

And yeeeeaaa, a new trampoline for when I get home! I am excited. :)

So... to finally tell y'all, I was transferred  to Port Lavaca. It is the farthest away area in the mission! It is in the middle of nowhere, in like "the boonies!" Hahah! Luckily for me it is a bilingual area! I can still talk in Spanish, practically all the branch (of 30- people) speak Spanish! There are like 5 white people though so I can work on my English a little bit too! So it is really fun! The Elders get to translate every Sunday, which will be fun! I will post the new address at the very end of the letter!

My new companions' name is Elder Mckague. He is from Washington, and he is pretty cool. Luckily so far we get along just great! This area was pretty much dead when I got here so there will be a lot of building up this last TWO and a half months I have here! AAAAhhhhh!

We have already had  some cool miracles that happened this week in the area, so it is looking pretty promising with me being here.

Oh and Dad; Do you know a Claude Bassett? He attended B.Y.U and played football there in 79'. He said that you sounded familiar. He was actually coached by coach Frank Negri at Foothill. He was really excited to know and I guess meet me! If you have Negris' number you should call him and let him know who I ran into! That would be cool! 

Like I said before, thankfully I can practice Spanish with the members. I guess they normally try to speak English with all the missionaries here, but they all spoke to me in Spanish! I prefer Spanish more than English... which is weird! Hahah!

There isn't too much else I can think of to tell y'all!

But,I love all y'all!

Love, Elder Andersen

NEW ADDRESS:

120 Haviland St. Apt. A

Port Lavaca, TX 77979

I took a bunch of pictures with everyone before I left! Here is the cutest little girl you will ever see! haha! Her name is Camilla Vega.

This is on transfers Day. I got to see a few missionary friends that I served with in the last area that were also being transferred. Hermana Heckel, myself, and Elder Rockhill. I was his companion for two weeks!

Letter #89

Hey family!

Man this week was full of surprises!

First, I am getting transferred! I will be finding out my new area on Wednesday, and I will send y'all an email with my new address next week on p-day! It kinda sucks though because it feels like when you want to leave you don't get to, and now that I want to stay here (I was hoping for the rest of my mission) you don't get to stay! I am a little upset, but also excited for a change! 

This is what president wrote to me in his email:

"Congratulations on the upcoming baptisms! Your new area is a really good one. We are putting you with a solid young missionary. He will be the senior companion. I'd like you to teach him how to help people be converted and get baptized. He can use some additional training on this. You are a terrific missionary! I love you."

I am looking forward to being Junior Companion again! :) Just because I won't have as much responsibility's! Haha!

Second, the baptism this week was only for one person. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks Elder Balls will have a other one with Heiliey Penilla. They are a family that I have been working with my whole time here! She finally gave permission for her daughter to get baptized, too bad it is when I leave! It is O.K, I will still be able to go back for it! I guess it is just sad to see all these miracle as I am leaving! But back to the baptism: It was really good! Fabiola Valencia is the lady that got baptized! She is from Columbia! It was a good baptism, but the hot water was not working!  We had to boil a bunch of water in the kitchen and then add it to the font. When it was time for the baptism; I got into the font and it wasn't freezing cold, just cold enough to make you shiver! (So, it was still really cold!) It was a good thing though because now I can say I know what it feels like to baptize someone in cold water! :p 

Another surprise happened when we were at a members house and I found out that they had a trampoline. I told them how much I love trampolines and they said to me that I can't do anything on a trampoline! So I showed them!! They video taped me and put it on this thing called "Snap Chat" so I guess a bunch of members saw it too! Hahah! It was pretty funny.

I was able to go on two exchanges this week. One was with Elder Graff, and we stayed up till 3:30 in the morning just talking! The other was with the Vietnamese Elders. I was so lost that day, they were all speaking Vietnamese and I was going crazy! Haha.

Then, for District Meeting we went out to lunch at Freebirds Burritos! It was really good! They have a tradition that people make things out of the tin foil from their burrito and then they put it up on the wall. I decided to put up a tie with a plague, and we put a Book of Mormon under it! I will attach a photo of that on a different e-mail today! 

Over all, this has been a really good week! It has been really cool serving here, and I already started taking pictures with a bunch of people and saying good-bye! It is really hard!

That is it, I think!

Thanks for everything that you have done!

Love y'all lots!

Elder Andersen

 Myself, Fabiola Valencia, and Elder Balls just before her COLD baptism!

 The Perez Family

 We helped the Penilla family move a piano to the Villalobos' house. We rode like this the whole 15 min. drive to the house it was super funny!

The goodies I left at Freebirds Burrito!!

Letter #88

Hey Family!

Man a lot of things have happened this week! First, we had to go to the Mission Office today. We had to switch out our car for a brand spanking new one! They gave us a 2015 Chevy Cruze and OH MAN it is sweet! Haha! Too bad I will most likely be leaving next week. I think that was what President told me, but I guess we will see! However, it sure was a fun drive home! :)

This week we went to the Machuca's house (the genius guy) As always he had me "mind blown". It wasn't on Gospel this time, but he knew me pretty well. It was all from a simple test he asked me. He had me draw a tree, and then name three animals and why I like them. What he had to say about me was spot on! I was really surprised! He is super cool! They were looking at the family pictures I have and they said "If you dropped weight to what you were like in these picture you would look really good!" Haha. So now everyone is telling me to loose weight; but then they give me a bunch of food to eat! Haha.

Another thing that happened this week is that we got a phone number of someone that was "interested in the church". We realized quickly that all they wanted to do was "Bible Bash" with us! Long story short, we argued over texting for awhile, and we shut him down. Then he asked us what color Jesus was and I didn't want to answer him because I was tired of this guy already, so I asked him what he thought... and then he said well God created man (Adam) from the dust so he must be black from his descendants! I asked him why does he think that then he sent us Revelations 1:14-15.  When I read this I was thinking Wow, how bad can he interpret the scriptures!?! So, I sent him a text with my testimony then wrote that whenever he wanted to hear about the truth that he can text us back humbly and that we would be happy to show him answers to his sincere questions! Since the beginning of our text conversation I knew all he wanted to do was bash, so I answered his questions. Later I got bored with it and decided that all I can do to people that don't truly want to listen is to bear my testimony and stop talking to them. After we bore our testimony we haven't talked to him. He still tries to send us random scriptures and ask things but we aren't replying to him because he isn't worth our time if he is just going to continue to try to bash!

On a good note; this week we will have one baptism for sure, and we might have as many as four! I think I told y'all about The Guillens'.  I have been working with them since I got to this area! They have a baptismal date for this weekend! All they have to do is get married so we are going to work with them to help them out, and then get them baptized! Man, I love them so much! I really want to see them baptized before I leave the area!

This ward is starting to pick up since the new people came in. It is starting change and the members are willing to do things! We are starting to animate them and they are being really cool! We will see how they continue. It is sad to see that just when I leave everything is starting to fall into place! I have seen so much change so it is pretty cool! 

Thanks for all that y'all do! I love y'all so much!

Love, Elder Andersen

Here is a picture of The Molina Family! I am starting to take pictures with the families here! Haha! 

Letter #87

Hey family,

This week was pretty cool! I am starting to write down the things that happen during the week so I have stuff to say to y'all! The last couple of letters have been very short, and I have had nothing to write about, or I forgot what had happened in the week! So this week I came prepared! Well,  I was thinking of the things last night that had happened! I was able to think of some cool things to share!

One was that I lost my driving privileges like a month ago (for dumb reasons). So on Wednesday I spoke with the driving coordinator of the mission and he told me a bunch of things about what happened. There wasn't an accident it was dumb "TIWI" which Sharon can explain. (I got a lot of check your speed and aggressive driving) When they printed the report he said that they were all at 9:20 pm and later. So then he looked at me and asked "Man, do you get home on time!?" and I said "I get all the violations to get home on time!"  But he told me that other than those I have a perfect score on my driving. He said he would give me my privileges back but that Salt Lake said to take them away for the rest of my mission. (only 3 more months) So it's not too bad! It's crazy trying to get home on time because in my mind I have to knock that last door or talk to that last person! I don't care what time it is, but I always try to get the last one in!

So I had my Quarterly Interview with President Ashton. It was super good! The only thing that I did not like about it was that he didn't give me permission to go out to lunch with Matt when he is in town visiting his Distribution Center. He told me I will see my family soon enough! So that's why! Haha. He also told me a lot of things that I was having doubts with; like why am I still here? What do I have to do?  When he gave me those answers I was able to relax! As soon as I got into the Interview I asked him for a list of all the new people coming into the ward. I wanted to go visit them all. He said that no body has asked him that before in the whole Mission and he was really happy when I had asked! He also said that I have been an amazing missionary in this area and that I was there for a specific purpose. Then he said that when I am done here he will be sad when I leave the area because he knows I have helped this ward out, and the members all love me. Then he told me that I will have to leave the area because the Prophet has asked not to have missionaries in an area for more than 1 year! (Even though I will pass that date soon!) Haha. I got a lot of positive feedback from President Ashton and he really helped me out! Then he told me that I will be going to a bike area because I have gained too much weight, so we both agreed that will be good for me. :) Hahah!

Cool miracles with the Alverenga's! They now want to get married! We went over there on Thursday, and I made them chicken and they really loved that! It was a cool visit! At the bottom will be a picture of them :)

Thanks for every thing!

Love, 

Elder Andersen

sorry the picture  is a little blurry!

Letter #86

Hey Family,

Man, I can't believe that Omar is leaving for his mission! I can still remember when he got baptized! And... Dang I won't see him for practically 2 more years! He will for sure be a good missionary! I think his parents will soften their hearts too as he serves!

I have not seen a new picture of this "Alleged Bathroom!" I want to see what it looks like! I hope it looks good! You might as well  build an upstairs loft and put a theater room in too! Then we can watch BYU football games like champs!

I don't get to  hear much about any sports here, man do I miss that! However, I am learning that it is OK because the life in the mission is better! BTW how are the Sacramento Kings doing?!? HAHA! 

This week was pretty cool! We had Leadership Training yesterday and it was really nice. I personally love when we have training meetings with our Mission President; he is a genius! I love him so much! I actually have an interview with him! We have our Quarterly interviews as a Zone tomorrow! I am always excited to talk to him and ask him questions! I have some good questions I have been studying up on but can't find answers too! We will see how much he can help me out! 

This week I went on my FIRST exchange! It was super fun! I went with Elder Moyes! It was in an English area and after every lesson they asked me to pray. I prayed in English, and Oh My Goodness... I cant pray in English to save my life! Haha! The people told me I did a good job after, but I think they were just trying to make me feel good! I guess I should have asked them if I could pray in Spanish! Haha! It is OK! We saw a lot of miracles this week! One was an investigator wanted to quit smoking, so Elder Moyes gave him a blessing to help him stop, the blessing he gave really shocked me! Elder Moyes said "Whenever you smoke it will taste nasty to you, and every time you drink beer you will hate the taste." That blessing was really strong, I felt that the spirit was there!

Nothing else really happened now that I can think of, but it was a good week!

Love y'all!

Elder Andersen

Enjoy this pictures I took of our beautiful Texas sunrise!