One Day More . . . Bring Him Home!!!!!

Hey Everybody,

Guess this is it, the end of the road. I can't believe that this is the end if my two years, but it was a really amazing experience for me. I'm so grateful for this experience I had and the way my mission has shaped me.

Anyway we had a pretty awesome week. We got two really awesome, solid, member referrals and one of them is on date for baptism! So we had a dinner with a member and they invited their neighbor, whom we have taught before. After dinner we had a really awesome lesson and set up a church tour, where on the church tour we put him on date. The other referral is from the local LDS chaplain, who is in our ward. While he can't proselyte, he can answer questions which led to him inviting this guy to church, we have a return appointment with him tomorrow. So there is a lot of things going on here in Manhattan. 

My ankle is still pretty banged up, the doctor said I may have fractured my heel. So that's exciting. 

I really have loved my time in Kansas and will miss it a lot.

See y'all soon. 

- Elder Andrasko 

Hey everyone!

So this was a great week, well for the most part, I kinda got injured playing basketball I'll attach pictures.

Not a lot to talk about this week. We did a lot of tracting, we met a guy named John. John said he knew Mormons from college, he said that Mormons were the guys who would go on two year missions then school you in basketball. John was nice, he had a good restoration lesson with him. But when invited to continue learning, he declined and said he wasn't looking to change religions.

It got pretty cold this week, but it'll be warning up a little this week, before it drops back down. Kansas is strange like that.

Sorry I don't have much to say, but I did have my departing interview with my mission president on Wednesday. It took almost the entire day, but it was good and I received a lot of advice. 

My last full week as a missionary, so it'll be a good one. Love you all!!

-Elder Andrasko 

Pictures.

1: Manhattan, Kansas. Also this picture makes me look like an old man

2: Like I said, it was pretty cold haha
3: My Ankle :(

 

All is Well

Hey everyone!

It was a good week! 

Early on in the week we got a referral for a guy who was a former youth pastor. So we gave him a call and set up a time to see him. So we go to the institute with the ward mission leader, didn't think he'd show up,  but he actually did. So we spent the first little bit figuring out what he knew, everything he knew was from the Book of Mormon Musical. So not a lot. Then we go in and teach the restoration, he had lots of questions throughout. Good thing we had our ward mission leader to help us with the harder questions. Afterwards he said, "well you guys didn't convince me" we explained that we aren't trying to convince, he just had to read from the Book and pray about it. 

We did some tracting in a nicer part of town and it was really good! We didn't get a lot of investigators from it, but the people we did meet have really awesome potential! 

We met this lady, Lori, who just left the Catholic religion. She said she was on the subway in Chicago and met a lady who read to her from the Book of Alma, and she told us she recently watched Meet the Mormons! We're really working at getting back into contact with her, cause she would be a definite kingdom builder! 

There was a lady we met and said, "I didn't think millennials still believed in God" she said she went to Catholic school for 13 years and said that religion closes your mind. Elder Bassett asked her if she wanted to expand her mind/knowledge and learn more, she said no. We had a good laugh about it.

We taught a guy from China, he doesn't really believe in God. We taught the plan of salvation and he said he really liked it. He said he liked it more than what other religions taught. When asked if we could meet again he said he was okay with what we taught him then, and if he wanted to know more he would call us. 

We have interviews this week, it'll be my departing interview. So that'll be weird. 

All is well, love you all!

-Elder Andrasko 

Workin' My Way Back to You

Hey everybody!

This was a great week, some bittersweet stuff but great. Tuesday was the last zone conference of my mission. It was really good zone conference, we talked about knowing and understanding the doctrines of the missionary lessons. Along with other stuff, but that's mostly what I got from it. Then at the end all the missionaries who leave at the end of the transfer bear their testimonies - so I got to do that. 

Thursday we went to a small town just outside Manhattan called Ogden. We went to and tracted an area we hadn't been before. We had a lot of success, in a few hours we were able to find 5 new investigators! All had return appointments on Saturday.

So Saturday is our day without the car, so we switched having the car Friday and Saturday. 

So a lot of walking and tracting on the days without the car. So Saturday comes around and it's time for us to go to all of our appointments. And every single one of them fell through! It was a bummer, but we were able to find a few more people because of it.

Things are good here, just been working hard and been having lots of fun! Sorry not much to say this week!

-Elder Andrasko

When You Believe

Hey everybody! Just loving life here in Manhattan.

This week was great! We focused a lot on finding, so a lot of tracting. And since we don't have full time car anymore that means a lot of walking. Lots of miles on these shoes.

We did exchanges this week and I was able to go with my good friend Elder Gilleland. He was in Newton when I was in McPherson so we were in the same ward for a few transfers. So a lot of memories. We had a referral from one of the ward missionaries so we tried seeing him on exchanges, Bruce, he was nice but was heading out so didn't get to talk to him much. 

One cool miracle that we saw, one night while walking home we saw a house with a family inside. Which is prime cause too often we knock on a door and it's college students that we can't teach, anyway we walk past cause it's like 9 PM and we are almost home. But we decided that we should go back and knock on it. And we met Heather! She is a member who hasn't been to church in years, she has 3 kids all over the age of 21 and several grandchildren, nine of whom have been baptized. She's out of town a lot so hopefully we can catch her and start teaching her and the family.

Things are good, zone conference is tomorrow, my last one, I'm excited cause they're always awesome and spiritual.

Hope y'all have a good week!

-Elder Andrasko

A Hard Day's Night

Hey everybody!

Man what a great week, it was transfers so a few things got changed up in the zone, half of my district got switched out as well. 

So Elder Zolik left so Tuesday was full of goodbyes. And Wednesday was the start of my last transfer. Hard to believe that I'm already at this point. But I know I still have plenty of my mission left to enjoy!

So Wednesday I spent the afternoon in my old stomping grounds in Junction City, with my old companion Elder Thompson! I got to see a family that was baptized in Junction while I was there. They are some of my very favorite people in the world so it was fun to see then and to mess around with their little toddler Don again. He let me ride his Ninja Turtle bike so that was cool, he beat me in two races...

When Elder Bassett got here we went hard from day one! We've done a lot of tracting and have seen some good success. Sunday night we were doing some late night tracting and met a really cool guy named Brandon and he was pretty interested! He is now preparing for baptism, so hopefully things continue going good.

This week Alex got confirmed! He asked me to perform the confirmation so that was pretty cool!

Oh something cool cool that happened, we were at Casey's, gas station, and as we were walking out the attendant called us through the gas pump to come back inside. She gives us a referral for her mom and then tells us she is going to come to church, and she did and told us that she'll come next week too!

So pretty good week. Love you all and I'll talk to you later!

Elder Andrasko

Teach Me To Walk in the Light

Hey everybody!!

This week was great, mostly because Alex got baptized!!

So Alex's girlfriend, who is a member, was out of town and he decided not to tell her until she got back. So Wednesday he surprised her and it was great, he said she was crying and everything! She was also surprised to learn that she would be giving the talk at the baptism. Haha.

So a large portion of the week was spent planning that and making the program and whatnot. 

This week we also had the last district meeting of the transfer, one of our zone leaders is going home this week so it was his last one, sad to see him go.

So funny thing, while filling the font I reach down to check the water temperature, and I have the phone in my shirt pocket. When I feel something slip. I thought that it was just my white handbook or something. No big deal cause it's ruined anyway and I have another one. But nope, it was the phone!! I was mortified, brand new(ish) smartphone and it got baptized! So I hurry and grab it and take everything out and dry it off, everything seems to be working. Then I figure out the home button stopped working! Anyway after a day and a half it started working so no harm no foul.

So Alex invited so many people to his baptism, almost more nonmembers than members. And the spirit was so strong, I look over at Alex and tears streaming down his face. It was a nice experience. 

Things here are good and I am so excited for this transfer, my new companion is Elder Bassett, he was Elder Fielding's MTC companion, so I've heard a lot about him. Exciting!!

Anyway I love y'all and have a good week!

Love Elder Andrasko

Attachments area

Another Auld Lang Syne

Hey everybody!

Happy New Year!! Wow hard to believe it’s 2018. And it’s going to be
a good start to the year!

Last year in the Manhattan 1st ward there was a total of 3 baptisms.
But both us and the sisters have a baptism scheduled for this week! So
in the first week of the year we will almost match the number of
baptisms for last year!

So I didn’t write much about what happens around Christmas time. But
the members who invited us over for Christmas eve asked the military
base if there was any new arrivals who didn’t have anywhere to go for
Christmas. So when we showed up we were able to meet Anton! Anton is
an immigrant from the Ukraine and Russia, born in the Ukraine raised
in Russia. He hasn’t had much contact with the church in his life, but
he has heard of the church from when he was living in New York. We
were able to have a really good discussion with him and get him to
think a little about what we believe. We played some games with them.
It was a good time.

We went back over for Christmas and Anton was there again! But we were
able to watch a movie, we watched Home Alone :)

Then all the missionaries in the zone got together for a white
elephant! I got a toilet golf and basketball for it. It was pretty
cool, I would have taken it if nobody else did. But I ended up with a
full pound of a Hershey kiss. Then we played another game as a zone.
It was a good time.

Once again we went over the member's house for New Years Eve and was
able to teach Anton about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well.
The time before he had questions about the plan and things. It went
really well and he understood, even with the slight language barrier.
The spirit helped him understand!

Teaching Alex has been going really well and he is excited for his baptism!
His girlfriend has been in Texas with her family for the holidays. He
hasn’t told her yet that he’s getting baptized, he’s waiting till she
gets back to surprise her.

Things are going well and I love the mission!





- Elder Andrasko

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Hey everybody,

So our P Day was changed to Tuesday because the Junction City district went to the temple today and interviews were scheduled for today. So interviews were changed to yesterday and P Day was changed to today!

So the most amazing happened this week! So there’s a member who just moved here from Texas to be closer with her boyfriend, who is not a member of the church. She’s been fellowshipping him since the spring and he’s been to church twice in Kansas at least once in Texas. He decided he wanted to meet with us and learn more about the church. So we had a lesson with him on Sunday, and wow he is so ready! He has read half of the Book of Mormon. 

We’ve done a lot of finding through former investigators, trying to find people that weren’t ready at the time but are ready now. 

Interviews were awesome! Had a good chat with President, and he let me know that I will finish my mission here in Manhattan.

Sorry kind of a lame email, but that was about it for the week!

 

Merry Christmas

 

Love,

 

Elder Andrasko

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Hello everybody!

We as a district just got back from the Wizard of Oz museum!! It was pretty neat, had lots of things from the movie and other things from the land of Oz! One thing that I learned is that the author of the Wizard of Oz book wrote 14 book about Oz! Now that's pretty crazy.

Anyway, this week has been pretty great! Well I got a cold so not the best, but it was good nonetheless!

We had the first real district meeting of the transfer, so that was super fun. It's always a good time getting to know the people you serve around, it's pretty easy to form bonds with your fellow missionaries.

Also this week was exchanges with the Zone Leaders! So while we were out, we did a lot of tracting and contacting, and when we went to contact this guy we ended up knocking on the wrong door! But it turned out alright cause we met Michael and his son Edward! Michael is from India and grew up in a Catholic home. But hasn't been to church in a long time and wants his son to go to church. So we had a really good lesson about the restoration and set up a return appointment. In the return appointment we answered a lot of questions and emphasized the importance of church!

We also got a super bomb referral this week. It was a self referral, so she requested the missionaries to teach her and bring a Book of Mormon. Like a lot of people in the area she is, or was, in the Army. While in the Army she met a lot of Mormons and saw how happy they were all the time and wanted to know more, and why we are always so happy! Things like this just go to show how far being a good example can go! She is excited to learn more and keep meeting with us, unfortunately she couldn't make it to church because of work.

We had the Ward Christmas party this week, which was a huge hit. Lots of people, lots of food! I'm excited to get to know the ward better.

Not too much more this week! But I love y'all and have a good week!

-Elder Andrasko

Hello, Goodbye

Hey everyone!

Wow transfers. It was hard leaving the Sherwood Ward, but I am glad to be here in Manhattan.

So the first part of the week was just saying goodbyes to all the friends I made in Topeka. There were a few hard goodbyes, but the good thing is with all this technology we can stay in touch!

Transfers was a looong day, I had to wake up at 5, make sure I had all my things packed and we had to be out by 6 cause we had to be in Wichita at 8...so long drive there. Then after a few hours in Wichita we drove a few hours to Manhattan! 

Still District Leader, my district is the only one with sisters in it too! The STLs only have 2 companionships under their stewardship.

Anyway I’ve just been learning the area, lots of tracting. Which is a good way to learn an area. While we were out we were knocking a street and there was a house with a “trespassers will be shot” sign. So of course we knocked it. We met a nice lady named Connie! She had all purple on, cause K-State, she even had purple hair. When we talked to her about the Book of Mormon she was so grateful for the information and really wanted to know where she could get a copy. So we of course offered her one, and she was so happy! That’s something I love, seeing people light up when they hear truth being testified.

My new companion is Elder Zolik, he’s from Vegas, and is a pretty funny guy.

Not a whole lot to talk about, but things are good!

Love my mission! 

- Elder Andrasko

Manhattan Bound

Hello one and all!

Well transfer week is here once again, and it looks like I will be headed out of Sherwood. It's been a good 3 transfers here and I sure will miss it. And after 5 transfers I am leaving Topeka, I've been here since May, so it'll be strange to leave. I will be heading off to the city of Manhattan, Kansas! Home of the Kansas State Wildcats!

Anyway, as you all know this past week we changed our P-day to Tuesday so we could attend the temple, which again was so amazing! We did a lot of tracting at the beginning of the week, which had some good results and we met some pretty nice people. A couple that we met and left with a pamphlet we went back to invite them to church. Their door was open when we arrived, but as we were walking up to their door it quickly shut. Bummer, but things like that happen. As a missionary you really learn how to not let rejection bring you down. If you got hurt after every time someone rejected you there would be no time to be happy! Can't imagine having a sad mission.

Thanksgiving was this week!! So the Elders quorum in the ward was supposed to have a "Turkey Bowl" against the Elders quorum in another ward, so we show up at the appointed time and place only to find out that they cancelled! Bummer. But we had one as a zone a few hours later and that was loads of fun! We did Senior Companions vs Junior Companions, needless to say the seniors dominated the competition! Later that day we had not one, but two dinners! My only regret is that the dinners were scheduled too close together, didn't have time to digest before we went back to eating. But it was really great, had a smoked, fried, and baked turkey! Can't decide which I liked the most.

Anyway, we just continued to trek on and look for miracles in the work!

One great miracle, there was a baptism in the ward this week! I interviewed someone the sisters had been teaching for baptism, I always love baptismal interviews because it can be such a spiritual experience. Since I've grown up in the church it is so cool to see others experiences and views on the church and the gospel. So he passed his interview and even asked me to baptize him, or as he said "dip him"!

So a few weeks ago we had our own baptism, but due to Stake Conference he was unable to be confirmed. We were a little worried cause he was going out of town with his family for Thanksgiving and his original plan was to come home Sunday night, but he was able to make it back Saturday and make it in time for his confirmation! Which was pretty great!

So the Topeka stake does a big thing for Christmas called "Nativities and Noels" where a bunch of different people bring their nativities, people from any religion anywhere in Topeka. Then they set them up all around the church and like tour the church and look at the nativities. Then while they are going around people are performing music, or they'll have the Tabernacle Choir Christmas performance playing. Then Sunday night it ends with the First Presidency Christmas devotional. So a cool way for people to be introduced to the church. Kinda sad I'll miss it.

Things here are good, I am super excited for this upcoming transfer, new area, and new companion.

Love you all tons and have a great week!!

Elder Andrasko

The Best of Times

Zone Conference with Elder Stanfill

Josh's Baptism!!!!!

At the Kansas City Temple

With my good friend Elder Smack

Hello everyone!!

So I am writing today, Tuesday, because we changed our pday so we could come to the temple! Which we just finished with. We left at 9:30 to make it to the 11:30 session. But it was the first time I was able to attend my entire mission! The only time I will attend on my mission.

Anyway this week was amazing because...Josh got Baptized!

So this was a really busy week, we had a visiting General Authority Seventy, Elder Stanfill! He came and had zone conference with us and the Manhattan and Lawrence zones. He has thoughts and words to share with us, and at the end we had a full hour for Q&A. It was pretty amazing, and I learned a lot of new things.

We had three days of interaction with both him and President McCuistion because of Zone and Stake Conference.

So we spent a lot of the week out finding and we met this really cool guy named Eric! We had a good first contact and he told us that his grandparents were Mormons and he invited us to come back. When we came back he said he told his mom we came by and he found out that she was also baptized a member, we invited him to stake conference but he didn’t make it. Anyway he is super open and hopefully we can continue to teach him.

Yesterday, Monday, as we were out proselyting, which was weird, we met a cool couple that said there were looking for a church to go to and their 7 year old was at the phase where he was asking a lot of questions. So we talked to them about the church and how it benefits families, and a little bit about the restoration. They seemed cool, hopefully we will see them again.

We have an investigator who has like 7 kids. So we stopped by to see them, and we found out they her and her boyfriend of like 10 years broke up! So that was sad, we told her we would come back and talk more to her, but she wasn’t home when we came by.

So the highlight of the week was, of course, the baptism of our good friend Josh! It was a smaller service, which is ok, and Elder Fielding was able to perform his 2nd baptism of his mission! Unfortunately due to stake conference Josh wasn’t confirmed on Sunday, so we have to wait until this coming Sunday, so we’ll keep him on track so he doesn’t fall off before his baptism is “complete”!

Again the temple was AMAZING! Super awesome week, and glad for every moment I have to be a missionary, have a great week!

- Elder Andrasko

Missionary Man

Hello everyone!

It was a great week,  lots of progression and some good times too. 

Monday we went bowling! I haven't been for a super long time so it was pretty dope, scored like 113. So not too bad.

So we planned to go to the temple next week, but temple is closed Monday so we are going Tuesday and changing our p day to then. So emailing will be done then! 

Anyway Wednesday was pretty good. We were asked by the young men's President to talk to the young men about how to prepare missionary meals, and things we wish we had known before our mission. It was really fun!

We had interviews with our mission President this week! It was super rad, President called me an old fart during the interview. I also got a new temple recommend! 

We went on exchanges this week! We did lots of tracting and we actually met a few nice people who said we could come back. One was a really sweet old black lady in a wheelchair. There was another family with tons of people who lived there said we could come back after Sunday.

We've worked really hard with Josh thus week, to make sure he lives the commandments and make sure he is prepared for his baptism. His interview is this week so fingers crossed! If he passes he will get baptized on Saturday! Exciting!

Things are really good here and I love the work. We have zone conference this week with a member of the Seventy, Elder Stanfill. It will be a great time! 

Love y'all tons! Have a great week!

-Elder Andrasko 

This week had some crazy stuff in it...including a police raid and arrest.

Hello everybody!!

This week had some crazy stuff in it...including a police raid and arrest.

So Tuesday was Halloween, so we had to be in at 7. Oh also Monday at FHE we carved pumpkins so had that ready for Halloween. Anyway it was super cold, in fact it snowed like all day...So we went tracting for most of the day, then had dinner with a recent convert family. After we got home we did some weekly planning! Made use of the time that we had. 

One thing that I forgot to mention last week, or maybe it was two weeks ago , but we started our annual Christmas Book of Mormon challenge. So as a district we've been reading 8 pages a night. So as of last night we are in the book of Enos!

Anyway, we went on exchanges after district meeting on Thursday. I was with Elder Sheets and we did a lot of tracting. And we had pretty good success! Met a few really cool people. But the real exciting stuff was what happened the next morning. So we all stayed the night at Kaw Valley's apartment, I was on my old bed/mattress topper (cause I didn't have a real bed for awhile). Anyway in the morning while we were studying we hear this loud banging below us with a, "POLICE, SEARCH WARRANT, OPEN UP!" And it went on for a few minutes, we look outside and we see a whole swat team standing outside the apartment. 

Anyway the guy in the apartment below us comes out and he gets arrested. And I guess the cops spent most of the day tearing apart the apartment. So more than likely it was a drug bust. But there was lots and lots of police.

Friday we went to see our investigator Josh, who just started living the word of wisdom so he can get baptized, and he made us a traditional dish from his home country of El Salvador! And he gave us lots and lots of food, I was sooo full. Then less than 2 hours later we had dinner! So much food on that one day...

Saturday! We helped two people move on Saturday, it didn't take a ton of time, but it was a lot of work. At 1:30 the sister's investigator was baptized and I was asked to play the piano for it. So it was nice to be able to use my piano skills.

We were supposed to have a baptism, but we had to push back the date. We hopefully have two coming up on the 18th, but that depends on them and their agency!

Anyways things here are really good, we have interviews with the Mission President this week, so that will be cool! Love ya, have a good week!

-Elder Andrasko