Cold Front 2

Hey everyone!!!!!!!

How is everyone doing? I am doing fantastic! This week has been very fun. I have been able to talk to so many people. It has been so cool. Also, it has been cooler this week. It has only been like 101-103 and we are expecting 99 soon so I am ecstatic about that. I might have to start wearing a sweater or something.

Pues, this week I have learned a lot. I also had my kind of first baptism. Her name is Aurora. She has tons of energy but is very smart. The reason I say kind of is because she turned 8 and was baptized. But because she can't come to church on Sundays because she is with her dad on the weekends, we taught her. We conducted her baptism and everything. It was cool.

Then this week we did exchanges for my first time. It was fun. I went up to Brawley with Elder Hardy. Funny thing about Elder Hardy is that we met each other before the mission. When I went to my first Decathlon, he was also competing. Small world. But, it was cool to go out with him and meet some of the people up in Brawley. I was able to use Spanish a little bit up there with a lady who has a crazy story about how she became interested in the Gospel. She had a dream when she was in the hospital and in the dream she saw three white doors. She was able to go into two of the doors, but could not get into the third door, which was the biggest. She said that she knew two of them were Heaven and Hell, but could not explain the third door. Then the missionaries found her and taught her the plan of salvation and told her that the three doors that she saw were the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial kingdoms. And that the door she could not open was the Celestial kingdom because she has not been baptized with the proper authority yet. She is awesome and has only a few more things to do before she is baptized. So that is a crazy awesome story!!

Also this week we had stake conference. Elder Miskin of the Area Seventy came. He taught that the Church is not a rest home for the righteous, it is a hospital for the imperfect. This means that the church is a place for people to come to repent and come closer to Christ. He also said that the best smell in a congregation is the smell of tobacco, because that means that someone is there that needs this message and needs the gospel to get closer to Christ. He also said that we need to go into the wilderness and bring back the one to the ninety and nine. The wilderness is wherever nonmembers or pre-members as we like to call them, and less active members are. He said that we all need to be that shepherd. And he pointed out that the shepherd didn't guide his sheep back, he carried him. That's what all of us need to do, we need to carry those people to church and help them as much as we can. Another thing he said is that if someone isn't at church, find out why. Make sure that we support each other in the church. If there are less active people in your wards or branches, go visit them and befriend them, invite them to church, if they say no that is ok. But don't just stop trying. Be involved in their life so that you are ready and there when they are ready for the gospel due to trying times or by whatever means God prepares them. Help them as much as you can. Everyone needs this gospel in their lives. It is the most important thing on the earth.

So this week my challenge is to go to a less active member or a pre-member and befriend them and when they are ready for the gospel, be there and invite them. It might be a long time, it might happen when you befriend them. Be patient. Help them and love them. Don't be afraid to talk to them. It is just like talking to any other person. Finally, make sure you pray for them. That is very important. Email me some experiences you have with this. I would love to hear them.

Thank you all for all you have taught me and done for me. Thank all of you who have written to me, and I would love to continue to hear from you. I would love to hear from those who have not yet written to me. I am loving it here and hope you all feel the spirit as much as I do!! I love you all.

Con amor,
Elder Andersen

Blitz Part 2

Hey everyone,

This week was awesome. We did so much. We still are finding a ton, but I love finding. It is so much fun, you get to talk to so many people. The funnest part is that going into a door here in El Centro, you don't know what language you are speaking, so it is always a toss-up. It is very exciting.

Well, this week we had a Blitz in Calexico and in the El Centro 2nd ward. It was awesome. In the 2nd ward Blitz, I found a sister named Vanessa. She has a son named Alex that has autism. I was so happy. We taught her a little bit of the restoration and she asked when and where the church is and she came! But it is kind of sad because the sisters that are teaching her told me that her husband doesn't what her to go right now.

In the Blitz in Calexico, I was able to find someone that was deaf, but she knew SSL, so it was very limited communication. Then her granddaughter came out and we had an amazing conversation. She is from Arizona and she wants us to tell the missionaries in Arizona.

The Hermanas got Gregory on a baptismal date! I am so excited for him. We just need to keep him coming to church and it will happen Oct 13! Once he is baptized I am going to try and communicate with the daughters enough to try and make appointments. After that President Stubbs told me that I can tell the ASL missionaries out here and go on exchanges with them. I hope we can get that far.

I am loving it here. I have been able to use my Spanish more and more. I feel like I am getting better, I hope. This week my challenge is to get a book of Mormon and give it to someone who you feel needs it in their life. I would love to hear about these stories.

Thank you all for all the support, encouragement, and prayers. I love hearing from all of you and hope to hear more. I am excited to meet so many people. I love you all and am excited to hear from you all.

Con Amor,
Elder Andersen

The Blitz

Hey Everyone,

How are all of you guys? I have had a blast this week. Last P-day seems like a month ago because of how many things we did. But at the same time, it feels like no time has passed at all. It has been amazing. Some sad things have happened, but more happy things have happened.

Some of the sad things are that we dropped Bertha. We went to her house again and she told us that she is Catholic and always has been and will be, but that she will always open her door for us but won't listen to our message. So that was kind of sad, but we did get un Libro de Mormon en su casa. So we are just planting seeds.

Some happy things that have happened:
1. We were able to find this one guy named Marco, who is a 19-year-old man that his high school math teacher, Brother Garcia, gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that if he read it that he would cook him a steak dinner. So we reopened that deal with permission of Brother Garcia. So we taught him and he seemed kind of interested. We told him to read and pray. Now we are just waiting for him to say when and where to meet him again.
2. We were able to give a blessing to an older woman from Brawley at 10:30at night. It was cool because we were able to talk to her grandson who is not a member. I think he thought that it was very cool that we came and stayed so late just for her.
3. Elder Dudley and I gave talks in the Spanish Branch. It was the longest talk I have ever given. It was 10 minutes long. It was a very fun talk to give because some of the congregation was asleep, the missionaries in the back were dying laughing and the branch president was making faces when I pronounced a word wrong. I was on the brink of dying laughing. It was hilarious. I did, however, get a lot of compliments on my Spanish afterward. It was good.
4. We ate dinner with the Ibarra family, which was Spanish speaking. They were so much fun. He has a crazy conversion story. He was baptized 4 weeks after he met the missionaries but was truly converted later. One Sunday he told someone he doesn't really have much faith in Christ. The next day he cut off his hand. He said that he had to have faith in Christ this whole time. He was rushed to the hospital in El Centro but they couldn't operate on him so they were going to fly him out but then realized that they had no helicopters so they drove him. That is a two-hour drive. So they finally were able to get to San Diego and were able to stitch his hand back on. He said that he got a blessing right before he left for San Diego and that he felt that everything was going to be ok. and it was now he still has his hand, but not a pinky, and can pass the sacrament every week.

My challenge this week is to pray and prepare a question that either you are wondering about or a question on how to get out or endure a challenge you are going through for general conference. In doing this I promise that when the prophet is speaking whether he answers it or the spirit answers it while is speaking. You guys don't need to write me on this one, but just send me a spiritual experience that you went through either this week or last week.

I love you all and love hearing from you all. I hope you are all feeling the spirit always. I hope to hear from you all and am excited about all the experiences that God has in store for me.

Love you all,
Elder Andersen

A Cold Front

Hola todos!!!!!!

¿Cómo les van? This week was so cool. A lot happened. I have done so much finding. I have learned a lot. I have had some good experiences and some interesting experiences. But I have grown and learned from these experiences.

So first, we did sooooo much finding!!! We are doing so much because we don't really have any people we are teaching, and the people we are teaching are missing in action. So, it has been really cool to see some people that are interested and some who aren't. We found this one lady named Bertha. She is super nice and has a lot of faith in God. She goes through a lot of physical pain and feels that this is her main trial right now. So we are excited to teach her more because she seemed interested. We are still finding and meeting new people every day.

Second, we were attacked by 6 rabid chihuahua which was fun. We aren't sure if it was Heavenly Father keeping us away from those houses or the devil. So yea. But Elder Dudley was ready to go at them with his book bag. We both lived thankfully.

Third, we are teaching a 7-year-old who is getting baptized in 3 weeks. Her name is Aurora. She is very sweet.

Fourth, we moved this older lady named Sister Heathman. It was fun and crazy. She had 2 refrigerators in one storage compartment. She also had about 50 chairs. It was very bamboozling. She was very nice though. Everyone was very nice and willing to help. I love it when we are able to do service for people.

We are now coordinating with the ASL missionaries to try and communicate with Olivia. I am really excited to see what happens with that. I am glad that I was called here so that I could meet her because if I wasn't called Spanish speaking, I would have never met her.

I am hoping we get more people we are teaching regularly and I think we have a lot of potentials. It is getting cooler here, it is only like 105 degrees. It is soo much cooler. We can like go outside and not die of heat.

So my challenge this week deals with service. Try and help someone. Offer to help someone outside. Stop by someone on the side of the road with their car. See if they need your phone or some assistance. But also if anyone offers you help, please accept. You are doing them a service by letting them serve you. Just try it. I would love to hear about you guys' experiences with this challenge. And it can go either way or both. Please help others. Show them Christlike love.

Thank you all for all the support. I hope to hear from all of you. I love hearing your stories and experiences. I love you all and feel your prayers. Keep having faith and serving.

Love,

Elder Andersen