What a Great Blessing - March 1, 2010

Hello all,
I am glad you liked the pictures. Lets see in some of the pictures where there are more missionaries we are at some falls in Santa Maria one of the areas in our zone. 

The other one where it is just me and the Elders and members is falls on the way to Three Cross. They are so pretty! I love it! 

I am cutting banana leaves. It is for these broom type things that people make and sell here. Sister Olivia was making them to sell and so I helped it was fun! She is so awesome!

I'm so excited for Saturday I was hoping that Abby would be baptized this week! So that means 7 baptisms! We have 5 and the elders have one and Abby! I'm so excited for her! I can’t wait to see pictures! She will look so beautiful! Her pretty face combined with the light of baptism! Wow! Everyone sees the calendar and says how pretty she is! The whole family!
I love you and I love the strong testimony you have! I was reading my patriarchal blessing again the other day and it just talks about how much my family is a great blessing in my life and it is so true I love you and you are all so wonderful and truly a great gift from my Father in Heaven! 

That is why I love sharing the gospel because when we have the gospel in our lives we appreciate things more and we understand that everything we have is a blessing from the Lord and the most important things are the things that will last forever! ! I’m so thankful for the gospel in my life. Speaking of the work...
we have 5 baptisms this week and I’m so excited for it! We have Sister Olivia Suarez and her daughter and her husband wants to go to church but he is embarrassed to come in sandals and he doesn’t have anything else. So we are working on that plus he is always at work because they are struggling so we haven’t been able to teach him for a while. We were able to teach the parents of Julie Fe and that is exciting because her dad was against it for a while. We were able to teach him and then we saw Sister Olila and one of her sons, who is so cute! Haha I think he is 9 and he is so nice! He was talking to me and he said the whole family is coming to church next week dow. Dow means that is what someone said. Then I said, who said that? and he told me his dad! I was so happy! he has a desire to go to church!!!!! The lord does provide a way, he provided a way for Julie Fe to be baptized and it was in His time so that we could also start teaching the whole family! I’m so happy! Then we have the Revadulla family. The dad is a member and his wife and son will be baptized! So in the future they can be sealed in the temple! Amazing! ! A family!
We also talked with one of the new member families. The Madrona family. Maryann and Laiza, they said that they are trying to get prepared so that they can go to the temple as a family! !!! I’m so excited for them.
We have so many people here in this area that we want to teach each day we go out and the Lord opens new doors for us to teach people. 

We got a referral from another zone,a father gave us the name of all his children, we were able to teach one and then when we went back we taught his wife and she started crying. She has a lot of questions and I think she will progress really well which is good because her husband is a member. He is in a different area of the Philippines and so the only contact they have is if one of them goes to him or he comes home. I guess the last time one of the kids went to see him he came back and told his wife that he was Mormon now. That would be crazy not to know and your husband just changes his life style. I know that it will be great for her to understand! I’m excited!
We have also been working with the ward, we have a branch mission plan, it is for 10 less active families. We have made contact with all of them but one. And at least on member from 6 of the 10 have come to church and one said that this coming Sunday they will come! The work here is amazing! I love Pakil!!! so so much!!!
This is truly where the Lord wants me to be and I’m so happy to be serving him. He has changed my life just in the short time that I have been on my mission and I know that as these people except the lessons taught by the spirit they will come to know their Savior and will except the gospel and will be happy not only for this life but for all eternity! I’m so happy to share that! It’s the best!!!!
I’m so thankful and I love you!!!!
Well I love you all! thank you for all you do for me!!!!!
love, Sister Andreasen