The Best Two Years

I'm home!!!

President and Sister Lewis, me, and mom and dad

This has been the greatest two years of my life! I cannot think of a better place to have served the Lord than Sacramento. After two years of teaching the gospel, working with the saints, and helping others, my parents came to pick me up and see the greatest mission in the world. We visited people that I had taught and become friends with and it was incredible to share such spiritual experiences with my family. 

I spoke in sacrament meeting the day I arrived and spent the next six days hanging out with my siblings, friends, and reconnecting with the desert and mountains I love so much. Now I am in Logan, UT for school at Utah State University. Life is great!

Now I'll be posting on my home site, adventuresofchrisandrew.blogspot.com. Follow me there!

One-zero-four

This is it! What?! I can't believe that this is the last post while I am on my mission. Tomorrow I go to the mission office and spend the day with President and Sister Lewis and the missionaries from my MTC district. Thursday morning my parents will pick me up and we will visit the places I've served and friends from the mission. I am looking forward to this experience -- it will be wonderful to see the people that I love with my family.

This week has been crazy busy. It just doesn't slow down, not even your last day! On Sunday Sunny and his son Jim Yang entered the waters of baptism. They asked us to baptize them. The service was beautiful and the Spirit was strong. The Yang family invited several of their Chinese friends and they enjoyed the service as well.

The Yang family is amazing! This is Jim, his brother Neil, their parents Lianna and Sunny, and Sunny's parents.

For those of you in Moab, my homecoming talk will be in the Moab 2nd Ward sacrament meeting next Sunday the 18th at 9am. Address is 475 W 400 N, Moab UT. All are welcome.

Maybe it hasn't hit me yet, but I thought I would be freaking out right now. Honestly I feel at peace with it all. If one word could describe my feelings it would be "fulfilled." The choice to serve a mission has been the greatest decision of my life. This has been the best two years of my life and for my life. I am eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven for this opportunity to serve Him and His children. I testify that this work is true.

--

Elder Chris Andrew

California Sacramento Mission

8267 Deseret Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

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103

As I'm looking at my planner where I usually write down the cool things that happened during the week, there's nothing there. Plenty of awesome things happened this week, but I just don't have the time to write them down! This is the second to last letter from me on my mission. Time goes fast! I feel a lot of different things, but I'm looking forward to the next chapter of life.

This week we taught Harmony after her week long vacation in Hawaii. Harmony was baptized as a baby in the Catholic church, converted to Judaism in her teens, and now she has a baptismal date for August 24th! She started investigating after a member family in Tracy began having her over for family home evenings, family scripture study and prayer, and church activities. She has been praying to know if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and her prayers were answered in Hawaii! We are very impressed by her faith and desire. She has really demonstrated "real intent" (Moroni 10:4). I feel like I've realized again how much sincerity plays a part in one's conversion -- the Lord requires that we really want to know, that we desire fervently, before He will answer our prayers.

Another one of our investigators Ali dropped us this week. She kept commitments like reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and attending church (which is half the battle) but she didn't feel like she received an answer. Elder Fullwood and I could see outward results from her, ie she was happier than before she began doing these things, but Ali didn't feel like that was an answer from God. We asked her, "Do you really want to know? If you knew it was true, would you change?" and she flat-out told us "No." That's why God didn't answer her prayers.

We also went to mission leadership council with President and Sister Lewis this week. I sure am going to miss these opportunities to learn from them.

Last Sunday when Ryan was confirmed, another family brought their neighbors and friends to sacrament meeting. The Yangs were taught by missionaries eight years ago and when they found out their neighbors were Mormon they asked if they could come to church with them! We have been teaching them, and the father Sunny and his son Jim will be baptized after church next Sunday! We are so happy. It's just incredible to see the ways that Heavenly Father sends us blessings. I love this work.

--

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.

102

Ryan Nguyen was baptized this Saturday!!! I love the gospel from his perspective -- just simple and straightforward. The gospel just makes sense to him! His friend Adam baptized him, he's the one on the right next to me. Last week Bishop Banks interviewed Ryan and found him worthy of the Aaronic Priesthood, so yesterday after his confirmation in Sacrament meeting, Ryan was ordained to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. How awesome is that?! He is making important steps to full activity in the church. This week he should be going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with our former stake president Crockett. We are so happy for Ryan.

Also this week all of the departing missionaries went to the temple with President and Sister Lewis. Usually we all go the day before our flights home, but the Sacramento temple will be closed then. So I got to see all of my MTC district and a few of the other language missionaries (they stayed in the MTC longer)! This is me and my MTC companion Elder Hubbard. A lot has changed since two years ago.

I love you all! This work is the greatest thing I've ever been a part of, and it's so true!!!

--

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.

101

This week has been great! Ryan's doing awesome. We just had his baptismal interview yesterday and he's good to go for this Saturday! Our assistants came down on Thursday and did exchanges with Elder Fullwood and I. I was with Elder Richwine and we did team-ups with every companionship in Tracy. It was a good day.

This is me and my crazy companion Elder Fullwood yesterday after church. We are outside of our apartment. There used to be another companionship that lived with us, but now it's just us and our Spanish companionship Elders Reid and Ovard that live two buildings away. I think it would be great to move in with a member family in our ward, but we haven't had any luck yet. I remember how great it was to live with the Morris's in Placerville. They were like our family! But I don't mind living here.

Life is good! The Church is true - always has been always will be.

--

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.

100

This week was awesome. I'll tell you about our investigator Ryan. He is 17 and from Vietnam. He is here living with his guardians in our family ward. He was raise Buddhist but his family never kept the traditions. When we met him he had an understanding of Christianity, but really didn't know what he believed in. Our first lesson with him weeks ago he had a lot of questions about God and the purpose of life. He told us, "I'm willing to give it a shot." He's read from the Book of Mormon, prayed, and come to church the past two weeks. A while ago we invited Ryan to be baptized on August 10th, and yesterday he described to us the "fruits of the Spirit:" peace, love, comfort, the "chills" that he feels as he prays. His prayers have been answered as he has put his faith in Christ -- as he's "nourished the seed." So in our lesson last night we asked Ryan how he feels about baptism. "Let's do it." he said. We asked him, "Now would you like to wait until August 10th still, or push it forward to say, July 27th?" "Push it forward, duh." were his words. YEAH! So Ryan is entering the waters of baptism on July 27th! It's just incredible to see the Lord's promises fulfilled as we put our trust in Him. I love to see other people act in faith and receive answers to their prayers.

 

This picture is from a leadership meeting last week. That is my old companion Elder Villalva (remember him?! Yeah, I love that guy) about to chow down on a cake that Sister Lewis got for the mission. "The Book is blue. We hit 92!" Last month was RECORD high baptisms in one month (92!) for the mission in years. Our zone alone had nine people baptized. That's almost every companionship baptizing!

 

The Church is true!

--

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.

99

This week was AWESOME. Elder Fullwood and I have seen miracles. I'm really impressed with his faith and spiritual power. In several lessons this week we have been teaching and Elder Fullwood has stopped and helped our investigators recognize the Holy Ghost witnessing the truthfulness of our words. We have added some great in investigators from the finding tool "The Savior's Peace and Blessing." We were looking for a referral without an exact address. A couple kids were playing outside of one home and so we asked if their parents were home. The father, Sam, came to the door and we told him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we are here to bless his home. The referral that we were looking for didn't live there, but after the initial hesitation Sam agreed to let us in for a few minutes. We met his wife Christina and all of their children. We gathered their names and needs and knelt and I offered the blessing. The Spirit was strong and Christina was in tears. Sam told us after we paused for a moment at the closed of the blessing that it wasn't by coincidence that we came to their house just as they were in the living room together, struggling with the trials of life, waiting for something. We were an answer to their prayers. It is humbling to be an instrument in God's hands to help His children.

 

It's the greatest thing in this world to be guided by the Spirit as we work. I feel like I've noticed it more and more as I've gotten closer to the close of my mission. I'm learning these things to prepare me for the rest of my life. I know this power is real, that God lives, and Jesus Christ is my Savior. This Church is true.

--

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.