¡¡¡¡¡¡¡San Diego!!!!!!!

Dear everyone,

This week was awesome!!!!! I am finally out in the field!!! I am in El Centro where it is 115° and dry. So just like home. I am loving it here, but before I get to El Centro, I will tell you about my last few days in the MTC. 

So it was sad saying goodbye to all of my teachers and friends I had made there. I hope them all well and hope to see them all again. Some things I learned in the last couple days were that we always need to be kneeling in our hearts and constantly praying. Also, we need to ALWAYS be trying to listen to the Spirit and be a tool in God's hand. Then we can help others come unto Christ always. The next thing is kind of the challenge so I will touch on that later. I am very happy I had the chance to stay at the MTC that long. I learned so much about the Gospel and how to teach it. I felt the Spirit more consistently than I have ever felt it ever. 

Then we went to the airport. It was kind of weird going into the real world again. Our flight was about 2 hours long and quite quick. It didn't feel that long. Then we arrived in San Diego! We met our mission president and his wife! They are so nice. President Stubbs is very funny. So we went to a church and had an orientation. 

Then we met our companions. My companion's name is Elder Dudley. He is amazing. He is from Michigan and he is a very hard worker. He is really good at getting to know people so people really like him. It has been cool to meet all of the people that he knows here. He is very fun and funny. He is going to be a great trainer.

So then we went to one of his old areas and stayed there because El Centro is too far to go there and back and there and back for the first-day training. We stayed in El Cajon with a Persian screaming in the room next to us. I love it. It was so funny. The next day we went to some people that Elder Dudley knew in the area and I got to know some of them. The next day we went to the Mormon Battalion Site. It was cool to go there again. Then we went to the mission office to get some supplies. I found out there that there are about 18 languages spoken here by missionaries and that doesn't even cover all the languages spoken here. I love that. If any of you know me well you know how much I love learning languages.

Then we went to El Centro, but before that, we met someone nicknamed Yoda. He lives in Descanso in the mountains. He is a very strong member and helps the missionaries. He has a bunch of random stuff and animals. He is breeding snakes right now which is where I am in the picture of me holding the snake. Then we came to El Centro. Also, we have a car. We also have the nicest apartment in the mission. So we started going to peoples houses. We have dinners almost every night and we get fed a lot. So I love that. We have already had given like three Book of Mormons away. But we do not tract much in this mission. We mainly work with the members and go off of referrals. So I have met a ton of people and am excited to get teaching. There is one person I want to talk about that we taught. So his name is Gregorio and he is not a member but is interested. We were about to drop him then I came. The reason I changed things is that he has two daughters that are Deaf. So I tried to communicate with them, but I am pretty sure they are learning Spanish Sign Language, ASL, and home signs and are mixing them together. So we are going to try our best and go for it. But it is very cool. My zone is awesome and we work together often so I am excited to get to know them also.

So the challenge of the week is when you guys are listening to anyone give a talk, whether it is from an apostle or a ward member, don't write down exactly what they talked about, write down what the Spirit teaches you during their talk. I would love to hear what happens with this.

I am excited to be in the field and meet so many people. I am glad that knowing ASL is helping me already. I am loving it here and am loving the experience. I love hearing from you guys and hope to hear more. For those who don't have my email, it is vaughn.andersen@myldsmail.net. I love you all and feel your prayers.

Love you all,

Elder Andersen

I am Here

I am here. My companion is elder dudley and my first area is el centro. We already went out and taught some people. It has been great. I love my companion and there are only two asl missionaries. I might also eventually learn aribic because there is an area where a third of the people speak aribic. I am great i am loving it and I love my companion and my president.

Elder Andersen

Final Week!!!!!!!!!

Hey Everyone!!!!!

This week has been awesome. I have had so many cool experiences. I have felt the spirit tons and am excited to leave on Tuesday. I have loved my time in the MTC or CCM in Spanish. I will miss the MTC but it is about time for me to start meeting the people God has prepared for me. 

Español es muy bien. Yo estoy apreniendo mucho cada dia. Me encanta mi maestros. Ellos aprendenme mucho. Elder Trump y yo estamos mucho mejor a Español. Nuestro TRC persona, Jessica, fue mucho interesado. Padre cosa pasado en nuestro final vez con Jessica, ella dijo que ella tiene un hermano con autismo y me dieron muy animado. Yo comencé a rodar mi testimonio sobre personas con necesidad especial. Yo dicho que me encanta esas personas y que yo los llamo angeles. Que me hizo feliz. Pues, me siento preparado para el campo cuando se trata de predicar el Evangelio.

Back to English. This week we had a seventy come and talk to us yesterday. It was amazing. It was Elder Patrick Kearon. He is British and a convert. He and his wife spoke. His wife talked about when we are on a mission, it is not a compatition, like everything has been our whole life. She also said not to compare yourself to any one ever because you conclude to be one of two things, superior or inferior. And that is not good. She said though that it is impossible not to notice if someone is doing better than you, like if someone is learning the language faster, that is just a fact. She then instructed us to not compare but to try and learn from those who are doing better than you and look at it like an opportunity to better yourself. Then Elder Kearon spoke and it was amazing. He was the perfect balance between fun and spiritual. He was a very good speaker. He talked about how all of the hard things we go through in life just make us stronger and that the church thrives on opposition. He also instructed us to choose to be happy when things get tough and that there is a reason why you are going through that challenge or trial. He also taught us to teach the Gospel with joy and be excited to teach it. He said "When you really think about the value of Baptism, you will want to give it to everyone you meet."

My challenge this week is to share your favorite scripture with someone who is not a member and bear your testimony to them about that scripture. you can do it in person, over text, or over social media. dont be afraid. just think about the true value of baptism. I would love to hear what happens with this challenge, so please write me.

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you all. I am excited for the field and if you guys have anyone you want me to look for in San Diego let me know this week. Thank you guys for all the prayers and for all of the support.

Love,

Elder Andersen

Charitable Acts

Dear everyone,

This week was a good week. I have felt the spirit a lot this week. I am very excited to get out in the field and get teaching. I have been learning so much about the gospel. Also I was able to go to the temple last week!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome. I love the temple!!! Go there often! You will be blessed immensely. The Provo temple is beautiful. i am excited to go back today.

This week at the devotional the relief society president spoke to us about patterns in our life. Which is good for us because everyday is the same so it was a good message. Make good patterns in your life such as reading your scriptures, going to the temple, and saying your prayers, and family home evening. Also president oaks daughter who is a world renowned violinist, came also and played with her kids who are extremely talented. It was really cool.

Spanish is going good. I am able to teach the first lesson in Spanish in under 3 minutes so that is cool. I am finally starting to be able to conjugate correctly. We had our last meeting with Fernando(at this time we had no idea that it was going to be our last time) but he left us with the question "why is the Holy Ghost a bird?" so that was interesting. Now we have Jessica who asks a ton of questions. But they are good questions.

Also elder McFadden is in my zone now so I am excited to help him along.

Finally my district is working on charity this week and that gave me the idea to give all of you a challenge every week to work on and I would love to here what happens because of that challenge. This week I challenge all of you to do something charitable. Our teacher gave a scripture on it. It is in Moroni 7:45-48. Go out of your way to help someone, say hi or just being nice.

I am excited to hear what happens with this challenge. Hope to hear from all of you. If you need my email, ask my mom. Have a good week and search for the spirit.

Love,

Elder Andersen

Hola Cómo Están???

This week was a fun week. A lot happened this week.

First I was called as district leader. This means I am my districts mailman and I conduct district meetings. I have such a good district. They are very fun.

This week was my first week of TRC. TRC's are when we are teaching a "person investigating the church" all in Spanish. We did so good. We surprised ourselves on how much Spanish we spoke and understood. It is kind of funny though our person investigating the church, his name is Fernando. Sometimes he just dozes off in the middle of the lesson even if we try and keep him involved. He is nice though. Also he told Elder Trump he doesn't sound like a Gringo.

My cousin Oliver arrived last week and he is in my same residence building!!!! It has been awesome to see him and I am happy for him. He has been doing awesome, and i am excited to hear from him. 

On Sunday I watched the talk "Recognizing the Spirit", another talk only shown here, and it was amazing. He said to "Quit worrying about if you are feeling the spirit or nor or if a thought is from the spirit or not," He said you don't need to feel an impression in the moment of revelation. He then said that as long as you be a good boy or girl, honor your covenants, and keep the commandments, that your steps will guided and that every good thought you get is from the Holy Ghost, even if you don"t feel some monumental spiritual experience. He gave three examples about times when he had a thought, but no spiritual feeling, and about 30 years later he figured out that it was a prompting from the spirit. So whenever you have a good thought or a strong prompting, listen even if you don't have a spiritual feeling, because it is probably from the spirit.

Lastly, this week at choir I was able to sit with the ASL missionaries and sign with them. I was so cool because I was able to sign all of the songs and watch the interpreter during the Devotional. Plus the interpreter, who was a fantastic interpreter, told me that there is a huge population of Deaf people in San Diego. He didn't know any that are LDS, but that's OK. It was nice to sign again, although now my whole zone is asking me questions about ASL and Deaf people. It was so much fun though.

This week was great. I feel the spirit so much and am excited to get out into the field. I hope to hear from all of you. I love you all. 

Love you all,

Elder Andersen