Huh? I am an American???....OH YEAH that's right I AM!

Hi! So it’s me again. What can I say? I love you! I love families. That is it, I just love families. They are amazing. Great to hear of your fun adventures and travels within the past week, and I know that you are seriously impacting lives everywhere you go.

The missionary work is still coming along. Can you believe that year mark is just about here? Wow, it totally flew by! It is going to the downward slope, and I still am wanting it to work upward! ha. I just love this pure gospel, and perfect message that we are able to share with others, it makes my life and am glad that I am here, more than any other place. This week has really been rewarding! We were able to baptize one of our friends whose name is Japhet. He DID IT! The angels are jumping for joy. And now if i get to stay here, I will be able to see another family come into the waters of baptism, as well as four others hopefully! I am really excited for them. They are amazing, and are seeking those great things from the Lord in their lives. aesh! I have been tired this week!...which is a good sign. It means that we have been always trying and working hard, and it just seems like I get happier and happier as the time goes on. It is crazy! It is missionary work.  We are just trying to keep the work progressing, and it takes that extra effort that is needed to exert my all. I was reading this amazing talk that was given to us at the last zone conference. It is called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary". It helps me to understand how I can always be striving to give my all, every ounce of energy necessary to help others accomplish success in salvation. It is nice to see success as we are diligent and patient. I love that scripture that states that by small and simple things, are great things brought to pass. That is SO true! 

I hope you have a great week! I love you, and pray for you. Be strong! 

Elder Andreasen

Smile cweet! (A combo between cool and sweet)

P.s. The branch does meet in a building, not like a mud structure or something. The grounds are actually really beautiful, and very well kept. It has a steeple and nice blue bars around all the windows. It is a nice place, but not a normal chapel building. 

Bananas are just so good....it blows my mind!

Heyoyello! So great of days I am living! I love living, and loving, and breathing the service of God. (Pretty deep huh? I came up with it myself) 

It was So nice to hear that things are going so well there. That is really awesome to hear about that fast that took place. It sounds spiritually uplifting and edifying, and those are truly the moments we need in these crazy days. Sounds like you guys are just keeping in good company, and really adjusting to that life up there. The lord will always help us to understand why we are where we are in life...that is kind of one of the lessons that I am learning over and over again. Wow, and you even got to go and sub in the nursery! That is one of the best things ever I bet. You guys are prepping to be nice grandparents I guess. 

This week in the field, it has been an experience. We have been trying to find more and more people, and it is fun, but not always easy. The first part of the week was kind of a struggle, but as the week progressed, so did the work. I actually think that yesterday was one of the best days at a branch that I have had since I got here. Not really that things were very organized, but the spirit that I felt and that we taught with, was so strong. It came with conviction and power! I have to tell of a good friend named Gabriel. He is one of the smartest and just prepared investigators ever. We feel the spirit Super strong every time we teach him, and he just says every time "I just want to get baptized". He says that everything that we are sharing with him truly does make sense, especially in his life. He came from a family that believes in worshiping with cults, and other things, and he is just sincere about working towards his salvation. He is also so into wanting to bring others unto this amazing gospel himself! God truly prepared these people that we are teaching. They are all just amazing in their own different ways. We are finally successful in convincing them in how important it is to come to church, so again, we had eleven of them at church this week! I love them all so much. I hope I don't leave this area at transfers. I hope they keep us both here, but it is likely that one of us will be leaving.

I love you all family! You are great, and just keep spreading the word of God. It is seriously needed. There truly is SO much work to do before the Second Coming. Be thou an example! Our Heavenly Father loves us, that is the truest statement. Our Savior Jesus Christ does live, and I get to bear His name everyday, and I feel the power of His love in my life, as I try to bring this pure joy to those souls that are ready and willing, and ARE seeking it. Have a great week! 

Elder Andreasen

SEE YA! 

P.s. Wow. That is nice! those hours of daylight and all. SSO MUCH LIGHT! haha Love ya, and keep smiling big!  

Mosquitoes...YES they are here!!

June 16, 2014

Hey you! Sso all is well, and things are going So great this week, which is just really AWESOME, if you really think about it. I have had an amazing day, and love to read how you guys are back there. That sounds like a nice trip up to the temple, and you even got to fly there, which is super cool! WOW though, can I mention that those are a LOT of youth, and that is so great that that many were able to participate in such an experience. That is just something!

Guess what! WE had 12 investigators at church yesterday and four of them were people that we have never met. The Lord answers prayers for sure. WE have truly seen so many great things in the work this past week, and it is just progressing. Hopefully we will have a baptism this upcoming Sunday, that would be nice. We are just working hard, and we are doing it together, which is the best part! I have learned a LOT this past week too. It has been sweet to see that we are just always more prepared in what we are going to teach and how we are going to teach, and just with the spirit and love for the people that we are going to teach. But I am just stoked for this next week to see what happens and who we get a chance to see, and who we will see lighten up a little more. It’s an extraordinary process to watch.

Mission status update is:

Missionaries are still no being let into Kenya at the moment. There have been I think three that have been able to come through. For baptisms throughout the mission...I really actually have no idea. Maybe I can find out though. There are still around 80 or so missionaries that are in the mission, but we are still helping the work progress! All things are ok safety wise. We just now have to be into the flat by six, and cannot take matatus anywhere. That has been a rule for the last 3 or 4 weeks. We have definitely learned how to walk...FAR! hahaha We just hope that all things are well, so that we can stop walking so much! It is all nice and well. =D

Have a great weeek, and love ya! 

Elder Andreasen

Keep Smiling/laughing/Helping others to laugh also!

It's Me :)

June 9, 2014

So so so. HEY! My Name is Elder Andreasen, I am in this little place called Kenya...I love to smile, and JUST LOVE you...(A cute smile). You, my Family are GREAT!

It has been great to hear that you guys are doing good. I am way excited for you to go to the temple! I love that place, it really is the best place on earth. I hope all goes well on your great adventure to get there. And you guys are making friends! That is awesome, I am really happy that things are coming along. 

Wow! I am just doing SO great! This week has been SO powerful! We have just seen so many fruits, and they are nice and tasty! I think some of these nice new fruits might be dipped into water some time soon. The Father upstairs has really prepared some amazing souls this week for us. We have met SO many people. This is just Such an amazing area. It is like we would just talk to someone, and they would tell us something like, wow, I think this is the church I have been looking for, or maybe we would just be walking, and the people that we decided to contact, actually CAllED US BacK! That does not ever happen, and the Lord let happen this time! woot! There is a goal that we set as a companionship that I think also REaLLY helped. We made a goal to try and always keep the spirit with us throughout the whole day. In everything we do, we need to be carried by the spirit. It was really kind of rough at the first of the week, but later in the week, things started to work better, and the days just are more amazing. It helps us talk more, and look for a better way to help each other. I had this personal goal to do three things everyday, and that is to Smile, laugh, and make someone else laugh. Things are so much Better once you just laugh and smile. That, is the whole purpose of this Plan that God has for us right, to be happy. What not a better way to be happy, then helping other children of God find True happiness. 

Things just keep coming along here. And there is still some sunshine. It is rainy season now. MUD! So, muddy on some days, but a lot of fun. I think that I am still pretty healthy. I eat bread some mornings with peanut butter, and I go through honey like crazy, and I have eggs, and tomatoes, and that is the most consistent breakfast. BUT I have been eating some of these super nice pancakes, from a package that randomly showed up at the mission office with my name on it...how weird is THAT! hahaha Thanks you guys SO MUCH! I think that my cheeks have swollen a lil bit, but nothing a little proselyting can't handle. I just love you SO much and hope that you get a nice pancake breakfast everyday for the rest of your life...or some other breakfast food. That’s it for now, but have a great week, and send something to ya next time. Thanks

Elder Andreasen

I'm Out!

Cannables of Nairobi???? But I'm still alive and well!

Greeeeetings! Ya know what I love…you! I also love missionary work, food, uplifting music, and Kenyans! I am not going to lie, sometimes I practice my smile in the mirror, and then start making faces, and then laugh at myself. I do that a lot...the laughing at myself. I am SO weird...everyone here can probably attest to that, but that’s what makes me a different child of God than others. I love that you guys let me get to know what’s going on in that crazy adventure of yours. I am also happy to hear that you are still safe! The Lord truly does love us, to have you guys be our parents, (and you truly did a great job) and would not want anything to ever happen to you before we got to be together again. 

It has been quite a week of good gospel stuffs, and it just keeps coming. It has been hard this week, but I love that we have worked hard this week. I was feeling kind of inadequate, and was wondering what was wrong, and then I remembered that I am a child of God, and that He loves me more than anything, and no matter what mistakes I make in my life, I can overcome them, and become better. You know something that I realize is that as missionaries, we are always trying to strive to become better, and always find different ways to change our styles of teaching and interacting and becoming more similar to Jesus Christ. I see that you can only so that when you fully turn your heart to our Father in Heaven and trust that he can help. You have to do your part, and that means every night thanking Him for what we have, and also asking for forgiveness for our imperfections, our mistakes, our shortcomings, and have faith that He can help you. I've been thinking a lot lately on how I have been focusing so much on what "I" want, that I have become TOO encompassed in myself, when all I need to do is truly care about all of those around me. I love that we get the chance to change our hearts for the better. The Atonement is everything to me. I know that our Lord and Savior suffered any of the pain that I suffer in my life, and that I see others go through as well. I love that I get to see others pain go away when the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ impacts their living nature. That is what I have to leave with you this week about the work, and I know that it IS true. 

I love to smile, and love to laugh, and sometimes I have caught myself to often not doing enough of each. I know that God intends for us to be happy and so I will make sure to make someone laugh each and everyday, until the day I die, because that will give others Hope. That is an amazing word...Hope. I see that we all need a little more hope, in our lives, and I want to give that to all. Have a fantastic week you guys! I know I will! I just love you and HOPE the best for you.

Elder Andreasen

P.s. What is a June bug????? Isn't it like those black and orange little things that are eeverywhere?! That is an inspired question for sure! hahaha, I will have to discern it with the spirit..... Love ya! thx