First week in California!

Hello family!

Feels like forever since I was able to talk to you guys! There is so much that happened this week but I will do my best to remember everything. Tuesday was a total blur. My companions are great though! And yes companions. I'm in a trio! Sister Pack and Sister Nelson are so so great. We get along so well and I already love them! And yes I am on a bike..... It's a lot better than I thought though. It's hard to ride in a skirt but it works and it's actually pretty fun! It gets really hot and we all get real sweaty so our helmet hair looks even better. I'm sure we look really funny riding down the street. It has been such a blast already though. Except I did crash on my bike last night hahaha. I was so mad. It was my own fault, I basically flipped myself over trying to tuck my shirt into my bike shorts but now I have a nice big bruise on my leg and I don't bruise so you know it's bad! I was laughing the whole time though.

So my day starts at 6:30 and we go running, shower and get all ready. Then we have an hour of personal study time and two hours of companion. We'll eat lunch then head out on our bikes! If we don't have appointments to go to or they cancel on us, we knock on doors. Our mission president asked us to leave harvest blessings with people so it's different than what I thought I would be doing. But we pray for their family and bless their home if they let us. Most of the time they don't, but there have been a few cases where they do let us and you can tell they really feel the spirit. None of them have made appointments for us to come back though. I honestly don't know how many investigators we have, maybe 5 or 6? But we mostly visit nonactive families. It's pretty interesting but it's a lot of fun. We have dinner at a member's house every night so we get fed really well. We usually will get home around 9 and pretty much crash.

So my companions are both 21, one from Seattle and one from Idaho. They are both hilarious and we get along so well! Sister Nelson has brown hair and Sister Pack has red. It's so funny because we are so comfortable around each other. I'm so lucky and so blessed to have such great companions. Our room is super tiny and oh we live at a members home. She is never there though and there are other families living there so it's a little weird but it works.

We have what is called OYM (open your mouth) and we have to get ten each everyday. So basically we just have to talk to ten people about the gospel, it is not as bad as I thought so that's good! Since I'm short on time, I'll print out all your emails and hand write back to them every week. That makes it a little easier on my part :)

I am SO happy I am here and it honestly hasn't set in that I'll be doing this the next year and a half but I love it and am so excited. Saying goodbye to my MTC district was hard but I know that they are lifelong friends and I have more in the making so I am so excited! This gospel is so awesome and so great and I want everyone to know about it. Some people are super rude but we just have to blow it off. I am so glad I get to be an instrument in the Lord's hands and help people realize the truth about this gospel. I love you all so much and I miss you but I pray for you all every night! Please write me and don't forget about me :) A package would be nice too ;)

MUCH love,

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. send all letters and/or packages to the mission home address. Since we move so much they don't want us giving out the members addresses. So they forward it to us from the mission home :)

p.s.s. HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY DAD! I have a present for you in the office closet so don't forget! Love you!

 "yeah I landed on my wrist pretty bad and have a nasty bruise on my leg and on my knee. I just sent mom a bunch of pictures so you can look at them when you get home! My bike is fine, the water bottle holder got bent but it's okay. Both my companions didn't even help they just said "Wait stay there! Don't move!" so they could take a picture haha. We were all laughing way hard so it's okay!"

 


















"I actually love riding a bike! It's hard but I love it. I may have already crashed..... You'll see pictures haha. But I want you to know I am SO happy and loving what I am doing. The broadcast yesterday was another reassurance that I am supposed to be here doing this and I am so lucky I can."

June 17, 2013 [still at MTC]

Grandma & Grandpa,

Thank you so much for the package!  Everyone loved all the cookies and treats.  We have so much candy and sweets and everything!  We have to give a box of it to our teachers so we don't take it on the plane.  By the time you get this I will already be in California!  We have to leave the MTC Tuesday morning at 4:30 in the morning so that will be fun . . . NOT.  Anyway today (Monday) we get to pack and clean basically all day long!  Yah!

Yesterday we were able to sing in our sacrament meeting which is just our branch, but all the sisters in our district sang "Abide With Me" and it was really pretty!  We also got to watch an MTC Christmas devotional by Elder Bednar called The Character of Christ.  I HIGHLY recommend you look it up and watch/read it.  It will change your life. 

I am so excited to leave and get to California!  I have learned so much here and I feel so much more prepared now that I have learned more about myself, my Savior, and how to better focus on my investigators' needs and to teach people, not lessons.  I am super nervous, but it's an excited nervous.  I know that this is where I am supposed to be going and that there are people there waiting specifically for me to get there!  I love you and Grandpa so much and pray for you every night.  I miss you and I love you!

Sister McCall Anderson

PS:  Grandpa, I hope you had a happy Father's Day!  I love you!

June 13, 2013 [still at the MTC]

Grandma:

I had a little extra time tonight surprisingly, so I decided to write you a letter!  Before I forget, I did design my blog, unless my dad changed it!  I hope my mom was able to forward my emails to you, I didn't have very much time to write you an email.  A little about today . . . we have 3 investigators.  Ben, our teacher who is re-enacting his own conversion story, Hely who we only get to teach twice, and Gina who we only get to teach once.  With Ben we were able to convert him to baptism two lessons ago!  That was really exciting.  Today we taught him more about repentance and the steps towards baptism.  Hely is a referral - side note - these next two investigators are part of the TRC (Training Resource Center I think).  It's basically anyone, member of nonmember, that wants to be taught.  They all act like nonmenbers though.  Anyway, we were teaching her about the Book of Mormon and since we aren't able to teach her anymore, me and my companion bore testimony to her of everything and I honestly don't know what I said.  The spirit was completely testifying to her through me.  My whole body was all tingly and I started crying and so did she.  It was such a neat experience because my comp and I had been praying all day that we could teach by the spirit and it worked!  I loved today.  We all had time to hang out later in the day - well, we were supposed to be studying, but we all needed a little break.  But our district got so close to each other during that time.  It was so great.  I am so grateful for the chance I have to be an instrument in God's hands.  I know this gospel is true and ai know this is what I'm supposed to be doing.  I love you and miss you!  Keep sending letters!!!

Sister Anderson

PS:  Share this with the family!  I don't have time to write separate letters to everyone, but I love you all!!

Her whole MTC district, arriving in California.

Sister Pack and Sister Anderson

WEEK ONE addendum

I am back on now! Only for a little bit but I forgot to tell you.  We got our flight plans so on Tuesday we leave the MTC at 4:30 in the morning! I think our flight leaves at 8:30 so I don't know if I will get to call at the Salt Lake Airport or in California. But I'm pretty sure sometime that morning I will be able to call! I know I shouldn't be overwhelmed but sometimes I can't help it. I don't know if we can send pictures from the MTC and if we can I have no idea how haha. So hopefully next week you will get pictures. 

I really do enjoy all of your letters but I have zero time to read them and zero time to respond to them so sorry if I don't answer all your questions or get to everything you need.  Did I tell you there was a girl in our district that was really close to going home? She got a blessing from an Elder in our district and now she is staying! We were all praying really hard for her so we are glad she is deciding to stay.
Like I said it has been really hard having a companion. The only alone time we have is when we are showering basically haha. She is really nice and has a really strong testimony, but other than that we have nothing in common. She did band and played computer games and stuff like that so we don't really have much to talk about except our boyfriends so that's usually what we talk about haha, sorry dad. She is very punctual and when you ask the time she'll say like 1:19 and then I'll say something like okay so we have 20 minutes left and she doesn't allow that extra minute. She makes every minute count, where I just round up the minutes so that sounds dumb but it's so frustrating! It's just weird how little things like that can get on our nerves. The rest of the sisters are all really cool though so we usually stick together so it's not so awkward. The food is actually surprisingly good! There are some meals that are better than others but that's okay. Overall it's great. Oh Sunday! Sunday was awesome. We had Relief Society all together as sisters and then had Sacrament Meeting as a zone. It was very very spiritual and the whole week everyone just kept telling us to make it to Sunday and we'll be fine. Now I know why. It was different than any other day and it was so good. We also got to watch the Joseph Smith movie so that's always good as well.

Overall, I am happy beyond belief. Some days are harder than others but there is nowhere else I would rather be. I know I am here for a reason and that I am learning and growing for the people in Riverside. You have all been such a help and like I said the letters are a good source of motivation. Keep em comin' :) Packages are also welcome :) Everyone always makes fun of me cause I always get the most letters and my companion has only gotten one.. I have like 25 haha. Anyway, I love you all and I miss you but I want you to know that I am doing so so good and I love it here :) You are in my prayers!

Love,
Sister Anderson :)

WEEK ONE

Hello family!!
It's finally a much needed P-day! I am so exhausted physically, spiritually, mentally, everything haha. This is such an incredible place to be right now. This week has been so overwhelming and a lot harder than I ever thought! Our first teaching experience was a total fail and it was a very humbling experience. I have been so happy, yet so drained and discouraged at the same time. I think I have felt every emotion possible this week. I honestly don't remember Wednesday. It was a total blur. I now understand the saying "the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into days" Everyone says that and it is so true! This week was so long but it flew by! I'm basically done! A week from now I'll be in California and that terrifies me. I'm so excited though :) So our schedule consists of waking up at 6:30 (still super hard) exercise (hahahaha) and then breakfast. After breakfast we go to class for 3 hours. This is the time that we teach our "investigators" that are really our teachers pretending. Then lunch, then another 3 hour class time. We study ALL DAY LONG. And I have never prayed so much in one day in my life. We pray over everything. Seriously I would guess at least 30 prayers a day haha. It's so great. My testimony has grown so much over the last week. Last night we had a devotional at the Marriott Center. The entire MTC was there and that was the first time that had ever happened.  A member of the 70 spoke to us and it was so perfect. All day yesterday I was discouraged because our lesson didn't go as we wanted it to and I was just scared because I didn't know how I was going to be able to do this and to teach real investigators. I was praying all day that I would know that this is for me and at the devotional, he went over how well we are aquainted with God and that we are called to do this by a prophet. I've heard this a million times but I know that was for me. I also read my patriarchal blessing and there is a whole section on serving that I have seriously never seen before. I was on the verge of tears because I swear it just got put in there yesterday haha. I have never seen it and I know that it was all for me. I know that the Lord really does know and love each of us and that I can do this. I know He knows I can do this.
I don't have a lot of time but I will try to send pictures a little later.. I love all of you and THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS. I am the only one that has really gotten letters and when I get like 10 each day it so helps. I love it and I love hearing from all of you and about what you are doing. Like I said I will try to email again a little later today but if not, I love you and thank you for everything!