Monday, October 27, 2014~Week 63
Cainta; 1:27 PM Mon (PH); 11:27 PM Sun (US)

Heyyyyyyyyyy guys! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!  (I can't believe it's been a year since I last said that in an email. #weird) So first off, I got my new companion! It's my very first Polynesian! Her name is Sister Sauni and she's from Samoa! She's 20 years old and sings like an angel and is so super sweet and I love her! Haha  She's in the batch with my anak. So she's been out for 6 months BUT here's the thing! She's sooooooooooooooo good at Tagalog! I know for a fact that I was NOTHING like her at that point in my mission! She's so amazing! And I keep telling her how amazing she is and she just giggles and gets all shy. Haha she's kind of quiet right now but she won't be soon enough. We'll get that crazy to come out of her. :)

Trike rides man. #theyrethebest  
Sister Zollinger, me, Sister Garcia, and Sister Sauni 

Okay so I have the best news in the whole wide world and I'm so excited to tell everyone this because it's so wonderful and are you readyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???? DALLIN H. OAKS IS COMING TO SPEAK TO US ON FRIDAY!!!! So yeah that's the best Halloween I'll ever have in my life! He'll be here on Wednesday at the MTC for a youth cultural event and then on Friday he's coming o speak to our mission! I could not be MORE excited! An apostle of the Lord is coming to speak to US! This is exactly what I need. I'm so excited because I know that I'll just get a flood of revelation and I know that right now is the best time to get it so that I can finish out this last leg of my mission strong! I'm happier than a dog in a Halloween costume!Hahaha okay that's the stupidest saying ever because dogs are most definitely not happy in those things but it's the first thing that popped into my head so I rolled with it.

Me and Sister Oyler! 

My anak!!
She's actually serving right now in my first area!

So last Wednesday we had Zone Conference and it was the best Zone Conference I've had yet on my mission!  I was overwhelmed with how much revelation I received. I've never taken so many notes and received so many answers to prayers and questions in any other meeting my whole mission as I did this time. And the over riding feeling that I had was that the Lord is truly hastening His work and I need to be right there with him which means that I've got to step up my game. I really felt the need to change my teaching and be more bold. Because I'm a literal representative of Jesus Christ and so I need to truly use that power and authority that I've been given to help God's children come back to Him. There's so much more that I wish I could say but time is just so limited! And I left my notebook at the apartment so that's quite the bummer. But seriously! I just really really loved Zone Conference and felt the spirit so so strongly. And once again, I want to express my gratitude for President and Sister Revillo. Especially President. I've just really come to feel that he's my dad here in the mission and I know that no matter what, he is always there to offer love, comfort, and support. He truly truly cares about all of his missionaries here. And because he is so good at what he does, it just makes it that much easier to feel Heavenly Father's love for me. Everyone needs to just LOVE their mission presidents and their wives because they're the BEST! :) 

I just liked this cute little rocking horse. 
So I took a picture of it.

 And then Sister Garcia decided she wanted to ride it. 

Well, I don't have much more to say this week. I'm just lovin everything out here. I fall in love with the people more and more each day. My heart is just so much HERE and I'm so glad that that's the way it is. Everything else just melts away when I think about my purpose here and I can't help but smile quietly to myself when I ride in jeepneys or trikes because I just love being here and wearing Christ's name every day. It's glorious!! 

TODAY

Thanks for EVERYTHING! You're all amazing!! Hope you all have a great week and fabulous Halloween!!! Miss you but not too much!! LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU!!!

Sister Andersen

 Me and Strebs. Love this woman.

We're so darling. 

Monday, October 20, 2014~Week 62
Cainta; 4:32 PM Mon (PH); 2:32 AM Mon (US)

Hello there! So.... sooooooooo much has happened since last Wednesday.

TODAY

This has been one of the most difficult, most tiring, and most sacred weeks of my whole mission. So last Thursday morning, I was doing my personal study and then President called. Long story short, Sister Fewster is returning home to England on Medical Release. When President called on Thursday morning it was to tell me that I needed to take Sister Fewster to the MRC {Missionary Recovery Center} and that she needed to pack everything up. At that point we didn't know that she would be going home. We only knew that she would be staying there. So there were many tears shed on her part. The APs came and picked her up that day and then President texted me later that night and told me that she would be returning home. The first thing that we asked was if we could go and visit her before she left and he said that would be fine and he'll let us know when we could. And then on Friday morning, he texted and asked us if we wanted to just go spend the night with her at the MRC and keep her company and so of course, we said YES!! So after proselyting on Friday, we packed up some stuff and went over to the MRC.

 I've never seen the temple at night! Isn't it pretty?

She didn't know that we were coming and so when we walked in, she started crying because she was so happy to see us. And then when we told her that we were staying the night, she cried ever harder. :)

And here's a quick happy side note. At the MRC, it's not against the rules to watch Disney movies. And so do you know what we did?? WE WATCHED FROZEN!! THREE TIMES!!!

F R O Z E N

Hahahaha I almost DIED because I was so happy!! It was the best experience of my life!! It's the cutest movie EVER!!!! And now I understand why EVERYONE told me when it first came out that I reminded them of Anna. Because I fall and trip and bump into things and I'm super awkward around boys. The whole time I was just watching the movie and thinking, "Oh my gosh. I feel like I'm watching myself." Hahaha gooooood times at the MRC.

 I might have been just a little bit excited....
{Garcia, Zollinger, me, Fewster} 

The Elders were confused as to why we watched it three times in a row but who cares about them. We were happy:)

But the really amazing part of this whole experience was Saturday morning. We woke up and the senior couples there made us breakfast and then after breakfast an Elder there was supposed to give a spiritual thought and it was PERFECT. Because he too is going home early on medical release. He chose a scripture that talked about the sons of Mosiah being satisfied with their mission and he talked about how even though he's going home early, that's how he feels and he knows that he's given everything he can and the Lord is pleased with his work. He said before he felt angry and so sad that he was going home but then he read that scripture and was over come with peace and comfort that the Lord isn't asking anything else from him. And then the senior sister, Sister Carly, added something truly amazing. She talked about how those missionaries that are going home early don't need to worry. She talked about Abraham and how he was asked by the Lord to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham willingly obeyed even though it was hard. But, the Lord stopped him before he finished the task. She told the missionaries there at the MRC that that is exactly what the Lord has said to them. He called them to serve their missions to test their obedience. And even though they knew before hand the trials they would face, especially since they had medical problems, they willingly obeyed. And now that they've proven their loyalty to the Lord, the Lord has stopped them in their missions. He's told them that it is enough and now it's time for other things. I can't tell you how grateful I was to that Sister for sharing that. Because I held Sister Fewster in my arms the night before as she cried and cried expressing her sorrow for the fact that she's not finishing her mission and that she feels like she's failed the Lord. It was a different experience that morning as I held her when she cried because she knew that she's given everything she can.

Our cute crying faces. Haha

The most spiritual experience for me by far though was as we all knelt down in prayer before we left the MRC. I was asked to give the prayer and I've never felt the spirit more strongly. I knelt there holding Sister Fewster's hand just weeping as I offered that prayer. I could feel the spirit guiding me and I could feel Heavenly Father's love stronger than I ever have before. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity and blessing that I had to be with Sister Fewster even for that short week. She is so brave and so strong and I can't wait to hear where the Lord is going to take her next. I'm going to have to give more details about this week when I get home because I can't even describe it in an email. Just know that I'm so so SO grateful and feel so blessed. I love Sister Fewster with all my heart and I know that the Lord is so proud of her work. Prayers in her behalf are beyond needed.

That's all I have time for today! Thank you so so much for everything!! I love and miss you all like crazy!! Time is going by so fast and I just wish it would slow down a little bit! I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to be serving my Heavenly Father and His beautiful children here in the Philippines!! Have a great week!! Make someone happy!! LOVE YOUUUUUUUU!!

Love, Sister Andersen

Is this a lion, a dog, or a bear #youdecide

 This is Elder Lindsey aka Elder Disney. He's o b s e s s e d.
His normal handwriting is the Disney font. 

#jeepneyrides

Wednesday, October 15, 2014~Week 61
Cainta; 4:36 PM Wed (PH); 2:36 AM Wed (US)

Hellooooooo!! So sorry for the delay. They didn't tell us last week before we emailed that our temple day was today and so I couldn't forewarn you. But I'm here now so all is well!

So this has been q u i t e the week. First off, for everyone who asked, yes I very much do love having a Brit for a companion. It's the beeeeeeeeeeeest. And yes of course I copy her accent all day and I was already pro at British accents anyway so #holleratyourgirl Fun fact! Sister Fewster is actually a Filipino! She was born here in the Philippines but then was adopted by people from England. Her real parents died. She doesn't have any other information than that. But she's okay with it because she loves her family so so much and she feels so blessed that she was adopted into a family that had the gospel. She's the sweetest lil' thing in the whole wide world and we're gonna have a lot of fun this transfer! I'm super excited to be with her! :)

#filipinosize 

General Conference was A M A Z I N G!! I still can't believe how fast it goes as a missionary! Whenever it ends I'm always sitting there like, WHAT?? IT'S OVER?! It just started!! I loved everything about conference! I loved all the messages about how much our Heavenly Father loves us. I feel like that was really stressed this conference. And I LOVED how much the speakers testified of having a living a prophet and how important and essential it is for us to follow his counsel. That's just SO important. And that's something that I've definitely gained a stronger testimony about since I've been on my mission. Our Heavenly Father is so completely mindful of us and to prove it, he's given us a prophet to lead us and guide us in the right direction so that we may ALWAYS be sure of what we need to do in order to return to His presence. It's a miracle!! AND how amazing is it that now people can speak in their native tongues?! That's the best thing I've ever heard of!! There's just a power in being able to teach and testify in your own language because that's where you're comfortable and even if people aren't understanding everything you're saying, the spirit works the same. I was so excited about that! I hope that one day they'll have a Filipino speak:) I don't have a lot of time to make a ton of comments but some of my favorite speakers were Lynn G. Robbins, D. Todd Christofferson, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, and of course, our dear Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Quick experience though! On the Saturday afternoon session they were having troubles with the DVD they had been given that had conference on it. The English version didn't have any sound! So, they had to play it in Tagalog. And I almost cried because I knew that the Tagalog translation is SUPER deep and that they talk really really fast. I was soooo sad because this was conference! This is the thing that's gonna pick me up and keep me going for the next months! So I said a silent prayer and begged Heavenly Father to just please help me understand a little bit and feel the Spirit. And a miracle happened! I understood what they were saying! I mean I didn't understand EVERYTHING but I got the gist of what they were saying. It was my own little miracle. {But I can't wait to get the Ensign and read what they said....}

Hello moon.

But I have a BIG HannsBoNanns moment that I need to share. So on Sunday, I woke up and I had a fever of 100.4 degrees and I was like Oh shoooot. Whyyyy?? Today is Conference!! But I just got ready and went anyway and all day I felt pretty crummy and I could feel that I was getting hotter. And so after Conference was over I asked our District Leader, Elder Osores, to give me a blessing. {Side Note: It was the first blessing I've received in Tagalog and it was so beautiful! My favorite part was that he promised me that when I wake up the next morning and for the rest of my mission I would feel Heavenly Father's love for me and I would feel the Spirit guiding me.} So I got the blessing and then we headed home because I needed to rest and we were in the house for literally maybe 34 seconds before my amazing HannsBoNanns skills kicked in. I was walking into our bedroom and there just happened to be a nice little extension wire there and of course, I tripped right on it. So as I was tripping I tried to take another step but then my other foot hit the fan in front of me and so now I'm just falling! Haha so I'm falling and my stomach gets stabbed by the corner of my desk and then my face just SLAMS into the books right there, like HARD. And then like .5 seconds after I fell, I tasted blood in my mouth and I was like, "Ahhhhh man!!" And so I ran to the sink and continued to spit blood for a solid 3 minutes because...... I had completely punctured my lip with my teeth!! IT. WAS. SO. DEEP. It was absolutely disgusting to look at. We were all afraid I was gonna have to get stitches. But we just put some ice on it and I laid down and thought to myself, "Hanns. You're a mess." So that was Sunday night and on Monday morning I woke up and my lip was HUGE!! I screamed when I looked in the mirror!! It was covering up the top portion of my lips!! I couldn't even talk! And I still had a fever!! So needless to say, we didn't go out in public. Because fevers and big fat punctured lips do not match the message I am bearing as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Haha BUT! Today it looks GREAT!! You can barely tell that it's a little swollen and it's scabbing up nicely!

Yeah I wasn't feeling too great about life. 

So that's my HannsBoNanns moment!! And I got on Monday night and wrote a song about myself. It's an unfinished composition. There will be more to come. Here it is: {To the tune of Part of Your World from Little Mermaid} {And 'sugat' in Tagalog is like a general term for like a scar or a scratch or wound or injury or something. #tagaloglessons}

Look at my lip, isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my complexion's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl, 

The girl who hurts everything?

Look at my legs, sugats untold.

How many sugats can one body hold?

Lookin' right at me you'd think,

"Yep, she's cut everything!"

I've got scratches and bruises a plenty.

I've got bumps and mosquito bites galore.

You wanna see scars? I've got 60!

But who cares? No big deal.
Four months more!

TODAY

And there it is! I'll add more when I have time:) Anyway, it's been a great week despite the craziness of it all. I feel so blessed that I got to go to the temple today. It'll be my last time for the year. They just changed the rules. We're only going to go quarterly now. They told us that our work is for the living right now, not for the dead. It just goes to show that the Lord is really hastening His work and He needs us more than ever. So the next time I'll step inside that beautiful place will be in January. I'm counting the days.

Well, that's all I've got time for today! I love you all so so much! Thanks for all the love and prayers! I feel them constantly! You're all the best! Do something wonderful for someone this week! I'll talk to you on Monday! Have a great week!! LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!

Love, Sister Andersen

Tuesday, October 7, 2014~Week 60
Cainta; 1:26 PM Tues (PH); 11:26 PM Mon (US)

Greetings loved ones. {Isn't that like the first line in California Girls by Katy Perry? Sorry... it's just that when I typed that, I heard a creepy voice in my head saying that line and I'm pretty sure it's from that song.}

The view from underneath the payong.
{payong=umbrella} {#tagaloglessons}

Anyway.... hello!! So first of all, it's transfer week. Good news! I'm staying in Cainta!! Bad news. Sister Wiradi isn't. She's headed to Morong.

My cute kasama.

Her new companion is Sister Sanders who will be dying after this transfer. My poor little companion has been with missionaries who are going home her entire mission! She's had 2 kabahays and 2 companions that she's only spent one transfer with before they died. And this will be her third! She's so kawawa! But it's okay. There has to be some sort of hidden purpose. I'm really really sad though that we only got one transfer together. I was hoping for at least two.

#wearesoprecious

Hello

I LOVE Sister Wiradi so so much. I learned sooooo much from her. She has the most amazing gift of truly loving the people that she serves. She has the capacity to love the whole world! She's soooooo sad to be leaving. She's been here for three transfers and this is only her second area. So I completely understand how she's feeling. But I know that the Lord has a purpose for everything and I know that she will work miracles for Him there.

 What does one do when all your groceries explode in the elevator?
 #selfie #selfies4lyfe

Yeah so this happened....our grocery bags broke
 and everyone's groceries fell. Haha #ithappens 

MY new companion is Sister Fewster! She came into the mission the same time as Sister Wiradi so she's still fairly young. And from what I've heard, she doesn't have the greatest self confidence. I was told by Sister Garcia that she needs a little bit of love. So I'm super excited becuase I met her for the first time like a week and a half ago and I already l o v e her!! PLUS!! She's from England!!!!! SHE HAS A BRITISH ACCENT AND I'M SO BLOODY EXCITED!! This is only a dream come true! No big deal! It's gonna be greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat. :) 

 So there's a subdivision in my area and I'm obsessed with all the street names! They're all like this!!
(Cycling, Relax, Tennis, Marathon, Bowling Lane...)

 So I just wanna share a few things from this past week. On Sunday, Sister Wiradi and I were feeling awfully down because NONE of the investigators that we had worked with came to church. Not. One. And we were so confused because they ALL said that they were coming and there was absolutely no reason as to why they wouldn't be able to. I was a little upset and hurt and I didn't understand it. But I testify that the Lord does not leave us comfortless or fruitless if we have been laboring. So like I said, not one of our progressing investigators came to church. But, by the grace of our loving Heavenly Father, five new investigators showed up to church. What in the world?!?! Blessings come when you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. That's all I want to say. {And we found out that one of our progressing investigators actually DID go to church, just to the wrong chapel. Haha so that was a blessing as well since his baptism is coming up this month.}

Sister Doucette, Sister Garcia, Ryan {our Gospel Principles teacher},
Sister Wiradi, and Me  #owls #inhonorofme 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!
Thanks for the date ;) #hershey

The Polidario family!
One of my FAVORITE families in the ward! They are soooo amazing!

 A member gave us a cake last night.
 #theywereexcited  #andtheyenojoyedit 

One more thing that I want to share from this week. Last night we were teaching an investigator who is really struggling with something. And he keeps praying for Heavenly Father to answer his prayer and give him this thing that he desires so badly. And we had THE most powerful lesson EVER about humbling ourselves before the Lord and giving our desires up to follow His will for us. He was being stubborn and saying things like, "Why doesn't God give me this? He gives so many other people the things that they pray for and they're doing bad things. I'm just asking for this little thing. If He really loves us all so much, why isn't he giving me this? You said I'm His child and He loves, but that's hard for me to feel when He won't give me what I'm asking for." And then Sister Garcia looked him straight in the eyes and said with SO much power "GOD LOVES YOU. Stop questioning Heavenly Father's love for His children. He. Loves. You. He is not deaf to your prayers. He hears every single one even though your prayers are just on repeat and not entirely coming from the heart. You think you're the only one who hasn't had their prayers answered? Have you asked the people on your side if they have unanswered prayers? I have prayed for twenty five years that He would let me meet my real father and to this day I have never seen my father's face. But I will not lose hope, I will not stop praying, and I will not EVER question His love for me. He hears us. He hears you. He loves you. Don't ever question His love again." It was SO powerful. And then we committed him to pray to have the strength to let go of his desires and accept the Lord's will for him. It was the BEST lesson ever. 

TODAY

I love them.

#threesome

And that's all I want to say before I go. I testify that Heavenly Father loves us all so much and will not ever leave us. He hears every single one of our prayers and in HIS time and HIS way, He will answer them. I know because I experience this every single day on my mission. I can't tell you how grateful I am to be a missionary at this time. I watched my kabahay leave as she finished her mission and it was hard for me because I can feel that my own mission is coming to a close. I still have three transfers left and I'm going to give everything I have. I'm going to come home dead tired. And I will come home with the absolute knowledge of our Heavenly Father and His love for each and every one of us. Don't ever forget that you are His child. Rely on Him for EVERYTHING. Don't ever let yourself believe that you don't need Him. I promise you, you do. Give yourself to Him and He will take your life and who you are and make a masterpiece! A work of art like nothing you've ever seen before! I'm so grateful for my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for all of you. Thank you SO much for everything you do for me! I miss you all but I'm so happy here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Have a great week!! LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU!!!

Love, Sister Andersen