September 30, 2014

Well, [we had transfers again and] it looks like I still get to stay!

I love this! All the members really know me now and love me. It's great to be out here in one area for so long. It really gets you close with the members, which helps the missionary work tremendously!

Things have been interesting lately. The missionaries in our district got in a car accident. Someone ran into them. The have some whiplash but for the most part they are fine. Elder Jenson (in my Thor picture) is going to Brazil in 3 weeks! That's gotta be way cool! He's been here for 9 months now. Elder Stewart (my companion) is a great guy. He really does care about if he's good enough. He asks me all the time - Am I a good companion? The reason why is because he a had a companion who hated him. I just can't stand people being so mean. Like, he's totally okay! Missions are hard enough! I couldn't imagine having to be around someone who hates you all the time for 6 weeks. That would just make life not very fun.

Right now we are the only stable missionary couple in our district. Everyone else has their quirks and need a break from each other. Its great to be able to provide some love and support for everyone. I know we all are here for a reason. I definitely love all these guys.

Our missionary work is starting to progress. We are going to get more Less Actives coming to church now! Which counts as a baptism in my book! We met this sweet old lady. Her name is Ruby Kade. She's a black grandma that took care of 7 grandchildren by herself! She's a boss! She only has 2 now! But it's still crazy! She's got very little, but she sure loves the Lord! We saw her and invited her to listen to the General Conference coming up. She said she would do it. I hope she does!

General Conference is so profound! How many churches actually have a living prophet? How many churches have living Apostles and continuing revelation? Take General Conference very seriously. It literally is God speaking to you - his children. As one investigator said it, "If you have a real-life prophet, I would do anything to hear him speak! Nothing would stop me from shouting with joy that we have the true church."

Sometimes we forget how important these truths are. I love you all! Have a great week!


- Elder Anderson

September 22, 2014

Well, I've been out over 4 months now! It's awesome!

Anyways, missionary work has suddenly burst in our area. This was unprecedented for a long time in our area (Pride, Louisiana). We are seeing like 10 more people now each week instead of the usual 5. The Lord is truly hastening his work. This is a great experience to be apart of.

My biggest fear is that transfers are coming up, October second, which means I may be moving. I really hope not. Right when the missionary work is booming in my area would be terrible to leave. So I'm really excited for the future of this area. I know this gospel is true without a doubt!

Our Baptist minister has suddenly started wanting us to come over more. We are making progress. He's seen the missionaries for over 8 years now! This just awesome for him! I don't deserve any of these blessings but it sure is great to be apart of such a great work.

I love and miss you all. I cant wait to hear from you all!


- Elder Anderson

September 16, 2014

I can't believe I've been out for 4 months now! Time is going by really fast!

So, this week has been awesome! We are working with Jerri Willey to get her baptized. She's planning on doing that on the 21st! I'm really excited for her. We've been helping her quit smoking! She's been dong awesome - she's 6 days smoke free! She use to smoke 21 cigs a day, but now she smokes 0! God can truly heal and take care of his people when they have a desire.

It's Leopard gecko season! We have like 6 small baby Lunas (geckos) in our house! They are so cute. It makes me feel just like I am back at home. We've been mountain biking a lot lately, also! I went down this one path that I said I would never do because it was like 15 ft straight down and up! It's crazy! I did it! Well, I didn't die but it was fun, and I am never doing that path again! Haha! It's cool being out on your own and learning all these things.

We visited an old couple last night for dinner. They were in their 80s. I asked them how long have y'all been married and he told me 55 years!!! That's insane! I told them - Wow! I could only hope to find love that would last that long! It seems like now a days people view marriage as a contract to get tax refunds or something. It's really sad how people are losing these important qualities. Such as Patience, Communication, Love, Understanding. Anyways I just thought it was a really neat thing to see. Oh, and, she cooks way good food! That's another plus! Man, the old people got the right kind of women! I want to be a cook, also, but it would be nice to come home every now and then have a nice meal on the table! It's cool finding qualities that you want out here, even though I could only hope to think about marriage! I still got 20 more months! Haha!

Anyways, the mission has been going great. I love you all very much!


- Elder Anderson

September 2, 2014

Alright so the past 2 weeks have been kind of weird. The first week was transfers. I got my new companion Elder Stewart. Turns out we have a lot in common. Anyways, he's awesome! We mostly talk about Girls (the lack thereof) and just still getting to know each other. It's that weird phase where you just ask a lot of questions but I can see were going to have a great companionship.

So the second week was great. I got better and I'm doing great now. Something really cool happened to me. I was thinking of how can we better the missionary work? How can we hasten God's work? I never in my life have received revelation like this. Receiving revelation for the people in Pride is a whole different experience. Anyways, I was told that we need to use the members and help them understand their role in missionary work.

I'm thinking this revelation given to me will be helpful for our current investigator. He's a Baptist Minister. His name is Kerri Gerald he has Cerebral Palsy, but is only limited physically. He's such a kind man. He loves God so much. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the Church is true. He really wants to convert. In fact, he even teaches the people at the Baptist Green Well Springs Church Mormon doctrine and they don't even know it! He wants to convert, but he doesn't have the faith and courage. He told us he was afraid. I knew that was Satan working on him. I'm trying to help him understand that everything will be okay.

So, how is this all relevant? Well, there's a member in our ward that joined the church 2 years ago. He was a hardcore party guy and smoked 30 cigars a day. His conversion story is really great. So, he's going to go with us and he's going to share that conversion story with Kerri. I'm hoping that Kerri will see that God will take care of him and that the members are great people (another one of his fears). We are scheduling more appointments with him now, which is amazing!

A miracle happened this week. Our investigator that left us wants to meet with us again. She's working on quitting smoking. Her name is Jerri Willey. She's 18. She's a funny girl. She doesn't have censorship on her mouth, though - haha - it can be kind of awkward at times. Anyways, she's seeing us again and is willing to work to baptism again. I'm so glad that she made this decision.

Things are going well out here in Pride. The members are suddenly really liking me a lot now. I don't know why. Our feed the missionary schedule just filled in 1 week which is unheard of. We eat at someones house 24/30 days this month. The people here really love us.

Rest assured we are being taking care of. I love you all so much.


- Elder Anderson