week 93...Cagayan Philippines

Hey guys. This week was a little lower key than most. It consisted of lots of walking, lots of sweating, a few sun burnt faces, and not a lot of teaching etc. Its nothin a missionary of this church ain't familiar with though. Its summer in the Philippines and its also harvest time for the rice fields so there isn't a person any where that isn't busy as can be. On a side note... I have learned that 6 of the people Elder Costales and I were teaching back when I was in Laoag have now been baptized in my absence! Jesha May Fermin and her niece angel, Jerome and Jeremiah and Joseph Daquiaog, and Remy Dalos! As far as I know, 6 more of the people we were teaching could be baptized by the time i can ask Elder Costales at the next Missionary Leadership Counsel in two weeks!  This news makes me so happy!  Elder Cabanus and I are baptizing Leanne Gallema this weekend! So Though the work was a little slower this week, there is much to be excited about in the coming weeks!

So work was a little slower this week. On the contrary, I have learned profound spiritual principles that I still dont entirely understand. It's all just simply about faith. What is it? What on earth is it? A regular person with a regular understanding would perhaps just simply reply, "belief".  HAHAHA. Its so much more than a man's mere beliefs. There is also an idea that floats around that faith or belief in something ends with the obtaining of a sure knowledge of something, perhaps assuming that that knowledge is obtained through sight. So to put it simply, there is an idea (that I too once had) that believing is seeing, but that believing will end once you see, because faith or believe will them become knowledge... I guess this would be true if the definition of faith was merely belief in something. But that is not what faith is. Faith is so much more.  And I would like to say that knowledge, obtained through sight or by any other means (like study or experience etc), will never terminate faith. Faith does not and never will end with knowledge...

So I gotta give a little credit (actually all of it) to "Lectures on Faith" that was primarily written by Joseph Smith while teaching in the 1835 School of the Prophets in Kirtland Ohio. I highly recommend it to any Latter Saint and I promise that the way you see the gospel of Jesus Christ will never be the same. I'm re-reading it a second time and I still don't fully understand the doctrine being taught because the doctrine and definition of faith, or better said, faith in God, is just to big for a finite mind to comprehend. But as it has done for me, I am sure the Holy Ghost will teach you and help you understand that portion that you are able to presently understand. 

So I dont want to spoil faith in God for anyone cause none of you will learn from me as well as you could from actually reading the lectures. But I just want to talk a little about what I understand from faith's simple definition given by Paul in the eleventh book of Hebrews in the first verse.  'Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)  So... faith is the assurance (or hope, or belief) in the evidence (or existence) in unseen things.  And so... naturally, faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings... How so? Because we see from the following verses that "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (verse 3) and that "by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."  So not just in those verses, but many of the verse in the chapter use action words or verbs, and associating them with faith.  Faith is not only the assurance of the evidence of unseen things and the principle of action in all intelligent beings in spiritual or religious matters, but also in simple every day life... Joseph Smith beautifully explains it in the lectures themselves like this"If men were duly to consider themselves, and turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action, in them; that without it, both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity, and all their exertions would cease, both physical and mental.

 Were this class to go back and reflect upon the history of their lives, from the period of their first recollection, and ask themselves, what principle excited them to action, or what gave them energy and activity, in all their lawful avocations, callings and pursuits, what would be the answer? Would it not be that it was the assurance which we had of the existence of things which we had not seen, as yet?—Was it not the hope which you had, in consequence of your belief in the existence of unseen things, which stimulated you to action and exertion, in order to obtain them? Are you not dependent on your faith, or belief, for the acquisition of all knowledge, wisdom and intelligence? Would you exert yourselves to obtain wisdom and intelligence, unless you did believe that you could obtain them? Would you have ever sown if you had not believed that you would reap? Would you have ever planted if you had not believed that you would gather? Would you have ever asked unless you had believed that you would receive? Would you have ever sought unless you had believed that you would have found? Or would you have ever knocked unless you had believed that it would have been opened unto you? In a word, is there any thing that you would have done, either physical or mental, if you had not previously believed? Are not all your exertions, of every kind, dependent on your faith? Or may we not ask, what have you, or what do you possess, which you have not obtained by reason of your faith? Your food, your raiment, your lodgings, are they not all by reason of your faith? Reflect, and ask yourselves, if these things are not so. Turn your thoughts on your own minds, and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves; and if the moving cause in you, is it not in all other intelligent beings?"

I would add, what man every managed to build a house before first imagining it up in his mind, and planning and scheming on how he will do it step by step? And as the man initiates action based on the assurance ( or hope) of the yet unseen house, that action produces evidence as the once unseen house comes to life before his eyes. So what does these principles have to do with faith (in its longer definition) in God? Well I will let you guys read the lectures for themselves haha.

Well that is my spiritual rant for the week. I love you all!

-Elder Andersen

week 92...Cagayan Philippines

Good week!

We baptized Irene Urian, Genelyn Flores and Vhia FLores! Irene and Genelyn are Sisters and Vhia is Genelyn's daughter!  These are saints! They were found by the missionaries that we replaced. When we transferred in, they had come to church for the first time the Sunday before. We tracked them on our 2nd day in the area,there house is way up in the hills and mountains When we first taught them, both Irene and Genelyn hadn't yet considered baptism and weren't even sure they would come back to church the next Sunday.  Irene did tell us that she liked the doctrine of the plan of salvation which helped her cope with the death of her husband last October. Regardless of what was taught by the previous elders, we taught all of them about baptism. We taught them the what and the why and the how and we covered every possible thing we could about it so that they could not misunderstand it.  We had to tear down some false beliefs and concepts that they have adapted because of the Filipino and Catholic cultures to do so but we did it none the less. The effect was immediate.  The Spirit testified to their hearts that they needed to be re baptized, this time by immersion for the remission of sins and by priesthood authority only found in this church. You could see it in there eyes. We extended all three of them an invitation to be baptized and they all accepted. We invited them to come to church again as well, but they still seemed unsure they would be able because of travel and distance purposes.  The next day on Sunday, they did come to church, and to our surprise, they brought 5 others with them.  Grandpa, Aunts and nieces and nephews.  Haha we were so pleasantly surprised!

These experiences have increased my testimony in the simple and pure doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All we did was teach baptism. nothing else. like Elder Packer says, true doctrine understood changes behavior.  It worked for these three ladies, and they were so effected that they invited all their family members to church the next day without us even asking them!  We are currently focusing on teaching many people in that same compound that they live in that they have been inviting and the future seems bright for these people. We are expecting more success in the weeks to follow! 

 

Thanks especially to God and also our "Amulek" which is Irene, who is still invited more and more people in her compound each week to learn about the restored gospel!

Week 90...Cagayan Philippines

Busy I Is....

Sorry everyone! We've been real busy. Monday we had Missionary Leadership Counsel at the mission home and then Tuesday we had exchanges with the Assistants in Laoag and then we took a 6 hour bus ride home in the middle of the night. So we are doing a mini Pday right now but I don't have time to tell you all the details about my week.  We haven't seen conference yet but we will see it this weekend, and I am so excited!. This last Sunday we had 14 investigators at church! The work is exploding and I fill my faith growing as I help strengthen the members and investigators here in the area as well as helping the other missionaries to be more effective in the work!

I got to take pictures last Tuesday during our exchanges with the Santa Ana elders last Tuesday, at the very tip top of the Philippines!  Also this week I ate Shark, and a cat sized rat climbed on me in the middle of the night, and I slept on the floor.  

I promise I'll have a good email for y'all next week!

I wanted to share with you what I learned about the difference between God's plan and Satan's plan pre-mortally, and how his plan still hasn't change here on earth. And also how here on earth most of us ignorantly are fooled into following his plan to take away or inhibit our agency. Some of us ignorantly would prefer his plan over God's. Most of this might not make much sense but I hope I will have some time and remember to share with you next week!

Jesus lives and He loves us, but He also expects a lot from us!  Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And from small things proceedeth that which is great!  

Also in the new edition of the Liahona about Elder Bednar's visit to the Philippines, you can see me and my companion's picture in the top right corner of the right hand page! I'm famous!

Next week na lang!

-Elder Andersen

Week 89...Cagayan Philippines

Camalaniugan

I'm back in the boonies! Its good to be back in Cagayan. This place is kinda crazy.  On my first day in Camalaniugan it rained and was cloudy, which was super crazy because I don't think it has rained once in the past three months while I was in Laoag. Elder Cabanus and I were walking down this super long dirt trail that leads to the people that live in the mountains, and it  was right after it rained and it was still cloudy, but there was this crazy hot wind that felt like it was coming form the ground releasing all the heat because it hasn't rained in so long. Haha Im no scientist but it could be legit haha.

Camalaniugan is cool. There are just tons of Coconut tress every where, oh and rice fields as far as the eye can see. The "niug" in the word is the Ilokano word for buko, or coconut so maybe there is a reason why its called Camalaniugan.  The people here are a lot darker and rougher looking than the people in Ilocos. Its probably because most of the men are bukid farmers and work in the rice fields under the blazing hot sun all day everyday.

The apartment here reminds me a lot of my first apartment in Lasam. If any of you remember, that was January of 2016, when I was living in this old depressing, dilapidated wooden shack that was flooding from irrigation.  Don't worry this apartment isn't that bad, it just kinda looks like the other one and reminds me of it.  Its super hot sometimes in the apartment cause the Philippines, and it's also right next to the highway so its super noisy and hard to sleep. And our neighbors are these crazy people that just laugh and yell and scream and swear at each other really loud all the time. Sometimes when we are trying to sleep, but its all good. I guess I'm just kinda picky right now because I just transferred from the mansion in Laoag which is the nicest apartment in the  mission, so I guess I had it coming.  Our water pump broke a few days ago and we could shower for almost 2 days, but the district President came and fixed the pump and saved the day Halleluiah!

I love my new companion! Elder Cabanus is the bomb.com  He goes home in June so were are both in that last stretch! We have been working our tales off and the branch already likes us a ton so that's a good sign!

We started working about 5 days ago here in the new area and we have been hitting the dirt streets!  Just this week we found 42 new investigators and we found so many part member families and scattered Israel just in 5 days that I can't believed the past missionaries missed them.  We were really surprised this Sunday when 9 of our investigators came to church!  They all came in a cable car about 5 minutes late and they all walked in at the same time and the members were kinda freaking out cause they haven't seen that many investigators at church at once in a long time!  We are so excited to keep thrusting in our sickle and there is so much work to be done!

Every night this week ELder Cabanus and I have just come home and crashed because we are so tired from walking and talking and  teaching, but its great because the sleep of the laboring man is sweet!

We are baptizing the Reconoce couple this Saturday after they get married on Friday! Ill fill you in on them next week!

I love you all and remember to put your shoulder to the wheel!  We reap what we sow, and there is no substitute for good hard work!

 

-Elder Andersen

 

 

 

Week 88...Laoag Philippines

Hey friends!  I'm transferring! I have received a special assignment from President Andrada to be a "Senior Zone Leader" in Cagayan.  There are three provinces in the Laoag Mission, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and Cagayan.  Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur are relatively close to the mission head quarters but Cagayan is super far away and it is hard for the Mission President and the Assistants to handle.  Last year President called 2 additional Assistants in order to handle Cagayan but the area found out and told President that he can't have 4 Assistants, so he had to keep it at 2.  I talked with president this morning about my new calling and he told me that I am exactly what the old Cagayan Assistants were, only the name is "Senior Zone Leader" haha.  The Laoag mission has 8 zones, but 5 of them are in the Ilocos Norte and Sur provinces. Me and my new companion are in charge of the 3 zones in Cagayan because they are so far from mission head quarters and they are so geographically spread out.  So I am super excited! This is a great opportunity for me and a chance to keep stretching myself and a chance to serve the other missionaries. 

So basically I am an AP now, but minus getting to drive the cars and the office work and math and orientating the incoming missionaries haha. Which is nice because I don't want to do any of that (except driving a car).  

It's sad though to leave Laoag, especially since we have about 8 baptisms coming up for the month of April, but it's okay because I know Elder Costales can and will take care of them and see them through. Ill miss my RCs and the soon to be RCs for sure! But on the bright side I get to go back to the Boondocks in Cagayan and loose my fats and probably get some more weird sicknesses and ride on the top of Jeepnees and stuff! I'm so stoked. I couldn't ask for a better way to finish my last 4 months out here! I got 4 months left to dunk'em for the rest of my life as a full time missionary so here goes nothin!

Here are some pics from the beach when I went on exchanges with this super cool guy named Elder Mortenson. Shout out to Elder Mortenson for the cool pics with his super nice hipster camera.

 

 

Week 87...Laoag Philippines

Hey family and friends.  I'm gonna tell you some stories. That's what my family keeps saying they want to hear but I am so bad at telling stories on email but ill try haha.

 There is this guy named Arnel that I met towards the end of January while I was on exchanges with an American elder from my zone. We were finding new investigators all over the streets of Lapaz and we saw Arnel who talked to us in English and fluently which surprised us haha.  We can teach him in English which is so awesome and fun cause I can really get into the lessons and sat what's on my mind in a way that I just cant in Tagalog. I have come to love Arnel and he has been through a lot so trying to help him reconnect to God is a challenge and super fulfilling.

 Arnel Tayamen is in his mid 40's, and he grew up here in Ilocos. But when he was a teenager, he and most of his immediate family moved  to Virginia where he lived for the next 15 years. While he lived, studied and worked in the U.S. he maintained a long distance relationship with his high school girl friend, and he worked to save money so that he could come back to the Philippines and marry her and start their life together. after 15 years he came to the Philippines and married her, but after 8 months his wife died of a sickness and Arnel's world and 15 years of planning and working and saving came crashing down.  That was 9 years ago and he has just kinda been here in the Philippines taking care of his family house and working and that's about it. He is born Catholic and he has lots of doubts because of the inconsistency of the Catholic churches history with Christs teachings, but he doesn't like other churches because he says that all of Christianity owes their knowledge of Christ and the Bible to the Catholic church (which is actually pretty true).  But over time I have found that his real concerns have been he is kinda mad at God for letting his world and life's work fall apart and even after  9 years he hasn't let go.

 He doesn't really like Filipino's so I can only go and teach him when I bring Americans on exchanges haha. But over the past 2 months we have had so many intense and spiritual lessons with him where we have taught the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation and a correct concept of what faith is. He has broken down to us in painful tears a few times and there was this super intense moment one time when he was despairing and crying and I was pounding my fist on the table and trying telling him that God is good and saying, "Jesus sweat drops of blood for you Arnel!" and then I started crying too.. 

I love Arnel. He says he feels something and he can see the light again every time we come. He is a little stubborn and is having trouble dedicating time to the BoM and he refuses to pray at the end of our lessons. We almost got him to come to church when Elder Bednar came but he drove by the church and didn't go in. He doesn't like to go to church because he always remembers the pain of losing his wife but we are working with him!

This is why I don't tell stories because when I do it takes forever and I usually tell too much because I stink at summarizing them haha!

This week was dope. We baptized Michael Javier! He is 18 years old and he is the man! He is studying to be a sea man and we baptized confirmed, and gave him the Aaron priesthood all in this weekend! We also gave the priesthood to our other two recent converts, John Henrick and Michael Tungpalan!  We also had 9 investigators at church and 5 of our RCs at church so I guess you could say were happy right now haha.  We have a ton of baptisms coming up in the coming weeks too so it's so awesome right now lemme tell ya.

I'm telling you guys, this kinda stuff takes a lot of faith and hard work. The faith to find and baptize scattered Israel and to achieve anything takes a lot of faith and faith as everything to do with action in the present. We are what we do every day. We only harvest what we sow. And that's with almost everything in life. Baptizing, Working out, studying, providing for a family you name it. Faith is so important. Faith in Jesus Christ the Lord over everything else.

More next week! I love you guys

-Elder Andersen

 

 

 

 

Week 86...Laoag Philippines

 From my mom to me to you guys! IMMA DO IT

 

GABE. I'm totally doing this in 6 weeks. It's 6 weeks until Easter.  I want to finish then...Do it with me! 

President Russel M Nelson

I Studied More Than 2,200 Scriptures about the Savior in Six Weeks: Here Is a Little of What I Learned

During the January 2017 Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, I challenged those watching to increase their testimony of the Savior by taking time each week to:

• Study everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the Old Testament.
• Study His laws as recorded in the New Testament.
• Study His doctrine as recorded in the Book of Mormon.
• Study His words as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants.

I promised those listening that if they would proceed to learn all they can about Jesus Christ, their love for Him and for God’s laws would grow beyond what they could currently imagine.

What I didn’t mention during this address was that I knew this promise was true because I was in the midst of completing this very same assignment myself for the first time.

On December 1, 2016, I obtained a new set of scriptures and proceeded to begin the same assignment that I would later extend to young adults in January. When I finished the assignment six weeks later, I had looked up and marked more than 2,200 citations from the four books of scripture.

For me, to be able to accomplish this assignment was just thrilling!

Something I found to be most insightful was that the Savior was telling us about Himself through these various periods of time—Old Testament, New Testament, the Restoration period, and our day. In all books of scripture, the story is the same and the Storyteller is the same.

I have devoted much of my 92 years to learning about the Savior, but rare are the occasions when I have been able to learn as much as I did over this six-week study period. In fact, I learned so much about Him from this study that I am planning to share much of it in other upcoming addresses that I am currently preparing.

Upon beginning this assignment, I didn’t expect that this study would help me to receive a new testimony of the divinity of the work of Joseph Smith—but it did! The revelations recorded by Joseph Smith and the insights found in the Bible are amazingly consistent. It was so enlightening for me to see this in my study.

Joseph Smith wouldn’t have possibly had time to correlate and cross-reference with the Bible at the rapid rate at which he was translating the Book of Mormon—but it’s all here!

So not only do I now have a greater testimony of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but I also have a reaffirmation of my absolute conviction that the system Joseph Smith had for translating the Book of Mormon was a gift from God.

Now, I realize some of you are probably thinking to yourselves that you couldn’t possibly have time to complete an assignment like this.

I know how you feel. I thought the same thing of myself—that there’s no way I can have time to do all of this. I needed to remind myself that a comment like this is not a faith-promoted comment. A faith-promoted comment would be “I know I don’t have time for this, but I’m going to make time for it. And I’ll fulfill it with what time I have.”

Each of us who takes this challenge will finish in our own time frames. For me, much of the joy of this came from getting it all done in just six weeks. This intense study over a relatively short period of time allowed me to appreciate the complementary nature of the learnings to be found in the Old Testament, the Book of Mormon, the New Testament, and the Doctrine and Covenants.

To those of you who feel you don’t have time, if you will make a sacrifice, you will be well rewarded and very, very grateful for the change of perspective, increased knowledge, and improved depth of your conversion. I know this is true because I have seen the same rewards in my own life.

As I mentioned at the devotional, in a coming day, you will present yourself before the Savior. You will be overwhelmed to the point of tears to be in His holy presence. You will struggle to find words to thank Him for paying for your sins, for forgiving you of any unkindness toward others, for healing you from the injuries and injustices of this life.

You will thank Him for strengthening you to do the impossible, for turning your weaknesses into strengths, and for making it possible for you to live with Him and your family forever. His identity, His Atonement, and His attributes will become personal and real to you.

But you don’t have to wait until then. Choose to be one of His true disciples now. Be one who truly loves Him, who truly wants to serve and lead as He did. I promise you that if you will study His words, your ability to be more like Him will increase. I know this is true.