Saturday, August 31, 2013~Week 3
Provo MTC; 10:01 AM 

Kumusta pamilya!! First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!!!!!! I was thinking about you all day yesterday! Your little birthday present is gonna be a little late but it's coming! I promise!! I hope you had the best day ever and all your friends wished you Happy Birthday 500 times!!! I love and miss you so much little brother! I'm sorry I couldn't be there to make you your PERPEKTO birthday crepes but it's okay. They'll taste even better when you've been deprived of them for so long! Haha Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I can't even believe that this is my 3rd week here! Where has the time gone! Everyone kept telling me that after my first Sunday time would just fly by! And it's so true!! The days are incredibly long and exhausting physically, emotionally, and spiritually but the weeks just disappear! I love it here!

The TRC--where we practice our language skills

We mustache you a question!  Wanna hear about the gospel?

 Hahaha okay so last Saturday, we were going to the temple and we got all the way to the inside of the temple, (and if you don't know this, IT'S A VERY LONG UPHILL TREK!) and guess who forgot their recommend? Meeeeeee. And so we had to walk all the way back down and then all the way back up. It was hindi mabuti. But it's okay because the temple is wonderful and everything always works out fine. But yeah. That was just a HannsBoNanns moment.

Last Sunday on our Temple walk

Our cute district at the Temple last Sunday

OH! And I also fell of the top bunk bed in my room! It was so funny! I was just up there getting something ready for one of our lessons and I just rolled right off. My kasama looked over at me with a completely straight face and said, "Please tell me you didn't break anything because I really don't want a new kasama." She doesn't feel sorry for me anymore whenever I hurt myself because it's a regular occurrence. So there are some HannsBoNanns moments of the week!

Sister Sims on one half of our room

The other half of our room

Elder Neil L. Andersen was the speaker at the Tuesday devotional and it was so so good! It was broadcast to every MTC in the world!! It was amazing! I loved it! At the end of his talk he bore testimony like 3 or 4 times that the Savior does live and he is a witness to that! It was so powerful! Tuesday devotionals are my favorite!

Okay so yesterday we had a lesson with our investigator Ranie and it was a really really col experience and I'll tell you why! We got into the room and it started off really well. In the previous lesson we had talked about Joseph Smith and then we asked him to read at least on chapter form the Book of Mormon and when we got in there and asked if he had read, he told us that he had read ALL of Joseph Smith History AND the first chapter in the Book of Mormon! We were so excited and everything started off really really well. And then when we started off into our lesson everything just went bad. I couldn't remember what to say and my kasama didn't know what to say and you could feel the frustration and irritation building up inside both of us. And then Ranie asked me why it was so important for him to be baptized. And all of a sudden I knew what to say. It was very broken Tagalog but e understood and so the spirit was starting to come in! And then after Sister Sims bore her testimony, he asked us if we had both grown up in the church. I said but when Sister Sims said she hadn't, he got really interested and he wanted to know why she got baptized. She said in her very broken Tagalog that she could feel something in her heart that it was the truth. And then he asked how. And she said, "Magdasal. And a LOT of pananampalataya." (Pray. And a LOT of faith.) And then she started crying and said she could "naramadaman it was lahat katothanan" (feel it was all truth). It was so so broken but the spirit was so strong. And then he looked at me and I bore my testimony and I don't even remember what I said but I remember his face was just so full of understanding and peace and he knew that WE knew what we were teaching was true. It was so so coooooool!! And then I asked him to say the closing prayer and during the prayer Sister Sims and I started BAWLING! 1. Because it was SO beautiful and 2. because from what I could understand, he was praying so earnestly and with such intent! It was the best moment all week BY FAR! We're really only supposed to teach fr 20 minutes but we ended up teaching for 45.... oops. Pasencha, hindi pasencha! (Sorry, not sorry!)

Yesterday in class

Okay that's really all I have time for today! But I hope everyone is doing well in school and loving life! Read the scriptures every day! Ang Aklat ni Mormon ay naglalaman ng kabuuan ng Ebanghelyo at ng salita ng Diyos! Totoo ang Ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo! Si Jesucristo an ating Tagapagligtas at Manunubos! Nagpapasalamat ako sa Diyos para sa Kanyang mga biyaya!! Mahal po ako ang aking Ama sa Langit at si Jesucristo! Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, amen!

Mahal kita!!!!

Love, Sister Andersen

Saturday, August 24, 2013~Week 2
Provo MTC; 9:55 AM

Kumusta po kayo?! How is everyone?!! HA! So me and my kasama were SO confused why every single person in our district was getting mail besides us! I mean we had already decided as a companionship that we have bad luck together but we didn't think both our families had died!! And so like on Thursday or Wednesday or something, I can't remember which day it was, an Elder going to Quezon City came up to us and told us that we had a huge stack of mail waiting for us in the mail room because it was all being sent to the wrong place! His was there too!! So our district leader went and got it and I HAD 15 LETTERS!!!!!! She had like 10! We were so happy!!! Best day of our lives!!

Sisters Sims and Andersen

So Sister Sims and I decided to join the MTC choir. Whaddup world we're singers now. It really is such a good experience though. And we got to sing in the choir for the Tuesday devotional that President Richard Maynes spoke at! It was so neat! Do those get broadcasted?? Because I was on the jumbo screen for like 4.5 seconds! Oh and on Sunday for the devotional, I sang Called to Serve with the all the missionaries for the very first time as a missionary AND IT WAS SO AMAZING!! It's a good thing my kasama is a bawl baby like me. We were both crying. But yeah. Super amazing. Everyone just stood up and sang with everything they had and all the little old people missionaries were weeping. It was adorable. 

I sent pictures last week but I guess they didn't send so I'll try again today. You have to send them from the computers in the laundry room so that'll be anytime between like 10 and 12 okay??

Sisters Anderson, Staker, Briggs, Elder Lasley, Sister Teeter, Hannah, Elder Shelley, Sister Sims,
Elders Johnson, Egan, Hunsaker, Sagario

Temple Walk ~Sunday, August 18
Sisters Sims and Andersen w/ Elder Brock Johnson
(Brock was leaving for Sweden the next day)

YES I FIGURED IT OUT AND I SENT A PICTURE OF MYSELF DOING IT AND IT'S THE LAMEST TRICK IN THE WORLD BUT IT MAKES THE COOLEST PICTURE! I was pretty excited when the Elders from the older districts told me how to do it though. It was the very first thing we did when we got back to our residence after they told us.

Mastering the Magic

Obviously I have memorized the entire Tagalog dictionary mother. Would you expect anything less from me? LOL NO. The language is tricky. But Brother Mansfield keeps reminding us all that we have to think about how much of the language we knew on August 14 and how much we know now. It's nothing short of a miracle. Me and my kasama got our investigator to commit to baptism! Woo! And then she became our teacher. And now Brother Mansfield is our investigator. When we found that out, our entire district was like, "What? Excuse me no." Because Brother Mansfield is an OCD perfectionist and when he was learning the language, he made sure that he MASTERED it. And now he has. He literally knows everything in Tagalog. If it weren't for how tall and white he is, you'd think he was Filipino. No joke. So that  scared us all pretty bad but it's okay! Me and my kasama are gonna master these lessons! We even woke up at 5:30 yesterday (ew) to get in extra translating and study time because we are dedicated mga misyonero!! I'll let you know how it goes.

Okay I'm gonna answer all your questions real quick. Did you say that Stephen taught at the MTC? Because I haven't seen him! Where does he teach?? Yeah I met Sister Seastrand yesterday! Her classroom is right across from mine! I'll be sure to get a picture with her though! The gluten free food is just like any other gluten free food! Not the best but it's better than getting sick! The actual cafeteria though serves sticky rice every single meal so if I don't like what they're serving in the gluten free room, I just go get rice and chicken or something. And my kasama and I drink chocolate milk every single day........ We're gonna get fat sometime maybe but oh well. Worth it. It's from the BYU Creamery so how do you even say no to that? Yeah an extra pair of shorts would be nice but I don't like, NEED them. But they would be nice. And Jake's soccer sweats. JUST FOR THE MTC! I'm always freezing!!! And I just want them so bad! I promise to send them home after the MTC! (Insert Hannah's puppy dog face now) 

Favorite part about this week was last night. Brother Mansfield gave the first lesson to all of us. I've heard the story a thousand times but I've never heard it like that. He is literally a young Jeffrey R. Holland. I kid you not. All the girls were blubbery and all the boys were trying not to be blubbery. Haha and then after the lesson, we all went out into the hall for a little break and another district was out there and they were all like, "Woahhhh. What happened to you guys?" Out district leader Elder Hunsaker said, "Brother Mansfield Elders and Sisters, Brother Mansfield." And then there was a simultaneous "Ahhhhhh luckyyyy." And then they said something about how all they've been doing for last our was talking about drug stories in the Philippines. I don't know exactly I wasn't listening. The point is though! The spirit was crazy and we are so lucky to have him as a teacher!

How did Aaron's game go?? I hope he played a lot and did well! And Jake too!! Yeah Mrs. Candland sent me a dear elder! It was so sweet! Sounds like the orchestra is HUGE this year! So that's good! Plus an exchange student form China! I <3 Asians. 

Good news! I might possibly be able to play a violin just for fun during my personal time today! That would be a dream come true because people play instruments at the devotionals and it makes me miss my violin. 

I don't think I really have anything else to say! I'll try to send pictures again today! Hopefully they'll work! OH! I need a camera card reader!

TODAY!

My kasamaaaaaaaaa

Elder AndersEn in his lavalava...the only other Andersen I've ever met!
He is also going to another mission in the Philippines 

Okay I love you all!! Hope your week went well and next week is even better! Don't get discouraged with school! Trials are an indication of the Lord's favor for us!

Mahal kita!

Sister Andersen

Saturday, August 17, 2013~Week 1
Provo MTC; 9:55 AM

KUMUSTA PAMILYA!!! I hope everyone is doing well at home and everyone loves their new teachers and class mates at school! When does college start for Nick? Anyway, I LOVE THE MTC!! It's so amazing!! The spirit is like nothing else here! Like really. 

There are 6 girls and and 6 boys in my district and 24 people in our zone plus the two district leaders and two sister trainer leaders.

My kasama is Sister Sims! She's from Las Vegas. She's 19 and she turns 20 in December. I really like her! She's very funny and has a lot of spunk and attitude. Haha it's great. We get along really well together though! I'll send pictures a little bit later!! The other day I was made senior companion.

The language!! It was a punch in the face! I literally walked into the class and we were already learning! He did not say ONE ENGLISH WORD THE ENTIRE DAY!!! It was crazy! It is such a pretty language and I'm so excited to be able to speak it! I'm actually surprised by how fast I'm learning in it! Me and my kasama are the only missionaries in our district going to Quezon City. Everyone else is going to Loag or something. But there are three more Elders from the other district going there too. But it's kind of amazing. Because Sister Sims and I weren't originally in that district. We were transferred last minute. And I am so glad. Because my teacher Brother Mansfield is so amazing! He has such a powerful testimony and if and when he does speak in English, the spirit just overwhelms everybody. Like yesterday, we were all getting to know each other better and we were hearing the reasons why everyone decided to serve and when they decided to serve and everything. And there are three converts to the church in my district including my kasama who shared their conversion stories. So the spirit was present and everything but then Brother Mansfield started to share his story and bear his testimony and the spirit just hit everyone SO HARD. It was like a spirit bomb exploded in the room. All the girls in my district started crying and a few of the boys. I don't know. It was amazing. And he said something that kind of put the whole reason we're even learning a different language into perspective for everyone. He said that the reason we're learning Tagalog is not so that the people of the Philippines will be able to understand the words we're forming. It's so that they won't have to focus on trying to understand what we're trying to say and what we're trying to convey. It's so that they can simply focus on the spirit and the feelings they get when they hear us bear testimony. He said that when he bears his testimony is Tagalog, we can all feel the spirit because the spirit will always be there. But when he bears his testimony in English, we feel the spirit more because we don't have to think about the words. We can simply think about the feelings. It was so cool! He's the best teacher ever and it's no accident that Sister Sims and I were transferred there! I love it! IT'S AMAZING.

So I don't know if you have this already but my mailing address is:

Sister Hannah Lynne Andersen
SEP23 PHI-QUE

2011 N 900 E Unit 295

Provo UT 84602

It's just a little different from the last one.

Thank you for the donuts! The sisters in my room loved them and some of the other girls in our zone had some too! Very much appreciated! OH! And I saw Sam like a few minutes ago! He says hello! And he got reassigned to Virginia! Where the Mathesons lived for a while! Chesapeake I think? And he's sorry he's not sending pictures! Tell Sister Tenney thank you for the letter! And Darlene! And tell everyone to use Dear Elder or just write because I want mail! 

My date of departure here is September 23rd!! And I leave the Philippines on February 11, 2015. I don't know why but I got a card telling me that. Kind of depressing to get on the very first day.

I keep seeing a lot of people that I know here. I've seen Elder Tenney, Elder Johnson, Elder Kaplin, Elder Gray, Elder Emery, and maybe more but I can't remember. 

This letter is so random. Sorryyyyyy. The other day I prayed for the first time in Tagalog without looking at the guide. It was short but I did it! And we taught an investigator ON THE THIRD DAY! Whaaaaaat? That was scary business because she doesn't speak English! The scariest part though was definitely knocking on the door. We stood outside it for at least a minute and half outside of it trying to prep ourselves. We teach again today and every day I think. But Brother Mansfield keeps on telling us not to focus on the language. just prepare the lesson, do our best to know the discussion in Tagalog and then let the spirit do the rest. Sooo hopefully that's workin.

Do you wanna know what good water is in Tagalog? Mabuti tubig. That is not a lie.

For Jorgi: The ploooooooooow aaaand hooooooooooooe!

Okay I'm basically out of time. I'll see if I can send pictures later today but if not, I will send them next week! I miss you guys! But I love it here and everything's going great! I get to go to the temple at 2 today and I'm super excited! I've missed being able to go!

Okay well I love you all! Totoo po ang Simbahan!! Mahal po kayo ng Diyos! Salita ng Diyos ang Aklat ni Mormon! MAHAL KITA!! MAHAL KITA!! MAHAL KITA!!! Sa pangalan ni Jesucristo, amen!