Wowzers! This week has been crazy. My companion and I have been running around like crazy. We have had so many meetings and it just seems like our days are so packed with so much stuff. I used to think I haven't made a big difference while on my mission but now I think about how it would be nice to have more missionaries here because there are so many people that need to hear the gospel and that makes me realize that I am making a difference. I am also realizing that miracles happen when we are being the best missionaries we can be. If we are following the rules and praying, Miracles Will Happen. Wow, the Spirit is so strong at lessons!
We have been teaching these two young men and they are so amazing. One says he believes what we tell him but that he wants to stay Catholic and the other one is on the way to baptism. He is so amazing. We were teaching him and the Spirit was so strong. He has learned about Joseph Smith before so I asked him to tell me what happened so he said what happened. And he said it almost perfect and then I asked him if he believed it and he said he does. He was like, "its crazy to believe, but I do." and then I told him I believe it too. And the entire lesson was just great. I know the church is true.
We also got to go to a less actives house and teach a lesson and that lesson went really good. And we got to help a member move boxes from her house into a storage unit. And this week we moved apartments. I am no longer in a home but a nice apartment and that is pretty fun. It is on the 3rd floor so I will get some exercise every day.
Also, this P-day has been really fun. We got together with the Elders and ate crabs and I even caught a fish :D
I love you all so much. The Spirit is so strong and I want to be the best missionary I can be. I love yall. Keep being awesome.
Exodus 20:1-17
John 15:16
Love Always,
Sister Anderson
March 21
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Happy Pi Day
Happy Pi Day!
I hope everyone has been having a very great day and I hope yall had a great week.
I have had an awesome week. This week I have gotten to meet some really awesome people and I have gotten to know people better.
I got to touch a squirrel this week, that was pretty cool.
Also, this week I have had some really spiritual experiences. I will only share some of them but this week has honestly been great. I want to share about Christian, Ann, and the Dean family.
I was teaching a 24 year old named Christian and he is a very smart young man. He knows so much about everything and is very understanding of everything we teach him. He doesn't know if what we are teaching him is true but he understands it all. He is very fun to teach because he has a lot of very knowledgeable questions. We got to teach him about the plan of salvation and he absorbs all of the information. It is really nice to teach him because we can teach him at a very fast pace.
Another person we taught this week was Ann. She is a member and she was at church and in the gospel principles class we were learning about prophets. She had many questions and we could not cover every question she had. We went to her house after church and tried to teach her in a way that she would understand. We werent sure exactly what we would say so we said a prayer and I knew that I needed to try to teach her the way Jesus often taught, using stories. I told multiple stories and parables to answer her different questions. It made me feel so good when she said "OH! See how simple that is? Why couldn't the gospel principles teacher just say that?" It was amazing and made me so happy that she was understanding more of the gospel.
We also taught the Dean family this week. We tracted into a man and taught him the restoration. Then we came back and taught the family the restoration. This setting was different because it was a mom and 3 kids ranging from like 18 to 9. We couldn't really focus our teachings on one age group because there were so many different ages so we taught the Restoration story and bore our testimony of the experience Joseph Smith had. It was the coolest thing because we couldn't talk to each person individually but the Spirit could. The Spirit was so strong in that home.
I feel like I have learned so much this week. I have learned that we need to know our stuff, we need to study because we will have people like Christian who have really hard good questions and we need to know scripture references. We need to use our personal study time to find out answers to hard questions. Go to the scriptures with questions.
I learned from Ann that we need to listen to the Spirit when we are teaching. We dont always know how a person learns, but the Spirit knows. We need to try to teach in ways people will learn.
And from the Dean family I learned that if we invite the Spirit into lessons that He will be the teacher. And that the Spirit can touch anyone's heart. It has been a good week. I know the church is true. I am so thankful that I can continue to read and pray and learn and teach. I love yall so much.
Love,
Sister Anderson
March 14
I hope everyone has been having a very great day and I hope yall had a great week.
I have had an awesome week. This week I have gotten to meet some really awesome people and I have gotten to know people better.
I got to touch a squirrel this week, that was pretty cool.
Also, this week I have had some really spiritual experiences. I will only share some of them but this week has honestly been great. I want to share about Christian, Ann, and the Dean family.
I was teaching a 24 year old named Christian and he is a very smart young man. He knows so much about everything and is very understanding of everything we teach him. He doesn't know if what we are teaching him is true but he understands it all. He is very fun to teach because he has a lot of very knowledgeable questions. We got to teach him about the plan of salvation and he absorbs all of the information. It is really nice to teach him because we can teach him at a very fast pace.
Another person we taught this week was Ann. She is a member and she was at church and in the gospel principles class we were learning about prophets. She had many questions and we could not cover every question she had. We went to her house after church and tried to teach her in a way that she would understand. We werent sure exactly what we would say so we said a prayer and I knew that I needed to try to teach her the way Jesus often taught, using stories. I told multiple stories and parables to answer her different questions. It made me feel so good when she said "OH! See how simple that is? Why couldn't the gospel principles teacher just say that?" It was amazing and made me so happy that she was understanding more of the gospel.
We also taught the Dean family this week. We tracted into a man and taught him the restoration. Then we came back and taught the family the restoration. This setting was different because it was a mom and 3 kids ranging from like 18 to 9. We couldn't really focus our teachings on one age group because there were so many different ages so we taught the Restoration story and bore our testimony of the experience Joseph Smith had. It was the coolest thing because we couldn't talk to each person individually but the Spirit could. The Spirit was so strong in that home.
I feel like I have learned so much this week. I have learned that we need to know our stuff, we need to study because we will have people like Christian who have really hard good questions and we need to know scripture references. We need to use our personal study time to find out answers to hard questions. Go to the scriptures with questions.
I learned from Ann that we need to listen to the Spirit when we are teaching. We dont always know how a person learns, but the Spirit knows. We need to try to teach in ways people will learn.
And from the Dean family I learned that if we invite the Spirit into lessons that He will be the teacher. And that the Spirit can touch anyone's heart. It has been a good week. I know the church is true. I am so thankful that I can continue to read and pray and learn and teach. I love yall so much.
Love,
Sister Anderson
March 14
March 7
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Mar 7
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This week has been amazing. My companion, Sister Bradshaw, told me that she had never worked so hard on her mission to receive such small numbers. That tells me that the church is true! We were told in the last Zone Conference that being a missionary would get harder, like that planning will take longer and will be more meaningful and will take more mental strength. Even though it is harder, we were told that the numbers would decrease. Sadly, our numbers did decrease. We didn't do as much tracting and we did not get as many other lessons. Sadly, no investigator was at church. Yet, we have the Spirit with us. We know that we must continue to work are hardest and be exactly obedient. I am excited for the days to come. We have been waking up on time every morning and following the missionary schedule and that helps me know that we are doing all that we can. And when we tract and people aren't interested in the gospel we ask for referrals, ask if they are interested in family history, or ask if they need any service. I love being a missionary. I love following the Spirit. One of my favorite songs is "I believe in Christ" I do believe in Christ. I not only believe in Christ but I believe Christ. I believe that His ways are greater than my ways. I believe that I need to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and that is how I receive success and receive the feeling that I have done all that I can do.
I have been giving people the commitments and that is fun because that means I get to promise them blessings too. We are here to teach repentance and baptize converts and giving people commitments is how people repent, change. So that is pretty cool.
On Tuesday (3/1/16) I got to be super close to a squirrel. A new member caught a baby squirrel and had it inside his house and it was sooo cute! I wanted to touch it but if it bites it can apparently do serious damage. So I didn't touch it. It was cool that he caught the squirrel on Tuesday because I caught a lizard that morning. I was exercising in the morning and saw a lizard on the wall!! So I climbed onto the washing machine and caught the lizard! Then we let her go because we decided we didn't want to have to catch crickets for it. It would have been cool to have a pet though.
On Wednesday (3/2/16) We went and did service for a family in the ward. It was pretty fun. We raked and it was good. We got to meet the family and kids. After we raked they took us out to Golden Dragon and while we were there I ate fish eggs and frog legs. The frog legs were green and just looked like a frogs legs. That was kind of gross. I took a bite and didn't eat any more than that.
On Thursday (3/3/16) We gave a less active family cookies. They haven't really been the nicest to us so we were unsure but thought, "what the hey, why not." so we gave them cookies.
Friday (3/4/16), we ate dinner at 10pm. That is how you know you are a missionary :P we had a really busy day and that is good :D haha, it was hard but so good.
On Saturday (3/5/16) we were going to a woman's house and we got stuck behind a train. We were there for a long time, like 30 minutes! The train had stopped on the tracks and there was no other way to get to her home besides going completely around the train which would have taken longer that 30 minutes because the way the roads were. Anyways, we waited there (eating our packed lunches) and then we finally got to go. The train came at an amazing time. We were needing to eat lunch somewhere AND on the other side of the train there was an accident. We could have been right were that accident was if it wasnt for that train. I honestly did the math and we should have been right there coming home from our appointment but instead it happened right after we passed. That sounds confusing but it was such a miracle. Anyways, we were happy. And then we went to Texas Road House with a family and it was super yummy and the Spirit was so strong even though we were at a restaurant. We got to know them and got to let them know they are loved.
On Sunday (3/6/16) we had a mission wide fast for missionary work. It was Awesome. I bore my testimony and I really felt the Spirit during the sacrament. I am so thankful that I can partake of the sacrament every week. I really need that and am so thankful for the Atonement. The church is true :) I am so thankful for the gospel. I am so thankful for the Atonement and the Resurrection. I love yall so much. Keep striving to be like Jesus Christ.
On Tuesday (3/1/16) I got to be super close to a squirrel. A new member caught a baby squirrel and had it inside his house and it was sooo cute! I wanted to touch it but if it bites it can apparently do serious damage. So I didn't touch it. It was cool that he caught the squirrel on Tuesday because I caught a lizard that morning. I was exercising in the morning and saw a lizard on the wall!! So I climbed onto the washing machine and caught the lizard! Then we let her go because we decided we didn't want to have to catch crickets for it. It would have been cool to have a pet though.
On Wednesday (3/2/16) We went and did service for a family in the ward. It was pretty fun. We raked and it was good. We got to meet the family and kids. After we raked they took us out to Golden Dragon and while we were there I ate fish eggs and frog legs. The frog legs were green and just looked like a frogs legs. That was kind of gross. I took a bite and didn't eat any more than that.
On Thursday (3/3/16) We gave a less active family cookies. They haven't really been the nicest to us so we were unsure but thought, "what the hey, why not." so we gave them cookies.
Friday (3/4/16), we ate dinner at 10pm. That is how you know you are a missionary :P we had a really busy day and that is good :D haha, it was hard but so good.
On Saturday (3/5/16) we were going to a woman's house and we got stuck behind a train. We were there for a long time, like 30 minutes! The train had stopped on the tracks and there was no other way to get to her home besides going completely around the train which would have taken longer that 30 minutes because the way the roads were. Anyways, we waited there (eating our packed lunches) and then we finally got to go. The train came at an amazing time. We were needing to eat lunch somewhere AND on the other side of the train there was an accident. We could have been right were that accident was if it wasnt for that train. I honestly did the math and we should have been right there coming home from our appointment but instead it happened right after we passed. That sounds confusing but it was such a miracle. Anyways, we were happy. And then we went to Texas Road House with a family and it was super yummy and the Spirit was so strong even though we were at a restaurant. We got to know them and got to let them know they are loved.
On Sunday (3/6/16) we had a mission wide fast for missionary work. It was Awesome. I bore my testimony and I really felt the Spirit during the sacrament. I am so thankful that I can partake of the sacrament every week. I really need that and am so thankful for the Atonement. The church is true :) I am so thankful for the gospel. I am so thankful for the Atonement and the Resurrection. I love yall so much. Keep striving to be like Jesus Christ.
You Gotta Have Fun
Feb. 29
If you look really close you can see my uvula! From left to right thats Sister Uffens (Sister Training Leader) Sister Ali-Savery (Sister Training Leader) Sister Anderson (Sister in my zone) and Me :D
Leap Year!
| February 29 |
Feb 29
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Happy Leap Year Day!
Is that a thing? Maybe, I'm not sure. Anyways, I hope yall are doing amazing and that you are loving this year. I get to be a missionary for 2016 and it gets to be an extra long year! :DDD
This week has been so great. On Monday I just cleaned and did the normal missionary stuff because P-day would be on Tuesday instead of Monday. Then on Tuesday we drove to a church kind of far away (Gulf Port) and spent P-day there. I said good bye to Sister Nash and then hung out at the church. We drove to get some food and while we were driving it started to rain like crazy. I had never driven in rain like that and it had been like 8 weeks. So that was kind of scary but we prayed at we were safe. Then we got back to the church and we checked the weather and it was supposed to be really bad and everyone that we had appointments with canceled because of the weather. Then my companion got to the church and we had to drive home. It is about an hour drive and by that time the rain had gotten really bad. Not only had I never driven in rain like that but I had never seen rain like that. We had to get home and so we kept driving. I thought about pulling over and maybe even spending the night in the car because neither of us knew what was happening. I decided to pray and less than a minute after I prayed the rain eased. It was still raining but I no longer felt like I was driving underwater. And I got to know Sister Bradshaw. She is very nice and I love being the "leader" because I have been here longer so I get to say which people we get to go and see and that is fun.
On Wednesday (2/24/16) we got to have a lesson with a man named Christian. He had a lot of questions about where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here. It was awesome. We got to teach him the plan of salvation and the lesson helped me realize how hand in hand the bible and the book of Mormon and doctrine and covenants are. I also tutored a young woman in the ward and it was super fun teaching her math. I honestly really enjoyed doing math. The education here is kind of sad and it makes me realize how important education really is.
On Thursday (2/25/16) I taught a lesson to an active member of the church who was feeding us dinner. The lesson was on prophets and I got to tell her the importance of gaining a testimony for herself about prophets. I could tell her until I am blue in the face that I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God but that it wouldn't mean anything to her until she prayed about it and gained that testimony for herself. Missionaries really are just facilitators for the Spirit.
On Friday (2/26/16) I talked to Trinity, one of our progressing investigators and we talked to her even more about baptism. She has been wanting to be baptized and she said her mom finally said she could be, she had to ask twice. And that is so exciting. I love Trinity so much. She is such a sweet heart. She still has a lot to learn about the gospel but she is just amazing. I also got a letter from a friend and it said, "Do as a cross country star... Hit the ground running." That is like my motto now :)
On Saturday we taught a man named Ken and he told us that he had lots of Mormon friends and that he was wondering about their religion but he never really asked. I wonder how many of my friends wondered but never asked. I bet people see us and wonder why we do what we do. We should just tell them.
Sunday was amazing. Church is always amazing. We taught the gospel principles class and I played piano for primary. I love partaking of the sacrament. Church is such a personal thing and I love that. I love yall so much and I hope everyone has a great week. Keep being awesome.
This is Sister Nash, Nina, and I. She was baptized a couple weeks ago and we are now teaching her the new member lessons. She is amazing. I love her so much! :D
Is that a thing? Maybe, I'm not sure. Anyways, I hope yall are doing amazing and that you are loving this year. I get to be a missionary for 2016 and it gets to be an extra long year! :DDD
This week has been so great. On Monday I just cleaned and did the normal missionary stuff because P-day would be on Tuesday instead of Monday. Then on Tuesday we drove to a church kind of far away (Gulf Port) and spent P-day there. I said good bye to Sister Nash and then hung out at the church. We drove to get some food and while we were driving it started to rain like crazy. I had never driven in rain like that and it had been like 8 weeks. So that was kind of scary but we prayed at we were safe. Then we got back to the church and we checked the weather and it was supposed to be really bad and everyone that we had appointments with canceled because of the weather. Then my companion got to the church and we had to drive home. It is about an hour drive and by that time the rain had gotten really bad. Not only had I never driven in rain like that but I had never seen rain like that. We had to get home and so we kept driving. I thought about pulling over and maybe even spending the night in the car because neither of us knew what was happening. I decided to pray and less than a minute after I prayed the rain eased. It was still raining but I no longer felt like I was driving underwater. And I got to know Sister Bradshaw. She is very nice and I love being the "leader" because I have been here longer so I get to say which people we get to go and see and that is fun.
On Wednesday (2/24/16) we got to have a lesson with a man named Christian. He had a lot of questions about where we came from, where we are going, and why we are here. It was awesome. We got to teach him the plan of salvation and the lesson helped me realize how hand in hand the bible and the book of Mormon and doctrine and covenants are. I also tutored a young woman in the ward and it was super fun teaching her math. I honestly really enjoyed doing math. The education here is kind of sad and it makes me realize how important education really is.
On Thursday (2/25/16) I taught a lesson to an active member of the church who was feeding us dinner. The lesson was on prophets and I got to tell her the importance of gaining a testimony for herself about prophets. I could tell her until I am blue in the face that I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God but that it wouldn't mean anything to her until she prayed about it and gained that testimony for herself. Missionaries really are just facilitators for the Spirit.
On Friday (2/26/16) I talked to Trinity, one of our progressing investigators and we talked to her even more about baptism. She has been wanting to be baptized and she said her mom finally said she could be, she had to ask twice. And that is so exciting. I love Trinity so much. She is such a sweet heart. She still has a lot to learn about the gospel but she is just amazing. I also got a letter from a friend and it said, "Do as a cross country star... Hit the ground running." That is like my motto now :)
On Saturday we taught a man named Ken and he told us that he had lots of Mormon friends and that he was wondering about their religion but he never really asked. I wonder how many of my friends wondered but never asked. I bet people see us and wonder why we do what we do. We should just tell them.
Sunday was amazing. Church is always amazing. We taught the gospel principles class and I played piano for primary. I love partaking of the sacrament. Church is such a personal thing and I love that. I love yall so much and I hope everyone has a great week. Keep being awesome.
This is Sister Nash, Nina, and I. She was baptized a couple weeks ago and we are now teaching her the new member lessons. She is amazing. I love her so much! :D
Hello!!!
February 23
This week has been really great. Kind of crazy but so much fun.
On Monday (2/15/16) I went to a members house and she was asking so many questions. It was cool because she was a member and she still had lots and lots of questions. It made me think about how we are all still learning. If we could learn all the gospel then we wouldn't be able to learn and the plan of salvation is all about learning and progressing. Which is really cool! Prophets say that they are still learning, that makes me know that I can continue to learn and that means I don't have to know everything to be a good missionary.
On Tuesday(2/16/16) We played with a girl who has a baptismal date but she can no longer meet her baptismal date of March 5th. So we will have to continue getting to know her. She likes the lessons but she isn't really progressing which is always hard. And it seems like her mother does not want her to be baptized. But it wouldn't be good for her to be baptized if her mother did not really want it or wouldn't be supportive. She is only 12 but she is so nice. We played four square with her and her friends.
On Wednesday (2/17/16) Me&Nash were walking and she said, "Be yourself" so I started dancing while walking and then she said, "just don't do that." so then I started walking again. That was kind of sad but I kept smiling. I think she doesn't want to be embarrassed which is whatever. I am going to get a new companion today so maybe my new companion will be a little fun loving :D
On Thursday (2/18/16), we went to a recent converts house. She was baptized only a couple weeks ago so it was really cool to still have lessons with her. I also made a potato, corn, asparagus casserole. That was pretty delicious. Haha. I randomly cook meals and then I randomly just eat PB&Js. I guess it depends on how much time I have to eat. We are supposed to have an hour to eat but sometimes we get busy. Sharing the gospel is so amazing. And I am taking over the area this transfer and that makes me really excited. It makes me want to focus on the Lord's work even more.
Friday (2/19/16) was so awesome. A miracle happened. We went to Trinity's house (the 12 year old girl) and she wasn't there. We were pretty sad that we couldn't see her,we were really wanting to. So we prayed and asked what we should do. Sister Nash decided to drive around the neighborhood (which we never do because we have limited miles) but that is what we did and then we found her. She was just hanging out with her friends outside. That was so cool. The church is true.
Saturday I found out that I get to take over the area and that Sister Nash is leaving. I am really excited for that.
Then on Sunday one of the new converts came to church with a broken arm. She wanted to be at church (She is sooo beyond amazing!) and she came even though her arm was broken! A nurse from the ward looked at it and said it was probably broken. So someone from the ward took her to the hospital and it was in fact broken :( I hope everything goes well. She is the only source of income for her and her husband and she really needs to be able to work. It is just so hard. People here are so humble and it is so hard to see. I love everyone here so much. I know the church is true. I am so thankful for the atonement. The atonement is central to the gospel and central to everything we teach. I know the atonement really did take place because I have used the healing and comforting power of the atonement.
I love yall soooo much. Yall are so amazing and never forget that. Continue to teach people and love people. Love everyone you meet. See them as Jesus sees them. Not as sinners but as people who have the potential to be a King. Children of God. I love you.
Love Always,
Sister Anderson
Happy Valentine's Day
On Feb 15, 2016 10:58 AM, "Kaitlin Anderson" <anderson.kaitlin@myldsmail.
This week has been so great. I have learned so much and I am so thankful that this gospel can't be learned all at once because I honestly love that I can continue to learn and grow in the gospel. How boring would it be to just say, "I know everything I can know sit here and experience no more of life" how terrible would that be? Super terrible.
Wednesday was amazing. There is a family who has two little girls. These little girls love my long hair and I think it is the cutest thing. They will run up to me and hug me and scream "Elsa" and it is adorable. One of them gave me a Mardi Gras mask and the other one gave me a Valentine's card. They are just so sweet. We are preparing their parents to go to the temple. I am so excited about them going to the temple. They want to be sealed and live with each other for time and all eternity. It is so cute. I am just so excited for that family.
Thursday was an amazing day. We were looking for Less Active members and we got to talk to so many people! So first we were looking for a woman and we knocked on her door and asked her if she was the Sister we were looking for. She told us she was not but we decided to get to know her anyways. She was super nice and she has been looking for a church. She wasnt sure what she believed in and wanted to know what religion to go to. She almost started crying and told us to come back when she wasnt sick. I am really excited for her. After talking with her we went to a less actives house and she let us right in. She said she still had a testimony but worked on sundays. She then said that her 15 year old son wasnt a member and that we could come back and teach him and that is really exciting. Then later that day we knocked on a woman's door and asked if it was the less active. She said it wasnt but asked us if we already had a dinner appointment, we said no, so she let us in and we had chicken nuggets. She told us that she used to be a member but that she wasnt interested. So we ate and just talked about work and her kids. It was really fun and she had peacock colored hair, I am getting lots of ideas for when I go home ;)
On Friday we were knocking on doors and a woman asked us about our believes and so we told her about the church but it is really hard to sum up the entire religion on the door step. So we told her about the restoration and she didnt care about that and wanted to hear about God, makes sense :) So we told her more about that and then we left her with a restoration pamphlet. We then walked away and before we could knock on the next houses door I looked at my companion and she said, "I should have given her a plan of salvation pamphlet." so I said, "Lets go" I dont think my companion loved the idea but it went so good. I am so glad we went back and when we went back she let us inside her house. It was great. Also, my companion got a Q-tip stuck in her ear, like some of the fuzz. Which was kind of funny but painful for her so I felt bad.
On Saturday we went to a doctor for Sister Nash's ear. It would have been easy to go home after going to the doctor and it would have just been easy to not work as hard this week because Sister Nash's ear and she was sick and it was just kind of a hard week. But we know that Satan works hard when something great is about to happen. So we kept working hard. And we met a man on the street and he wasnt interested so we kept knocking on doors and we knocked on his door (like an hour and a half after we just talked to him) we could have easily been like, welp, he isnt interested, but we tried again and this time he listened and asked questions and it was so great. God works in mysterious ways and we need to keep working hard with people and see people as God sees them.
Sunday was Valentine's day :) It was so great focusing on love. I learned three things in church.
1. you cant pray away someones agency. Agency is a person's second best gift from God. The first is only our bodies. We wouldnt pray for someone to lose their body.
2. would we be excited if Eve moved in next door? I would be. remember that next time a murderers mother moves in. Remember that we are responsible for our actions and that everyone sins.
3. Doctrine and Covenants 89 is revelation from God. Verses 3-4.
I love yall soooo much and I am loving my mission sooo much. Stay strong and always remember that God loves you.
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