Last the best of all the game!

Sup.

 

So the reactions I got from everyone from last weeks email were golden. THANK YOU for all your support and love! I was quite nervous to tell everyone just because I didn't want everyone to be disappointed or anything that I was coming home, but I got quite the opposite reaction, so thank you :)

 

This week I don't have much to report unfortunately. We are really trying to find people and to work hard but it's soooo difficult. I don't know, everyone is bein big time haters right now!

 

Since I only have 8 days left being a missionary... I have had a lot of time to think and reflect on my mission. What a freaking awesome year and a half its been! Seriously it's been the best decision I have ever made. I have made so many eternal friendships that I wouldn't have otherwise. I have been able to bring the gospel to people and help them grow closer to Jesus Christ. It has truly been the best! I'm not so good at being spiritual on pdays.... Hahaha sorry. But just know that my testimony has shot through the roof because of my mission. There is nothing I would have rather done these last 18 months than to be here in the ghetto of California serving all these homies :) Good stuff. I have truly come to know my Savior. Really know Him. Before my mission I thought I knew what the gospel was, I thought I had a strong testimony. But as I look back and realize what I have gone through and how much I have learned and grown since I have been here, I realize I was just a little baby in the gospel before my mission! Of course I still have a long ways to go and a lot to learn, but I feel that I have grown into the person that God intends for me to be right now at this time in my life. It's such a good feeling to know that my Heavenly Father is proud of me and the service that I have rendered to His children here. It's good to know that I am doing the right thing in my life right now. What a blessing it has been to be here! I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

 

Well I guess that is about it.... Haha see ya in 8 days suckas!

 

Love you all!

 

Sister Anderson :)

Surprise!

Homies:

 

First things first! We moved apartments! So my address is now 22985 Climbing Rose #206 Moreno Valley, CA 92557. Before it was #204 but we moved because the dude that lives under us smoked big time in his apartment and we would come home to a staaaanky apartment every night and it was making us all sick. So now we have a nice clean one :) So send everything to #206!

 

Well this week was good! So Elder Evans from the 70 came to our mission... That was interesting. Everyone thought we were going to get iPads and that that was the reason he was coming.. But nope! Nothin. Whatever, we don't want iPads anyways................... But yeah he was really good. He was super bold but honestly I don't know what the purpose of him coming was... Haha but it was a good spiritual boost and I got to see some old homies so that was fun :)

 

Soooooo.... As you all know I have been dealing with these stupid migraines basically the past year of my mission. So after much prayer, fasting, blessings, thought, and everything else... I'm coming home. In two weeks. 16 days. Surprise :) Suuuuper crazy but I am excited and it needs to happen. So let me explain..

 

So obviously these have been a problem for quite some time.. But not once have I thought about coming home early from my mission. Not once. But one night my migraine was especially bad and I was laying there just thinking and out of the clear blue the thought came to me that I needed to go home. Obviously I was shocked and pushed it out of my mind but it kept coming back. The more I thought about it the more it made sense. We have been staying home a lot... I mean a lot.. and getting nothing really accomplished. It's been pretty pathetic and pretty discouraging for both myself and my companion. So I prayed about it.. and prayed.. and prayed. I kept getting the answer that it was my choice, and that everything would be okay either way. I talked to my mission president and started the interview and just felt really at peace about it. Then we were able to go to the temple.. Which was much needed. The feelings and the answers that I got in the temple were undeniable that I needed to come home. But I also felt so much love and appreciation from my Heavenly Father, that I wasn't giving up, but that this was a part of His plan for me. For what reason, I'm not sure. But I know that everything will be okay and that Heavenly Father is proud of me. I know that I have accomplished what I have been sent here to do. In my heart, I honestly don't feel like I am coming home "early". I am coming home at 17 months and I know that I have served my full time mission to the best of my abilities.

 

So.. Surprise! I will be home on November 4th :)

 

Basically that has been preoccupying my thoughts this last week. That and how annoyed I am with my bloody migraines. Haha but all is well. We'll work hard these last couple weeks and end on a good note. I'm determined about that! So I guess I will see you all soon! Thank you for all of your support and love lately. Much appreciated :)

 

Love you!

 

Sister Anderson :)

I love to see the temple!

Sup party peeeeps.

This week was aight. Same ol' with the headache. I had another appointment with my super smart neurologist and he just gave me another medication. I wish I had a doctor that would figure out what the heck is wrong instead of just masking it with medication. Messed up but whatevs.

Soooo Meet the Mormons! What did you all think of it? I'm assuming you saw it but maybs not. We got to see it and I thought it was pretty good! Pretty cool to hear people's stories. I think my fave was the football one (gotta love them football boys hahaha) and the missionary mom because that hits close to home. OBVI. Well just the part about being on a mission. But yeah I thought it was pretty well done. Go Mormons!

We also went to the templeeee. Gosh that place is beautiful. Café Rio is beautiful too...... Just sayin. I miss that place. So I'm glad we get to go every time we go to the temple :)

Sad to hear about the turtle dying! I honestly forgot about him hahaha and I kinda laughed when dad said he died and you were having a funeral service for it.

Gosh this sucks that my emails are so little.... But there just isn't very much to report!

I think my body is freaking out on me. I am hardly eating and there were 2 nights this week where I wasn't tired and layed in bed until 3 in the morning..... I don't know what the heck is going on but its freaking me out! I'm fine though.. just a little strange.

This week Elder Evans from the Missionary Department is coming so that will be interesting. Rumors are going around that we are getting iPads but I don't think so. We'll see though.

That's it for this week! Love and miss you all!

Sister Anderson :)

Receive. Remember. Apply.

Sup homies.

Well to begin wasn't conference great? I'll get to that later but seriously you guys, we are blessed.

The headaches are the same.. If not worse :/ But I have a doctor's appointment this week so we'll see how that goes. Sister Staker is great about it.. She is super patient and seems to really understand how hard it is for me, so I am super grateful for her.

This week was pretty crazy. We had 2 of the less actives that we were working with move and we were the only ones that they could get ahold of to help them! So we helped 2 people move in the same day and we did it all by ourselves! Talk about heavy duty. We lifted the couches, dressers, beds.. you name it. We actually surprised ourselves haha I think we had some Heavenly help for sure with this one because seriously.. I have no muscle haha. But it kept us busy for a few days so that was good. We also woke up suuuuper sore... Yeah we felt like we were 80 years old haha.

Do you guys remember Liz and Isaiah? They were baptized in Riverside. Well they came and took us to lunch this week! It was so great to see them. Liz has her patriarchal blessing and a calling and is going to the temple to do baptisms! It was so neat to hear that. Isaiah is doing scouts and she said that he bears his testimony all the time in sacrament meeting. They are so great :) Also there was one night where there was a knock at our door and I went to answer it and it was Skyler and Sister Graves! They had also just come back from the temple doing baptisms! Gosh it was so cool to see and hear my converts gaining a stronger testimony in the gospel and doing what Heavenly Father has asked them to do. It was such a tender mercy from Heavenly Father to be able to see all 3 of them this week. I know He knows I am struggling with these dumb migraines, and I think He sent them to me to let me know everything is okay :) It was such a blessing!

We went out to dinner one night because a member gave us some money.. And we were eating and a different waiter came up and said "Save some room, I'm gonna buy your dessert." Haha it was kinda funny and I have no idea why he wanted to buy us dessert but it was nice and we got free food! We get so many perks as a missionary haha.

So conference! Pretty much I think we need to make sure to follow and sustain the prophet! That was pretty clear haha. Also... I don't know if it was just the lighting or what but it looked like all the apostles went and got a spray tan right before conference started haha. Even Lil Tommy was lookin pretty tan. Right? Maybe it was just me but I kept laughing every time there was a new speaker haha. But disregarding thaaat... It was all pretty good. I actually didn't catch all of it because the fluorescent lighting in the church made my head hurt really bad so it was hard to concentrate.. But I tried really hard! However I really feel like my "strength was faithened" hahaha we all died laughing when that dude said that. Pretty good. I thought Elder Andersen's talk on Joseph Smith was really good. That will be good to use with future homies that want to bash with us. Overall conference was good. It went by super fast which in the past I would never say that.. I was telling Sister Staker that on my mission is the first time that I haven't fallen asleep during a conference session :) Boo yah.

This week we are going to the temple and having interviews with P. Mully (President Mullen) and watching Meet the Mormons! So it should be a good week. Thanks for all your support and love. It's much needed and much appreciated. Love you all!

Sister Anderson :)

The Convenient Messiah

Hiiiiiiiii everyone.

Okay. So I need to apologize for being a debbie downer the last few weeks. I have just been having a little pity party for myself and that's not okay. I do, however, appreciate all of your love and support on my behalf. Yes these migraines are a pain in the you know what, but apparently there is not much that can be done about them. This week was not any easier, if not worse, but I am sick of being depressed and not acting like myself but I can't seem to snap out of it. I'm trying really hard to be happy and to get through this but it's harrrrrd.

Which I guess leads me to the title of this. The convenient Messiah. Interesting right? Yesterday in sacrament meeting, one of the bishopric members bore his testimony about a book that Elder Holland wrote and one of the chapters was called the Convenient Messiah. He said that NOTHING in this religion is very convenient. And if you think about it, it's totally true! Callings are never convenient. Missionary work isn't convenient. Obeying the commandments isn't convenient. But it's always worth it. Always. Even with these migraines, I have been able to see blessings from it. I have come a lot closer to Jesus Christ, and felt a small portion of what He felt when He was suffering. I have spent many hours on my knees trying to understand why I am having this trial and why I can't just do the work that I came here to do. I still don't know why, but I do know that Heavenly Father knows what I am going through, as well as my Savior. I know that everything will be okay, no matter the outcome. And I know that this is happening for some reason. I'm trying to stay positive, I really am.

That's basically it for this week. We didn't get much done because of the migraines, but hopefully this week will be better. You are all the best. Love and miss you all.

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. This week was freeeeeeezing. It was 65 for a couple days and i was dying hahaha.

The Noggin'

Hola errybody

Well I am staying here in Moreno Valley with Sister Staker! Heaven help us haha.

I don't have much to report again this week.. Nothing much has changed. Same stuff, different day.

My head is winning this battle I'm afraid. This week was one of the worst. We stayed home a lot and the stupid pill isn't working. I called the doctor and told them that it wasn't working and that it was making my hands tingly and so the genius told me to cut the pill in half. Like that'll work! If the whole pill isn't working try half the pill! Okay. So obvi that hasn't worked either. It makes me super nauseous too and I have hardly eaten anything all week! It's screwing up my body haha. There were multiple nights this week where I thought I was going to throw up at dinner so I had to go in the bathroom and just pray that I would make it through dinner. So this week has honestly been awful.

On the plus side... Have you heard about the movie Meet the Mormons? It comes out October 10th. I guess it just profiles a few members of the church to let the world know what we are about. But we get to see it! Unfortunately not in theaters.... But we get to get together as a mission I think and watch it so that will be fun :)

Welllllllllllll yeah.. That's about it!

Have a good week!

Sister Anderson

Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

This was the best freaking week ever!! 

Okay not really but I'm trying to stay positive.... Haha. 

So with the Neurologist. We went in for about 30 seconds and he said that I have chronic migraines.. YAY. Not. So that pretty much sucks. But he is trying to find medication to prevent them. Currently the one I am on makes my hands tingly.... Weird. But it's kinda fun :) haha

We taught a family this week that recently got baptized but hasn't been to church recently. We talked about the importance of putting God first in all that we do. I read in 3 Nephi 13 about "seeking the kingdom of God first then all things shall be added unto you." As we were teaching I was thinking about how grateful I was for YOU GUYS. I am so glad that I was brought up in a home centered on the gosepl, where we always put Christ first. Even though I complained probably without fail every Sunday or Tuesday for mutual, I am so glad that your testimonies were strong and that you made that a priority in your life and in mine. Now I see the difference and the importance. I see families where the gospel is the last thing on their list of priorities and I see how screwed up their lives are and in my mind I can see how simple their life could be if they just came to church and kept the commandments! Gosh it's so simple! But my testimony of that got strengthened a lot this week. 

We got a referral for a guy named Jawon Longo this week... Yeah. Jawon Longo. He is actually pretty legit but i don't know enough info to say anything yet!

Other than that things are sloooooow. We are still doing the 30 day fast which has been going good. But a lot of the days this week we literally had nothing to do. And we had a massive heat wave this week. One day it was 115. Yiiikes. I'm so sick of the heat!!!! I am actually looking forward to it being cold. Wait. Did I just say that? Aaaahh! But we went to get Yogurtland one day and someone there paid for it so we got free yogie so that was good :) 

Well. Transfer calls are Saturday so we'll see what happens! Crazy. That means I will only have 12 weeks left..................................

Anyways have a good week! Love and miss you all!

Sister Anderson :) 

Slowly but Surely

Well this will be a shorty.

This week was reeeeeally slow and reeeeally hard. Blah.

We don't have a lot going on right now. People are cancelling on us like it's their day job and I'm getting tired of repeating everything I say. And my headaches were pretty excruciating this week. We stayed home a few days because they were making me nauseous.. Yay! I am going to a neurologist this week (whatever that is) so that will be interesting!

I got to go back to Hemet this week for a baptism. The elders had actually taught this family but they wanted Sister Allen and I to come back so we did! It was really fun to see everyone again. I want to get sent back to that ward :)

In our ward right now we are going to do a 30 day fast. Yes we are fasting for 30 days! Okay just kidding. But with our dinner calendar they are passing around, the people who sign up will just fast on that day that they want us to come over, then we will break the fast with them at dinner. So the point is to fast for missionary work and to show Heavenly Father that we are serious about this stuff! That we really want some people to work with! So I know that this will help us find more people to teach. Like seriously I only have 3 months left, let's get some people dunked over here. 

Honestly........ That's all I have to report this week... Yikes.

Here's a shocker: I'm SICK OF THE HEAT. But I also don't want to come home in December in the middle of winter....... Thank goodness we are going to Jamaica. 

Well. This week will be better! Lots of prayers are needed. Miss and love you all! 

Peace n Blessins

Sister Anderson :)

Wickedness Never Was Happiness

First of all … 3 1/2 months left. HELLO.

This week … was long. Super long. But good.

We had multizones (more like single zone conference with president) and it was really interesting. A while ago, President Mullen told us to watch all the PMG videos again because we were going to talk about it at multizones. So we got there kinda expecting it to be all that, but NO! President told us of 4 elders who were super disobedient and did a bunch of things against the rules (ya know just going to the Newport Beach Temple … and just to find it was closed). So the whole meeting was on obedience and not having bad habits and putting the Lord's will before anything else. It was really interesting. It makes me sad that even though we are missionaries, Satan still can have control over us if we let him. IF. Actually I think Satan works harder on us than on anyone else because he knows what great work we are doing. It's unreal. But over the course of my mission, there have been times where I have not been as obedient as I could have been, and times like now where we are striving to be as obedient as possible. It's insane how big the difference is! I am so much happier now and we are seeing so many blessings. There are people who are so eager to accept the gospel and we are having a good time, and I know that is because we are doing everything we can to be obedient and diligent. Thus 'wickedness never was happiness.'

Also this week I got to see a huge miracle! In Eastvale we worked with the Jenkins family. I don't think I mentioned them that much because they weren't progressing and nothing was really happening. The parents are both less active (active now) and none of their kids were baptized. But I got a call this week that one of the boys, Josh, was being baptized! So I got to go back to Eastvale to see that :) There were 8 sister missionaries there that had all worked with him! And there were 4 more and 2 elders that had also worked with him. It just goes to show that these things take time. As missionaries we get in this big rush to baptize everyone we see and forget how big of a commitment it is for people, and that they truly want to invesitgate and make sure this is what they want to do. But it is times like these that build my testimony and let me know that my time has not been wasted here. That I have been able to make a difference in people's lives. I mean, the mission has been the hardest time, and we all know Eastvale was a huge struggle for me. But it's ALL WORTH IT. Every last minute.

We are still working with some solid people. The beautiful black man (Malik) has a lot of good questions. There are so many prepared people here! I hope I spend the rest of my mission here. This is a good ward filled with good people. 

Oh, something cool last night. We were laying in bed, it was probably 10:50? I wasn't asleep yet and all of a sudden I heard a knock at our front door. Obviously I'm racking my brain to think of who the heck would be at our house at 10:50. They knocked again (Sister Staker didn't hear … remember she's deaf? hahaha) and I was scared to get up by myself but I heard the other sisters get up so I did too. I opened our bedroom door and saw them standing there with their keys in their hand. I asked who was at the door and they said "No one, but our keys were in the door." Literally no one was at the door but they had left the keys outside in the door. We came to the conclusion that it was an angel who knocked on the door :) It seems so simple but I thought it was neat that we are protected, whether it was an angel or not. We easily could have been robbed or who knows what. The Lord protects His missionaries! (When we are obedient :))

Well that's about it. Things are good! Super tired but good. I've honestly never been this tired in my entire life. But it's okay! Keep up the letters and prayers :) Greatly appreciated! You could throw in a package or two also ;)

Love you all! God Speed!

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. Sister Martin comes out with us all the time! And we go get Thrifty's ice cream. THE BEST.

Work Hard Play Hard

Okay first things first! My companion told me the address wrong … So that's why I haven't been getting letters. So send them again!

 

22985 Climbing Rose #204

Moreno Valley, CA 92557

 

So there :)

 

Weeeelll this week was gucci. Having a deaf companion is … interesting. I repeat myself all day long so it's REALLY testing my patience! But I guess that's good for me, huh? Sister Staker really is great though, we work well together. We picked up 4 new investigators this week so that is good! Hopefully they will stay investigators :) We have one, named Chris, and he agrees with everything we say, but I don't think he really comprehends everything... After talking to him about prayer for seriously like 7 minutes, about praying in the name of Christ and addressing Heavenly Father and all that, Sister Staker asked if he would say the closing prayer and he said "sure!" So we all closed our eyes and all that and waited and waited... and waited.. Finally after a few minutes passed we all looked up at each other and had to explain prayer alllll over, then he said it and said it wrong. Awkward...

 

We rode bikes this week! It was super fun and I got a nice tan :) Haha Sister Staker has never been on a bike before but she bought one just for fun..? So we rode bikes and half way through the day we had to go home because Staker almost threw up and got heat exhaustion.... I think she thought it wouldn't be that hard. But I thought it was fun! Haha :)

 

It rained super hard this week too. We had a real big thunder storm and people were going craaaazy. Californians are crazy. They act like they have never seen rain before! There were so many car accidents too, I guess that's like Utah though.. Haha

 

There is not much to report this week..... I mean I could give boring details but no one wants that :) I'm still trying to remember everyone's name in the ward and we are trying to find people to teach as always. Life is good. Real good. My time is running low but we are working hard! We live with the Spanish sisters so that is fun, we've been pulling pranks and laughing our heads off :) The mission is the bomb.

 

So anyways..... (the family we had dinner with last night quoted Nacho Libre the whoooole time and I was in tears laughing. That will definitely be the first movie I watch when I come home!) I MISS YOU all real bad! Oh I love you too ;)

 

Have a good week!

 

Sister Anderson :)

From HeMETH to Murder Valley

Yup. You read that right. They call it Murder Valley. Comforting, right? :)

Actually I love Moreno Valley! So far it has been good. I really am safe, don't worry :)

So I got to Moreno Valley last week … at 9 pm. Haha, so packing took way longer than I thought....... I have a lot of stuff. So I'm thinking Kimi and Jay will have to pick some of it up (including my bike!) at the mission office before I leave? That way I don't have to pay to ship it all home! But yeah I got here way late, and totally crashed when I layed down. Long day!

So my companion is Sister Staker. She is 24 from Pinedale, Wyoming. She has been out for 10 months! She is done with school and she is a vet technician ... And she is deaf! She was born deaf so she has never heard on her own in her life. Super crazy. They found out she was deaf when she was 15 months old, got hearing aids and then when she was 8 she got a Cochlear Implant so she has that and a hearing aid now. So it's actually pretty amazing! She can hear but still has a hard time with it. I am learning to talk while looking at her, enunciate my words better, and have a lot of patience since I repeat everything. A lot. The first night after we had said our prayers and gotten into bed, I said, "goodnight!" and got nothing back. Hahaha I realized she takes her hearing stuff off at night so she literally hears nothing. So I kinda laughed to myself since I didn't know. So now I know to say goodnight before we turn the lights off :) So this will be interesting! But she is really cool, really funny and she likes to prank too :) So we get along really well, which is an answer to prayer!

This area is really good. I realized I hate transfers because every time you go to a new area, people ask the usual questions. Where ya from, how long have you been out.. all that. So I say "I'm from Bountiful, Utah and I have been out for  14 months." I get the same reaction every time! "Oh of course you're from Utah and WOW you're almost done!" How depressing. It hurts my heart to know that my mission is coming to an end! I mean yeah I'm excited to see all ya'll but I'm in love with California and the crazy weirdos that live here. I have gotten to that point on my mission where I can honestly say that I love being a missionary and that I don't want to go home! Especially because people keep telling us about what is happening in the Middle East and all the nasty stuff that the world has to offer. And I just sit back and realize that I am in this little la la land where I feel the Spirit all the time and love reading my scriptures and want to study all day long and laugh and smile when people reject me every day. Like who does that!? Not me, especially in my pre-life! So that is one of the many witnesses that I have totally changed since being on a mission. That and because a sister l live with asked me for organizing advice....... (right? I was shocked too.) And maybe because one of the biggest reasons I am excited to come home is so I don't have a time limit to my personal study..... :) But regarding all this change that has happened within me, I love it! I know that I have changed and still am changing into the person that Heavenly Father intended me to be. It's a good feeling to know that I am doing what He wants me to do in order to be the person that He needs me to be. I am happier than ever and am loving this life I am living!

Anyways! This area has a lot of potential. We have some investigators right now, Irma and Isaac. We are trying to find more people but we have a lot of potential investigators so that is exciting. We had a lesson this week with a referral from some elders. She invited us in and was really excited we were there and said she would come to church and all that, so of course we got real excited and taught her the Restoration. Then she had all these questions and was sayin' all this weird stuff.... And then she said she was going to stick to her own church. But we are pretty sure she has no idea what we even said cause she was either drunk or high. Or both. Hahaha.

Well I am excited to be here and to be with Sister Staker, even if singing with her in the morning for comp study is completely horrendous haha. She's great. You are all great! I love you all! Oh yeah, SEND ME LETTERS! I'm feelin no love! Sheesh.

22895 Climbing Rose #204

Moreno Valley, California

92555 ( I think that's the zip code anyway...)

Okay have a great week!

Sister Anderson :)

Hasta la Vista Hemet :(

Well the time has come. Transfers rolled around and I'm leaving Hemet and my angel companion :(

Gosh I am super bummed. SUPER.

So as a missionary, we get really used to living life on a spiritual high. Ya know, going into people's houses, sharing scriptures, bearing testimony, leaving prayers. All that. All day. All the time. It becomes a part of life, that's just the way things are and how they always will be. So we don't realize that that is a different opportunity that doesn't happen all day all the time for the people that we are teaching. We don't realize the impact that we have on people.... until transfers.

Yesterday was probably one of the most spiritually and emotionally exhausting days of my mission.

Ya know, these last 2 transfers with Sister Allen have been really difficult, teaching wise. We haven't had any solid investigators and that part has been really hard. We have struggled finding people who are interested the whole time we have been together. When that happens, it just naturally happens that you start to get down on yourself and think something is wrong with you or the way you are doing things, you get discouraged and frustrated, especially when baptism is shoved down our throats and drilled into our minds. So when that baptism doesn't happen you feel like a failure and that you haven't fulfilled your purpose as a missionary. But yesterday changed my mind completely.

I literally cried all day long yesterday. Keep in mind, I have NEVER reacted this way when being transferred. After ward council, a man came up to us that we haven't really had much interaction with and he told us how much he appreciated us and how much we have changed the Ward and helped his testimony grow. He had tears in his eyes as he was saying how much he loved us and how grateful he was for our service. Then in sacrament meeting, Bishop Jergensen had me and the other Elder that has served here the longest bear our testimonies. As he called us up and invited us to do so, he got choked up and began to cry. Now, this man has become very dear to my heart, and I see him almost as a father figure in my life. His family said that he never gets choked up or reacts that way, so to see him react that way about me was very tender to me. I blubbered my way through my testimony, expressing my gratitude for being able to serve in this Ward, I actually don't even know what I said haha. But throughout the whole time we were at church we had mobs of people swarm us thanking us with tears in their eyes. I have never had that reaction from so many people and here I was thinking I hadn't done much in this ward because we didn't have "baptisms." One lady that we have reactivated said that we were the reason she came back to church. Melted my heart. THAT made it all worth it. THAT is fulfilling my purpose. We just had person after person tell us how we changed their life and strengthened their testimony. I was so overwhelmed with LOVE and gratitude that I literally did not stop crying all day long. It was probably one of the best days of my mission so far. I have never felt this kind of love or this much love or appreciation in my entire life. And it feels real good :) I am just so grateful that I get to be here on a mission. That Heavenly Father trusts me enough to do His work. Goodness I am lucky!

So I am getting transferred to Moreno Valley. Despite what I just said I am excited to go :) I wanted to serve there sometime so I got my wish! I will be with Sister Staker and my past companion Sister Cho trained her so it should be interesting :) But really I am excited :)

So yes this has been the best Ward I have served in and my favorite area by far. But I knew it would come to an end sometime! They took both Sister Allen and I out (she is going to Menifee back to the first ward she served in!) And they took both the elders out so President Mullen did a clean sweep! He basically did that to the whole mission though. Pretty interesting.

Speaking of interesting.... This man in the parking lot this week.. Probably about 40 years old told me that he would take a chance to be Mormon if he could be my husband......... Hahahaha I died laughing.

Gosh these were great transfers here, but I am ready and excited for new adventures to come. I will know more deets about the area and the comp next week.. But for now that's about it. We stayed up until 1 the past two nights packing and we are still not done, so I am a zombie today. That was not a good idea :) Oh yeah.. I don't have a tumor in my brain :) CT scan was negative!

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. Remember my friend Auzzy? He was serving in Mexico and Chandler told me he just came home early this week because they found out he has testicular cancer and he has a tumor on his lung from the cancer that is making it hard to breathe.. Super scary. We are fasting for him Tuesday so if you want to also that would be awesome.

p.s. 1. Irma and the girls

2. The Leightons (ward mission leader AKA the BOMB) 

We Are Grateful For The Moisture!

Well this week was a pretty crazy one!

So I went to the doctor's on Tuesday to see why I am getting headaches so bad. He told me they were tension headaches because the muscles in my neck and shoulders and everywhere are so tight. He put me on pain pills for when it gets bad and a muscle relaxer to help with my insomnia, which it has helped! It's like a magic pill that puts me right to sleep! But anyways, I got my blood taken so they could test that and the CT scan which took a solid 2 minutes. Piece of cake. But I guess I will find out the results this week. I'm not nervous or anything, but I just want to know what is wrong! And I want it fixed. And I don't want to be stuck on pills the rest of my life haha. Good thing I'm in charge, right? :)

Anyways the first couple days of the week were pretty busy with that stuff, plus our car had a flat tire so we had to go get that changed... Just a lot of random errands we had to do!

It rained all day yesterday and all day Saturday! You would think that people around here never see rain! Oh I guess they don't. But evvverrrrryyyone was bein grateful for the moisture! I couldn't help but laugh every time someone said that in their prayer. Breezy Bre even said it haha. But it was fun to play in the rain. I have quite missed it! I think that's maybe the 5th or 6th time it has rained since I have been in California! (Which is now 14 months.... say whhaaaaat?) 

This week I read some talks on consecration or consecrating ourselves. They were really good talks, but I guess I am really struggling with totally consecrating myself. I mean, how do we do that? How do we totally and completely forget everything about ourselves and submit our will to God. I mean it's really easily said, but do we really do it? And if we do, how? I kinda want some feedback on this because it's really troubling me. It's really hard to consecrate yourself 100%. How do we get over that "natural man" that it talks about in the scriptures? We all slip up and put what we want first sometimes. How do you feel that you have consecrated yourself in the past? I want help people! I want to totally consecrate myself.

I was also reading in Alma 17 about the Sons of Mosiah and their missions. Verse 11 really got to me. It says "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, (or the people of Hemet), the brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." Isn't that great? I feel like that's where I am right now. Exercising patience and long-suffering for this trial to pass. It just gave me so much comfort that the Lord really does know what I am going through. He knows the desires of my heart and that He WILL use me to bring salvation to many people. I feel I have already been so blessed to be able to bring the truth to all my converts. I asked Jasmin (one of the girls we taught and baptized a few months ago) what she wanted to be when she grew up, and she said, "I want to be just like you." Tears ran down my cheeks as I realized a small portion of how much I have helped her and her family. I didn't realize they looked up to me that much, but her words were so powerful to me. I am so grateful that I get to be here on a mission, as hard as it is! It's by far the best thing I have EVER done in my life. It makes my heart hurt to know that I only have 4 months left on this beautiful journey. So I am going to do all I can to totally consecrate and dedicate myself to the Lord and to His work. How lucky are we to have this awesome gospel!?

Transfers are this Saturday and we are hoping that we either stay here in Hemet or stay together! But I guess we will see what happens.

Don't worry about me! Or my headaches! I will be just fine. Whatever the Lord has in store for me will go forth. I am so grateful for all of you and for your love and support. Have a great week and stay safe! Love you all!

Sister Anderson :) 

p.s. Sister Allen fell asleep while she was kneeling at her bed saying her prayers.... hahahaha she started snoring and everything! It was pretty funny :)

When We're Helping We're Happy :)

Another week is gone! Time is going way way way too fast.

So listen. This week was another toughy. Our dumb district leader made us feel like poop and was actually pretty rude so that didn't help... But Sister Allen (Her name is Breanna and she said people always called her Breezy Bre so I started calling her Breezy this week hahaha) and I are truckin' along. She's great. Transfers are … next week? And I hope we stay together :) We'll see though!

This week I had an epiphany of one of the reasons I came on a mission. We helped a less active sister clean her house. Maybe that wasn't the best of my ideas so far.... It turned into a huge project that included the whole Ward. Her house is teeny tiny but had more stuff in it than you could even imagine! I don't think her house had EVER been cleaned. Ever. It was fillllllled with dust and grease and nasty nasty stuff everywhere. We spent one day dejunking everything and then the next day we cleaned and we didn't even get half way done. I literally spent an hour cleaning just the microwave. Super nasty and we were exhausted afterwards but at the end of it we had fun. But I realized I have to do these things so I know what I don't want my life to be like after the mission haha. Yikes man.

I did everything I could to not pull my hair out this week cause I was so frustrated. Appointments cancelling, things not working out, not finding anyone who is interested. This is tough work! And it kinda starts to eat at ya after awhile. It's hard to keep up the faith. It's hard to be motivated. It's hard to trust that this is happening for a reason. We come on missions to teach people the gospel and to see lives change, and when that doesn't happen you start wondering why you are even here, what's the point? But then you realize that this is changing your life. That I am a totally different person than I was 14 months ago. That I have learned more about my Savior and about His Atonement than I ever would have if I didn't come on this beautiful journey. That I have learned how to love people and forgive people and deal with people. I have learned how to be more responsible and how to rely, listen to and recognize the Spirit. I have strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and learned the life skills that I otherwise wouldn't have. I have made multiple lifelong friends and relationships that I would have never found if I stayed home. I have laughed harder than I ever have before and have had the absolute time of my life! When I realize all of that I realize why I am out here. That, oh yeah, the Lord does have a plan for me and, oh yeah, it's different than mine! I realize that I am out here for me. Not sounding selfish but I needed to change myself. In the process I get to help others and teach them the truth, but as a result I am a much stronger person, and that's why it's so worth it :)

I read a talk that has become my favorite. It's "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. I HIGHLY recommend reading it. I think it has truly changed my life and my perspective about things. Take a look at it :)

I love you all and hope you have a good week. You are all in my prayers!

Sister Anderson :)

The Faith Test

Well. This week was an interesting one.

I think Sister Allen and I are losing our minds. Like completely! Sister Allen hit her 1 year mark this week and you would think we got all this under control since we have both been out for a while, right? Wrong. Our minds were shot this week haha. Everything we have said has been off. We kept forgetting our scriptures or the phone or our planners… and in lessons it's like we can't remember anything. Our bodies are acting like they are 80 years old! YIKES.

Things are getting frustrating around here. It gets really old after a while when you don't have anyone to teach. The football boys had to cancel because the member who invited them got in a car crash on the way to pick them up! Dang Satan. People kept canceling or rescheduling and it's so annoyinggggggg. It's hard to keep the faith and trust that Heavenly Father has a purpose for all this. But I still do it. I still do what we are supposed to and trust that we will see miracles. Gosh this mission stuff is tough work, let me tell ya! 

We had interviews with President Mullen……….. Interesting. I don't know how I feel about him yet. He was super fast paced and I didn't feel a whole lot of love from him. I know that he is in a huge transition state but it's hard to switch from President Smart who I ADORED and go to this totally different guy. Things will work out but it's a little difficult.

So we have been meeting with a lady named Denise since the whole time I have been here. She has been inactive for about 20 years and another missionary found her in the parking lot and got her address and since then she has let missionaries come over (that's been within the last year). Anyways, she got cheated on and abandonded by her husband and left with four little chillins so she got burned pretty bad. She is really bitter toward the church and angry with God, but since we have been coming over her heart has been softened completely. So anyways she came to church yesterday! She was walking up to the church and I saw her and my jaw dropped i think to the floor. I was not expecting her to come, but she loved it and she said she is coming next week. That was a testament to me that even though we don't have a ton of investigators, that we are still helping people change their lives and come closer to Jesus Christ. That was a pretty cool miracle yesterday :) 

There is unfortunately not much else to tell this week. Sister Allen and I were talking about our prelife… And we got on the subject of rolling our eyes and I was saying how much of a stinker I was.. WAS being the key word right? ;) But anyways, she said "I think I rolled my eyes at my parents… Once. I wasn't a very good child.." Hahaha I just laughed. That should tell you how completely different we are :) She is seriously an angel. And I'm……not. Haha :) 

Well sorry this is a shorty! Hopefully I'll have loads of miracles to share next week :) Let's all pray for that, yeah? Okay well have a great week and I'll talk to ya later!

Love you!

Sister Anderson

They Call Me Sister...

Another week is GONE! Sheesh time is going way too fast!

 

We got to go to the temple again this week! We are so lucky to do that :) Sister Graves came and picked us up and we went to Café Rio, then the temple! Oh actually at Café Rio I saw a Sister that I was in the MTC with, but got switched to the Redlands mission! So that was kinda fun. Super random but it was good to see her! Café Rio is always so good, but especially when it is accompanied by the temple :) How lucky are we to have that place to go to and to just find solace? Beyond beyond lucky, let me tell ya!

 

This week was a repeat of last week I feel like. Nothing really new happened. The only exciting thing was that we picked up 5 of the community college football players :) And they are all black :) So I am determined to convert the whole MSJC (Mt. San Jacinto College) football team :) You just watch :)

 

It was actually kinda cold this week. It got down to 90 a couple days ago hahaha. And I actually think it rained last night! And it's 75 today so it's super cold. I think I'm going to die when I come home in the middle of winter … Yeah let's not think about that. haha.

 

My headaches were killin' me this week. If ANYBODY has any remedy hit me uuupppp. Cause this is NO BUENO.

 

We taught Relief Society this week.. (blah). It's weird, you would think I'd be used to teaching by now, which I am, but when it's in front of a group it's a lot harder! Haha so missionaries still get nervous :) But it was about the Holy Ghost which I love teaching. I used a talk by Elder Packer called "The Candle of the Lord." It has become one of my favorite talks and I highly recommend reading it! But anyways after our lesson was over, the lady said the closing prayer, but ended in a way that I have neeeever heard before! Hahaha she said "We are grateful for this Sunday that we have had together... aaaand we'll see you next week! Bye!" and sat down. HAHAHA everyone just looked up at each other and you could hear some ladies say "amen...?" Haha it was freaking hilarious. I think I just started laughing. It was seriously the best! Man people are so weird.

 

Oh! Also the news you have all been waiting for... I saw Elder Wesche :) Haha it was super weird! Just weird seeing someone that I grew up with! We talked for a while, he is doing good. He is the same Levi that I have known my whole life!

 

Well that's about it for this week. We need some excitement around here for sure. And for my headaches to stop. That'd be nice. But I still love what I'm doing. It's the greatest!

 

Love you love you love you!

 

Sister Anderson :)

The hardest thing I've ever LOVED to do!

Feliz Quatro de Julio!

 

Man, America is great, right? We went allll out for the 4th of July. Since some missionaries were dumb in the past we couldn't do anything.. We couldn't even do anything with other sisters.. So we had to go home at 6 so we watched 17 Miracles and Ephraim's Rescue. Party hard right? Haha but we dressed for the occasion in our patriotic outfits :)

 

Wow okay. So we met our new mission president, President Mullen....... He's good. He is a lot different than President Smart and I'm trying not to compare him to President Smart but it's kinda hard! He'll have to grow on me for sure. But we just met him as zones, not as a whole mission. The only time we get together as a whole mission is at Christmas time. So he did a mission tour sorta thing and we had a little meeting with him. Interesting :) Haha I guess I'll have more to say about him in the future!

 

Something I thought a lot about this week was the song God Speed the Right. We sang that song multiple times this week and I have found that I love the words!

 

Now to Heaven our prayer ascending, God speed the right;

In a noble cause contending, God speed the right.

Be our zeal in Heav'n recorded, With success on earth rewarded

God speed the right. God speed the right.

 

Be that prayer again repeated, God speed the right;

Ne'er despairing though defeated, God speed the right.

Like the great and good in story, If we fail we fail with glory.

God speed the right. God speed the right.

 

Patient, firm and persevering, God speed the right;

No event nor danger fearing, God speed the right.

Pains, nor toils, not trials heeding, And in heav'ns good time succeeding,

God speed the right. God speed the right.

 

Aren't those great? I just found them super personable right now. Never despairing though defeated: People reject us on the daily but this is the best time of my life! I am by far the happiest that I have ever been, but I don't have any reason to be other than we are being obedient (yes I must have changed if I am being obedient right?) and diligent and making the best of every situation. We had a lesson this week and the boy that said the prayer said "help us to find new ways to improve our righteousness." I thought that was so great! First of all who says that? Haha and second, how brilliant! We have to always be finding ways to do better and to improve ourselves! Sister Allen and I are trying to be 100% obedient. It's really hard but it is so worth it! I have been able to tell a difference already. I am so much happier, even though we don't have a lot going on right now. One member told us at dinner that he thinks the dam is about to break and we will have floods of investigators :) I hope that's true!

 

Life is good. Life is REAL good. I am truly livin' the dream out here. I have 5 months left which is way too short, but they will be the best 5 months of my life, tell you what :)

 

Love you all! Have a great week and GOD SPEED!

 

Sister Anderson :)

Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and WALKED.

Hello errybody!

 

Well it's hotter than blazes over here. And getting hotter! Yay :)

 

So Sister Allen and I have been collecting water bottles and cans for the past month and a half so we can be RICH and get money! So we took them all in this week (we had just under 500 bottles) and got $33.18! Haha we're RICH! Woo! Okay so maybe not, but for missionaries that's rich! So we went and treated ourselves to lunch and still have leftover money :)

 

Also our mission got 6 new cars but no extra miles, so our fleet coordinator called us last week and said that our miles had been cut down, but we were already close to going over our new allotment, sooo we decided to walk this week! Maybe not a great idea, but hey we needed some excitement in our lives. So we walked all week! By the end of the first day we were dead. Our feet hurt so bad that we soaked them in the tub. Then the next day we walked again! We were so sweaty by the time we got to our lessons, but it was good hard work, right? Haha I kept singing "pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked" but I just kept repeating "walked and walked" hahaha. We had people yelling and whistling at us everyday for some reason. We seriously were super sweaty and gross so obviously they didn't see that part! One guy was stopped at a light where we were and he rolled down his window and said "Excuse me! Is it the stars that brought you to me, or is it just my lucky day?" Haha! I just started laughing and we kept walking. People here are crazy.

 

We didn't have any lessons with investigators this week. None. Nada. Danielle who I talked about last week totally flaked. She didn't get back to us all week and we couldn't contact her. So this week we are just going to take her to get a smoothie and just sit down and really get to know her before we shove baptism down her throat. Sometimes as missionaries we get a little too excited and jump the gun a bit. Oops :) But I am pretty positive that she will choose to get baptized in July sometime. She is really shy and timid so we will have to work pretty slow. Other than that we had lessons with less active people. We showed a lot of them the Restoration DVD so we watched that a million times this week. I think I have it memorized by now haha. We had a lesson set up with one kid named Michael but when we went over, his grandma came out who was probably over 100 years old, and she said that Michael can't talk right now because he is making muffins......................... Seriously? I had to hold back from laughing when she said that because it was so ridiculous! I have never heard that excuse but I guess I can add it to the book!

 

My headaches were really bad this week, probably worse than they have been for awhile. But Saturday Sister Allen went to Menifee for a baptism so I stayed here with our Relief Society president and we just visited some people, and she mentioned that her husband was a chiropractor! We had dinner with them that night as well and I told him what was up and he brought out a little table thing and adjusted me right then and there! It was so awesome. He was really good and we are going back today for another one. He worked miracles! Such an answer to prayer because now I can go to him whenever my head is really hurting! Yaaaaay!

 

We are just on the finding grind right now, finding those lost souls who need the gospel! I am determined to make this week the best and we will find tons of people to teach! Haha. Seriously though, we are working hard and having a blast no matter what, so I am HAPPY! Happier than I have ever been. This gospel ROCKS.

 

Stay happy, stay healthy and God bless AMERICA!

 

Love you all :)

 

Sister Anderson :)

I HUGGED PRESIDENT SMART!!!

Okay maybe this was the best week of my mission... Haha it just keeps getting better and better!

Okay I am going to go day by day because I feel like there is so much to say!

Monday: Pday blah blah blah.. But when we went to dinner, they wanted to look up our house on google earth! So they typed in the address (they loved the house) but when they looked, I was standing in the driveway with Phebe! Haha it was so weird to see that but it was really funny!

Tuesday: We had multizones today, our last with President and Sister Smart :( They gave us 10 things to lead a successful life which were basically gold. Everything was really good and theeeen they stood up to give their outgoing testimonies and theeeeeen the tears came. Sister Nelson and I were sitting by each other and crying haha. Then at the end President Smart stood up to give the closing prayer and I just about passed out! I feel like I closed my eyes and tears were just streaming down my face. He gave the most beautiful prayer I have ever heard. That sweet man called upon the powers of God and the keys that he held and blessed us more than anyone ever has. It was precious and priceless and something I will never forget. It was kinda like 3 Nephi when Christ blesses the children but it's too sacred to say exactly what he said. By the end of the prayer I think my whole face was wet, and Nelson and I had to leave to go to the bathroom to make ourselves look somewhat decent. It was embarrassing but that man has seriously changed my life. I will miss them both so much! President and Sister Mullen will be coming on the 30th and then they'll be in charge! Crazy stuff about to happen. But when we were saying goodbye President Smart let us hug him! Yaaaaaay! Mission highlight :) We also got asked to sing for multizones.......... Everyone said it was pretty good :)

Oh also! We had a competition to have the cleanest car.. Yeah guess who won? WE DID :) So we won a $20 gift card for In- n -out :)

Wednesday: Wednesday we didn't do too much because we had to get an oil change for our car.. but while we were there, there was a show on that was trying to find the baby daddies for all these girls who got pregnant super young. Sister Allen and I thought our eyes were bleeding from how ridiculous and awful it was! We were super grateful that we are on a mission right now for how awful the world is!

We also witnessed a huge miracle! We went over to a part member family's home.. They got baptized a year ago and have a sealing date in August, but their 15 year old daughter isn't baptized. So we went over and talked to her.. Long story short SHE doesn't even know why she isn't baptized, she knows everything is true, so we put her on date for the 28th! Yup this Saturday! I am not sure how super solid that is but we will see, miracles happen right? But they already invited us to come back for when they get sealed in August in the San Diego Temple! Boo yah :)

Thursday: We went on exchanges with the STLs so I went to Menifee and Sister Allen stayed here. We ended up teaching this 15 year old atheist all about God and why he doesn't believe in Him. That was a mission first! It was really interesting to hear his point of view. But by the end of the lesson we committed him to pray and ask God if he was real. It was pretty interesting!

Friday: We didn't have annnny appointments and so we went tracting! Yay! The first house we came to said “All u is a stinky fart” written on their driveway with chalk. Of course I was laughing and Sister Allen was shaking her head at me, but he answered and said that we could come back! So who knows about that! Then we were trying to contact someone from a list that bishop gave us, and I accidentally passed the street so I had the brilliant idea to just walk to it! A mile and a half later up a huuuuge hill we found out that house number didn't even exist! So we were extremely sweaty and hot and we finally got back in the car and it said 115 degrees. I thought we were literally going to die! But It was really fun and we made the best of it :)

Saturday: We went to a little Farmers Market on our lunch break and got some cute little mexican bags and as we were walking out a man saw Sister Allen's tag and said “Oh I've heard of that church!” So we started talking to him and Sister Allen asked if he was selling something here and he said that he just made balloons, so he told us to come over and get a ballon from his stand. He gave Sister Allen a flower and me a butterfly. Then we asked what his name was and he said “Sunny Sunshine!” I almost busted up laughing hahaha. People here have the weirdest names but it's so funny! He was really nice though and I guess it could have been worse right?

Then we got transfer calls and Sister Allen and I are both staying here in Hemet :) I am super happy that I get to stay and that I am staying with her!

Last night we texted someone in our ward to tell him he did a good job saying the prayer in sacrament meeting  and he texted back and said "hahaha thanks. you guys are weirdos". Then we realized how strange it was to compliment someone on their prayer and we realized we have been out waaaay too long. So you know you have been on a mission for a while when you start complimenting people on their prayers.... haha!

I guess most of this stuff that I told you is pointless.. But we don't have a whole lot of work to do right now so we are just having a blast trying to find things to do! This transfer we set goals for ourselves and we are determined to make this the most obedient and the best transfer of our missions :) Time is going way too quickly and I hate how little time I have left to be on my mission. It brings tears to my eyes to think that I will see you all again soon, but it brings even more tears thinking that when I come home we will drive straight to the stake president's office to release me and I will have to take my precious nametag off and never put it back on. I love being able to wear the name of Christ every day and being able to represent Him. I love what I am doing and love my calling as a missionary. I love love LOVE it! I love it. It's the best thing I have ever done and I am trying to live it to the fullest.

Sounds like things are going good back at home. Love and miss you all!

Sister Anderson :)