PICTURES

  Happy new week!

Attatched are some pictures. Steven (Sarah's boyfriend) having band practice after our lesson, My companion Elder George Clooney, and a picture of Me with Shane, who is going to be baptized on the 29th now in stead of the 21st. Scheduling conflice. He is the shortest one in the front on the right. To his right is his brother Cameron and the kid with the Rage hat that reminds me of Brock is their friend Cameron who we might be teaching soon :) 

The fourth picture is Me, Elder Coon, Elder Firth, and Elder Andreasen (with his mouth open) I think I forgot to tell you, I live with another Elder Andreasen. Who could have guessed that there would be another one in the mission? And even more than that we live together! He is super awesome and 3 months out and already training next transfer. He's from vegas. We did the family history and we are related to them through Jens Jorgenson and then Jorgen Andreasen. 6 generations back.

 Everyone is doing well. April is progressing and came to church again. :) She has been reading and is being softened.

Sarah is doing well and she is still working towards the 5th of January. 

We started teaching Sarah's younger sister Monica too. She wants to get baptized! Haha I love this place. 

Shane is awesome and all ready for Dec 29th. His soon-to-be-step dad is doing well also. He came to church and we sat with him. He cried in every single meeting, including when his girlfriend's son Cameron was ordained to the office of a Teacher. He talked a lot about his grandparents who passed away and we told him that his time with them is not over. He was so overcome! I love that man!!!

GOtta go ya'all. Sorry :( I hope you know that I love you and I love this work!!!

Love,

Elder Skyler Andreasen

P.S. I choose Christ

Whoops, Forgot To Hit Send Last Week (12/10/12)

This week has been fantastic. Elder Coon and I have continued to see miracles in every aspect of our work. We were meant to work together. The Zone is doing well and everyone is committed to having a white Christmas. We are all excited about teaching simply and asking inspired questions. We had an amazing experience down in Lawrenceville with Elder A and Elder B. Elder Coon and I went down on Friday after zone meeting to blitz Lawrenceville with the Wakefield Elders and Elder and Sister Hoskin (Senior Couple). Elder Coon and I stayed the night there and split, I went with Elder A and Elder Coon went with Elder B. They have been having a tough time planning and studying as of late, so as we were on exchange we just started asking questions. Elder A really opened up to me and the spirit was there as I was able to testify of obedience and perfect planning and how the last 10 days of his mission can be the best 10 days of his mission. I love Elder A so much. The thing is, I don't know if I ever would have enjoyed spending time with him before my mission. Now I could be on a week exchange with him. I love him. From the sound of things, Elder Coon had just about the same experience with Elder B. We woke up Saturday and studied with them, and invited them to keep up the good work. They aren't apostate, they are just getting a bit distracted. We know they have been doing well, we have been calling to follow up. As Elder Coon and I were driving back, we were both very grateful for the opportunity to be instruments in the Lord's hands. Hopefully we have made a difference.

Our investigators are doing well also. We were so blessed to teach so much this week. We did have one of our investigators get worked on pretty bad by Anti Mormons, but we just bore testimony and moved on with literally no bashing. She wanted to bash, but we simply bore testimony of the book of Mormon and the latter day restoration. I feel that she gained a little bit of vision. From the way she was talking when we went to contact her (doing daily contact, in between visits) she expected us to just give up because she had found some great secrets that proved us wrong. It didn't even phase us and I think she respected that. If we would have bashed we would have lost her in the contention, but she felt the spirit in our reply. We are going back on Wednesday to teach again.

 

April and Adam came to church!!! That was sweet. Their kids actually behaved and it was a spiritual experience for them. Hopefully when we go back she has read even more. She read and understood the 3 chapters we gave her on the Doctrine of Christ.

 

Sarah is still set to be baptized Jan 5 and Shane Dec 21. I don't have time to tell you about it, but Shane's mom's boyfriend's sister's cousin's father's dog..... no just kidding. But really Shane's mom's boyfriend called US and asked US if we could come teach HIM. We both felt like it was a blessing of obedience and a blessing from the Lord. He has never opened up to us like that. We taught him about the Restoration and he wants to be baptized! We also taught a girl named Rachel who wants to be baptized! She read us a journal entry of the first time she read the Book of Mormon. It was powerful. We invited her to be baptized right then haha and then moved on and taught the rest. It seems as though everyone we have been teaching is super prepared. I feel overly-whelmed (overwhelmed) sometimes. The windows of heaven are open, and he blesses his children every time they obey.
We are so BLESSED to be missionaries! I am so blessed to be in VA. I am blessed to have Elder Coon as a companion. I am so blessed to have family like you!  I can't express how grateful I feel. It's impossible anymore.

-- 

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

p.s. I choose Christ

WE ROCKED THE HOUSE

Hello Family,

 I love you all so much. I can't tell you how uplifted I feel reading all of your emails!!!!!!!

This week has been ROCK SOLID. I have never had so much FUN!!!! (Elder Miller came up from Chessapeake for leadership conference and I made sure he stayed at our apartment) :) Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10am - 4pm was leadership conference. Lunch included. It was an amazing conference! It seems like there wouldn't be enough to talk about for that long four days in a row but boy did it go fast. We learned about the Doctrine of Christ and the Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion on Day one, Revelation through Church attendance and Revelation through prayer on day 2, revelation through the Book of Mormon and "Teach people, not lessons" on day 3, and finally we learned "we invite, they commit, we follow up" and "How to begin teaching" on Day 4 with a 2 hour testimony meeting at the end. Every night of conference we had the opportunity to go out in the areas where we were staying in Richmond and apply what we learned that day. WOW what a week. Almost half of our Zone went to the conference, myself included. Lucky for Elder Coon and I, we live close enough to just stay at our place and work in our area. We are only 20-25 min from downtown Richmond. So, out of the 4 days of leadership (or nights, because that's when we could work) we taught 7 lessons and set 2 PEOPLE FOR BAPTISM!!!!! I really wish Elder Coon, Elder Miller and I could be companions. We ROCKED THE HOUSE. I was so stoked. Our whole zone almost doubled their normal efforts. We are feeling a warm excitement from everyone.

 

I have learned a lot from Elder Coon. He is still my hero.

Quick miracle update before I gottago!

#1 Remember Sarah and Steven? Sarah got the green light from Bishop Mabe and President Perry and will be baptized on Jan 5th :):):):):)

#2 We have been teaching Shane, 11 yrs old and the most fun little kid ever, and he is set to be baptized Dec 21. His Mom is a member and her boyfriend came to church and we will teach him this week

#3 Logan, YSA in VAbeach, called me this week and said "I got my testimony, and I want you to baptize me!" haha I will be going back January 12 for that.

#4 I got the clear to go back and Give Josh Debres the Melchizedek Priesthood :)

#5 One of the Young men in the Swift Creek Ward brought his friend Rachel to church again and we will meet with her on tuesday. She said "my parents are baptist, and it just doesn't feel right. I feel like this church is right."

#6 We had 5 investigators at sacrament meeting and we didn't know what to do with ourselves. The ward helped out and fellowshipped and we are just overjoyed.

 

We have been focusing this week on contacting every investigator daily, planning perfectly, and following the Spirit. It has really helped us to take care of those investigators that we already have so that The LORD understands that we care about them. The day we made that a goal as a companionship, 3 or 4 potential investigators fell into our lap. We are perplexed at the blessings of doing the small things right.

 

I gotta go :)

 

Love, 

 

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

P.S. I choose Christ