Dear Friends and Family,

Elder Benjamin Andrew fell while playing soccer on P-day Feb. 9th and fractured his ankle.  He came home Feb. 15th to have surgery and to recover.  He sincerely hopes to return to Argentina or at least be reassigned so he can finish his mission when he has recovered.  He had successful surgery on Friday, Feb. 20.  The doctor said that everything just clicked and went much faster than he anticipated.  He is now in a cast and hopefully will be able to be in a walking boot at his next doctors appointment March 12th. Your faith and prayers in his behalf are greatly appreciated!  He has been to the temple and plans to go at least once a week.  He has been working on being able to work at the family history center as a service missionary and also will be going out with the elders to do some visits.  We are grateful for this time we have been given with him and pray diligently for his swift recovery so that he can continue his great work.

Joleen Andrew (Ben's mom)

The following is an email he sent out to some of his mission friends soon after he came home.

weird things are happening to me

Well I thought I might just inform you all that last Monday I fractured my ankle playing soccer on a p day and they sent me home so I can get surgery on it, which will be this Friday. I got home Sunday evening and for the time I have been released as a missionary but hope to be able to recover quickly and get back out on the mission, prays would be very appreciated I love you all very much. 

queria informarles que el lunes pasado me fracture el tobillo jugando el futbol y ahora estoy en casa esperando que me operen el viernes. por ahora me han relevado de ser misionero pero espero poder recuperarme pronto y volver a la mision. gracias por todo su amor y apoyo, oraciones serian muy bienvenidas.

con mucho amor,

Benjamin Andrew

Well well well my family

Feb. 9, 2015

Thank you for your loving kind words, they inspire me to be a better missionary. I am also SO grateful to have been born in a family that really tries to apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in their personal live and in our family lives. I see too many families (member and non member) that don't do that. I try to count my many blessings because I really am so blessed. Something I have been doing lately in the morning while I eat breakfast is read conference talks. It is such a blessing to have modern prophets that guide us and keep us on the path of truth. That is something I have learned on the mission to take advantage of "dead time." Reading while I eat breakfast, in the bathroom, or after planning session in the night has helped me get through Jesus the Christ, and many other books and magazines. By small and simple things great things will come to pass. Those that have smart phone can download scriptures and manuals right to your phone and maybe instead of playing angry birds, you could read a bit of the Book of Mormon, or prepare yourself for the lesson that will be taught on Sunday. It is just an idea and definitely something I will keep doing after the mission. Another idea that is really working out for us here: take investigators to church. One of the biggest challenges with investigators is usually getting them to go to church. Something that is really working here is we take members with us to lessons and ask them if they can then pass by the investigators house on Sunday to go together to church. So far it is giving really good results, so someway you could help the elders in our ward is ask them if one of their investigators needs a ride to church, or if you go out on visits offer to pass by the persons house on Sunday to give them a ride. Then the investigator can feel a bit more comfortable and will already have a friend and can focus more on the spirit of the meeting. It is amazing how many things we can do in the work of the Lord and sometimes how easy some of those things are. I feel like we live in a dispensation that the gospel has never been easier to share. We have facebook, messaging, telephones, cars, mass printing, and so many other tools! The Lord really does want us to accelerate his work and He gives us the tools to do it. President told us the church is going to be doing another initiative this Easter kind of like "He is the gift" that they did for Christmas, asi que prepare yourselves! My companion and I continue working hard together, he hasn't complained about his stomach in a while so it seems to be at least calmed down for now. He has changed a lot in the short time that I have been here. I know the Lord calls us to our areas to teach the people but I also feel like a lot of times he calls us to be with our companions for a very specific reason as well. At the beginning of the mission I was all pumped to baptize and everything but now I think I am learning to really love just teaching people the gospel. What a privilege to be set apart to teach people the best message they will ever hear! The elders in my district call me a "high priest" because of the time I have but I still feel like a greenie haha, I love the mission and I love my Savior, I really do depend on Him for everything I have. I love you all very much and are always in my prayers, especially Brenda and Levi in this moment!

love,
Elder Andrew

 

Happy birthday Mom and Daniel!

Feb. 2. 2015

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday Mom and Daniel!

 

Feb. 2. 2015

Well I haven't read your letters yet but I'm sure you will tell me about what you did on both the birthdays so first I want to tell you what I did on your birthdays.

 

Wednesday, 28 of January

In the morning we visited the family Feirrera, pretty new investigators, that came from a member reference. We taught the mom, Marisa, and her 17 year old son, Lautaro. We had talked about most of the restoration the last time so we focused on explaining well the Book of Mormon. It was a really good lesson and they are going to read, meditate and pray! Then after we waited a long time for coletivo (bus) to go to lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention it was raining pretty good. We ate lunch with the familia Siles, a nice family, and then went on our way. Then we visited an hermano that hadn't come for a few weeks and found out he hurt his foot so we shared a scripture with him. Then the family Paredes. We watched a movie with them and it went pretty good. Then we went to an inactive family where one lady is super active and the rest of the family inactive. It was our first time going, the familia Chalco. It was a pretty good visit and at the end the sister came in and told the family that someone they knew recently had a stroke so we did a kneeling prayer for him. (the hermana later told us that in that moment he woke up from his coma and is doing a lot better, miracle!) So it was a pretty normal day I guess, I don't really remember that much anymore the days just all blend together!

Saturday, 31 of January

Well cooly enough we visited the family Feirrera again in the morning. Marisa told us that she had talked with her daughter (who she fights with a lot because of the son in law) and where she had expected to kind of get in a fight there was the opposite reaction, and she said it impacted her. She is feeling the Spirit that what we teach is true, we talked about recognizing the Spirit on Wednesday and now she is recognizing it and reading and praying! Lautaro didn't read so we read Moroni 10:3 -5 (the homework we left) and he is doing his prayers and says he is seeing good changes in the family. A lot of potential over there. What a blessing to be in the true church! Then we searched around some more and then went to lunch with the familia Porcel. They made us SOOO much meat it was insane. People here don't believe in the Word of Wisdom because there was just rice, potatoes with mayo and a ton of meat. They are a really good family though who are putting the batteries to be 100 active this year and so far are going strong. Then, we taught the family Lopez for my first time who are inactive. The hermana was making a lot of excuses and kind of lying to us (they are known for lying) and so we pulled out Alma 42:25 to 30 I think it is. Hermana if you go to church you'll be blessed if not you won't. I feel like the mission has helped me get a lot more patience but at the same time as the time goes on my patience shortens with some people haha. Then we visited another menos activo (less active) and went to a ward activity/birthday party for the bishop who turned 31. That's right, the bishop has the same birthday as you Mom, so I saw cake and everything on that day!

Some other cool things that happened this week is we finally taught the familia Ramos for the first time. They have been going to church for 4 weeks but we could never set up an appointment to teach them. We finally did and they are as prepared as they seemed in the capilla (chapel or church). We talked about the Book of Mormon and the hermano told us one of the reasons he wants to change his life all the sudden is because he saw his nephews who are returned missionaries and what good people they are. He even said "my nephew is more mature than me a lot of times!" haha. He said he went to church as a kid kind of just following his brothers and sisters but now as he is going he feels something a lot different, like what they say is just for him. The church is true! and another good bit of news on Sunday Kenny got the Aaronic Priesthood! The Ward is really excited to work and a few weeks before I got here they had an assitance (attendance) of about 35 I think.  This Sunday 115 people were in Sacrament Meeting! It just goes to show that working with the members, and the members working by themselves without the missionaries having to remind them really pulls out the best result. Be you own agents and look for ways to help, there are so many! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Elder Andrew

beloved family and friends

Jan. 26, 2015

This week was great! with the traveling elders here we did divisions every day and could get a lot of work done! We also cleaned our pench more deeply and got our area book a lot more organized. Elder Payne and Elder Peterson are like two area boosters. Elder Peterson was assistant for 6 months and Elder Payne a zl for 10 months so they are some pretty experienced missionaries. We found a lot of new people that seem like they have quite a bit of potential. One day Elder Payne and I were kind of walking around trying to find people when I felt like we should really just go look for this family (the familia Ramos that has been coming to church but we still haven't taught) even though it was kind of far and I wasn't exactly sure how to get there. We went and weren't finding the house so we did a few contacts and they went pretty well. As we came back out onto the main street and I am looking back down at my agenda to see what we should do next I hear a "hey elders" it was the familia Ramos! What a miracle! They didn't have time to let us in and teach but showed us where their house was so that I wont get lost next time and we gave them a Book of Mormon cause they didn't have any. As we handed it over the face of the hermano lit up. I am really excited to teach them on this Friday. They seem like a pretty prepared family. As we were over there still we hear again "elders!" A lady comes up to us and said she is visiting from Peru and wants us to teach her inactive daughter. So we went right then and taught her and a lady that lives with her and set up an appointment to teach them and their boyfriends today! We were in a part of the area I have never been to, just in the right moment too. With all the people in all of budge we found those two that needed us! The Lord really does look out for us and has His children in mind! We also got to go to the temple this week which was awesome! I love to see the temple I will keep going there someday, to feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. What a blessing to have the fullness of the gospel over the earth. The real blessings of being a member of the church are found in the temple. Maybe you could offer to take with you some recent converts from our Ward and help them to do baptisms for the dead. That is a huge part of retention! I am still learning a lot every day and loving this mission so much. I love all of you and hope you have a great week!

Elder Andrew

well.....

Jan. 12, 2015

Weird thing happened today...... I don't know if you remember any of the people from my MTC group, but anyway the sisters from my MTC group go home today. That is weird. I am staying with Elder Garcia so we'll seeing how "killing" someone goes haha. We can feel the prayers and things are really going pretty good here in Budge. We are working a lot with the menos activos (less actives) and this Sunday we had 96 in sacramental (sacrament meeting) ! That is a lot considering the last one was like 73 and our goal for the year is to have a solid 100 in sacramental (sacrament meeting) so almost there already! I feel like the Lord is really pouring his spirit over this place. He is preparing people to hear the gospel and people to come back. A lot of people are ready because of certain circumstances in their lives starting to think seriously about what they are doing and going through a repentance process. For example, a new family came to church on Sunday, the family Ramos. We didn't know who they were and as we talked to them we found out that the father is a member that had been a bit inactive for a while. Because of the fact that their children are growing up and they want to put them on a good path, he began searching the church and went to a different ward where they told him he really corresponded to our ward. So him and his family showed up about 40 minutes early because they didn't know at what time church started. That looks like to me people that are really looking for a change. We set up an appointment with them for Tuesday so we will see how it goes. Kenny and Monica are both ready and Saturday will be their baptism! Two people super ready. I feel so grateful to be in this grand mission. I love you all. See you next week!

Love,

Elder Andrew

2015

Jan. 5, 2015

Well this has been a pretty good week! New Years here is pretty much exactly like Christmas here, just probably a little bit more fireworks! We had another asado(lots of meat) and at 12 we went on the roof of the two story building that we live in and enjoyed the fireworks that everyone and their grandma was lighting off! Got some pretty good footage of that. I am getting to know the area better and more or less how to take the colectivos (bus) and stuff so that is good and we can now do divisions with confidence. I set some goals for the mission of 2015 (I didn't want to get trunky so I just set goals for the mission) What I have so far is: finish the Book of Mormon again (I'm in 2 Nephi 10), finish the new testament (I'm in 1 Corinthians 2), finish Jesus the Christ (I am more than half way done), and work up until the last day of my mission. So I've got a lot of finishing to do haha. Let me know if you have any other good goals. Oh and the Ward goal is 30 baptisms for 2015 so if I stay here until June my goal is to help 15 people to get baptized. Right now for the 17 de January we have two really solid people, Kenny and Monica, who will almost definitely get baptized and stay strong in the gospel. Monica is already thinking about going to the temple to be baptized for her grandmother, so I would say that is pretty prepared. She also had a bunch of trials in her life that made her deny her belief in God, but now she has realized through a series of other trials that He is the only answer really. She says that her life is still hard but she has a different way of looking at her trials now..... capa! My companions name is Emilio. If you wanted to please keep him in your prayers, pray for him to end his mission well tambien (too)... He is a little taco trunky haha. Reading in 2 Nephi 9 and reflecting this week I realized that everything that we have and everything we do is thanks to God. We can't really take credit for anything. If I say a question that helps someone make the decision to be baptized I can't even take credit for that because the Holy Ghost sent me the question. I don't know if I am explaining myself well but I just want to say it is important to recognize the hand of God in our lives. We make the decision to be receptive or not. I hope you can start the semester well and that you all are well, siempre estan en mis oraciones (you're always in my prayers). o sea estais jaja

Love,
Elder Andrew

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Dec. 29, 2014

How crazy it seems like it was just Christmas and already it is New Years haha. Hope you are getting your New Years resolutions ready! And I hope you make a few goals that are related with missionary work! It was really nice seeing all of you on the 25th! The time seemed short but the important thing is that you all are healthy and beautiful as always. We even had a new member of the family present.(whooo future niece/nephew thing!) You should give the name of Benjamin the younger in my honor, boy or girl it doesn't matter! Well after the 24th my comp has felt better and so we have been working normally, and man is there a lot of work to do! We actually have a little group of investigators that comes to church normally and some of the menos activos who are coming back, and a WHOLE bunch of part member families. On Sunday we pulled out a baptismal date with Kenny Gutierrez. He is a boss, he already received all the charlas in Peru and has been wanting to get baptized for a while, but he was living without being married with his wife (a returned missionary) but about 5 months ago they got married and now all that he needs is to stop drinking coffee which he is already one week strong without coffee. We'll see if he makes it for the 17th. I felt pretty blessed on Sunday for doing my personal study every morning. The quorum president thought it was the 5th Sunday and so hadn't prepared a class, and said "Elder Andrew could you give the class" haha uh yikes. I had no idea what the prophet class was so I just kind of made up my own things. As I have been reading in Nephi lately, we looked at and analyzed the example that Nephi is and how we can be like him. It really does impress me how rock solid Nephi is. He never doubted in doing what was right. Even though he was the youngest he was chosen to rule over his brothers. He never broke in the face of opposition. He didn't see himself as someone special but was very humble. He always looked for revelation and his own confirmation of things. The list goes on. The Book of Mormon is so full of examples of mere mortals that really were able to put off the natural man and become purified through Christ. Hopefully I can do that. I love you all very much
and hope you all have a  ¡Happy New Year!

Love,
Elder Andrew

Almost here!

Dec. 22, 2014

Que loco! Christmas is almost here! Hopefully this letter won't be too short but I wasted and am still in the process of trying to figure out the Skype thing. (I hate technology) Well now that I have used almost all my time and it still didn't work I'll tell you how I'm doing and pray that on the 25th it will work. I will call on the 25th at 3 Argentine time. And if it doesn't work it will just be like the time I tried to call you in the airport haha, I was only depressed for a few hours afterwards. Anyway on Tuesday they brought me to Budge in a taxi and to be honest I am liking it here a lot. I am back in Banfield so that brings back some memories from the beginning of the mission, how weird that was like a year ago! The members here are really nice! (Most of them Bolivian, Peruvian or Paraguayo, pretty much anything but Argentine haha) There is a lot of potential here and Elder Garcia and I are trying to work hard to sacar that potential. The Bishop is a stud, and works really closely with us but will be moving in two weeks.... I finished the Book of Mormon last week I just forgot to tell you. What a great book! And now I am loving the story of Nephi and his family as I start over again. I also was able to finish Acts in the New Testament, good book. The Lord puts me where I can learn the most I feel like. I am doing well and we'll talk more on the 25th!

Love,

Elder Andrew