Thanksgiving

I  am glad to hear that you had a good Thanksgiving and I am sure that you had a full house but that is always so much fun. We did get treated pretty well on Thanksgiving.  We ate 2 dinners back to back so I was stuffed but it was a fun time. Well things are good here.  I have been wondering about Bry and the football game all week and I will be doing the same all this week, especially come Saturday but I hope that all goes good for him and that they will pull it out. We are having really nice weather here also I barely even need a coat, it was a little chilly yesterday but not bad at all. Well mom I don't have too much to say right now. I guess other than everything is going good and only a couple more weeks and I will be talking to you on the phone, which I am very excited for.Well Mom I love and miss you very much. Thank you for everything.
Love, Elder Andersen

November 25

that is cool about daniel you will have to try and give him my e-mail so we can keep in touch he will be a good missionary, he is a lot of fun and easy to like.

so i have not gotten grandmas bread yet maybe it will come today though. oh and thank you so much for the packages i love the jerky and hot chocolate has been prefect. oh and for all the cold medicine because literally the day after i got the box i woke up with a cold and i was so glad to have medicne there for me. i have still got the cold but it is not too too bad so its ok.

so the family is ok we are going over there on friday and hopefully they will come to church on sunday. when i last talked to the mom she said that her son was feeling a lot better so i hope that all woks out with them.

i did not know and elder bloggett but there have been a couple of elder andersens to go through this mission so it probably was one of the older ones. oh and speaking of bronx we had stake conference last week so i got to see my old olmstead ward because they are now in the same stake. it was really cool to see some of the families who really took care of me back in march when i first got here so that was cool.

well things are good here it should be a good thanksgiving we are going to get with the other missionaries in the morning and play some football or some quidditch( the sport in harry potter) beacuse a member has a quidditch feild set up haha. and then i am going to be eating dinner with a couple families one of them is the anderson's so that will be cool. as for my area we are getting it fugured out and it reall is a nice place and i am looking forward to staying here for a few months. it has a lot of nice old like victorian houses and it is just pretty cool little east coast towns.

well i had better get going but i love you very much and tell all the family hi and that i miss them and i hope you all have a great thanksgiving. it has been a year now since i was waiting on my papers because the didnt come dure to thanksgiving...pretty crazy. well i miss you and am sad i dont get to be with the family, but i am thinking about you and i love you.

love,

matt

Transferred to Yonkers!

So ..yes I did get transfered. I am now in an area called New Rochelle but I live in Yonkers. i am also doing what is called "white washing." It is where neither me or my companion have been in the area before and we just come in and take over. It is going to be hard because the area is big and we have to drive and all the roads dont' make sense to me yet or him. New Rochelle is like a suburb of the city and is just a little ways above the Bronx. My companion is way cool and we have been friends before and now we are companions so it is going to be a lot of fun. It is funny riding in a car. It has kind of been making me nauseous. I guess just because I haven't really been in one for like 9 months but I am sure I will get used to it soon.

My new address is 2 Ashburton Place

Yonkers, NY 10701

I live with some really cool people and my apartment is decent. Also I am looking forward to the coming weeks. I am glad the corn harvest went well. I can't believe that it is almost half way through november already. It is slowly cooling down here but no snow yet so that is good. I am sure it wont be too much longer though.

My new address

Things are going pretty good here. One thing that has changed is yesterday I got a call from the assistants and I was told to pack my bags! I am at a new address. Not a new area but just another missionary apartment. My new apartemnts address is: 234 w 122 #3C New York, NY 10027.
I am not far from my old apartment and other missionaries still live there so any mail that does go to that address will be easy to get. Other than that not much new is happenening around here.
We have a baptism set up for the 25th. It is the 9 year old daughter of a recent convert. It took a lot of work to get her to decide to be baptized but now that she has said yes it will be pretty easy so i am excited for that!
It is cooling down. The leaves are just starting to change. Too bad I wasn't upstate where I could actually get to see them but oh well I will see a little bit.
I miss you all very much and hope that things go good with all the harvests.

Happy Birthday Mom, Grandma and Aunt Sandy

First off I wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! If you can also tell Grandma and Aunt Sandy that would be great. Thank you. I can't believe grandma is 92 that is so cool. That is definatly not something that happens here in Harlem too often. Too many people live rough lives and make a lot of bad choices.
Elder Kelley and I are doing fine together. He is from West Valley, Utah and he goes home with Elder Sprengle this December. He is pretty quiet and he is pretty relaxed for the most part so I think we will get a long fine.

New Companion

Hey! Well good news is that I didnt get transferred, but I did get a new companion. His name is Elder Kelley, and he goes home in December. That is really about all Iknow so far. I will tell you more when I get to know him better. I hope we will get a long and have fun together, time goes by a lot smoother when your having fun!

First Week in Harlem

hello! wow this has been an interesting week in learnig about a new place and so many new people. it has been fun though i really like harlem and my area it is very historical and has a lot of cool facts. my area is just above central park so if you look at a map you and see my area easily it goes from 116th st to 110 st which is the north border of the park. it is pretty cool. we have a member named zaheer he used to be hindu and he is blind he has the whole book of mormon in brail and just 1st and 2nd nephi alone took up a binder about 7 inches thicK! the is also a man in our ward named matt lybert and he came and talked to me and he is from kennewick! he is tracey lybets nephew so that was cool to meet somebody that i kind of know. that is so cool about brenan and trey i have been meaning to write them but i just havent i guess will get on it now. my comp is from everywhere his dad is in the army and so he has moved around alot. he lived in roy washington for a while tthen miami and then colorado springs is where he came out of. oh in my ward is also a lady named sister smiley and she is bruce r mckonkey's granddaughter i thought that was pretty cool. well it sounds like things are good at home which is good to hear. umm as for packages ys if it is things like treats and what nots like that then it will be fine but if its the shirts and things that i dont necessarily need right away then it will be fine to go to the mission home. well thank you so much for everything i love you so much and miss you and yes mothers day is coming up pretty fast i am also looking forward to it. i love you.

More about the transfer to Harlem.

It is so good to get so much mail and treats from everyone. It helps me out so much.
Well by now you know I have been transferred to Harlem with Elder Sprengle. I hope you got my new address, and have told all our family, and anybody else, that my address has changed. I would have said to send to the mission home during transfer week, but it is very rare for missionaries to get transferred their first cycle. Well I still know nothing about Harlem, but I am hoping to be catching up by next week. I am pretty sure I will be here for at least a couple of cycles, but I guess you never know out here. Ahh, wow it sounds so busy at home and it is weird because the work there is so different than the "work" here. Thank you for keeping me updated on everything. Is very good to hear about what's going on. Well Mom I don't really know what to say because I don't know what is going on here, but I know that everything will be okay. I miss you all so much. It is sometimes hard to think how long it will be before I see you. But it is okay because I am doing find and am having fun. I hope everything is going good. I love you so much. Love, Elder Matt Andersen

Harlem here I come!

hello! wow it sounds like so much has happened this last week. a lot has happened here too..........i got transferred! it was out of no where so you will have to spread the word to not send anything top my old address because who know how long it will take for me to get it if i even do haha. i did get your package thank you so much. my new address is 81 west 126th #5c New York, NY 10027. so i am in Harlem now i don't know much else i guess i will figure it out soon. my new companion is elder Sprengle he seem like a really nice guy i hope we get a long well i was just starting to feel right at home in my last area so as of right now i am a little nervous about what is going to happen the next few cycles. but things are good and the work will go on and i will get back into the rhythm will keep having fun or at least doing my best to. i am glad to hear that Kevin is doing good but i still cant believe is about Judy that seems so crazy. we have been really blessed with good health i hope that it continues. that is so cool about Jon and Maritza it is coming up pretty quick, that is so cool. well mom i am sorry this is short but i am still in a daze from transfers and don't know what to say because i don't know much yet. i miss you a lot and love you too. i hope all is well. thank you so much for all of the letters and packages they help so much. take care.

I continue to roll forth.

Hello! It is good to hear that you guys are doing well. I can’t believe that Kevin Jenks has cancer. That is so crazy. I hope that it doesn’t get worse. I write to Wes back and forth and he has been pretty awesome through out the whole mission deal and he always has given me good advice. So Randy thinks he is going to be transferred huh? I dunno about that. I am almost positive that I won’t be. Most greenies stay in their areas for 3 cycles, but i guess you never know what could happen! Things are good here. Last week turned out to be a little bit of a slow week as far as teaching and there was one day that seemed super long and frustrating, but all is well and i continue to roll forth. I did get to see the blogspot and I have no requests. It looks good to me. I’m glad that Bry helped out Andersons with their pen. I was wondering who would do that so it is good that he did. Tell him if he wants to do a pig in a couple of years I would help him out for his last year. Haha… just in case he decides he misses it. Thank you so much again for all the packages and letters they help me out so much every day. And the jerky was a big hit with my roomies. All they have ever had was store jerky. Oh I just got back from the temple. It was nice to get to go and kind of get out of the world for a little. It is pretty small inside but it is still nice. Well mom i miss you a lot and love you tons. Thank you for all the support and prayers they really help. I love you. Elder Andersen

Teaching Russell

mom thank you so much for all of the letters and e-mails and the packages. They really help. It is nice to have things to munch on when i get home after a long day. this week has been pretty good. i taught a 16 yr old named Russell who was very interested and accepted a baptism date and came to church. i hope we can stick with him and help him to progress. he is pretty shy so i think the biggest challenge will be helping him feel comfortable at church with the youth there is not a whole lot to pick from so i am hoping he can find some one he is really comfortable with. but things are good other then Russell we have people that we teach but not many who are really progressing not many people can stick to commitments and want to go to church.
that is awesome the Chels got a puppy. i am pretty surprised so we will see how that goes. i will have to find out what kind it is. that is so crazy about Judy Pauly and very scary. she is in my prayers and i know she is in Randy's as well he was her home teacher for a long time. i am so grateful for all the safety and health that my family all enjoy.
thank you so much for the pictures it was so nice. i didn't realize until i got out here that i didn't have any pictures of home so it was nice to just get to see the lay out of the land. before i left i meant to take some from grandpas hill but i never got around to it. grandma wrote me she is so awesome here and grandpa both i love them so much and it is so good to hear that they are doing well. well i am doing god and am figuring out my area i will write more in a letter later if i get a chance. thank you so much for all of your letters, packages, and prayers each one really helps me out. i love you and miss you all so much but i am grateful for this opportunity that i have. Love Elder Andersen

The Bronx

March 25, 2009
We walk quite a bit but the projects do have elevators, they are probably some of the nastiest things that I have seen and they all smell like urine, because that is what some people use them for, but they do have elevators which is good because going up anywhere from 2-17 flights of stairs any where from 5-10 times a day would be no good. The bishop here is very cool he is only probably like 28 I would guess and is going to med school. I dont know if i told you about the group of like 10 med school students in my ward, they are the only other white people haha. but things are good here I am doing good and am having fun, but I still miss home a lot. As for knowing my way around I am slowly figuring it out.....slowly haha things are so different when all you see is buildings on either side haha but I will figure it out soon enough.

March 18, 2009

It was pretty cool to hear about your prayer miracle. I have seen answers to my prayers out here. I hope they keep coming because we sure need them out here. It sounds like everybody is working hard at home and keeping pretty busy, I am doing the same, I can assure you guys of that.
It is so cool with technology that you can see where I live. I assume you can see the train tracks right nearby. I am glad to have it nearby, but I am not glad when it shakes my apartment as it goes by all day ha! But I am beginning to not even notice it any more. Here in the Bronx we use some train, a lot of bus, and a lot of walking to get around. It has not been too bad yet, I guess we will see what I have to say in a month or two.
I hear that the only way to help when you are bored is just to get busy and that is what makes the time fly, or at least thats what everyone out here says. A big part of our message as missionaries is that we are here to enjoy life, not just to endure.
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers, the home evening letters were awesome and all my roommates were jealous, it is soo good to always get letters, it definately helps with the work. Also thank you for the package. My appreciation for food has grown greatly since I have been out here. I miss you and think about you all every day.
I love you all so much. Elder Andersen

March 12, 2009

well this is my new e-mail address at least for my stay here in the mtc because that is all they allow us to use here. Also we are on a 30 min timer so if i type things wrong and you cant understand it is probably because i am not double checking anything. randy has told me that i can print the emails that you write so if the family wants to just e-mail me i can print them out and read them if they do not want to actually have to write. Also i will only be checking this on my p-days which is thursday if you have not already gotten my letter that said that. I can never remember what i have already told you and also when i sent that specific letter. It still amazes me how time pretty much has no meaning here i think its a combination of not being outside and of never getting instant news and knowing what is going on in the outside world. I am begining to see what everybody means when they talk about how days seem like weeks and weeks seem like days. I definatley thought the first couple of days were more like years ha, but oh well things are picking up now at least. The food here is starting to not be as awsome as i first thought, it now seems like average and just a ton of it, but im not complaining at least i am getting fed i suppose. well i have got to get on i think tell everybody that i miss them and usually think about you all some point throughout the day. take care and talk to you all soon.

March 4, 2009

Hi! well i am am emailing for my first time in new york. i just recieved my companion and my area. I am in the Bronx at and area called Olmstead. i had the chance to soap box there yesterday and it was a pretty god time. i am a little over whelmed by everything here in the city it is so crazy compared to the small town life. and the drivers here are nuts it is pretty much like being in mexico if not crazier. all the elders have said that is is the best mission in the world and i can see how that is true but i think it is going to take a while to adjust to things here because honestly right now i have no clue what is going on. my trainer is elder palmer he is from a tiny town in northern idaho and seems like a really nice guy i think that we will get a long well together. I asked him how he adjusted from small town to ny city and he said that his first area was more upstate and that he didnt know if he could have handled being thrown right in the city i laughed and said thanks. he reasurred me that my area is the best area no matter what people say. i am not going to like i am a little nervous about everything right now but i think that everything will be ok. Well my p-day is on wednesday and that will be the only time i can e-mail and it will be on the address. i hope i hear from you all soon though i definatley miss you all and this is for sure a new experience, let me know how things are going at home. i love all of you.Elder matt andersen

Elder Matt Andersen with his Mission President Richard M. Searle and his wife.

Second letter home

We received the second letter from Matt. He and his companion had given the first discussion. He said that it wasn't perfect but the Spirit was there. He also said that he is the only Elder in their district that isn't going to Austrailia or New Zealand. I guess that means that he will be the only greenie for a bit in New York! Thanks to everyone for sending the letters and packages. They mean a lot to him.

First letter home

We received our first letter from Matt. He did get to see Randy. Elder Anderson is in the same dorm building just a floor down. His first companion is Elder Gale. His family is in Janna and Aaron's ward. He is a little overwhelmed and missing home a bit. I can hardly wait to get his next letter. I know we will see a change in Matt.

Elder Andersen's address

If you would like to write to Elder Andersen his address is:
MTC Mailbox #121
NY-NYCN 0303
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

He will be in the MTC until March 3. After that you can send mail and packages to:
New York New York North Mission
700 White Plains Rd. Ste. 315
Scarsdale, NY 10583

When he has the address of his first assignment he will notify us.

Provo MTC

This is it.....The end of one chapter and the beginning of another. It is such a bitter sweet time. A time for another child to grow up. The MTC was filled with other missionaries. Matt's luggage was left for later pickup along with hundreds of other bags. Elder Spencer Hadley was waiting to greet him. His big smile and comforting words made it easier for me to let go. Elder Andersen entered the MTC through one door and we entered through another. Thank goodness Becky, Eric, Alli and Madi were able to come with us. I got to put his name tag on his jacket for him. I suppose that made it official. We had a short meeting in the chapel. Then it was time for Matt to go one way and for us to go another. The great adventure begins for Elder Andersen.

On our way out of the parking lot we saw an Elder waving his arms and coming our way. It was Elder Randy Anderson, Matt's great friend. He was going to find Matt. The two of them are together again. Things won't be the same in the MTC for several weeks.

Ready? Oh yeah!

Byron, Allison, Matt and Becky bringing in the luggage.

Elder Hadley came and found Matt before he went in to the MTC. It's always nice to see friendly, familiar faces.

Mom putting his nametag on for the first time.

One last hug before leaving.

Family Ties

Monday, February 9, 2009
Today I got to spend time with Matty...I mean Elder Andersen. I was glad to be with him. When we finished his errands I handed him off to Josh..I know that Elder Andersen was relieved. It must be a guy thing. Thanks Josh for taking him to Grandma and Grandpa's and all the other places that you visited so he could say goodbye.
We held a family home evening/going away party for Matt that evening. So many of his friends and family came. After pizza and cake we played "put the tie on the missionary". Each member of his family purchased a tie for him and also had come up with a page for a book we put together called "Family Ties"." Thanks Kristin for coming up with the poem. Thanks Bensons for being part of our extended family. I love each of you so much for the great support you are to Matt.

Elder Andersen with his buddies.

Elder Andersen

Sunday, February 8, 2009 President Ross Montierth set Matt apart as a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Steven, Josh, Bryant and Beth, some of Matt's siblings, were able to be there. Lauren and Hannah (Steven's girls) Byron and I, Doug and Rosanne were also in attendance. I told Matt that I would try not to cry...but of course I did. Where did the time go....seems like yesterday when Matt was riding that stick horse all around the house.

Family and Friends

On Sunday, January 25, 2009 Matt and Randy Anderson spoke in Sacrament meeting. They both did an awesome job. We had a dinner after for both families. Thank you to all who attended. Your support means so much to him.

Lauren, Bethany, McKay and Chelsea

Jay, Dad, Michael, and Will

Uncle Matt with McKay.

Byron and Aaron

Proud mommas!!

Grandad and Grandma Andersen, Bryant and RosanneProud Papas!

Mom with Josie, McKay and Colton

Brandon and MattSteven and Lori

Bethany, Matt and Chelsea

Janna, Bethany, and Chelsea

Mmmm....... food!

It's not a party unless there are kids!

Brotherly love right there. Bryant and Steven