Sister Bethany Jo Andreasen

Homecoming at the Airport - March 23, 2011

2011-07-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

Leaving the Philippines and Homecoming - March 23, 2011

2011-07-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

So it is the final days up till I got home. This is how I felt…

We had a career workshop I went to my old area because it was at my old building, which was weird. It was fun and weird haha. You feel like this isn’t a very good P-day and how you should be getting ready for the work they rest of the week. Then you remember that you won’t be doing in more work like you did. The workshop was fun and we got to say good-bye to the sweet senior sisters! We also got to go to Ramzi one last time. Haha.

They give hats to all the missionaries who are leaving. I do love that I was able to serve in San Pablo so it means something to me. J

Then we went back to the mission home and had dinner and an FHE that was wonderful and then we all bore testimony and I was first which means I just ended up crying the whole time from the beautiful words of missionaries who love the work and are having a hard time dealing with good-bye. It was a wonderful experience! How I love my fellow missionaries and especially my beloved mission president and his wife!!!

Then President did some farewell interviews, I was supposed to get mine but didn’t that night. He asked me if we could do it in the morning. So that night we had nice warm! Showers. Wow! Haha. And of course we couldn’t sleep so I had a good talk with all the sisters. The next day we were off to the temple so we had to get some sleep. I decided to wake up early and do my interview early before I put on any make-up because I knew I would be crying. I was interviewed by president and he just told me what a great job I had done and how much he loves me.

He gave me my certificate of honorable release and had me read it. I was already crying but as I read that certificate I couldn’t help but sob just after the first line, “You are honorably released from your sacred calling…” it was so hard to hear! President smiled, laughed, and cried at my tears and I will never forget his sweet uplifting words to me! How blessed I truly am to have meet and been inspired by all the wonderful people I know from San Pablo Mission!

Then we traveled to the temple. It was a good trip with the other missionaries. Then when we got there I was able to see Sis. Arrieta and her fiancé and Sis. Clave!! It was a great reunion!

We all had lunch and then went to the temple! What a blessing! Going through the temple again! I love it so much the spirit that come from do work for the living and the dead is so astonishing! The temple was beautiful and it will always be one of my favorites!

I traveled to the hotel with Sisters Tuifua and Gepiga, it was fun! We had a good night trying to make sure that we could get everything to fit the weight limits haha. Then we had a morning of good-byes and I met up with Sis. Adams and another sister I met in the MTC and we had the same flights so we were able to talk in the airport. The flights were long and no sleep could be found. I was heart broken and excited! I talked to some guys, who to be honest looked a little scary, they were older and in a big band group. It just goes to show once again that you can’t judge by looks because they were very nice. I sat by one and we talk about the church, he has a lot of friends who are members and has even read the Book of Mormon but doesn’t want to change. He was very nice though!

Then I finally got off the plane and it was a long process to go through customs and I’m sure seemed even longer knowing that my family was waiting right around the corner.

I came out and there they all were with signs and smiles! I started running up the slop with my big cart of luggage it was so good to be able to embrace the wonderful family who has made me who I am! They all have made me better and so in a why they have all lift a little mark in the Philippines! I loved my mission! It changed my life in so many ways and made me into a much better person! I will forever have the Philippines and all the people I love from PSPM in my heart!

So now I have been home for a while and I miss the mission, I think I always will but I strive each and everyday to be an example for all the people that I have taught, met, and who have influenced my life! The mission will forever be a part of who I am!!!!

Last Week in the Field - March 21, 2011

2011-07-10T15:04:00.000-07:00

This was my last week of service and it was bitter sweet. My last P-day was spent with a bunch of missionaries.

We had extras because we had the companions of some who had to go renew their visas. So I was with a bunch of Pinyos! Haha J

After that we went to the Kawit family for dinner and we were able to talk to Bro. Kawit a little even though he is still trying to resist.

So in the work this week we were able to teach the son of Sis. Tess! That was exciting I feel like each time we go to their home we get to teach more and more of their family! He seems really interested! We had a great lesson with Olive and Jemuel! We taught about Joseph Smith and the Spirit was so strong! Then Tatay Lino!!!! J He is still going strong! I love him so much!!! They all committed to go to church on Sunday so I am really excited!

We had our district meeting on Tuesday and I had to give the lesson. I talked about enduring JOYFULLY to the end! I talked about how important this work is and how sometimes it gets hard but each day is amazing and wonderful!!!! I cried! I know shocker! Haha. I just love the work and I find so much joy in it I never want it to stop!

We had zone interviews on Wednesday and that was great and uplifting. It was funny, President had an interview with me, even though I will be getting another one in a few short days. He said he doesn’t want me to miss out on my last zone interview. He asked me if I was ready and I cried :/ he told me that I have done a great job and he wishes that he could have more missionaries like me. It was really hard to realize that he was saying good-bye a little bit.

Anywoo, back to the work! We went and a lot of the people that we wanted to see were not home but it was okay because we found some new people so that when I leave there will still be a lot of people to teach here J

On Saturday we were able to have a great spiritual experience and the half day mission of the office elders. We met a lot of members who are less active and they committed to come to church so that was great!

I was able to see Bro. Edwin. I don’t know if you remember him but we taught him and then he was never home but we were able to continue to teach his wife Lian. Then the day we were going to commit her for baptism she told us that her husband doesn’t want us to come anymore, well her son told us because she was too embarrassed to come out. We weren’t able to see her since but we kept going by. Then we found out that their youngest son was in the hospital. We only got to talk with Bro. Edwin for a short time but we were able to tell him how sorry we were and how we want to help if we can in any way, so I hope that it softens his heart, because they are a great family and I feel that one day they will except the gospel as a family!

Saturday I was able to go to a member’s house and I was able to become a true Pinoy! Meaning I road a Carabao!!!! Yay! It was so much fun. A little scary when it started moving around but I loved it and I really did feel like I was becoming more like these wonderful people. Hehe.

I went to church on Sunday and only Michelle came. That was a little hard because I had such high hopes! I had to get up and bear my testimony and it was so hard to look in to the eyes of these wonderful people that I love so much and tell them good-bye! My heart just ached! I love them so much and they will always be a reason that I am a better person! I love them so much! I was doing okay until we got on the jeepney and I had to leave my area!!! I got to the mission home full of tears but happy to see my batch J I finally got it together and then the APs said they were taking my companion back then I had to say good-bye! She is so sweet! I know she is worried but I know she will be amazing!!! I am leaving my last area in good hands.

When I walked in the mission office there was some mail for me and then the office elders said they had something for me, it was flowers from Sis, Tacbobo! She is so sweet! I love her so much and it was so hard not to be able to see her again before I leave. She would always put flowers in my hair and she gave me a bouquet of flowers before I went home.

We had dinner and then just got ready for Monday, our last “P-day”. It is going to be a really good, hard last days!!!

I love the work I love you all and I will see you soon!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Last Letter From The Philippines - March 14, 2011

2011-03-14T19:48:00.001-07:00

This is the way we wash our clothes.

Sweet Nanay!

Do we have enough seat belts?

Yummy Coconut

Good Times!

I love you all!

First off I just want to let you know that the tsunami had no effect on us here. I am perfectly fine. I don’t know a lot about what happened but yes we did hear about it. From the things that they said it just sounds so sad! It just made me think that these really are the last days and we need to be prepared! How grateful I am to have the gospel and the opportunity to share it with others. The gospel is a way to gain eternal life, happiness in the life to come, so it means that this life won’t always be happy. I know that it is going to get hard and it is going to get scary but even in uncertain times we have the peace that comes from the loving comfort of our Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ!

I am so glad that you got my package and yes I did get pearls, one of each color hehe. But if you just want to wait we can organize it when I get home. The animals I'm not sure what I will do with them. They were given to me so yeah I don’t know yet but I love them. Is there enough Liahonas for me to have one too? If not its okay.

So I am loving the work and just trying to do my best up to the very last. It is hard to think that it is only one more week!!! I am going crazy. I feel like my mind knows but my heart hasn’t caught up yet. I think it will break when I leave! But I have been thinking that it is like a transfer. Every transfer has been hard, some more than others, but I have always seen why the Lord needs me to transfer and I have met new people that I love. So I know that this will be the hardest "transfer" but I also know that it too is the plan of the Lord and I just need to follow the spirit and trust in his guiding hand! I know that this is a good thing. I just need to be ready to listen to His will for me.

I love you!!! That is one thing I am truly excited for to see all your loving faces once again!!! This email is so weird because I know it is the last.

I just want you to know that the work is still moving forward! I love the work. We have been working so hard to get Sister Tess to come to church! And this week she came!!!! I am so happy!!!! She is so amazing! I gave her some church clothes and I was so happy when she wore them to church this Sunday!!! I love the gospel andI know that it blesses the lives of the people who truly try to apply what they learn from it!

I know that is also what I need to do, apply all that I learned from the mission. I know that this is one of the biggest blessings in my life! I am excited to see all your shinning faces at the airport!! :) I will continue to work hard until that time!

I love you all so much!!! See you soon!
Love, Sister Andreasen!
P.S. I tried to send pictures but I don’t think they will all go through. When I come home na lang. :)

I Love The Work! - March 7, 2011

2011-03-08T17:30:00.001-08:00

Wearing out my shoes in His service.

The Abuyabor Family "I Love Them"

It is so good to hear from you!!!!
I love you all so much! We have met so many new people! We met 34 new people this week! Wow! And we had 4 investigators come to church on Sunday!!!! Yes!!!! Many of our investigators have baptismal goal dates and I just know it is because of the spirit and use of the new curriculum that we have been able to help our investigators to progress! It has been a great week! We taught Sister Evelyn and she said that she wasn’t suppose to be home but she believes it was God who made it so she was home to listen to our message and what lesson where we going to teach her? The restoration! She was so right!!! I love the spirit!!!
Then we committed Brother Joseph and Sister Tess to be baptized and they are really excited! Brother said he never listens to other religions that come to their home but he just felt something different with us!!!! Again, I love the spirit and Brother Joseph is amazing!!!!
The senior sisters worked with us this week and so we got to go to a lot of people and it was amazing! They are so awesome! We also started teaching this family that has 15 kids!!! I'm so excited! One of the oldest has a baptismal goal date! So I hope we can teach him more often!!!!
Nanay Juliana is so cute and she said that she doesn’t want to continue because she is not going to get baptized but she loves us and we can come teach her. Haha. So we just told her that we just want her to understand our message so we will come back and teach her a little and help her understand. So I think no matter how long it takes one day she will fill the need to change!!! She is so excited though that we let her keep the Book of Mormon and said she is going to read it! Hehe
We had a Family Home Evening at a sister’s home so that we could teach the girl who is staying with them. She is 17 and she is their house help. Her name is Sara Jane and she is so shy but I think she is really open to the message! She even came to church on Sunday!!! I'm excited for her!!! She came from Bicol so I think it will be a hard adjustment but I know this will really help her to feel joy!
We taught three people who are less active this week and they all came to church on Sunday! I was so happy when I saw them all!!! We are going back this Saturday and I think we will get some good referrals!!! :)
This Sunday we got a lot of lessons taught because we were able to split and I met a guy who was taught before and he wants to be baptized! So that is going to be great!!! I love it when people know they felt something and want it back, it is really the spirit working in their lives! He was a referral so it just goes to show the great help that members are in this great work!!!
We were also able to teach Brother Randolph Abuyabor, the father of Joseph and Aldrin!! He was taught before but offended so I am really hoping that now is the time for him to feel the spirit again and come back to church! He is so nice and I just pray that he will be home each Sunday, not at work so we can teach him!
Then we met a new couple! And they are great! We went to teach some new members and they had people there so we taught them instead. We didn’t have a lot of time because we needed to get home before curfew so I thought oh just an introduction. But then the spirit said "use the Book of Mormon!" so I felt inspired to share a verse and when I did brother read it and right after Sister took the book from him and just started looking and search, I just felt that this helped bring in the spirit. Brother said that he has tried a lot of religions and I know that the Book of Mormon is the way for him to feel the difference here! That this truly is the church of Jesus Christ! The lesson was short but I think they felt the spirit and they said they want to listen again! We left them a Book of Mormon! I am really excited to go back to teach them!
Then we had a great experience last night! I have an ear infection and I could feel it Saturday morning and so Saturday night I didn’t know what to do because it was late and the next day was Sunday and I knew it would get worse but my mission presidents wife just asked me to wait till Monday. So Sunday night I tried to text a member who is a nurse and ask where I should go, but they didn’t text back so I thought oh I will just ask our next-door neighbor. Which was good because I felt like before I leave I need to talk to her about the church! She has lived next to sisters for a while but doesn’t know about the church! So I asked her and she said, “Actually I have an ear infection”! She gave me some antibiotic, which is the same thing I took last time! And she helped me know where I should go to get the medicine I need! She then started to ask questions and by the time I left she gave us crackers, medicine, and invited us to have dinner before I leave. We in-turn left her with a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and we are going to go back to her later tonight! She doesn’t live in our area because we don’t live in our area but we are going to prepare her so she can listen to the sisters! I'm so excited!!!! It worked out so well! The Lord helped me with my ear problem and provided away for me to talk to this sister about the gospel! I am so grateful for the Lord and his answers to prayers! I am so glad that for whatever reason that nurse - member didn’t answer his text!!! I love the gospel! I love this work it is so amazing! I know that the Lord is blessing me to have these sweet experiences before I leave! I just need to keep doing my part and work as hard as I can to the very end!!! It doesn’t seem real that I will be leaving even though I already have my flight plans!!! :/ But it just doesn’t feel like it there is so much work to do!!! I love this work!!! I am grateful for the love and support that you all have given me and the help that you send in times of need! I know that Lord is always here for us and I am so thankful to have the truth in my life! I know the Lord has given me the best gifts ever! A loving eternal family and a testimony of my Savior!!!!! I love it! I love you all!!!!!
Love,
Sister Andreasen!

Wow, I Love The Work! - February 28, 2011

2011-02-28T19:47:00.000-08:00

Yummy Papaya!

Sister Gabuyo and Sister Andreasen

Another Beautiful View

Sister Andreasen

So I had some great experiences this week in the work and blessings for missionaries!

At Zone Conference

So first I will tell you about Zone Conference. It was amazing! It was full of fun seeing other missionaries and just plain happiness. But most important it was filled with the spirit. I love zone conference because it is always what I need to hear, something that I need to be better at doing or improve on to make the work better. We focused on using the Book of Mormon more and teaching people - not lessons. Which is one of my favorites! When you really focus on the people they feel of your love and they understand that you are there to help them and love them and not for any other reason! I love that! Then focusing on the Book of Mormon I have always known that this is the way that people will know if this is the true church but what they taught made me realize that I need to be using the Book of Mormon more and that I need to help them understand the importance of the Book of Mormon even in just the first lesson! I am so grateful for the spirit and strength that comes from zone conference!
Then we also got to see David O. McConkie and Elder Edwards! We had a devotional here in San Pablo and only the San Pablo zone was able to attend and I am so glad I am here! The talks were amazing. Elder Edwards spoke of a letter from a sister missionary, who one day got the impression to go visit less actives. They got impressions on where to go and went to work but to their dismay they didn’t find any success. The missionary talked about feeling like she didn’t do enough. To make a long story short she had somewhat of a conversation with herself in her head and came to the conclusion that if she was following the spirit and being obedient we will always fall short even our best won’t be good enough but that is why we have a savior! He loves us and will make up for the rest and will provide a way to make up for our shortcomings! How grateful I am for that! Last week that is what I was feeling and that just gave me a reminder that Jesus Christ is here to help me and make up for what I can’t do. I love in Preach my Gospel it says, "Everything that is unfair about life will be made right through the atonement" I love that truth! Pure and simple if we do all we can the Savior has already provided a way to make up for our shortcomings, heal our broken hearts, and finally make us whole, sanctified through His love and mercy! How great the plan of our Father in Heaven is!
Also! We had investigators come to the devotional! They were so excited! Sister Tess and Brother Joseph (hehe) I love it! I love the name Joseph! It’s dad’s name, its in the scriptures, Joseph of the Old Testament, Joseph of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. My middle name is Jo after Joseph and now we have two great progressing investigators whose names are Joseph! I love it. Then Sister Tess her birthday is may 27! Random facts of happiness hehe. Anywoo, they are progressing and so excited about the church and I am so excited for them and know they will be baptized!
We also have another investigator who is a member of another church here and they always have a lot of questions and are a little hard headed. It took a while to explain the importance of the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He said he would ask his pastors about it and I just thought wow that will never help. So we just testified to him that answers like this don’t come from people but from the Lord through the spirit. It was a really good lesson and after he gave a kneeling prayer and I think it really helped him feel the spirit!
Then we have another investigator Nanay Juliana. She is a little old lady and super cute!!!! She calls us her little ladies in English. She likes to speak English and it is adorable! We went to teach her and she broke down and started telling us about how her husband is weak and that she is scared that she will lose him. She talked about how she has trust in Gods plan but is scared to lose her husband. She talked most of the time and expressed her love for him. It was so sweet! Of course I cried and we shared with her about the plan of salvation and the comfort that comes from the atonement of Jesus Christ! She said that when she talked to her husband about us he said that they are catholic and too old but if they were younger they would be "Mormon" hehe so we just have to help them realize that they have this time on earth to prepare and know the truth no matter how short the time may be. She expressed her love for us and told us that were are her best friends! She is amazing and I think I knew her in the pre-existence.
So Marj our former investigator who moved to Manila, she is the daughter of Tess and Joseph they have another daughter who we were able to teach. I was so excited because she seems really interested but she can’t get baptized yet because she is living with a man and they are going to have a baby but they aren’t yet married and can’t get married for two years because she is only 16! :( But we are still excited to prepare her for the time when she can get baptized!
We also were told of a place to go teach by a member, she has two referrals that we haven’t yet met and then we met her brothers and they are excited and want to be baptized! I am so excited for the work.
I have had a half-day mission but it was in my first area so you probably don’t remember and I probably didn’t really understand what was going on hehe.
But it is amazing we will have all the missionaries from our zone come to our area and ward members will work so that we can split up and go bring back the lost sheep in one great morning of reactivation and spreading the gospel! It is going to be epic! I think it will really bring a good spirit to the ward and help the members feel the joy of missionary work, help reactivate and help to find new investigators! I am so excited! However I will only see day after affects. Because it is on the 19th the day before I go into the mission home.
It is crazy to think how fast it is coming and I am not ready for it. There is still work to be done so until the last minute it is my job I will be as diligent as I can! I love the gospel. I know it is true and I am so grateful for it in my life!
I love you all and am glad to hear you are doing well. Just like you I hope it warms up of I will die when I go home. Hehe. I love you keep being the great family you are! You are always in my prayers!
Love, Sister Andreasen

Work, Work, Work, That is the Secret - February 21, 2010

2011-02-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Attack of the Butterfly

I love you all!

So you made me a little trunky in that last email when you said that we are going to TOFW in April! I am so excited and John Bytheway will be there! Wow! I am so excited! Haha. I am going to send pouch this Thursday because we have zone conference and then I will send the doll to Sister Remy. I was able to send the package today they said it could take up to 25 days. So it should be there before me. Haha. Wow that is so weird to think. Haha. I sent some shells, ties and clothes too. I didn’t write that great of a note because I didn’t have a lot of time and I am writing you right now. Sorry. Just know that I love you!!!! :)
So first the weather it is hot now. But not too bad but I have a feeling I will die of cold when I go home.
So lets get to the work. I love it! I love all the people I am meeting in this area! But I had a hard week this week. We gave Sister Marj a baptismal goal date and then the last time we taught her she told us that her job in Manila called and she is going back to work in Manila, so she left this Sunday :( I was so sad! But at least she still wants to be baptized and so we gave a referral to the missionaries in Manila. So I hope we get good news. Her best friend is a member so I think it will all be okay.
Then we weren’t able to see Tatay Lino this whole week... again! I was so sad! Then we went to see Sister Lain and her kids just came out and said that there dad doesn’t like it and tried to give back the Book of Mormon :( it was so sad! I love that family so much and we were hoping to give a baptismal goal date to sister and I really think she is ready and knows the truth! So I hope that one day they will come to the church! Sister is ready and it just breaks my heart that she can’t even come and talk to us face to face. Sister Lian’s kids said that she was too embarrassed to come and talk to us. So we are going to go back and try to talk to her again. So after that I was feeling a little sad and I just felt like it is may last area and my last transfer and what do I have to show for it! How can I leave the mission and this is how I leave the area and these people! It just broke my heart!
So Saturday night I went home feeling as though I was lacking in the work and so I just wanted to find out what the Lord needs me to do. As I was reading my scriptures I read in 3 Nephi and it talked about how people won’t accept the gospel even when it is right in front of them and it just made me realize that these are the last days and so they aren’t all going to accept the message but that they need to be given the opportunity. Then Sunday was an amazing day! We met new people and we were able to give baptismal goal dates! Then that night I looked over the work that we had done and we met 23 new people and they are amazing! I think the Lord was just helping me see the positive and to remind me that we need to be finding those who will progress and to focus efforts on those who are truly going to accept the gospel! I am excited for the new people that we are meeting and I am excited for our investigators who have baptismal goal dates. I know that I won’t be able to see the fruits of our labors because they need to come to church four times but at least the Lord gave me reassurance that I am making a difference in this work and in this area and that I am doing his will. I hope that I can help people come closer to Christ. We just set a half-day mission and I know that it will give so much help to the ward and to missionary work! I love this work! I know that the Lord has a purpose for me and that he needs me to find the elect and it is hard to see some not accepting the message and I just think about our Father in Heaven and Savior. What must they feel when we don’t accept them or when we go against their will!
I was so grateful for your testimony in the last email it really gave me strength and helped me realize how important this work is and that I just need to keep doing what the Lord wants me to do, continue to read my scriptures, say my prayers, and just work work work. That is my mission "slogan", "work, work, work that is the secret" and it truly is to be happy in the work and to know you are doing the Lord’s will just work! I love it!
I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ! And I am grateful for this knowledge and for the opportunity to be one of the Lord's missionaries!
Please tell Abby happy birthday and that I love her! Travis too sorry I didn’t say it last week, oh and Aunt Jill!!!!! I love you all!
Sorry if this email is a little crazy we have a member that is here and she doesn’t know how to use a computer so she keeps asking for help and then so does my companion for spelling on English. Hehe. She is writing to president. Haha. Sorry if this is a little crazy! I will write more next week!
I love you all!!!!!!!!
Love, Sister Andreasen

Hello Again - February 14, 2011

2011-02-14T14:20:00.001-08:00

Getting Our Planning Done!

So how is everything going? I hope well. I know who uncle Joe is but I didn’t know him that well, mostly just hearing his name. But I am sure it was hard for grandpa. I am glad to hear that he is doing well though! Speaking of family, when I was in Barra one of the member’s Brother Jerome just came home from his mission and he said that he trained an Elder Andreasen. So I wrote him because he is still in the mission. I figure we are some how related because Andreasen isn’t a very common name. He didn’t tell me his name but he said his dad is Bryon and they are from Logan Utah. He said his grandpa is Clifford but goes by "Boose". He also said his great grandfather is Aaron Andreasen. So I don’t know if we are related but I'm sure some how. So yeah, it’s just a small world! I got a new companion at transfer day; she like my anak is also from Tarlac, Camiling in Tarlac. She didn’t know Sister Pascual before the mission but they met in the MTC because they are batch. All of my last companions are batch, Sister Pascual, Sister Tacbobo and Sister Gabuyo. That is my new companion, Sister Gabuyo! She is amazing! She is very sweet and very humble and I am blessed to have her as, yes, my last companion. I also got the Liahonas at transfer day. So I hope to get the money and send them today so that they will get there, also some other stuff so I don't have to worry about the weight of my luggage when I.... Anyway, I got your package!!!!! Thank you so much! I got it at transfer day :) thank you for all its wonderful goodness hehe. My companion was also excited because I was able to give her a little Book of Mormon! She loved it. And the rest I will just send.

So I am loving the work. We had a hard week with work this week. First the sisters were getting ready to leave, we had sisters come stay with us, and we were punted so it was a hard week with numbers and everything but I know that next week will be better. We didn’t even get to see Tatay Lino! He wasn’t home!!! Then Sister Marj committed to baptism and they said they were coming to church but then they weren’t there! :( so I am not sure what happened. But I am excited to move the work forward this week and get our investigators to come to church!!! Have I told you about Sister Kawit and Brother Ephraim? They are great members! Sister Kawit is the Relief Society President and Brother Ephraim has lots of callings but he works with us and helped us with the baptism. Anyway, Brother Kawit is less active. The one that I said I felt I should go visit. Well we went to see him. I think it was affective! Although we cried, both Sister Tacbobo and I cried because he told us that he has to deal with the fact that he won’t be with his family forever and he said that this life is enough :( it was hard to hear that. I think he was offended. He is a way nice guy though. At first he didn’t want to come out and talk to us but I just started talking to him from a window and then I think he felt bad so he came and talked to us. We didn’t have a lesson we just talk so that we could build his trust but we set a return appointment and I am so excited! Hope it goes well and he understands the importance! I love this work! I love inviting people to come closer to Jesus Christ. Brother Kawit is a jeepney driver so he actually ended up taking all us missionaries to the mission home on transfer day :)

The bishop really wants to help us in getting the ward to give us referrals and to even work with us as couples! I am so excited! I think it will really help the work. Then we set a day for a 1/2-day mission and I think that it will bring in a lot of referrals and help the less actives to come back!!!! I am so excited for the progression of this area and ward! I love them!

People always say stuff about how close march is. I guess I have come to the realization that that is true soon I will be leaving but it just means I have to work extra hard! I know that I will be leaving but I don’t feel it! I just feel that I need to push myself and do as much good as I can in this area! It is a large area and one thing that it says in preach my gospel is "leave the area better than you found it" I really want to do that! Help member, less active, investigators, and non-members to come closer to Christ! I love this work! I love my Savior and I love that he makes up for all my imperfections. So even if last week wasn’t as good as it should have been I know that we can always do better and that the spirit will guide and direct where we need to go and how we can be more effective as missionaries! Because this is the best work ever! And I get to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord and I just want to do all I can to please him and to help my brothers and sisters! Because this is the true church and we all have to know the way to return home to our loving Heavenly Father.

I will be sending pictures so hopefully you get them all!

The Pullos grandkids, they are so cute and always want to wear our name tags!

The baptism of Brother Jerry!!!!! :) Brother Dwayne Salayog baptized him.

A picture with bishop, his father in law, wife and cute little boy! Bryce is the little boy he is so cute. He is supper shy but always wants to "flirt" with us.

Brother Danny, he is the ward mission leader. His daughter Mau works with us so he was sleeping waiting to pick her up. Haha.

We went to a butterfly garden for pday and saw some cool animals too, along with a lot of butterflies.

Then we got to see Sister Ganaden, Elder French, and Elder Holland before they went home!

Elder French

Sister Ganaden

Elder Holland

President came over for the birthday of Sister Tacbobo. He promised her a meal at the mission home but didn’t have time so just brought it to our apartment real quick.

A picture of Brother and Sister Kawit! :)

Me and my companions in the "sacred grove" hehe. On the way to our area :)

Then miracle fruit, that little red berry looking thing. It is really sweet and after eating it if you eat something sour it will just be sweet! It is so crazy!!! :) One of our less active members gave them to us.

Sister Trinidad.

Then at Brother Jerry’s house with his mom! :)

The one in orange is Sister Eve! We had dinner with her. She is so sweet she served her mission here in San Pablo mission :)

then a picture with Brother Patty, Sister Jenny, and Sister Marj :) Sister Marj is in pink.

Happy Valentines Day at SM hehe.

Brother Belda took us to have dinner at SM because sister was in Manila. Haha he doesn’t look very happy but he really is. Haha.

President left his glasses at our apartment hehe.

So I cried at transfer day! It was the last time I would see a lot of missionaries! Almost all my batch going home was at transfer day! :)

With Elder Muller and Sister Tacbobo.

Then a cute random picture of little kids taking a bath on the street. So cute hehe

That’s it I hope they all send! I love you all! And am so grateful to have you as may family!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen
p.s. Happy Valentines Day. Hehe.

So Now Let's Get To The Good Stuff - February 7, 2011

2011-02-07T20:44:00.000-08:00

The baptism of brother Jerry!!!!!!!!!! It went so well! I am so happy for him. We were so scared because as I said last week he didn’t come to church and we weren’t able to contact him but he was sick, had and emergency, and his cell phone is broken so it has been pretty crazy but he was so excited and really anxious and ready to be baptized! His testimony is amazing! He knows that this is the true church and I know he will never depart from it|! His baptism went really well.

The Elder's Quorum President baptized him he bore and firm strong testimony and the spirit was just really strong. Then we went and taught him and it was about the priesthood, which was perfect because the bishop had actually talked with him about the getting the priesthood after church. He is really excite and he knows how great an opportunity and responsibility it is! I just can’t help but picture him as a strong active member. One day going through the temple and raising a family in righteousness! I love it! So we had a little bit of a crazy week! We weren’t able to see as many investigators as we had planned to but the work was still being guided by the Lord! We met this man Jason and were able to start teaching his wife and they are awesome. When we went to teach them about the restoration they had a girl name Dina at their home who will now be living with them. We taught her and she is so interested to know more and really excited to read the Book of Mormon!!!! I am so excited for her! So we had a crazy thing happen they broke up our threesome for a couple hours! Sister Batan had to go back to Pakil and get her things because they are now leaving that area to Elders!!!! No sisters in Pakil! I was heart broken! But she had to go get all her stuff and so Sister Tacbobo and I worked in the area. But that day I talked with president and he told me that Sister Batan will be going to Barra at transfer day and that Sister Tacbobo is being transferred so before today I already knew that I will be losing my great companions! I am so sad I love them so much and have learned so much from them but I know it is just another change that will help me grow, although I am nervous for this transfer. But I know the Lord will continue to guide me if I put my trust in him and stay worthy of the spirit!

So after Sister Batan came back on Friday night I had one of the greatest experiences of my whole mission! Well I have told you about Tatay Lino the one who wanted to sing "How Great Thou Art". Well the last thing we taught him was about the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it was true. Then when we came back he didn’t read but wanted to talk to us. So he told us that he has been praying for the past four days and the answer he got is he cant serve to churches, which is true. But he just said he wished that we were first and everything. So we left a spiritual thought, bore testimony, and committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if is true. Well we tried and tried to come back and he was never home! I was so sad each time we went to see him and he wasn’t home. Then on Friday we got close to his house and I saw him! I was so happy! We asked if he read and he did. It was in 3 Nephi 11 and so we taught about Jesus Christ and baptism. We asked him what he felt when he prayed and he said that it is true and that the book is about Christ and he knows it is and true book, but he said he just needs some time, because he is so supper active in his church. So we just told him we understand and we want to give him that time and help him to learn and grow in the church but that we wanted him to start preparing himself now so that he can be baptized! And he said yes!!!! I am so so so happy! I love him! I just feel like I am supposed to be here for him! I know he will make a strong ember especially when he grows in the gospel and learns more truths and sees through the scriptures, prayer, and coming to church that this is the true church of Jesus Christ! I left that appointment feeling so good!

I love the work and I am so excited to keep moving it forward. We talked to the bishop about having a half day mission and I think it will be a really good thing for the members, the less active (because there are a lot), and it will help us get referrals all around it will be such a great missionary tool! I am excited!

The members in this area are so great! The have a dinner calendar for the missionaries hehe. But its not just good because of food but it really helps you to grow close to them and to gain their trust so I'm hoping that we can get some good referrals. I know that it will really help them if our investigator has a friend to give them strength and courage to attend church and to help them with questions! Like Sister Jenny and her friend, our investigator, Marj!

I love the work I am so grateful for your love and strength to help me through! I especially need it right now to help me! I love you all!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Hello again from the Philippines - January 31, 2011

2011-01-31T19:13:00.000-08:00

Sister Andreasen & Sister Tacbobo

Zone pday bike riding around the lake in San Pablo

I didn't know what pineapple plants looked like, they are so cute!!

Riding the troll on the railroad with the Senior Sisters.

The Zone with the Messamers Family

I love all the cute children

Beautiful San Pablo

Smile

Life in San Pablo is like life in America with some Tagalog hehe. Just joking, but I love it here! I love our investigators. We are working on finding and teaching as many people as we can! I am so excited! Each week we meet new people and I love them and I am so excited, we have so much potential in this area! I just pray each and every day that they will feel the power of the Spirit that comes with this message and do all that I can to remain worthy of that spirit each and every day. Lately I have been thinking a lot about what my MTC teacher, Sister Hawkes always talked to us about, quiet dignity. I think it is something that I always need to work on because I guess I am more of a loud person but I just want to always be able to feel and respond to the subtle prompting of the Holy Ghost and I know that as I develop quiet dignity that will come. It is something I have been working on my whole mission and I just really have been working on it this transfer so that I can be prepared for the investigators! I love the people here so much and I just want them to realize the amazing blessings that come with taking a little faith and trying something new!

So to answer your questions. It is cold some times and hot sometimes, that is not however it is cold some days and hot some days the weather just changes so quickly sometimes. I am still cold at night and still don’t use the electric fan hehe. The threesome is still awesome it makes it easy for us to split on Sundays too :) but may companions Sister Batan and Sister Tacbobo are so amazing I learn so much from them!!!! I love it. And about the TB test, I just got an x-ray because I need it before I leave. Should I bring it home?

Anyway back to work,

We have a great progressing investigator Brother Jerry, he should be baptized this coming Sunday but he didn’t come to church and we haven’t been able to talk to him yet so we are a little worried, so I hope it goes through! We have been praying extra hard for him.

Then we have the Sacueza family and we had an appointment and our plan was to give them a baptismal commitment! But they weren’t home! :( We were so sad so I am excited to go see them tomorrow! I just pray that all goes well, they are pretty set on the Catholic religion but I know if the read the Book of Mormon and pray about it they will know!

Next is Marj! I love her! We met her when we went to teach someone else. We have an investigator who is not really interested and we have been thinking about dropping him but we went to teach him and the member that works for him, that is who gave the referral, her best friend was there. That is Marj. So to clear it up. Jenny, the member gave a referral, Brother Patty (not interested). But her best friend came back from Manila and is living next to her and so we are teaching her now and she is amazing! And she came to church with Jenny on Sunday. Well as we were talking we found out Marj's mom lives right next to jenny's mom in another part of our area so the next day we went to teach her and she is amazing! I am so excited I hope that they can progress together! Because of the work schedule of Sister Marj she doesn’t get to see her baby very often, who lives with her mom, so if they go to church not only will they grow closer to the Lord but it will also give their family a time to see and grow closer to each other! I love it!

The sisters were teaching a family before I got here but they weren’t really a big priority because the mom and the dad wouldn’t really listen just the kids but they are too young to go to church on their own so we weren’t really sure what we should do so we decided to focus the lesson on the parents, well when we went back they weren’t there but.... Richard was there he is one of their older sons he is 16 and he is really interested he reads and asks questions and I think that he will be progressing really well. He said he isn’t sure that Joseph saw our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ but he committed to pray about it! :)

Each day we meet more and more people and I am really excited for them to progress and to see which ones we will focus on and just to share the gospel with all who will listen! I love the work and I love being a servant of the Lord. I love studying and growing closer to the Spirit. That is actually how I decided to change my major.

I am not sure yet what it will be I need to talk to someone and I also need to talk to dad and maybe Brother Gibbons. I was reading an Ensign in our apartment and I read an article about seminary and how it started and then I thought about all the students at dads school who are members and I thought that maybe you could start to have seminary as a class at school? Can you do that in California? Well I just thought it would be a good idea. And I was thinking that I could still get my degree in education just focusing on religious studies with a minor in home economics. Hehe. I don’t know if this is possible but it sounds like a good idea! I would love it! I don’t know if that was just me thinking up great things in my mind or if it truly is possible! I hope so. But I am still looking to be a teacher but not theater and speech. So just let me know I would love to talk to a counselor, dad, and Brother Gibbons to see if it is possible and what I can do and how I can make what I want to do into a career. It would be great if you could talk with a counselor for me but of course I'm not there but I trust you :)

I love the gospel and I want my whole life to be focused on the church! I love sharing this wonderful message of truth with our brothers and sisters and know that as we grow closer to Him we will want to help others come closer as well! I love you all so much I am grateful for your love and examples in my life!

Love Sister Andreasen

Hello Again!!! - January 24, 2011

2011-01-24T17:49:00.001-08:00

Happy Even In The Rain

I love you all so much! And I am grateful for the love and prayers you have for me! I know that it is helping me so much and I really feel the Lord strengthening me here. I feel like I have so much I need to learn! And every day I grow more and more! I am so grateful for my companions! They mean so much to me! I have learned so much from them and I know we are together for a reason, I was reading in the Book of Mormon and in Ether 5:4 it says "And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be established..." I liked it and knew that I am supposed to have two companions right now. I am sorry I won’t be able to send pictures this week but next week :) So we went back to teach Tatay Lino and we asked him to pray about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith and he said the answer he got was that he can’t serve to churches and he is "too old" to change now, but he wants us to teach his family and he wants to work with us to help us bring souls unto the savior. I love him so much! He is awesome and I am not giving up on him. So we committed him to pray again specifically and to read in 3 Nephi 11, which I am hoping, has a really big effect on him! He will be a great member because once he knows it is true he will just continue to progress.

We were able to teach the Sacueza family and they are great too. We showed the restoration video and it went well they have a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon and I am really excited to teach them about it next time! They will benefit so much from the gospel and I know it will just make them a stronger family. We went and ate at a member’s house and the said they didn't know of anyone they could refer to us but they said if we were teaching a family they would go with us so I am really excited! They have scheduled to go work with us and be the fellowshippers for this family! I love it!

Then the Bermejo family, were brother is a tricycle driver, we were able to teach them on Tuesday and it went well so we were excited for the next lesson to talk about the restoration and the Book of Mormon but on Saturday brother was home, however something was wrong with his tricycle so we were only able to teach sister but brother said he would be home again to listen next Tuesday! So we are excited!

We were able to teach only one of the kids this week. Geno, he is awesome but he says he prayed and didn’t get an answer so we are trying to help him understand the feelings of the spirit. He didn’t come to church though and we don’t know why or what happened but his grandmother didn’t come as well so maybe that was a problem.

We are teaching Brother Jerry who will be baptized on February 6 and I'm so excited for his baptism but we had to teach about the law of chastity and it was the first time I had to teach someone who is in his late 20s and not married, plus he is a guy! I was so nervous because it is just kind of weird, but it went well and he understood and we also got to talk about the importance of marriage and the temple and I think it was a really good lesson and I am grateful for the spirit that makes everything better even when we are weak and lacking and nervous haha.

We do tracting anytime we are punted so we have met some great new people so if they continue to progress this week I will have some more great stories! The one thing we are focusing on is getting them to come to church! It is a big help in them knowing that this is the true church! So we just keep fasting and praying for them!

I also had a great experience with the Relief Society president. My first Sunday she bore her testimony and I didn’t know who she was but she said that her husband was less active and I don’t know why but something just told me that we need to go see him. Then this Sunday she came up to me and said that she felt like we need to come over and try and talk to her husband! So we have an appointment and I am so excited!!!! She also has three sons, one is less active and one is sort of active and one is a returned missionary. haha. So hopefully we can help! Her son that is a returned missionary served in Australia!!!! I though you might like that mom :) it made me think of you! Oh we always go eat at a member’s house and she said that she would talk to you on facebook but she is a little shy to add you, Sister Owie Salayog so if you want you can add her. She is so sweet! She and her family are amazing! I love them so so much! They are a really good example to me of righteous living and following the gospel standards! She is a returned missionary! They have two little boys and I am always reminded of Kristy and Heather when we go to their house, the last time I even heard cars in the background hehe. Last time she was talking about the dreams she gave up to go on a mission and for her family. I am so grateful for smart amazing women who could do anything they want and choose to stay home with there kids and be the mother the Lord needs them to be! What a great example of forgetting ourselves and following the will of the Lord!

I love the work I am so grateful for all that I am learning in this area and I know that the Lord truly needs me here and I am grateful for his guiding hand! I love you all so so much!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

The Lord Puts People In Our Path - January 17, 2011

2011-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hello :)

I feel like you didn’t have a lot of time with your last email. Hehe but I loved the stories and I love the kids so much! I just know that they are getting so big!

Thank you so much for the package!!!!! You’re amazing!

Oh and before I forget for like the fiftieth time HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Wow each time I know a birthday is close I always think about you! And then when I start writing the email I never say it. Then after we leave the computer shop I remember I forgot to say happy birthday. So happy birthday mom! Michael! Grandma! And Paul! I love you all!!!!!!!

Thanks again for the package I don’t need the stuff it is just stuff I want so thank you! Thank you so so much!!!! About the Liahona I don’t think you ordered one for Jill so I think I will have to order another one. I hope it is done by transfer day because I need to send it! Which could be a lot for six!

So about this week it has been great! The Sunday attendance was a little sad and we got punted a lot but that is because it was fiesta in San Pablo so every one was celebrating in the main part of town and no one was home, even the kids didn’t have school.

But we were able to teach Brother Jerry, the sisters didn’t officially teach the restoration so we decided to review and watch the movie and it was amazing!!!! The spirit was so strong and after he bore his testimony that he knows the church is true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and I love it! I cried, as I’m sure you could guess. It is just that the spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for the truth and the opportunity to be a missionary and share the message because each time my testimony is strengthened!

We were also able to recommit some investigators for baptism so I am excited for them! They say that they really want to be baptized but they are having a hard time keeping commitments so we will see in the coming weeks if they will use the lesson we taught about faith!

We had to drop an investigator and it was really hard but right after we met another lady and we were able to teach her and she is very open and willing to keep the commitments. I just felt like she was the person we needed to find and I think she really needs the comfort that will come from living the gospel! We tracted into a new sister, Sister Lian and she was nice and we were able to teach her and she was fine with it but there was something missing. The next time we went back we asked he if her husband was always gone because we want to teach them as a whole family and she said that he goes to work early and comes home late so we probably won’t be able to teach him. We asked about his day off and she said he has one day off on Tuesday and we asked if we could come on Tuesday and she said that he probably won’t be home, she seemed like she was trying to avoid it so we gave up for the moment and just decided to teach. After we sang a hymn a tricycle pulled up! It was her husband!!!! Yes!!!!!! We got to teach him and he asked questions and wants to know more! And he said that Tuesday is his day off and we could come anytime he will be there! He seems really excited to know more and I know that he is what was missing! I am so excited for them. He asked questions about church and we invited him to go on Sunday, he didn’t end up coming, but I think they will progress! I know that he came home for a break at that exact moment so that we could teach him! I know the lord puts people in our path and I am so grateful for his hand in this work! We taught the Sacueze family again and brother read what we left him but he said he isn’t looking to get baptized. So we explained that we just want to invite people to come unto Christ. I think it could have been a rather disappointing experience but I didn’t feel it at all! I just felt a hope that it will be okay just keep teaching and they will accept the truth! I know that we are suppose to teach them and every time I have been to their home I just get a strong feeling that I am supposed to be there!

We weren’t really able to teach the youth because of the fiesta! Which I was so sad about but next week they will be home and we are going to talk about the restoration! I am so excited! Especially for Geno, his grandma is a member and his mom is open to listen as well and she is very happy that Geno wants to know more and she even helps us find times when we can teach him! :)

I just love the work!!!!!!!

The Lord blessed us last night. We were out looking for new people to teach and we went to a member’s home to ask for a referral and we got a phone call from president. He told me that we needed to be in our apartment at 6 so that we could greet our new companion! Yep that is right we are now a threesome! Sister Batan is our new temporary companion. She was serving in Pakil!!! Awe! My first area! But her companion had to go home and it was very unexpected, we don’t know what happened just that she needed to go home. So Sister Batan is coming to work with us in our area until transfer day. So we are now three and I am happy! I know that this is just help from the Lord and he is giving me an opportunity to learn and grow. I love my companions so much! They are sweet sisters and I have a lot to learn from them. I am just working on serving them and giving them the love they need! The Lord truly has blessed my life in more ways than I can ever imagine and I am so grateful for his merciful hand that touches my life!

I am grateful for your love and I love you all so much!!!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

It Is Awesome The Way The Spirit Works - January 10, 2010

2011-01-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

Hello again :)

You are right it does mean opposite and this area is so baliktad! Ha-ha! But I am loving it and we got the numbers in the area back up so I am excited for that! We have some good investigators but I have also been finding that a lot of them are ones that have been taught for a really long time so we are giving them a fresh new chance and if the still don’t keep commitments we will have to drop some of them, which is sad because they are really nice. I think one of the big things I want to focus on in this area is finding the elect! The area is really big and so I know that we really need to focus our efforts on finding those who will grow and mature in the gospel. We have also been doing a lot of tracting and meeting new people, which is super fun!

So first I will tell you about Jerry! He is awesome and I am really excited for his progression! He had a baptismal goal date but then he didn’t come to church. So we recommitted him and he is excited and so are we! We knew that he had some word of wisdom problems and so my companion was a little scared to teach the word of wisdom because she didn’t know how he would take it but I just said well he wants to be baptized and so it will be okay and we need to teach it now so he can be ready. So we taught it and he does have some things that he needs to work on but he said that if it is for the Lord and for his good he will do it! He is way awesome!

So side note about my companion Sister Tacbobo! I love her she is way sweet. She is from Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro Mission. Which is in the low part and I have noticed that they speak pretty good English from the lower part of the Philippines. She is the youngest of four too, and I am her follow up trainer :) she is batch with my anak Sister Pascual! She is super fun but I think we will probably only be together one transfer so that is a little sad!

Okay, so back to the work, we went tracting and we found this lady and she said we could teach her, then she got up because she had to take care of something and she didn’t come back, it was outside, but her husband came up so we started the lesson with him then the wife came and the husband left it was really crazy and not very orderly or effective for the spirit, but then we had an older man come and listen and a young girl and they were really interested and said we could teach them! So we went back and the older man really wants to come closer to Christ! He reminded me of dad because we wanted to sing a song with him and he saw the hymnbook and asked if How Great Thou Art was in the hymnbook so that is what we sang! I love that hymn and I think a lot of the reason is because of dad! :) Anyway he is awesome. Then we weren’t able to teach the girl Jengiline but we invited her to church and she came!!!! I love it!

Then we were going to a different area and we were walking to an appointment and some kids called out to us and sometimes you don’t know if they are serious or just joking around but I felt like we should go talk to them and we taught about 6 of them and they are so cute and really have a desire! I love it. We need to go to each one of their houses so that we can try and talk to their parents too! But we invited them to come to church on Sunday and they came! And that is so amazing because they live really far from the church and they walked!!!! Wow! They are so awesome! Then one of them, Geno, my favorite, when he got to the church said "this is where we came when my grandpa died" then we found out and saw his grandma is in our ward!!!! It is so awesome the way the spirit works!!!!!

Then in our tracting we have been lead to two less active members who really need the gospel back in their lives and who really want to come back to church! They are so awesome! I have just seen the hand of the Lord so much here in San Pablo! I am so grateful for my experiences in this area it has only been a short time and I know that the Lord is directing the work! I am so grateful for the comfort of the Lord, his help and his guidance just to help me know that I need to be here! I am so grateful for the area and I am starting to get close to some of the members and I am grateful for their kindness!

Sometimes it really does feel like I am serving in the states! The other night we had a dinner appointment and the house was so nice! And the food was so good; we had an appetizer, soup, the main dish, and dessert! It was crazy! Then we got a ride home in their car! It is so different from Barra! It is a big adjustment and Barra will always be in my heart but I know I am where the Lord needs me to be. I have work to do and I have a lot more to learn and I am grateful that the Lord knows! Oh, I went tracting on Sunday with one of the senior sisters and I saw this walk way with some houses and felt that it is where we should go, the first house had the door open so we ended up talking to the Sacueza family and I love them!!!! I hope that they progress! I just felt as we were teaching them that this is the message they need right now, then we come to find out that he knows the stake president and his sister is a member!!!! So I am really excited for them and have a lot of hope for their progression!!!!

Oh, funny story because I know you love them. So Sister Tacbobo and I have the same shoes and so she went to go wash hers off before we went to work. Then I went to get mine to clean them off too and I as I went to get them I realized that they were both right feet. Hahaha. She didn’t even realize she had finished cleaning them and still didn’t know. I said you know those are for the same feet and she just burst out laughing. It was so funny. It isn’t as good as when it happened but I want it written down because it is so funny! Ha-ha.

About things that you can send. If you want to send another shirt you can because I love the ones that you sent and the stuff for Christmas was perfect I just pouched it so I hope they like it :) but it made me happy! If you do send another shirt maybe one that is 3/4 length sleeves or long sleeves because I get cold sometimes especially at church, I know that sounds crazy. Then velveeta shells and cheese hehe, it is like mac and cheese but better hehe. And if they have some kind of powdered soup that you just add hot water, and instant breakfast :) that would be great! Oh and peanut butter again if it isn’t too heavy. And any other foodstuff that is easy and fast to make that is easy to send. Oh and mints (lifesaver wintergreen :)) that would be amazing!!! Oh and my companion says chocolates, that is always a favorite. Hehe wow, this is coming out to be a lot. If you have room some ties that I can send to members in Barra! Especially the ones that are getting ready to leave on missions. Maybe Michael can help you find some good inexpensive ones :) sorry if that is a lot! I guess I have been thinking of things you could send if you sent one more package :) oh if it fits cereal. Hehe. Don’t worry if you can’t send it all it is a lot and I don’t need it all! Just things I have thought of. I do love packages from you mostly because I know how much you were thinking of me when you bought the stuff and I realize once again how blessed I am!!!! I love you all so much!!!!!

So just so I can makes sure I don’t forget anything is there anything that you want besides the Liahonas? I want to get these really cool belts made of karabaw horns! And I was just wondering if they guys want one? Just let me know I think they are pretty expensive though like 1,000 pesos.

Well I love you all so much! I am so grateful for your love and kindness, and making sure I am okay even though I am far and sometimes it is probably hard for you! I know how much you care! Grandpa is so cute! But I don’t need the air conditioning we don’t even use the fan because I am cold hehe. But I am glad for his love and even something simple like air conditioning hehe. I love that you all care so much! I know that the Lord has blessed me in mores ways then I could ever imagine and sometimes I don’t understand why but strive to be worthy of the love and the blessing each and everyday as I strive to follow the spirit and do the will of the Lord! I am so grateful for your help and support I love you all! I hope you got more pictures this week if they don’t all go through I will try again next week! I love you all!

Love, Sister Andreasen

So Let's Get To It! - January 3, 2010

2011-01-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Baliktad. Hahaha! So that is what I have to say about this transfer! I miss Barra like crazy I thought going on a mission I would only have to leave family once :( I was wrong. But the work goes on and I am happy to move forward with it.
So you heard right from Joshua, I am in San Pablo mismo. Wow! Talk about big change. So I don’t walk out to sand every day and we don’t teach by the seashore. I don’t have to ride a little boat to part of my area. I do get to ride in a car on Tuesdays and Fridays because the Messamers, the couple missionaries, work with us and they take us to our appointments. These days are called STS days daw. Which means Spoil the Sisters day. Haha. They treat us to ice cream and they also want to have us over for dinner some night. We were also invited to the mission home for dinner some time. Wow! I go to church in an actually chapel and there are more seats than people, which I’m not used to, and it is freezing cold because there is air conditioner! We even have air conditioning in our apartment. Hehe, which we don’t use because it would be so expensive. Right now I don't even us an electric fan because I’m cold. Hehe.

So that is my story of how different the areas are!
But I still love it! I know it is what the Lord wants. Oh another thing is my companion speaks English more than I do hehe. Sister Pascual didn’t like it when I spoke English and I think my new companion, Sister Tacbobo, would like it if I always spoke English hehe. She is way fun! I love her! I know I will be learning a lot from her! So sad story, the first full day in San Pablo wasn’t full because we had a curfew the next day as well, but we got to watch fire works from our roof because our apartments are awesome! Haha. The chapel is really far from our apartment maybe 10......... steps. Haha. But back to the story, the second day January 1 I got really sick! Stomach sick, I don’t know what I ate but we weren’t able to go work! Second day and no work! I hate it! But I think my stomach is back to normal, which is good.
So lets go back to me leaving Barra. The last week was really hard because it was Christmas and then it was last appointments. The first of the "last appointments" was the Teves family and I just cried! I couldn’t help myself it hurt so bad to leave them because they still aren’t sure about the church, the know our message is true but don’t want to leave the Catholic Church! Ahh! But then I had to say good-bye and I just lost it! I think that was one of the hardest! Then what made it even hard is Sister Maluo started to cry! I love them so much!!!!
I was able to have a going away lunch and dinner every day before I left, the people in Barra are so sweet but it was also hard because I knew it was the last time I would see them. Monday was at the Branch President’s house. Then Tuesday was Rago and Joshua’s family, Wednesday was Sister Glo and Sister Remy! I love them so much! Then I was sad to leave and not be able to teach Brother Fernando, he is amazing! And he and his wife Glenda are progressing but we weren’t able to teach because of Christmas and then brother was gone on an interview! :( But we were able to teach the Ibradelzo family and it was so bitter sweet!!!! We set a baptismal goal date and they are excited! And I’m so happy for them!!!! There is the family that I have been looking for and I won’t be there to see their baptism! It was such a good moment though and they are really excited to just do what is right and to come closer to our Savior and Father in Heaven! I love it! I know that Barra will continue to progress and I am happy for it!
I am also happy to be here in San Pablo!!! It is a big change and even though I cried my eyes out!!!!!! I know that it is going to be okay! The Lord gave me that comfort the week before transfer day. I prayed and I just felt this feeling that I need to be in my next area and the Lord has a plan for me and I will really grow and become a better missionary so I am excited for that! I know that the Lord has a plan for me and I am grateful for the comfort! There is a lot of work to do here in San Pablo and I am ready to get to it! The members here are sweet too! We had a lot come up and offer dinner appointments and to work with us so that is good! I am happy that they are supportive. I have also been able to meet families I have heard about from Sisters Smith, Ganaden, and Arrieta because they all served here. So that was a fun connection. We do have one investigator who I am really excited about and that is Jerry. He had a baptismal goal date but then he hasn’t been to church so we set another goal date and he is excited to go to church and really excited for baptism. Then my companion was nervous to teach about the Word of Wisdom because she knows he has problems with this, but I just said better now then later so that is what we taught and he said. Okay. haha! It was so easy! He is awesome. He said it isn’t going to be easy but I am going to do my best because that is what God wants! Amazing!!!! Plus priesthood! Yes!
I love the work and I know that the lord has a plan for his children and he blesses us and gives us opportunities to learn and grow and be better. I hope I can give the same strength to the area and my companion that I know they will give me!
I love the work I am so grateful for your love and the stories you share! You are always in my heart!!!!!
Until next week, which is when, I should be sending pictures!
I love you!!!
Sister Andreasen

Barra Will Forever Be Part Of My Life - December 26, 2010

2010-12-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hello again I feel like I just talked to you but last time was better because I got to see you! Hehe. I am still so excited that Heather is going to have a baby! Yeah!!!! I keep telling people but for some weird reason they just aren’t as excited as I am hehe.

So I don’t know what to say because I feel like I just talked about everything. But I am sending pictures and I hope you like them. There are pictures of the branch Christmas party and the Ibardeloza family, mom and a dad and two little girls. They are so awesome!

We are going to commit them to baptism tomorrow and I am so excited!!!!! I love it! I really love the work and I am excited for the progression of Barra and we have some great new investigators. I am not scared to leave the area because I know it will continue to bloom and grow it just breaks my heart to leave because I love them so much. I knew I was transferred so I didn’t cry when I saw the email but I did cry when you said you would keep me in your heart on Thursday because it will be a hard day. But I know it is going to be okay and I feel that I have more to learn and I need to grow so I know it is right it is just hard. But that in and of it’s self is a lesson, sometimes what is right isn’t always easy and sometimes it hurts but if we just trust in the Lord he will bless us and he will send us comfort and teach us how to be more like Him! I know that this is a blessing and I love my new area but I hate to leave all the wonderful people in Barra. They will forever be a part of my life and I will always have a place for them in my heart!

The view of Barra from Ranzohan.

Then I have pictures with the babies of Emily and Evelyn
our investigators that are a referral from Remy.

Then a Family Home Evening at the Pupa family! With Raquel, Biah, and Shayra who all have baptismal goal dates in January and I am so excited! Especially for Raquel because it will make the family whole!!! :)

Raquel is in black and white strips, then Shayra is in white and Biah is in green.

A picture of Brother and Sister Pupa hehe.

Pictures with the Teves family!!!!

I love them so much, Sister Malou, Brother Elhood and Christian and Christine!

Christian has pictures of ngoso ng baboy (the snout of a pig)

And gandang mata (beautiful eys) but I think he looks scared hehe.

Then the service at Remy’s house! That was fun with all the priesthood! Hehe. Yeah we helped a lot. Ha-ha at least they let us put in some nails.

Note: The rest of the pictures didn't come through - maybe next week...

Then Christmas party :)

Then at the family reunion. It was a little weird to go but it was fun and they made sure we were stuffed full of food! They are amazing! The young women stole my camera mostly Lovely she always takes my camera and likes to take lots of pictures she is wear the blue headband, she is the younger sister of Joshua.

Then me and my anak, Sister Pascual, made s'mores because that is what I made with Sister Clave and just like Sister Clave she loved them :)

Then I have pictures next to the candle that was sent to me and we didn’t have a Christmas tree so I sang oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree about our Christmas tree scented candle. It was fun! :) Hehe

Then the branch acted out different stories from the Bible and it was so great the young single adults were so funny! There is a picture of the Relief Society and they are wearing the yellow helping hands they are lions ha-ha and they are eating the servants of the king ha-ha.

Then Sister Malen and her son Jayjay who is super cute and says that he is in love with me :) hehe

The Ibardeloza family!!!! They are amazing I am so excited to give them a baptismal goal date!!!!!

Then our pday. We went to the pier to watch the sunrise it was fun, cold and amazing. Even though the clouds hide the sunrise ha-ha.

So I don’t think they will all send right now but if they do that is good if not I will try again next week.

But for now that is pretty much all the news. Oh Sister Remy said that the pictures of Sarina at Jelis' baptism aren’t on facebook and they want to see the pictures I have with them in them if you can add them to facebook.

Thank you for your love and support I am so grateful to have a family that loves me and wants me to be the best missionary I can! I have grown so much from you and I know that your all are the reason that I am here! I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Looking Forward to the Christmas Phone Call - December 20, 2010

2010-12-21T18:07:00.001-08:00

So that was weird to talk to you! I think it will be really weird when it is an actual conversation. It is funny that even in that short time I had a moment were I almost spoke in Tagalog. To answer your question yes I still love it here! I am finding joy in everyday!

So last week was a little sad as far as numbers go, we are losing some of our investigators and it makes me sad, but this week we recommitted some for baptism and we have some great new progressing investigators! We also have found some new investigators that are just so sweet! I am really excited. Last week we had one investigator come to church and this week we had 8!!!! I know it isn’t about numbers but you just get sad when they are low because it is kind of a reflection of the work you are doing so of course I was sad but this week. I was so excited that we had investigators come to church and one was Raquel!!!!! She is the daughter of Brother and Sister Pupa and they are all members except Raquel. Missionaries have taught her from the time her mom became a member, then her sisters became members and then her dad. Her dad just hit his one-year mark and so they went to the temple. I have pictures of them!

A couple with two teenage daughters, but they were also sad at this happy day because Raquel was not with them. We have been teaching her with her friend Shy and so she is more open now and they both came to church on Sunday and I know that is something that is so exciting for them all! It has been a long time since she has been to church and I am hoping that this is the first step in her progression. We have a Family Home Evening at their home later tonight so I will take pictures!

I am a little stressed with some things going on with Sister Andrea, she is having family problems so we are trying to help her through it, but through it all she still came to church!!! :) Sister Remy gave us four new referrals! And they all came to church! Then Brother Joshua gave us a family referral and they are so awesome!!! Brother came to church on Sunday, even though he didn’t make it for sacrament he still came and they really have a desire to know more! I love it!

Then we taught the mother of Sister Pupa, who has also been taught many times but nothing really happened. I taught her with Sister Arrieta and I know that we taught about a living prophet but this time we taught it again and she was surprised and excited to know that we have a living prophet she said, I didn’t know that before! So hopefully this will be the start for her too!!!! I am just so excited for all the new people we have met and I am so excited for the progression of Barra, even though I am pretty sure it is true what Remy told you that I will be transferred. But right now I am here and I am loving it! I love the mission!

I won’t lie I do miss you all especially at this time. We went to a members home on Sunday for lunch like we always do, and they had a copy of the Christmas devotional so we got to see part of it while we ate and I missed Christmas at home. I don’t know why but Christmas just doesn’t sink in for me here. The spirit of Christmas does because that is what the mission is all about, our Savior Jesus Christ! But it just seems to not be complete. But I still love it and enjoyed being able to hear the words of the first presidency even though we missed most of President Monson :( but its okay I will watch it next year.

Well I should get going I will just talk to you all on Saturday-Friday. Hehe. I’m excited!!!! I love you all so much! I know that this is the Lords work and He is here to guide our lives! How I love Him!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Keeping Busy and Meeting New People - December 13, 2010

2010-12-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Mom! I love you so much! Thank you so much for your love, your letter, and your testimony! I am so sad that I couldn’t write a lot last week I had a lot to tell you all! We had a baptism! We had Christmas zone conference! And then this week we met some great people and had zone interviews so it was pretty much amazing! Lets start with Christmas zone conference! It was so great! I got to see a lot of awesome missionaries that I missed and we had a spiritual message from president and we watched Mr. Kruegers Christmas and I cried of course. It made me miss you all and the Christmas movies we always watch! I have really great pictures but I think my memory card is broken so I don’t know if I will ever see these pictures again :( it makes me want to cry! But I am trying to get it fixed! It also has the great pictures of Lay-Ann's baptism! I just hope that I will be able to get the pictures because if not it will be two very important weeks that are gone and I will be pretty sad. So not wanting to risk anything I had to buy a new memory card so I am sending the most recent pictures that I have of a baptism and temple trip! I didn’t go to the temple but I let them take my camera because they had about four families I think from our branch that went to the temple to be sealed! It was so awesome! I am so happy for them and I love the pictures! They were able t see Sister Clave at the temple! ahhh!

Sister Clave in the Middle with Members of the Branch

I wish I could have been there! I just got news that Sister Clave is going to be a teacher at the MTC! I am so happy for her! I love her so much! So those pictures are there and then some pictures with Sister Andrea, Veronica and Mayka. So the reason I was so excited for interviews is that we were able to talk to president and we had a workshop from him and the AP's. This used to be every transfer but now it is only every quarter so I have just missed it! And it is a big spiritual boost! President always makes me feel good about myself and I know that the Lord plans the interviews at the right time when I really need that extra strength! I love the plan of the Lord!!!! I see it in the work all the time. So we had the interviews and they cut into our working time so the next day I wanted to make up for it but the branch was having a baptism and there wasn’t really anyone who came and so sister and I stayed.

I spoke and we had a baptism for Judyln an 8 year old girl and then their family went to the temple to be sealed! So cute! I had to really think if we would attend the baptism or go to work, but I knew that the Lord would want to give support to this family so we went. Then after the baptism the little girl and her cousin drew pictures on the white board and one was of me and they wanted to hold my hands! It was so cute. Then he cousin, Rica Mae who is 10 and isn’t a member asked if she could come to church on Sunday! Then that led to us teaching her and I know that the Lord has a plan for little Rica Mae! He loves us and has a plan for all his children! We taught her about prophets and asked her what prophets she knew, we haven’t given her a Book of Mormon by the way, and she said "Nephi, Lehi, Moroni"!!!!! I love it she is so amazing! I know that sisters taught her before and that it just wasn’t the right time but now she is ready and the Lord knows that!

Sister Andrea with Her Baby and Sister Andreasen

We have found some great new investigators. Last week we went to teach Lay-Ann our new member and then I thought we should just ask her to work with us so she did and she gave us a referral and she seems really interested! And while we were teaching her father came home and said he was busy but as we continued to teach her he came and listened so we set a return appointment and I am really excited for their family!!! Then when we teach in Dalahican we ride tricycles and all the tricycle drivers know us, so we were walking a part of the way because we had an appointment and then a tricycle drive said he would give us a ride for free because it wasn’t the full trip. So we gave him a pamphlet and asked if we could come back and he said he is busy but that we could. So we went to go see him and he wasn’t home! I was so bummed! So we went back last week and he was home we were able to teach him and he had a lot of questions and has a real desire to know the truth! I love it. Then next time we came back we asked him for his wife to join us and from what he said I thought she wouldn’t really be interested but she came and listened and she has so much faith and they are going through a family struggle right now and so we were able to give comfort and it was great! They are really interested and want to read the Book of Mormon!!!! I’m so excited! Then after they told us that we have to stay and eat. Hehe. They are so so so nice!!! I love them and they are really open to the truth! So I am really excited to teach them about this great message!

Each and everyday I grow closer and closer to the Lord through this work and I know I am so blessed to be a missionary! I know that this is the true gospel. The other night we met a man and his wife and we taught them but brother is Muslim and he doesn’t believe that Jesus Christ is God and they don’t believe that he died on the cross. And he didn’t like it when I said stuff like that or that we are all children of God. But I bore testimony and then we left but he did commit to read the Book of Mormon!!!! After that we were able to go to a less active Brother Bert Linatoc who is awesome. I just feel a connection with him and I bore testimony of the savior and the spirit was so strong and I was just grateful for truth and no matter what anyone says I know the truth deep within my heart!!!!! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and I know and believe in the Godhead and am so grateful for truth and the Book of Mormon, which testifies of that truth!!!!!!! I love you all so much and I love that the Lord knows our needs and is always willing to help us and lift us up!!!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

P.S. I got the pearls. And I think it would be good to just start in the morning so I think here Saturday at 8. We will come to the computer shop. I love you! I'm excited to talk to you!!!!! K

In A Hurry - December 6, 2010

2010-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

It's Great To Be A Missionary

Yes I did get the package thank you so much!!! It is really helpful and yes the members like it too hehe! I am excited to get the next one I know it will be great and full of Christmas love. Some how I miss you all more this Christmas than last. So this keyboard doesn’t have letters on it and it is late so we have to get going. This week was great though! We had Christmas zone conference and we did have the baptism of Sister Lay-Ann, next week I will send pictures and talk more about my week. I love you all! I'm so sorry this is supper short! But it is because we had a zone pday at a far island. But just know that I am still loving the work and I love you all. And I know the church is true! We have zone interviews and I am so excited! So I will be sure to send more next week! I love you all!

Love Sister Andreasen
P.S. I would like it if I called on Saturday here because I don’t want to on Sunday. We can do the Skype again. What time is good for you? We will have to adjust our schedule so anytime that is good for you just let me know! I love you and I am excited!

Baptisms In The Ocean - November 29, 2010

2010-12-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

So thanksgiving just doesn’t really cross my mind here in the Philippines it comes and goes without me noticing because it isn’t a holiday here so it is a little strange but I am glad that you all had a great thanksgiving!!!! I will be sure to get the pearls and I will probably be sending them with the Liahonas because I haven’t gotten them yet. They are still in Pakil so I'm working on that.

I think it is so funny that you talk to the members on face book. Ha-ha sometimes they tell me oh I talked to your mom. Ha-ha. Brother Joshua said that he wants to talk to you but he is nervous ha-ha. They are funny! I love the members here! I told president that I never want to leave! He came to the baptism of Sister Andrea this Saturday!

Sister Pascual, Sister Anderson, President Anderson, Andrea & Sister Andreasen

So let me start from the beginning of the week. We had to tell Tatay Emiliano that we can't come see him as much because he was drinking again and he isn’t keeping his commitments that was so hard! But hopefully it will help him! We are having a hard time keeping investigators in Barra so we will be doing so tracting this coming week, which I am excited about! I did get sick this week, which was horrible! I had no voice because of a cold and had a bad headache! Luckily one of our members worked at a hospital and she knows all about stuff like that, she is also a returned missionary and a Suaybagiuo! Her name is Sister Beng I have pictures with here.

Sister Beng and Sister Andreasen

She is in purple and glasses at the last family home evening of Sister Arrieta. She is amazing she came over in the morning and helped me and told me what medicine to take then Nica stayed with me and Sister Beng and Sister Pascual went and worked! They are so amazing! Nica too is a part of the Suaybagiuo family!!!! I love them so much! She is actually from a different ward but she works with us and she is awesome! Her boyfriend Jerome is in our branch. So that was hard it was driving me crazy being inside all day! I could hardly wait to get back to work!!!!!! I love the work. I think it is the fact that one day it will be rainy and the next it will be hot. My body doesn’t like it when the weather changes but I am fine!!! Don’t worry! I have plenty of help and love!!!!!

We had a fun pday! If you see pictures with my feet in the water and I look like I’m doing the chicken dance that is what we call magpunaw!

Chicken Dance? No, Just Looking For Clams

It is so fun. You use your feet to get shells, clams. That is one of the ways people get food or they sell them. It was fun it was hard but I liked it and I was so excited when I found one.

Yeah, I Found One!!

Ha-ha. Brother Joshua taught us and Sister Pascual didn’t really like it so she and Sister Lani just got shells from the sand that is fun too. Then Maria came and she had a lot of punaw the shells, she is really good at finding them because that is what they do all the time! Then we went home that night and ate them, they are really good!
So funny story me and Joshua put our sandals on the sand and as the water got higher it reached our sandals and my sandals started to float away! Ha-ha. But we got them, and I have a picture of it.

Caught the Flip-Flop

So going back to the week, it was a hard week because people are sick or busy. Sister Maluo and her family have been sick for over a week and it is so sad! I love them so much! So we haven’t been able to teach them because of that and they weren’t able to come to church because their kids were sick and it rained on Sunday! We met a new investigator Sister Peres and she likes to listen but says she is a catholic and not going to change! So that is hard!

Maria the younger girl in our punaw pictures is progressing and she now has a baptismal goal date so I’m really excited for her!

Then I told you about Joann and we weren’t able to teach her because she hid from us and then she was sick! Ahh it makes me so sad when I feel so good about teaching someone and then it doesn’t go through!

The sister of Sarina, Dadelyn is interested now so I am excited to teach her!

We are seeing some good potential in Talao Talao with sisters Sally and Grace they have good questions and they aren’t to debate it is just to know the truth so we committed them to pray about Joseph smith and they said that they would. I think that they would have come to church but they had something going on in their community and they needed to be there for it! I am hoping that we have some progression coming from that area! Our branch president is so awesome! He lets Brother Joshua drive his tricycle to take us to Talao Talao so we don’t have to pay for the trip there! I love it! But it is funny to see a guy in a white shirt and tie drive a tricycle! Ha-ha.

Then we had the baptism of Andrea it was supposed to be Andrea and Lay-Ann but something came up with Lay-Ann so hers will be next week! But she is pretty much amazing! So Sunday she didn’t have anyone to watch her sister so she wasn’t sure if she could come to church but she found a way. But then it was raining and she has to ride a boat but she came anyway! She is so awesome! The attendance wasn’t as good this Sunday because of the rain and it is so sad. Because of course they walk to church but a lot of them don’t have umbrellas! So they can’t come! It just breaks my heart.

This Saturday we had the baptism of Sister Andrea and she was so excited!!! President came and it was just so spiritual! I know that she was ready for the gospel in her life! And I am so happy for her testimony! It makes my testimony grow! We met her at her house before and her daughter was there and we were able to talk to her, before she didn’t want to talk to us but now she is okay with it and she came to the baptism and to church! We are going to start teaching her and I am so excited!!!! She is way cute! She is in the pictures from Andrea’s baptism. There are two little girls and the one with shorter hair is Veronica the daughter of Andrea!!!! :)

Then we had a cottage meeting this Sunday and it went really well the spirit was strong and I think it really helped the family. The mom and two sons are active but the father has been inactive for a while now. We committed him to come to church and he said that he would so I hope that it is true we are going to go by their house to make sure :) not this coming Sunday but the next because he will be in Laguna for work next week.

I love the work here! I am excited for our investigators to progress and I am really excited for this coming week to find new investigators!

Tomorrow is our zone conference and I know that will be a big spiritual boost! I miss zone conference! And I am so excited for it!!!!!

I know that this is the Lord’s work and I know that as we trust in him he will guide us! I can see that as we trust him and do the things that he has asked of us he will never leave us comfortless he will always lend a helping hand and guide us through our struggles! How blessed I am to be a missionary and to see the effect the gospel has in the lives of these people! Everyday I learn something new and I know that the Lord is teaching me as I do all I can to teach his children! I love the gospel! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. That has been a big focus in the mission right now using prayer and the Book of Mormon and it is so true it is the key to conversion! As they open that book they open the door for the Holy Ghost to teach them of the truth!!!! I love it! I know that this is the true church and as we stretch ourselves we become stronger through the Lord!!!! I love you all so much!!! I hope that all the pictures are able to go through in time!!!!! With all my love!!!!

Sister, Andreasen

It's About Finding Joy In The Journey - November 22, 2010

2010-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

I love you all so very much! So I was planning on sending pictures but I don’t have an adapter so not this week! I am so sad because I have some great pictures!

I know I'm not really trunky because I love this work and I never want to stop. I guess it is just a word we us whenever you think about home, family, school, or marriage. Hehe we call president trunky all the time because anytime he speaks to us he always talks about his family and then about temple marriage! Ahhhh! Hehe. I love President!

So the progression in Talao Talao isn’t going as I hoped it would so I am just thinking about what I am going to do so that I can help them but if they don’t progress in the next couple of weeks we may need to drop the area which will make me so sad! But it is all for the good of the work and finding souls that are ready! We are excited for the progress of the other areas!

We are so excited that Sister Andrea will be baptized this Saturday! She is so ready and so excited for the baptism and so are we!!!! I love it! I love her! We are just working with Brother Roland because he is a member, it is just a sticky situation but it will all work out if we go to the Lord with a humble heart!

We are also supposed to have the baptism of Sister Lay-Ann but I don’t think it will go through because of her dad but we are going to work pray and fast!!!! I know that we can do it! I know that we will be able to help her overcome the trials that are keeping her from being a member of the church.

We also have another investigator who wasn’t progressing she wasn’t taking the lessons seriously and I though we would have to drop her but she is now really wanting to learn and is coming to church, it is great! I love it! Even though she is nervous about baptism we set a baptismal goal date and I am so excited for her!

Speaking of baptismal goal dates we set them with the Teves family and I am so excited! They to are nervous but I really think as they keep doing what they should they will gain a solid and firm testimony that the church is true, enough to do whatever it takes to come to church! and be baptized!

We are also working with a young woman whose whole family is members except her and she is really hard-headed but I know that she knows the church is true. We taught her before but she was really not interested and so we started teaching her again and she actually seems interested and I feel she will progress and I am excited for her and her family!

We started making goals with Tatay Emilliano and he is doing so much better! We started a new thing where he will write down his progress and also write down blessings he receives each day to help him feel the spirit in his life and I think it will really help him! I’m so excited and I hope that this opens the door for him to move forward and progress to the waters of baptism!

We also started teaching a 14 year old girl who is what they call a “tomboy”. Her cousins are members and she said she wants to be Mormon. Hehe. But she doesn’t want to wear a skirt to church. Ever since I met her when she was talking with her cousin I knew we needed to teach her and this Sunday we had the chance! I was so excited and she is really receptive! I know that Heavenly Father just wants her to know that she is loved and to really understand life. I am excited for her and I am excited for her progression! plus her cousin said that he would come with us to teach her which will be really good for him, he is 15 and he wants to serve a mission but has a cigarette problem so we are going to help him with that!

I love the work!!! I love the people here! Life just makes me happy each day even if there are trials or hardships we can overcome and find joy in every day!

So we had a cottage meeting this Sunday and the lesson was on love in the home. The person who gave the lesson gave out slips of paper that said thank you and I love you. Then asked when the last time we said this to our parents was. I had I love you and I couldn’t stop myself from crying! It was the first time since the very beginning of my mission that I have been home sick! Hehehe. I just thought that every Monday I say I love you but that it has been a over a year since I was able to give you and dad a hug and tell you face to face I love you and how grateful I am for you and all that you do for me!!!!! I love you so much and am so grateful that you are my parents!

I know that this church is about finding joy in the journey! I am so blessed and s grateful fro life! So grateful to be a missionary and learn and grow! Next week I will send pictures and it will be three baptisms!!! Crazy! I love it!

I love you all so so much! Until next week!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Some Days It Rains, Some Days the Sun Is Shining - November 15, 2010

2010-11-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

I love you all! I love hearing about all the fun times you have but it seems like since I have been on the mission you do more family things and it makes me miss you all so much! So while we are being trunky I will be going home March 23^rd! I hate to think about it and I never want to leave I love it here! I am excited for one thing and that is that I get to go to the temple the day before I go home. So to be honest I have known for a while I just haven’t wanted to say anything because it makes me sad. Mom will you let me know when I can register for school! Ahhh! Trunky eww! I hate it! But I know that I need to get started with school right away. Oh, and can you please not make a big deal about me coming home? Just have family and close friends but besides that I just want it to be a simple thing. Lets just not talk about it. Hehe. I love you all so much!

It is another transfer and I am so happy that I am not transferred! Because of course you know I love Barra!!!!!!!!!
Yes we did have a baptism! It was amazing! Sister Sarina!!!! She is so cute and her testimony is so strong I love it! It was she and the daughter of Sister Remy! Cute! So Sarin has been an investigator forever!!!!!!

And finally she is a member now! The baptism was great and I will send pictures as soon as I can!

I had some sad things happen this week. In one day I had two investigator families tell us that they didn’t want to continue in the lessons and it broke my heart!!!! I love them so much and I can’t stand to lose them! I just pray that the Lord will soften their hearts. Also we went to teach Tatay Emiliano and he was drinking! AHH! I don’t know what to do to help him! So I am fasting and praying for guidance! I know that he can do it he just needs to have faith, but now we are trying to teach his daughter in law so that he will have help in his word of wisdom problems.

Then we had some great experiences! First the best, we went to teach Malou and Elhood and they have been putting off praying about Joseph Smith. So we asked them if they did it and Sister said she did, then she said, "I felt happy, I know its true!!" ahh!!!!! I love it. They are still a little hesitant about baptism so I know they have other concerns but I'm so excited because we set a baptismal goal date and they are moving closer!!! Then we met a new lady and she is awesome! We asked her if she would read the pamphlet we left and she said that she would because she liked the feeling that she got when we taught and she knows it is true. I love the work!

So to go back to trunky, they do have primary programs and it was this Sunday and it was so cute! I loved it! It just made me think of the kids! I love them so much!

I am still loving the work and just working hard to be a good missionary and be diligent in all things! How grateful I am for the truth and that I get to share it everyday. Some days are really good, some days are sad, some days it rains, some days the sun is shining, sometimes I get stressed and sometimes I just feel the peace of truth but at the end of ever day I am happy if I know I did all I could to invite people to come closer to Christ! I love the work!

I hope that you are all still doing well! I hope that I can send pictures next week because they are pretty much amazing!!!!

Oh, I also got a haircut! ahh! Don’t worry it is just a trim and I got bangs hehe. Sister Remy cut my hair so I have pictures of that too.

New Hair Cut

And then pictures of me playing with her cute kids! I love it! It reminds me of the babies!

Well, it is late now so I should go sorry this was a short one. I will have more next week. I love you all so much!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

I Am Just So Grateful - November 8, 2010

2010-11-08T20:15:00.001-08:00

I love you all so much!!!!

Thank you so much for everything! I love you so much.

So no news about the fish :( but I think at this time things will start getting better. So this week we were not in Barra for about 4 days!!!!!! That was a killer! I don’t know what I am going to do when I have to transfer! I just love it so much! Anyway, the training was amazing! There is a new curriculum and it is completely inspired from the Lord! And I love it like crazy! We had training in the morning and worked in the night but we went to a different area and I got to work with Sister Spjute!!!!! An American, that is something I never thought I would experience not to mention she is pretty much one of my best friends in the mission! Side note: she is going to live with Sister Smith when she gets home, who lives in California, so when I am not at school we are going to hang out and that will be amazing. Okay enough of that! It was so great to work with her! Their area is so hard and it reminded me of Calamba and she said that she is struggling and I was so glad that I had my experience in Calamba so that I could really say I understand and I think it just made us both happy and positive as we tracted in her area. I think we both really learned a lot. The trainings in the morning were so spiritual and I just can’t get enough of the spirit that the Lord gives his missionaries! It is so amazing! I don’t know why he blesses me so much but I am thankful for it each and every day! I love the work and I know that there is no better thing to do than this! We also had a testimony meeting and the spirit was amazing once again and I can’t help but just beam with joy!!!! I love my Savior!!!!

Then we came home on Thursday night and as we walked the path back to our house on a cool night surrounded by palm trees I couldn’t help but feel at peace and be glad to be back to my island. Hehe I call it mine because I love it so much!!!! Then we worked in Talao Talao and everyone was busy but it gave us a chance to meet new investigators who are amazing!!!! I love it!!! ahhh! We also worked in Dalahican and Ranzohan and I just missed our investigators so much!!!!! Some people don’t like to say my or our investigators they say they are the Lords and that is true, we are all the Lords, but at this time he has allowed me to feel of his love for them and just like the Lord says that we are his they are mine not because of anything I have done but because of the love I have for them and I am proud to say that the Lord has allowed me to teach and love them! ahhh! This work is amazing! We also taught in Barra and we had so many branch missionaries work with us that we could split and it worked well and I think that we will be able to start splitting a little more to teach more people! I hate being away from my companion but I love that we can teach more people!!!! Awesome!

Then we had stake conference and president came so we were able to see him again which was awesome! And he gave one of our members a blessing and one of our investigators an interview! We all cried and the spirit was so strong and our investigator is so ready for baptism! I love that the Lord just softens the hearts of these people and I can be an instrument in his hands and reap rewards of the work of the Lord!

I also have a story, it was simple but it just built my testimony! One of our member’s Sister Remy told Sister Andrea that they would go together to church in Lucena, which is further away. So the night before I got a message from Sister Remy and she asked if she could work after so that they would have money because they wouldn’t be able to pay to go and come back from church. I asked her if she had enough to get to the church in the morning and she said yes. It is sad because everyone in Barra went together and the branch budget paid for it but the people in Dalahican need to go a different way so it was hard for them. So I told her if she could pay to get there I would help them get home. She said that she didn’t like that and didn’t want me to pay she would just work after. I told her not to and that the Lord would provide. I don’t know why I just promised so quickly not knowing at all what would happen. Then the next day we all went to church and as we were getting ready to leave I figured that I would just end up paying even if she didn’t like it. Then right before all the Dalahican members and investigators were about to leave we saw our branch president and he said wait let me give you money for all of them for the trip home!!!!!! The Lord did provide and it was so simple but it just made me realize he knows each one of us he knows our needs no matter how small and he wants to show us his love and his miracles if we just trust in him, sacrifice a little, and exercise faith he will do his part and we will see his hand in our lives!!!! I love it!

So about the baptisms last week! They were amazing and I can’t upload pictures but I will next week! It was so spiritual and exciting because it was in the ocean! We went on a boat and then we reached a part in the middle were the water was low and the sand was high and the boat got stuck; yet we were in the middle. So Brother Joshua, branch mission leader, gets a large wood stick to help push us out of the sand so we can start driving again, but he was the one who preformed the baptism so he was wet and as he pushed with all his might to get us unstuck, he slipped and fell into the water it was scary at first and then so funny after we knew he was okay. Then he and the boat driver got in the water, Joshua was already in the water and completely wet at this point haha, and they pushed the boat to the point that it would move freely in the water, it was an experience :) hehe. I love our branch everyone is so supportive and helpful in the work and with our investigators I love it! Especially the branch mission leader! I have had other branch mission leaders but they weren’t returned missionaries and we had to work really hard just to talk with them and get their help with baptisms but Joshua is a returned missionary and he is always ready to help the missionaries and our investigators, it is great and our branch president, President Suaybaguio is the same way! He even works with us! He is so helpful and really cares about the missionaries! Actually we have a lot of Suaybaguios in the branch and stake they are all family and amazing!!!! I love them. They have adopted me, but it is just a mission adoption! Don’t worry mom! I love you! Just as long as I am here they have treated me like family! I will take pictures of them all and tell you who each of them is, I love them! I love Barra! I love the members! I love our amazing investigators!!!! They are progressing so much and I know it is because of their open hearts and willingness to follow the Lord! I love you so much! I am so grateful that you have raised me with a love of the gospel and love of my Savior! Thank you!!!!

So one quick story and then I have to get going. I missed Barra so much when we were in Lipa, Sister Spjute's area, and the people that drove the tricycles and jeepneys were not very nice and thought we were so stupid because we were American, it was so sad! Then I went back to Barra and we went to ride a tricycle to Dalahican where we always ride and the tricycle drivers know us. And we had to ride on the side and all the tricycle drives that weren’t driving told the one that was drive to "be careful with our sisters" it was so cute! Even though they aren’t members all the people here are so nice and so loving and I am just full of gratitude that the Lord has allowed me to experience such love!!!!!!

I am so grateful for the message of the gospel because it is all about love, the love of our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ!!!!! I love the gospel and I love you all! I pray for you always! I might not comment on everything you say but I love it all and I miss you I think about you when you have a birthday and when you tell stories of the family I laugh and smile and it just warms my heart to know that even though we are far away you are still mine! Just as we are all the Lord’s he has given me investigators and he has given me you all and I am proud to call you mine! my family! I love you dearly!

With all my love,

Sister Andreasen

P.S. I am so excited for our upcoming baptism! The daughter and sister in law of Sister Remy!!!! yay!!!! I will tell more next Monday :)

I Love This Work! - November 1, 2010

2010-11-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

So let me answer your questions so I don’t forget. I didn’t answer you about the weather and I thought about that as we left the computer shop. Sorry! It has been rainy but not too bad the only bad thing was one time we missed working in Ranzohan because we have to cross the water and we got a text that it wasn’t safe. So I hope that doesn’t happen again! But last night the rain and wind was so strong but nothing too bad. We have a little flood in our apartment because the water comes in but it is just in our kitchen so we are okay. Right now Barra is way flooded! I hope that it gets better before we go back because we leave today and head to the training. But the weather hasn’t been too bad for us. What you heard is right though. After a big storm people just help each other get back together and then the next day the go to work and move on with life! Like there are no problems! It is because they are supper amazing! I have Pinoy pride!!! Hehe! I love it!

Then about the pictures. It was really funny about the little boy who peed in my shoe hehe. I laughed too. The shoes I have right now aren’t that great but they will be fine! No complaints. :) Then the picture of us in blue and pink is an activity of the youth; we wore their dresses, they sang Come Come Ye Saints and that was their outfit!

Cute right! I love the youth they are so amazing!

Then the picture of me with a letter and sad face is the letter coming from the mission home. They call it the "trunky letter" it is about when you will be going home and what airport and addresses for family and stake president to make sure it is all right and you get it when you only have 6 months left so I took a picture with it and a sad face! Hehe!

The Trunky Letter

So I do love my area and the branch is like family to me! They are amazing and I love it here so much! Our branch missionaries are so helpful and always work with us! I love the work. We dropped a lot of baptismal goal dates because they weren’t progressing but it is a good thing because we are reviewing about the restoration to help them gain a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon! I know that if this happens they will gain enough faith to come to church and keep all the commandments no matter how hard it is for them. Right now all the people in my area are kind of going through a hard time because at this time we they are suppose to have lots of fish but there isn’t any right now so they are just waiting hoping that this month they will come in! I love them all so much. We have a family that I just love they live on Ranzohan. The Teves family, and they are progressing and we just finished teaching about the Book of Mormon and I really believe that even though it is hard for them to change their views because they are Catholic and that is all they know I really feel like they are gaining a testimony of the truth and I love it!

I Love the Barra Branch!

We also met a new family in Talao Talao and they are progressing and want to come to church. I am excited for the next visit to explain about the restoration and the Book of Mormon! I know that they will feel the truth because every time we teach the spirit is so strong! We have so many progressing investigators and I know that the spirit is guiding us to find the people that need to be taught! We have baptisms coming up on the 13, 20, and 27!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!! I love it!!!! Hehe! I love the work! I think that each day of my mission the Lord just blesses me more and more and no matter what trial comes I know that it isn’t a big deal. I have even gotten better about not worrying if you can believe it or not. I love the work and it is just such a blessing to have these people in my life and to help people come closer to Christ each and every day!

We have a member in the branch who is so sweet! Her name is Remy and I love her, she is the sister in law of one of our investigators! I will send pictures! Oh I have a picture with her at the baptism! She always wants to work with us and she is just great! I love it! Oh speaking of the pictures from the baptism I will be sending them next week! They are so cute! I have a funny story too! Because our branch mission leader fell in the water of the boat!! So funny! Don’t worry he is okay but it was a funny story for next week when I send the pictures. Hehehe the baptism was great the two little girls are awesome and they love the church, they bore their testimony and I love being able to help them practice first because they aren’t as nervous and we get to hear the really whole testimony!!!

So we were able to tell Sister Andrea that she can get baptized!!!!!! I was so excited! Her eyes filled with tears when we told her and she said that this is what she has been praying for! I love the work! I love helping people see what they need to do to be ready to return to our Father in Heaven! I know that it makes me a better person too!

You are so right mom, when you said that I am where I need to be! It is so true I love it here! I am excited for the training and the opportunity to learn and grow! I know that it will really help in the work and also help my companion and me.

Sister Pascual is amazing! She is working hard even when the work here is tiring because we work early in the morning and walk a lot! She keeps up and just studies her little heart out! I love it!

About the Christmas package. I need hairspray and toothpaste! That would be awesome! Then everyone here wants chocolate hehe. They all ask me to bring chocolate to them that is coming from home. Ha-ha. Then it would be cool if I could get the small Books of Mormon if you can, I don’t know if they have them at the bookstore. Then oh, the song My Mary where John Bytheway sings! And Oh Lord My Redeemer. Then whatever you want just send the love, you know pictures drawings from the kids and cards! I love that! But I am pretty good, don’t need a whole lot. The chocolate though would be great because I know that all the member want some. Hehe.

Hahaha!!! The pictures of Travis were so funny! I miss that stunning guy hahahahahahahaha! The pictures of the kids were so cute! I loved it! They are getting so big I can’t even handle it! When did Lizzy get so big she is still supposed to be the baby! I won’t have any babies to hold when I get home! Don’t let Tyler get big I will have to hold him! Hehe! I love you all I can’t believe it is already close to Christmas! It is exciting but I can’t believe it. Actually Christmas started in September, you all are the ones that are a little behind hehehe. No but really they started playing Christmas music and putting up Christmas decor in September. Here in the Philippines hehe it is crazy but awesome! When I think about Christmas I think I will get to see the family and that is a great Christmas gift! But still far away it I only November. 1!

Haha about my clothes. It is a good thing that this is the one companion that is about my size. I have given her a skirt and a couple shirts because they don’t fit well they still fit just not well but I don’t really feel like I have lost a lot of weight people say it here when they see my pictures from the MTC but I don’t see it and I don’t feel like it. Oh well maybe I will when I go home and see other people that aren’t so small hehehe.

I was sad to hear about the puppies but I know it just means that they should have kids hehehe. So that I can have a baby to hold when I get home hehehe. Don’t worry Michael it’s just a joke! Haha miss you guys! I still haven’t seen pictures of all the dogs. I still can’t believe that you and dad have two!!!

Well I love the work. I know that the Lord is truly blessing me. I was talking with Sister Clave before she left and I told her that I was nervous to train and she said that you will have greater spiritual promptings and it is true! I know that the Lord is blessing me and helping me to stay positive and see the good. And as my companion would say "you know... be happy" he he she is cute she has a hard time with English so we are working on speaking English at companion study and that is what she said!

Beautiful Faces - Witnesses of Truth!

Well I still love it as always it is so true what you wrote on the blog life in Barra is amazing! I'm happy and healthy no worries! :)

I love you all and I love feeling of your love through your emails! I pray for you every day! And I know you pray for me and I am grateful for all our love and prayers! I will report about the training next week it should be really good!

Oh about Jacob 5 yeah it is pretty much amazing! It is true that if you know the time line of the Lord as far as the church, great apostasy, restoration, and second coming it makes a lot more sense! I am so blessed to be a full time servant in the Lord’s vineyard! And I am grateful for your examples to me because it is not as easy to do the work when you are surrounded by the world everyday and I know that is what you are doing I love you so much! I am excited for you to study PMG! It is amazing and not just for missionaries! Chapter 3 and 6 are my favorites! I love you! Until next week!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Hello To All - October 25, 2010

2010-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Sister Pascual & Sister Andreasen

Another week has gone by so fast it is so hard to believe! I am still loving my area and I had a great week! I was so nervous to talk to Tatay Emiliano but it was actually really good and we were able to work out what his problems are and we taught about how we have agency and power over Satan! He really liked it and I hope that it will help him and that he can overcome this! We also met some great new investigators. I have been trying to fix our schedule to fit with all the people we have to teach and their free time and going to all our area! We went to Talao Talao and it is the furthest part of our area and as we were going I thought to myself that maybe we should go back because it is so far and it might not be worth the time, then I thought we will just see how it goes. Then we met the Panillia family! They are amazing!!!!! Brother said that he was praying that God would help him know what he needs to do with his life and then we came! I am so excited to teach them! Sister cried when we told her that families are forever because it had been one month from when her father past away! It was a great lesson and they are really receptive! Then we got a referral from a member and we went to teach him and he wasn’t home. He is 17 and his aunt referred him but it is great because he has some friends and a cousin that are members and his cousin told us that he would bring him to church. Then we taught him after and he wants to be baptized! He is so awesome! I am so excited! Then this Saturday we have a baptism and it will be in Barra! It is two little girls and they will be baptized in the ocean!!!! Ahhh! I'm so excited! Hehe. We also have investigators in the island of Ranzohan and they are really progressing so I am hoping the fact that they are on the island won't be a problem for them to come to church!

The Island of Ranzohn

I love them! I love all our investigators and I know that the Lord is really blessing this area and I know that I have so much that I need to do to be worthy of the call to this area! I love it! I know that there is so much work to do in this area! It is such a small area but it is great in Barra everyone knows everyone and you just feel like family! I love it! I really do feel like I have a home away from home! The work is truly moving forward at a fast pace and that is the hand of the Lord! How grateful I am to be a missionary at this time to see the great power the Lord has. We have a training coming up and I'm excited but sad. It is three days for all trainers so I will be able to see my batch again because we are all training!

The Batch

But it means that we won't be in Barra for that long and I will miss it so much! But I am excited to learn and grow and get answers to my questions! I can’t explain in words how happy I am for this work! I just want to work work work and invite all people to grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I love the word for mediator here. In Tagalog it is tagapamagitan. It is hard to explain why but it is so amazing and I am so grateful that Jesus Christ is our tagapamagitan! He is the only way and I know that as we turn to him he will be able to help us all and as we do are part we will all have a way to return to live with them again!!! The work here is great! I feel so close to our investigators! Members and even people that we just see a long the way. It scares me because I know that I will have to leave but when I think about that I just know that I need so much more to strengthen everyone I talk to and invite them to come unto Christ so that one day we can all see each other again! Sister Clave used to say that she knows we were friends before and that we will be eternal friends and I know that it is true! All the people I meet and love here are my eternal friends so how important it is to endure to the end so that we can all gain eternal life!
I love you all so much and am so grateful for your example and love for me! I know that everything that has lead me to go on a mission and become the person I am is because of your influences in my life! I can’t believe that Kristy is 30! Life goes so fast! I love that we all are able to share the special moments. It is true that distance make the heart grow founder! My patriarchal blessing says that one of the great gifts and blessings in my life is my family and I know that is true I am so grateful that you are the people I call my family! I am so proud to be your daughter, sister, granddaughter, and niece! I love you all!!!!! I know that this is the true church and we are so blessed to be a part of this marvelous work!!!

Smiling Faces

I hope that all the pictures will go through if you see one with me and a girl and then a little boy and I am holding my shoe that is from my last area in Calamba I forgot to tell you the story. We sat down to teach her and then her little brother came up to me and said, ihi zapatos, which means pee shoe, he peed in my shoe!!! Hahaha! It was gross but funny and the same time. He was so cute about it. I hope I can take another picture soon of those same shoes because a dog ate them and now I can't wear them :( we went to an appointment before the baptism of Karen and I left my shoes outside like we always do and then when we went to leave one of my shoes was gone! Then when I found it the strap was gone and there was a big hole in the back. We went to the baptismal interview and right before the baptism I was able to buy new shoes but they aren’t anywhere as nice as my old ones. Haha it is a funny story though and just more experiences! Hehe. I love it! I hope you love the pictures! And that they all go through! If you have questions just ask. I will be sure to get all the pearls you asked for :) I love you all so much! I love the work and I know that the church is true!
Love, Sister Andreasen

Life In Barra Is Amazing!!!! - October 18, 2010

2010-10-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sister Andreasen & Sister Arrieta

Smiling Faces on Baptism Day

We are emailing early this morning so that we can be sure and have Internet and because I am excited to email you all I love you all so much!

I am sorry my email was so sort last week the zone p-day took up a lot of our time. So first off let me tell you about my companion. Her name is Sister Pascual and she is from Tarlac, it is in the Angeles Mission. She is 21 and she is a sweet girl! She is one of three girls and the oldest. We are trying to work on going to all our investigators. I got left in a little bit of a hard situation. We (Sister Arrieta and I) used to go on splits to get to all of our appointments but now we can’t do that so we are stretching ourselves and changing our schedule so that we can go to all of them because they are all amazing! I love it! We have had some really good success! And I know that it is a blessing for our work! We have so many great investigators. We have a family that I just love! The Ortiz family, they have been taught by the missionaries for a while but have not progressed and they say why would they go to another church if they don’t even go to their church so we are starting from the beginning because I wasn’t here when they taught about the restoration so we will see if they will progress! I hope so! Then we have a Sister Andrea who is so excited about baptism we taught her about 3 Nephi 11 and she cried! I love her but her situation is hard because they aren’t married and can’t get married. So we are working on that with president. Then Tatay Emililiano. We went to see him me and Sister Juntong and I cried because when we got to his house he was drunk!!!!! He then came to church on Saturday and said that he was so sorry and said that he knows he needs help. So we are working with him on his addictions and setting goals and he also committed to fast! So we will see how that goes on Tuesday. I have never felt such heartache as I did when we went to see him and he was drunk! My heart broke and I just plead for help to know what we could to as missionaries to help him. I know that he can overcome these things. It is so sad that Satan gets people with drugs! They have a desire to overcome but it truly is so hard from them and my heartaches with them as they struggle to overcome the temptations of Satan!

Then we have investigators in Ranzohan! They are awesome but it is hard for them to go to church so that is what we are working on right now because they are awesome! We have one family I just love! I need to take a picture so you can see them. Sister Maluo Teves and Elhood. Their son called me pretty and that is how we met them. He is so cute, he is 2 hehe! They really want to know truth and I know that if their baby was bigger they would come to church!

We are also working on less active members and some less actives just came back to church this Sunday! Brother and Sister Taraya! I love them! I just love Barra! I want all the people to go to church even if they aren’t yet investigators I love them so much!

We have some upcoming baptisms. Abigail she is the niece of a member and she will be baptized with her cousin on October 30th! Then Sarina who is the sister of a member and she should be getting baptized on November 6th! She is the sister in law of one of my favorite members Sister Remy, she is so nice! And she loves the missionaries! I will have to send you a picture! She wants to talk to you mom; she is going to look for you on Facebook. Ha-ha. I think she added me to her friends. Ha-ha. She is crazy! We always joke that she is in primary because she is so short!

Cleaning Fish Is So Much Fun!

Then we just met a new investigator he is the nephew of a member and he is 8 and he wants to be taught in English and he is actually really good in English! He is so smart it kills me! When we teach him he says things like "well, I have a question for you..." and then he has this long question ha-ha. Then he says, "I think...." and has a lot more to say. He is so funny! Its great!

Just Gotta Get There...

Then we had the meeting in Cabuyao! Amazing! Bishop McMullen talked about the quorum of the twelve and of the seventy and he and his wife bore testimony and we had time to ask questions and they answered! They were there with Elder Tay and his wife. Elder Cook was in the Philippines and they were with him but Elder Cook didn’t come to our meeting. But it was amazing and the spirit was so strong! I didn’t really know what to expect and it was more of just being spiritually uplifted! And we also got to see so many missionaries, which was so fun!!!! My whole batch was there and we took pictures!!! It was so great! I love being a missionary!

Some may say it is a sacrifice that is true mom. And in some ways it is. I am far from you all and I didn’t get to go to TOFW, school is on pause, it is hot and tiring. Ha-ha. But you never think about that because you are over come with the blessings that are poured out upon you everyday!!!! I love it! I know this is such a great blessing from the Lord!!! How blessed I am that he allowed me to come and serve his children! Especially here in the Philippines!!!! I love it! So we had a ward family home evening before Sister Arrieta left and we took a lot of pictures with our fun branch. The zone is great! Our zone leaders our so nice and one is like an older brother, Elder Jaring, he has a pink bandanna on his forehead in the beach pictures. Then I'm in a zone with Elder De Leon again he is my batch and so nice! Then we have sisters in this zone! And one is Sister Nuez, she is awesome and we grew close because we stayed with them the night before and after the missionary meeting because Cabuyao is so far away. So yeah that is about it hehe.

Well I love you all so much!!!!!! And I love the mission so much!!!!!! The church is true, the blessings of the gospel are everywhere! And I am so grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father!!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Loved Conference - October 11, 2010

2010-10-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Mom,

I love you! I cried when Elder Holland talked about his parents and the help that they gave him. And how even though it was hard on them they paid for his mission! I love you so much!!! I am grateful for all that you do for me temporally and spiritually. I know that I would not be the person I am today with out your wonderful help and guidance! I know that I am so blessed to have such wonderful parents as my guide! I am so grateful mom for all the little things that you would do each and every day that I never said thank you for or never gave attention. Cooking meals, doing laundry, cleaning the house, washing dishes, walking into talk to you and finding you on your knees praying! I know that you have inspired me to become a woman of virtue and strength relying on the Lord and trusting Him to guide and help me in my life. I am so grateful for dad! Each one of my companions has had father troubles. I hear more and more about fathers who do not live up to their responsibility each one of my companions has told me about their fathers, members or non members and I hear there stories and ache for them, because I have a father who is so amazing! Who loves me and lives worthy of his priesthood! He gives service and charity any time he can when he sees someone in need he wants to lend a helping hand. I remember times when he gave people on the street a ride. How he always buys stuff and gives money to charities and people selling candy he always buys stuff even if he doesn’t want it because he just wants to help. How he loves and cares so much about kids and it is shown in the school!

But most of all for the priesthood that he carries with dignity and pride! He honors his priesthood and I know he is worthy to hold it! How grateful I am for every little and great thing you both have done in my life to lead me guide me and walk beside me to help me find the way back to my Father in Heaven! I know that you are the best parents I could ever ask for! I am sorry for all my short comings and all the times that I didn’t thank you enough for what you have done to help me! I love you!!!!!!!

I am so grateful for prayer. We were able to stay in Barra and I know that we needed to because Tatay Emilliano had a problem, he drank again and so we helped him to overcome his relapse and he came to both days of conference! We had 7 of our investigators come and I am so happy and so excited for the work in Barra! I know that it is a great place and that it will truly grow!

I am excited to be training! I love my companion Sister Pascual! She is a sweet girl and I know that she just wants to do what is right! I know that she is nervous and that she is lacking a little in confidence which I can help her with! I know that I need to be extra receptive to the spirit as you said in your email! I am nervous and I know I have many short coming but I am just staying positive and trusting in the Lord, "perfect love casteth out all fear!" I am a little nervous about money which drives me crazy! But we had to pay for four far a way trips and then this week we are going really far a way again, so it makes me a little nervous, but I am excited for the trip because we are going to her Bishop McMullin speak. He is speaking to all of us so I am so excited!!! I know that it will be great and so uplifting!!! I know I shouldn’t worry about the money thing but that is me. You know me.

However I know that the Lord is here and wants to give us help strength and guidance. I know that I need to trust in him as he guides me in what to do here in this area and how to give help to all our investigators. I don’t have a lot of time because it is late we had a zone pday. So I'm sorry this letter is short.

But most of all I wanted to thank you and tell you how much I love you and appreciate all that you do for me! I know that the lord will provide a way and help us in all of our trials which is good because I need it for this time. I forgot how much we don’t realize when we first come out to the field and I know that I have a lot of help to give and I just need to keep working and keep going keep stretching myself to be the missionary he needs me to be and do the things that he would have me do as I use the spirit more fully in this work and let it guide me! I love you so much!!! I am grateful for the letters of others and will write when we are not pushed for time! I love you all!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Preparing For Change - October 4, 2010

2010-10-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Random Pictures

Cute Picture

Eating Crab

Cleaning and De-Boning Fish

Thank you again for your wonderful letter! I am so excited about the temple in the Philippines!!!!! I actually just heard about it last night from Sister Anderson in the mission home. I know that the church truly is growing here in the Philippines and I love it! It is so good to hear that there were too many people at the stake temple day! That means that a lot of people are going and we still need more temples! I love it!

So about the work! Last night was a hard night. We found out at the last minute that I won’t be working in Candelaria, I will be staying in Barra!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!! Sister Arrieta and I both went to the mission home and I got to see Sister Clave and all the missionaries that are leaving and then we ate dinner in the mission home. Then I had to say my last good bye to Sisters Arrieta and Clave!!!

Sister Andreasen and Sister Arrieta

Sister Clave and Sister Andreasen

It was so hard but I am happy for them and am so happy for all that they have taught me to help me be a better missionary. As I was crying at the mission home President Anderson gave me a hug and told me that I will be training this coming transfer. So I know that I will be getting my "Anak" that is what they call it when you train and the trainer is called "Nanay" which means child and mother. I am nervous but excited too!!!

But for right now we just got back to Lucena. Me and my temporary companion Sister Juntong slept in the apartment of the San Pablo sisters and so that was fun. Now we will work here in Barra to keep up with our investigators and I am so happy. Sister Juntong is still pretty new, her trainer just went home too. She will get her follow up at transfer day which is nice because I get a little bit of practice before I train!

Our investigators keep progressing but not all of them are coming to church and that is hard especially the ones that live in Ranzohan because it is far and they have to take a little boat. We just keep faith that they will develop enough faith to go to church even if it is hard.

We also had one great investigator her name is Cathy and she loves the message and wants to be taught but the people that she lives with don’t want us in their house so she is afraid to listen while they don’t have their own home. So we are working on helping them.

Then we have a great investigator Abby she is only 9 she is living with her aunt and her cousin will be baptized this October and so we are teaching them both together even though Neriza is a child of record, so I am excited for their baptism and also the baptism of Andrea. She is awesome and she really has a desire to learn the truth I love her so much!!!! She is the one that says she never wants to miss a Sunday!!! Then we reopened Talao-Talao which was good and so we are excited to go back but we can’t go back until next week because we have transfers and General Conference.

We also have investigators Lani and Rodel who are great but the only problem is we are having trouble with Brother Rodel's birth certificate so they can get married so they can be baptized! So I hope it all goes through!

I am so excited for the new challenges I have ahead and I know that Sister Arrieta was my companion to help prepare me to train. I love the area and I love the people. I have developed an even greater desire to work work work and teach as many people as we can!

I know that this message is true and that we have the responsibility to take it to all people! I am so blessed to be able to take it full-time to the people in the Barra area!

Thank you so much for the cd of the young women 2010, all my companions love it too! It is so inspiring! I know I am a daughter of God and I want all people to realize their divine nature and potential!

I am excited for conference! I have so many questions and I know that they will be answered as I study pray and listen to the spirit through General Conference. I am so excited but I know it will make this week go by fast as well. Time is just flying and I know it is because I love the work! I just want to do my best everyday so that I can help as many people as I can and so I can do the Lord’s will!!!!

I know that I will have new challenges and struggles and I know that if I take them I can turn them into things that will help me learn and grow. The key is to just stay positive! There is a quote I like and know will give me strength "fear not, only be believing" I know that is what I need to do. I am excited for the chance to grow.

I love you all so very much!!!! I love hearing about your lives and how things are changing and people are growing! Please send pictures again soon!

I love the work and I love you all but most of all I love my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Expanding the Area - September 27, 2010

2010-09-27T16:27:00.001-07:00

Thank you for you email it really does make my week! I love hearing from you! I love hearing what is gong on back at home and feeling of your love even though I am far away!

I too am excited for conference! We watch it the week after and so that is the week after transfer day and I will have my new companion. So it should be crazy because I will not be working in my area all next week! I am so sad! They come pick Sister Arrieta up and they will take me to work with other sisters in my zone till transfer day so I will only be there through Friday and I am so sad for my area!!!!! The investigators and the members are great and we will miss a whole week of teaching. We will be able to teach a little Friday night and then Saturday and Sunday will be hard because that is conference! So it will be crazy the first couple days after transfers and I am so sad for my area!!!! I will miss it so much even though it is just a week but it is so important and one week can change so much!!!

Right now that is my big news and I am sad about it, but the work will go on and I know I will be able to learn and grow so I will just look for the good and meet new wonderful people in the stake.

So good news!!!! They made our meeting house bigger!!!!!! Yay for the Barra saints! Bad news we still don’t fit ha-ha. Yay again for the Barra saints because there are so many! The RS doesn’t fit in their room so some have to sit outside the room which is the room for Elders Quorum, so we just call it relief quorum as a joke but it is so sad. They need a chapel. So we are also trying to work on less active and recent converts to help them get excited about paying tithing so that they can get a chapel!

I love the people in this area they are great! I told you that they expanded our area well now it is a lot bigger and we don’t have enough time! We have so many people to teach we find it hard to get to all of them but we are just stretching ourselves so that we can invite them to come unto Christ! So we have been trying to do splits so that we can meet all our investigators and it has been working well. The picture you saw of us in the boat is us going to part of our area called Ranzohan and it is hard for them to go to church because they have to ride the boat but they are awesome! So we keep working to help them. We are hoping to get a lot of investigators there so that they can all come to church together and it will be easier on them.

I met a sister named Sister Maluo and she is amazing! We went to talk to her because her two year old son wanted to talk to me he said I am pretty. Ha-ha he is so cute and their family is awesome; it is her, her husband and her two children. I thought that her husband wasn’t going to be interested in the message but he listens and really wants to know the truth and he has great faith! I am excited for them to progress! We also were trying to find a woman we taught in a different house before and while look for her house we found an old investigator and I saw once again the hand of the Lord in this work! We were able to teach her again and she is older and really stubborn but her daughter was also there and so we were able to teach them and I think he daughter will continue to seek for truth!

We are teaching people in Dalahican which is a little bit farther out of the area of Barra and we have this great investigator her name is Andrea. We taught her "husband" because he is a less active member and the time after we taught him he came to church. Andrea is not a member but she loves our message and is excited every time we go to teach her and she said she doesn’t want to miss a Sunday!!!! She is so amazing!

Another investigator I will tell you about is Cathy she is 16 and she just moved to Barra with her brothers and all her neighbors hate that she is talking with us because they are all born again and the people they live with are too but she wants to be taught so badly that we are teaching her in the house of a near by member! She has such a desire and already loves the Book of Mormon!!!!

We have so many amazing investigators I can’t list them all, I am just praying that they all progress especially in coming to church so that they can be baptized! I love teaching!!!! We are working hard to reach out to all the people here and the members are a great help!

We decided to go see the new part of our area in Talao-Talao. It is so far! We went to go see a member and see if we should start spending time in the area, we realized that it is so far so on the way we were thinking maybe we won’t be able to come here right now because it is pretty far and we have so many investigators but when we got there we were greeted by three less active members and they were so happy we came! They served us lunch and they showed us their small community and brother is the president of the small community and the houses are all close to him so we saw a great teaching opportunity and decided that we will work there once a week and just use the whole day even if it is only once but I am excited! Then the next day was Sunday and even though they are so far they came to church and said that they want to come back and their testimonies are great! Sister cried and also her son who is 29! We all felt they spirit and new that that day that is where we were supposed to be. It worked out really well! The Lord always provides a way!

I know that this church is true I am excited for the progress of Barra and to hear the words of the prophet! I know that this will also help our investigators; I just hope that helping them attend won’t be affected by the transfer and Sister Arrieta leaving.

I am so grateful for your love! I know that I am growing a stretching and I am so grateful for that! Sister Arrieta is amazing! She has taught me so much and I will be so sad to see her go! I don’t even want to think about it! I know that she is a blessing from the Lord to help prepare me for all that is coming next! I love her!

I love the investigators and the members! The members are a great help to our investigators and this is one area where when you have a baptism you don’t have to worry about leaving because you know when that happens they will be strengthened by the members!

I too am working on charity, actually the three faith, hope, charity! I don't know if we will be able to see the RS session so I will be so happy if you will send it!

I love you all so much!!!! I love the church I know it is true and I am so grateful for whatever we did in the pre-existence so that we could come and be together on the earth in this great gospel!!!! I love it! I am over come with joy for the knowledge of truth!!!! I love it! I love that I am a missionary! I love you!!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

The Work in Barra is Amazing - September 20, 2010

2010-09-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

I love you all so much! I really feel as though I am growing a lot in this area and I am so thankful that the lord knows what we need! I am so blessed to be here and I just get excited to think about using my Tagalog and of course I want to come back but that is along time away and just an excited thought in my head. Ha-ha. Oh and just when I go home I am grateful that I will be able to use the internet to talk with people here, but again far away.

So anyway, short message about pearls. They have white, pink, black, and coffee they are 350 pesos so it is a really good price unless you want big pearls and they are 1,500 pesos. This is still good when it comes to pearls. They have a round pearl and what they call the rice pearl shaped like rice, of course. They don’t have different lengths though. Just let me know. It is so crazy to hear about RMs! like the Brown twins and Chris Bell! It is hard to believe that they are home! I never want the mission to end! I love it! I can’t even imagine going back to the real world! I just want to teach people!

The work here in Barra is amazing! I love it so much! I wish you could see the great branch here! I am trying to send pictures! They have as small meeting house and they don’t fit because it is so tiny and we just keep having more people come to church and now our area is bigger! So we will be teaching more and adding more members! I don’t know where we will put them all but I know that the Lord will provide a way! I am so blessed to see the humility of the people here and how much they desire to help others come unto Christ! I am so happy for the baptism we had, Karen is so sweet and she has such a great testimony that this is the truth, even though her family doesn’t like it she knows it is true and is so happy to be a member! Tatay Imilliano is doing well! He doesn’t drink coffee anymore and is down to 3 cigarettes a day! He knows that this is true and has such a desire to turn his life around even if it is hard! He says he struggles with being tempted everyday but knows he can do it he has been smoking for over 50 years and he is doing a great job of getting rid of the addiction!

I see the blessings of the gospel in the lives of the people here in Barra. One principle that I have been working on is fasting and it is so amazing! I have such a great testimony of fasting and that is what we were prompted to tell Tatay Imilliano would help him and I know it will work I have seen the blessings of fasting as I have felt my inadequacy for the work and have been strengthened! I love to see the effects of the gospel and its principles in the lives of people.

Barra is so small and everyone knows everyone and so you just really feel like family in this branch! I know that our investigators feel it to as they come to church and I know that they feel the love of the branch missionaries as they work with us and fellowship the investigators at church!

I have also had a chance to go back and read about the experiences of Alma and the sons of Mosiah! They are such an inspiration to me! What great missionaries! They have helped me to remember things that I need to do. I am so thankful that sometimes when we share a scripture with investigators and recent converts I get to learn too! I know as we follow the spirit we will be inspired. Sometimes I am surprised by the things that I say and think wow that is a great principle and I know it is true and I feel the strength that this is not my work nor my words but this is the work of the Lord and the spirit speaks through us taking the message to the hearts of all those who desire to listen and be uplifted by the word of the Lord!

I feel a strength in knowing that you are all praying for me. I have missed you all this past week. I always miss you but especially this past week it is not a bad miss, or something sad just me knowing that you all care about me and are praying for me and it is amazing that even though I am far away I am growing a great love for all of you and I am so thankful that we are an eternal family! We are sealed in the temple! And I get to be with you for ever. I think this miss is just my love growing strong for all of you! I love you all so much and pray for you everyday!

I hope next week I will be able to send pictures and explain them all to you, but it’s not a promise because it is Sister Arrietas last p-day and so we will most likely be very busy! But I will try! I love you all so dearly!!!!! I know that the church is true and I am so grateful for it in our lives how blessed we truly are!

It is so true the quote by President Monson, I have weaknesses but I am called of a prophet of God and so I am qualified! What a relief to know we will be helped and strengthen if we fear not and put our faith and trust in our Savior! Thank you for the quotes and strength! It always helps me and strengthens me!!!!

I love you!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Hello Again - September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

So it has been a little crazy in my area and I am just trying to keep up. I just realize that the Lord needs us to be prepared and I don’t feel like I am ready to be the senior in the area and I know that Sister Arrieta only has a short time left. This past week I have been feeling all of my shortcomings and have felt very weak as a missionary but I have fasted and prayed and I know that the Lord gave me guidance and direction in what I need to do to become better. I am gaining more strength each and every day and I am so grateful for the spirit He sends me. I can’t do this work with out the guidance of the spirit and I am so grateful for it! I know that this is the work I need to be doing right now. I think about the language thing and I still feel like I struggle so I just try to keep doing better. The great thing about this time period is that I can communicate with people here through the internet and I need to, one to stay in contact with members and converts and two to keep up on the language so I know that is a blessing. But I have also been thinking about what Jenny Richardson did. She went home and got some schooling done and stayed with her family but then came back. I would like to do that if at all possible. But that is a long ways away so I will just keep it as a dream.

Let’s talk about the work. So we are working with this one man Tatay Imiliano! He is amazing!!!!! I love him so much! he is so concerned about his past sins he is 65 and knows that our message is true yet he knows that he has things that he needs to fix so President Anderson came to our area this week so he could confess some of his past sins and he is feeling much better! We also taught him about the atonement and of course I cried ha-ha. But I just feel such a connection with him and I just love him so much! He will be baptized the first Saturday in October and I am so excited for him!!!! Then we have a sister who is going to be baptized this weekend and I think she is awesome! She is only 21 but she has a testimony and is willing to follow the commandments of the Lord. We have a family in our area the Suaybaguio family, there are so so many of them and they are strong in the church, one of the fathers is our branch president. And this sister, Karen, is the girlfriend of one of the sons if that makes sense. He is an RM so even though it is hard to teach her because she is so busy we have to have long lessons every time we get a chance but they are all her fellowshippers and he teaches her when they are together so she is always prepared and she comes to church every Sunday! She is amazing! And I am so happy that is she going to be baptized. We also have another family, Brother Rodel and Sister Lani and they want to be baptized but Brother Rodel doesn’t have a birth certificate and so they can’t get married and so they can’t get baptized! So we are trying to help them get everything worked out with their paper work so that they can get baptized it is just so hard, and expensive, if you don’t have a birth certificate! So it will be a challenge but I know the Lord will help us and this will help prepare them to be better members of the church! This week we met a lot of new people so that the area continues to expand. When I first got here it was just the small island of Barra but now it has expand and it is a lot bigger so we have a lot of work to do! I love the area and the people are so loving and they just want to help! I am so impressed with this branch and I know that they will grow to be even stronger in the future and I hope that I can be here to see their great growth. It is hard because we don’t fit in the meeting house. They have expanded it and they still don’t fit because there are so many members! I love it! The branch president always says I need to be emergency transferred because I am so sad all the time, which is just a joke because I am so happy and always smiling because I love the work and I love the area! Oh I forgot to tell you about another guy that is in our ward, he was sealed in the temple and they have a lot of kids but something happened and now they are separated and so he stopped going to church. He now is living with another woman because that is just what people do here because there is no divorce and I think he didn’t want to come to church because of it. But we went to his house and taught a spiritual thought and the spirit was so strong and I know he felt that he needed to start coming to church again. Then on Sunday he came with one of his daughters and his "wife" so we are glad that he is making the steps to come back and I know that he will continue to grow! The Lord must need him back at church because we just met him and taught him and after that, before Sunday, our branch president saw him and invited him to come back to church! The spirit is so amazing!!!! I know that it is what guides and directs this work!!! I am so grateful for the chance to be here and to learn and grow and help people come closer to the Lord!!!! I know this is the true church more and more each and every day!!!! I love it!
I am so glad that you and dad were able to go to the temple I miss it so much but I did find out that we get to go to the Manila Temple before we go home so I am excited about that. But I know that we will receive blessings as we continuously go to the temple. In the Cebu temple dedication a member of the Seventy said that we should go to the temple and often as we can. When he was a mission president he could only go twice a year but when he was home and not working, living in Utah right next to a temple, he went four times a week! We need to go as often as occasion permits if not it won’t be enough! I love the temple!

I feel so blessed to be a missionary! I know that I am called of God and that I need to be here right now and that as I continue to do the work and help others learn more about the Savior the spirit helps me to learn more about the Savior and I am strengthened and made better!

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well! So many things will be knew when I get home! Just as long as you stop the kids from growing its okay :( ahhh sad I know you can’t do that and I know that they are so big now! I guess they will just have to have more babies. Hehehe just a joke.

I love you all and I am so grateful for your love and support!

I love you all and I hope to send and explain pictures next week. They don’t have a card reader in this computer shop. But you are right the one of the man in blue is Tatay Mario!

He is so sweet and amazing! I told him I was being transferred and he said in a soft voice you’re leaving, it was so said! Then he gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek ha-ha. He is a cute little old man!

Well I love you all! Till next week!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Hello Again From the Beautiful Area of Barra! - August 6, 2010

2010-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I love it here so much and my companion is amazing and the area is amazing and the people are amazing I just count my blessings every day! I am starting to get to know the people in the area and to get to know our investigators! The ward is so welcoming and inviting and I am so blessed to be here with them. They have a plan to have cottage meetings every Sunday and we will go and get referrals from them so I am so excited for that to start. We also have a plan because the area of the island of Barra is so small that we are going to go house to house and give out Books of Mormon! I am so excited! I know that it is something that is going to help us find new people to teach pretty much everyone knows who we are because everyone knows everyone. We have a small meeting house and I will take pictures. They are actually doing some work on it to make it bigger while they wait for a chapel! We have an investigator Brother Imiliano he is supper amazing! He knows he has some really heavy sins and needs to repent and wants to confess his sins to president, he is so awesome! He just wants to be better and I love him! We have so many more opportunities to teach and I love it. It is still hot it is the Philippines ha-ha but it is cooler than Calamba. You might be able to get a better look at the area if you look of Lucena or Quezon.

I again don’t have a lot of time because the internet is silly and so I can’t write a lot! I hate it, I hope that next week I will be able to catch up on my reporting to you and that I will be able to explain the pictures that I sent to you!

But so you know I am doing great loving every minute here. I did get your package! Thank you so much!!! And the dresses do fit! Thanks again! Oh and the Liahonas are ordered but I don’t have any money to send them. But I don’t have them yet so it is okay. Also I am in the area of pearls so I will take pictures and you will have to let me know what you want.
Well next week I hope to write more! I am so grateful for your love and support and I am always praying for you all I love you so much!!!!!
Sorry so short! Next week will be better I promise, well maybe not promise you never know with the internet but I will do my best!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Transferred - August 30, 2010

2010-08-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello to all!
The transfer! So this transfer was actually really easy! Just so you know I don’t know if I will have a lot of time because the internet here is horrible and we have an appointment. I am here in Barra, Lucena Zone! And it is such a blessing, this is where I wanted to be transferred to and we were talking about it at our zone activity and then at transfers Elder Davis said that he thinks that I am cheating the system because I am in the area I wanted to be in. There are a lot of reasons I wanted to be here and I love it! First is, I really wanted to be companions with Sister Arrieta!

She is the batch of Sister Clave. She was also a companion with Sister Ganaden so that is neat. Then this was also Sister Ganaden's first area and it was Sister Claves first area. The next thing is that I know that Sister Arrieta and I will only be together for one transfer because they go home, she and Sister Clave, in October and that is next transfer and I am sad that it is only one transfer but I might be able to see Sister Clave again and I will be able to see Sister Osborne because I will be at their first transfer day! And because I will be needing a new companion and since there are 6 new sisters coming in I will most likely be training. So I am so grateful that Sister Arrieta is my companion to help me get prepared! I love her so much! She is such a beautiful person inside and out and I know that I have so much that I need to learn from her! Also this area is not in Laguna!!!!! Yeah!!!! I love Laguna but I am excited to see another part of the Philippines. So I went to my area on the first day and we have to ride a boat to my area!!!

Awesome! The area is only one barangay or city and it is an island. We don’t ride jeepneys unless to district meeting and tricycles only when going to a further part because they just added another city! There is no dirt it is all sand!

And sometimes we teach right by the waterside!!!!! Ahhh!!!! I love it and the best part is I already feel close to the members! They are so sweet! It is a branch and they only have a meeting house right now there are plans for a building but it hasn’t been started yet and it is so sad because there is such little room for the members but they are all amazing! We have correlation meeting and the ward missionaries worked with us on Sunday and they are so fun!!!!

In the zone we have three districts and there are 20 in the zone! Crazy! We went to Pagbilao beach and it was so beautiful!!!!!! It is a white sand beach and I am going to try and send pictures but the computer is slow as I said.

So needless to say I love the area and I know that the Lord is blessing me here!!! So I have a funny story so Sister Clave sent a letter to the Barra Branch when we were companions and the picture she sent was of me and her, little did we all know I would be going there too!!! Hehe I love it! Tender mercies! After a trail!
So about the pictures I hope they all send. First a picture of sister with an "I’m ready for love shirt" it is a joke because she is going home soon and so yeah I'm sure you get it haha.

Then our branch mission president he road the boat with us to the beach and he lost his flip-flop haha. Sad! Hehe. Then Elder De Leon, he got splashed with a lot of water as we road back it was so sad but so funny (by the way he was in my last district and he is also my batch :)) Then when we went to Pagbilao Beach!!!! So pretty! Then we have a jumping picture and us on the floor, we got the perfect cute jumping picture and then fell haha and landed on each other so the falling laughing picture is the aftermath of the cute jumping picture. Plus are many failed attempts. Then fun posses on the beach and in the cave with the zone!!!

And my companion! Awesome first pday! I also took a cool picture under water with my camera. But we have to go now so I will finish downloading next week and explaining! I love you all!!!!
Love, Sister Andreasen

Let's All Endure to the End - August 23, 2010

2010-08-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

We found out about transfers and I am transferred so I will go to my new area on Friday so next Monday I will let you know where I am and who my new companion is. I have mixed feelings, I am sad to leave this area because I have really come to love the people but I am getting used to changes and I am excited and scared for what is next :) we shall see. I am also excited to go to a new area and not be in Laguna anymore! he he. Not that I don’t love it but I am ready to see other parts of the mission.
We had a good week this week we did go back to see Tatay Mario and we found out his concern. He told us he was a member of this other church and that he had been a member for a while now, but this last visit he told us that he is concerned what people will say if he starts coming to "our" church because he is the vice president in his church. So we talked to him about faith and fear and if we fear what others say we can’t have faith that the Lord will provide a way and give us the answers that we need. We were excited to go back and talk to him about his Book of Mormon reading and his prayers but he is really sick and we are worried about him. So we go back this week and we are hoping he is better!
Then we have a new investigator that we met and I am really excited for her to progress, I feel like she really wants to know truth. She said that her husband likes the "Mormons" so we shared a short message before she went to her job and set a time to come back to talk to her and her husband!
Then we have Nika and she has a lot of questions because she is also being taught by the born again church. So she tells them what we teach her and then she has questions from what they say. She had a question about prophets because of a scripture in the bible that talks about the church and it says first apostles, second prophets so she thinks that apostles are "higher" in authority than prophets. We talked to her about it and we were also planning on showing the restoration movie so we did and there is a line were Joseph says that every church interpreted the Bible so differently that he couldn’t get sure answers and he knew he needed to pray so that is what we told Nika - that we could fill her with information and scriptures and so could the born agains but she would never know the truth unless she prayed, so we are also excited to go back to talk to her about her prayer.
Then we have Gerald who came to church on Sunday! So we were glad about that because we can only teach him on Saturday and Sunday and they weren’t home on Saturday but then he came to church and he also brought a friend :) they were nervous to come in because they were only in t-shirts and his friend was in flip flops but we told them it was okay so they stayed!
We also had our other investigators come to church, Eunice who is 18 and her sister Red who right now is only 7 but loves the gospel! She even brings her Book of Mormon with her to school! They have a lot of questions and are really excited to know the truth even Red who is only 7 has great questions and always knows the answer to are questions because she reads! She is awesome!
Then Rizza was confirmed a member of the church! Yeah!!!!
And Evelyn was baptized!!!! I love her she is so amazing! She said that she felt happier than she ever has after her baptism and she said that she knows that this is the true church and said through her tears I am going to endure to the end!!!

It was so great and all this work is worth it for that one moment when she bore her testimony! I love her and am excited for her progression in the church!

So that was pretty much our week. Hard things, good things, crazy things and yet through it all the most important thing is to preach the gospel because this is the true church of Jesus Christ! I am sending pictures, we went to Los Banos for pday and it was way pretty and we took pictures at the falls.

I took a lot of pictures with my zone before I leave for another zone.

The Elder with the glasses is Elder Sales and he is batch with Sister Clave when they came into the mission and we will be batch going out of the mission :)

Then the baptism of Sister Evelyn with her daughter Vhean who is so cute!

The picture of the girl in tan is Eunice with her sister Red in white and red.

We always tract along the railroad and before there was no worry because there was no train but now there is and we watched it drive past while Elder Tecson interviewed Sister Evelyn and we put pesos on the track so this is what happened.

Then we had a service this week we chopped down a lot of branches and cut them in to small pieces for firewood. It was actually really fun!

Then Sister Evelyn and the Arizapa family. Sister Grace Arizapa would always work with us and now she is on her mission. So she asked us to keep going to her house on Tuesday for dinner and also to teach her mom who was less active. So of course we did! :) Because the food is great and we wanted Sister Arizapa to come back to church, then after the first week she gave us a referral Sister Evelyn :) I love them so much!!!!!!!
I liked hearing about the activity. And about the language it just depends on what I am going to say if it is about the gospel it is usually in Tagalog if it is just normal conversation it depends, but expressions and things are mostly in Tagalog :)
Well I don’t have a lot of time because the internet was acting up so I will write next week. Oh plus I will most likely order the Liahona at transfer day :)
I love you all and I know that this is the best work ever!!!! I love the gospel! Lets all do as Evelyn said and endure to the end!!! :)
Love, Sister Andreasen

Kumusta!!!! - August 16, 2010

2010-08-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

This week was a great week! First we had a district activity on pday and we went to this water thing in the Elder's zone.

Oh before I forget random note, the girl in the pictures is Janet she is the one who was baptized, and we just found out her family was sealed in the temple too, but when she was young they split up and they stopped going to church so she didn’t really know anything about the Church so we have been teaching her. Then sister Fajella!
So back to this week haha. We started teaching Nika this week and she is really interested to know more!!! She asks questions, marks scriptures, and is just so excited to learn the truth. She says she has a lot more questions but feels what we are telling her is true and that if (when) she knows that it is true she will be baptized! Manyleen, our investigator who had a change of heart is doing well and we gave her a baptismal goal date and are really excited for her to progress, she just needs to go to church like Tatay Mario! Then we are teaching Gerald and he is awesome he has such a sincere heart. We taught him about the apostasy and told him that after Christ and the apostles died that people changed the covenants and he stopped us and said sisters what is a covenant!!!! I am so glad that we can help people understand that we need to make covenants and what they are and how important they are in our life! I know that it is true that some people are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it and I am so glad that we get to go to them and help them understand and know the truth and come unto Christ! Then we had the baptism of Rizza on Sunday! It was amazing! I am so glad that she is now a member of the church and I know that this will really help her in her life.

President & Sister Anderson at Rizza's Baptism

Group Picture At Rizza's Baptism

When President came to interview me he asked about Rizza and offered to interview her. So we asked Rizza what she wanted to do and she said she wanted president to interview her. So he came to interview her and because he is an older American she was so nervous and scared! She started crying but then she finally went to the interview and it went really well and then he gave us all doughnuts haha.

I’m so grateful for president he really cares about all his missionaries and each one of their/our investigators! He brought us Krispy Kreams and said we have to take a picture with the silly hats.

Rizza was so happy after the interview! I think it was partly relief for being done with the interview and she knew that now it was just the easy part. Then president came to her baptism it all went really well and I know that she will learn so much more with the Holy Ghost in her life and she will progress in young women and really come to understand her divine nature and individual worth! I’m so grateful for the church. We are all children of a Heavenly Father! He loves us and we have been bought with a price and that is the life of our Savior! If we understand His Atonement we will come to understand more fully our own worth! Because we know how much He loves us! I am so grateful to share this message with people especially with those who don’t fully understand like Rizza! So we were hoping we would have more investigators at church because we have been inviting and inviting stressing the importance! Nika text her cousin to tell us that she couldn’t make it and we still aren’t sure why but we hope there is a good reason; it is a good sign that she texted :) then of course Rizza and Evelyn! Who will be baptized next week! Then to our shock as we were sitting taking the sacrament in walks Tatay Mario!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited!!!! He is so awesome. He was late, obviously it was during the sacrament but he didn’t know it was the sacrament and so he just started talking to us asking us questions and telling us about his coming to church. He is so cute! I will send a picture with him next week! He is awesome! So it was a great day on Sunday and a great week. Plus zone conference. So we had zone conference and there is new curriculum for missionaries coming from the First Presidency and so we are excited and there are a lot of changes coming. We will have fewer zone conferences and interviews so that is the down side but I know that it is for the good of the work. It will take full effect in June when the new president comes in. Right now we are focusing on helping people feel and understand the spirit more and inviting them to be baptized sooner in our teaching! So I think it will be really great! Then the night before we went to sleep over closer to San Pablo. And Sister Clave was also there! So we got to see each other again before she goes home next transfer! I am so grateful for her and I know that the Lord really knows what we need to be the best missionaries we can be. Companions, areas! Everything!

We are so blessed to have the gospel in are lives and know the truth. I am so glad that I get to share it with these wonderful people. I am sad that I will probably be leaving this area soon but the work will just keep moving forward. Usually we don’t stay longer than two transfers with a companion and I am next to go. So we will see I will let you know next week! I love you all!!! I love you all so much! I love this work! I know our Father in Heaven has a plan for us and all His children! I am so happy to be able to share it! Until next week! I love you all!

Love, Sister Andreasen

Pictures for this Week...

We went up to the college and there is a statue of oblation and it is a famous thing in the Philippines.

At the Botanical Gardens

Me and Sister Clave

Then the jeepney we would always use to go to and from Pakil :)
I forgot to take a picture of it when I was there so here it is now.

Hello Again - August 9, 2010

2010-08-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

President Anderson, Sister Ganaden,

Sister Andreasen, Sister Anderson

The "Famous Banana Cue"

I was so excited to get the pictures of the family. Why are there never any pictures of Michael and Kori? Sad. And I haven’t gotten to see a picture of Pepper. That’s the dogs name right? But anywoo, the pictures were great!!!! It made me miss you all. I couldn’t believe when I saw the pictures of Savannah! With short hair! She does look way cute though, she is right. Then what happened to Wyatt? I can’t believe Savannah is already in school. Wyatt must miss her like crazy.
So my talk went well. I was really nervous because I felt like it was something that this ward needed! And then I wanted to make sure my Tagalog was right. Sister Ganaden said I did a great job and a lot of the members said that it was really good and said they were impressed with my Tagalog so that made me feel much better! It was funny though because after my talk two things happened we had people talk to us about referrals! Awesome! I am so excited we actually had one family bring a referral to church. She was in our gospel principles class and she had so many questions her name is Nika and I just know that she is going to be a member one day!!!! She wants to know the truth and with her desire and her humble heart she will be able to feel the spirit! We set up an appointment and I can’t wait to go see her! So I am excited, I hope the ward will continue to give referrals! Then the next thing that happened was everyone asked if I was being transferred. Then they said that they would call president and tell him to keep me here in this area. Haha. I was a little surprised because I didn’t know I was that well liked among the members. But I love them and I it made me think about when I first transferred. I was so sad and it was so different, I missed Pakil and I wanted to go back. But after being here, I love it here too. You make every new area your home and just love the people and each area is amazing!!!! I love it here. And I am pretty sure I will be transferred this upcoming transfer and I am sad but I have also experienced the change so I am just working hard and loving the area and the people. Almost everyday we find new people to teach which is good because almost every day we get rejected too. So this week was hard yet good too!
Tatay Mario is doing great we taught about the word of wisdom and he doesn’t have any problems! I love him! The only problem is he has bad knees so he doesn’t really go anywhere so it is hard for him to go to church! We were scared when we went to him last week and he said that members from his old church came by he had some questions but we were able to help him understand. He says he hasn’t gotten an answer yet about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon but I think it is because he already knows that it is true and just doesn’t realize that he is feeling the spirit in his life. So we are working on helping him understand the feelings of the spirit. Then we have an investigator, Sister Bing. She was the investigator of Sister Clayton and her first companion. So she has been an investigator for a while! But we started to re-teach the lessons and really gain a great relationship with her and I think that she was starting to understand but being pregnant and with one small baby it was hard for her to walk the long way to church. So she never came. But she committed to come to church this Sunday and she was so excited when we gave her a baptismal goal date. However, we went to her house on Saturday to teach her and got the news from her neighbor that she had her baby 2 months premature and that the baby past away the day before! We were heart broken she is so sweet and I know that this is going to be hard on her. But I think once she is well enough for us to visit her again she will be more interested about the plan of salvation and be able to progress more. I am so thankful for the church and to know that little babies are saved if the die! I know that it is hard but I know the Lord has a plan for Sister Bing and this might just help her to truly understand the importance of our message. Then Evelyn and Rizza both came to church and are still progressing really well! We went to go teach one investigator Manilyn and she wasn’t home so went to a house just a little ways away so that we could teach some other investigators and they weren’t there so we started talking to this lady that didn’t want to listen or talk to us at all but we still gave her a pamphlet and as we were walking a way Sister Manilyn comes walking towards us holding her Book of Mormon ready from us to teach her! She seemed to have changed over night she was really excited about our lesson and to learn more! So we are grateful for her progress and hope that she continues to gain a testimony! We have a new investigator that I told you about Sister Kathy! Amazing. She really understand our lessons and is really anxious to learn, she hasn’t been to church yet but this is only her third lesson so we are hoping she comes next week :) we meet two new investigators this week and were excited to go back and teach them but one wasn’t there just a bunch of guys and they were going to start drinking. Then we were really excited for the next lesson because this sister had so many questions about the Kingdom of God and how to be a family forever! So we excitedly went back and found a bunch of guys again, all drinking. We were so sad but we hope to go back this week and find no drinking men and be able to teach these sisters about the gospel!
I love this work I love the area and I am so grateful for my calling as a missionary. I love you and I am so grateful for your testimony building letters. I know what you mean about being grateful for the priesthood. I am so grateful for it as companion after companion doesn’t have a father who holds the priesthood or can’t at this time give blessings. So I am grateful for dad his good example and always being worthy of the priesthood he holds! I am so excited to have that in my own home some day! We also read our missionary handbook each time we have companionship study and we are also reading the back about all the priesthood ordinances and blessings and it is so amazing to know that we have this great power on the earth today! I love the church and I know it is true!
We have zone conference this week and it is the last one until December so we are excited for it! Plus I will get to see Sister Clave again before she leaves :( :) sad face because she is leaving and a smile because I get to see her again. So that is pretty much all that is going on in mission life right now :) so I will write next week.
I am so grateful for your love and to have the true church in my life and share it with others right now :)
I love you all
Love, Sister Andreasen

Answers To Questions - August 5, 2010

2010-08-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

My ward is having a Relief Society missionary night and they have asked all the missionaries serving from our ward to answer three questions that their mothers can share with the other sisters in the ward. Here are Bethany's answers to the three questions, I enjoyed them and hope you do too.

1. What is the best food you have eaten on your mission?
I love sinigang!!!!!!! It is an ulam (which is anything that you eat along with your rice) it has a broth and usually pork or chicken and a lot of veggies! It is so good they cook it with a pepper is it is a little spicy and just delicious! Then the famous banana cue. It is made from a type of banana here called Saba and is my favorite, I don’t think we have this type of banana in America but we should. It is probably not healthy at all but they cover it in brown sugar and then fry it. I have a picture. They usually come with two or three on a stick. I also like a type of bread they have here called pandasal. It is small and only one peso and it is warm when you buy it and just yummy. Gulaman is the drink that I sent a picture of and that is a delicious too! I could go on and on they have good food here and we always get fed :)

2. What is the worst food you have eaten on your mission?
The worst food I have eaten is dinuguan. It is also an ulam and it is so gross!!!!! I can’t handle it. It is made partially from blood. And it is not against church standards we asked the mission president, but it should be because it is gross!!!!!! I had to force it down. Luckily for me they always have rice so I just got a little ulam and a lot of rice so that I didn’t really taste it but I had to eat it because it was an investigator who was feeding us! Then a lot of time they have liver in things and I just don’t like the texture. And then balot. It isn’t bad I have eaten it before but the second time I couldn’t handle it and you will understand why in the pictures! Yeah I didn’t eat it! So sad! It was really a baby duck!

3. What is one message you would like to share with the Relief Society Sisters of our Ward?
The message I have for the Relief Society is I love you! We are all daughters of God, He wants us to be happy and I know he has a plan for each one of us. I know that we get busy with life work, school, family, friends, and church. Sometimes it is hard to balance but I know that as we do the simple everyday things that we should we will find more time and a greater desire to serve the Lord and put more important things first, going to church, pray (as individuals and as a family), scripture study, family home evening! They are important. As I read my scriptures I think that the Lord is preparing me each day for the rest of my life for my future family. Right now I don’t have to deal with other things. It is the work 24/7 so it is easy for me to say these things but I do know that we need to be ready. The Lord has prepared us to come to earth at this time and I know if we endure joyfully to the end through the simple things he will bless are lives! Enjoy the gospel! Enjoy the love of our Savior he will be able to support you through all your trials! And he is there to share with you in your joys. He wants you to feel of his love and when you do you can’t help but expressing it by sharing it!
Work with the missionaries. I am in a mission where people are just nice and willing to listen but I am in an area where people are too busy and I imagine that it is somewhat like this at home, people are just to busy. Talk to your friends about the truth, love them enough to have the courage to share your testimony and give a referral to the missionaries. They will be so grateful for you and you will feel the joy and blessings that missionary work brings into our lives!
I love you sisters! I know that we can gain strength from one another; we are truly sisters, daughters of a Heavenly King! I love him and I know he loves us! This church is true and we have the fullness let us always take advantage of it and live the gospel to its fullness. I know as we do we will receive eternal blessings! I love you all so much! I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that missionary work is so important and blesses those who serve ten fold! This is the work of God! The church is true! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Hello From The Philippines - August 2, 2010

2010-08-03T18:08:00.001-07:00

I love it here. I still remember when I was first transferred here to Calamba and the change was so hard and so was the work. Well it hasn’t stopped being hard but I know that the Lord has given me strength as I have strived to be better and he has stretched me. Our ward is Calamba 1st Ward in the Cabuyao Stake. We are working on making the ward stronger and hope to do that as we bring the message to new people everyday.

So the Velasquez family didn’t go to church, which was really sad, and we haven’t been back yet to find out why. But last week we were just talking with Brother Rolando and then we brought up smoking because he is a smoker and he said that he wants to stop and knows that he can do it with are help! I have so much hope for their family. Then Evelyn came to church again and I was so happy! Her dad said that he doesn’t have a problem with her being baptized that she can make her own choices and he even asked questions so we are going to hopefully start teaching him soon. He said he isn’t ready right now but does want to learn more. And Sister Evelyn is such a good example she said that almost every night she is so tired but wants to read the Book of Mormon and usually falls asleep holding the book. She is great. And I think that this will be really good for her daughter too. Then we have Rizza and we were able to talk to president and he was really concerned for her and he is actually going to be the one to interview her. Her baptism will be on the 15! I'm so excited! Then Tatay Mario, he didn’t come to church either but he had something that happened with someone from his police batch and went to go help him. So hopefully next Sunday. I will hopefully be taking more pictures with investigators so that I can show you the people we are teaching I love them all so much!

So we met a new family, well first we met José. He yelled to us while we were walking and said, "I've been to Salt Lake" so then we started to talk to him. We went to visit him and his family and he actually always leaves but his "wife" and his cousin listen and I think that they will progress. They are excited about the message and love it every time we come over. So I am excited. It is just going to be hard with Sister Rhoda because she and José aren’t married and José has another wife in America so I’m not really sure how that will work. But it is crazy because he is 55 and she is 25! Wow that is a huge gap. So we will just have to work on it.

Then we went to another appointment and the husband and his friends were all drinking. So the kids told us to go to another house. We weren’t sure about it but we followed them. Their mom wasn’t there but another girl was her name is Kathy she is 19 and awesome. We started to teach her and she really liked the lesson and wants us to come back. She told us that other religions have come by and that she always sends them away but she "felt something different" with us! Sometimes in this area I wonder if I have the spirit with me because we are always rejected! What she said confirmed and added to my testimony of what President Anderson said to us. We had zone interviews and he shared a scripture in 2 Nephi 33:1 he said we carry the message and the spirit unto the hearts of people, they are the ones who choose to accept it or not. Kathy built my testimony and gave me assurance that the spirit is with us and that those who are open to it will be open to us as well. I am so thankful that our companionship is three not two! Me, Sister Ganaden, and the spirit! I love it.

We still struggle with the area but we stay positive and rejoice in the good times that we have and the spirit that we are able to share with those who have an open heart.

I know that changes are coming to our mission and I don’t know about all of them yet but I will fill you in when I do know. I know that zone conference is not going to be every transfer it is now only going to be every quarter. So after this zone conference I have only two :( it is sad but I know it is a change for the better.

I know that this work is the greatest work on earth how blessed we are to have the truth and to be here on the earth in these latter-days. Your right mom we do have a great responsibility because of all the blessings that we have!

I am grateful to be a part of this great work and know that one day even those who don’t want to listen to us will hear the gospel. I always think that we cannot be saved in ignorance and so we need to know as much as we can about this gospel the more we know the better! And that is why I am so sad when others choose not to listen, it will be so much easier now then after this life! I am so grateful for our investigators and those who seek for the truth! They are the elect they are the ones we are searching for and it is exciting when we find them!!!!

I am sorry my last letter was speedy we were late because we had a district pday. We are a lot closer to our district now and they are a great help to us! Our district leader is Elder Tecson. He was in my last zone so that is cool and my zone leader Elder Banawan who was my last zone leader in Pakil. Haha. I am pretty sure that next transfer I will be transferred so I am trying to work extra hard hoping that the next missionary will have lots of investigators that are progressing :)

To answer your questions there are only two sets of missionaries in Calamba, Calamba First Ward, us and Calamba Second Branch Elders Tecson and De Leon.

I am excited to see the pictures I cant believe Lizzy is so big!!! Tell her to stop growing! Haha I love those kids I cant believe they are back in school

Well I love you all very much!!!!! I love hearing from you and knowing what is going on in your lives!!!!!

I am doing wonderful as always. Some days are better than others but they are all great when you start and end with a prayer! I know that the Lord is watching over us and that he loves his missionaries.

I think at zone conference or at transfer day all the sets of sisters will be getting cell phones so that they can contact the district leaders, zone leaders, or president so that he know we are always safe. So don’t worry :) but they do have your email :)

I love you all!!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

The Weeks Go By So Fast - July 26, 2910

2010-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Hello again family. I can hardly believe another week has gone by! It is crazy to think. We had a great week though! We set a baptismal goal date with Tatay Mario and he accepted! He really is excited and so easy to teach because he reads and understands! He is so awesome! He can’t walk so he needs to get a ride to church and his son was gone this weekend so he wasn’t able to go to church but said he will work it out for next week! Then we also committed Evelyn and she said she wants to be baptized but needs to talk to her dad even though she is 26! So I hope that he is okay with it and we don’t have any problems! Then we have an amazing family that we are teaching it started with the dad Rolando Velasques and now we are teaching his wife and son too! They are awesome and really want to know the truth Tatay Rolando always has questions so he will understand more fully it is amazing! I love them!

We also had a crazy experience. We went to a non-active members house Sister Midra. She started talking to us about some crazy stuff and I really did not understand anything she was saying. She pulled out these prayers in a different language and this undershirt with drawings and weird lettering on it, and then she said that we have a Heavenly Father and that the Holy Ghost is our Heavenly Mother. We tried to teach two of her teenage children but we didn’t get very far into the lesson and we didn’t feel the spirit in the home. I made the mistake of saying something about prophets and she said that she is a prophet and that she heals people. Sister and I just look at each other and we could both feel that no matter what we said it wouldn’t have an effect because there was no spirit so we ended quickly and left. I have no idea what belief it was but it was very strange and I have never experienced something like that in my life! I was actually scared. So we went to our back up appointment. We met a teenage girl and told her that we would come back when her parents were home to teach them. We were at the door and her younger brother called out and she came to the door but didn’t say a word. Then Sister asked if her mom was home and she pointed and we said hi to her mom. And she didn’t say a word she go up and walked in to the other room glaring at us a she left. We don’t know why she was acting like that but we just said we would try and come back another day. So needless to say Sister and I were craving for the spirit to come. We went to our next appointment and it went so well. They answered questions and had questions and really learned about the great apostasy and the church that Christ organized and the importance of prophets and the priesthood. It is amazing the difference you can feel when people are open to the spirit and when people are closed to the spirit. Or if there is just a completely different spirit in the home. I am so grateful for the truth and for the light of Christ! I know that this is the true church and I feel like the work is progressing. We are having some trouble with the ward because we don’t have the meetings that we should but we are working on it and praying for the ward and area. So I know the Lord will bless our efforts.

I know that this truly is the work of the Lord and I am so grateful for it in my life! I know that as we grow closer to the Lord and work hard he will bless us even if it is to feel of his love and have his peace and strength. I love the gospel and I know it is true!

I haven’t given my talk yet it is this Sunday so I will let you know next week how it went. I am just asking for the Lord to direct my words so that I can say what He needs me to say for this ward! I love you all so much!!!!!!!

Thank you I love you!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

First Typhoon - July 19, 2010

2010-07-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

The little light square on my dress is where my bag was so it isn’t wet but the rest is haha.

The typhoon, it was bad but it wasn’t that bad. I don’t know if that makes any sense. It was my first and it was so loud, it hit at about one in the morning so I didn’t get much sleep at all and I think that is the worst thing that happened. All our investigators were safe and so that was good. We went to sleep that night and woke up to a really loud storm and the wind was so strong that our curtain sounded like it was slapping against the window it was so loud! No water came into our house so that was good. We woke up and we were supposed to have district meeting so we went to Cabuyao but they said they texted us that there was no district meeting and we were just supposed to do service. So we went back to our area and changed into service clothes. Oh, I don’t have very many pictures but the ones I have are of Halang.

This is the road we have to take to get anywhere in our area and it was just covered in mud! The whole thing! It was crazy! The dirt from the mountains slide down and so all the streets were just super muddy. We went to a lot of our investigators but didn’t really find service. They all turned out to be fine. Nothing bad happened. Some of our investigators had water come into their homes but unlike us, they are used to things like this so it wasn’t really a problem and they knew what to do. I was so amazed by these people who have to deal with such hard living conditions and it isn’t a problem for them just life! I am so humbled by their good examples to me and what we do have in the states. So I was just so happy that all of our investigators were safe and nothing bad happened. So they sad this is just the first of many so I am sure I will get used to it. Don’t worry everything is fine. You’re right we are in the Lord’s hands! So I'm not worried. I guess the next one is coming tomorrow. That is just what I hear but we aren’t sure. So we will just be prepared. It is just a way of life here. It happens and then they move on the next day clean up and get to work. So that is what we do too! It was so nice Brother KC Reblando came by our house the morning after to make sure that we were okay so I know that we will always have priesthood close by to give us help and make sure everything is all right. I know that the Lord will always watch over us. I’m glad that you didn’t call president. He will make sure everything is all right and he will always inform the parents he is a wonderful president and very sweet and understanding!
So the investigators. Always good news and crazy news. I love them! Haha :) So we have Daisyreen who came to church on Sunday with her friend Camela. Before it was Camela encouraging Daisy but now it is the other way around but they were still able to come and Daisy was so happy so I hope they can keep coming and build friendships in the ward! Then Rizza keeps coming but we are still trying to work out a problem we have there so it is coming along I wrote to president about it so it should be fixed soon. We also have Sister Evelyn, she didn’t come to church on Sunday because she had things that she had to do and I think it was because of the typhoon but we taught about Joseph Smith last time so we are excited to set a baptismal goal date soon! Yeah plus she has great support, a member who’s daughter just went on a mission and even though Evelyn wasn’t able to go to church Sister Arizapa still came! Then we have an investigator Sister Marisa she wasn’t home when we went by but we saw her mom inside but her mom told us to go away and that no one understood our teachings and that her daughter didn’t want us to come back because she doesn’t understand and doesn’t like it. So she was just crazy and so we were really hurt, sad and confused. Sister Marisa is reading and answering questions she is great so we just didn’t understand. Then we went by again on Sunday hoping that Marisa would be home and not her mom, who by the way says she is a member. When we first went there the mom said that she was baptized in the church but stopped going because of her husband. So I don’t know for sure. Anywoo, Marisa was home and she was happy to see us. She told us that her mom had gotten in a fight with another daughters husband and so was in a bad mood. So we decided to start the lesson and then we ended up meeting another on of her sisters, Sister Jenny. It was great! Then her mom came in and she was making noodles and she gave us some and told us that we need to have a snack? What in the world? I think she is crazy. Haha. But I think it might be because she felt bad for what she said to us last time. But we had a good lesson with Jenny and Marisa and I think that they will progress especially Marisa! She always reads and always has great questions! Then we have an old investigator she is Sister Evelyn too. We thought that she was going to be great and progress but we haven’t got to teach her very much because she never has time anymore so it is really sad. We continue our lessons with Manilyn and are just praying that she continues to progress and that her husband will join in on the lessons. Then Tatay Mario he seems to be progressing and next lesson we are going to give him a baptismal goal date and I am sure he will except but the only thing is he can’t really walk so it will be hard to get him to go to church so we can’t really give a baptismal goal date without him going to church so we are just praying that he will be able to find a way to get to church.

We still haven’t had the meetings that we should with our ward but this coming Sunday is our ward conference so I think after this things will calm down for our bishop and we will be able to have meetings again. I know that the work will move forward with help from the ward! They have friends that we can teach and they can do so much good for the progression of this area. We are working on building a good relationship so we can get referrals. We might have a referral from one family this week and we are hoping to teach them with the help of another. So the work keeps going forward. I love it!

I truly do love the work. The Lord knows what we need this area is hard but it is just stretching me helping me to be better and I know that the Lord will guide me and help me. I have been given so much strength in this area and I know it is the help of the Lord!

I am so grateful for what you said about those who pray for me! I got all teary eyed when I read about the McAllisters! They are so kind! I am so blessed to have wonderful family and friends! How sweet they are! I am so blessed and so grateful for this great work! I’m glad you all had a good time for Nathan's birthday I can’t believe he is 4! Tell all the grandkids to stop growing up! Haha.

The Book of Mormon study is amazing! I am a slacker when it comes to Tagalog it is just so long and I like reading the gospel principles book in Tagalog because it isn’t as deep Tagalog so it helps a lot but I am still trying but I just don’t know if I will have it done by the time zone conference comes. But I continue to read in English and sometimes I just get so caught up at night I speed through getting ready for bed so that I can have time to read again before I go to sleep! I love it and I know that it is what is good for me and the mission so we can all grow and see how much the Lord really does do because he loves us and what we need to do to show are love for him. I mark His love in blue and our love in pink. I can just say it is a lot bluer. We are so blessed to have a loving Father in Heaven and Savior who have shown so much love unto us and they just ask that we listen, obey, and if we mess up repent. Come unto him then they give love through more blessings! It is amazing! I love reading the Book of Mormon! I know that it is so true what you said so many wonderful things happen when we feats on its words! I love you all! I’m doing great and I know the church is true more and more everyday!

I love you all!

Love, Sister Andreasen

PS - Some random pictures:

The be healthy eat log is just funny because it is English but itlog is Tagalog for egg and it says eat log. It is funny. I will have to say it to explain it later.

A picture of Lynzie's baptism she is the daughter of one of the bishopric in the ward, with members too :) I love the ward. Brother Obet is the one who gave us the yummy snacks :) he is her dad.

Then the mountain is Maria Makiling from afar, I don’t know if you can see the shape of a woman but that is her that is were we hiked to the mud springs.

Sister and I saw these weird veggie things. Different times. We were asking each other what is this and they fell of the branch they were on. The first time it was the yellow one and it happened to sister right out side of a persons house and they were coming to the door it was really funny. So the next time it happened with the red one we laughed again and took silly pictures for remembrance but it might just be funny to me and her sorry. "Inside joke"

Finally The Zone!

The Spirit Speaks Over The Noise Of The Thunder! - July 12, 2010

2010-07-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

So I love you all so much!!!!!
I am downloading the pictures right now so I hope you like them. Haha and just so you know the Elders like to steal my camera and take weird pictures. So about the pictures…

Sister Ganaden and I went to Burger King everyone is jealous that it is in our area.

A bunch of crazy pictures during the bus ride to Manila.

We got to go to the mall of Asia and we had subway and really good ice cream.

I pretty much hung out with Sister Smith and Sister Spjute.

Some of the single adults in the ward.

Then we got a new toilet seat so we were excited! :) Haha.

Then when I am in yellow that is zone conference and the missionaries were crazy! Haha.

Especially Elder Trebes and Elder Holland.

I have a picture with two Sisters, Sister Garcia and Sister Arietta. They are in the batch with my Nanay (Sister Clave) so they are like my mission Titas, tita is aunt. One is in brown and one in blue.

All The Sisters!! :)

With the Berrets! They are great couple missionaries and are leaving this transfer.

Which is so sad because they truly are amazing!!!

Me and my comp with Sister Warnick, her sister is in Baguio and she was a companion with

Sister Lapana!!! I love it! We were all in yellow.

Sister Iverson she is also leaving this transfer! She is super sweet!

Then Elder French found this really ugly woman’s jacket at an ukay-ukay,

which is like a swap meet and it is horrible, it was funny.

Then I have a pic with Elder Etcitty. He had a large growth on his face and in the states they said they wouldn’t remove it and then one day blood started pouring out if it so he went to a hospital in Manila and we had a mission fast and he had a surgery and it was an amazing story because the chances of life were 50/50 so it was very serious and he got a blessing and we all fasted and he prayed of course and it all worked out and he is doing great! The lord really does watch over his missionaries.

Then some pretty views in our area and a picture at our investigators home.

We have a picture with Camela and Daisyreen. Daisyreen is pretty much amazing! They have next to nothing and she really wants to go to church but they live so far so she saves money and she still cant go because her mom wont let her go alone. Then we taught about tithing which is hard when people really don’t have a lot of money but her only question was how do I pay! She is so awesome and she is only 13 so we are praying that her mom will continue to listen so that she can support her daughter in the gospel! She is the one in pink.

One of our investigators sells snack stuff and he gave us a free treat.

These fried hardboiled quail eggs and gulaman, this really yummy drink!

We were on are way to a service and we saw some cows and this is the first time Sister Ganaden has seen a black and white cow. Because there aren’t a lot of cows like that here. So we took a picture.

Then we have some fun zone pictures at the service.

Then me and Sister Ganaden with Sister Janice she is leaving for the MTC this Saturday! :)

Then our zone pday to hike Maria Makiling it is a mountain. And they say it is shaped like a woman. I don’t see it but I just go with it. Anyway we went to this mud springs that are extremely hot!

So this week was a hard one but good at the same time because we always get to share our message, with new people. And when I say new people it means that we have a planner full of people that we will go and teach and back ups for each one and then we end up teach two new families! ahhh! At least we meet some new people. So it just means we have more people to go to if we get punted which happens a lot. But the two new families are great, one we talked to - this man was just standing on the rails a long our way and so we started talking to him then we went in to teach his family and they live way back behind another house and a store so we would have never had the opportunity to knock on their door. So I know the Lord's hand is always in the work. Then his wife is the one who is really interested; Joyce, she said that she wants to read the Bible but doesn’t have one so we just gave her the Book of Mormon instead haha :)!!!!! It was great! She has good questions so we are just hoping she progresses. Then we met the Aruga family the mother is really old and she says she is a member but we aren’t sure and it is hard to tell because of her age so we teach her daughters and she listens too. She has had 18 kids!!! Ahhh! But the first four past away when they were still really young but 14 is still a lot! But only one seems really interested her name is Marisa. She is so sweet and she reads and asks questions! It's great! We are still teaching Tatay Mario and Tatay Nesto and I feel like they are progressing but they still haven’t been to church and that is partially because of their health so we are just praying that they will be able to gain the physical strength they need to go to church.

We are trying to work out some of the problems that we are facing with Rizza. She is so close to baptism but had a traumatic experience and has a hard time with being social so we are working on that before she gets baptized.

I know that the Lord is helping us to find the people we need to teach. We have a less active member she is the mother of Grace who just went on a mission. Grace asked us to keep visiting her mom so that she would go back to church. She feeds us every Tuesday night and the first night we went over to her we planed to teach her and she had brought over a friend who we are now teaching and they both came to church on Sunday!!!! yay! I love it!!!

Then the bishop asked if I would speak in church and at first I thought I don’t really want to, I think the members should speak. Then I have just seen so many reasons that this is what the Lord wants and it can be a blessing. We need to get the members active in missionary work! To help bring back the less actives and to help find people who are truly ready they know the people here we don’t. It is hard to find but with their help and fellowship I think we can have great success in this area and that is what may talk is on! :) I'm excited! I know that is this area the key is the member! I’m excited we are also hoping to have a one-day mission coming up which will help with member involvement and help with less actives!

I love this work. This area is a struggle but I know that we are here for a reason to help the area as much as we can. I have been reading in the end of first Nephi and it talks about the great and abominable church and how the wicked are going to be strong but how in the last days the church of Christ will win the battle. Then I read in the Ensign about how in the last days the "members" will be small in numbers but we will win the fight. The work is going to get hard but we still need to find the noble and great ones! Who are ready to put on the armor and help us with this battle that we are sure to win!

I love the work! I love you all!!!!

The weather has been crazy, we will have little rainstorms but then it will get hot again. The other day we worked in the rain pretty much all day. My skirt was so wet I could ring it out! Next time I will take a picture. haha. It was flooded in some of the places we walked and I could see Sister Ganaden step lightly on the surface of the water on her tip toes trying not to get her foot wet as she realized that the ground was a lot lower and her whole foot soon became immersed in water. Haha. The work will go on. Even if the thunder is so loud we are almost yelling I know the spirit speaks over the noise of the thunder!

I love you!!!! Hope all is well. Tell Nathan happy birthday give him a hug and a kiss and tell him I love him. There is a little boy here who looks like the Filipino version of Nathan. I am going to take a picture this week so you can see :) he is the nephew of Janice.

Oh and I am a little jealous of Abby haha. I remember when I used to do that! I loved it! Tell Aunt Jill and Uncle Tom I love them!!!!

I love you all!
Love, sister Andreasen

Zone Conference - July 5, 2010

2010-07-05T19:24:00.001-07:00

So I am so glad that you had a great time at the family reunion! Part of me wishes I could be there. However I know that being here is the best thing for me. Do you remember the name of the sister from this mission? That would be so neat to meet here family. That is funny what they said "just look down" but to be honest I feel like I fit in here. Some of them are shorter than me some are taller and some are my height. Haha. I guess it is a plus being short, for an American.
So I have pictures for you but the pictures make it look I don’t do any work and just have fun because it is just a bunch of missionaries being silly. They are pictures from the trip to Manila and then at zone conference.
So I just want to start of with zone conference! It was the best zone conference I have been to so far! The spirit was so strong and that is what so many of the missionaries said. It was truly a great experience. President is so inspired what to say and we all just felt so uplifted. At zone conference we have a zone that gives the special musical number and it was my zone and we sang the EFY medley. It was really powerful and an Elder got up at the end to bear his testimony and he asked President if we could all sing it again to close and President said yes. So we sang it and the spirit was so strong and it was so neat to see all the Elders and Sisters sing and at the part when it says we will be the Lord’s missionaries we sang we are NOW the Lord’s missionaries! It is so powerful and humbling to know that we are the hands of the Lord here in the Philippines. Then we always have speakers and so every zone conference we prepare a talk because you never know who will be speaking. So I prepared my talk as always and then the night before I felt like I should just go over it and make sure everything was alright, I read through my notes and then went up to bed and after I said a prayer and was laying in my bed I got a feeling that I needed to be prepared to speak because I was going to have to give a talk at zone conference. I tried to push the feelings away and say no no but I couldn’t deny what I felt. Then sure enough before it started Sister Anderson asked if I would be a speaker. So my talk was on sanctification and we have a scripture in
Moroni 10: 32-33

32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

I just think it is amazing that the Lord always gives us steps to follow to become like Him and although we all fall short we can be sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ! How grateful I am for Him in my life and to know that through Him I can be clean and that he is here to make me more than I am. To set me apart from the world. The other talk was about the temple and I just think how excited I am to go to the temple again and to feel of that spirit and to really be out of the world because the temple is heaven on earth! I know that this is the true church and I am so grateful to be a member and right now a missionary!!!! And spread this great work.
I don’t have a lot to report about investigators because they aren’t progressing too much. But we did have two investigators come to church and so that was exciting. One came with her friend, they live together with a family member an older women and she is a member and so is Janet. Janet was baptized when she was eight and said that she was baptized and then pretty much never went to church again. She doesn’t know anything about the church she just knows she and her family are members then Camel she isn’t a member so we are teaching the two of them together and this Sunday they came to church! And even though Janet is a member the feeling is the same, your are helping them come closer to their Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ and truly understand their purpose here on this earth. Then we have another investigator Liz, we weren’t able to teach her this week and it is so sad because she is so interested! So I hope to have more to report next week. Then we are teaching an older man and we taught him, Tatay Mario, about family and read a verse in the Book of Mormon about families and then he kissed the Book of Mormon and said that is was true. Haha. He is awesome. So we are hoping that he will progress and truly understand! I love this work!
So about school. I will need to pray about it but I am pretty sure I will just take a one credit silly class online and stay home and work. Which is good because then I can figure everything out, save money, and spend some time with you. Is there anything I can do at the school just to get me started so that I can start making money while I look for a job? Then I will be able to decide if I want to just start up in the fall or if I will just wait until winter. But that is still a long ways away! But thank you for finding out for me. Maybe they have an online church class that is really what I want to take haha. So yeah back to the mission.
Even though it is just your question about pday. We work in the mornings so that way if we get punted it isn’t late at night because people aren’t very willing to let us share at night so if we get punted we can still tract and find new people. Then we just do whatever. Sometimes we hang out with the Elders. There aren’t really any fun things to do here. I want to go to the House of Rizal, he is a famous hero here but it isn’t open on Monday :( then I think next pday we are going to go to the college in Los Banos the area of some Elders. It is the University of the Philippines and a really famous college here. Then we got to Walter Mart or SM a lot. Walter Mart is like a mini mall supermarket and then SM stands for super mall. It is a big mall, haha. But it is just mainly to look because everything is so expensive! Then I wash my personal items and write letters so yeah that is pretty much it, the time flies. Oh and I do have a laundry shop to my laundry because I am really slow at it and it would take forever. It takes forever for me to do my personal items alone. I wouldn’t have any study time. It isn’t a member though it is just a shop. So yeah that is pretty much it.
I love you all I know that this truly is the true church and I love it!!!! I think of you often. I have one Hilary Weeks CD and it has some songs that remind me of you all. I love you!!!!
Love, Sister Andreasen

PS I realized that I don’t have my camera I left it in the apartment so I will send the pictures next Monday.

Moving Forward With The Work - June 28, 2010

2010-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for your love!

I care about you all so much and I am so glad to get emails from you and know that you are happy and doing well! I hope you are loving the family reunion. I am excited to hear about the missionaries from temple square next week!

So this week has been good. I feel like we are really moving forward with the work in this area! We still get rejected daily and are punted all the time but we keep finding new people and the Lord is truly blessing our efforts! I think that we should have a baptism in about two weeks, Rizza! She is a young girl and so sweet and just wants to keep progressing. She is a little hard to teach because she is super shy and doesn’t want to answer our questions but she knows the answers and knows it is true so I guess even if it is hard for her to express herself it is the spirit that matters. We also have Evelyn who we were only able to teach once this week but she still loves it when we come over. We have four girls with baptismal goal dates but I think that we will have to drop the baptismal goal dates because they aren’t really progressing and don’t come to church. So it is hard when they know it is true and yet still don’t understand its importance. We just keep trying and keep finding. My companion Sister Gepiga would always sing a song "its fun to find" and it is true! Just stay positive and keep finding. We are teaching a new older man Tatay Mario and he is a nice man. We have only just started but we are hoping to see his progression.

I have been reading the book of Mormon lately and it is so great to see all the blessings of the lord and how much he loves us. And all he asks of us is to keep his commandments. We are teaching a new young women Liz and she seems really interested so we are excited!!! she understands our lessons and is excited for us to come back we are just hoping that we will be able to teach her husband in the future but he is never home and if he is he is shy to talk to us, but I know the lord can provide away. So the lord really does watch out for us!

so we had been punted a lot the other day and we didn’t reach our goal of lessons taught, which the number isn’t important but we weren’t able to share as much, so it just seemed like a long walk home. However right before we got into the area where our apartment is a lady stopped us. She said she had been wanting to talk to us. She is a less active member and her nieces live with her and they aren’t members but she wants us to teach them. So we followed them back to their house and we were able to share a message with them. I know that the lord puts us in the places we need to be. It was so simple but I know that the timing wasn’t luck! It was the hand of the lord. I know that this family needs the power of the gospel in their home and I am so thankful for the guidance of the lord!

The work is hard but I know that the Lord has a purpose for me and that he wants me to be happy! I love this work with all my heart! Day after day I see the blessings of the Lord and my testimony grows daily that this church truly is the true church of the Lord on the earth! How grateful I am for this truth and the blessing that the Lord has given me to share this message.

Sometimes I think about the fact that I am a sister missionary and that sisters are not commanded to go on missions but I feel that this was a command for me. I know that the Lord needs me here! I don’t know why I was chosen but I know that this is what he wants for me and the people here. I am so thankful for the blessing of the Lord. This is not a time to give back to the Lord or "repay him" because each and every day he gives me more and more and I get to see the blessing of the gospel in other people’s lives!

The lord gives us commandments and asks that we obey, if we don’t we just forfeit the blessings he has in store for us. I know that the Lord loves us and he provides tender mercies everyday and gives giant blessings such as a mission, we may not at first appreciate the grandeur of his blessings at the start but as time goes on and we look back on how far we have come we see the great work of the Lord in our lives and most important in our hearts, influencing us to change and to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. How grateful I am for Him. I am so blessed to share this wonderful message with the people here. And even if they don’t except right away everyday we bear our testimony and we let people know this is the truth, the Lord is here calling out to them.

I think about it sometimes when we are punted that this is the Lord, He calls out to us and we choose to listen and hear His word for us or to reject Him. Every one of us has that choice member, nonmember, missionary.

I know that this is the best work in the world - missionary work. We can always do missionary work if we just invite people to come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much! I love this work even when it is hard some days. I do know that he believes in me and what I am doing. It is funny mom I changed the words of that song to and sang it to my last companion Sister Gepiga when she was having a hard day. It came on and I changed the words real quick, I like your version better. Ha-ha. But I love that song! Thank you so much for the music! It is amazing! It helps me to stay positive on the hard days and remember who I am and why I am here!

I talked to Brother Arman and he said he only sent one package! He wanted to make sure that it would get to you and then he would send the next one so I hope it gets to you soon. I think there should be a Liahona for the grandparents too. Grandma and grandpa and then one for grandma. I love you all so much!!!!! You are my inspiration. I have the family picture above my bed and I want families to be like ours forever! And happy even though it’s not perfect and we have trials too! We know the truth and we strive to live worthy of our covenants! All my companions have had broken families or nonmember families. Then members ask if my all my family are members. I love saying yes! Then I think about the fact that we have all been through the temple and I am so thankful for everyone’s good example to me and to know that I have a group of people who will be with me forever to love me support me and make me laugh! I love you all!

I will write more about our investigators progression next week! And I will tell you about zone conference! I love you!

So I forgot to tell you about the weather. It is still supper hot. Calamba is pretty much one of the hottest areas in the mission but we had a day when I was cold because it was raining like crazy and my dress got all wet. Ha-ha. This is the first time I have experienced tracting even if it is pouring! It is fun but it was only for a little while and then it stopped and was supper hot again. However the rain should start getting more frequent and they say that they always having flooding here in this area! Always. Every Sunday they talk about 72 hour kits because there will be a flood. So yay! Ha-ha fun here. I will write more when events transpire. Ha-ha :) love ya!

Love sister Andreasen

Turning Weaknesses Into Strengths - June 21, 2010

2010-06-21T18:40:00.000-07:00

So I am so happy that you received my package but I have to tell you the reason you don’t know who or what anything is for is because they had to send it in two packages and they probably just didn’t come at the same exact time all thought they should so the other box probably has the letter that I sent with it. The extra San Diego Temple is for Danielle it said that in the letter and I was hoping that you could find a way to get it to her it is a wedding gift that is her new last name. I wanted to make one for Bert but I didn’t know where they were getting married, it is crazy to think that he is married now. If you can send pictures that would be great I would like to see his wife and how happy he is. I'm so happy for him

Thank you for printing stuff on the dedication and the cultural event they are something I will never forget.

So I received the package from you and grandma however they are still at the home of our Zone Leaders so I will get them on Wednesday. I love you so much and thank you for your help and love for me as I am here on my mission.

So this week was full of growth and I have learned so much. I am so grateful for the Lord and all He does for me! He knows me and loves me and wants me to be happy for my time here on the mission. So this past little while has been a little hard on me and I haven’t really said anything because it is just things I need to work on and to become better, so I felt that that is what I needed to do just work hard on being the best missionary I could. However I was being very hard on myself. I didn’t feel worthy or that I was a good missionary and I felt like I was failing in Tagalog. I didn’t really make my feelings known to anyone because I figured it was a personal problem. Then we had companion study on Tuesday and I just felt bad the whole day. We had a district meeting and I wanted to be happy but I just felt like I was lacking in my offering to the Lord.

Then came our Zone interviews. President came to our area and he and the APs gave workshops! How blessed we are that the Lord inspires his servants even those that are our leaders here in the mission field. He helps them know what they need to say and it has blessed me so much! As I listened to the lessons that were saying - we need to find joy in service and not worry about the little things. They talked about how we all have weaknesses and we need to realize it to become better but we need not dwell on the things that we are not perfect at. The workshops were for me and I could feel the Saviors love for me so powerfully through workshops they gave, it helped me remember to stop thinking about myself. Stop judging myself and know that if I work hard I am being successful! One of the APs said a quote from Joseph B. Worthlin, I forgot the exact wording but something like "don’t worry, do your best and the Lord will do the rest" so I know that this is true, I was focusing on the negative and not the positive and I wasn’t finding ways to be better just thinking I am a bad missionary. After the workshops we were interviewed by President and I felt the love of my Savior in the interview. I had sorted things out in the workshops so I thought I shouldn’t worry President, everything will be fine. But because he truly is a servant of the Lord he knew the right things to say to get me to open up and we talked and I knew that even though I am not perfect the Lord is pleased with me and I am here for a reason, His reason and as I stay positive he will guide me and my happiness will go to others as well. Then I wanted to ask for a blessing but before I could President asked if I would like a blessing. I was so happy to receive those beautiful words from the Lord to me through inspiration. I know that this is the true church and that our Father in Heaven is looking out for us. We need to be strong and we need to stay positive but sometimes we become discouraged because of our own unworthiness. However, the Lord doesn’t forget us in these times, he gives us leaders to come and lift us. We are the servants of the Lord and we need to be strong but we can’t do it alone and we just need to give all that we can so that the Lord will make us strong through his power. The APs challenged us to make a grateful journal and it has been wonderful, great or small we receive so many blessings from the Lord each and every day! How I love this work. I have felt the spirit so strong this week and I have felt more positive even after people reject us or we are punted. I know that the Lord is still proud! I know that this gospel is for everyone and that he wants us to be happy and how happy I am to bring this message to others. Every week we gain new investigators yet it seems we lose investigators every week too. But I know that this message needs to go to all, if they accept it or not it is up to them.

We went up to one lady the other day and we asked if we could share a message with her and she said, in English, “I’m not interested" then we said that we know that we have a Heavenly Father and Savior who love us and that only through this gospel can we be saved, and then she said, again in English, " yeah, I believe in the symbolism of water" it came out of no were and we knew that no matter what we said she would just not be interested or listen so we left and it is crazy to feel that feeling of your heart breaking when a child of the Lord rejects the message and that one day they will realize what will save them. However we still have hope as our new investigator Evelyn and her parents listen to our message! I love this gospel and I know that it is true! The Lord blesses us so much and I have felt his love so strong. One of my favorite scriptures now is in D&C 6:34-37!:
34. Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let the earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.
35. Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
36. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
37. Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.
I love it! We are loved, we are His, and we will not fail! In this we can rejoice!

I love you all so much and even if I can’t hear from you next week it is okay I know you love me and I love you too!!!! I will continue to be happy and love the work and I will email you.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Manila! It wasn’t that great. Although I took some fun pictures. We woke up early drove to Manila renewed our visa; I don't know why I wrote passports. And then we went to the biggest mall in the Philippines but we only had two hours so we pretty much ate and looked in a few shops then we came back. It was more just along day of traveling. But it was still fun to be grouped together with all the American missionaries!

I love you all so much!!!!

Love, Sister Andreasen

2010-06-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

Sister Ganaden and Sister Andreasen

Thank you for your letter I love hearing from you each week it gives me strength to keep going.

I had an amazing week! We contacted some new investigators! One we went back to and she doesn’t want to talk to us. So sad day but it is okay we have hope for the others. So we met Evelyn. She is so amazing. We asked if we could share a message with her and she said yes, come in, she was so excited! We just spent the first little while talking with her and getting to know her. She has two young sons and she is supporting them on her own because just recently her husband left her for another woman. She started to cry and she was so sweet and just so open with us we shared about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how they love her and have a plan for her. She is super sweet and I think she wanted to come to church but we didn’t have the normal service this week. So we finished the lesson and after her father came up and he too started to talk to us, then they told us that missionaries came and gave them service, they gave them wood for their house when the big storm came a while back. So it just shows that service opens the heart of people so we are hoping to teach Sister Evelyn and her mother and father! We are excited. We also met sisters and they were a little hesitant but they were nice and let us come in and they had questions about our lesson and were really interested! So that is exciting! It is so exciting when people progress. Then we had another investigator Liezel she hasn’t been able to come to church and so this week she was planning to come but we didn’t have the normal service so I think she was sad she couldn’t go to church so I think it just showed her that she needs to go. So we are hoping next week she will come for the first time :) we are also coming close to the members in our ward and we have a plan to learn the houses of more of the member’s active and less active! I love the work.
So the Book of Mormon, I read it in English and Tagalog at separate times. Because reading it in English is faster not just because I know all the words but also because Tagalog is longer!!! But it is going really well and I'm learning a lot, I love it! The Book of Mormon is so true! This last time while I was reading I just saw how it testifies of truth and that if the investigators will read it truly wanting to know for themselves if it is true they will know.
So now the moment you have been waiting for.... the temple dedication! Yes we were able to attend! And it was so very amazing! We were also able to attend the cultural event with one of our investigators, Rizza. I think she will be getting baptized soon and I think it was really good for her to get to this uplifting, spiritually activity.
The cultural event was amazing! They had so many youth dancing and all different types of cultural dances from the different influences they had a Muslim dance and Spanish dance and even dances coming from America because so many different cultures have influenced the Philippines. It was amazing! Then at the end they had the youth come out holding flags with all the young women values and they sang, it was great. And our young women investigator noticed all the different flags and that it was for young women and she was excited. She is so awesome! Then President Monson gave a blessing for the youth and said how happy he was that they could have events like this in the church for youth to come together and grow and mingle with other youth. It was so neat to learn more about this beautiful country that I love. It was also cool because that was on Saturday the 12^th, which is the independence day of the Philippines. The dances were beautiful. And you know me I love to watch stuff like that so I was just loving it! And the spirit was so strong! We felt the spirit, even though it was just a broadcast it was just a wonderful feeling when the living prophet walked into the room and we got to tell Rizza that is the living prophet! It was a very special experience.

Attending the Cebu Temple Dedication Broadcast

Then the next day we were able to attend the temple dedication! It was gorgeous! The spirit was so strong! It felt as if we where actually in the temple and the talks were great about strength and about how wonderful it is to have temples so close and that the Lord has answered the prayers of the people to have another temple and now they need to us it! It was so amazing to be apart of the great missionary work. Here I am in the Philippines working on the "proclaiming the gospel" and now these saints have an opportunity to "redeem the dead" I am so grateful that this gospel is going forth to all people. The prophet and the other speakers just kept saying how nice the people are here and it is so true they are a good people and so open to excepting the gospel. This area is hard but I know that the people are the same we just need to find the ones with that open heart! I have such a greater desire to go to the temple and to do work! I wrote down my feelings so I won’t forget that when I get home I want to go to the temple as often as I can! I miss it so much. It was nice that in a way the temple came to me. It also made me excited for the time when I can go through the temple and be sealed to my future family. They talked about the joy and blessing of family sealing’s and I am so grateful that I am sealed to my family now and how wonderful it is to know that we will be together forever if we endure to the end. I am excited to prepare myself for the time when I will be sealed to my eternal companion and my future children. But right now it just gives me drive to tell other families that they can have this! They can be together forever and can find happiness even in a world that is getting worse and worse we can have a safe place in the temple. It truly is heaven on earth. How I love the temple! I am so grateful that we can enjoy the fullness of the gospel on the earth today! I am so grateful for it! I know that this is the true church I am so grateful for a living prophet. He expressed his loving side as he gave a really long talk just talking about his feelings and so much of it was his charity for other people, for his wife, for the Lord. I love him! I love being able to share this true message here in the Philippines! The Lord needs me here and I am grateful for his trust in me! At the cultural event President Monson said this " God gave us memories that we may have June roses in the December of our lives" I know that this time I have to serve here and the memories I have gained, am gaining, and will gain will be with me through out my life to give me comfort, help and strength! How I love the Lord and I see his blessings in my life everyday. We can always see the miracles of the Lord if we have faith and open our eyes to what the Lord has done for us! I love you all!
Go to the temple! I love you again and am thankful that we are a forever family through the temple!!!! I love you!
Love, Sister Andreasen

PS, I sent two new pictures of my comp and me and some elders right before we went to the temple dedication! Yay!!!!! I loved it I can’t even explain how strong the spirit was! The Lord truly loves his people and wants them to have the saving ordinances! How grateful I am for temples and for the tender mercies of the lord to be here in the Philippines and share this wonderful time with them! It is amazing how much the spirit can teach you if you are listening :) I love the gospel of Jesus Christ with all my heart and I know without a doubt this is the true church on the earth! I love the song If You Could Hie to Kolob! There is no end! These blessings go on forever and if we take advantage of our time here on earth they will be magnified in the eternities to come. I love you all!