Hey how is everyone? It is Monday already? This week has gone by sooo fast.
We had zone interviews on Tuesday. Our Mission has changed the OYM, open your mouth, saying to PBTW, preach by the way. To change our focus and to not only introduce who we are but to always be teaching and sharing the gospel.
They spoke a lot in Tagalog at the zone interviews and I was sitting next to Sister Jensen and she turned and looked at me and asked me what they had just asked. I told her and she looked at me like an owl and very excited. She started shaking me and was really crazy because I had known what they had said. She was very excited for me.
I got a letter from Jessica Hallum. It is really a good feeling to get letters from people that you don't expect to get them from.
Tuesday night we went to teach Denis, Renante and Delma. They live right by our apartment but they have a lot of dogs and they don't really like us. We have almost been attacked by them multiple times. So Brother Romel the Ward Mission Leader was outside so we got him to go with us. He picked up a long stick and was scaring all of the dogs. It was pretty funny. He would act like he was going to stab them or something and they would stop barking and leave us alone. We would laugh and then the dogs would start barking again.
We gave Denis and Renante an IBD for February 19th. We lost Delma because she never comes to the lessons any more. Maybe she's just not ready. They said that they feel good and feel something different when they are around the church and members. And then they asked when they could be baptized.
We did exchanges with the Sisters so I was with Sister Boekweg in her area and we were able to go to two houses who had REAL couches. The only time that we sit on REAL couches is when we go to the church. People here have hard chairs made out of wood.
I am doing good and can feel your love from all they way from the states. I love you all so much and am so glad to be serving a mission. The spirit is so very strong when you are a servant of the Lord. There are also hard times of course but you can't always have the good ones can you? Just remember that the scriptures and Heavenly Father are always there for us when we need them. All we have to do is open them and open our hearts.
Love ya Sister Kelli Anderson :):):):):)XOXOXOOX
Sunday, March 20, 2011
January 9, 2011
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| Anderson eating "Tuyo" |
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| Dead frog on road "dinner" |
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| Anderson eating BBQ chicken |
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| Brother Janito asleep in his backpack hammock |
We ate country gravy with some white toast and it tasted so good. We don't have an oven but we have a toaster oven.
The other day we were walking in a part of town called Mabanogbog, say that five times fast, and we had a dog follow us for 20 minutes up and down the street. It was acting like we were it's family or something.
Some foods that I have eaten are: lumpia which is really really really good, homemade pancit, lechon, and buko salad which is a little interesting and the other day we ate tuyo. It is small fish that is dried out in the sun and salted and I mean salted. Then when you buy it you fry it in a pan with oil and of course eat it with rice.
We got another investigator whose husband is a returned missionary so that is really good. They have been reading the scriptures and preach my gospel. She is a really nice lady and her sister we are also teaching. They are expecting their 1st child.
Our apartment is on the way to the cemetery so at least once a week there is a funeral line going right by our apartment. They are really long and normally have hundreds of people following the. They also play music as they are walking.
I am sooo excited to be here and for the coming weeks. We have a couple IBD's to give out to people and we just can't hold it in. I feel like a jack in the box person ready to pop at any minute.
We were walking trying to find a lady and we were standing outside her house thinking about where we should go next a little boy ask us what we were doing. We said that we were looking for people to share our message. He said "share" so we gave them a Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, we are going back later this week.
I love to hear from you every Monday. I'm grateful that our family has stayed active in the church and that I have parents who support me and have allowed me to make my own choices. This gospel has blessed my life so many times I can't even count. Tell everyone HI
Mahal Kita Mahal Kita Mahal Kita Mahal Kita,
Your favorite daughter-sister, Sister Kelli Anderson :):):):):):)0
January 2, 2011
We have a new investigator named Celia and she will be a really good progressing investigator because she has a lot of family that are members of the Church. She can't read very well because of her eyes and she has diabetes. But one lesson we just spent reading to her the first chapter of Nephi and it was in all Tagalog!! I was proud of myself in that I did pretty well. Don't worry my head is still normal size.
We'll our toilet decided to be sick and back up, the water pressure is not very strong. So we went to the store and bought a plunger. On Monday night we ran out of load on our phone and it was pretty funny because we were both in our PJ's and had to run out across the street to get load. It is like money for the texting. The people here don't really call because here it is more expensive then texting so everyone just texts.
Our Ward went on a Ward Temple trip on Tuesday and I tried to convince Sister Young that we could hide on the bus, go through a session and then get back on the bus and President wouldn't even know. But we decided that it probably wasn't a good idea. I miss going to the Temple soooo much. But one thing to look forward to is that when the missionaries leave they are able to go through the Manila Temple right before we leave to go home.
We taught Sister Marivic a great lesson about the Sabbath and the Sacrament. She is really great and she reads and prays and comes to church with her kids. She was one who asked to have the missionary lessons.
We were visiting Brother Janito and there was a monkey that chased Sister Young.
For Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Year's Day we all had to be in before 6pm. The fireworks were CRAZY!!!! it sounded like WW3 was going on outside. Kyle and a lot of the boys back home would be in heaven. There aren't any laws against fireworks so they make a lot of homemade ones and they aren't the pretty one with the smiley faces they are more for the noise then anything else.
I do love being a missionary here and it is helping my faith grow more each day. Tagalog is such a cool language when I took a step back and looked at it. Understanding people is still a struggle but the words that they speak are starting to actually sound like different words not just mumble jumble. The people are really nice and understanding and if anything you just smile.
We were at our dinner appointment and the one Sister asked me if I wore contacts. She couldn't believe that my eyes were really blue. And she kept touching my skin on my arm and saying "so soft" they love to touch white skin.
See ya next week!!!!! Mahal Kita, Sister Kelli Anderson
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| Anderson - bowling New Year's Eve 2010 |
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| "finger" bowling |
We'll our toilet decided to be sick and back up, the water pressure is not very strong. So we went to the store and bought a plunger. On Monday night we ran out of load on our phone and it was pretty funny because we were both in our PJ's and had to run out across the street to get load. It is like money for the texting. The people here don't really call because here it is more expensive then texting so everyone just texts.
Our Ward went on a Ward Temple trip on Tuesday and I tried to convince Sister Young that we could hide on the bus, go through a session and then get back on the bus and President wouldn't even know. But we decided that it probably wasn't a good idea. I miss going to the Temple soooo much. But one thing to look forward to is that when the missionaries leave they are able to go through the Manila Temple right before we leave to go home.
We taught Sister Marivic a great lesson about the Sabbath and the Sacrament. She is really great and she reads and prays and comes to church with her kids. She was one who asked to have the missionary lessons.
We were visiting Brother Janito and there was a monkey that chased Sister Young.
For Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Year's Day we all had to be in before 6pm. The fireworks were CRAZY!!!! it sounded like WW3 was going on outside. Kyle and a lot of the boys back home would be in heaven. There aren't any laws against fireworks so they make a lot of homemade ones and they aren't the pretty one with the smiley faces they are more for the noise then anything else.
I do love being a missionary here and it is helping my faith grow more each day. Tagalog is such a cool language when I took a step back and looked at it. Understanding people is still a struggle but the words that they speak are starting to actually sound like different words not just mumble jumble. The people are really nice and understanding and if anything you just smile.
We were at our dinner appointment and the one Sister asked me if I wore contacts. She couldn't believe that my eyes were really blue. And she kept touching my skin on my arm and saying "so soft" they love to touch white skin.
See ya next week!!!!! Mahal Kita, Sister Kelli Anderson
Saturday, March 19, 2011
December 26, 2010
Hey family,
It was so good to talk with you on Christmas. Christmas has always been a big thing in our family so it was a little hard not doing some of the traditions that I normally do.
Last Monday we had an all day p-day which was nice, we had one because on Tuesday was our Christmas zone conference and we were presenting a play and our zone leaders wanted to practice a lot before that day. We went over to the Estiller family and sang Christmas songs and it was pretty funny because their youngest son just stared at us the whole time. He would clap his hands and stomp his feet when we finished.
We had the Christmas zone conference. We did a gift exchange and I got a small body pillow. We also got to watch a movie that was not a church movie it was called, "Front of the Class" it was a good one. I filmed all of the plays on my camera and I am going to get ours from Sister Young off her camera. It went late so we didn't go out after that.
Thursday we had the Ward Christmas party and we decided that it would be a good idea to go and to support the ward and try to get some of our investigators to come. Sister Marivic and her two sons came which was really good. Brother Denis and Brother Renante also came and they are teenagers so they had fun. It was a good thing that we went because we got four referrals and they all came to the party and we contacted all of them.
O' what can I say about Saturday? Today was rough. But I got to call you so I was excited. I sat on top of the roof while I talked with you because it gets the best reception. I hope that I didn't sound sad or home sick.
Love you lots, Mahal Kita, Sister Kelli Anderson
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| Sister Anderson and new Mission Home |
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| Ward Christmas Party - Primary |
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| Ward Christmas Party Sister Marivic's 2 sons (investigators) |
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| Ward Christmas Party - Primary |
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| Ward Christmas Party - Youth musical chairs |
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| Ward Christmas Party - Priesthood musical chairs |
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| Anderson/Young Christmas Eve story time |
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| Anderson - Christmas morning with gifts |
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| Twelve Days of Christmas (12th gift) |
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| Anderson and Christmas Tree |
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| Sunset from roof |
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| Young on roof with "candles" |
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| Anderson on roof with "candles" (I thought we taught you better than to play with....) |
Hey family,
It was so good to talk with you on Christmas. Christmas has always been a big thing in our family so it was a little hard not doing some of the traditions that I normally do.
Last Monday we had an all day p-day which was nice, we had one because on Tuesday was our Christmas zone conference and we were presenting a play and our zone leaders wanted to practice a lot before that day. We went over to the Estiller family and sang Christmas songs and it was pretty funny because their youngest son just stared at us the whole time. He would clap his hands and stomp his feet when we finished.
We had the Christmas zone conference. We did a gift exchange and I got a small body pillow. We also got to watch a movie that was not a church movie it was called, "Front of the Class" it was a good one. I filmed all of the plays on my camera and I am going to get ours from Sister Young off her camera. It went late so we didn't go out after that.
Thursday we had the Ward Christmas party and we decided that it would be a good idea to go and to support the ward and try to get some of our investigators to come. Sister Marivic and her two sons came which was really good. Brother Denis and Brother Renante also came and they are teenagers so they had fun. It was a good thing that we went because we got four referrals and they all came to the party and we contacted all of them.
O' what can I say about Saturday? Today was rough. But I got to call you so I was excited. I sat on top of the roof while I talked with you because it gets the best reception. I hope that I didn't sound sad or home sick.
Love you lots, Mahal Kita, Sister Kelli Anderson
Friday, March 18, 2011
December 19, 2010
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| Sister Anderson, dad, Janeth & Sister Young 12/17/10 |
We went grocery shopping and dad knows how that goes. The mall can be a very busy place and to get home we don't have cars we ride in triks which can be very small for Americans and especially for Americans that are 5'6 feet tall. Went over to Bishops house and ate dinner. There were about 20 lizards on the wall. And I am not lying!!!! The walls are made out of cement but then a lot of times the ceiling are just what ever they can find to put up there, so there are holes and gaps. It was pretty cool. It reminded me of when mom opened the jockey box and the lizards that Kyle put in there came out. Good times.
Had District meeting and talked a lot about agency and how it effects us as missionaries and our investigators. We had a really good lesson with some of our investigators and we could really feel the spirit. It is going to take some time with the mother but we are willing to wait because we want to baptize them as a family. Baguio Mission is really trying to stay away from individuals and focus on families.
We were teaching or visiting with a recently converted family and here in the Philippines they do some things differently then we do in the states. We were talking and there little one year old girl squats, pulls down pants, and starts...We were outside though, but different. This family lives in a bamboo tree house and so they don't have a "real" bathroom, most don't here and they don't use TP either. We are trying to contact some of the less actives in the Ward which is hard because the houses here sometimes don't make any sense.
Went to Baguio. And it was fun to see the batch of missionaries that we came in with. We had a new missionary training day which did not take that long. But we had fun. And ate PIZZA!!!as close to American as I was going to get. I was nervous that I would not be able to get back in time for Janeth's baptism, but we did. She is very cute and her non-member dad was there too. He would be a member but he is in the army and is never home long enough to get the discussions, but he reads the Book of Mormon.
I have had my good days and even my really bad days. When I have my bad days Heavenly Father is kind of funny because on those days all the signs that I see and the scriptures that I read have to do with prayer and your never alone or "I never said it would be easy, I only said that it would be worth it". I could not do this without prayer.
I love you all and hope that all the missionaries in our Ward are doing well. This gospel is so true and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. My journal is a great thing and it has everything in it all from my feelings to what we did. Love you all so much and pray for you everyday. Love your missionary Sister Anderson xoxoxoxoxox
December 12, 2010
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| "chocolates" and Sister Anderson |
President Jensen just gave us the most exciting Christmas present I have ever gotten. We are able to have e-mail for one hour like it used to be 45 minutes for family and 15 for him.
I am doing good. This last week was definitely interesting. Me and Sister Nielsen were companions for four days while our trainers went to a training conference. We spent two days in my area and then two days in her area. We got chased by a dog that I thought was going to attack us. And we got lost in Sister Nielsen's area for about two hours. Such fun times. But at least my rubber shoes are now broken in!!!!!
Christmas devotional from the 1st Presidency yesterday night i really enjoyed. I took notes and loved to hear about the true meaning of Christmas as I am out here serving.
We had to drop the Ramos family because they were just not interested and they could never make our appointments. It feels awful to drop a family or investigator and you know that the gospel can help them and their life so much.
The breads and pastries here are super delicious. Good thing we walk a lot because I would not be able to fit in my clothes.
We tried this thing called Banana-que and it tasted really interesting. It is banana that they sugar and BBQ I think, but it was cold and soggy so it tasted like a "slug".
O' me and Sister Nielsen were walking along the street and this guy comes up to us and tells us that we need to meet his friends. His friend we found out is from San Diego and he is full Filipino, but doesn't speak any Tagalog. And he gave us this HUGE box of chocolates. So last week chocolate was our comfort.
Primary Sacrament meetings are the same every where I think. You always get those kids that sing at the top of their lungs and speak so loud into the microphone. But it was so cute and everyone in the congregation would laugh and giggle throughout the program.
The kids here are so very cute. They play with their shoes in the streets and are always outside. Kids in America could learn from the kids here. I also love how family is a big thing here. And they take care of each other. If someone is old and can't take care of themselves they don't send them to another home but bring them to their home and care for them.
Love you all so much and for this Christmas really really remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Always in my prayers and thoughts, your favorite daughter and missionary, Sister Kelli Anderson, Mahal Kita.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
December 5, 2010
Hey Family,
Sorry we went on a hike this morning and had to wake up at 5:30am to get there so it wouldn't take our whole day. It was really fun and I enjoyed being outside.
I am sure glad that all of my shoes are very comfy because we do a lot of walking. And last week we got a little lost. We thought we were in East when really we were in West but don't worry it was light outside.
I am kind of nervous because tomorrow me and Sister Nielsen will be companions again for four days without our trainers.
We tried cooking spaghetti yesterday and it WAS NOT the same as yours mom. I do like adobo and you all would like that too.
Christmas is right around the corner I can't believe it. It is going to be so hard to teach people because around the holidays and New Years, President Jensen likes us to be in before dark and it gets dark around 6 here.
The people here definitely know how to cook their breads and pastries.
O' we were teaching sister Marvic and there were some little girls that saw us and became very interested in what we were doing. So they came over and listened for a while. Then they saw our name tags. Their eyes lit up like little Christmas lights. They almost took our name tags right off of us. We thought it was pretty funny but had to explain why we needed them.
We haven't had any visitors in our apartment yet besides some lizards, really really small spiders and ants. But that is good.
Miss you all, but this is where I am supposed to be and I am figuring that out. Although it is hard there are people here that need the gospel and they don't know where to find it. Christ has entrusted us missionaries with this responsibility and I am going to do my best each day.
Love your favorite daughter, Sister Kelli Anderson xoxoxoxoxoxoxox:):):):):)
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| Carabow and Sister Anderson |
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| bus back to Urdaneta |
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| small farmland house |
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| Sisters, Anderson, Young, Boekweg & Nielsen |
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| Zone hike 12/6/10 |
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| "Butiki" - lizard |
Sorry we went on a hike this morning and had to wake up at 5:30am to get there so it wouldn't take our whole day. It was really fun and I enjoyed being outside.
I am sure glad that all of my shoes are very comfy because we do a lot of walking. And last week we got a little lost. We thought we were in East when really we were in West but don't worry it was light outside.
I am kind of nervous because tomorrow me and Sister Nielsen will be companions again for four days without our trainers.
We tried cooking spaghetti yesterday and it WAS NOT the same as yours mom. I do like adobo and you all would like that too.
Christmas is right around the corner I can't believe it. It is going to be so hard to teach people because around the holidays and New Years, President Jensen likes us to be in before dark and it gets dark around 6 here.
The people here definitely know how to cook their breads and pastries.
O' we were teaching sister Marvic and there were some little girls that saw us and became very interested in what we were doing. So they came over and listened for a while. Then they saw our name tags. Their eyes lit up like little Christmas lights. They almost took our name tags right off of us. We thought it was pretty funny but had to explain why we needed them.
We haven't had any visitors in our apartment yet besides some lizards, really really small spiders and ants. But that is good.
Miss you all, but this is where I am supposed to be and I am figuring that out. Although it is hard there are people here that need the gospel and they don't know where to find it. Christ has entrusted us missionaries with this responsibility and I am going to do my best each day.
Love your favorite daughter, Sister Kelli Anderson xoxoxoxoxoxoxox:):):):):)
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