The Lord Loves Me

PART I-So, yes this is a mass email. And let me explain myself, I know that God loves me. Really really. You see, I wanted so bad to start my mission like the month early, and turn 19 in the MTC, but no...He knew better than I did. He sent me out in July. I spent two months in the MTC, which just so happened to be during the Winter here in Argentina. I arrived right in time for spring ( I spent one of my Two mission winters in the MTC) I was so happy with that, that I would only have to endure one full winter in Argentina. But no He has shown me his love.

INTERMISSION-Well, for those of you who know me well, I do not like the cold, in fact, I DESPISE the cold. Just explaining why this is so neat.

PART II-I have just been transferred to work in the Mission office for at least the next 6 months(Which just so happens to be the end of fall, and all of the winter). I will be leaving the office again when it is spring outside. I have truly seen His love for me in my mission.

CONCLUSION-I just thought you should all know, that I am in good hands.

ELDER ANDERSEN
Chase Andersen

This week.....

Well, what can I say for this week? Really nothing new. We baptized Ricardo, and that was exciting. But, this week we just met several crazy people, or met people with crazy situations. We had random people come up to us in the street and introduce themselves to us. Then, we had 8 guys from the Argentine National Guard walk onto the church basketball court. So, we played with them, and then jotted down their addresses and phone numbers. We have been trying to work out the drama thats going on in Acha. There are tons of people that havent been to church in a while, and they all say the same things. But, the ward just wants us to reactivate them, and baptize new people. LESSONS TO BE LEARNED: Home teaching and visiting teaching is important. 2. Know why you go to church(P.S. It has to do with your baptizmal covenants, and your desire to follow Christ)The scriptures really are such an amazing blessing we have. We can study the very life of our Savior, and truly understand what matters most in this life. So often, we get caught up in everything else thats going on that we forget where true happiness lies. I want you all to know that the Book of Mormon truly is amazing. I love it more and more everytime I open it. There is always something to learn, and I know that if we are really reading it and studying it, we cannot forget who we are and where we stand in this world. It truly is the keystone of our Religion. There are so few people who actually know what it is. I have really just had a passion for sharing what it is this past week. The Gospel truly is exciting, and we are so blessed to have the full, and complete truth. We did divisions with our Zone Leaders last week, and there is always so much to be learned from these people with so much experience. We had a way fun day, and very busy. This week we are planning on traveling 3 hours in the opposite direction of our house to do divisions in another little city with some Elders in our district. So much going on, yet I feel like I have so little to say.Anyways, thank you all so much for your support and your love! ¡Cuidense! Les quiero. Elder Andersen Yeah for El Libro de Mormon
Ricardo the Day of his Baptism

Elder Fedderson in our Pole hugging contest

She doesn´t want me to send these pictures to you, but this is the sister in our ward that does everything for us.

Another Week

We pounded it hard this week. We were just going to town. By the time friday night hit, we were already limping back to the house. We just were beat up. But we found lots of great people this week. We were knocking doors, stopping people in the street, and just going crazy. There was not 10 minutes that went by that we werent teaching a principle to somebody. We just were pumped to go out and get working. This has actually been my best week as far as some of the results, and the number of new people we found to teach.Sunday came along, and my comp got a little down, because he saw how small this ward is. Well, its technically a ward, but doesnt have the assistance of a ward, nor the help of a normal ward-so he was a little disanimated. But its all good, we are still going to go after it. We met some crazy people, some funny people, and some really great people. My comp was actually a little afraid of this Old Guy named Omar. Omar just had a ¨special¨ liking for my comp. It was kind of funny. This is my companion Elder Aldridge, and Miguel who we baptized.
My lovely operated stomach, with the stitches still in.

The first package I actually got from my family in Argentina!

His Name is Elder Grout, he is a lot like Ryan Swallom( My cousins Husband)

Once wierd, always wierd. I guess not even being a missionary changes that.

The true secret to being a successful business.

I stayed with these guys every sunday night for the last two months. Dahl, Mcfall, Grout

Yeah...I am kind of a big deal!

Hello Everyone!

Well hello everyone! New transfer, and I am stoked. I have a new companion from Idaho. He has about 16 months in the mission, and is known for being a hard worker. I am way excited to get down to work with him. Though...he is a BYU fan, and you all know what that means to me. haha. As for my other companion, Elder Aldridge, he is on his way to Alaska. Jumping from over 100 degrees here, to far below zero there. I do not envy that of him. As far as the packages that you sent for the Christmas season...I have kind of lost hope that I will receive them. I do not have them as of yet.This week was fun, and eventful. We ate pigs head for lunch on Sunday, and that was alright. There was a lot of fat surprisingly. I really thought it would be hard to have meat, let alone fat...but it was there. Yummy! Then, me and the Hermana Zwanger had an ice cream eating contest. It was awesome, we were egging each other on and taunting each other. I have a video, and I will try to send it to you at some point. We will have to see. As for some of the work, A man named Ángel is getting into the church swing. Kind of funny because his wife told us that he would never listen to us, and now he is asking questions, and has been to church like 5 or 6 times. But, there is a catch. He is not married to her. This is a common situation here, and we are always working with people who are living together. And they always seem to doubt, but we all know that it is a blessing for them, so we keep pushing for it. Something that has really been pushing me in the work lately, and been helping me to be more successful, and to not fear talking to people, is a simple phrase, ¨Its just the truth¨. We are just offering people the truth. So, we have been walking through stores, and stopping people in the street, and we have been finding many more people that are interested. Also, when we teach people, we do not teach them lessons and principles...we just explain them the truth. A lot of times you will find it easier to try to pad tough principles. But as we learn from so many examples in the scriptures, and modern day prophets- the spirit testifies of truth. And if you have the spirit with you, the spirit will do the testifying. Its not the missionaries doing the work-we just have to keep ourselves in shape so that the spirit can be with us. I am loving the mission right now, and I am amazed how fast time is blowing by. I remember it just like yesterday when I thought it was crazy I was six months in. Now I am closing in on 8 months...a third of my mission is done. It goes so fast. Really does. Thank you so much for all the support and the love.

Your in my prayers,

Elder Andersen

Hello Everyone!

Well hello everyone! New transfer, and I am stoked. I have a new companion from Idaho. He has about 16 months in the mission, and is known for being a hard worker. I am way excited to get down to work with him. Though...he is a BYU fan, and you all know what that means to me. haha. As for my other companion, Elder Aldridge, he is on his way to Alaska. Jumping from over 100 degrees here, to far below zero there. I do not envy that of him. As far as the packages that you sent for the Christmas season...I have kind of lost hope that I will receive them. I do not have them as of yet.This week was fun, and eventful. We ate pigs head for lunch on Sunday, and that was alright. There was a lot of fat surprisingly. I really thought it would be hard to have meat, let alone fat...but it was there. Yummy! Then, me and the Hermana Zwanger had an ice cream eating contest. It was awesome, we were egging each other on and taunting each other. I have a video, and I will try to send it to you at some point. We will have to see. As for some of the work, A man named Ángel is getting into the church swing. Kind of funny because his wife told us that he would never listen to us, and now he is asking questions, and has been to church like 5 or 6 times. But, there is a catch. He is not married to her. This is a common situation here, and we are always working with people who are living together. And they always seem to doubt, but we all know that it is a blessing for them, so we keep pushing for it. Something that has really been pushing me in the work lately, and been helping me to be more successful, and to not fear talking to people, is a simple phrase, ¨Its just the truth¨. We are just offering people the truth. So, we have been walking through stores, and stopping people in the street, and we have been finding many more people that are interested. Also, when we teach people, we do not teach them lessons and principles...we just explain them the truth. A lot of times you will find it easier to try to pad tough principles. But as we learn from so many examples in the scriptures, and modern day prophets- the spirit testifies of truth. And if you have the spirit with you, the spirit will do the testifying. Its not the missionaries doing the work-we just have to keep ourselves in shape so that the spirit can be with us. I am loving the mission right now, and I am amazed how fast time is blowing by. I remember it just like yesterday when I thought it was crazy I was six months in. Now I am closing in on 8 months...a third of my mission is done. It goes so fast. Really does. Thank you so much for all the support and the love.

Your in my prayers,

Elder Andersen

Up's and Down's

Well, my time with Elder Aldridge could be one of the most growing times in my life. I get upset at him inside, but I look at it from an outside perspective and I love him for it.He is very convinced that I will be given a lot more responsibility next transfer( in 3 weeks). With him being so convinced, he has decided to take the responsibility upon himself to prepare me for that ¨Responsibility¨. Yeah, one might ask what that means... So, although he has a year and a half more time in the mission than I do, he feels that it is time for me to do things. He makes me plan for daily things(I know it sounds simple, but when you have a list of twenty people that you are trying to bring salvation to, and some are progressing better than others, and they live all over the place, you have to decide who you are going to see that day, whether you are trying to get someone to progress, or someone to continue, and to be effective with your time, and to be making the right decision...I can´t lie, its a little overwhelming sometimes). He will sit back and make me teach people, talk to people, and organize everything. If I have a question on how to do things, he simply advises me to go to the one who knows everything, that is pray.The bishop of the ward calls us to ask us some questions about how to do things in the ward, and my companion just passes me the phone, and has me explain it. It is so crazy.. It is so strange that me, Brett Andersen, 19 years old am asked some of the things I am people here treat the Missionaries so different. I mean, its so interesting that I just jump out of young men's, and a year in a college ward, and now the Bishopric is asking how things need to be run in a ward. All we missionaries know is what we have seen. There are some missionaries in the mission that are missionaries, but also the Branch President(So they really are in charge of it all). I often kneel down at nights, and just pray for help. I am only 19and so much is expected of me, by the ward, the members, investigators, and my Savior. If I can tell you one thing I have learned so well in these past three weeks, is my true reliance upon my Father in Heaven. I have been so humbled having no idea what to do, or how to do it. Elder Aldridge will teach lessons, but then he will let me loose to teach the next thing. The reliance on the spirit in this time is incredible. I mean, if you know who I am, I always have something to say. ALWAYS! But I have had so many times this week, where I just have nothing, and I just look at Elder Aldridge, and he just smiles and winks at me. Then, I follow the scriptures advice-Open your mouth, and it shall be filled-I have witnessed that more than a few times. I think I had started to be a little too confident in myself, and so I was put to a humbling. Also, you can see the work of the adversary every day in our work. You watch what he tries to do to tear down your confidence, or work on our investigators. It seems like every single time there is a baptism, the week before, especially the day before and the day of, there are problems everywhere, doing whatever can happen. I can´t even explain all that happened this week as we approached the baptism of Miguel. It was crazy. This week we went to town talking to everyone. We started just sitting next to people on their front porch, and start talking to them. I just want you to imagine just some random two guys in shirts and ties coming up to your front porch and sitting down next to you and start talking to you. Surprising to me at first, we found a lot of good people.Then we went to a members house because she was making dinner for us, but wasn't quite done. We didn't have a whole lot of time, but we just went and got to know her neighbors. We didn't really talk to much about the gospel with them, but we planted some seeds. They now see us MORMONS as normal people and not as crazies.We found this wonderful lady and her daughter this week, and they honestly didn't have much interest the first time we visited with them. But the second time was awesome.They had a lot of questions about doctrine, and they were so impressed with the fact that the Book of Mormon answers so many questions. The spirit was really strong in that lesson, and you could tell they felt something different. This week has definitely been a roller coaster week. With ups and downs, including some of the Highest highs, and lowest lows. The mission is a crazy thing, and definitely a time where you learn about yourself. I really am grateful for this opportunity I have to serve my mission. Thank you all for your support, your emails, and your prayers.Until Next week,Elder Andersen
Chase Andersen

Hey Everybody!

Hey everybody! I is doing GREAT!I am now all good and ready to walk. I have a good four inch memory of Argentina that will always be with me. I know...you are all very jealous, but what can I say. My mission is unique to me...hahah. No, we managed to get out and get a little bit of work done this week, and do some divisions with some other Elders. Dahl, and McFall. True KAPOS! We actually had a very good week even though our work time was limited due to doctors orders...Well, we worked a little anyways. And now Miguel is going to get baptized this Saturday. We have been working with his family,and his Older Sister and Brother got baptized about a month ago, and now he wants to go for it. We are very excited for him, and are glad that he has the support of his mother and siblings. We are working with the Mother and the Father. She is a member, and was inactive, but the missionaries before helped to reactivate her, and now we are working on completing the whole family. :) Then we found another guy this week, and his name is Ricardo, and after his first time in church on Sunday, he has a baptismal date for the 21st of February. That will be the last Saturday of the transfer. What a way for Elder Aldridge to finish his mission, no? His last day in his last area, he is going to Baptize a way awesome guy! I am way happy for Ricardo, he was definitely ready. There is a little downside to this area, we don't have a whole lot of help from the members with investigators. But we are trying to improve that, and we will see what we can do to get some members excited about missionary work. Don't get me wrong, the members are great! I love them, and I am excited to have more time in this area. I am glad I am finally going to have a full week in the area. Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf, and all of the emails of support that I have received. I love you all and am grateful to you.