Boring week

Hello hello!

Yay another slow week!.....

Things are rough here. We are on the hunt to find people to teach everyday and so far we have no success... We are going through our part member families list and the Do Not Contact list (those are always fun). Everyone and their dog here is sick, pretty yucky.

Sister Cho and I are getting along, hallelujiah. She keeps me in line and I loosen her up :) Haha we really do balance out pretty nicely so i am very grateful that she is my comp! We had interviews with President Smart this week which was nice. He is so inspired. He always knows how to calm nerves or just reassure me that I am doing good and that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. But yeah Sister Cho is a huge blessing. We aren't like best friends but we at least get along and that's all I can ask for!

I was sick Monday and Tuesday and we are just super struggling trying to find people to teach, so we didn't have very many lessons this week. Bummer..

I'm seriously struggling with finding things to say this week... PRETTY LAME!

I read a talk this week about the spirit world called The Spirit World, Our Next Home. You should all read it. It answered a lot of my questions about it and gave me the reassurance that that is the truth. It was a really neat talk!

I know that even though the work is really slow right now, I am here for a reason. I have spent many hours on my knees making sure that this is where i need to be right now, when sometimes it feels like I am not making a difference. And I know that I am. I know that the Lord needs me here either to strengthen my faith or to find those lost souls who are searching for truth. I do have the faith that they are out there and that I will be lead to them. I am so glad that I have this chance to serve and to be here in California (especially when its 90 in January and you are all freezing at home!)

Thanks for all your support and prayers. I can definitely feel them and they are greatly appreciated. I love you all!

Sister Anderson

p.s. Here are some pictures of me and sister cho. the others are of sister graves and her cute daughter laura!

Back to square one.

Well hi!

This week has seemed foreverrrr long.

So I am in Corona and part of Norco.. Pretty good area. Norco is literally horsetown USA hahaha I will take pictures later, but there are horse paths instead of sidewalks, and horse xing signs everywhere.. its a hoot! Corona is good though :)

  

Sister Cho is a good comp. She is 21 and from South Korea. She has been out a month longer than me, so she is the senior comp and this is the first time that either of us have been in a normal companionship when we are not training or being trained! So it is an adjustment for both of us. The first time she saw me she said she thought her new companion was Barbie! Ha yikes. She is super sweet and really really REALLY obedient, like to a T. To the point where there is no fun.. So I will have to loosen her up a bit and show her how to be obedient and have fun.. I think this transfer will be pretty interesting.... Haha but we will see!

We live in a homeshare again.. she is super nice, her daughter is on a mission right now as well. We also live next door to this bomb family, the Graves. They are seriously a blessing. They have a daughter that is Liza's age and I told her when I am home I will introduce them and they will be friends forever. They have little twinnies that are 2 and they hadn't learned my name yet.. and I was telling them my name was Anderson.. Then I would ask them what my name was and everytime they would say "Barbie!" Hahaha so now all their little girls (they have 5) call me Barbie! Brother and Sister Graves are a little younger than mom and dad but everyone would love them! I can't wait for you all to meet them :)

This area is kind of dead right now. We have one investigator who is 10.. but thats it. So back to square one for me! Yay... Heavenly Father must think I need to improve my finding skills or something.. apparently I haven't learned that lesson yet! I threw out the idea of doing the missionary week here and I think its gonna happen. Not sure when, but that should liven things up a bit here. I am not okay with having another dry spell like last time! I want people to teach!

I finally caught this ugly cold that has been going around. I have a nasty cough right now, and I have been dizzy and my headaches are back... So the past two days have been blaaaaaah. But I am sick of laying around.. I want to be out doing things, just hopefully my body will agree with me!

I think thats about it....

Oh yeah, Sister Martin (our homeshare) went out of town this weekend.. She has two dogs, Molly and Sabrina. We were sitting in our room a couple days ago while we were studying, and Sabrina comes in and THROWS UP everywhere. It was so so so sick. It was like this mountain of throw up and I was gagging and Sister Cho was screaming! Haha she was a trooper and cleaned it up, because I would have thrown up haha. But it was so nasty!

Okay, yup that's it :)

I'm hoping Sister Cho and I get along. It will deffinitely be interesting... And sorry, I'll send pictures next week!

Have a great week!

Sister Anderson

Have miracles ceased? I say unto you, NAY.

Holy crazy week!

First of all. I'm being transferred! I am going to Temescal Valley in the Auberndale ward. I think it's like South Corona? Not really sure. But my new companion is Sister Cho from South Korea :) She has been out as long as I have! I haven't actually met her yet... So I will send pictures next week :)

Liz and Isaiah were baptized last night!!!! Goodness what a miracle :) It was so exciting. That ordinance is so quick and simple, yet has so much meaning and significance to it. It's pretty incredible really. That simply going under water and coming back out is so essential to your salvation! I am so glad that I was able to be a part of it and to feel of the Spirit that was there. I just love doing what I am doing right now :)

This week we also reached the Standard of Excellence (20 lessons, 7 member presents, 4 at church and 7\7 oyms). We for some reason had never gotten it so I was really happy that we did! It was a really busy week but it was a great note to end on! We picked up 4 new investigators as well.. So I was really sad to leave since we just got the ball rolling, but we found out there would be two new elders in the ward and all the new investigators we just picked up are all in their area. So Sister Greenwood is stressing out a bit, but she'll be fine. I am really excited that I get to move. I think we would have strangled each other if we went another 6 weeks. She was sick of me and I was sick of her and obviously the Lord knew that and I am grateful that he separated us!

This week was pretty much too good for words. I just have been able to see the blessings of faith be poured down and I am so grateful for that. This transfer has strengthened me and built me up higher. I have really learned how to trust the Lord and to totally rely on Him. I think sometimes we let pride get in the way, and we either think we can handle things on our own, or sometimes we just forget that He can do all things and that He is so willing to help us. I know that He does want to help us and He is just waiting for us to ask Him. Ask and ye shall receive :) I am so grateful for that knowledge and how blessed are we that the One Supreme Being is so willing to help us be better!

Well...... Okay. I was doing my personal study one morning and the phone rang. Elder King, our fleet coordinator, called and said he had bad news. He said that he had a picture of me running a red light at this certain intersection that has cameras. He asked if I remembered it and I didn't.. But he said that even going to court for these cases are a waste because they have picture proof of it so it's hard to plead your case. He said that in the state of California these tickets are $503. My jaw literally dropped and I didn't know what to say. I was on the verge of tears. He was like "So can you take care of it? I can send you the ticket or you can come pick it up." Again I didn't say anything. All that was running through my head was that I was so screwed! Then he goes "Oh, one more thing. This is a prank, courtesy of Sister Jenkins." I FREAKED OUT. Hahahaha I was screaming and laughing and crying all at once. It was pretty good. She got me back for sure haha. But then a couple days later she asked me to get something out of the closet for her, so I went and opened it and there was a cardboard cutout of Edward Cullen from Twilight hahahah. It freaked me out and I screamed so loud! It was pretty good. So we have had fun putting Eddie in different places around the apartment :) We called it good since we both made each other cry from pranks hahaha :)

Well I think that's about it for this week. I will have more to write next week in my new area! I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you bunches.

Sister Anderson

p.s. The pictures are of Liz and Isaiah's baptism. Isaiah usually has a huuuuuge afro but he pulled it back for the baptism. But also the dogs.. This was the biggest dog i have ever seen and you think Charlie sheds a lot? HA its hair was everywhere... pretty sick. and then the sunsets this week were crazy pretty. it looked like the sky was on fire!

p.s.s. I talked to someone this week who told me to tell Jesus hi for him hahaha.

... And a happy New Year!

So.. This week was BOMB. Goodness it was such a good week!

We started off with New Years! It was absolutely nothing like new years in the past. We did nothing hahaha. We still had to go to bed at 10:30.. Except Jenkins and I stayed up talking about our New Years resolutions.. then we fell asleep but we set an alarm for midnight so when it went off all we did was get mad that we woke ourselves up! Haha there were fireworks and stuff outside though so that was fun. But regardless, I am so excited for this new year! I realized that this will be the only year of my LIFE that i will be totally 100% dedicated to the Lord. Pretty sweet huh?

New Years Day was a mission wide deep cleaning day, thank goodness. Sister Greenwood is so messy so I am glad we got to clean everything up! Then we went and hiked Mt. Rubidoux which was really fun. I don't know the historical significance behind it but it had a big cross at the top and part of a castle.. but it was a good hike and we had a blast! 

Liz is doing awesome. We taught her all the commandments this week and she agreed to keeping all of them, which was an answer to our prayers. At the beginning of the week, she was still really hesitant about Joseph Smith and basically about being baptized.. But after we taught her and testified to her, something changed. We went on Saturday and she said that she got her answer and that she wanted to be baptized for sure. She told us that for years she had prayed that she would find true friends and a church to go to and she finally feels that she has. She finally feels like she belongs and she has that peace in her life. It was such a spiritual lesson. Both Sister Greenwood and I and Liz feel like we were lead to each other for a reason, she needed us and we definitely needed her. She has been such a blessing in my life and i am so grateful that i have been able to see the Spirit really work in her. Not sure what scripture it is, but there is one that says you don't receive a witness until after the trial of your faith. I definitely KNOW that is true. I was thinking of how difficult it has been the past few months and how I haven't really had much success. But I put my trust in the Lord and did my best and now i am being blessed beyond measure. It really is such a miracle. I know that when you give everything you have to the Lord and put full trust in Him, He will ALWAYS provide and keep his end of the deal, and how grateful i am for that!

Sunday, in gospel principles, we were talking about talents. The teacher asked if anyone had any experiences about how someone else's talent has blessed their life. Lisa, Liz, Anthony and a less active sister that we teach all said how mine and Sister Greenwood's talents of teaching the gospel has blessed their life and how they would all be lost if we had not come into their life. I have NEVER thought of me being a missionary and teaching people as a talent. I was so shocked to hear that! I was in tears as they were telling everyone how grateful they were for us. I just feel so blessed to be here and to be able to bring this truth of the gospel to people's lives. I am honored that the Lord trusts me enough with His precious children to bring them back to Him.

Okay enough of that haha. The prank this week was PRICELESS. We went to a members home to visit them, and they have a pet tarantula (probably the size of a tennis ball). It's disgusting. And its name is Molly hahaha. Anyway they were talking about how when it grows it molts, or sheds its skin.. So.... I politely asked if I could take the skin home (which was still in the shape of a spider) and they let me! Hahahaha I am laughing just writing about this. Oh my gosh. Okay. So we get home and put this tarantula skin in Jenkins' bathtub.... and we told Sister Fia and Sister Todd about it so they wouldn't freak out.. So we were just waiting for her to go in the bathroom and she finally did.... and I kid you not you would have thought someone was getting murdered. She screamed SO loud and for probably 5 minutes hahahaha. She started crying too and had to go in the closet to calm down and i thought that was the end of our friendship... haha I really was worried that she would never talk to me again. But after like 5 minutes she came out laughing and was just saying "game on Anderson! Game on." She told me how much respect she has for me and that she is going to get me back so good :) That was probably the greatest prank I have ever pulled haha.

We also put almonds under the toilet seat, so when you sit down, the almonds break and it sounds like the toilet breaks. It's pretty classic haha.  I can't wait to come home and do all these to you guys!

That pretty much sums up this week. I am happier than ever and i love being here on a mission! Something Sister Greenwood and I are starting is personal progress again! We got books from our YW leader and we are going to do it all again :) Hopefully i get more out of it this time than i did last time :)

I hope you all have a good safe week! I love you all and pray for you every day! Hug hug kees kees :)

Sister Anderson

p.s. the pictures are all of Mt Rubidoux. Mostly of me, jenkins and fia. And on December 31st at the end of the day our odometer was at 2014 and i thought it was pretty cool! That's for you dad :) Oh and i took pictures of the spider in the tub too :)

p.s.s. Everyone has told me that i keep talking in my sleep.. but i am not just talking.. i am teaching lessons! Apparently I have taughy the law of chastity and i taught the restoration last night in my sleep! Funny huh?