O Come, All Ye "Tankful"

Hey!

Not much to say this week. Getting transferred, I'll be in McPhersen
with Elder Smack.

Super excited for this next transfer!

- Elder Andrasko

Cold as Ice

Hello! This week was freezing cold, but lots of good stuff happened too!

To start off I cannot emphasize enough how freezing cold it was, sure Utah and other places get cold, but they don't have the wind like Kansas does. And this week when the temperature dropped we got wind of 30-40 miles an hour. So when it was 5 degrees outside the windchill made it 25 degrees below 0! So yep pretty cold, we were out walking in it, had a good time, first time it snowed too!

Well anyways, there was some really awesome stuff that happened this week. First off on Tuesday we had interviews with our mission president! President McCuistion really is awesome, and super inspired, I got a ton of revelation from our interview together! Another awesome thing that happened was we had a dinner appointment with one of our investigators!

The Rodgers family! Two weeks ago Desmond, the father, asked if we had people feed us and stuff, then he offered to feed us! So we were able to go have a super awesome dinner, it was chili, then have a great restoration lesson with him and his wife! We invited them for baptism, they said they'd talk about it, but they agreed! The only problem is they went back home to Kentucky for Christmas and won't be back until the 1st or 2nd! But on the plus side he said he'd like to have a weekly dinner with us when he gets home!  

Wednesday we had Zone Conference in Manhattan, well it was supposed to be in Junction but got changed because the building was closed for cleaning. It was a super awesome meeting! We didn't get home until about 5:30 and we had dinner at 6, but we had a little time after dinner to go out and proselyte!

We made a commitment that we would invite to baptism at least once a day everyday, we missed a couple days though, and it was super awesome! Even though some of the invites were awkward and seemed out of place we were able to meet a lot more people and make them new investigators! So that went really well!

We met a really awesome lady a little bit ago, her name is Christine, anyways when we met her she introduced herself as a really bad catholic and told us to come back another time. So we came back and she wanted to know what we believed, what the Book of Mormon was about, everything! It was super awesome, she has 3 children, the oldest just turned 10 and is autistic. So we gave her a picture Book of Mormon, which she has started reading to her children from the beginning! She's hoping it will make them less crazy haha. Unfortunately she couldn't make it to church because of the weather,
she won't drive in the snow. So his week we are gonna get her super solid, and set up a member ride just in case she can't make it.

This week we have the car and we are planning to go to all the little towns in our area that we never get the chance to make it to, our dinner on Tuesday is over an hour away! So we'll be able to go to a
lot of the little towns around on our way.

Not much else going on, just cold and windy. Transfers are just a week away so we'll see what changes come next week!

Kansas is awesome! I love it here so much! I can understand why Dorothy says, "There's no place like home!"

Have a good week!

- Elder Andrasko

#LightTheWorld

Hello! Things here in JC are awesome!

This week was awesome! Well besides the weather, it's been getting
real cold. It actually snowed for the first time this year! Luckily
for us it was our week with the car, the "new car". Man I can't
emphasize enough how nice it is to have this car. Anyways this week we
went on two exchanges, was supposed to be three but the last one got
cancelled.

A big focus of our week was finding new investigators, we've been
struggling to find new people. So on Tuesday we started, and at the
end of the night we had found what seemed to be a miracle. His name is
Nick, and he knows a lot about the church already, mostly what he's
heard from his fellow soldiers. And at the end of our lesson he
accepted a baptism date! But unfortunately when we went back a few
days later he said he didn't want to change religions or anything, but
that he was still willing to read the Book of Mormon. Well at least
it's something

Wednesday was the first of our two exchanges, and I went into the JC
Branch area for the first time since I've been here! It was pretty
exciting, got to see how the other side lives. 

Thursday was super awesome! So we had dinner at a member's house on
Thursday and when we got there they said they had invited someone
over. Well it was the 2nd oldest girl's boyfriend, and the father is a
Stake High Counselor and had been talking to him a lot about he
church. So much so that he wanted to speak to the missionaries. It
went really awesome and he wants to work towards baptism! We have
another lesson with him at their home this Thursday. His name is Blake
and he's super awesome.

Friday was round 2 of our exchanges, this time I got to stay on the
ward side of town. It was also the ward Christmas party, a few of us
missionaries made our own nativity, pictures included. Friday we also
started a new investigator challenge, as a district we were to try and
find 16 new investigators in two days. Well we ended up crushing it
and moved the goal to 24, we ended with 25. So we focused a lot of
those two days on finding, and centering our teaching on the Book of
Mormon.

Saturday was a sad day, there was a "funeral" for a sister in the
district who finished her mission today. She didn't know about it, but
we made a casket, and the Brinkerhoff's (senior missionary couple)
made an obituary and Eulogy that was read there. We also had some
lunch. It was actually really funny, but she didn't think so. Later
that night we were out and hadn't had much luck, so we promised the
Lord we'd knock 10 doors before dinner, we'll a few things came up and
we only had 15 minutes before dinner. So we literally sprinted to
doors to knock in them, and it turned out really well. There was a few
people who were legitimately interested! So we'll see them again this
week.

Sunday might have been the most awkward, embarrassing, day of my life.
So the Brinkerhoff's volunteered all the missionaries to have a
special musical number during sacrament meeting, well none of us are
musically inclined, a few of us can play piano, but not a single one
of us can sing. So that was exciting, sorta. But it is not an
experience I will soon forget, nor one that I will soon repeat, even
though we did because we sang in the ward and the branch.

Anyways things are going super awesome and I'm having a great time,
this time of the year is really awesome for missionary work. Remember
that every member is a missionary so don't be afraid to help! Or
invite someone to hear the message of the gospel, oh and
#LightTheWorld is cool too, so do that.

Anyways love y'all!

- Elder Andrasko

What Child is This?

Hey! This week was pretty great, did a few exchanges, taught some
people, and did missionary work.

This week we talked to every single person we saw, but unfortunately
it didn't bring forth much fruit. We didn't find very many people who
are interested. But that's ok, when things start getting hard that's
when the miracles start. Satan definitely has been working hard on us
this week, but as long as we keep pushing forward we'll see crazy
miracles.

Wednesday we went up to Milford, Kansas to see the Delgados, I'm not
sure what it is with that guy, but he just won't commit to baptism! We
went super hard with him, we were super lovingly bold and told him
that he would get blessed for it etc., but he still said no! I think
it is because of his Catholic dad, and he's afraid to disappoint him.
We'll keep trying I guess. Later we went on splits with the Zone
Leaders, so we double covered our area and saw a whole bunch of
people. Elder White and I went biking, it was a little chilly
especially with that cool wind. We only met a few new people, and one
of them wanted to bash hardcore with us. But luckily we had an excuse
that we had to go to dinner. And we did! We went out a recent convert,
well a convert of just over a year, who just got called into the
Branch Presidency. His name is Ossie and he is one of the coolest
converts I have ever met. We went out to Freddy's and got some steak
burgers, there was 6 elders there so it was a missionary feast!

Thanksgiving was a pretty awesome day. Mostly because of the amount of
food we got. We were on a p-day schedule on thanksgiving, so we
started out doing some laundry. Then all 4 of us Elders went to the
park to play some basketball. We were out for a few hours, it was
pretty fun. Then we went to the church for our first Thanksgiving
dinner. The senior missionaries in Junction put on a Thanksgiving
dinner for all those who don't have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with,
like people who has a spouse deployed. So we ate, helped the kids do
some crafts, and played games.

After the first dinner we went on the Army base for our second dinner.
It was who the assistant ward mission leader and one other family. It
was a little awkward because there wasn't enough room on the table for
all of us, so Elder Stirling and I had to sit in he next room. It was
kinda like we were at the children's table haha. But the food was good
so I don't really care haha. After eating and talking for a few hours
we went to our last dinner of the night.

We were pretty full so not much food for us, we mostly just ate
dessert, pumpkin and pecan pie. It was pretty great stuff. We did go
over again the next day for lunch, and the day after for dinner. Just
helping people get rid of their leftovers!

We've seen our two miracles from last week, Carrie and Frazier. Well
Frazier is his last name, I guess Army guys like to go by their last
name. We had a really good lesson in the Word of Wisdom and told them
that they need to live it if they want to get baptized. They are super
awesome, hey just didn't come to church yesterday. So we'll need to
work on that one too...

So Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was the official kickoff for
#LightTheWorld. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely watch it, its
worth it. And it was also the day of the day of he annual Junction
City Christmas parade! So what a perfect opportunity to hand out cards
and let people know about #LightTheWorld. We also took some pictures,
see below.

Saturday is always a busy day. We start off with volleyball with
whoever wants to come, then we move to soccer. Then we move to
missionary work. Well we were late to soccer because we were helping a
member with her Christmas lights. We were going to make a trip out to
the small towns around JC, but we didn't have enough time, I guess
next week we'll have to burn a few hours and try those towns 30-60
minutes away.

Sunday was super awesome, we had the opportunity to go on splits with
the Assistants to the President. We were only with them for an hour,
because of dinner and a baptism later that night, but I still learned
a ton. Everything in his church is truly inspired, even missionary
leadership because they taught me a ton!

Not much else going on, but this next week will be crazy for sure!

Love y'all!

- Elder Andrasko

Baby It's Cold Outside

Hey y'all! This week has been awesome!

So we had a zone training this week, we do it once a month just to learn things we need to work on to become better missionaries. We had  three trainings, one by the Sister Training Leaders, then one from  each Zone Leaders. I learned a ton! We have a pretty cool zone.

We've been working a lot with our main investigators. It's a little  frustrating cause they will read and stuff. But they haven't come to  church or any of the baptisms we've invited them too. Plus they still have pretty bad WOW issues.

But on a brighter note Michael  is doing a lot better with his  issues. He says he thinks his girlfriend was sent from God to make him  a better person. We are going to find a time this week to watch Joseph  Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him. I'm pretty excited for  that, he told us he really wants to know if Joseph Smith was a  prophet. Work is just an issue, he wakes up at 3 to go to work, so  usually tired when we want to try and see him.

So this week for the first time in my mission we actually knocked  doors. We met a whole range of different people. Most weren't  interested and told us to never come back. But we met a few really
cool people! We actually met this guy who is a deacon for his church,  but after telling him about the Book of Mormon he wanted to learn  more. His name is Bill, and hopefully we get to see him again this week.

Well Kansas is finally starting to get cold, I actually broke out my  winter coat this week. Mostly because the wind makes everything really  cold. This week we are supposed to get snow too! Luckily we have the  car this week.

This week at church we went to primary at the end of third hour so  that we could play the role of prophets. I myself got to be Nephi,  which I was glad to play. And I don't know if it's because we passed  around our meal calendar while dressed like prophets, but for the  first time since coming to JC we have a meal every day this week!  Blessings.

Not a whole lot of time to email and not a ton to write about. But   things are going awesome! This mission is such a great place, and  Kansas is sacred ground I love it so much!

Have a good week!

- Elder Andrasko

So Much to be Thankful For

Time to Break out the Winter Coat

Hey! This week was pretty great, did a few exchanges, taught some people, and did missionary work.

This week we talked to every single person we saw, but unfortunately it didn't bring forth much fruit. We didn't find very many people who are interested. But that's ok, when things start getting hard that's when the miracles start. Satan definitely has been working hard on us this week, but as long as we keep pushing forward we'll see crazy miracles.

Wednesday we went up to Milford, Kansas to see the a family we are teaching. I'm not sure what it is with that guy, but he just won't commit to baptism! We went super hard with him, we were super lovingly bold and told him that he would get blessed for it etc., but he still said no! I think
it is because of his Catholic dad, and he's afraid to disappoint him. We'll keep trying I guess. Later we went on splits with the Zone Leaders, so we double covered our area and saw a whole bunch of
people. Elder White and I went biking, it was a little chilly especially with that cool wind. We only met a few new people, and one of them wanted to bash hardcore with us. But luckily we had an excuse that we had to go to dinner. And we did! We went out a recent convert, well a convert of just over a year, who just got called into the Branch Presidency. His name is Ossie and he is one of the coolest converts I have ever met. We went out to Freddy's and got some steak burgers, there was 6 elders there so it was a missionary feast!

Thanksgiving was a pretty awesome day. Mostly because of the amount of food we got. We were on a p-day schedule on thanksgiving, so we started out doing some laundry. Then all 4 of us Elders went to the park to play some basketball. We were out for a few hours, it was pretty fun. Then we went to the church for our first thanksgiving dinner. The senior missionaries in Junction put on a thanksgiving dinner for all those who don't have anyone to spend thanksgiving with, like people who has a spouse deployed. So we ate, helped the kids do some crafts, and played games.

After the first dinner we went on the Army base for our second dinner. It was who the assistant ward mission leader and one other family. It was a little awkward because there wasn't enough room on the table for all of us, so Elder Stirling and I had to sit in he next room. It was kinda like we were at the children's table haha. But the food was good so I don't really care haha. After eating and talking for a few hours we went to our last dinner of the night.

We were pretty full so not much food for us, we mostly just ate dessert, pumpkin and pecan pie. It was pretty great stuff. We did go over again the next day for lunch, and the day after for dinner. Just
helping people get rid of their leftovers!

We've seen our two miracles from last week, Carrie and Frazier. Well Frazier is his last name, I guess Army guys like to go by their last name. We had a really good lesson in the Word of Wisdom and told them that they need to live it if they want to get baptized. They are super awesome, hey just didn't come to church yesterday. So we'll need to work on that one too...

So Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, was the official kickoff for #LightTheWorld. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely watch it, its worth it. And it was also the day of the day of he annual Junction
City Christmas parade! So what a perfect opportunity to hand out cards and let people know about #LightTheWorld.

Saturday is always a busy day. We start off with volleyball with whoever wants to come, then we move to soccer. Then we move to missionary work. Well we were late to soccer because we were helping a member with her Christmas lights. We were going to make a trip out to the small towns around JC, but we didn't have enough time, I guess next week we'll have to burn a few hours and try those towns 30-60 minutes away.

Sunday was super awesome, we had the opportunity to go on splits with the Assistants to the President. We were only with them for an hour, because of dinner and a baptism later that night, but I still learned a ton. Everything in his church is truly inspired, even missionary leadership because they taught me a ton!

Not much else going on, but this next week will be crazy for sure!

Love y'all!

 

Elder Andrasko

Sweet is the Work

Hey Y'all this week was pretty great!

So this week was transfer week, and we all thought for sure either me
or Elder Stirling would be gonzo, because usually trainers and
trainees don't stay together longer than 12 weeks. But to my shock and
joy we are both staying here in JC for 6 more weeks.


Monday we went up to Manhattan for a Zone P-Day, since it would be the
last Monday of the transfer, it was pretty fun - we don't hardly go up
to Manhattan as much as I would like, but miles and time keep us from
going here more often. Then, like usual, we had family home evening at
the church. It's always super fun, and it draws the less actives and
investigators to the church for a spiritual thought and fun games.

Last week was a pretty miserable week for finding new investigators so
we knew we had to do something this week about finding new people,
especially ones that can progress towards baptism. So a lot of our
time and effort was spent on finding. And we did find some pretty
awesome people.

So background info. Junction has been unseasonably warm, like 70-80
degree warm, and Friday we had a cold front move in, the
temperature dropped like 40 degrees overnight. Then we had a big wind
storm move in with it, so around 40 mph winds. So super cold, and we
were walking this week. So we were walking around an apartment complex
looking for people to talk to and we stopped to a guy who was smoking
on his front step. We started talking to him and he invited us in to
warm up and get a drink. Well he offered us coffee, we said no, he
offered us tea, we said no. So that gave us a very good opportunity to
talk about the word of wisdom. So we started talking about prophets
and the restoration with him and his wife, Carrie and Frazier. They
said they didn't find a church home when they moved to Junction and
that her pastor back home had gotten too famous to even make time for
her one year old's funeral. So looking for a new church. And when we
were done she said. "This sounds like a church we need to go to". So
we invited them to baptism, Frazier accepted on the condition that the
water would be warm. So that was Saturday, and now we have a few more
solid people to work with and help them get closer to Christ.

Sunday was a very very busy day. We had a special Zone Conference in
Topeka and President asked us to be there at 10 for their stake
conference. So we stayed in Junction just to take the sacrament then
made the long trip to Topeka. It's about an hour to Topeka from
Junction so we were a little late. There was a member of the 70 there,
Elder Wilford W. Andersen. Right after their Stake Conference we had a
lunch then started our meeting. Well it was awesome and it ended with
a 2 hour Q&A session, which was super cool. Afterwards we had one more
meeting with President and Elder Andersen. So after all our meetings
were over it was 8 and we still had an hour drive left. So we had a
total of 0 lessons, but we learned a ton!

We are doing exchanges twice this week, so we'll have a pretty full
week. Super excited!

Hope y'all have a good thanksgiving!

Love ya!

- Elder Andrasko

Now Let Us Rejoice!

Well to start off this week marked my 8 month mark! And this coming
week is transfers and I am happy to say both Elder Stirling and I are
staying in JC for another 6 weeks!

Anyways this week was super awesome! This week we got to see our
investigator Michael Moriarty who we haven't seen in weeks...he had a
lot of word of wisdom and law of chastity issues, but when we saw him
he said he hasn't had a drink in months! He said he could probably
make it to church, but he bailed so that was a bummer.

We found Tanya's trial of faith, she is just so busy! So she kinda
dropped us...because she said she doesn't feel like she has enough
time that she can devote to it. She is a single mom who is military
and is also doing school, so yeah kinda busy. But we're gonna help her
see that this is something that is important and can help her out with
all of that other stuff she is dealing with.

We've been spending a lot of our time lately trying to find those
people who will progress, either from our investigator pool or just
going out and finding. We've also been going through all hose who
aren't really progressing and letting them know what our purpose is as
missionaries and letting them know we are here to help them, but if
they aren't keeping commitments then we won't be able to help.

Not a whole lot this week to talk about, sorry about the short letter.

We are in Manhattan today for a Zone p-day, made doughnuts and playing sports!

- Elder Andrasko

Drive My Car

Hey!

This week was awesome, had some great miracles and a lot of progression in the area!

The biggest miracle was definitely meeting Tayna and Brianna! Our night wasn't going the way we wanted and Elder Stirling and I decided we needed to make an end of the night MBC to see a miracle and find someone who is elect and prepared. Then we continued on talking to every single person, then we went by a garage with a few people talking, so we stopped. Elder Stirling called out and asked how they were doing, but nobody heard us. So we tried once more and then Tayna came out and asked, "are y'all Mormons?" After we answered in the affirmative she was so happy and told us her ex husband was a Mormon. She said she saw us around and always wanted to stop and talk to us. We continued to teach her about the restoration and when we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon she was so excited! She told us every time she went to a hotel she looked for a copy of the Book of Mormon, but all they ever had was Bibles and she didn't need any more of those. She is now preparing to be baptized on the 20th and she came to both church and a baptism that was last night! And tonight she is going to come to family home evening at the church.

They are so awesome and are so excited with every new thing they are learning. We haven't seen them too much, because we just met them Friday, but they really enjoyed church and the baptism.

Church on Sunday was a regional conference, it was a lot different, I've never had one before. Elder Rasband spoke to us (us as in North America Central, including Canada) it was really cool. Last week was stake conference, so it'll be nice to get back to a normal Sunday next week.

We also had Zone Conference this week, which was strange because we had interviews last week. But President McCuistion told us that once a transfer we will have both Interviews and Zone Conference, so a lot more meetings in the mission. It used to be that we would have these meetings once every three months. But I think it will be good for the mission/missionaries and teach us a lot more on how to be a new missionary. He also announced that we have a new mission vision, it is now the third mission vision I have had. Things have changed a lot under our new mission president, which is to be expected, but I think the changes are good changes.

We just finished up our biking week, and I am so looking forward to having a car. My legs are pretty dead, I know I have said it before but, I will never again say Kansas is flat.

Things here are going so good, transfers are next week and I'm a little nervous. I doubt I will be here next transfer, but I guess I'll find out next week!

Love y'all!

- Elder Andrasko

Scripture Power

Happy Halloween!

This week was pretty cool, we started off the week by having interviews with the mission president on Tuesday. It was the second time I was able to have an interview with President McCuistion, and it was an awesome revelatory experience and was able to receive help and insight on how to best help progress people in my area. We also had a training meeting during the interviews, and it was all about how to best help people gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was super awesome!

Wednesday we went over a members house in the morning and did a lot of service, we were originally going to mow the lawn and do other things like that, but we had a huge storm that night and the grass was way to wet to mow. So we helped move things, and trimmed hedges, flowers, trees, and anything else that needed to be done. Afterwards she gave us a lunch, and this member is like a professional cook or something, every time we go over there we can expect a 5 star meal. The sisters called her the other day to see if we could come over for lunch, and she told us that she wasn't home but we could go over and raid the cupboards! She seriously is so awesome, she even leaves a cooler on her front porch so that we can go and get a drink whenever we are thirsty. The rest of the day was filled with a lot of appointments that fell through. We didn't get to see a single person that we had planned for, but we still saw lots of miracles. It was also the Ward Halloween party so we played some games and of course got lots of candy haha.

Thursday we had originally planned to go see a part member family, and they had invited us to have lunch there. But we learned that we had district meeting in Manhattan, so unfortunately we weren't able to make it. But we'll make it over there sometime, and definitely get him committed for baptism! We had also received a referral for someone who lived on the Army base, so we went to contact him. He is currently living with one of his friends, and his friend's mom who is meeting with the missionaries in Virginia gave us the referral for him. He is going through a lot of stuff right now and doesn't have the best relationship with God, but he accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would read. Hopefully when we see him again we can help him with whatever trial he is currently facing.

 Friday we went over to the Senior Missionaries place to have a district lunch and talk about the peeps we are currently working with and maybe see if there are things that we can do to help them. The zone leaders came down that day to exchange back with the other elders and decided they wanted to stay until at least the branch party/chili cook off. So they decided to do splits with us. So we went and double covered our area and saw basically every single person that we are working with and had an awesome time progressing a ton of people. Then was the branch party, it was at this time that my voice started getting a little hoarse, but I didn't think much about it. We went through the rest of the night as usual. 

Then Saturday when I woke up I could barely make a noise. My voice was completely gone, well darn. We still went about our day as usual, and we started getting soccer going here every Saturday with whoever wants to come. So a member brought about 15-20 non members, a lot of Hispanics, and we had a big soccer tournament. It was pretty dope, we'll be doing that every week. Then we started off on the rest of our day, needless to say I didn't talk much, and left the bulk of the work up to Elder Stirling.

Sunday was stake conference, which was really good. It was help in Salina, which is like an hour away from Junction, but for the first time ever in the Salina Kansas Stake they broadcast stake conference, so we didn't have to drive. Yay! Next week is another stake conference, but a regional one, so it is being broadcast from Salt Lake, I think? But anyway it will be pretty sweet.

This week has been pretty good, lots of finding this week. Lots of sifting through our investigators and seeing which ones are truly elect. We did see a lot of trials come up, and a few people tell us we weren't going to make it to heaven because of our belief in the Book of Mormon. But we still push on. The two people who we think can really be baptized this month is Kristen, don't know her last name, and Michael. Michael could be baptized at almost any moment, so hopefully we can help to see his need for it.

Love ya tons!

Elder Andrasko

We Can Work it Out

Hey y'all!

Well October is almost over, and the weather is weird. Some days it won't get over 60 and other days it'll be in the 80s, so I have usually been taking a jacket along with me every day. This week was a bike week, but I was able to do a little bit of repairs on my bike so it wasn't nearly as bad as it was last time. Still lots of hills to deal with though, I will never again say Kansas is flat.

Elder Stirling just recently got his driving privileges, so I finally don't have to drive everywhere. Now I can finally have a chance to relax! This week we have interview with the mission president, so that's pretty exciting!

So there is a recent convert, who technically is in the branch but comes to the ward every Sunday because of his work schedule, well former work schedule. He recently got laid off, which sucks, but he's been out with missionaries like every day since. Saturday we were out with him for about 5 hours. We saw lots of cool miracles! Being out with members is really awesome, and it's pretty fun being with this guy.

Tuesday we were supposed to go out on exchanges, but that got nixed, which is a really good thing cause we had the most bomb dinner ever! A super awesome member of the ward got tons of sushi! And I mean a ton, we still had a lot of left over afterwards, which I ate all of the next day for lunch. It was also Zone Training, which took a lot of time, plus the hour to drive to Manhattan and back.

Wednesday we unfortunately got dropped by an investigator, we showed up to his house and his mom answered the door and told us to never come back to her house. So we tried calling and setting something up at the church haha. But he didn't answer, sad day. We met a really cool guy named Sidney though, he seemed really interest in the message and even told us to come back the next day. The biggest thing we have to address with him is that he doesn't like going to church, something about congregating with a large number of people turns him off. So we're gonna build a burning desire in him so that he has no choice but to come!

We met another really cool person whose name is Mrs. Peggy. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon she told us she already got a copy and is reading everyday with her husband, and they have a weekly fast and they pray about it during that fast. So we invited her to church, unfortunately she can't make it this week, but she told us to write our names down in the book so she would know who invited her. She is someone the sisters were teaching, but they said we could teach her if we wanted!

One big focus of this week was finding, so we talked to everyone we saw and really tried to find 3 new investigators a day! And we were close almost every day, and as we've been doing this we've seen lots of miracles and met a lot of really great people!

But that's my week in a nutshell! Lots of fun stuff going on here, and this week is going to be even better!

Love y'all!

- Elder Andrasko

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

This week was sick, lots of miracles were seen.

Tuesday we did exchanges, so the District Leader and I stayed in my area. We went to the town of Milford to see a Part member family, the wife was baptized in 2013 and her husband comes with her to church every week and watched all the sessions of conference. But for some reason he won't get baptized, so that's something we are definitely trying to work on. He's what we call a "dry Mormon" or someone who lives the gospel but just hasn't been baptized. So gotta find a way to build a burning desire within him.

So this week we had to go to he Army Base to change the hours of our passes, so we can get on the base early to work out. It was a pretty big hassle, it took an hour and they basically interrogated us asking why we need to be there so early. So luckily we were able to get our new passes without getting kicked off the base.

Wednesday we mowed the lawn of an older couple, I burnt my finger pretty bad though. Got a big ol blister and everything. It kinda hurt, but at least the lawn looked good. The couple is a part member family, but the member has a difficult time getting to church because of her health, and the husband is too stubborn to even give it a try. But they are really nice people, they even fed us this week. The wife is from Germany and makes really awesome authentic German food, I ate quite a bit when we were over there.

One thing that we've started doing with the district leader is to make a daily MBC (mutual binding commitment) on one thing that we wanted to accomplish for that day and promise the Lord that we will accomplish it. So that has been pushing us every day to be the best and to try our best!

We've seen plenty of miracles from doing this daily, we've met a lot of cool people too. One of the coolest people that we met is Ryan Stanley. He used to live in the apartment directly below us and talked to missionaries in the past, he is super down to learning more and working towards baptism. So hopefully we can keep working with him.

Not too much going on right now, we have interviews with the mission president coming up, so that will be awesome. But the week was great, and looking forward to this next week that will be better than ever!

- Elder Andrasko

Called to Serve

Sister Widenmann and Elder Andrasko - Pinehurst Ward Pride!

This week was super rad!

We saw tons of miracles this week and met a ton of super cool people.

So since transfers were this past week and one of the Elders in the district was leaving we all went to IHOP on Tuesday for a district breakfast/goodbye. It's always sad to see friends leave, it was even more sad when we got a call from one of the assistants and was told we would have to bring one of the cars from Junction back to Wichita...

The Grill Masters!

So on Wednesday we had to take the only Chevy Cruz we had and drive it all the way to Wichita. Now instead of biking one out of three weeks, we have to bike every other week. But that also meant I got to transfers and see people! I got to see a ton of friends I have all over the mission, and I even got to see Laura! She is going out to Garden to Elder Colemere's zone! Then came the long drive back to JC, so we were in the car for about 4 hours that day, but hey at least I didn't have to drive out west, that's a long trip!

We have been trying to work a lot with a part member family, but they are crazy busy all the time so we hardly get to see them, but when we do they progress so much! Hopefully we can find some time somewhere to get something done.

The District

This week we met a super awesome guy, he is military and works at the gate at the base. He told us how he was at a point in his life where he needed to change and he always saw the missionaries coming onto post so he asked them for a card, then he called! That was a weeks before we got to junction, but we finally got to meet him this week. He is a super huge dude, like super jacked, and hairy. He looks like a bear. But he is from the Bronx, and is a classic Italian New Yorker, big Yankees fan. Anyway he told us about everything that is going on in his life, and we testified hardcore about the atonement and baptism. He told us he wanted to get baptized! So we have to work super hard to help him overcome his trials, especially the Word of Wisdom, but he'll get baptized for sure! Plus we are gonna work out with him all the time, he can get us to the gym on the Army base for free!

Almost a tornado

Legs are pretty dead this week, Elder Stirling's bike keeps getting flat tires, so we resorted to walking this week, and boy was that a mistake. I thought biking the hills in Junction sucked, but walking is way worse, I got blisters! But luckily we'll be driving this week.

Super awesome stuff coming up here, just have to keep working hard to overcome challenges and trials! Super excited for the new transfer and the next 6 weeks I get to be here!

Love y'all!

- Elder Andrasko