73

This week was great! On Wednesday all the zone leaders in the mission gathered for zone leaders council with the APs and President and Sister Lewis. It's pretty cool to be a part of the goal setting for the mission and talk about issues and things we need to change. We're really trying to "slay the slang." Using inappropriate terms and language detracts from our image and effectiveness as missionaries. I thought I didn't have a problem with slang until this week. I've been working to cut out "dude," "man," "buddy," "bro," "awesome," "nuts," "pana (buddy in Spanish)," "darn," "guys," "freaking," and other casual terms. It's hard!

The next day we had zone training with our zone. Elder Christensen and I used to the material that we received from zone leaders council to teach our missionaries. We hope that it had a good influence and built our missionaries up.

After zone training I went on exchange with one of our Spanish missionaries. His name is Elder Fullwood from TX. He's great. I practiced my prayers and testimony in Spanish. I wish I had more time to learn! It's a challenge to find Latino people in this part of California, and this companionship comes up with creative ways to find them. Looking in the phonebook for spanish names, looking for hints like a mop outside the front door, Mexican music playing, brown children playing outside... They're pretty good.



And the highlight of this week was Ian's baptism! It was so great. His parents came and two recent convert friends from Oakland he had a lot of support from the YSA ward. Our ward mission leader Logan baptized him. On Sunday he asked me to confirm him. Ian is incredible. Both him and Kurt are working toward receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. I really want to see both of them on missions. They are amazing. I love you all! Love,

Elder Andrew

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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72

Happy New Year! Kurt was baptized this weekend. This is my companion and I and his mom with Kurt. The baptism was awesome... there was a lot of support for Kurt. This week before his baptism Kurt has had a lot of opposition, especially from a pastor friend that baptized Kurt into his church a while ago. He told Kurt anti-mormon information. We had a good lesson with Kurt before he had to see him again. I know when someone comes at me with a load of anti crap, even if it's all a ton of lies, I feel deflated and lousy. I'm sure it's even harder for someone who hasn't even been baptized yet! We helped Kurt focus on his testimony; what he knows by the Holy Ghost. In the end that's all that matters -- if you have helped your investigator understand the fundamentals, revelation through reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to church, then they WILL receive an answer to their prayers, and that is the beginning of true conversion. You can't know the church is true just because you like the people in your ward or the doctrine logically makes sense. Those should help, but ultimately your testimony will be from the Holy Ghost.

Ian came to Kurt's baptism, and his baptism is scheduled for this Saturday.

My Christmas call home was great. It always seems to come at the perfect time -- just when I feel like it's been forever (about six months) since I've talked with my family, Christmas or Mother's Day rolls around. Everybody seems to be doing great; Joseph's voice is deeper and Olivia's growing up. I sure miss them!

In our YSA ward at church we had a miracle. A member brought someone he had just met that moved from Wyoming. Her name is Lauren. She has gone to church for six months in Wyoming and want to learn from the missionaries. We have an appt. with her tomorrow!

My companion is so funny. He talks in his sleep, and I can hold a conversation with him. At 10:52 last night he said out of the blue: "There doesn't seem to be very many people here. Where is everybody?"
"I don't know, where are they?"
"I have no idea."
"Where are we?"
"I have no idea."
"What are we doing?"
"I have no idea."

I was trying to get some better details of his dream, but I guess E. Christensen really doesn't know :)


--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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71

Merry Christmas!!! It's been a great morning. Elder Christensen and I got up and opened our gifts and packages from home! I'm looking forward to calling my family at 3pm today. This week we had the baptism of Shelley Sanders in the Diamond Springs family ward. Shelley is legally blind -- most objects are blurry to her. Shelley grew up in Diamond Springs but is now  living with the Harwells, a member family and her neighbors when she was a kid. Shelley is amazing. She has so much faith. I'm happy for her.

 

This Saturday Kurt is getting baptized in the Shingle Springs YSA ward. He has had a rough past and the change in his life is like night and day. I love Kurt. He is a deep thinker. Whenever we teach him he's got an open notebook and takes notes about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Plan of Salvation, etc. He reads the Book of Mormon like it's going out of style. Kurt is awesome.

 

One of my favorite things to witness is someone who grasps the gospel and holds on without fear or hesitation. They know what they have missed their whole lives and they know it's true. The sacrifices they make to change their lives is incredible. It strengthens my testimony of the gospel. This isn't just a man born 2000 years ago. It's not just good words to live by, or a lifestyle. It's all that and more. This is the true and living gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. No man can inherit the kingdom of God, except he chooses to follow Christ and live His way. I know it's true and I love it.

 

The first weekend in January another one of our investigators in the YSA ward has chosen to be baptized. Ian is his name. I hope for both of these young men that they can serve missions as well.

 

My favorite scripture this week is the first few verses of Mosiah 3. The prophet King Benjamin, 125 years before Christ's birth, was told by an angel details of his birth, life, Atonement, death, and resurrection. This is the glad tidings. I love you all and hope your Christmas is as meaningful as mine has been.

 

"...I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy.... For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.

 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.

 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.

 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.

 And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men."

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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70

What an awesome week! Wednesday morning I got a ride from my ward mission leader in Wilton, Br. Telford to my new area. My companion is Elder Christensen from Moroni, UT. He's pretty awesome. He grew up on a ranch and raised turkeys. Total cowboy. I love him. Our area is the Diamond Springs ward and the Shingle Springs YSA (young singles adult) ward. We are the zone leaders, so we cover the whole stake of El Dorado. It's in the foothills of the Sierras. Beautiful country.

 

On Thursday I got to know our zone better. We went to district meeting. We have two districts in our zone. There are 14 missionaries in our zone. It's pretty awesome.

 

On Friday I went to new mission leaders meeting with President and Sis. Lewis and the APs. I was just there last month as a new district leader, but I really needed this meeting again. There's a lot of new responsiblities as a zone leader, but I think the biggest thing is being an example to the missionaries we serve. We must have a model area so that other missionaries can learn from it. But it's fun.

 

On Saturday I was able to go back to Wilton ward for the baptism of Cheryl Brant. She is amazing! I am so happy for her. It's incredible to see the power of the Atonement change someone's life. As we have taught Cheryl she has learned and applied with such earnestness it gives new meaning to the word "redeemed." The light that has come into her life is visible, even illuminating. She is the best.

 

On Sunday we went to our wards and a fireside by Br. Gomm. In our YSA ward there are a couple familiar faces from people I knew in Jackson. We had two investigators attend both wards. In the family ward Shelly came. She is getting baptized this Saturday! In the YSA ward we had Ian and Kurt. Both of them want to be baptized! At the fireside Br. Gomm talked about experiences he had working in Jerusalem. He was called on a special mission to open the land of Isreal. Br. Gomm is like the Indiana Jones or Jason Borne for the Mormon Church. He has some amazing stories.

 

This week we have our temple conference with the whole mission. On Wednesday we will be going to the temple with our zone and a few surrounding zones. Love ya!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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69

Elder Gottfredson, Elder Nalesoni, Elder Villalva and I ice-skating this morning.

Well, transfers are here and I unexpectedly got transferred to El Dorado Hills. I will be companions with Elder Christensen as a Zone Leader. I feel very inadequate. When I was on the phone with President Lewis last night I asked him if he thought I was ready. He said, "Well, no, but the Lord does..." and that what matters, right? This will be challenging, but I'm up for it.

I'm sad to leave Elder Villalva and the Wilton and Sheldon wards already -- six weeks is just not enough. We are looking forward to a White Christmas with Cheryl getting baptized this weekend! I'm hoping that I will be able to come back for her baptism.

I just heard news of my Uncle Darin passing away in Logan, Utah. I'm in shock. I wish I could be there with my family in this hard time. My prayers are with them. I love you all.

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

68

It's December! I can't believe how fast this year has flown. I'm so excited for Christmas! We are looking forward to a White Christmas. Even though we don't get any snow in the valley where we serve, we are working to help truly converted people enter the waters of baptism this month. It's our "White Christmas," the white baptismal clothing representing purity. Elder Villalva and I have set up a little Christmas tree in our house, we listen to Christmas music, and we share Holiday videos and scriptures with members and non-members. Yay!

This week we taught our investigator, Cheryl. She is incredible! She has been searching for the gospel for a long time, and now she is prepared for baptism. She has lived with a member friend for 20 years, and within the last year her friend has returned to activity and has helped Cheryl learn. I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being the "good news." As we have taught Cheryl she is so eager to learn and understand and enjoy fully the blessings of the Atonement. Through Jesus Christ we can become clean from sin. The burdens of guilt and sorrow can be washed away. I love being able to help someone else understand our need for Grace and change their lives! Cheryl is amazing.

As a side-note last week Elder Villalva and I got a call from Elder Clifton in the mission office (he's our vehicle coordinator). He switched out our old Chevy Malibu (we call it a Mali-boat for it's lousy turning radius) for a brand new Chevy Cruze. I'll probably never drive a newer, nicer car for years! We like it. They are better than the Toyotas that the Church used to buy.

We had a mission conference this week and found out that by middle of next year, we should have about 250 missionaries serving in our mission. Right now we are below 190. Holy smoke! I'm stoked. This means that every single ward in the mission will have it's own companionship. No more two ward areas. It's a struggle to balance and serve effectively in two wards. Oh yeah baby.

Hey, the Church made a Christmas website! Check it out, check it out.
mormon.org/christmas

Love to all and Merry Christmas!



--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

67

Thanksgiving was great! We went with the Taylor family to "The Delta King," a steamboat on the river in Sacramento. We drove through Old Sac and boarded the ship. It was a buffet style Thanksgiving dinner. Super delish. It was awesome to spend Thanksgiving with them, and afterward we came home to hang out with the McClellans, the family we live with. They had all their kids and grandkids over. It was awesome. After eating so much Elder Villalva and I had to play basketball with the McClellan grandkids to burn it all off. The picture above is Elder Villalva and I on the dock of the the Delta King.

On Saturday Claire O'Shea in the Wilton ward got baptized! She is the result of the hard work of dozens of missionaries. She has been off coffee for two weeks, and we are super proud of her. Her husband is a less-active member, and he is in a nursing home in Sacramento. Claire was baptized by Br. Telford, her hometeacher. She is from Brooklyn, NY and has the greatest accent. Very classy.

After the baptism of Claire I headed up to Jackson to witness the baptism of Steve Larson. I taught Steve for almost six months in the Jackson ward and Elder Gurr (my companion in Stockton) and his trainee have been helping him progress. I am so happy for him. Steve is completely blind from an accident years ago. I was so happy to see many of the members of the Jackson ward that became family to me -- Br Martinez, Br Ward, Sis Saldate, Br Fedena. 

Well, the Church is true and I've got to go. Love you all!

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.