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 :)