Sister McCall Anderson: Doctrine and Covenants 25:12

This week was a goodie!

So if you haven't noticed from my past emails, our work is pretty slow right now. We were sick of driving from house to house and nobody answering. So we thought we needed some fresh air so we decided to go tracting! Yup, knocking from door to door. Old school right? Right. But it was actually super fun!

We switched things up a bit. We would go from house to house, offering a blessing from our Savior, which some people accepted, but most did not. When people would say no, we would just simply ask if we could sing them a song instead! So we would sing the first verse of I am a Child of God. It was actually pretty amazing the change that people had after we would sing. We could feel the Spirit come in and start to testify to these people. After we would sing, they were more receptive to us and what we had to say, so we had the chance to testify to them that God lives and that He loves them and is aware of them. Then we would pray with them. We didn't exactly find any new investigators from this, but we planted seeds! Sheesh, we planted these seeds all over the place this week! I have realized I'm really good at that. Maybe I needed to come on a mission simply to plant seeds haha. But those cases where we were able to do that were those small and simple miracles that I needed. We were able to have 31 lessons this week, mostly from tracting!

Some of these people stuck out in my mind. There was one lady named Gail who let us in because her best friend is Mormon. We sang the song and she just started to cry. After it was over she hugged us and said that we made her day and that we were representing our church well. Even though we may not have a ton of people to teach, moments like that is what make me happy. I knew that we planted that seed into Gail's heart and that somewhere down the road, she will remember that two Mormon missionaries came and sang for her, and she liked it! THAT was a miracle to me.

Also this week was a huge turn around for the Choster and I. We were having our lovely comp inventory, talking about our feelings and all that, and i apologized to her for my stinky attitude the last couple weeks. She was so sweet and forgave me, then stopped and said, "Sister, do you love me?" I paused and said "Of course I do! I am so grateful for you!" She looked at me with tears in her eyes. I hugged her as she cried and felt that guilt and shame come over me, that I had not expressed that fully or enough to her. I realized how selfish I had been and how unChristlike I have been. From that moment I promised myself that I wouldn't act like i have been anymore and this week has been probably the best week I have had with her. It's crazy how much your attitude can change things. I dont have a legit excuse for my stinky attitude, as you know I always have to learn the hard way. But I always learn my lesson, don't I?

We talked to a man this week in the parking lot who said he had just lost his 22 year old son and he was going to the store to buy some beer to hide the pain. We talked to him for almost an hour outside the store, testifying to him of the Plan of Salvation. By the end of our conversation he thanked us, agreed to let us come back over, gave us his information, and then he said "Ya know what? I'm not going to go get beer anymore." And he turned and got in his car and left. I thought that was the coolest thing. The spirit had literally changed his heart and his mind, and saved him from drinking that night. He lives in a different area than where we are, so I dont know what will ever happen to him, but I was so grateful that Heavenly Father led us to him to help him that night.

One last story … we knocked on one man's door and he was probably about 80 years old. He said "Oh girls i dont have time today, I need to get myself a new bladder!" As he said that, he lifted up his shirt to show us his little pee bag fuuuuull of urine. I think i started gagging, especially since he told us he had one in the back for his fecal matter..... Later sister cho asked me what was in that bag because she thought it was liquid to clean out his bladdar or something, and i quickly corrected her and she almost threw up haha. It was disgusting but it was pretty funny! It's so interesting what complete strangers choose to tell us when we meet them.

Well. I absolutely love being a missionary. Times are tough but I wouldn't ask for anything different. I have been able to grow so close to my Heavenly Father and gain such a good relationship with Him and my Savior. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve here in California, especially during the winter months :) Thank you all for your support and love! Packages and letters are always welcome! :)

Love you all!

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. this is what happens when my investigators don't come to church

(matthew and his family didn't come AGAIN)