What A Week!

Dear MOM and DAD,

What an amazing week!!!! First THANK YOU for the package!!! I LOVED all the wood toys, and everyone I give one to love them too.

 

My new companion is AMAZING!!!! We've seen so many miracles just this week, it's set a good tone for the rest of the transfer. She is so positive and happy all the time, I find it very infectious and I'm loving the missionary I am as her companion. She is such a good example of humility and kindness towards everyone, she never says a negative word about anyone. My goal this transfer is to be more like her! 

 

Well as you know Christina was going to be baptized this week, the day of her baptism came and we got a call from Brad saying she was gone. Her family said she had run away and they didn't know where she was... talk about panic attack!!! So after our VC shift we went over to her house and got more info from her mom. Apparently the night before her abusive ex-boyfriend had shown up and she got in the car with him and they hadn't seen her since. But they had just got a call from her saying she was okay but that she needed to work some things out with him before she came home. Her mom said she wasn't planning on getting baptized this night.  She still wanted to get baptized, it probably just wasn't going to happen tonight. After talking with her mom some more about it being the advisory that was causing all the chaos we told her to tell Christina that she was still getting baptized that night and that the font would be full and ready for her so she better be there at 7 (of course this was all in a very loving way c: ). As we left we called Brad and told him we were going to show God as much faith as we could by filling the font and making sure we did everything in our power to make the baptism happen, he then told us he would go over when he got back into town and feel the situation out. Well to shorten an already long story, Brad called an hour later and said he had Christina and they were on their way... HAPPY DAY!!!!! What a neat blessing to express all the faith we had and working to our fullest extent and then letting God make what He wanted to happen, happen. 

 

Another miracle was at the Visitors' Center, Sister Vause had given me a name of a non member friend she had been thinking about ever since she had called Doug, to call and invite to learn about the gospel. I was very nervous that I would mess it up and that I would disappoint her, but she assured me that she had faith that what ever happened was what the Lord wanted to happen. Well it just so happens that the Lord knew he was ready because when I called he accepted missionaries!!!! It was really cool to be on both ends of giving a name and having them confirm and receiving a name and having them confirm. 

 

So in Sister Everette's last area none of the investigators had been progressing. She had expressed to me she was a curse because nothing had been happening in her area. So I've been praying that during her last transfer, we would see miracles and that it would be her best transfer ever. I really wanted her to see that she was an amazing missionary and that God will bless her with miracles. So one answer to my prayer was Isabel. We were out contacting referrals one night and saw them talking on their front porch, so we started talking to them. We found out she had been praying to be happier and when we walked up she said she felt peace coming from us and that she knew we were the answer to her prayers. We (mostly Sister Everette, because this was someone God knew she could touch) taught the restoration and committed her to baptism for the 22nd of next month.  She said that she would because you don't ask God for something and then not listen when he sends it!!!! All this within an hour, how awesome is that??? We had another lesson with her yesterday and she is bring her family to the Visitors' Center to watch General Conference on Saturday!! It really has been an amazing week and I have such gratitude for Heaven Father.

 

Speaking of General Conference, I think this will be the first big holiday that I'll be sad I'm missing at home. I love Conference so much and I love our family so much and they will all be together (except maybe Kristy... when is she due?).  Give everyone my love!!!!

 

Miss you much, LOVE you more!!!!

D&C 18:38

 

 

Love Sister Anderson

 

 

 

Sister Anderson and the Birch family

Sister Anderson on P Day

Sister Dyer, Sister Anderson at Mission Office

 

Christina and Elder? Christina's Baptism

Sister Anderson, Christina, Sister Dyer

 

Transfer News

Dear MOM and DAD,

Kember's a "stick" driver now? WOW, does she just love it, you don't know what you are missing until you start driving a manual then you understand. So who has my car?

So transfer news... Well Sister Dyer is going to another stake in East Mesa with Sister Parker (she's a sister that came out with me and she's AWESOME) they will have lots of fun, I'm staying in my area but it's been switched a bit. I still have the two family wards Harmony and Emerald Acres but they gave the YSA ward to the full-time elders because singles wards have so much work that they need as much attention as possible, and I got another family ward, Solomon. I'm really sad to give up the YSA ward because we have been working so hard to build it up and we have so many strong investigators in that ward, but the Lord knows what's best and I just have to have faith that the elders are what Gable needs right now.

An interesting side story about one of our investigator in that ward; JD is an investigator that we got this last week and he has been progressing so much but in the last couple of days I found out that "I'm a distraction" for him... weird, that right there is one reason he needs elders (even though he doesn't want them). Most of our investigators in the Gable ward are men in their 20's with Law of Chasity problems... ya, we aren't the best missionaries for them. But we are really excited to see them all progress to baptism with their new elders. And the ward will be so one top of things.

So with all the changes in the stakes we thought that they would split the areas so that we were in one stake... I guess not, as of Wednesday I'll be in two different stakes CRAZY!!! But Sister Everett (my new companion) and I are so excited to just put our shoulder to the wheel and explode our areas with work!!!

Speaking of my new companion... Sister Everett is from Connecticut and is on her last transfer, so I'll be "killing" her, but she is AMAZING!!! I'm super stoked to work with her! Sister Dyer and I had our struggles and what not but we both grew so much and now it's time for a change. I really don't think I can tell you how excited I am to get Sister Everett, we are going to ROCK her last transfer!!!!! 

Me, Nicci, and Sister Dyer

So Nicci got baptized this last week and that was fun, she hasn't seem to excited about getting baptized, more apathetic than anything but the day she got baptized you could tell that she was excited and was ready. We are still going to teach her after to keep her strong in the church, but she's a great

little girl and this will bless her life so much.

Me and Nicci

 Christina is having her baptismal interview today with President Ellsworth and she's scheduled to be "dunked" on Saturday, so that will be a good weekend, and next week is Evan's baptism. Last week his mom called us and said that he was ready and excited to get baptized and that their family will be in Arizona on the 29th. We are so excited for him. Four baptisms in a month... CRAZY, but I guess it makes up for the first 3 months of my mission. President Ellsworth wants each companionship to be baptizing once a month, that is actually another reason we work so closely with the members.

Alex is still doing great, that was a bitter sweet good bye yesterday because he said that no one could replace us because we where his missionaries. But he will do good with the elders. We were so proud because he made a comment in Sunday School, he never does that!

We had our mission tour this week. Elder Jung Choi of the seventy and his wife came and spoke to us and it was a really neat experience.

Well that's all for now, glad everything is good at home! I love you all so much!!!

Miss you much, Love you more!!!!

Alma 48:17 Let us all be as Moroni!!!!!!

Love Sister Anderson

Me, Sister Mickelson (a awesome member missionary), and Sister Dyer

Pioneer Zone, zone soccer in the mornings

Miracles Left and Right

Dear MOM and DAD,

What a week!!!! There's lots on my mind so I hope i can express it all.... Here we go!

 

The weather has been amazing, it hasn't gotten above 100 degrees in almost a week and it's about 85 in the mornings. It makes me even more excited about the winters here (I think I will still miss snow though, there are places here you can buy snowballs.... really?)

 

I don't know if you've heard anything about the mormon.org media blitz but it's going to be so cool! The church has selected areas in the country to play 30 second, back to back, prime time, "I'm a Mormon" commericals on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc. from October to March. There will also be ads on facebook, twitter, YouTube, billboards, and buses. The greater Phoenix area has been chosen to participate. We were told that 50% of LDS Adults and 100% of LDS Youth WILL be asked about why all the mormon media. It is such a great opportunity to do missionary work, that is one of the reasons they are doing it. The three reasons for the media blitz are 1) To dispel myths 2) Merge "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (who people have a very positive view of) and "Mormons" (who people think is a cult) together 3) To Invite. So the question is do you have your mormon.org profile up yet? It's amazing how our mission president has been making changes and encouraging us to work with members and all of it has applied with the mormon.org stuff before we even knew  it was happening. It just increases my testimony of our Mission President and how inspired he is.

 

Last week we had a sister come on exchanges with us. Sister Hoyt is AMAZING!!! We went on splits and we got to be companions, she is headed home this transfer so she is super experienced and we had a lot of fun and success that night. After one of our lessons she said that she felt like we had been teaching together forever because we had such good teaching unity. That was a confidence booster!!!

 

So I have one none member friend (Doug) and I've been avoiding giving him as a referral because I was writing him and I didn't want to push him. Well this last week Sister Dyer challenged me to refer him and that he would accept and I would see miracles... so I did (mom that is why Sister Vause called, isn't she AMAZING?) and he accepted missionaries! I'm so excited for him to see how wonderful the gospel is and to see how it can improve his life. That was my biggest miracle this week, it was so neat to hear about the conversation Sister Vause and Doug had and how much the Spirit was involved in the whole thing.

 

Another miracle was that Christina's brother Ray told us he wants to take the lessons and get baptized!!!! Ray reminds me of Alex in that he has had a pretty sorted past but is now trying to correct his life and turn to Christ, he can't get baptized till March but he is so ready and would this week if he could! 

 

Alex is doing great he's just working toward getting the priesthood and is being a missionary himself. He brought a non-member to church with him last week. Christina is also doing well, she's slowing coming to Christ and is trying to do the things that will bring her there. She is set to get baptized next Saturday on the 24th. Evan's baptism has been moved back because we haven't seen him enough to plan his baptism, but after he saw Alex get baptized he decided it wasn't that scary and that he was okay with getting baptized.  Nicci is getting baptized this week and we are very excited for her! She's still a 9 year old girl and acts it sometimes but we know that the Holy Ghost will be such a blessing in her life and help her improve.

 

So our stake got dissolved and combined with two other stakes, so we now have wards in two different stakes. That is going to make transfers next week really interesting... we have no idea what they will do because both the stakes only had elders so our wards may just go to them, but we still don't know. Our sad little singles ward just got bigger because of all the change so that is exciting!!! It is kind of bitter-sweet because our area is exploding with work and I don't want to leave it but I'm also very ready for a change. I know that what ever happens is the Lords will and is what is best for all concerned.

 

The church IS true and we DO have a loving Heavenly Father who sent His only begotten son to suffer and die that we might live! How blessed are we! I love you both very much!

Miss you much, Love you more!!!! Ether 12:27 

 

Sister Anderson

(Check out this video, I cried!!!)

http://lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages-for-youth?lang=eng&query=dayton's+legs#2011-03-004-daytons-legs

 

This is an amazing story.  It is too bad that these types of stories can't be Headliners instead of what we get as head lines.  Colleen

 

Baptism

This is Sister Anderson's post of Sept 6.  We got busy with the Arts Festival and other things and then the internet went down for 3 days.  I will probably be posting again today or tomorrow.  MOM

 

Dear MOM and DAD,

Well most of this last week I've had a nasty head/chest cold but it has been a pretty good week otherwise.

 

The MOST exciting news of the week was Alex's baptism. It was such a neat day and I even felt mostly okay for the morning during the service. He had so much support there, there were three different wards represented. Sister Dyer and I have been to several baptisms that she had helped teach, but it was really cool to see his progression and be involved in his conversion.  The next day he received the holy ghost and it was really good! Satan has been working on him so hard, the day before his baptism he got kicked out of his halfway house (conflict of interest) and he told us later that the police had found his missing aunt's body the morning he received the holy ghost. We had a lesson with him the next day and you could just see the light of Christ in his eyes, he really has changed so much and he can see how it has benefited his life. He had gone to his dad's house on Sunday night (in the "slums") and said he was so grateful that he wasn't at that place in his life anymore.

 

Christina is such an interesting puzzle, she is changing but not.... it's really weird, but she actually may be moving to Denver because they are struggling financially so we may not get to teach her anymore. Which is really sad because just the beginning of this week she had set a baptismal date. 

 

We have 4 investigators and all 4 have baptismal dates in September. Alex of course got baptized on the 3rd and Evan's is still the 17th, but now so is Christina's (if she stays) and Nicci's. That's 3 baptisms on the same day!!!!! Nicci is a 9 year old that just hasn't been baptized yet ("unbaptized member"). We've been working on her mother for a few weeks so it was really exciting when she called us and asked us to teach Nicci the lessons.

 

So as I mentioned before I've been sick for a few days, it started off as just a chest cold but progressed pretty fast to my head.  Sister White (the visitors' center Director's wife) took me to their house during one of our VC shifts and let me sleep on their couch. It was such a blessing (we had a ton of appointments that evening that we couldn't miss). I'm almost positive that my mission experience is nothing like the norm because of the Visitors' Center.

 

As you can see in one of my pictures I got my hair cut, it really needed it and now it doesn't take me as long to fix. The Other two are from Alex's baptism; Me, Alex, and Sister Dyer and Me and Emma Birch, she's like a littler sister and she's such a doll.

 

A kid came into the VC the other day needing tweezers... he was from Germany with his exchange family checking out the temple. He had never seen a cactus so he decided to touch one... yeah he knows now to never touch a cactus. It was really funny, I felt bad for him though.  He spoke 4 languages and when he goes home I bet he'll convert. The mom and I talked for a bit about introducing him to the church and she said he really like it (the government won't let them convert on exchange programs). 2 Nephi 5:27

 

Miss you much, Love you more!!!

Love Sister Anderson

 

Hair Cut Yeah!

Sis. Dyer, Alex, Sis. Anderson  Alex's Baptism!!!

 

 

 

Emma Birch  Sis. Anderson loves little sisters.

 

missionary letter

This may not be very long today. Not because I'm not okay but more because it's only been 5 days since my last email and I was hit in the head with a soccer ball this morning so my head still hurts...

Well Alex is still doing great! He has his baptism interview on Tuesday and we are pretty confident he will pass with flying colors. Evan is still a bit leery about getting baptized but we are going to have a lesson where the ward mission leader practices  baptizing with him so he won't be as scared anymore. The Visitor Center is great I'm growing and getting more comfortable with phones (just watch as soon as I have the hang of it President will send me full field...lol)

Lots of cool little miracles have happen this week, as usual,  but looking back I see more of how I've changed. I'm not as homesick anymore, the heat doesn't really bother me anymore, and I'm coming closer to my Savior. All are very good things. I'm learning more and more that what people think of me does not matter, if I am making the Savior my best friend then I'm doing what I should and that is all I need. I'm so grateful for our family I love you all so much. I was talking to a recent convert yesterday and I showed him a picture of our family and he said just what everyone says, that I have a very good looking/pretty/beautiful family. But he followed it with they have a neat spirit about them, and it clicked, our family is centered on Jesus Christ and that is why all your children are good and why people tell me how beautiful my family is. We have the light of Christ! Thank you Mom and Dad for teaching us to love our Savior and center our lives around Him!

Well sorry again for it being so short but I'm really tired... Hope you get feeling better Mom, I pray for you always. Make sure you are taking it easy!!! How is school going for Dad?  Miss you much, Love you more!!!  1 Nephi 21:15-16

Love Sister Anderson 

Missionary Letter

Dear MOM and DAD

Well it's been a long but good week. It started off kind of rough but worked itself out.

 

VC Blessings- A couple came in last week and asked for a "Mormon Bible" so I gave them a Book of Mormon and then took them on a tour. They were so excited to learn more about the church and to meet with the missionaries (we call those top boxes, people who accept our offer to send missionaries to their home). It's really cool to see people who are prepared and want the blessing of the Gospel compared to those who we have to "convince" or those who get offended because we are offering them something amazing. These are the people who make a mission such a great thing. I also had several people accept missionaries over the phone and they are also the people who are ready to have the Gospel in their lives.

 

Alex (Investigator)- Alex is doing so good. We did have to push his baptism back to next week (Sept. 3) because he has to be off of smoking for 2 full weeks before he can be baptized. But he is still going strong and is progressing in the gospel and is stoked about his baptism. I always have the underlying fear that he will give in to temptation or will stop doing all the good things he's been doing to keep him strong. But he always proves me wrong. GO ALEX!!! The Lord has truly prepared him for the Gospel and has helped inspire us to keep him strong. We felt like we should have RJ fellowship him and it was the best decision we have made, they get along so well and RJ is a great influence on Alex. It also helps RJ keep that missionary fire and focus as he prepares to serve himself. Alex has been coming to church and reading his scriptures and praying without much encouragement from us and the ward has done a great job taking him in.

 

Christina (Investigator)- Christina is another investigator that is so prepared but her family is in the way of her fully committing. She feels the spirit when we have lessons and she is seeing the blessings of the Gospel already in her life, but her mother asked her not to get baptized... we told her that Heavenly Father would help her get through any trial if she made that commitment, but she has to make the decision, so we told her to pray and see what God wanted her to do (we all know the answer), now we just pray she will act on it. She is such an amazing girl with such a strong spirit. She has been through so much and it has brought her to the point that she is ready to receive the blessing God has for her, she just needs to reach out and take it. We pray for her a lot. She is coming to church and reading her scriptures, and the ward is so welcoming.

 

The YSA ward is really surprising us, all the amazingness that is happening in that ward is because we have the best Ward Mission Leader EVER!!!! Brad had been home for about a year and still has the missionary fire. We love Brad and it truly is because of him we have all this work in the ward.

 

Evan (Investigator)- Evan is doing good, they are still coming to church and the baptismal date is still on, so we'll just keep teaching him and getting him excited for his baptism.

 

Other- Well I met Elder Tremebling (picture), he worked with Kember before he came out. It was so fun to see someone who had seen Kember more recently than I had. 

 

Elder Tremebling and Me

We had a little drama here this last week. Sister Dyer had an anxiety attack and was struggling to breath, so I called Sister Ellsworth and she walked me through what needed to be done (my mom gene kicked in, of course) she was okay after we got her relaxed.   I learned that I need to manage my stress to stay healthy though.

 

I love you both more than words can say and pray for you always!!! Miss you much, love you more!!

Alma 56: 47-48 (My favorite)

 

Sister Anderson

Me and a Muffin

 

 

 

 

Sister Dyer, Sami, Sister Anderson, Robbi

 Robbie is a convert of a year who just baptized Sami a week ago. They have been coming in and watching all the movies at the VC and have gotten to know all the Sisters really well. We love them!!!

 

Whirlwind

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week has been such a whirl-wind of emotions and experiences that I couldn't even think of a title for the e-mail.

The most exciting news is that we now have 2 investigators with baptismal dates. 

The first is Evan (I've been spelling his name wrong the whole time... oops) his mom informed us that she had asked Evan's dad if he was okay with Evan getting baptized and he was so yesterday we invited him to be baptized. He was a bit hesitant because he was afraid of going under water backwards but still accepted the invitation, we think he won't be as scared once he sees someone get baptized. It was really cool to see his mom help us talk to him about being baptized. She has changed so much since we started teaching her, we can tell she is getting the Spirit back in her life and her countenance is changing. Jade, her 4 year old, told us yesterday that she was going to get married in the temple. They had had a lesson on it in primary, she was also really excited about getting baptized when she turns 8. That whole family has come so far and I'm so glad i got to be a part of it.

The second is Alex. Alex was the investigator that the Elders gave us. He is amazing, he's about my age but has been though so much. His mother is a recent convert and he asked her to hook him up with the missionaries. I can't even really express how amazing Alex is he has been drug free for over 60 days and stopped smoking the moment the Elders told him he should. He's reading and praying and that is when you know that they have a true desire, is when they do the little essentials. He's got a plan for his life and is working his hardest to get his son back. He's such an inspiration of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I had the privilege of being a instrument in Heavenly Father's hand in rekindling a girl's, about my age, desire to go on a mission. It is so neat to think because of me the Spirit could remind her of that desire. It was fun to see her have her own "smack in the face" I recall God doing the same to me.

So even though I HATE making phone calls I've been working on being more diligent at it and this last week the I got to see a lady that was so ready for the missionaries accept them. And the man who referred her was so happy that I had followed the spirit he called in with another referral and specifically asked for me. I felt so honored!!!

That is so cool you got to hear from Sister Vance, we love that family SOOOO much. They have such an amazing spirit in their home. Brother Vance has Parkinson's and went in for surgery yesterday to get some probes put in his brain, we've been praying for him. It was defiantly a tender mercy for us to meet them.

I GET TO DRIVE again, I got approved to drive the car, it was alittle scary at first but I only hit one curb the first day! I missed driving so much. Speaking of driving am I correct in thinking Kember has learned to drive my car? If so that is awesome!!! Ryan said she lock the keys in my car and I only assume it's because she was driving it. Maybe now she understand how much fun a manual is.

Sister Dyer and I are working hard on still finding our balance as companions, our teaching is getting better and better, but we have a long way to go.

Pictures:

Me- Duh...

The car wash- we get our car washed every week and it always reminds me of the movie Catrinia, Catrinia (with Whoopi Goldberg) so I took a picture.

Me and the Vance's- that is the family I told you about, it was our last member lesson so it was kind of sad.

Me and a Lighthouse- Just for you mom!!!

My Zone from my 1st transfer- It was a really good zone!

Well I best be headed. Miss you MUCH, Love you MORE!!!

Love, Sister Anderson