Hello everyone,

I do not have much time to write. I am getting transferred to Box Hill, one of my favorite areas. I served there a while ago, only for a transfer. I still remember a lot of the members and investigators. It will be a lot of fun. I will miss my current area. I will be able to come back to the city for Cici’s baptism, the girl we have been teaching here.

So I will spend half of the day today with Elder Vang, because he is ending his mission, and then we will go back and pack.

Artists painting an advertisement

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Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老

76 Cathies Lane
Wantirna South VIC 3152
Australia

General Conference

Hello Everyone,

Sorry, I am pressed for time this week. General conference was great. 

This was one of my favorite talks

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04/he-will-place-you-on-his-shoulders-and-carry-you-home?lang=eng

We had to move Cici's baptismal back because of General Conference, and her exams at college. But she will get baptized on the 23rd. She came to conference yesterday and she was telling her friends that she was being baptized on that date and they were all very excited. She is very awesome. We are also excited for her! I just hope I do not get transferred! Transfers are in a week. We had an 8 week transfer.

Anyways, these are the main things that happened this week. Until next week.

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老

76 Cathies Lane
Wantirna South VIC 3152

Super fast week and 3/4 mark!

We had hotpot this week with some other missionaries. How come I have never seen hotpot in the USA? It is the best thing ever. 

Well, just as the title says, this week went by SUPER fast and I hit my 3/4 mark. 6 more months left.

We had interviews with president this week. He is always a little pressed for time, but we had a good talk about my area, and what goals I have for my last 6 months. 

When we picked up Elder Padilla from the office, there was a sealing that just finished, for someone that I knew from Box Hill. And someone had a drone to take photos.

We had a couple of people come to church this Sunday. Cici, the girl who can get baptized soon came. Also a new person that Elder Padillia found came. Since their school brake ends today, they are busy again, but we will find a chance to meet with them again.

Thank all of you for your support. I really enjoy your emails, even if I do not get a chance to respond. Our time spent on the computer is really limited. But I do read all of the emails I get and I appreciate every one.

​

--

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

This Week in Melbourne

Eureka Skydeck is the tallest building in Melbourne.

View from atop the Skydeck

The time has been passing super fast since I have gotten back from Tasmania.

I do not have much time to write today because I will be picking up another missionary and we will be serving in a trio. That missionary is Elder Padillia! I have already served with him twice before; once in the MTC and another time in Melbourne.

Things are super good in our branch right now. There have been a few baptisms lately, and the Branch President's two kids just got back from their mission. They teach the class that our investigators go to during church, and they are good teachers. They always have us interact, and break up into groups to study scriptures and things like that.

The most recent Baptism was a guy named Lambo. I found him a Long time ago, when I was in another area. At that time, he stopped meeting with us because he had some other things, and then he went back to China. When I came back to my area, I saw him at Church. I later found out that he was being baptized! And then he got baptized a week ago.

Lamo is third from the left.

This is really a testimony to me. The whole time I was in that area, I thought it was one of the worst areas, and we did not meet with many people, and it felt like we weren't getting anywhere. Another miraculous thing was that I found him in a place where we only went finding once, and then never went again.

Last p-day we went to a free film museum. I have been there before, but I was taking my friend Elder Vang since he is going home soon. This is why I have been doing more things on p-day lately. It was super cool and they had an exhibit on Minecraft.

Movie Museum

Add caption

I also learned how to play Sanguosha! A super fun Chinese card game. Still can not read the cards though.

Well we have to pick up my new companion soon. Until next week!

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

Second Week Back in Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

"The Grotto"

Hello!

Wow we have been so busy lately and so much has happened since I have been back to the mainland. 

We had stake conference a week ago, and also ward conference a couple of weeks ago. So we have been travelling all over Melbourne and it is very tiring. It takes an hour to get from our house to our branch in the city, and to go to these conferences, we have to switch trains in the city and go back out to another suburb. It can take 2 or 2.5 hours! But we shouldn't complain. A couple of the recent converts made the same trip to come to conference with us. That is dedication. Our recent converts are really good. Joe and Elvis, and Mary, but Mary has been a member for a bit longer. 

On Saturday we went to the baptism of a girl named Angel. The baptism was also far away, but it was super good and one of our investigators came. Angel just happened to be a tour guide, so the missionaries rented a bus yesterday and we went to the "Great Ocean Road". It was basically the whole Chinese zone, and an English zone. It was a lot of fun. Special thanks to Angel, and Elder Lan.

So we woke up way early and got to the city before sunrise. We caught the bus, everyone was super excited. The bus ride was quite long. We stopped at a couple of very beautiful beaches. The beaches on the great ocean road have huge cliffs which reminded me of the beaches back home. It kind of has a "Point Loma" feel. Anyway, besides stopping at all of these smaller beaches, we stopped at a very famous place called the 12 apostles. They are 12 huge cliffs in the ocean.

We ate lunch at another beach and then rode home.  

On the ride home, people were playing SanGuoSha (a Chinese card game)  in the back of the bus and singing hymns.  Half of the fun was riding in the bus.

We had to be back by 6:30 for Family Home Evening though. At FHE, 3 of the most respected missionaries in our branch shared their last testimony. Elder Lan, Sister Wang and Elder Su are going back home. Elder Lan's parents came and it was great to meet them. Elder Lan is one of my favourite companions. I served with him a long while ago. His parents got all of these small gifts for us from China, including SanGuoSha, key chains, chopsticks, and lanyards. I really can not thank this elder enough. Not only did he let us go on the bus that he actually rented, but he also got gifts for us, and bore his fervent testimony. These people are true role models for me. I have about 6 months left on my mission, and I hope I can be someone looked up to at the end of my mission, as these missionaries who are currently returning home are to me. 

So I am typing this email on Tuesday. I am feeling a little sick today, but I felt a real motivation boost from these missionaries. So I revised my mission goals during personal study, then we went out finding for a couple of hours. 

There are still so many things I want to say, but the time is far spent. Thank you for all of your prayers. I know that the gospel is true and that Jesus Christ lives. He also resurrected, which is why we will celebrate Easter shortly.

-- 

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

This week was super busy. We had Elder Hallock from the quorum of the 70 come talk to us. He talked about his mission, how much it taught him, and he shared with us about planning. 

The missionaries held a "missionary night" which was a lot of fun. We played a lot of minute to win it games. One of them involved putting a funny hat on and using it to knock down cups. Things like that. A couple of members from our area came. 

Game Night

We have had a few investigators coming to the English class in the city. Lately a lot of our time has been spent at these activities, teaching people, and on the train. It takes one hour to get from our house to the church. 

Anyway, no more time for today. 

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

This is how we park in Melbourne.  It stacks the cars on top of each other.

My companion fixing a window

So Long Tasmania, Hello Moorabbin

Well after 6 months in Tasmania, I am finally back on the mainland. I learned a lot during my time in Tasmania, and got help a few people receive the Gospel and baptism. More than any other area on my mission in fact. They moved us elders out of Tasmania, and moved sisters in. We moved into an area that sisters used to be in. I got moved to Moorabbin. I have served here once before with Elder Padillia. The area is a lot different right now. The sisters that used to be here baptized a few people, so we have some excellent recent converts as well as investigators. School is starting this week which means that everyone is busy, but there are a lot of new Chinese people. 

i really like my new companion. His name is Elder Ju. He is from Ha'er Bin China. He is one of the newer missionaries that came in while I was in Tasmania. He is a good teacher, and no real drama. He became friends with our investigators very quickly. 

They day i flew back to Melbourne, the Assistants drove us from the airport to the city branch. When we got there, an activity was just finishing. So I saw a lot of my friends and other missionaries that I had not seen for six months. A couple people got baptized, that I did not even know about. 

This week we have met with some of the new people. We had four lessons with members present, which is extremely high, but having a member present at your lesson really helps the investigator because some investigators feel a distance between themselves and the missionary. 

Well I have to go now. This computer is about to run out of time. Until next week!