Sister Hannah Lynne Andersen

Monday, January 19, 2015~Week 75

Cainta; 2:00 PM Mon (PH); 11:00 PM Sun (US)

Well. Hello there. FIRST AND FOREMOST! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICKY POOOOOOOOOO!! You're so old now it's insane! I hope you have the best birthday ever and it's super fun and you eat a lot food that you love and you take pictures and then you actualLY send them to me! Hahaha LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!

We be thuggin'.

Well, it's been an incredible week! Let me tell you why. So first of all, we had the BEST zone training I've had my whole mission last Wednesday. It was sooooooo good. It was all about the Holy Ghost and commitments and having the Spirit with us in our work and a million other amazing things. I loved the question that they asked us about our morning prayers. How was your morning prayer? How was your communication with the Father today? Was it heartfelt? Were you sincere? Did you talk to Him? Did you pray for your investigators by name? And for their needs? Or did you open your prayer, accidentally fall asleep, wake up a few minutes later and then say, "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen?" That's like having someone call you up on the phone that you've been WAITING to hear from, say, "Hello!," stay silent for three minutes, and then say, "Welp, have a good one! Bye!" It wouldn't feel good right? Our morning prayers are so important because this is the first time we'll talk to God for the day and so we need to ask Him right away for the Spirit and His guidance immediately. Our morning prayers will effect how the rest of our day goes. It really made me re-evaluate my communication with my Father and I'm so grateful for that.

My other favorite thing about zone training was when they talked about OYMing. Because we should be doing as Elder Bowen committed us to do when he came and talked to us with Elder oaks and OYM 20 people every single day and invite them to learn from us. And to be honest, we weren't really doing it. We would talk to people every day, but definitely were not giving 20 invitations to learn. But then Elder Yourglich and Elder Purificacion {our zone leaders} just talked about the Spirit of Christ and how it entices us to do good and how we need not ever fear or wonder if we should talk to a certain person. Elder Yourglich said, "It is ALWAYS good to OYM. It is ALWAYS good to share your testimony. It. Is. Always. Good." I loved it. And then they committed us to actually do the 20 OYMs a day and we were like, Yeah! Okay!! So, after that, Sister Moeakiola and I said that we weren't going home every day until we had at least 20 OYMs. So 20 OYMs every day for a week, that's 140 per week. But on Monday and Tuesday, we only got a total of 4, so we had some making up to do. But I'm proud to announce that we got 142 OYMs for the week and 16 new investigators! It was the best! I came home every single day completely exhausted and I couldn't be happier about it. And I would just like to testify that it's been one of the happiest weeks of my mission. I can't tell you how good it feels to just constantly turn to people and offer them the gospel. Not everyone is completely interested and not all of them will accept it, but I truly felt like I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary every single day as I invited these people to come unto Christ. If you look in my planner right now, you will find 142 names with addresses and numbers. THAT is a miracle. {And it's really tiring to transfer it all to the Potential Investigators from in the area book buuuuuuuut ya gotta do what ya gotta do!}

(OYM=Open Your Mouth)

Nanay turned 77 last week! So we bought her a cake.
Happy Birthday Nanay!

And I just really wanna share something that I learned last week in my personal study. I was really reflecting on something that someone said on Monday. They were talking about how it's hard when you're struggling with something and you want to talk about with someone close to you but you feel like you can't because you know that they are struggling with their own problems and you have to show that you're strong for them. And I couldn't let that go for some reason. I kept thinking about it. And then on Tuesday, I studied the Atonement for personal study and I just got this huge revelation. {At least it was huge for me.} But I was thinking about it and I just felt like they should tell that person how they feel. They should tell them that they're struggling too. We think that we have to show everyone that we're all good and life is okay and grand and we're strong and we can do it all, especially when others feel weak. We think that they will draw the most strength from our strength. But I promise, I know that it's not as effective. In reality, people will draw the most strength from our weaknesses. I know that sounds a little twisted so let me explain. They will draw strength from our toughest and most challenging experiences. Think about the Savior. When we are down trodden and heart broken and burdened and need strength, which part of His life do we automatically turn to? Do we look to the times He boldly rebuked the sinners? Or the times He cast out devils? Or the times He taught His sermons? No. We immediately look to His Atonement. We draw the most strength from the time in His life when He was the most weak. We draw strength from His most toughest and most challenging experience. Not from the fact that He was weak, but because we know that it was after that experience that He reached His fullest potential, when He became all that He could ever be. We shouldn't be afraid to let others who are struggling see that we have struggled or are struggling too, many times with the exact same thing. It gives them the hope and courage that they need to keep going because they see that we have overcome or are working too to overcome those trials with the help of the Savior. It helps all of us to remember and rely on Him and we come to realize that we can do just as the Savior did. If we bear our burdens with hope and and faith, trusting in Him, we too will come out stronger and eventually, like the Savior Himself, we will be able to reach our fullest divine potential. Just some food for thought.

TODAY

Anyway, I'm super excited for Zone Conference tomorrow but I'm definitely not super excited to bear my testimony in front of everyone. I'm actually pretty much dreading it because I know that I'm going to cry and that's just gonna be super awk. I can't believe it's already my time to do that. Bahhhhhhhhhhhh why are missions so fast??? Oh well. Wala akong magagawa. Ganon talaga yun di ba? Welp, I hope you all have a fabulous week! Nick, have a great birthday!!! You're the best eldest brother in the world. Def one of the top humans in my life. Props to you for being so incredibly awesome. LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! {All of you... not just Nick. Haha}

Love, Sister Andersen

High Five! ..... I mean six...
(Her brother asked how she went about asking for this photo. She replied:
They love getting their picture taken, It's not hard. Haha)