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!!!!