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 :)

The Hemet Crazies

Hoooola mis amigos!

 

This week was actually pretty boring. Seriously every lesson we had with an investigator or a potential investigator either cancelled or didn't answer when we went. Super frustrating. Super depressing.

 

So Sister Allen and I decided we are going to start doing "surveys" when we talk to people. She actually had to speak in Sacrament meeting so we started asking people in the parking lot what they thought the purpose of this life was. We got some pretty interesting responses! A lot of people actually said that they are here to serve others and to serve God. But a lot of people also said that they have no idea why they are here! It was a pretty cool experience because we were able to tell them why we are here and help them understand it more. Again we didn't find any investigators from that, but I think we are going to do it again this week with another question and see what happens :) It always amazes me though, as we are talking to people, that they choose to start to tell us their whole life story right in the middle of the parking lot. I'm a complete stranger, yet they tell me everything about their family and about their past and all this stuff that I really dont need to know.. But people have done that over and over and over again to me. People are so strange. A man in our ward calls us Elderettes instead of sisters and another calls us sister elders. Why is is so hard to say sister missionaries!? Sister Allen and I are good. She snores like a man at night, but hey that's the fun of it right? Transfers are this saturday however! So we'll see what happens with those!

 

We taught Sister Allen's grandma, Evalyn, this week. We went over with the intention to teach her the Restoration. Sister Allen was doing most of the teaching, and we got to the Book of Mormon and she just began to cry. The Spirit was definitely in the room as she was bearing testimony of that book. Evalyn listened, then brought up the Priesthood and how she doesn't believe that it was ever lost. She was talking about all these things against the church, and poor Sister Allen cried the whole time. I felt so bad for her, to have to listen to her grandma who she loves so much say all these things about the church and all this false doctrine. It was even hard for me to listen to. Our RS president was with us and she asked if she had been baptized, and Evalyn said that she had never thought of that, that she didn't think Jesus told us anywhere that we had to be baptized. I, of course, turned right to John 3:5 as they were talking where it clearly states that we need to be baptized in order to enter into God's Kindgdom. When she finished talking she said "Sister Anderson do you have anything to say?" I paused. Looked at my scriptures and was going to share the scripture with her, and I clearly got a prompting not to. The Spirit just said "don't share it." So I didn't, and I just shared with her my testimony and we ended it with that. I thought that was interesting. The next day, Sister Allen got a letter from her grandma saying that she wouldn't be able to join our church now, but that she has permission to do the baptism for her after she has passed away. I thought it was so sad, that she clearly felt the Spirit and knew that what we were teaching was true, but couldn't accept it. Again I was grateful for my knowledge of the truth!

 

Since we don't have very many people to teach right now, we have been asking our ward members for referrals. 99% of them say "I don't know any nonmembers" or "I never leave the house so I don't know anyone." Well. I am sick and tired of getting that response! In this last conference, President Monson quoted President Kimball in saying, "We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters." SO. Since we as missionaries have to get 10 OYMs everyday, we are starting to commit our members to do the same. We have started challenging them to get 5 in a week. Talk to 5 people. That's it. It's as easy as doing it in the grocery line, or while getting gas. There are people all around us who NEED the gospel. Sister Allen and I were talking about the 2nd coming, and how the scriptures say that Christ will not come again until every person has heard the gospel. Now. I have talked to a lot of people on my mission. But I have not nearly talked to everyone I have seen. There are so many people who need the gospel, and guess who's job it is to teach them? That's right-- YOU AND ME baby. Christ is read to come! He is just waiting on us to do our part! And I don't want to have to stand at the judgement bar and explain why I didn't talk to people about the gospel. Let's get down to business and teach! So I challenge all of you as well to talk to at least 5 people this week about church. About eternal families. About anything about the gospel! If I can do it, you can do it!

 

Love you all and have a beautiful week sharing the gospel!

 

Elderette Anderson :)

Nothin but the BEST

WOAH what a freakin' week!

Well first of all.. 1 YEAR! So crazy right? I honestly can't believe that it has been a year since I have see all of you! This has by far been the fastest year of my life. 6 more months then I am donezo. Yikes. But lucky for me I got a real nice 1 year surprise! We went to Dickey's for dinner with Efren and Zenny and the Encarnacions showed up! Haha I was giving Zenny a hug and all of a sudden someone was hugging me from behind and I thought "who the heck is hugging me?!" So I turned and looked and it was Byron! I don't remember what I said/did but I think I was just saying "oh my heck oh my heck!" over and over and trying to hold back tears. Rocky hugged me and Kimi and Jay came out of the restaraunt just laughing. It was so GREAT. Such a great surprise and such a fun night! We cancelled our last appointment and just hung out with them the whole night. It was a blast. I seriously went home and was on cloud 9. Sister Allen thought it was pretty fun too so that was good! I had a feeling the night before that they were going to show up, and I told Sister Allen "I don't know what to do if they really are there!" So it was funny that they actually were! It's good too because they don't make me homesick or anything because they don't remind me of home! They remind me of California! So everything is allll good :) 

Also something super cool: Sister Allen's grandma lives here in Hemet! She is not a member so Sister Allen never thought she would get transferred here, but she did so we went to see her this week! She is letting us come back to "practice" the lessons on her. She actually came to church with us yesterday also! I don't know what will happen, or how big of a desire she has to change (she goes to the Presbyterian church) but we are praying hard that the Spirit will touch her and she will have a change of heart!

Speaking of change of heart.... MIGHTY change of heart! I got to go back to Corona on Saturday for Skyler Segura's baptism. What a freaking miracle. I walked in and saw her, and she ran up and gave me a huuuge hug and we both started crying. She was so happy to see me and I was so happy to see her! There is a song that says "The most wonderful sound I've ever heard, is the sound of water running in the church. As the one I've grown to love got dressed in white, my eyes saw their first glimpse of heavens light." It was such a blessing to be able to see how Skyler's heart had changed. She was SO happy and knew that she was making the right choice. For one of the first time's on my mission, I KNEW that she was one of the people that I was sent here to find. Her and her family will be a part of my life and have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. Words actually honestly can't describe the joy I felt as I saw her go under the water because I knew how much her life had just changed. I am so incredibly lucky to be here and to have experiences like this :)

Sister Allen and I are getting along great. This week we made a MEGABED!! Hahaha we were so tired one night that we were laying on the ground and didn't want to get up, then I had the brilliant idea to bring our mattresses to the living room and make a MEGABED! So we all of a sudden had the energy to pull our mattresses off our bunkbed into the living room and have a sleepover in the living room :) We actually ended up jumping on them and staying up until 11:30... oops. But it was really fun and they have been out there ever since!

This was honestly the best week of my entire mission. We had so much fun and I was able to see so many miracles happen. I am so blessed and honored to be here! I know my time is short, I only have 6 months left, but I am ready to make them the best 6 months of my whole life. Life is dang good!

Hope you all have a good week! Miss and love you all!

Sister Anderson :)

Scripture POWER

Hola errybody.

Life is goooood in the hooood!

Hemet is a freaking blast. It's getting real hot though but what's better than sweaty sister missionaries?

Anyways...... Okay yup. Things are good. Paula is comin' along nicely. She is on date for the 21st of this month.. But she smokes and drinks.. Well she turns 21 in July and wanted to get baptized after her 21st birthday so she can go party... Yeah doesn't exactly work like that sweetheart! She's cool though and I think she will be able to make that date.

We had dinner with a less active lady who is only 66 but wears depends and has health problems.. And her whole house smells like poop.. And we had to change her bed that she had crapped in. She said "this is where I made my poo poo." Haha talk about NASTY! (Grandma and grandpa-- Don't ever do that.)

We helped someone do "service" this week.. Someone from the YSA ward called and asked if we could come help her pack because she is moving.. So we got in our Pday clothes and went over and literally all we did was fold clothes and put them in one suitcase. It took a total of 15 minutes? Sometimes people abuse the whole "call us if you ever need anything" phrase. Like really?

Okay with Leo.. I think I've talked about him a couple times.. He needs to get dunked ASAP. He smokes and tried to quit a month ago and lasted a week and a half.. So I wrote out a contract and made him sign it saying he would be done smoking today! Haha I'm sick of people giving me excuses so I'm just making everyone sign a contract :)

Okay I guess I can put some spirituality into this letter.. We had our monthly zone meeting and our focus this month is on the Book of Mormon. We talked about how to use that better with our investigators. I was thinking about it, and how freaking lucky are we to have the Book of Mormon! I think that is something that we, especially being in the church our whole lives, have taken for granted. We talked about asking our investigators "What would it mean to you if the Book of Mormon was true?" and "How do you know that it is true?" We were role playing with some elders (woah scandalous right?) and one of them said to read the Book of Mormon until you feel the Spirit, then stop, kneel down, and pray and ask if what you are reading is true. I thought that was brilliant! I think that is solid advice for all of us! So DO IT! We are commanded to read the scriptures daily, and I have gained a strong testimony of doing so. I KNOW that is helps us be happier, and more worry free. I KNOW that the words that the prophets speak of in the book are true! I KNOW because I have prayed and asked, and I have gotten a clear, simple feeling that the book is true. At the end of our zone meeting, we were in the chapel, and all of us missionaries (about 20) knelt down, and prayed. GOSH there is something so powerful about that. The Spirit was so strong as we were praying and I was just overwhelmed with gratitude that I am here on a mission. I am grateful that the Lord trusts me enough to do His work with His help and grateful for the way that my mission has completely changed my life.

This is truly the BEST 18 months! ;) I am so glad that I made the decision to come out here and to go on a mission. As we have been teaching lessons to people, members and nonmembers, even though I have taught them a million times, I am still learning new things about them and about the gospel. We are seeing miracles happen every day! God is so great :)

I hope you all have a freakin fantastic week! Love you mucho!

Sister Anderson :)

p.s. What do you call two people from Mexico playing basketball?

       Juan on Juan!

HAHAHAHA