E-Mail from August 3, 2008

Hey Mom
Well just to answer a few of you questions first. It is transfer week but Elder Vogel and I are staying here in Toulkey, Toulkey is awesome it is an interesting area and you meet some interesting people but I love it. All the missionaries when they leave this area say it was their favorite. Oh yes I got those packages you sent me and will you tell Grandma Lyn thanks for her package as well. All the other missionaries are jealous of my ties now. They will probably end up getting swapped around though soon. Well last week after I wrote that email to you about my sore throat everything just got worse I had a pretty good cold for a couple days but I am fine now. The next Zone conference is in about 3 weeks at the end of August then the one after that will be about half way through September.
Sorry it will be a couple more weeks before I will be able to send another memory card back I just have to fill it up first.
Hey can you do me a favor. Can you send me a cd or jump drive with all the photo's I have sent home on it. Cause so we can remember some of the people that we served with and around we make what we call "sign pages" pretty much it’s a cool way of saying scrap booking but it’s pretty fun.
well other than being sick this week was pretty good Suzie (the lady that walked in a few weeks ago) and her daughter came to church I think they like it Suzie used to be a catholic so she is really enjoying finding the full truth and she is really clinging to it. We are having dinner with her tonight and we will try to set a date for her baptism tonight. We are working with a few other people but they are going pretty slow.
Sounds like you had a pretty full on week with the grandkids and all. Sounds like redden and Austin are still crack up its funny to hear about them and their stories.
Hey make Brent and Griff Come over and look at photo's they need to do something other than what I guess they are probably doing. I bet it will entertain you as well.
So what would you like from Australia I will keep my eyes open for stuff that you would like?
Well for prep day we are going to woy woy to have a barbie. So that should be pretty fun. Oh did I tell you a couple of weeks ago our zone leader was arm wrestling Elder Brown and elder Brown was about to lose then all of a sudden the ZL'ers arm broke. It broke were his bicep is so now he has plate s and bolts for an arm.
He is fine though he is a big tough Tongan Elder he is funny as too!
Well thanks for everything love you heaps!

-Elder Andreasen

Email from July 27th

G-day mum (that's how they say it in Australia) I am doing really good. I am pretty lucky I guess a lot of people in the mission are sick right now (the N on the keyboard doesn't work well, so sorry if some stuff is hard to understand) I had a cold sore about 4 months ago but it went away really fast. In used that Novitra stuff. The past couple of days I have had a sore throat, but it is not slowing me down any. It has been pretty cold over here nothing like 102. Everything is going awesome though.
Over here is a lot like the U.S so I can’t think of any decorations or anything that you would like but I will keep an eye out.
I think my release date will be about December 22 or 23 so it looks like your picking me up from the air port just before Christmas what a good Christmas present :)
Well we had something really cool happen the past week. Last Sunday this lady walked into church with some encouragement from a guy in the US sharing the gospel over the internet :) just like this month’s ensign. Cool Ay. She said she was interested and maybe her 2 kids as well we went by started teaching and this next week they are all coming to church. just this last Sunday she pulled me aside and asked me how she goes about getting baptized, pretty cool the way the lord works. He is always preparing people we just have to work hard to be able to receive the blessings from Him.
Any questions just ask
Well better get going love y'all heaps!!
-Elder Andreasen

E-Mail from July 20th

G-day

Hey sorry this week will be short we have some other missionary's from Toronto NSW and the library gave their computers to some one else.
Everything is going really well.
Just to answer the question's Elder Brown is a DL in Woy Woy which is in my zone so I see him fairly often and Elder Harrison is in Parramata and I never see him.
Rugby is fun you can only pass the ball backwards its pretty cool.
Yesterday was really cool. This lady came to church that seems pretty interested. I guess she has been talking to this member from North Carolina. pretty cool ah? Just like the ensign this month said about sharing the gosple over the internet.


Well I better let the other missionaries have some time thanks love ya heaps!!!

Email from July 13, 2008

Hey well this week was ok, nothing bad happened and nothing good happened. Haha that's funny to here about Jay. OH sorry i forgot to tell you last week that's fine if Nat takes the computer, but i might have to do some work on it when I get home to get the TV card working for it. I think last week I said anyone can email me but i think I forgot to say that I can only email family back
We have Zone confereence this week on wednesday that will be good to go to. It is school holidays right now so we can't get a hold of some of our Investigators. so things are pretty slow right now. We did start teaching 2 kids from texas that are over here for the summer they are 16 and 18 they don't really believe in God but we were able to get them to pray and they have had really good experiences with that. So other that that not much is happening.
Man after reading your E-mail I really miss Del-Taco now I am really hungry, next time just don't write about Cafe Rio. :) they don't have much mexican food over here. they places to eat are; Hungry Jacks (burger King) Mcdonalds, KFC, Subway, chinese take away, or fish and chips shops. I will have to send more Tim Tam's and some milo. is there anything else you want to try? oh have you had Vegimite? its not very good but i think i could get used to it, what sport season is it over there? over here its just rugby all year long then sometimes there's soccer and cricket, but those aren't as cool as rugby
How is Zane doing in Madagascar? Is Nick Salisbury in Texas? How is Griff and Brent doing? Don't worry about writing alot I can e-mail for about 2 hours before i have to start paying for it, so i have heaps of time to read.
Oh yeah there is a member from the ward that is going to Utah for a wedding they said they might give you a call. I think he is Canadian but they live here they are pretty well off. They are the James family. Is there anything you want they said they could bring stuff over for you because they will pack light so they can buy stuff over there and be able to bring it back, cause stuff over there is cheap? I have a Question on your email's it says there is a small attachment then i open it and its little purple and blue dots about a square inch big, are you sending that? Can you send me some email addresses everyone like bro's sister parents so I can Email them. Don't be afraid to ask questions it is easier for me to remember what i wanted to write
Thanks Love You Hepas!!!
-Elder Blake Andreasen

E-Mail from July 6, 2008

G-day (blake with tattoos?)

Sorry I wasn't able to E-mail last week our Zone Leaders wanted us to go down to Gosford to play rugby. We are playing it again this week. I am pretty good at it and it is really fun, maybe when I get back I will have to show me and my mates how to play.

The baptism went really well last week. Caitlin and her family are moving in the next couple of weeks to Cessnock. But it sounds like the mom wants to try to stay active, and she even said her brother that lives in Cessnock wants to come back to church as well. So that is really cool to hear.

Just to answer a few questions:
Yes anyone can E-mail me. but I don't want to spend my whole time reading Email so when people write other than Close family they have to have a really good reason,

So I left my bag at a train station , and my camera got stolen nothing else in the bag was stolen, but the funny thing is, is that there were all these pass along cards with a picture of Jesus on it, in front of the camera. So I think they felt kind of guilty.


Well sorry I have to go or we will miss our train to Gosford. Everything is going good I won’t get that package for about another week so I won’t be able to send pics back till I get that memory card

Love ya Heaps
-Elder Andreasen

Letter from June 24th

(the email beats the postal service) :)
Hey Family,
Sorry todays letter is going to be short. We just got back from playing touch rugby. We dont have much time till we have to be out of the flat.
Hey Elder Vogel and I have a baptism coming up this weekend. Her name is Katelyn she is 10 years old. She is way excited.
Transfers are in a week so next letter I will tell you if anything changes. Hope everything is going well. Everything is going awesome in Toukley. We have a couple of investigators that look promising. Alot of them are from less active famlies, so Elder Vogel and I are trying to baptize and reactivate it is a hard process but I know that with hard work and prayer it will happen.
I have some bad news though. I was on an exchange in Toronto with Elder Miller (DL) and we were waiting at a train station for a train. I had 2 bags, 1 with clothes and 1 with church material. I was solving a rubiks cube (which i know how to do now :) )and the train came so I grabbed my bag and walked on to the train and just as we started moving I saw my bag (the one with materials in it) it was by the bench I was sitting on. We exchanged back and I asked the other Elders to ask the station for my bag. The station found my bag in a bathroom and they stole my camera from it. So... that kinda stinks.
I will look around at some shops and see if they have Sonys that can use the same memory card.
Well everything else is going awesome in Australia, Love you heaps!!
Elder Blake Andreasen

PS I will email next week, I just got my address so next week I'll email you. I can only email family!!

Email from Monday June 23rd

Well i don't want to write too much if this is the wrong address, but Australia is going good. It is they start of a new transfer, but nothing changed same comp, same area. I bought a new camera it is a sony so it will take that 1 card that I have left so that is good. The camera was on clearance at Dick Smith, so it wasn't too bad. I will just have to put pics on a DVD to send them home or something, maybe I will look for a cheap card?

Well that all I will put 'till I find out if i guessed the Email right.


Elder Andreasen