The Weeks Go By So Fast - July 26, 2910

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

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

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

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.