Tyson's updates of the last two weeks!

July 23, 2009

Yet another week that has flown by. We were able to hold our Zone Training last Monday. It was a ton of fun we were able to keep up the energy and the other elders did as well. All of the missionaries were able to learn some things that they wanted to apply. I love the elders here they are a great bunch.

We also had quite the experience Tuesday night as well. One of our families that we are teaching had a pretty big blow out. We were walking up to the home to the yelling and crying. We walked in, we asked if we should leave but the husband asked us to stay. They were having some serious relationship problems over a multitude of things. One of the reasons being over how quickly they can be baptized, the husband wants to be baptized now, but the wife is dragging her feet. They are both great people. But they had huge yelling fest when we arrived. After the husband sat us down, they continued to yell. But after some time they both sat down and we were able to help them council things out. It is just crazy what our heavenly father lets little kids take care of. Both Elder Hofer and I are only in our 20's and we were counseling on marriage advice for a couple in their 50's. It just does not make sense the things God lets us be a part of. It is just a crazy thing to take a step backward from and analyze. God has to be a part of this work because i know by the worlds standards we are some the worst people to take advice from especially about relationship counseling. But this, luckily, is Gods work and the spirit gave us t he words to give them some serious council and they are both on their way to being baptized again. After the experience I was just overwhelmed with the thoughts of , "Why does God let imperfect instruments be a part of his perfect work?" I have an answer for that question but I am curious to see what some of your answers would be, then I will let you know my thoughts next week.
Well family, I love you very much.
Love,
Elder Andrus


July 16, 2009

Well family, I don’t know if I have very much to write this week but we will see how it goes.

We went on some more exchanges with the newer Elders in our zone. Some are very good and others are little scared but they will be fine. I was impressed with their humility and how much they want to learn. If older missionaries were this humble including myself the mission would be 100 times better. I am so impressed at how prepared some of the missionaries are before they leave for their missions. If there was anything I could pass on to those that are thinking about missions it would be to start learning and practicing now. You can tell who prepared and who did not very quickly and it has a huge impact on how fast they can hit the ground running. We are planning for Zone Training right now and we are pretty excited with what we have planned. It should be very good for our zone. We have a couple that we are working with. Their names are John and Kathy and they are doing great- they have a long list of things to overcome but they have a lot of fire and testimony. It is enough to help overcome what they have to accomplish. They have set a plan to quit smoking and get married and of course baptism. It will be long after I leave this area probably but they are well on their way and they are a great couple.
Love you all.
Love Elder Andrus

A few more pics of Montana Trip

Hailey and I played hair and make up. I love her cute little profile!

She has some really great lip gloss on here, but you can't see it - what a doll!

Montana Trip July 2009

Getting the campfire ready...

Yummy!!

Notice that Greg has no problem holding Gavin, building the fire and eating smores! You be the man!

Getting ready for the infamous fireworks over the lake! The master of ceremonies, my Willie!

Hailey is a full participant stacking the goods!

Ain't she cool?

Tyson's update

Well family a new transfer has officially begun again. We have an extremely young zone again. About 75% of the zone is under a year. 3 of our companionship's are training as well so we have a lot of humble youth. It is a great thing to have. Pres. Murray gave us the opportunity to go to Broomall for transfers and speak to our new zone for about 10 min before they split into their new areas. It was great to set expectations that we have and pump them up for their new areas and companions. The spirit was strong and the missionaries are excited. We will try to do everything that we can to help them achieve their goals. Its weird when I was a younger missionary I felt like I knew everyone but now it seems like I know nowhere near as many missionaries in the mission. Just more and more young guns come in and the people I know keep leaving its kind of a weird feeling. We have leadership training and Zone Leader Council tommorow. It feels like we have spent this week in the car. On Tuesday we went to Broomall for transfers, on Wednesday we went to Hometown about an hour and half drive for a district meeting to get to know some of the new missionaries and tommorow it's back to Broomall again. We have been very busy getting ready for this new transfer. I love you guys Love, Elder Andrus

A few new photos to share

To the left is Hailey and me at Liz's reception - a perfect contentment for both of us!

Below are the newer pics of Gavin. He is now 2 months old!!

Tyson's letter this week. Love it!

Well Family This week has been pretty good.
This past Monday we had Zone Training and it was great. We had a lot of fun doing it and the missionaries are doing better than they have in a while. Transfers are coming up and I had the opportunity to talk to president and it looks like every single companionship in our zone is going to be changed. We will lose an elder out of each companionship to other Zones. So we will have a completely different Zone next transfer and a couple of our Elders are training so it will be a fun next transfer. Other than that things are pretty basic.

Well Russ Olsen asked me to send him my testimony so I copied it I will just put on this email as well:

I would love to write you my testimony. The funny thing is that last week I just had the opportunity to give a talk on missionary work. This is a huge opportunity to get your ward motivated man so don’t mess it up :). Something that has been weighing heavily on my mind was the fact that I think if you ask members what message we bring to the world the would probably tell you "the restoration". That answer is in part true but on the other hand that answer only scratches the surface of our message. Members need to ask themselves okay so we have the restoration but what exactly has been restored? The center of any message that we share should always refer to the Atonement of Christ, because without that nothing else truly matters. The true meaning of the atonement is what has been restored. I invite you to read Luke 22 and try reading that chapter without the knowledge that you have gained through this church. Once you have done that. Ask yourself why was he bleeding? Why did god send him an angel? What was the point of that whole thing? Without Gods truth most of Christianity is left up to speculation. Wow what a thing to miss out on!!! Now read Mosiah 3:7 and Alma 7:11-12. With the gospel being restored we know EXACTLY why Christ suffered to the point of bleeding from every pore. Through this church we know what the true nature of who god is! The fullness of the mission of Christ. The plan of Salvation. What greater truth could we carry to the world?! Only when you know your Creator and his plan for you can you start to connect with him. It’s hard to connect with something you don’t know. I invite all members who say, “I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet” to actually think about why they say that. Why is that important? Joseph Smith is not the object of praise but a stepping stone to truth. We need to remember that as a church. This church has our Heavenly Father Truth in its fullness. It shares the true mission and divinity of Christ. The atonement is Real. That’s the message we bring! His name is the name I bear and I testify of that in the name of our only true and living savior JESUS CHRIST AMEN.

I hope that helps. That is probably a little more than you wanted.
I love ya brother and I hope the marriage is going fantastico.
Love Elder Andrus

Well that’s about it for me this week I love ya guys

Heaven or Hell?

Bill passed this on to me and I felt like sharing it - Short and to the point!

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ' God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'
God led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.
They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.
But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the
spoons back into their mouths..
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God
said, 'You have seen Hell.'

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same
as the first one.
There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the
holy man's mouth water.
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the
people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man
said, 'I don't understand..'
It is simple,' said God. 'It requires but one skill. You see they have
learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'