Sister Hannah Lynne Andersen: January 2014

Tuesday, January 28, 2014-Week 24
Quezon City; 1:51 PM Tue (PH); 10:51 PM Mon (US)

Hello there family! So good news!! I'M STAYING!!! I'm staying here with Tibs for one more transfer!! Woo hoo!! I'm super excited! I actually thought for sure that I would most likely be transferring and so yesterday I even said some kind of goodbyes to Gio and Robin and Erika just in case. Gio and Robin were so sad! You should have seen their little faces when I said I met be transferred. At least I know that I'm loved by my children right? Haha but all is well because I'm not leaving them!

Gwapo kami.

Sister Hepworth is in fact leaving though and I'm real sad about that. She doesn't even get to finish training her baby! She's going to Cogeo which is fairly far away from here. Cogeo was her second area and now she's going back. To a different part though. I'm really really gonna miss her. I love her so much! It's okay though! I'll see her in a few weeks at Zone Conference! Still..... there will be tears. Probably not until after she's actually gone though.

Our district!
STLs Wilson & Soliven
Elder Magno is our DL & training Elder Hidalgo.

Other than that though, nothin super spectacular has happened this week! Robin came to church on Sunday! I love him so much. He's super darling! When we first started teaching him, he barely said a word and when he did, we honestly had no idea what he was saying because it was below a whisper. But now he's BALIW! Hahaha he's so funny! I love talking to him because he laughs at my Tagalog and then tries to understand what I'm saying. Precious precious children. I've decided that's my calling here in the Philippines. Baptize all the children! Haha joke lang. But honestly. I've baptized 6 children and my favorite investigators are still children..... sorry not sorry that I love the little ones!

Mga bata

So in reflecting upon my time here in the Philippines, I've realized that I really have grown here. It used to be that I would look forward to p-days because I NEEDED to hear from my family and friends. That was the thing that would lift my spirits the most. But now, I don't even need to wait until p-day! Honestly, the thing that makes our days the best is when we have a really great lesson with an investigator, or we know that an investigator felt the spirit, or someone came to church, or a less active came BACK to church, etc.

Rooftops!

125th day in the Phillies yesterday!

Hahaha I had a HannsBoNanns moment today. Sooo this morning Sister Hepworth had her luggage out and then she pulled one of her older name tags out and said, "Oh my gosh this is disgusting and old! Ew!" And Sister Tibungcog said, "Can I have it?? I want it!!" And Sister Hepworth was like, "Really??" And then I said, "Hold on! If you're giving away name tags, I want it!!" And then Sister Tibungcog was like, "Noooo!! Ako na lang!!" And then I yelled, "Hindi!! Ako na laaaaang!!" And Sister Hepworth kind of just put it down and then Tibs and I jumped for it and I got it and she ran after me to get it and so I turned to run away but Sister Hepworth had just sprayed something and so the tile was wet and I slipped and biffed it real hard and fell on her luggage and the name tag came out of my hand and Tibs ran to go get it and I was crawling and we were literally wrestling for a while and I was laughing SO HARD!!!! Turns out that Sister Hepworth wasn't actually planning on giving that one away because it was her first one and I hurt my back and my knees and it was painful but SO DANG FUNNY! Probably one of those, "Ya had to be there" moments but still. DANG hilarious.

Haha...she got a wig!

TODAY!

Anyway, I'm super excited for this transfer! Tibs and I have too much fun together and so that's always a party! Haha and Sister Monticalbo's new companion is SUPER nice and super awesome! I've only met her once but she's great! Her companion this last transfer was Sister Jones! I'm happy that we're getting a nice kabahay. I've been so lucky my whole mission! And Elder Houston, the Elder I met at Zupas before I went into the MTC, is transferring into my zone and I'm excited for that! There are a lot of people leaving our zone so it's going to be SO different but it'll be great! It's gonna be a great transfer and I'm happy about life right now! It's starting to heat up again though and that....isn't as fun. Luckily, I only have to endure one summer here! I'll be going home right before the heat really hits again!

The Zoo!
This is the only picture I got before my camera died!
Sorry! It's okay though because it
was the prettiest part of the whole thing!

Keep praying for all of our investigators! Keep praying and reading your scriptures! Keep smiling and keep laughing!! Thanks for all the support and prayers and love that you give me! I'm so so grateful for all of you!! Have a great week! Love you all so much!! Mahal na mahal ko kayong lahat!

Love, Sister Andersen

Wednesday, January 22, 2014~Week 23
Quezon City; 1:54 PM Wed (PH); 10:54 PM Tues (US)

Hello my dearest family and friends!! First of all, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICKY DEAR! HAPPY DAYS WILL COME TO YOU ALL YEAR! IF I HAD A WISH THEN IT WOULD BE, A HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU FROM MEEEEEE!!! Happy 23rd Birthday!! I feel like 23 is a prime number and a prime age so this is bound to be a prime year for you! I sent you a birthday letter but it'll be late!! I'm awfully sorry that I won't be there to make you my famous paper thin crepes and a beautiful, impressively delicious cake but know that I am there in spirit and will be thinking of you all day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!:)

TODAY!

Anyway, I hope you all had a splendid week!! We definitely did over here in the Phillies! We had Zone Interviews on Wednesday and that went really well! My interview with President was pretty short but it was good! He checked my planner and we talked about my area, my investigators, my companion, and so on. I told him that I loved my area and the ward and that I really just wanted one more transfer here and he just chuckled....... sooooo not sure what's gonna happen to me this upcoming transfer. I might stay or I might go. Who knows. But whatever happens, the Lord is in it! Sister Hepworth knows for sure though that she's transferring and she's really really sad about it. She cries every time she talks about leaving here. She said that she feels like this has become her home and she's leaving on her mission again. I'm sooooooooo sad that she's going. She's actually the one person that I've been with the longest on my mission so far and we've gotten really close. I love her guts. I'm gonna miss her! That's for sure!

Erika Letada and her baby NJ!
He's three months old and a little fatty!
Here, if your baby starts crying, ya just give it some milk!

The other big event this week: BAPTISMS!!!! Woot woot we rescued 7 souls on Sunday!

BINYAG NA!

They were all baptized directly after church on Sunday and then our children were given the gift of the Holy Ghost in the Kaingin Sacrament meeting! It was so exciting! They were all so adorable and the spirit was really present there! They had the Sister Missionaries do a special musical number so we sang a Hepworth arranged version of Teach Me to Walk in the Light. Part of it was in English and part of it was in Tagalog! So the baptisms went really really great! It's the greatest thing in the world to see people that you love all dressed up in white! It's a miracle! I love being a missionary!

The other Sisters with their children Marvel and Enosencio,
being baptized, and their little brother Evando and their dad!

This morning we went to the temple!! The 8:00 am session and it was wonderful! I ALWAYS love going to the temple! Haha it's always slightly difficult to stay entirely awake but I came off conqueror! I LOVED being in the celestial room this morning though. It was the highlight of my entire week. While I was sitting there, I just said a silent prayer to myself and after I finished, I just sat for a minute. And I was overcome with the feeling that Heavenly Father is there and he loves me! He really is! The question kept running through my mind, "How could He not be?? I'm far too blessed!" I'm so so grateful for that knowledge that we have as members of this church. That our Heavenly Father is mindful of each of us and loves us more than anyone else in the entire world! I love being able to tell that to people with absolute surety! Being a missionary is so incredibly fulfilling in so many ways and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else!

Temple this morning! Aren't they cute?

Welp! We've got our zone activity today! We're going to the Zoo!! I have no idea how big this zoo actually is but it only costs 8 pesos to get in to it so we're going! Don't worry mother, I'll take pictures!! I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and support! I'm so blessed to have such amazing family and friends! Have a wonderful week this week! Happy Birthday Nick!! Hope it's a prime one!! Love you all!!! MAHAL NA MAHAL KITA!!

Love, Sister Andersen

Welcome to the Philiies!

Our taxi driver this morning had a pet lion.

These guys walk along the busy roads carrying those boxes
full of little candies and cigarettes and
sell them to the jeepney drivers.
Someone gave him this Book of Mormon.

Monday, January 13, 2014-Week 22
Quezon City; 12:16 PM Mon (PH); 9:16 PM Sun (US)

TODAY!

Hey there family! Hope you all had a wonderful week! I actually can't believe how fast this week went by! Nothing really super exciting happened this week....except for that all 5 of our children passed their baptismal interviews and are going to be baptized this weekend!!! HOLLER. And Sister Hepworth and Sister Monticalbo have two this weekend as well! That's 7 for our ward! We're so so EXCITED! The two that Sister Hepworth and Monticalbo have this weekend are two of the Balcuit children that she's been working on since she got here in July. She loves them so so much and is so so excited to finally see them enter the waters of baptism. There's another one that really really REALLY wants to be baptized but he's only 7. Haha he knows the most out of anyone though.

These are my children

So this week I got two really great compliments and I'll let you all decide which one you think is better. I obviously know which compliment is greater but it's up to you to decide. The first one I got was from our Sister Trainer Leader. Well first of all, I would just like to let it be known that she has these piercing eyes that go straight through everything right into the very depths of your soul and you can't look at her for too long because she'll probably be able to find out all your deepest darkest secrets and whatnot and that's intimidating. Haha but anyway, I was at the office last night picking up some materials and President and Sister Revillo were there and they offered us some ice cream so duhhhh we accepted. So I was eating my little cup of ice cream and I looked up and the STL Sister Soliven was just kind of staring at me and so was Sister Tibungcog and so I paused and was like, "What?" And Sister Soliven just kept looking at me and then said, "You just look very innocent." And I was kind of like...."Haha...thanks?" Because I was slightly confused and it was random and a tidge bit awkward for a sec. And then she said, "Not the kind of innocent where you don't know anything. Just very very pure." I was like oh hey that's nice. And the second compliment! I was walking down the street and I was just talking to Sister Tibungcog and then this guy that was on the side of the street just completely stops doing whatever he was doing and stares at me and as I pass by I hear him say really softly with complete wonder in his voice, "Woahhh....Emma Watson....." I was like YES! THAT IS ME! I AM HERMIONE GRANGER! TAKE ME TO HOGWARTS! I LOVE MAGIC! HARRY POTTER AND RONALD WEASLEY ARE MY BEST FRIENDS! HIIIIIIIIII! So I don't know, you decide which compliment is the greater of the two.

My Wall!

So I realized something this week. Ya know all those times when I kind of got in trouble for not really thinking things through in high school and I kind of seemed to slack off sometimes? I would just kind of go with the flow of everything and didn't really stress too much about life and if I did get stressed out it never really lasted. Well, obviously that might not have been the best attitude for high school BUT I realized this week that I'm pretty sure that that part of my personality is a gift from my Heavenly Father and it's really helped me. Especially on my mission. It's just really not in my nature to ever stay sad or stay stressed out or get downhearted about things. Life goes on and so will I! It just does not seem like fun to stay in a dark gloomy state of mind! The sun is shining somewhere in the world! I'm just really grateful that Heavenly Father blessed me with a happy, hopeful disposition because it really has blessed my life so much. I don't know if any of this made any sense to you but it makes sense in my head and so YOLO.

Got some baby powder blown in my face today.

We're going to have Zone Interviews with President on Wednesday and I"m excited but I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure that that usually turns out to be a very long day. Hahaha oh well though. And then obviously we have the baptisms on Sunday right after church! We're doing them on Sunday because one of the boys getting baptized only has Sundays off and so we're just doing ALL the baptisms with them! Everyone's so excited and so ready!! Also, MY BOYS GIO AND ROBIN CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! It's been a long time since they were able to come and we've missed them so much!! Pray for them! I love them with all my little heart!

My cute companion today!

Anyway, it's been a good week with lots of laughs and I'm excited for this upcoming week! Tomorrow is my 5 month mark!! Woot woot! I'm getting to be a big girl now! (Every time I say that, I think of that diaper commercial where they do the "I'm a big kid now!" jingle....) Okay I love you all so much and am so grateful for you! You're all the best and I pray for you every single day!! Thanks for all the love and support!!! Have an AMAZING week!! LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love, Sister Andersen

Sister Hepworth got two cockroach bites and
then got a staph infection! ewwww....

Monday, January 6, 2013-Week 21
Quezon City; 12:12 PM Mon (PH); 9:12 PM Sun (US)

Hello there family! Happy 2014!! I can't believe that it's already January! The time has really really FLOWN by! It's truly amazing! In just a week I'll hit my 5 month mark! FIVE MONTHS!!!! That means that I only have a year and a month left! What the heck?? That's crazyyyy. Sometimes it seems like I've been away from family and friends and home for soooooooo long but then sometimes I look back and I can see how time really has gone by so fast! It's a good thing that missions keep you busy because otherwise this would be a very very very long time. It's kind of nice not to have any time to think too much about family and friends and home. Keeps me focused and honestly it keeps me happy!

Anyway, this week was a really really slow week because EVERYONE went out to their provinces for New Years and so no one has been home! It was still really fun though! So on New Year's Eve, we had to be in by 6:00 pm because it was too dangerous for us to be outside because of the crazy fireworks that were taking place EVERYWHERE! And they're not like the cute little fireworks that we always do. They are LOUD. They sound like a bomb went off somewhere and I jumped ten feet in the air every time we were walking somewhere and one would go off because it would scare me so bad.

New Year's Eve with Me, Tibungcog, Monitcalbo, and Hepworth...who got bathroom cleaning duty. woot!

So we came home at 6:00 pm and we wrote letters and Sister Tibungcog got us all talking about scary horror stories and crime stuff because she loves that stuff. Haha and then we had sparkling cider and did some cheers and things. Ya know, the usual New Year's Eve happenings. And then went to bed at 10:30 pm like good obedient missionaries. I fell asleep to the sweet sound of fireworks exploding all around us. And then was awoken when World War 3 happened at midnight! It was CRAZY. It seriously sounded like a war was going on! I couldn't believe it! And I thought, "Oh yeah, this will probably just be for like 10 or 15 minutes. NO. HOURS. It was insane. Sooooo walang tulog para sa akin. Haha it was kind of fun though. And then New Year's Day happened. Good heavens I have NEVER been so full in my entire life! There's only one family in the ward that gives us dinner appointments but on New Year's, we were fed by three different families and they all had very delicious food and by the end of the night, I never wanted to eat ever again. So that's how that went! It was a good day.

Thursday! Thursday we had MTC exchanges! And I really really liked it! I always do SO much better at teaching and my Tagalog when I'm doing MTC exchanges because I'm forced! I was paired up with a Tongan girl named Sister Fetu'u. It was really fun! We were able to teach my little children, Robin and Gio, and another investigator Virgie. I just really loved it because for some reason I just have more confidence when I'm with someone who's relying on me instead of me relying on someone else! So maybe I'll train sometime in the near future? Haha who knows?

So a MIRACLE happened this week for a recent convert! She got married a couple years ago and had a baby and then her husband left. After he left, that was about the time that the missionaries found her. And she investigated the church for a whole year before she was baptized. And this whole time she's been praying that one day she could have a complete family again. She never lost faith in Heavenly Father though even though nothing ever really happened for her and she couldn't find a job and it was really hard to support herself and her baby. And then recently, she's just really really been praying SO hard that a miracle would happen and guess what?? On Christmas Eve, her husband came home!! The first thing that she did was tell him about the gospel. She told him how she took the lessons and was baptized. She taught him how to pray and now they have family prayer every night together and he had his own little miracle! He texted his boss and told him that he couldn't go back to the province because he needed to stay with his wife and his son. After he sent the text, he knelt down all by himself and said a prayer to Heavenly Father. Immediately after he finished his prayer, he received a text back from his boss telling him that that was okay and he can just work for the branch that they have here near their house! He was so grateful! And then! She told him about the temple and that they could be sealed for eternity and that she really really wants that more than anything else. And he said that he would do anything to get there. So she told him that he needed to listen to the missionaries and he said that he would! And yesterday, HE CAME TO CHURCH!! For the very first time, she didn't come to church alone! She was able to bring her whole family and she was SO happy! She was glowing!!! It was so amazing and we're so dang excited to teach him!! Please pray that he'll feel the spirit and have a desire to be baptized so that they can go be sealed together as a family! And if he gets baptized before February 11, I could still be here to see them be sealed!! :)

TODAY!

"Shout out to our ward missionary, Ivanne, who I know is reading this right now. I hope I look "fresher" today because I bunned my hairs!" :)

Anyway, this month we have 5 baptisms happening FOR SURE on the 18th! Their names are Jordan, Jhun Ray, Angela, Zeniff, and Levard! They're baptismal interviews are this Saturday! They're all younger kids and they're so excited! We can't wait! We're still working on everyone else though! Just pray for everyone! Haha everyone needs it!

Sister Tibungcog TODAY!

Transfers are on the 29th this month. I don't know if I'll stay or go but I know that if I do go, I will have left this area so much better than I found it! This area has progressed SO much since when I first got here and I feel so blessed to be here and to have met the people that I've met. I love being a missionary so so much! The time I have here is so short and I can see that more clearly every single day! Thanks for all the love and support that you give me! You're all my heroes!! I miss ya like crazy! But don't worry, I'll be home soon enough! Good luck with the second half of the school year! I know you'll all be great! You're all always in my prayers! I Have a wonderful week! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Love, Sister Andersen