Gavin 4 days old!

A picture or two just too wonderful not to post. Gavin is 5 days old today and these were taken yesterday. We couldn't love him more!

Hailey and Grandma got a pedicure!

Hailey needed a little time away from the "baby mania" at her house so Grandma took her out for a pedicure on Wednesday. She was so cute holding her fingers and toes out perfectly while they worked on her cute little nails! We had a great time. She also got to come to Grandma's house and see her new tricycle! It was a happy afternoon! I adore her!!

She loves the ringer and was showing it to me

We went to Arctic Circle for fries and many trips down the slide too - I am getting a little too old for that but Hailey did not think so!!

Elder Andrus Update: Cute note about our family addition and great news!

Well first off the best news of the week was the birth of my new nephew, future Elder Gavin West. That is an incredible piece of news. I'm not going to lie it is a little bit weird that I was not there and that he has 7 months to grow before I see him. But that’s okay the family can just update me through pictures. Plus, now I have another April birthday that I have to try to remember. I'm sure Hailey is going through some growing pains but that’s a good thing. No kid should grow up without a little sibling to bug the garbage out of them.

Well this week has been an extremely busy one full of exchanges and planning. We have Training coming up this Monday so that has taken a lot of work. Everybody is doing great, missionaries are getting motivated and you can see it. Covington and I are doing great, but I’m not going to lie, I have a little bit of anxiety because with E. Covington going home we are making suggestions on who the new ZL will be. It’s a little rough because the candidates - I’m not so sure if we are going to get along so well, but I’m sure that we will be fine. It's just rough because as companions we need to work well with each other so we can focus on other things and it’s a pain if you have to spend time focusing on companionship unity. I'm sure it will work out because I can get along with most people, it’s just better when you don’t have to use energy to get along.

Well I have some great new Jahaira's husband is going to be baptized in 2 weeks! So now they will be a complete family unit in the church which is a great thing. Well family I am out of news I love you and I will talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Andrus

Congrats Aubie and Greg I love you from the bottom of my heart

Gavin Gregory West is Born!!

GAVIN GREGORY WEST: April 20, 2009










We had an exciting event in our family this week. Aubrie had her baby!! Gavin was born on Monday evening at 9:22 pm. After 6 hours of labor and 2 pushes we got to have our first peek; weight 7.5 lbs and 21.5 inches long. We are so excited to hold him, love him and watch him grow.

Gavin is 2 days old below.
















You can see Hailey thinking..."What the heck just happened to my life?" I want my princess status back immediately!

Tyson's Update

So my new Address is 555 pearl St. Apt 203. Reading PA 19601 So I don’t have too much time to write this week because these computers are really running slow today.

But anyway, things have been great. I keep learning a new definition of tired on my mission but it’s been great. We had a lot of planning to do for the Zone. It been great to have a focus on where we want to take things. I don’t like talking about being ZL too much but this past week we had Zone Leader Council, it was incredible. All of the Zone Leaders of the mission and President Murray met to talk about the past transfers numbers, challenges, stake presidents, new ideas, and goals for the next transfer. I felt very inadequate among extremely good missionaries, but it was great to discuss the mission and bring new ideas to the table. It was a great creative process to take part in.

We also recently met with the AP to talk about our Zone and the every missionary in it. It has been a great experience and a challenge. We have been running around like crazy and planning a lot. The area is also doing well - there is a lady named Elisha that should be baptized in a couple of weeks. She is extremely intelligent and very sensitive to the spirit. She had a very hard time with having just one true church. But last night the spirit bore powerful witness to her that it was true and the she needed to be baptized by proper authority (Acts Ch 8). At first she was getting angry and defensive but the spirit bore witness and she looked down and started to cry. She then looked up and said " I just want to be baptized now!" It was a great night.
Well family I love you and I am out of time.

Love,
Elder Andrus

Our Little Hailey

Hailey is practicing her hair cutting skills on her mom and dad. She practiced on her dolls and then decided to go pro! Check out how focused she is. We love her!!

Tyson is now a Zone Leader in Reading: His letter this week - amazing! (of course he did not mention that he is now a zone leader - so like him!)

Well a lot has changed in the course of one week. Last week was one of the most spiritually filled weeks of my mission. One night we were just tracting with 30 min left in the night and I felt a whisper that we need to go see a less active named Erica. But I pushed away because I just thought it was me just being lazy and especially being with a very young missionary I did not want him to build a habit of "stopping back" on people just to waste time. But it kept coming to me over and over "go see Erica" but I kept pushing it away. Then I just turned to E. Chan and told him that I felt prompted to go see Erica, but that I did not want to waste time. He suggested that we pray about it. As E. Chan was praying about it the spirit very firmly told me to GO!

Before he could even close the prayer I was already running towards the car. E. Chan was very confused, but followed. In the car we raced across reading and during the whole trip E. Chan just kept asking if I was alright. All I could say is that "I pray that we are not too late" we parked the car jumped out and I saw her house and the lights were out. I felt despair hit me like a wall, I was too late, but I decided to knock anyway and Erica opened the door. As I looked inside the house I saw one of her friends with a beer and also a cigarette in her hands. The spirit hit me like a wall, I knew if I was even 1 minute latter Erica would have fallen onto that pit. Her friend left the room. We talked to Erica and her life is a wreck, she is getting divorced and her mother is trying to get custody of her kids. She was in the pits of depression and was a minute away from doing some pretty bad things. Before Erica was baptized her outlets were smoking and drinking and I know if we were a minute later Erica would have followed her friend. That was a very powerful experience.

Also this week Jahaira and her kids were baptized, that was an incredibly spiritual experience, almost near the temple in power. I love that family. We also had miracle finding experiences as well. Sat Night I was hoping that I going to be able to stay in the area that I love so much and be with the people I love, like the Harper family (Jahaira) and also Christa and her kids. But the call came Saturday night. A lot of people were very sad that I was leaving including the bishop who cried at church when he learned the news. I was also pretty sad to leave after seeing the area become what it has become. But the good news is that I learned I’m only moving to the south side of Reading. I will be in a different ward but I will get to see a lot of people at church. It's been a great week and I’m trying to learn the new area.

Oh ya and I’m also with an old Companion of mine. His name is E. Covington from when I was in Fishtown. He is the man. We are really great friends and I’m excited to serve with him. It's his last transfer before he goes home, so he has six week left.

Well family I am sick of typing but I love you and you are the best I hope to see some emails from you guys next week.

Love,
Elder Andrus