New pics of Tyson and Update 10/29/09

Tyson with Bruce (a man they are working with - left) and with Elder Stahlli.

I love his smile and glow!!

Hello family,

Last week I moved to my new area for the final six weeks. I am in the Lehighton area. It is a little weird because it is in the Reading zone so it is a area that I was Zone Leader over. The area was intensely disorganized so we spent the first couple of days just cleaning everything up and organizing everything so we could get to work. Spiritually and very much physically.

My Companion is Elder Santos, he is from the Philippines and is still trying to learn English. So communication has been a little bit of a barrier. Especially with trying to figure out who they were teaching before I got here. Needless to say it has been quite the project since I got here on Monday afternoon. But I think we have a lot of the loose ends tied up and we can get down to some serious work here in this area. It has been pretty funny the way that E. Santos introduces me to the members up here "hey this guy only has six weeks left." I was hoping to not let them know that too fast so I could build a trust with them but I guess they had to know eventually so E. Santos helped me out with that one :). Lehighton is just a small branch of about 30 people and it sounds like some families are planning on moving out as well. The Branch president of the area does not even live within the boundaries of the branch but is here on assignment. So needless to say we have some work ahead of us here, its fantastic! I'm glad to be organized now, it is a little bit easier to tell what i am doing so that really helps. Our address up here is 600 Franklin Ave. APT #17, Palmerton PA 18071.

I was sad to leave the great people that we were working with in Scranton but I know they were well on their way to coming unto Christ, so I am not to worried about them.

Well family that is all I have for you this week. Love you all

Love, Elder Andrus

Disney - part two

On the rockets and at the parade...

Princess Time

Watching her twirl in her dress was so fun. She was enchanting - just couldn't believe that she was wearing a Cinderella dress! So cute.

And then, Cinderella clock struck 12 and she was out cold!

What a great day!!

Hailey on the left with the Disney map! So excited and ready to go.

Our first ride...Dumbo baby!

Goofy was our first character to see. Hailey was excited and scared of the life size goofy in his halloween custume.

Chip freaked Ms. Hailey out. After that, all characters needed to keep a 3 ft radius! We had a blast. We rode a small world twice in a row and Hailey was mesmerized by the whole thing.

Tysons Update - October 22, 2009

Well hello Family,

This week has been another great week. We were able to go on some great exchanges with some elders on Monday. It was a spiritually powerful exchange. I have loved the opportunity to help other Elders come unto to Christ. The great part about that is as we try to bring others to Christ we come closer as well. Well we had our Interviews with Pres. Murray yesterday. It is pretty close to official - Pres. Murray told me that this will be my last transfer as a Z.L. So Last Monday was the last exchange that I will go on in this position. For me it is a pretty sad thing because I love helping other Elders so much that it will be weird to not do that anymore. I have truly loved the great experience that this position has given me. It’s amazing to me how much I have changed since I was put in this spot. I have learned so many important Christ like principles. Helping expand an Elder’s vision of who he is and what he can truly accomplish with Christ is something I will always hold dear. It’s an incredible thing to watch a missionary you have stewardship over have an aha moment. For example, this last exchange I had a fantastic talk with an Elder about consecration and what else he could give. It was so lead by the spirit that I was so extremely happy to just be a part of it. Last night that elder gave me a call and told me of the miraculous things that are happening in his life already. I am so grateful that this is the Lord’s work and not my own. There is no way that I would have been able to know what this elder needed on my own strength.

I will miss having that frequent opportunity with so many Elders. But my final assignment will be going with an elder that I can focus all of my energies on and we will just go to work. I hope I can still be an instrument in God’s hands for my last transfer. The great thing about God is that I know as long as I depend on him all things are possible and "Nothing is Impossible." I will truly miss Scranton. I have no idea of where I am heading next so we will see. I have made some very deep friendships up here and met some people that are strongly making their way toward Christ and his true church.
Love You all!

Love,
Elder Andrus

Gavin is 6 months old in 5 days!

Gavin was over for awhile today and I took a few pics!












He is almost 6 months old, sitting up on his own and having a good time with toys!
Love those blue eyes and blonde hair!


Happy, happy, happy!

Tyson's Update October 15, 2009. Great!

Well it’s that time of the week again,
This week was another great week. We are teaching some miracle people. It’s amazing the fulfillment of the scripture "ask and ye shall receive". One morning we were going to knock on doors and we prayed for a miracle. So we felt prompted to go to a certain street on our map and as we pulled up to it we saw a street that was not on our map. We felt we should go and so of course we did. We knocked on a door and here comes a man named Bruce, he grew up in Washington and grew up knowing some kids from our church. He then went on to invite us into his home, which always kind of throws us off because very rarely do people invite us in before we actually ask to come in. Plus on top of that, very few people allow us in anyways. But to make a long story short he came to General Conference and loved it and then he prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true he received a "You bet ya" (in his own words) plus the very warm feeling of the spirit, which only God can give. Then soon after that we invited him to be baptized and he said he would but he would like to ask God if he should. We followed up with his prayer and he received that same warm feeling with the simple prompting "Do". So now he is preparing to be baptized.
Another miracle that is happening up here among the many is that a recent converts mother came to General Conference at the invite of her daughter. Her name is Janet and she is in her mid 60's. She told us after Conference that she had questions answered in two hours that she has had for her entire life. She talked about the peace that came from having her questions answered in such a simple but profound way that no one has been able to answer before. She has gone from church to church trying to find those answers, but she could not find them. She was amazed that they were finally answered. She came again to church again last week and she is loving every moment of it.
Well family the work is great and I am grateful for every moment I have been given out here. It amazing how many great ways God is giving me to deepen my understanding of him and also the opportunity to deepen myself.
Love ya family,
Love,
Elder Andrus

Tyson's Update: October 8, 2009

Well family this week has been truly exhausting, luckily we are finding more and more ways to give of ourselves in the work. I am so grateful that this is the Lords work and that he gives us the strength to accomplish the things he needs us to accomplish. It’s funny anytime I decide I am going to have a simple talk with the District leaders that night, something always comes up and we spend most of the night on the phone.
We have been planning our Zone Training this week and it looks like things will be great. We are excited about what the Lord has showed us. We know it can really help our elders. I have such a great love for these valiant servants of Christ I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to serve them. It has been such a blessing to my life. If there is one absolute and eternal truth that I have learned is from Mark - Ch 8 verse 33, I believe? "If any man will seek to save his life he shall lose it, but if any man seek to lose his life in the service of the Lord he shall find it." Now I know I seriously paraphrased that scripture but I hope you get the gist. I hope all of you will look up the scripture and study it. Then ask God how you apply it more fully. Now that might not be the exact scripture but that should get you close at least. I am grateful that I don’t have time to focus on myself because that is the only way to true joy. I can testify to that. I love this work so much family and I hope all of you can feel it as well and surpass me in that feeling.
Another small thing I have to ask of all of you is not to worry about writing me about how much time I have left. I love the notes of pushing until the end and giving everything I have left. I truly do appreciate that and I am so lucky for having such a wonderful family like you! Just one favor that would be great is just now references to how much time I have left. That would be great. Again please don’t get offended by this. I love your support and I understand the excitement that I feel from all of you. It just makes it a little bit harder to focus. Thanks family I love you so much! I look forward to your emails next week they mean so much to me. Thank you for taking the time to do that for me I love you all.
Love,
Elder Andrus

Tyson update - 9 more to go!

Well family, another week has past and it’s time for another email. This week has gone very well. I had the great chance this week to learn some very important lessons. We went on exchange with some elders on Monday and I love these opportunities to go with other elders. With the President telling that this is most likely my last transfer in this position, I have realized a serious feeling of urgency. We had the exchanges with the Assistants of the President on Tuesday and we were talking about all the things that our elders needed training on and how all of them need to make steps to commit a little bit more to Christ. All I could feel as we were discussing these things was that there is no time to wait to train all our elders down the road. The Lord’s work is too valuable to waste time and also the very salvation of those who God has trusted me with (including other elders) to wait. There is still a lot to accomplish and plenty of distance to go, but there is still not enough time. With the little time left in this transfer I pray that God will help to boost the desire in our elders and those that the elders are teaching. Isn’t it a great and wonderful thing to be overwhelmed! Why? Because it gives us the important opportunity to know Christ. I hope all people will feel overwhelmed so they can realize how much we all depend on God. Imagine if this life was just a breeze, no one would look up for help.

Well family I think that is all from me for today. I love you all and I hope you all feel God's love as well.

Love,
Elder Andrus

Sunday fun with Chica and Bill

The trees were really turning red and yellow last Sunday in the Canyons.

Chica and me. She is a great friend

I love her!

.

This just cracked both Bill and me up. Chica just jumped off my lap and decided to take the wheel on the way down the mountain! She loved it.