9 months holllllla

Family:

 

This week seemed like foreeverrrr long!

 

However.. It turned out to be quite alright!

 

Some of this letter might seem a little dejavu..ish.. If thats a word. I feel like I have been going through the same things that I did in Eastvale with Pyper! Yikes, right? Well we went on exchanges this week with the STLs. I went with Sister Tucker, she is super cool. We got along great and she gave me some pretty solid advice. I realized, like I said last week, that my attitude was awful and I needed to change it. I did my best to do that this week and to completely focus on the work. And I did. Brother Minton took up a lot of my time this week. We had a lesson with him on Friday, and it was going to be a little ultimatum lesson. We talked about reading Mark 10 with him. Mark 10 tells the story of the rich man who asks Christ what to do to gain eternal life. Christ tells him to sell his things and follow Him. The man puts his possessions before Christ and walks away. So we asked Brother Minton if that was what he was going to do, or if he would put his worldly things aside, drinking, and follow Christ. It was a pretty spiritual lesson. Before we went over we prayed and fasted and prayed and fasted for this lesson because we were pretty anxious about it. We prayed that his heart would be softened and that we would say the right things and that a miracle would happen. Well.. It didn't happen. Brother Minton's response was that he already is following Jesus Christ. He is doing everything he needs to be doing and he doesnt need to stop drinking. He said that he doesnt believe that Christ cares if we drink alcohol or not and that we just need to be good people. We were SUPER disappointed. This lesson was a huge step of faith for me, and i completely believed that a miracle would happen with this stubborn man. And in all reality he just became more stubborn. I was torn. We got in the car and I just started crying. (I have become a huge softy. Even bigger than I was before!) I was so upset that he didn't want to believe what we were saying, and I honestly felt a little betrayed that Heavenly Father didn't have my back. I was thinking that since I prayed and fasted that everything would work out. Sometimes we think that right? All we have to do is have faith and things will work the way we want them to. Well.. Wrong. I wish it worked like that! But over the rest of the week I just realized and accepted that the Lord's will is going to go forth no matter what we do. We are given these trials of faith to strengthen us and to draw us closer to the Lord, and we can decide to do that, or to turn the other way and be offended or lose that faith. This trial made me grateful for the faith that I do have, and that even though Brother Minton is denying the gospel right now, that could change in the future. But we did everything in our power, and now we can stand blameless before God. Anyways, it helped me a lot and brought me to many hours on my knees this week, which I am grateful for.

 

Anyway.. back to my flashback with Pyper.. We went on exchanges and the advice that Sister Tucker gave me was similar to the advice I got when I was struggling with Sister Pyper. So I had to do another change of heart and mind and kind of start over with Sister Cho. We are completely starting over in our area this week, so I thought it would be a good time to start over with her. This is cheesy but we had to force it, we got pieces of paper and wrote questions on them, so when we dont have anything to talk about, we pull out a question and talk about that. That has forced us to talk more and to get to know each other better, which I am grateful for. I realized that missionary work is so so SO hard and companions that you dont get along with make it even harder, and I want to make this as easy as possible. So I am not letting anything get on my nerves, and I am going to act myself and laugh and force a smile until it comes natural.

 

President Smart emailed me this week and said that the Lord loves and trusts me and that I am doing great work in my area and with the people that I am serving. That was so simple but that helped so much just to know that he know that Heavenly Father trusts me. Side note: President leaves in June and I'll probably cry like a little baby.

 

Well. I am ready to work hard this week. I am so sick of not having anyone to teach, so if nothing else that will motivate me! You'll see, by next week we will have a whole new teaching pool. PLEASE pray for us to find those people. There is a beautiful power in prayer.

 

Thanks for all your support and love. I love you all very much!

 

Sister Anderson

 

p.s. 9 months? Half way done! These pictures we took are to die for haha. Missons do weird things to you.. The other picture is a little girl who wears a "future missionary" badge to school everyday and she wanted a picture with us. Cutest thing.