Rain is a good thang!!!

Hello hello again! I hope you all have had an amazing week so far! This week blew by very quickly. Our district leader Elder Wiltbank said that the first transfer always feels the longest but my first transfer blew by and felt very short…so I guess my mission is just going to fly by.😆

On Monday Elder Wood and I played Spades with Elder Wiltbank and Elder Taylor. They live in an apartment a couple blocks away so we just went over. Elder Taylor is in his first transfer so it's kind of fun to see the true Greenie side of a missionary from an outside looking in perspective.

On Tuesday Elder Wood and I ran a bit and played a game of pickleball in really wet and misty conditions. I had to take my glasses off during the run because the mist coated my glasses and I couldn't see. A funny encounter on Tuesday was when a homeless man told us a not very funny joke but he was obviously a little drunk so we just said it was funny. Later on our way back to the car a different homeless man started yelling at us for talking to the other man earlier. At first we thought he wanted to talk then he kept yelling for a couple seconds so we waved bye and walked away while he was still yelling. The spirit of contention is too loud to be able to hear the quiet voice of the spirit so we had no place remaining there. I probably would've been scared and nervous if I was fresh from home but I've been in the field long enough and had similar experiences so now I just think it's funny when people get mad at us. Oh I almost forgot! Also on Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with a lady named Susan. Elder and Sister Davies, who are senior missionaries, also came so we had four missionaries teaching. Her faith is so strong and she genuinely wants to follow God and Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong in the lesson as we taught her about Baptism, the Atonement, and Priesthood authority.

Wednesday wasn't as eventful as Tuesday. It rained…A LOTThang!!! It was raining throughout the whole week but Tuesday was just a ludicrous amount of rain. I never thought I would see rivers on roads before. I literally have never seen so much rain in my life and it lasted all day! I was on exchanges with Elder Wiltbank for it. We tried to go out street contacting but the storm kept worsening and because it was just dumping water no one was out and those who were just wanted to get where they were going and didn't want to talk. Also using an umbrella actually makes sense now. I've always been like "Why do umbrellas exist?" but that's because I lived in Utah where rain is negligible to what you wear unless it's a thunderstorm. But at that point it's fun to get soaked in a thunderstorm. Elder Wiltbank and I got completely drenched though even with umbrellas. After exchanges Elder Wood and I taught an English class to a man named Chancel. He understands very well and I was very proud of him as he was solving the sentence problems in his English book.

The rest of the week was wack cause all our plans kept falling through. We had a really fun Trunk or Treat on Saturday that we helped set up and take down. The ZL (zone leader) quad was there. It's really funny. The two ZLs are both training Greenies but they're also companions since they're ZLs. So they pretty much going everywhere as a quad instead of Just sharing a room as a quad.

But yeah, that sums up my week. My French is improving and I'm confident enough to say I can understand French but as far as speaking it goes I'm really close but still have a little ways to go. At lessons now I understand what's being said but I can't form sentences quick enough to speak a ton in the conversation. I love you all and thank you again for your support. À la prochaine semaine!











We were missing Cody really bad, and we got this text message and a few pictures. It was a tender mercy from the Lord! 





Portland!!!!!!

The start of this week was really slow. We didn't do very much until the second half of the week and then it just got really crazy and busy. Transfers are this week and because of that today is P-day rather than yesterday. So that's why I didn't send out an email.


On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Elder Wilcox. He's a really nice elder and because neither of us had a SIM card Elder Dewey put his in my phone so that we would have one. We had an amazing lesson with some members and they were really nice and gave us an absolutely ludicrous amount of food.

On Thursday we reunited with our normal companions and Elder Dewey and I performed some service in the rain for Grow Nashua. We moved a bunch of lumber and stuff around which was fun. Later we played basketball which was also a ton of fun!

Friday was District council and we had a funeral theme since three of us are "dying" or in other words going Home. It was pretty funny because it was that council that President and Sister Hayden decided to come visit. They thought the funeral was funny. I then had an interview with President Hayden.

Saturday we had exchanges with the "Spec Ops" aka the Traveling AP's (Assistants to the president). They literally don't have an apartment and remain on exchanges constantly and just sleep in other Elders apartments. I was on exchange with Elder Richardson and he likes to street contact A LOT. Every time I tried to talk to him or tried to right down someone's information or anything I'd look up and he's already trying to get another person's info. I was definitely struggling to keep up haha. On this exchange I met my first basher. He tried to convince us that Joseph Smith had no miracles to his name. As he was talking I was thinking…"Well what about the time when he positioned Zion's Army in the safe spot when the extreme storm came in and protected them from 400 hostile men?" There are just simply too many miracles to deny that God will protect those who serve him.

On Sunday we went to the Lopez-Craussco family's house for their family home evening. We played soccer and had a spiritual message (most of which was in Spanish so I just listened with the spirit), and then they performed songs to say bye to Elder Dewey. Also, because Elder Dewey is "dying" I cracked an egg on his head and the other four Elders that were there threw/slapped flour on him because that's the tradition in the Lopez-Craussco family.

I've definitely enjoyed this past transfer so much. I'm so thankful for Elder Dewey and all the kindness he's shown me as we've been serving together. Now I'm on to the next portion of my mission. The transfer docs came in at 8:00 a.m. (EST) today and starting Thursday I'm going to be serving in Portland Maine which is a French area and I'll be serving with Elder Wood. He's only in his Third transfer and I'll be in my second. It's going to be very weird and hopefully we'll have enough French between the two of us to do our work properly. I'm very excited and want to thank you all for your continued support. And I'll catch you all in the next one!

Elder Dewey after Egg and Flower.
Elder Richardson and I. 
Start of transfer picture of our District.
Texas Roadhouse.
Pictures of District at the end of transfer including President and Sister Hayden.









Good News!!! I Still Know How To Drive!!!

That's right! I got to drive this week! I've had some pretty fun and unique experiences this week!


On Monday we had District P-day. So our 14 missionary district went to a place called Parker's Maple Barn. It had authentic syrup and amazing pancakes as well as a really cool gift shop. We then went and played pickleball as a district.

Tuesday was the day I drove. Elder and Dewey and I were preparing to do exchanges with the Zone Leaders but before we separated, we teamed up and helped a family move out of their apartment. The father we helped was very thankful and took us out for lunch. Then we separated and I went with Elder Martinez this time. He had his driving privileges revoked (He slid on ice in a parking lot and crashed into a pole. The previous mission president tried to get his privileges back since it wasn't his fault anything happened but it didn't work.) so we got permission for me to drive during the exchange. It was refreshing. The brakes were really touchy so I kept hitting them too hard on accident. Elder Martinez was very patient with me and he just kept laughing. Tiwi (the robot that tracks our driving) got mad at me five times for going over the speed limit. (New Hampshire roads are really hard not to speed on. The speed limits constantly change and there's few signs.) An oncoming lady turned left while I was entering the intersection at 40 so I had to slam on the brakes and jerk left into the oncoming lane to avoid collision I then jerked back into my lane to get out of oncoming. Luckily there were no other oncoming cars and somehow Tiwi didn't charge me with an "Aggressive Driving" so in the end Elder Martinez and I just had pumping hearts.

The rest of this week has been kind of slow. Both of our friends are gone for the rest of transfer so it's going to be interesting the next week and a half. (Francoise who speaks French is on vacation to Africa and Dolly got Covid) We did just get a referral so maybe we'll have some teaching opportunities through that.

Random things throughout the week:
-I got all my winter clothes! (the backpack in the picture is Elder Olney's technical specialist equipment)
-We got a new keyboard that sounds better and has a full 88 keys.
-Elder Dewey and I helped out at Grow Nashua. A volunteer gardening service where we help make and manage gardens for those who can't afford groceries and need land to grow things.
-We met a guy named Max. His parents are members but as far as I know they're not active, so Max isn't a member. We found out he really likes Magic...A LOT. He's been playing for 11 years and has invested an insane amount of money into it. We got to go over to his house and play two games with him and just kind of get to know him better. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him again and teach him a spiritual message.
-Played a full 10 person game of Basketball. I was on a team with some members and non-members and we were against 5. Of my fellow Elders. The teams were pretty well matched for each other. 

And yeah, that's the main stuff from this week. This week's been pretty wack though. Everything after Tuesday kept falling through. We had lessons planned but they were canceled. We had 8 hours of service planned but it became 2. It was really strange but we made the best of it.

That's it for me this week! I hope you all have an amazing week and I'll talk to you all next time. Love you all!!!











(no subject)

This week Elder Dewey and I didn't really have any lessons so we did a lot of calling and texting people to contact them.

Last Monday I went on exchanges with one of the Assistants to the President. It was pretty fun. His name is Elder Bean and he took me to Costco for dinner. (Out here in New Hampshire you can go get Costco food without even having membership, it's insanely cheap and really good...perfect food for missionaries.) He taught me that teaching with/through members is the most effective way to teach somebody about the gospel. At the end of exchanges we had 8 Elders all in the same room and we all went into the elevator and it was hilarious. The 7 other Elders are almost all the Elders I know in my mission so it felt really special to me.

On Wednesday Elder Dewey and I did a ton of service. We went to a place called the Day Cafe which is a food and warmth shelter in a Catholic church for the homeless. There we try to be friendly and respectful to others in an attempt to make them happy. Then we went to help an organization called Grow Nashua. It's an effort to provide gardening areas in the city to help those who can't afford food to grow some. Elder Dewey and I made 7 raised gardens.

On Friday we had the first ever zone council in our mission. It's a new idea where the entire zone meets up and discusses things. We were Guinea pigs in the sense that it might not be done again depending on how President Hayden feels the reports are.

Saturday was General Conference. Elder Dewey and I got snacks to watch Conference. We watched the first two sessions with the Gang family. They recently moved to the ward and are very nice. The last session we watched with the rest of our quad at our apartment. My favorite talk from the Saturday sessions was Elder Kevin W. Pearson's talk about Willingness.

Sunday we watched General Conference and contacted a bunch of people to talk about what they thought of Conference. Overall my favorite talk was either the one I mentioned above or President Nelson's Sunday Morning talk.

And that sums up my week. We've been having a lot of fun and doing our best to serve the Lord. I hope you all had an amazing General Conference experience and felt the spirit touch you. I love you all dearly and I'll talk to ya next time.



Elders! We are green and very very clean!

Well it's official, I'm now a greenie. I missed last week's email but don't worry I got you all this time. The past two weeks have felt like two months, but also at the same time it feels like I got off the plane yesterday.

I woke up at 2:45 in the morning to get checked out at 3:30 then take a bus to the airport. The flight was amazing, it was my first time flying and we flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago. Then we took a second flew to Manchester, New Hampshire. It's so green here! There are trees literally everywhere. My first night was at the mission home in Manchester and then in the morning we went to the church in Manchester to meet our new companions. 

My trainer is Elder Dewey and he's awesome. He's on his last transfer so I'm only going to see him this one time. Until after the mission that is. We get along super well and our personalities mix well. We're assigned to be the Nashua 1st English Missionaries. Nashua is a city in New Hampshire. However, Elder Dewey and I are also the French missionaries for the entire Zone (Which has two districts). So whenever someone in the zone runs into a French speaker they contact us. So far we've only met one friend who speaks French and she's awesome. My French is progressing a lot. Elder Dewey calls it an English-R but that's what I have. It means that as I'm speaking I say my R's differently than I should. I'm supposed to be doing a more throaty R. But anyway, my French pronunciation is definitely improving.

The ward here is super nice. It's a little larger than my home ward but not by much. The ward is very welcoming and everyone is extremely friendly. It also helps that Elder Dewey has been in Nashua before so almost everyone in the ward knows him.

I'm living in a quad right now meaning that my apartment has 4 elders in it. It's a ton of fun because we all get along super well. It's also nice because when we council about problems we run into we have four heads working on the problem instead of two. The other companionship is Elder Olney and Elder Pugsley. They are Tech Specs (technology specialists) and it's really cool because they're the only two elders in the entire mission that have that job. They are the one's who create, maintain, and post stuff on the Facebook pages for the mission. There are also the two Spanish Zone leaders downstairs named Elder Martinez and Elder Moses.

Some key events from the past two weeks include:
-Saying by to the MTC District.
-Attending a devotional that Elder Uchtdorf spoke in.(Super awesome and spiritual)
-Flying for the first time. (Amazing)
-Meeting Elder Dewey and saying by to Elder Wright.
-Meeting the Quad.
-Learning how to tract (door to door knocking) and contact through Facebook. 
-Learning how to play Spades, and Kings in the corner. (Face card games)
-Learning to play Magic The Gathering. (Collectible card game)
-Building things to help service organizations.
-Playing Pickleball.
-Meeting the ward.
-6+ Dinner appointments. (we have another tonight)
-Volunteered at a food and warmth shelter for the homeless.
-Going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. (I had Elder Moses as my companion for a day. He taught me how to street contact, where you walk up to people and talk to them, and also was nice enough to give me a Magic The Gathering card deck to keep. I'm very thankful to Elder Moses)
-Gave a lesson in French.
-Collided heads with a Friend during basketball. (My glasses cut a huge slice next to his eye and then punctured my eyebrow a bit. I have a slight blackeye and I'm 99% sure our Friend does as well. My glasses got twisted but I was able to fix them. Our Friend probably needed stitches but he's not able to so we did our best to fix him up with butterfly bandaids and stuff.)
-Volunteered at Nashua's multicultural festival.
-Started to practice Piano again. (Elder Dewey is a musician and between him and a family I'm about to mention I felt inspired to relearn that skill.)
-Attended the Lopez-Crausco (I think that's how it's spelled haha) family's family home evening, birthday celebration, and soccer match. (I really love the Lopez-Crausco family, there's at least 20-30 of them and they all live in Nashua and are very active in the Spanish ward. They're all super super nice and have very strong family bonds. All of them are musicians and they performed at the multicultural festival.)

But yeah that's my crazy and awesome first two weeks in the field. I love you all so much and thank you for your support. I'll talk to you all next week!













First day photo

 Dear Brother and Sister Andreason,

 

We are so grateful to have your son serving in this mission with us; he is making an amazing difference in Nashua NH, the surrounding areas, and in the mission. We took some photos of him on his first day here with President and Sister Hayden and his new companion, and we thought you would enjoy them.

 

If you have questions about the New Hampshire Manchester Mission, always feel free to contact us in the mission office through this email address, or through the phone number below, we would love to help in any way we can. Thank you for all you are doing to help Elder Andreason serve, and we pray for you, your son and his service.

 

Sister Bredthauer

Office Secretary, New Hampshire Manchester Mission

105 Wind Song Ave Manchester, NH 03104

603-471-3285





MTC, It's Finished. My Mission, It's Just Getting Started.

 Well that went by quick.

Last I knew I was saying bye to my family and setting my bags down in my room. I haven't been able to send out my emails the past two weeks but I'm gonna do better about it now, haha.
Within the blended memories of my time here I see how much I've grown. I'm now used (mostly) to eating whatever food is given to me, good or bad, and being thankful for it no matter the quality. I have a feeling that skill will be useful pretty soon. I've learned how to talk with people about their lives and how they're doing. I've learned to find their need and do my best to try and bring them peace through teaching them about the gospel. I've learned a lot about the scriptures and the amazing true stories within.
My French has improved exponentially, I can now go a full day speaking 90+% French, I get a headache when I do so but I can do it all the same. Thank you to Frere Gogarty, Frere Hapairai, and Soeur Corrigan, you've all changed my life (and my French) dramatically with your lessons.
My district and I have consistently been attending the temple and I can't even begin to explain how amazing that has been. I'm glad that the MTC gave me an opportunity to perform missionary work on both sides of the veil because I won't be able to in the coming months on my mission (my mission doesn't have a temple in its zone.) If I could give you all one piece of advice, don't take temples for granted. There are places in the world where people can only dream of one day being able to afford the price to go and perform their temple work. I would like to invite you all to go as much as you can since most of us live within 20 minutes of one.
I want to say thank you to my district. I'm going to miss you all so much and I know you're going to do amazing things on your missions. You all have become such good friends to me, so much so that you feel like family. As crazy as some of our shenanigans can get, I truly am honored to have had you all in my district.
Goodbye for now everyone! I'll talk with you again soon!
Sincerely, Elder Andreason.












🎵I'm back, back, back from the dead tonight!!!🎵

Ok, these past few P-days have been crazy packed so here's a blitzed email to prove I'm still alive! The work is beginning to finall...