Spiritual and Social Conversion

This week's been an exciting one. And although my brain felt fried as I tried to help my 2 new companions learn the area that I don't know fully yet, (in my mere six weeks here) it wasn't too bad. The Lord definitely blessed me with increased strength and remembering things and perseverance. Anyone who knows me knows my planning skills were dismal, to say the least before the mission, but I've definitely improved in that area in the last 6 months. We were still productive this week even though I had to lead planning and think of everything we needed to do because my companions were brand new. We got where we needed to be, we found everything okay, and we didn't run out of car allotment of miles for the month. I've also been blessed with great companions that helped me adjust to everything and are loving and supportive and great teachers. They are Sister Pugh (say pew) and Sister Harrison. Sister Pugh was in the MTC with me, and Sister Harrison has been out for 9 months. It feels like they've been here longer than just a week, but it's flown by and we're learning and getting better at working together every day.

Some fun things this week:

We've gotten to do lots of service projects recently. We helped paint a couple people's houses, (practiced my contortion skills as I painted inside a closet with shelves), put down sand and bricks to make a sidewalk, filled flower beds with dirt, not to mention the roofing we did a couple weeks ago.

The last night my companion was here she requested crepes. We were at our WML's house for dinner. So I got to help his wife make crepes. Thankfully I've had lots of practice with that (thanks grandpa S!) and it was really fun and quite delicious with nutella. 

We had dinner with an older couple in the ward, the Bailey's, and come to find out they served a mission in New Zealand! They were on the South Island though, so they said they didn't know G&G Sessions, but they showed us a lot of cool NZ things that reminded me a lot of G&G. They had a noah's ark carved by an islander and all the different animals were out of a different wood native to NZ, it was interesting and beautiful.

The highlight of the week was Sunday. We had an amazing woman come and be a guest speaker in our ward. She was in my new companion's last area, and she's a missionary guru. She had amazing experiences to share and tons of amazing insight. The main principle she highlighted are the different roles of full time missionaries and member missionaries in hastening the work of salvation. When people join the church they have to go through 2 types of conversion, spiritual and social. Full time missionaries are responsible for the spiritual part. We know how to teach the lessons, what order to teach in, how to testify, invite and build testimonies. It's all we do, all day every day. You members on the other hand can do what we cannot on the social end of things. We're in an area for a few months, which makes it really difficult for us to do the job of building friendships. Missionary work is most effective if "You bring 'em, we ask 'em" If you invite your friends to activities, and make the missionaries aware that you have a friend with you! we'll do the hard stuff, we'll invite, we'll teach, but sometimes we don't know who's who yet, so let us know if you have a friend, and tell us what you need us to do. Remember, you succeed when you invite! And it usually takes 3 Nos to get a Yes. As both members and missionaries get to understand their roles better and we work together, the work can move forward more effectively. I'm excited to increase how well we work with members. 

As someone said in the women's meeting on Saturday to not only love more but love better. I'm excited to not only work more but work better and help the members see the joy that comes from missionary work.

Love you all!

Sister Andreason

Fulfilling your Purpose and Roofing

There are some weeks where I'm better at being a missionary than others. There's days and weeks where its easy to talk to everyone, your companionship works in unity, you're working hard to achieve your goals and you see the hand of the Lord a lot in the work. There are other days and weeks (fewer and hopefully far between) where it's easy to get distracted, to loose the focus and be less and fall short of the highly effective servants of the Lord we're striving to be.

This week was one of the latter, unfortunately, and I feel like I've been stagnating a little. I'm not progressing and growing in the way I hope to, and I'm not helping others progress and come closer to Christ either. Looking back on the past week has caused me to reflect more on my purpose as a missionary and to rededicate myself as the full time missionary I'm trying to be. My purpose is to, "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." It should be fairly simple, right? If something I'm doing helps me do that, keep doing it. If it doesn't, then stop! Preach My Gospel even gives us ways to judge if something fulfills that purpose or not by some of the goals we set. So why is it hard to do that sometimes?

In relation to fulfilling my missionary purpose, I've been thinking a lot about the purpose of our life on earth. We're here to learn and grow and become more like Christ. "This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God." However, how easy is it to get distracted from this clear purpose in the bustle of every day life? It's easy to just think about the next thing we have to do, or the next place we have to be instead of remembering the commandment given to love God and our neighbor. To forget to involve God and look for His influence in our lives.

We met this guy in Target earlier today and had a wonderful conversation with him about God and his role in our lives and the way we ought to live. We talked about church and missionary work, and he said, "Well, they're 2 different things. You go to church to fill yourself up, and missionary work is about pouring yourself out." I found his comment not only very poetic, but highly instructive. I haven't been pouring myself out as much as I ought to. My sacrifice and consecration has not been complete enough to merit all the help I want and need to succeed in this great work I'm supposed to be engaged in. So I'm trying to rededicate myself and renew my focus on sharing the message of the restoration and all the incredible blessings that come as we embrace that message.

There were a lot of good things that happened this week though. In addition to me refocusing on my missionary purpose, we got to talk to a couple wonderful couples more about the gospel and hopefully we'll continue meeting with them. And I learned how to roof houses on friday! It was super fun! One of the Elders in our ward did construction before his mission and had roofed a lot before, so we went and helped one of the members of our ward repair his roof and had a lot of fun clambering over the roof and ripping staples and nailing down shingles. I love you all! Take some time and think about the ways we can fulfill our purpose in life.

Love,

Sister Andreason

Spirit of Elijah

I can't remember everything I've written to y'all that's happened to me, but one very important thing I think I've neglected to write about is that I ate cow tongue from a taco truck a couple weeks ago. It's actually quite delicious, and made for a great, very cheap taco.

We got stuck in the mud last Tuesday and had a little miracle because a family stopped to help push us out right before it got dark and started dumping buckets. On Tuesdays, we also volunteer for a food pantry and I'm the official freezer packer because I can fit everything in the freezers better than others. I think it's a skill I picked up from watching dad pack the car for trips all growing up.

We had some exciting appointments this week. We had dinner with a nonmember family husband, wife, and 2 year old (the husband is actually studying to be a minister) and we had a great time with them. We taught them about Family Home Evening, and then had FHE with them. We had a wonderful discussion about the role of Christ in our life, our favorite passages of scripture in the Bible and Book of Mormon, and some other great topics. They are just the greatest people and wanted to give us a little taste of home because they know we're far away. We played dominion with them and just talked about God. It was wonderful! I hope we can continue to learn from each other.

We had another great lesson with another wonderful woman. We had our Ward Mission Leader's wife come with us, and she was just able to really see the needs this woman had as we were teaching her and connect and testify so much more powerfully than we were able to do. You members are so great! The missionaries need your help in this great work, whether it be teaching lessons, finding, fellowshipping... you do so much :)

This week we had Zone Conference where we got to listen to our mission President had been inspired to teach us. He talked specifically about the spirit of Elijah and how important it is in missionary work. When the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith, the first thing he told him about was the Book of Mormon. The second thing he talked about was the prophecies in Malachi of Elijah turning the hearts of the children to their fathers. In missionary work the Book of Mormon is our most important tool, but Family History should be our second. There's a really amazing quote that was shared, " So often we think of our responsibility to do something for those who have gone before. We need to understand that probably one of the most important benefits of preserving our heritage is what is does for us today. If we want our problems to be solved, one of the surest ways of doing that is to search for our past, for therein we receive strength, guidance, and understanding. All of you here today are giving an added eternal dimension to your lives as you learn and study the past. We can receive strength and help from those who have gone on before. To raise our families today, we need to do family research and genealogy." (Elder John H. Goberg, Quorum of the Seventy).

We also talked about how important unity is in our ward, and the things we as missionaries can do to help increase unity (because it's a 2 way street). We also got some advice from Stake Presidents in the area on how we could be more unified and gain greater trust from the members. Some of the things they said were, "Live as representatives of Jesus Christ, people are always watching." "Members must see you as men and women of God. They need to feel the Spirit when you speak and when you are around them." "Bear witness of Christ frequently and let members know of your love for the Lord." So I've been trying to do more of that lately. I think that advice applies to missionaries, but it also applies to all members who are trying to bring others closer to Christ.

This morning I was reading in Alma 31, starting in verse 26 where Alma is praying for those he's teaching and serving with. He prays for comfort, strength, patience, wisdom and for all those he serves with individually, as well as the people they're trying to teach. It was a good lesson for me to remember the importance and powerful effect of prayers. The last verse says, "And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith." 

Don't underestimate the power of prayer and the power of your example. The Lord can do miracles with you as you ask Him for it and as you're willing to sacrifice in His service. Love you lots!

Love,

Sister Andreason

Transfers and 6 MONTH MARK!

I have come to the realization that as of tomorrow I will have been on my mission for 6 months. 1/3 of my time here in Houston is gone. It's hard to comprehend. Didn't I just get here a week ago? Somehow tomorrow marks the beginning of my 5th transfer out here and I get a new companion and I'm taking over Magnolia 2 area, all in one day. And I feel like I still have so much I'm learning here in this area and on the mission in general. I'm excited for change and growth and the chance to reflect on the past transfer and look to the future and improve.

Some highlights from the week:

One of the very Texan older woman in the ward called us up asking if we had dinner that night because she wanted us to help her eat a pizza. We got to go eat and talk with her. She's got a heavy Texan accent and reminds me a little of the grandma in Hoodwinked. Not that she's doing extreme sports or anything, but just her energy and humor.

We had a Relief Society Birthday party event. Unfortunately none of our investigators made it, but Sister Hassell and I had a line in the skit talking about all the past RS General Presidents. I was Louise Yates Robison. She was a wonderful woman and my line was her motto, "Welcome the task that takes you beyond yourself." It's a good motto to have, and something I want to do better at, to be bolder to work harder, to search longer.

We had another wonderful visit with our neighbors. They're the young couple that lives in our complex with an adorable little boy. The father is studying to be a minister and we've had amazing conversations just understanding each other's point of view more and learning from the scriptures. I'd been thinking a lot about how I could teach better when we talk to them and what the Lord wanted me to do and the answer I got was, "use the Book of Mormon" "whenever you answer a question, use the Book of Mormon as much as you can." So I did!

Our last visit he had asked us what question we had for him or what differences we had that made our church unique or that maybe they believed that didn't make sense to us. So we talked about things and asked questions and they asked us questions and it was an amazing discussion. We talked about the trinity, prophets, authority, faith, works, salvation... all these typically controversial topics. And every time we talk to them it's always full of love and a mutual search for understanding. They are one of the best examples of Christ like love and devotion in their everyday lives I've ever met. Christ is an intimate part of everything they do and talking with them makes me want to be better.

So these conversations are wonderful. It's intimidating sometimes because he's studying to be a minister and knows the Bible reeaaally well and he asks really good questions. But at the same time, it has lead me to a deeper study and understanding of a lot of those topics as I've listened to his explanation and understanding, and as my companion and I teach from and expound the scriptures and rely on the Spirit to help bring things to our remembrance. Using the Book of Mormon in our last meeting with them I think was vital. The Book of Mormon teaches doctrine and explains principles in a powerful way, and as you learn from and gain a testimony of that book, everything else falls into place. So it's been wonderful to develop such a friendship and understanding with these incredible people. I've learned a lot about faith and works that I'll have to just spend and entire email on later.

We helped paint a room a couple days ago. It was super fun because we painted the entire room the same color--ceiling included (it's slightly domed) and it was this creamy color, but then we added wall crystals which are probably one of the coolest inventions known to man. You add a couple packs of them to pain and then when its dry its a really subtle sparkle that you only see when the light hits it right. Its so pretty!

We had dinner with a nonmember family who have been taking their kids to mutual activities for the past several years. The kids are more willing to move forward than the parents, and they've all listened to missionaries before, but we hope to be able to facilitate greater understanding there as well.

We had one of our investigators come to church this week! Yay! She's been going through so many things and so seeing her at church was really incredible. We went to primary for the 2nd hour and got her 3 year old daughter adjusted and it took a little while, but she loved Sunbeams and hopefully future church attendance will be great for both her and her mom.

Things are going great here. I'm learning lots, looking to improve and grow in so many ways, and learning more and more how to rely on the Lord and do His will. I'd encourage all of you to look for ways to increase understanding between you and someone else. Whether it be about gospel subjects or other topics, feeling understood is so important in developing trust and friendship and working together. Love you lots! Thanks for all the great things you're doing.

Love,

Sister Andreason

Light, Baptisms, Transfers

So some big events happened this week. First of all, our investigator, Al, got baptized!!!! :D Huzzah! I've been to a couple baptisms in this area of investigators before, but this one was particularly special. 

My first companion and I found Al tracting way back in October. We kept stopping by and talking to him briefly for like a month, and then actually got to have a lesson with after a while of just stopping by and visiting. We began teaching him, helped him keep progressing, and then he got baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. There were a lot of little miracles leading up to his baptism too. Our building has a baptismal font, but no water heater. We'd been expecting pretty frigid water for the baptism, but just this past week, because of some other circumstances that worked out just right, they were able to install something that heated the water which was such a tender mercy from the Lord. It wasn't necessary, but it helped focus more on the spirit of the occasion. We had 19 people at the baptism, basically everyone who had a part in the program, and 6 of the 19 were missionaries. My trainer, Sister Allred got to come down for it. Although it was small Al was still so grateful for those who came and he bore his testimony at the end of the service. It was such a wonderful day.

Right this wonderful weekend where Al was able to get baptized, I got a call Sundaynight telling me I'm getting transfered! I can't say I wasn't expecting it. You get to a point in an area where you know in order to keep growing and progressing the Lord is going to make a change. I feel like the Lord needs me elsewhere and my companion, Sister Sievert, is going to keep growing best when she flies on her own. I love Spring Branch, and there are so many good things going on here. We've found a couple really good new investigators recently, we're working with some good progressing investigators, we've got a couple baptisms scheduled for the near future, but I'm excited to take the strength and momentum I have right now and bring it to my new area. I'll find out where that is and who my new companion is at transfer meeting tomorrow.

In addition to transfering to a new area tomorrow, we also moved apartments within our complex on Friday. Our new apartment is still really nice, but about $80 cheaper a month. So we spent some time last week packing, cleaning, and then the Elders came and moved all the hard stuff in less than an hour. As far as moving goes (and lets remember I grew up in an Air Force home--I've moved like 10 times in my life) it was pretty smooth. Although it definitely made me appreciate all the work that goes into moving, and we're just missionaries surviving with the bare essentials.

We've had a lot of other good things happening in our area lately. We found some great new investigators, taught some other good lessons to people we've been working with, and basically helped bring others closer to Christ which is the whole focus and purpose of being a missionary. As we remember that and as we focus on things that help us do that, life is great. I am never so happy as I am when I get to teach someone and help them make changes in their life for the better.

 

We also had a spectacular zone meeting on Friday. We talked about the principle of Light. We are beings of light, our bodies crave light. If you look at your pupil in a dark room, it dialates to allow more light in, and when there is light, it contracts to allow focus because of the available light. One of our zone leaders taught this principle in such a memberable way. He had vivid recurring nightmares as a child; in one of the nightmares he was chased by monsters and in the other he was being chased by pure darkness. I can't tell the story the way he told it, but I was scared at just the recounting of these nightmares. However, the last night of the dream where he was chased by darkness, he got to the end of the previously endless hallway and found a room with a light that the darkness couldn't overcome. He shared a scripture: 

 O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. 2 Nephi9:10

It is so comforting to know that God created light: 

 And God said Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. He didn't create darkness, but separated the light from it. God created the light. Genesis 1:3-4

I found the study and combination of the following scriptures enlightening.

D&C 93:36-37 The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one.

Matt 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

D&C 4:5 And faith, hope, charity, and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Resist the darkness. Satan is the bringer of darkness and you cannot be who God wants you to be if you allow darkness to stay in your life, if you allow Satan to have power over you. Let of go of the darkness and cling to the light. We were challenged, and I would challenge you to look for areas of darkness in your life and flood them with light. What darkness is there that you can change?

I know that Christ is the light of the world, as we draw closer to Him our lives will be filled with a greater measure of His light. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Andreason

Disc Golf, Ice and Philosophy

When I left on my mission to Houston I expected to leave snow and ice behind me in Utah and Ohio. No such luck. Although we've had alternating days with beautiful weather in the 60s, sometimes 70s, Friday we had an ice storm come through. It was just like the stuff we get in Ohio sometimes--where everything is just coated. Our car was a solid block that morning. There's a lot of roads that are built up in the air, like an overpass, but go on for miles and miles. I'm so glad we dont' drive on those because I'm sure they were suuuper icy. But I can't complain too much because I know Alaskan weather is trying to take over the rest of the country.

Last Monday we went and played disc golf with some of the other missionaries in our district. I have always been a fan of ultimate frisbee and I consider myself fairly decent at the sport. Disc golf on the other hand, I think I've tried once before and I got really frustrated because the discs don't throw the same way. After some coaching from one of the other missionaries (who has done tournament disc golf stuff), I improved a little more and didn't do too horribly. I might even do it again someday.

Tuesday was great. We had interviews with President and some other training. It was all exactly what I needed to hear. I know President Pingree is inspired in the things he does for this mission.

We went to dinner at a member's house and they had invited some friends too, which is great! I think that's the first time I've been to dinner with a nonmember there too. Inviting people over for dinner is something I would definitely encourage everyone to do; however, I would also encourage giving the missionaries more than a few minutes notice that there's going to be other people there... especially when one of those people happens to be an ordained minister of another faith with strong opinions. It was a good discussion regardless, and he has honest concern for our salvation. He's just gotten a lot of misinformation about the church without taking the time to figure out our foundational beliefs. I struck a deal with him that if he would read all of 3 Nephi, I would dedicate more of my time to reading the New Testament. Lest anyone get confused, yes Mormons belive in the Bible, and I have been studying the NT, I just have a lot of other things to read too. I've been keeping my end of the deal, so hopefully we get to talk to him again and see how he's doing with his reading.

Wednesday we had some other good lessons, and talked to this one guy on his doorstep for a while, and then continued our discussion inside. He grew up in a positive Catholic home, and thinks religion is a good thing, but doesn't really believe it. He had a lot of really interesting questions about learning truth, or how we can know truth. I tried to answer the best I could, and I was so grateful for my high school, and college philosophy classes. Mr. Raisch's classes helped me talk to people out here who pull from a lot of well-read sources. When people start quoting Voltaire, Thomas Aquinas, Dante and other things, I can at least know what they're talking about, even if I don't remember as much as I would like. One of the people who I was able to keep up with is getting baptized in a couple weeks. The other person is this guy we talked to on Wednesday. The Lord definitely knows who he sends where and has a reason for all of it.

Thursday and Friday were great. We taught both of our investigators with baptismal dates and had members come with us for those lessons which always makes them better. We endured some cold and then got another bout of warmer weather. Saturday and Sunday were not as productive as I would have hoped, but here's looking forward to doing better this next week! This week is temple week, so it's definitely going to be good. I love you all! Thanks for all you're doing to move the work along and continue coming closer to Christ.

All my love!

Sister Andreason

Vehicles and Growing Opportunities

So this Friday I was sitting in a police station contemplating the things that brought me there... there was the ride in the back of a police car (very uncomfortable things by the way) but wait, let me back up to the beginning.

Friday afternoon my companion and I were doing what we normally do, going to appointments and checking up on some people. We were driving down a road in the left lane. As we approached the light we were passing a plaza and a suburban had stopped to let a car into its lane, but the car kept pulling out into our lane without looking. My companion saw it a couple seconds before I did and screamed, I was driving so I slammed on the brakes and then BAM! THUMP. POOF! blink. blink. blink.

We were going fast enough that both the air bags deployed, but our seat belts did enough of the work that the airbags just produced a lot of smoke and dust (I guess that's what happens when the air bags deploy). I sat there a little stunned for a few seconds. I had the presence of mind to put the car in park and turn it off, but then the first thought to enter my mind was, "We need to call Elder Ohern" Not the police, Elder Ohern who is the vehicle coordinator for our mission and who you're supposed to call if you ever have an accident. So we found the phone, called Elder Ohern who immediately asked us if we had called the police. Nope. "Well hang up the phone and call the police and call me back after you call them." So we did, and by that time somebody else had already called it in and police cars showed up a minute later.

The cars were damaged enough that we couldn't drive them so they got towed off the street into the parking lot. Nobody was hurt, so we talked to the police, exchanged information, called Elder Ohern again who was coming to pick us up. The police were super nice and helpful with everything and since we were in kind of a sketch area and it was getting dark they offered to drive us back to the police station so we could wait there for our ride. The Oherns (A senior missionary couple) picked us up and took us to get something to eat.

As far as accidents go, this one wasn't bad. Our car is probably totaled, but it was one of the mission cars that was going to be retired soon, and nobody was hurt, and we were able to get a new car the next morning. The Lord definitely takes care of His missionaries.

As for the rest of this week. My beloved trainer left on Tuesday, so it's back to just 2 of us here. It's been a little bit of an adjustment to life without her, and I'm realizing things I still need to learn about the area that she helped a lot with. I didn't realize how good she was at planning things until I had to do it without her and realized how much I still struggle with that although I've definitely gotten better at it since coming out here. There's so much to keep track of. I was reflecting on my time at the MTC and you learn all the important basics of how to do missionary work, and teach people well, and increase your own spirituality, and then you get out in the field and they throw lots of other things at you. You've got to learn the area, and keep track of all the members and less actives and potential investigators, and do a whole lot of paperwork, and work with people who sometimes don't really want you there, or people who want you there but have a hard time doing anything you ask them to do.

So I've been trying to focus on the basics again. Qualify for the Spirit everyday. Be exactly obedient. Pray more, counsel with the Lord. Plan as best I can. Focus on the needs of others. Pray some more. I knew Sister Allred was leaving before we ever heard anything officially because I knew I would not continue to grow if she stayed. She'd taught me all she had to teach and I was going to learn more flying on my own with my companion who's even newer to the field than I am. I knew that this next little while was going to be a period of more intense growth, and it is! I'm learning a lot, and it's a little painful sometimes, but I know that as I keep working and doing the things I know how to do and rely on the Lord. I was reviewing some of our family's lists of New Testament scriptures today and I think 2 Cor 12:9 is very applicable, " And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." I was also studying about Limhi and Alma and their people in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 24 which teaches similar principles in the story.

As we rely on the Lord and His strength especially in the areas where we are weak his strength is able to help us more in those areas than areas where we are stronger and aren't required to rely on Him as much. So I'm going to keep growing this next week in areas where I am weak and I'm going to keep growing closer to God. I'm excited to see the enabling power of the Atonement more fully in my life so I can help others see it in their lives. "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase." "You cannot convert people beyond your own conversion." PMG.

I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Andreason

PS This is the truck we got to drive for a little while--felt like a real Texan in that thing.