Week 4: Christmas Week

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas.

On Christmas, we had a party at the church, and I got to Skype my family! I enjoyed talking to them.

Since they were in Utah, I also got to talk to my grandparents (mom's side), and a few other people they telephoned. It is hard to describe those types of phone calls. I had so much to say, I did not know where to start.

The party was pretty good. A couple of investigators came. The food was great. The Chinese branch always has good food. I got to see Elder Eyring's family over skype, including his grandfather President Eyring.

I am getting transferred this week. I don't know where I am getting transferred, they just tell us before P-day so we can pack. Elder Wang is also getting transferred. Elder Eyring is staying in the area. He has been in North Melbourne since the beginning of his mission.
Getting transferred is exciting, but it happened right when our area was doing really well. Just a few weeks ago we had no progressing investigators. Now we have at least 3 really good investigators.

Before I started my mission, I believed I might experience only a few miracles during my whole mission. Boy was I wrong. Miracles happen much more often than that.
A couple of days ago, we were teaching an investigator, Michael, the first lesson. Michael is a college student. I believe he is from Hong Kong. He knows 3 languages, and he is very smart. During the lesson, we recited Joseph Smith's own words about the first vision. "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head . . .". The spirit was so strong. When he heard Joseph Smith's first vision, he asked us to repeat it because he wanted to tell it to his family. That usually doesn't happen during the first lesson.
Another investigator is Tony. He was definitely prepared to be taught by us and receive the gospel. He soaks it up like a sponge. He likes reading. He's from China. I couldn't understand when he said this, but apparently he said the Book of Mormon was "the book he's been looking for"
Wow. And all of this happened after only 3 weeks in the field.
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Thanks,
Elder Andersen

Week 3: Australia

Sheng dan jie kuai le! (Merry Christmas!)

I can't believe Christmas is coming up so soon. On Christmas day, we are going to have a party with games, a fireside, food, and other activities. We have a few investigators coming. I will get to call my family. We are all excited.
This was a good week. We did a bunch of street contacting (as usual). We did the most street contacting in our district last week, and since we are in the city, and city missionaries street contact the most, I wouldn't be surprised if we did the most street contacting of any companionship in the mission for that week. But I'm not sure.
Because of the street contacting we did, we got some people to come to the church, gave them a church tour, and taught them "lesson zero" which is about God, Jesus Christ and prayer. We got quite a few numbers, and we have at least 5 investigators that are coming to the Christmas party.

Lesson zero is one of my favorite lessons, because I like hearing people pray for the first time. It is such a cool experience to see someone pray and communicate with God for the first time. Besides inviting the spirit, their prayers also help you to discern their needs.

All of the missionaries I have met here seem to be very obedient and diligent. We also did a couple of exchanges this week. Both times I made a new friend, and we learned things from each other.
The language is coming along slowly. I still do not know what is going on a lot of the time, but I can tell my Chinese is improving. I have this notebook of words I don't know, and I study it whenever I have some spare time waiting for the train, or while we are on the train.
The Australian Open (tennis) happens to start on a p-day, so we are going to try to go.

Out of time. Until next week.

Week 2: Australia

Wow. So much has happened in the past week.

Most of the work we do is street contacting (talking to random people on the street). Most of the people we teach are from China, attending college in Melbourne. Right now it is their summer break, and they are almost all traveling back to China. So things are slower than usual. We don't have that many lessons or investigators. Since we don't have many lessons, we spend tons of time street contacting. It is hard, but I am getting better at it.

Some days you get a lot of response, and other days, you spend the whole day street contacting and get almost no response. One day we were not getting much response, but Elder Wang told me not to get discouraged. The next day, the first person we talked to gave us their a number, and scheduled a time to come to church. The Lord works in strange ways.

The branch here is not what I am used to. Our meeting building is a level on an office building. There are few families. Most of the people are young. The ratio of missionaries to members is very high

Today is my Preparation Day. We had lunch at a senior missionary's house; Elder and Sister Troy. A bunch of missionaries were there and the food was amazing. Chinese of course.

That is one of the good things about being in the Chinese branch. We have had a couple of Christmas parties and the food is always amazing.

We had a Christmas Music devotional yesterday. I sang in the choir. All of the performances were amazing. There were 4 soloists, and some of them were professional singers. One of them was in a Les Miserables play. They were amazing.

We also had a Christmas devotional, just for the missionaries. That was a lot of fun. We got to see How to Train Your Dragon 2.

People have asked me a lot of questions, and I will attempt to answer them.

Are the people there receptive?
It really depends on the person. When street contacting, a lot of people say they have to go do something, but that is expected. There is a surprising lack of weird people in my area. Most people are very nice. When we teach a lesson, we usually have people come to our church which is actually a level in an office building in the city. It's weird, but it works. A lot of people cancel and things like that, but I expected that.

How is the teaching?
I still don't understand a lot of what is going on during the lessons, but I participate in them. As I said, we don't have too many lessons right now.

Are you learning the language and the lessons?
I am slowly learning the lessons and the language. Sadly, most of the day we are not speaking Chinese. But the people who are older than me seem to have picked it up anyway, so I hope I can study and pick it up too.

Also tell us if you have a car, or how you get around?
The public transportation here is very good. We use the trains/subways and trolleys to get around. The missionaries in the suburbs have cars.

How do you find new people to teach?
Almost all street contacting.

We also wonder what the weather is like, and if you have the right clothes. Have you had to buy much on your own?
The weather here is not that harsh. Some days it is hot and humid, and it has rained a couple of times. I think the weather is not bad at all.

Where do you live?
10 minutes outside the city in a small apartment.

What is your apartment like?
Small. I will try to send a picture soon.

What are your impressions of mission life?
It is hard, but fun. some days are better than others. Nothing has been extremely hard yet.

Does you mission have a lot of special rules?
No, but no instruments, even on P-day :(.

What is the mission president like?
He is very nice. Don't get to talk to him all that much.

What is Australia like?
The city is very similar to the US. It is very artistic, and a lot of the architecture is very cool looking. It's very diverse.

Do you like your companion?
Yes! As I said, I have 2 companions. I described them in my last email I believe.

Do you love the place and are you enjoying the food?
Yes. We never really eat at member's houses. We maybe eat at a restaurant once a week. Luckily my companions are good cooks.

Do you get a chance to work out or not too often?
We jog every morning for not that long.

That's so sick you're in a trio with Eyring, isn't he President Eyring's grand son or something?
Yes.

Love you all!


http://elderjordanandersen.blogspot.com/

Elder Jordan Andersen
76 Cathies Lane
Wantirna South VIC 3152
Australia

First week in Australia! My new address is in this weeks blog..

Hello Everyone,

Wow it feels so good to finally be in Australia. The keyboards here are slightly different so I keep making typos, and I am in a library. The computers here log you out after one hour. So I apologize if I don't write that much.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that my experience at the MTC was awesome. No matter how much I complained, the time I spent in the MTC was so special. I learned so much about the Gospel, people, and Chinese. I met so many good people that I will be friends with for the rest of my life. My testimony grew a lot. I want all you from my old district to keep me updated on your visas, reasignments etc.

Leaving the MTC was bittersweet. A ton of people from my zone came to say goodbeye to me at the last minute. We missed our train, but that wasn't an issue. I traveled all the way to LAX with some missionaries headed to South America (My memory sitnks). They were super nice. On the train ride there, the train host told us these stories about crazy people on the train. After that, we took a tram to the airport. It's really dificult to carry around 2 large luggages and 2 carry ons. Anyway, we had Cafe Rio there. People were talking to us left and right. If you're a missionary in Utah, you're like a celebrity.

I met this very nice member at the airport named Brother Saunders. He took some pictures of me and sent them to my parents. He talked to me about his mission.

After LAX was the long flight to Sydney. I was all the way at the back of the plane, but I got a whole row to myself, so I laid across it and got some sleep.

The Sydney airport was the most intimidating part. I needed to do all this paperwork, and go through customs, get a shuttle to the domestic airport, and re-check my baggage. They never debriefed me for this, but I am here now, and that's what matters.

On the ride from Sydney to Melbourne, my seat was next to the same Brother Saunders that I met at the Salt Lake Airport. Wow. There are no such things as coincidences.

A missionary couple named Elder and Sister Wardle picked me up from the airport. They are related to Wardles in my home ward. They told me a bit about Australia. They were so kind.

We got to the mission home, and I saw my companions for the first time. I am in a trio. They are Elder Wang and Elder Eyring. They are great companions. Elder Wang is from China, so he is fluent in Chinese and English. He is mellow, but has such a good spirit. He cooks the best food (we don't really get fed in this area). Elder Eyring is awesome. He is very outgoing and funny. Elder Dorius knew him and told me about him at the MTC. What are the chances I would end up being his companion? Once again there are no such thing as coincidences.

When the Wardles dropped me off at the mission home, they were holding a training meeting. We had dinner there. Someone made Cafe Rio style food, and it was delicious. Then we went to the flat(appartment), and I had a chance to unpack. I was worn out form all the traveling.

Right now I am on my fifth day. The past 5 days have passed incredibly fast. Faster than any of my days spent in the MTC.

Melbourne is an awesome city. Every day when we go into the city, the buildings near Flenders Street and RMIT never fail to amaze me. Look those up on Google. The city is also very diverse. In our area, Australian born people are probably in the minority. There are tons of Chinese people, which is perfect.

Anyway, the first half of our day is similar to the MTC. We do personal, companion, and language study. And right now they are training me which takes an extra hour. Then we take the metro into the city where our church and our area are located. Our church is a floor on an office building. Its small, but it gets the job done. There is 1 Chinse branch and 1 English branch, so everything is very tight knit. If we don't have a lesson, we usually go out street contacting, and try to get them to take a tour of our church. Then we sit them down and offer to teach them the first lesson.

I can't say I like street contacting. It can be very akward. I am already getting a bit better at it though, and the less akward it gets, the more enjoyable it is. I got someone's phone number yesterday. Since Christmas is coming up, we usually talk about that and the "Christmas Initiative" (christmas.mormon.org). Many of the people are college students, so you can also ask them about that.

We also had a Christmas party, and we are going to have another one later this week. Our branch is Chinese, but most people can speak English to an extent. The people I met at the party were very nice. Everyone made delicious Chinese food.

I am out of time now. I have included my new address below. Until next week.

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http://elderjordanandersen.blogspot.com/

Elder Jordan Andersen
76 Cathies Lane
Wantirna South VIC 3152
Australia

This is Jordan's Mom. I have added the nice message and pictures that Brother Saunders emailed to me after meeting my son while traveling to Melbourne. I'm so thankful for him and taking the time to talk to my son, take pictures and email me. I hope to receive more as Elder Andersens journey begins.

Hi,

I'm *** Saunders. I have 2 sons currently serving (Helsinki and Cusco) so I know what an occasional photo means to the family at home. I'm traveling on business to Melbourne and ran into your son in the SLC airport and also found myself sitting by him now on the flight from Sydney to Melbourne. We are just getting ready to push back from the gate. He literally radiates light and goodness and I'm sure his impact in Australia will be significant. I've enjoyed talking to him. He is a fine young man. He told me he had a row of seats to himself on the flight to Sydney so he was able to rest on the long flight. May the Lord bless your family through your son's service. It's great to join with you as a family with missionaries on this great work.

All the best.

*** Saunders

LAST DAY! So long MTC, next stop Melbourne, Australia!

I am leaving the MTC in a couple of hours. Wow.

I have a ton to write about, and I may not cover everything in this week's letter. I am the second person from our whole zone to leave since the Taiwan missionaries still do not have their visas. Anyway, on Thanksgiving I got to see one of my favorite speakers speak; Elder Bednar. He passed out cellphones and did a huge Q and A session. I summarized some of the questions:

Why would God give Adam and Eve contradictory commandments?
He didn't, he gave them a choice.
How do members of the 12 have so much energy?
This work is energizing
What is the best way to get through trials without losing faith?
you receive witness after trials.
Why was the missionary age changed?
People in some other countries have had the choice to go at 18 for awhile due to different schooling schedules. So they just decided to let everyone have that choice.

I will try to write more of my spiritual impressions in my next email. They are in another notebook.
A few people in my district and I joined the choir and we got to sing for Elder Bednar. That was one of the best moments I have ever had in the MTC. We sang the mormon tabernacle chior version of Come Thou Fount. It was amazing. Then we did a service project which was making microwavable soup for the Utah food bank. Our district did about 2000 bags I believe. I saw Elder Bednar as I was leaving the project, and I got to shake hands with him. Then we watched Meet the Mormons! It was pretty good. The young man in the movie gets his missionary clothes from the same exact place as me, and the same exact employee was helping him out. Then we had a devotional, which was quite different from our other devotionals. The missionaries did a skit, and we got to see an amazing harp performance.

It was very odd at the end when everyone at the end stood up and applauded. Apparently we can do that if it is not church music. We also saw some other performances. Then after dark we went outside, and there were tons of lights, and a little nativity.

On Sunday we got to see Vocal Point perform for a devotional. It was super cool. They sing acapella and mix in some comedy.
And then we had to say goodbye to our teachers. Our teachers were so cool. Most of them were college students and returned missionaries.

I will try to write more as soon as possible, but I have to leave the MTC in an hour now. Until next time.

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http://elderjordanandersen.blogspot.com/

Elder Jordan Andersen
DEC01 AST-MEL
2007 N 900 E Unit 19
Provo UT 84602

(This is Evelyn. I wasn't able to open up any of Elder Andersens pictures that he had included with this blog entry. Hopefully he will be able to resend them to me so I can insert them in. I will also hopefully get his new address soon in Melbourne for those that wish to send him a letter although emails work great too. For those of you that have written him so far, thank you.)