Week 70

Week 70

This week was defiantly an interesting one! Got to love missionary work!

I'm happy to be living life large here in Trinidad. Trinidad is pretty awesome. I love the people here. The ward is really strong. The upside with us is that here people have cars and can fulfill priesthood duties. We teach as much as we can. I think the record for lessons in a week is about 9. Not too many. I'm going to break that record. Guess what. We found SUSHI it was sooooo good! I got a California roll. 

Our new assignments is pretty crazy. we have like a 10 page paper on everything. Its kinda "in tents" like Lehi. We plan zone conferences. Help with transfers. call people all of the time. people call us all of the time. Just a bunch of stuff like that. We are in the office a lot on the computer doing referrals and crazy stuff. Elder Rose and I get along great! There is one other Senior couple that works here. But they go home in January and we still don't have anyone with OMP's (Work permits for Trinidad) We will see if we move the office to the Islands or if they make us do it all. 

To start things off this week we have been really praying for a white Christmas. We have a lot of faith that it will snow! JK a white Christmas is to baptize a family during Christmas time. We've been really working our hardest to have that. Pray for us! We have been working in our contacting area really hard to find families. We've found a few, but need to keep looking! Even the prophets had areas Alma 6:7-8 Our contacting area is called San Juan. It's awesome! I love it there. 

We have been preparing to have Elder Alonzo (of the 70) to come and tour out mission. It's been all good until last night when the internet stopped working and we needed to update a lot of stuff. But we got a temporary fix and things should be back up and running just now. But it's because Elder Rose and I prayed that it worked. :)

Next week will be more exciting with Elder Alonzo and stuff. 

Richie a dude we were teaching in Guyana got baptized this week! 

Love you all!

-Elder Andrus

Week 69

Week 69

Wow! This week was crazy! I loved it. We had such a blast! Elder Rose is awesome. We get along really well. He is from SLC, Utah and he loves tennis, Lord of the Rings, adventures and missionary work. He is really cool. A lot happened this week, so I'll give you a day by day.

Tuesday: We had what we call New Missionary Orientation. It's pretty fun. Our mission is very different and its a lot to take in sometimes. That's why we do the orientation.

Wednesday: Today we had what we call a departing devotional. All the missionaries leaving fave a testimony, had a nice dinner, asked "going home" questions, and watched a "movie" of all their mission memories. It was really cool and sad to say goodbye to some of the best missionaries ever.

Thursday: We had a meeting with President Egbert about lots of stuff. In November we are having Elder Alonso (General Authority/gave a talk in conference) come and tour our mission. We are really excited!

Friday: We had another meeting with President. We also spent most of our time in the office doing all kinds of paper work and awesome stuff like that.

Saturday: Office all day!

Sunday: Church was really awesome. We go to the Port of Spain WARD and it was awesome to meet so many new people. We finally taught our first lesson today too! It was great. We learned more about the 1st vision. We read JSH 1:15-16 and analyzed each phrase and learned more about God from each phrase. It was awesome. I love when he says, "I found myself delivered from the enemy". That is possible for all of us too. Because of God and His love. He sent His son Jesus Christ and because he worked out a PERFECT atonement He knows that we need help with and how to deliver us. I know this is the truth. 

I love you all! Being an assistant is scary. A lot rests on us but, Christ makes me stronger.

-Elder Andrus

Elder Andrus answered some questions and I thought it would be fun to include:

How is Trinidad different than Guyana? 50 years of technological advancement. Much more modern! There is a McDonald's here what?!!? and tons of KFC's too. 

Do they speak with the same accent? Mostly

What do you like best in Trinidad so far? We have a car that is really nice. (Rav 4. Her name is Emma Elder Rose) We can buy food. It's fun to get to know all of the Elders and Sisters.  

What do you miss most about Guyana? Besides the people? I miss the branch in Georgetown. I love them a lot. 

Have you found places to use your card? Yes! I bought some more socks and a pair of shoes.

Have you gotten me a nativity? :D Not yet. I've bee looking for a good one. I have one in mind.  

Do you like it there? Why? I like it here because it is a new challenge and it's a fun new life. 

Excited about a McDonald's! 

Week 68

Week 68

Well everyone, this week has been an interesting one. I have been humbled with a new opportunity this week. I got a call from President and He has called me to be his new Assistant. Kinda crazy. I hope I do a good job...pray for me...I need it big time!

I've already moved to Trinidad and I'll be working with President on running this thing! Should be awesome. Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers. This week was also kindof sad, I don't like saying goodbye. But it is where God wants me to be. Elder Rose is going to be my new companion,. I've only met him a few times and I don't really know anything about him! Next week will be more informative. HAHA

We know God's plan for our salvation and happiness. There once was an apostle named La-grand Richards, he was in an interview with someone very important. He got a call on his phone and if his phone rang it was really important. From the perspective of the man getting interviewed Elder Richards, he seemed really happy. Almost excited! When he asked E.Richards what the phone call was about he told him he just got the news that his brother died. He was so happy because he understood the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation. 2 Nephi 9 is a great place to start to learn about His plan. 

Court was good. Our attorney showed up and got permission from the court to fix the thing and get back to them about it. It should be going good. I may have to go back. 

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Andrus

Week 67

Week 67

Gratitude. If you want to really be grateful for our life come to Guyana for a week then you will see about how much we really have. I want to take you and the family here one day. That would be so awesome. 

Well this week was a little crazy! HAHA It's always exciting to have something new happen. We went to Trinidad for MLC this week forgot to tell everyone about that sorry. I forgot. LOL we had a great time we learned a lot about how we can more effectively lead those that are around us. It was really awesome. Pres. gave us a discourse on Angels. It was SO sweet. I had a pretty cool experience about angels. Ask me about it when I get home. It's not an email discussion. I'll tell you what though, D&C 13 is real!0t

I love the Egbert’s so much. It was crazy to be fed by an American Mormon Mom again! Well we get it a lot but she made us American food so that was super weird. We also had Little Ceasar's pizza up there! Trinidad is crazy! It was fun to go and have a little “Vacation” its weird to get on planes and not be going home lol. 

When we got back we had to take an Elder to the Airport again because he is going to get surgery on his hand. He cut it bad on a fence. 

Well, this week My spiritual experience was with Richie. He is such a boss. I love him so much. We didn’t have very much time to teach him this week but we did get to see him a few times. He had a death in the family and he was ok. But we still taught him about the power of the Atonement and how Christ has made resurrection possible (Mosiah 16: 7-8). It was a great lesson because it was really to needs. It was awesome. 

Well that is about all that happened this week. I'm sure there will be more next week. Next week is also transfer calls so that will be exciting. Thanks for all of the words of encouragement I love it when you send them to me. It makes me fell like I'm standing up on the inside. 

Love you all so much have a great week!

Love,

Elder Andrus 

Week 66

Week 66

Wow this week has been a busy one! We went on lots of teaching visits and were doing tons of other stuff too. It's all right! We love it. My focus this week is on General Conference. I love Conference and I learn so much! This conference was particularly amazing! 

(Sat. Morning) Elder Oaks talk was perfect. Exaltation is a family matter!

(Sat. Morn) Elder Pingree's talks was great. We all have a great work and he gave us 4 steps to fulfill it.

(Sat. Afternoon) President Nelson's was cool. I've always enjoyed him sharing his thoughts. 

(Sun. Morn) Elder Bednar's talk was really great. I love what he said about time and space. 

(Sun. Morn) President Eyring's talk about the "yellow angels" was cool!

(Sun. Aft) Elder Callister's talk. Wow. Drop the bomb! The was awesome! 

Anyways those were some of my favorites! I hope everyone enjoyed conf and learned a lot. I know I did. Conference makes me a little trunky!

Love you all!

-Elder Andrus

Week 65

Week 65

This week was exciting. Not the most normal week, but a good one. 

On Wednesday this week we had Zone Conference and that was awesome. We've been getting a lot of new missionaries lately, so the conference was for them. It was still a great reminder. We talked a lot about teaching the first lesson. Around here we do things a little bit differently, instead of telling people in the first 10 minutes of meeting them about Joseph Smith, angels, and golden plates, we take things a little bit more slowly. We find out what they believe and we testify of the truths that they already know so that we can build off of what they know. 

On Thursday we went to court to explain our understanding of the situation. I went to court, and the magistrate said the charge. I then proceeded to explain everything. What we understand is that the van is licensed as a "mini bus". However, mini buses are only used for commercial use and we don't use it for that purpose. So we really aren't in the wrong. It's just how you interpret the law. So at GRA (Guyana gov. places) we are going to get an official interpretation of the law and take it back on the 13 of October. So that was all. It was a few minutes and that was it.  

The rest of the week was awesome too. I went on some teaching visits with Elder Ortega and Lopez. We had a fun time, they are both brand new and already great!

Kevin came to church this week and Pres. Egbert was there too. They talked for like 20 minutes. He got a shout out in President's talk. It was really cool. Kevin understands the atonement really pretty well. He is a good kid. We love him!

Thanks for all the extra prayers this week. I've needed them. It was awesome to drew from your strength. 

I love you all so much!

-Elder Andrus

Week 64

Week 64

Wow, this week was so busy. So I'm going to make a long story short. 

On Tuesday we were on a teaching visit, and then got a call and had to take an Elder to the airport early in the morning. On our way back we stopped because a car backed into our lane. Then a motorcycle ran into the back of us. The guy was banged up pretty bad and jumped in a car and drove to the hospital. 

After all of that we went to the police station and we were doing some paperwork and we found out that I have the wrong licence to drive the van. So they put me in jail. I'm being dead serious, I got thrown in Jail, more of like I got arrested. I had to come get bailed for $20,000. 

Then as we worked out some more things I actually wasn't driving illegally! I have to go to court this week. On the same day as Zone Conference so we had to move that. 

It's rough sometimes to be a missionary. LOL I love it so much! I've had a lot of spiritual experiences this week as we are teaching and things, but I'm short on time. 

If you have questions, I'd love to answer them. MOM DONT FREAK OUT!!! It was all pretty fun in the long run. We will see what court brings and some other things that haven't happened yet.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

-Elder Andrus

(Sorry these are sideways)