Good Morning!

This week has been somewhat of an odd one. Firstly, it has been cold here... HOW WEIRD IS THAT!? I had honestly assumed that cold was something that I was going to go two years without. But apparently every year there is a cold front and for a few days it is pretty cold. I even had to get a blanket so that I could sleep without being cold. Secondly, we received news that a missionary ran away. President called Elder Soza early one morning to say that if a certain elder asked for his passport (to pull out money or any other excuse) that he should tell this elder to pass by the office to get it and that he should call him immediately. Apparently the elder called President to set up a time to meet, but he didn't show and he is still missing. Today is day 4.

In brighter news, Elder Soza and I found a new family this week! WOOHOO!!! We had received a reference from a gentleman, and he told us to pass by his house. 3 days of looking and we still have not found the house. I personally think it doesn't exist. HOWEVER, in looking for his house, I asked a man sitting outside his house if he knew the guy or if he knew where the house was. He did not, but I asked him if we could come by and visit him sometime and we set an appointment. He let us in, and he asked his wife and fourteen year-old daughter to come in and listen to us. The first thing they said was that they were surprised to have us in their home because never in their lives have they let someone in to talk about religion. Not the evangelicos, not the testigos, NO ONE. They told us up front that they are catholic, but that they were willing to listen to what we had to say. We taught the restoration, and Elder Soza asked them if they would pray about what we had taught. Silence. Then, the daughter said that she would, and she told us about how never before had she heard someone tell her about religion without criticizing catholicism. She said that she honestly really liked what we had to say, and that she would pray about it. Her parents agreed as well, and they committed themselves to come to church next sunday(they have some commitment this week). We have only met with them once, but we have already established complete trust. It is amazing how that happens sometimes. Anyway, we have SUPER HIGH HOPES for them, and we are going to do EVERYTHING that we can to make sure that they accept the gospel. So this week, pray for the Sanchez family. I have already been praying hard for them. We have a few other investigators still, but we need to focus on familia Sanchez right now because from what we have seen, they don't have anything holding them back (like probation sentences or drinking problems, etc.). 

 Mom, I will try to repent and start taking more pictures. I normally don't keep my camera in my backpack, but I can start now. We haven't had any problems, and I know that I need to take more pictures. It sounds like things are fun around the house right now. Keep helping the missionaries! Give them references, visit with them, talk to their investigators. Ask the missionaries how you can help them. Pray for them and for their investigators *by name*. I love you guys. I hop you are having fun and having success. Today we are going to play soccer with the youth of the ward, so that should be fun. I'll try to get some pictures. No promises though. Love you! Have a great week! See you in two!

Elder Andreasen

NOVEMBER 22ns


Good Morning!

Another week gone. This one was quick because we started prepping for changes. Yesterday was Elder Soza's birthday. It was a crazy day. We had the truck yesterday, and on the way to the office we got in a wreck! Just a little fender-bender. Elder Albrechtsen rear-ended some guy in a truck while we were in a roundabout. He was looking back to merge, and a police officer walked in front of the other truck to stop it and we hit right into the back of it. Our license plate was a bit bent, and the other truck had a little bit of damage. But the first thing the cop said was 'don't be nervous' to Elder Albrechtsen, and he just told us to figure it out with the other guy. He said that $20 would be sufficient. We thought it was too much, so I said that I had 5 and Elder Albrechtsen said that he had $10, so we gave him $15 and it was over. Yesterday, we also went to a place called Price Smart to buy a few things for changes. We got memberships, and it is EXACTLY like Costco. So now that we have memberships, we might do a little shopping there every now and again when we are there. The craziest thing by far that happened this week was that we found a snake in our house... Elder Silva saw it first, and it hid itself before anyone else saw it. He just kept saying how "enormous" it was and he was freaking out. It was just a little guy, maybe 20 inches long, but we did NOT want to go to bed with a snake in the house. I was in the shower when they got it out of its hiding place,and I just heard screams and shouting. By the time I got down there, they had it trapped. From a picture Elder Soza took, it looked like it could be venomous, so we killed it. It still took me a while to get to sleep, which is weird because I usually am not afraid of snakes... So thanksgiving is coming up! I'm sure you guys are going to be staying in the same house up in Deer Valley, and that everyone will be coming to visit. Should be fun! Take pictures! We are going to spend thanksgiving with President and Hermana Glazier. So that should be fun too. This week was a little bit...frustrating. Gilma came to church on Sunday! Woohoo! We were walking up to her house to go get her, but she was already walking down! Anyway, she chose to sit in the back by the door. We now know that that is not a great idea. It was crazy. I didn't even know how crazy it is back there because we always sit up towards the front. People were coming in and out, there were kids running all over the place (and there moms running around after them). And in the middle of the meeting, Gilma leans over and asks me, "do you think it is okay what they are doing?" I looked to where she was looking and there was a couple in the ward cuddling with each other. I tried to defend them and I told her that they are recently married and that he was only trying to show that he loved her. She quickly told me that those are things that are to be done in your house and not in the church. Later in the meeting, he kissed her a few times, and I was just so frustrated. I had to pray for forgiveness a few times in that meeting because of how mad I was at him. But on top of all that, she said she will come again this week. So we will make sure to sit on the other side in the front to get away from all of that. We also found another family this week. Familia Lopez. It sounds like they are a lot like the family that is going to be baptized there in Redlands. Hermano Lopez is a single father (his wife ran off with some other guy, which is depressingly common here...) with 7 children. SEVEN. He doesn't have a job, so he spends his days searching for scrap iron and other things to sell so that he can feed his kids. It was so sad when he told us that, becuase he said that he could go 3 or 4 days without eating and he wouldn't mind, but he has to do everything he can to feed each of his 7 kids. We have taught him one time, and we are going to continue. They NEED the gospel in their home. And 5 of the 7 kids are older than 8, so that family would be 6 baptisms, which is what our ward needs because members are a little bit discouraged because the ward hasn't baptized in a while. Well dudes, my time is running out, so I guess I´ll chat with you next week! Love you dudes! Say hi to the Matt's for me. See you in two!

Elder Andreasen


NOVEMBER 15th
Good morning!!

Today we are in writing early so that we can have some time today to do something different. I think we are going to play soccer with some of the jovenes in the ward. Should be fun. This week was pretty busy... Saturday and Sunda we had killer days in the area. We had a very powerful lesson with Gilma, whose baptismal date is in December. She is weighed down by her past, and she really needed to hear about baptism and repentance. We taught and testified, and the Spirit was there so strong it was incredible. The difference in her was amazing, and we testified and promised her that she could feel the way she felt in that moment all of the time if she is baptized and receives the Holy Ghost. For once, I noticed how stong the Spanish language can be (usually I find myself complaining about its inability to express things that I want to express). But subjunctive was the winner in that lesson. There's just something powerful about saying "cuando usted reciba el Espiritu Santo..." instead of just "recibe". Dad can explain the difference there. Elder Soza and I left that lesson walking tall and feeling great. The week, however, was not so fruitful. We had a multizone meeting this week, which was great. But the preparation that we had to do for that meeting and the other multizone meetings that took place this week was extensive. Wednesday night we didn't even get home until 8:40ish, and it is not even changes week! But changes week is coming, so it looks like the next few weeks could be a little bit rough as well. Last night we met with Mauricio. We haven't taught the word of wisdom yet, but he told us that he fell again this week and drank again. It is sad how trapped he is by his addiction, and how much it robs him of his self worth. He still believes that God doesn't listen to him because he was cast out. That makes me want to hit whoever told him that. Well, I wouldn't hit them, but I would give them a nice little machete (of words of course, we use that word a lot here...it means to chew someone out) and let them know how the Lord feels when they exercise that kind of assumed authority over good people like Mauricio. We stayed and chatted with him after the lesson for 5 minutes or so before we left becuase it was raining so hard. Water was coming into his house like crazy, but he wanted us to stay until it passed. We told him we had to be home by 9, and we left. Umbrellas did not help us at all... In other news, this week we had Noche de Hogar (FHE) with our ward mission leader and his family, and it was humbling to see the conditions that they live in. It makes my heart hurt that people have to live like that. But it always amazes me how they are so happy. It just goes to show the happiness that living the gospel brings. I wish people would just accept it and be happy! But they have the power to make that choice, not me. I love you guys. I hope you are praying to have missionary opportunities and that you are praying for the missionaries there in our ward. I am going to work with them like crazy when I get back. At least until I have to go back to school. Have a great week, and I'll see you in two!

Elder Andreasen

NOVEMBER 8TH

Good morning!!

Today we are in writing early so that we can have some time today to do something different. I think we are going to play soccer with some of the jovenes in the ward. Should be fun. This week was pretty busy... Saturday and Sunda we had killer days in the area. We had a very powerful lesson with Gilma, whose baptismal date is in December. She is weighed down by her past, and she really needed to hear about baptism and repentance. We taught and testified, and the Spirit was there so strong it was incredible. The difference in her was amazing, and we testified and promised her that she could feel the way she felt in that moment all of the time if she is baptized and receives the Holy Ghost. For once, I noticed how stong the Spanish language can be (usually I find myself complaining about its inability to express things that I want to express). But subjunctive was the winner in that lesson. There's just something powerful about saying "cuando usted reciba el Espiritu Santo..." instead of just "recibe". Dad can explain the difference there. Elder Soza and I left that lesson walking tall and feeling great. The week, however, was not so fruitful. We had a multizone meeting this week, which was great. But the preparation that we had to do for that meeting and the other multizone meetings that took place this week was extensive. Wednesday night we didn't even get home until 8:40ish, and it is not even changes week! But changes week is coming, so it looks like the next few weeks could be a little bit rough as well. Last night we met with Mauricio. We haven't taught the word of wisdom yet, but he told us that he fell again this week and drank again. It is sad how trapped he is by his addiction, and how much it robs him of his self worth. He still believes that God doesn't listen to him because he was cast out. That makes me want to hit whoever told him that. Well, I wouldn't hit them, but I would give them a nice little machete (of words of course, we use that word a lot here...it means to chew someone out) and let them know how the Lord feels when they exercise that kind of assumed authority over good people like Mauricio. We stayed and chatted with him after the lesson for 5 minutes or so before we left becuase it was raining so hard. Water was coming into his house like crazy, but he wanted us to stay until it passed. We told him we had to be home by 9, and we left. Umbrellas did not help us at all... In other news, this week we had Noche de Hogar (FHE) with our ward mission leader and his family, and it was humbling to see the conditions that they live in. It makes my heart hurt that people have to live like that. But it always amazes me how they are so happy. It just goes to show the happiness that living the gospel brings. I wish people would just accept it and be happy! But they have the power to make that choice, not me. I love you guys. I hope you are praying to have missionary opportunities and that you are praying for the missionaries there in our ward. I am going to work with them like crazy when I get back. At least until I have to go back to school. Have a great week, and I'll see you in two!

Elder Andreasen

Nov 8th

Good Morning!!

I hope this email finds all of you awake and busy! That shouldn't be too hard for you guys though, I'm sure Zach is off to some class *cough, chem lab* (just got your email...) and that Alix is sitting in some class bored and that Dad is in the middle of a surgery and that Mom's fingers are flying just as fast as mine to get in her email before my 30 minutes are up. This week was a good one. To start off: some crazy news. Last night we had a visit with the familia Rodriguez. They are the greatest people, but they are struggling to keep commitments (dang it!). We visited them with our ward mission leader and we left after having taught the Evangelio de Jesucristo. Elder Soza and I headed down the hill a bit to go to our next visit. Shortly after entering Mauricio's house, Hermano Rodriguez called me. Even though we were in our next appointment, I answered. He started rather worriedly by asking "are you guys ok??". I told him that we were fine and that we made it to our next appointment without any issue. He then told us that 6 or 7 shots had been fired into a pupusería (one that we visit frequently) down the road and that someone had been killed. As we had just left their house and were heading in that direction, they were very worried about us. Such great people!! But luckily we had passed a few minutes before and didn't even hear the shots. In other news, a less active single mother that we visit is a great person also. She had remembered that Sunday was Mom's birthday (even though I only mentioned it in passing), and when we visited Sunday, she had a little cake and everything! We celebrated a little bit and watched the Restoration video, as her daughter has not been baptized and we are working with both of them to get them back in church. It was an awesome visit. I have pictures, but they are on my computer and I forgot the key to the back financial office and I am writing on Elder Soza's computer. I'll send them next week. In shorter news, our meetings with Elder Duncan of the Area Presidency has been delayed until January. Apparently he has been super sick and was not recovered in time :(. One of my favorite parts of this week has been something Elder Soza and I have been working on. We have been having trouble with people keeping commitments, so I was studying in Preach My Gospel and felt that we haven't been giving them enough motive to keep commitments. So this week we have been including in our planning and in our lessons blessings to promise them if they keep commitments. It is AWESOME! When we promise specific blessings to investigators who really need those blessings, they really listen and we can see greater commitment in them right in the moment of the invitation. It has gotten away from me a little bit, though, as I find myself daydreaming about promising blessings to our investigators. We do still have a few investigators who are struggling with accepting the gospel, and one who is a little bit held down by his past beliefs (he was a Jehova's witness, but he was expelled/excommunicated because he had/has alcohol issues). He is a great guy, but he is going to need a lot of help. Anyway, I love you guys and I pray for you. I hope that you are feeling the Lord's loving guidance in your lives and that you are trying to be what He wants you to be. Be good. Have a great week!!

See you in two,

Elder Andreasen

Nov 1st
Hola Friends,

Ok, first, the bad news. Bad news is first because it is the limiting factor of everything else. A new rule in from the area presidency is that we only have 30 minutes to write our families...... I bet you can tell how I feel about that. BUT, a new rule like this is a new opportunity to show the Lord that we love Him and we love to obey him. So my fingers are literally flying across this keyboard! This week was a little bit depressing in terms of the field-work, and super busy in terms of the office work. That juxtaposition of success and struggle still throws me for a loop. I guess we are the "jacks-of-all-trades", but haven't quite become master of either. But, it is always nice to be able to hear words of gratitude and love from President and Hermana Glazier. They pretty much think we are super heroes. The conference that we were supposed to have this week was postponed. Elder Duncan has been sick (I bet you can guess with what.....GRIPE!) for the last 2 weeks, so we have pushed that back until the 14th of November. In other news, this past Sunday was the Primary presentation in the ward. If you think primary presentations are funny and awesome in the states...you HAVE to come check one out in El Salvador. We were seriously trying not to bust up laughing at times. They had primary kids doing everything. There was one kid who led the whole thing, and he got up there and just started off, "Tenga muy buenos dias cada uno de ustedes y bienvenidos a la presentacion de la primaria. Esta reunion esta siendo presidida por el obispo Carlos Villalta y dirigida por su servidor, Kevin Caceres...". That is EXACTLY how the bishopric members start the meeting. In few words, it was a riot. There were kids crying, singing with all of their hearts, reciting scriptures. It was quite the experience. I could feel the Lord's love for me and for those kids in that Sacrament meeting. Mom, I did get both packages this week. The white box arrived and everything made it ok. I have been enjoying that treat every morning. It is as good as I expected it to be! Thank you for that. Also, thank you for the Halloween treats. We had a little bit of fun with some of the stuff in there. I made a little treat package for each of the other office elders, and one for President Glazier. It definitely made a day of very exhausting interviews a little bit brighter for him. The Frankenstein mask was a nice touch too. This week has been a little bit tough in our area. We now only have one baptismal date; December 7th. However, President Glazier has challenged us to baptize in November. So...let the headless chicken running begin. We need to find someone that is ready to go. So we'll get on that. Our other investigators have stopped progressing as well. It seems like they always hit the wall of faith, and they don't exactly have the desire to square up and climb over it. Maybe its because we haven't taught them how well enough, or maybe because they won't let themselves open up to taking the big question to the Lord. Either way, we will be helping them this week, and after we have done everything we can to push them up and over the wall, we'll see if we continue with them or if we'll let them have some time to work on it. That is a euphemism for dropping them. However, the area presidency has always said that one of the biggest misuses of time for missionaries is working with investigators who are not progressing. We did meet a new guy this week. He was drunk when we found him - that doesn't bug me too much, Hermano Jimenez was drunk when we found him in Apopa and we ended up baptizing the whole family - and he was drunk again when we passed by a few days later to visit him. He is a really great guy. His comments and questions are more insightful than most (even though he was drunk...), and he has had a hard life. He "was" a Jehovah's witness, but they kicked him out for not being able to overcome his drinking problem. He says occasionally he goes to their meetings and listens from the doorway - they don't let him in, and they ignore him completely. His biggest issue (aside from the drinking) is that he is pretty studied and stubborn with regards to JW doctrine. So that will be a challenge, even bigger than the word of wisdom challenge in my opinion. We had a cool experience this week, Elder Soza and I. All of our plans had fallen, and we were basically just wandering around when we decided to visit a family of members. We went in and shared a quick thought and invited them to share the gospel with those around them, so basically what we normally do with members. However, at the end of it all the hermana started crying and told us that we had showed up at exactly the right moment and that they are going through some hard stuff with their family, but the Spirit that she had felt in that moment helped her to feel better and trust in the Lord. She asked that we pray for their family. It was a cool experience, because Elder Soza and I had been praying that we would be guided to those who needed the Gospel in their lives, and we had felt that we were still wandering because we were expecting to be guided to new investigators. It just goes to show that we as members of the church have needs too, and the Lord has us in mind as well as his other children. Well, that is basically a short summary of the week, I hope I am not forgetting anything important. I love you guys. I love being able to write and talk to you. 30 minutes isn't much, but I am grateful for every one of those thirty minutes. I hope you are all feeling the power of the gospel in your personal lives, and that you are finding answers to your personal concerns in your prayers and in the Book of Mormon. Keep reading it. Let's finish by the end of the year. I have to read my butt off to do that, I am not even through Alma yet... Love you guys. Have a great week. See you in two!

Elder Andreasen

Buenos días queridos! 

This week was fairly normal (not so normal for us, but normal for missionaries). We had time to study 4 of the 7 days, which makes this week a record-setter. It is so AWESOME to have time to sit down and study the gospel for a few hours. I could literally feel the difference those days. We also had time to go out and work in our area. Elder Soza and I learned something a little bit sad this week. We had gone so long without contacting anyone in the street that we were actually a little bit scared or intimidated to do it! That was definitely an attempt by Satan to try keep us from talking to people. One day our plan and backup plan fell through and we were left with basically an hour with NOTHING to do. So we just walked to our next appointment contacting like crazy along the way. It was hard at first, but it got easier and easier. I figure it is like riding a bike. If you haven't done it in a while, you just have to get on and go. We ended up getting 6 references that day, which is a fairly decent number even for missionaries who are in their areas all day. That just further backs up what Mom always says: "I can do hard things". Our investigators have been a little bit tough this week. That is probably because we didn't visit them for a while, but we are having to work our butts off with them. Wilfredo has, as preach my gospel puts it, found himself backed up to the wall of faith. He is still actively involved in his catholic church, even though he doesn't believe that their doctrine is all true. He believes that there is no true church, and that Christ came to do away with all churches. He has fallen into the seemingly universally accepted misunderstanding that "we are the church", and that any group of people that talk about God is, in that moment, Christ's church. So now it is up to him. He needs to pray about it, wanting to receive an answer. Our other investigators are progressing, just really slowly. They aren't coming to church yet because of "other commitments" on Sunday, and we will just have to keep chugging along with them. Also, something crazy happened this week. We were in our correlation meeting with the bishop (the ward mission leader has recently inactivated) and ward leaders when someone came in and said that there was some kind of fight going on outside. We all went out and there was an inactive hermana who was just ripping into a nonmember teenager who was there. We didn't get involved at all, and we didn't completely know what was going on, but basically she didn't want her kids anywhere near this other kid. She then took her kids out of the mutual activity and they left. We had been passing by to bring those kids to church (they're members) and the other companionship had just started working with their family, so we will see what happens. It is a shame that social stuff like that can get in the way of what is important. Anyway, in happier news, Elder Duncan from the area presidency is coming to meet with us here in the mission. We have put a choir together in our zone to sing a special number for that meeting, and we have had to be at the stake center at 7am two days this week (2 of the 3 days we have missed study time). We are singing "La Luz de La Verdad" (I think it is called Hark all ye nations in english), and Elder Albrechtsen, Elder Soza and I have a special part along with one or two other elders. It sounds awesome, and it should be pretty cool. That meeting should be pretty amazing too. That is pretty much what I've been up to this week. When you send a package next Mom, will you put a bike tire patch kit in there? just one of the little ones we had somewhere in my room or in Zach's room. There is a tiny hole in my waterproof backpack, and I want to patch it up. Water doesn't get in or anything, but I want to prevent that from happening. Also, send pictures of our family. Lots of them. That is one thing that I don't really have enough of. You can send them by email if you want, I can take them to a Kodak some P-day and print them all off. That would be faster. I'm glad you guys tried pupusas!! You guys even get to eat more than we do. We can't eat revueltas or chicharron, and we can't eat curtido either. Apparently those are some of the biggest causes of parasites in missionaries here. But find a good pupusería there so that I can eat pupusas and chat with the pupusa ladies and cry about not being in El Salvador when I get back. I love you guys, and I hope you have an awesome week!! See you in two!

Elder Andreasen

Hola,

WHEW!! Changes week is officially over. This was a crazy one. We didn't sleep much this week. The average hour of going to bed was about 12:15ish, with one day being after 1:30. There was just so much to do between coordinating new house contracts for the new areas, coordinating what materials are needed in what zones, and helping the missionaries who went home get everything ready to head out. They didn't even show up at our house after spending the day with President until after 11:30... But we survived and everything turned out ok. It always does. There were big changes this time around though. There are several areas/wards that are struggling big time. The church isn't very strong in some parts here. So President made a new program to change that. Now there are special assignments in wards that have more than one pair of missionaries. They are called "misioneros de liderazgo y rescate" or leadership and rescue missionaries. These missionaries train ward leaders how to have successful ward counsel meetings and how to coordinate their presidency meetings with the goal of growing the ward, and they focus their missionary efforts on less-active families. The percentage of members who are active here is pretty low. Our ward has just under 450 inscribed members. Weekly attendance averages in the 90's. So Elder Albrechtsen's companionship has this special assignment. And there is other news there; Elder Cifuentes is training a new registros secretary this change. His name is Elder Silva. He's pretty cool. So we are 5 now in the office. We basically have spent no time in our area in the last 10 days, so we have a lot of recovering to do this week. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon. Sorry there isn't a ton to write this week. I enjoyed getting emails from each of you this week. I'll see if I can find some pictures to send to make up for not having much to say. Love you guys. Have a great week!! See you in two.

Elder Andreasen