HOLA!

Hola! Como estas? Ah muy bien. Somos missionaros de la iglesia de Jesu Christo de los santos de los ultimos dias.

And boy do we have a message for YOU!!!

I'm glad you loved the pictures! Yes that is perfect, if I just get the flash back that'll be good. I forgot to tell you not to delete something, it was the layout of a baptismal program that we use when we make the program. If you can leave that on there that would be cool. If it's gone, no biggie I can make another one. That all works for me!

Our week was a little bumpy. Not like a "dirt road in a truck" bumpy but a "getting the purple ford escort on top of SV Hill on graduation night" bumpy. We have had some super duper stressful situations in the Zone. Some missionaries have decided to be deliberately dissobedient and it's just hard to deal with when they throw it back on us and tell us we are excercising unrighteous dominion. Man, I didn't even get mad I just got sad, I was thinking "What kind of rationalization is that?" I don't know.... I'm not going to tell you the whole situation but we did the best we could and turned it over to President and the assistants and now we are the bad guys in the mission. We don't care what Babylon says, we're working in Zion right now, no time to stop.

We don't know about transfers yet, transfer calls are on sunday so I'll be able to tell you in my next email. I really am indifferent. Well, I wouldn't say indifferent, I want to be where the Lord wants me, and right now he wants me in VA Beach, next transfer, maybe he'll want me here still, or maybe he'll want me somewhere else, so there I'll be. I've gained my own whitness that "it matters not where you serve, but how". Everywhere we go we're still just building up Zion one at a time.

We are still teaching Margie, but the friendship has stopped with the members. The past two lessons have been so dry. She told us that she thinks every time we bring another member it's just another person trying to convince her. I was like "Well......." haha we are in a way but we desperately want her to make friends and grow she just seems to be tripped up on something. It's complicated. It's always complicated, but the spirit works it out if they are willing to work it out.

All of the others are the same, Davis fam doing well, Logan broke up with Sam so we lost him, that was sad.

I went on an exchange with a spanish Elder this week and it was a blast. I have learned a lot of spanish. I couldn't pray or teach a lesson but I understand a little. I have been on a lot of spanish exchanges actually.

 Well I'm out of time. We have been taking advantage of the computer use and going over an hour just because we have numbers to do but we've been asked only to use an hour.

I know this message of the restoration of the gospel is true! The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, the reason we preach and testify of Him, is the plan of salvation. I have learned for myself that Jesus Christ is central to our salvation, creation, and exaltation. It is through Him that we can be redeemed, through His grace that we can do his work. His work and His glory is to do the will of the Father, who's work and glory is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". I am working out my salvation, as you are yours, and I testify to you that through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can become clean enough to dwell with our father again. That is the Gospel, the plan from the beginning; we dwelt with Him, we fell from Him, and we can make it back if only we will "yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and put off the natural man". I know that this church is His church. Joseph Smith was but an instrument. Do not look to Him for your salvation, but look through the prophet today and the prophets yesterday to see the true nature of God and his Son Jesus Christ. HE IS WITH YOU ALWAY,

in His holy name, even that Jesus of Nazereth of whom we read,

Amen

I Love you,

Elder Andreasen 

P.S. I choose Christ 

Sorry no letter just pictures!

Ok everyone, I just spent an hour organizing all of my pictures so that I can send them all home. I organized them into 3 folders; Richmond, Newport News and, VaBeach. I don't have time to write much more than I love you. I deleted all of the pictures from my cards and they are all backed up to the flash, so I'll send it today. You have my pictures from the past year and a couple videos that weren't deleted from before that coming in the mail so look for it! Let's pray nothing happens to it.
Thanks so much for your letters and your support!! 

I'll write more in a letter if I can.

Love you,

--

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen
p.s. I choose Christ

I Sound Like An Amway Salesman

-Fellow citizens-

I regret to inform you that I don't have a whole bushel of time today but I'll do my best!

First, a shout out to Chantel Baker, she emailed me and I saw that was good. Thanks!!! Their family is looking so Eternal!

Second, we are going to Brother Thomas's house with the zone today at 1 and I am taking a pen and paper there and I'm going to try and write some letters and send an sd card home. I have been so worthless on Preparation day! Writing letters is mental work and I just want to either lay down and sleep or go base jumping, but never sit and write. It's horrible.

Third, I got your package, thank you :) I too am glad my pen sacrificed for me I don't want to end up with my ink on the freeway and my shell smashed.

Fourth, Mom, I am SO sorry that you have to go back to ye-old way of texting. Who are you anyway? Swipe texting? I barely had a touch screen!!!!!

Fifth, No we do not get to go to the temple. It's outside the mission and Pres. Monson has said not to go. Says President Perry.

Sixth, Huey and June Called me they are so cool. Haha did Huey act like a grumpy old man? He's my favorite I love them. I told June she needed to come back to VA and make us a deep dish pizza. MMMMMMM!!

Seventh, Happy 29th Anniversary!

Eighth, The Davis family got baptized!!!!! Oh man I got to baptize Mike on saturday, then Mike got to baptize his 3 girls on sunday. HOW AMAZING IS THAT!!!! He quit smoking recently and is not turning back and they all felt the spirit as we were singing families can be together forever and it was just perfect.

Ninth, this week has been good, we had zone leader counsel on Wednesday and it was super duper good. I love those meetings. We were trained on "how to begin teaching" and Christian Courage. If you feel the need, read "Christian Courage" by Robert D. Hales. It is a great talk about how desciples are supposed to act. So on Thursday we prepared for zone meeting and on Friday we had zone meeting. I am really trying to better the way I give trainings and this one got better! Imagine that, I just tried to be myself and it worked out!

I love being a desciple of Jesus Christ and I am thankful for the opportunity we have to live at this time, today, on earth. The Church is coming out of obscurity and being established in every land, Israel is never to flee into the wilderness again, but Zion is being established EVERYWHERE and ANYWHERE there is a righteous Latter Day Saint to share some light. I am ever so grateful that we can each play a part in bringing this to pass. I am going to copy and paste something I emailed to Chantel ok? Forgive me I don't have time to write it again.

We had the opportunity last night to go with the YSA branch here to the stake center and watch a CES fireside talk by Elder Holland. WOW! He talked a lot about Israel and Babylon, how Israel always fell away and into Babylonian captivity, then humbled themselves and left to go establish Zion again. This has been the pattern of God's chosen people from the beginning. Fall into captivity, humble themselves, flee to establish zion, live as a covenant people, get prideful and fall again, and the pattern goes on. Elder Holland said that even the pioneers were the same way, they would be in captivity and flee, then overcome again by Babylon "the world" and flee again, all the way to Utah. Now, the Lord's covenant people will NEVER flee AGAIN. Zion is not WHERE we will live anymore, but HOW. By following the Lords call "Israel, Israel God is calling!" and leaving Babylon "Oh Babylon oh Babylon we bid thee farewell" to flee to Zion, or to live the way we should, we can live in the world and not of the world. We can truly salt the earth and gather Israel by doing missionary work. This church will never Flee again, we will live in Babylon and bring others out of Babylon....Does that make sense? 

So we don't have anyone on the horizon with a baptismal date, but some are definately progressing. Margie is still moving forward, Kim, Josh, and others but we are really trying to find the ELECT. Don't get me wrong, we teach all of the investigators I told you about, but truly our goal is to weed out the tares and find the wheat. "we'll gather the wheat from the midst of the tares, and bring them to Zion, from sorrows and snares" Usually it comes in the form of Member referrals :) People who's lives have been touched by a member of the church who lives in Zion in the midst of Babylon. The non-members and Gentiles among you see how you act. YOU can be the one who asks them to join in this great family. Just listen to the spirit and do what it says and you will be guided as his instrument. It is a FACT. The gospel is spread most effectively as members of the church FIND people so that the missionaries can be full time TEACHERS. Imagine how fast Babylon would fall around the world if each of the 14 million members of the church just found one friend out of all of their friends and helped them receive the restored gospel. Then missionaries could teach them all. Well, now we have 28 million members and the growth is exponential from there. I sound like an Amway salesman or something! It won't happen perfectly like that, and we can't do EVERYTHING, but we can do SOMETHING. Seek to "Establish Zion" and "strengthen her stakes" (somewhere in D+C) wherever you are. Just be a good boy or a good girl and God will use you!
Love,

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

p.s. I choose Christ

I LOST MY FAVORITE PEN!!!!!

It's a wonderful Tuesday morning! Today I studied a devotional given at BYU by Elder Holland called "remember Lot's wife". I learned a lot from his apostolic insights and his real-life application Ideas. From what I could pick out, we are to remember Lot's wife to remind us to "build upon the past, but never live in it". It was very insightful. The application for me will come in the form of forgiving and forgetting the things I have done in the past, even if they are in the recent past. I have a way of rationalizing doing something wrong by saying "Well, I did that two days ago, surely the LORD hasn't forgiven you yet, so you can just add this one on and ask for a bulk forgiveness" It sounds silly to hear it that way but hey, we never sound right when we lie to ourselves! I have made a decision just now to stop doing that.
The Zone is doing so well. I think I got impatient again waiting for the blessings of our hard work to come. The past two months the whole zone only baptized 5 people. As a leader, that is a discouraging number, but then we look at all of the potential and the fact that FIVE souls were brought to a knowledge of the gospel and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's 5 souls!!!!! We are so excited for those 5. In the month of September we will see the fruits of our labors. The missionaries in the zone have been working so hard, and they have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. We now have 17 people set with a date, 11 in September. We are working our tails off to make sure they are each contacted daily and that the spirit is there to administer a dosage of hope. We have faith and know that the will of God will be carried out this month.
The investigators that are progressing are progressing and the ones that aren't, we're working through their problems and concerns, helping them to exercise faith unto repentance. The family that will be baptized this week (Mike, Carley, Kelsee, and Kaylee) are doing so well. They have been so fun to teach and so receptive. Mike and his wife have stopped smoking cold turkey and are surviving! They are also feeding us tonight and we have a lesson. What great faith! I am so excited, before this week, everyone that has been baptized has been pretty excited to go to the temple, but I always knew that when they were a member for a year I'd still be on my mission. This is a FAMILY that wants to be SEALED in a YEAR and I could possibly BE THERE!!!!! YES!!!! What a blessing. Mike is going to be baptized and then receive the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood and baptize his 3 daughters. WOW!!
There are some highlights I guess, things are going well. Yesterday, I didn't know what to study, so I asked the question "How could I be more lost in the work?" I felt to turn to the story of Alma and Amulek. Then I read in Alma 10 about Amulek. He was "journeying on his way to see a very near kindred" and the angel stopped him and told him to turn around and get to work. He did, but what of his "very near kindred?" He just forgot about his family and went to work. Then later on, maybe verse 10 or 11 it says that all of his family were blessed. I thought that was a good answer to my question! Just another witness that I can forget about everything and focus, knowing in my heart that everyone back home is ok. I love it!

      My companion and I drove down to Norfolk to the apartment of the district leader there, and we exchanged with them, so I took Elder Dayton with me in the van back to VA Beach for the day and Elder Monibidor stayed there in Norfolk to do a baptismal interview and do some work. On the way back, Elder Dayton and I were on the freeway, going about 65, when we heard all sorts of screeching and smoke and cars flying up ahead. I slammed on the breaks and we slid a little but I let off and we stopped sliding and just slowed down really fast. There was a car ahead of us but he switched lanes rapidly and took off to the left. We saw a truck skid really close to the right side barrier and take off as well. When the dust settled and things slowed down, we were stopped behind a green suv in the middle lane of the freeway. The suv took the next opening and sped off to the right, opening our view to the wreckage of a white ford car that had run into another suv. Not too bad, but stopped nonetheless. We turned on the hazzards and jumped out of the van as the suv in front took off about a quarter mile down to the next exit and stopped. We talked to the lady in the white car (which was scrunched in the front) and offered to push her to the next exit, using our van to block the lane. We just started pushing and pushing down the middle of the freeway with cars whizzing past us, I even dropped my favorite pen!!!!!!! (I wasn't too scared, I was planning on getting it) so we push her all the way to the exit and onto the shoulder where things were calmed down a bit, and I turned around to see what? Our van, a quarter mile back, alone, in the middle lane of the freeway with the hazzards on. OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha Cars were changing lanes in front and behind it it was intense. We started our way running back up the freeway, on the shoulder, until I saw my pen........ I was STOKED!!! I was seriously planning my attack into the middle lane to play a game of capture the pen leap frog in my suit, I said "there it is!" and no sooner had the words left my mouth than a car changed lanes and smashed it!!!!!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!! So we went back to where the van and got in and drove away. Very anti-climactic.

Yes I have been out a year, woot woot! Very fun, I ate some Nigerian food. Hump day was a slow one and I'm still trying to focus haha. Anyway, I'll be home in like 10 minutes if this year goes by as fast as the last year did. Seriously, I'm just trying to slow things down and use the year to the best of my abilities so it doesn't go by in auto-pilot "CLICK" Adam Sandler mode. I don't want to be fat sitting at home doing nothing!!!!! Leave me out here!!!!!

Haha thanks again for your support, all of you.
I love you! Have a good week!!!

Love,

-- 

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

p.s. I choose Christ

p.p.s. I'll send my cards home today if possible.

p.p.p.s I have to go to a doctor my ingrown toenail is swollen and ready to pop!