March 2, 2015

Hey!

We had a pretty good week!

Just to clarify- I only have one companion, Sister Savage. We are just around Sister Gray a lot...and she's one of my very bestest friends because we were roommates at the beginning of our missions! She's hilarious and thinks a lot like I do about a lot of things.

Let's see.. Last monday was sis sav's bday. And I was super lame because I was all stressed out about my scholarship essays. So we're celebrating her bday today!! But last Monday evening we had a lesson with a family from the ward. They made us bananas foster and put real RUM in it! hahaha. they made sure to burn out the alcohol. I got it on video-it's pretty cool. Since Sis Sav is now 21, I made her pose with the little rum bottle. haha.

Tuesday I got a blessing from my district leader because I was still pretty stressed about life and it helped SO much. In the blessing I was told to just say a simple prayer whenever I'm not feeling motivated, or if I'm distracted and then I'd be able to immediately get my mind back into the work! And I've definitely seen that work! It's so cool. But just know that all my stress about coming home is gone! After I submitted my scholarship essays it felt like a huge burden was lifted, knowing that I wouldn' thave to worry about school again until I get home. Thank goodness!

We had a lesson with a recent convert who was baptized back in October and then has been less active. Her name is Claudia and is super sweet. She's from Peru, but speaks enough english where she can understand us just fine. SHe has been super stressed because she's going through a hard custody battle with her ex husband :( she ahs three boys ages 11, 7, and 5. The two younger boys were being really loud and distracting during the lesson and I could tell it was stressing claudia out. I tried to include them into the lesson, but they weren't having it. So I got on the floor and started playing uno with them! The only rule was that we had to whisper so Claudia could feel the spirit. It was so much fun! hahahaha. I've really reflected on my mission and have been trying to see which of my talents the Lord has used to help with the people I teach, and I definitely know that He's used my talent and love of playing with kids in every area!

Wednesday we had a whole mission conference. A member of the 70 came and a member from the missionary department came. They told us what was goign to be happening in the near future concerning iPads and FB use. They said that they will be taking away our iPads that we currently have adn then giving us new ones. They will also be giving a ton of training on how to use the ipads more effectively. The missionaries who are going to still be in the field on August 23rd have to pay for their ipads and will be able to take them home when they're done with their missions! How cool? We'll be getting our new ipads this upcoming thursday. I learned that since i'm going home at the end of this transfer, they're not going to give me a new ipad to use. :( Sad! So i'm learning how to use a paper planner again! haha. They're also taking away our FB privileges for the time being and we won't get it back until we have been properly trained on how to use it. So pretty much, I'm done with FB for the rest of my mission! Oh well! haha.

I made sure to get in one last skype lesson with Erica before they said we couldn't use it any more. We're going to be scripture study buddies when I get home :)

Friday we were invited to the Blue and Gold banquet. We just stayed for the first part when they had dinner. It was pretty fun. Definitely not the same. They didn't even have blue and yellow jello! It was wrong. hahaha :)

We only had one hour of hcurch yesterday. We had sacrament meeting adn then they cancelled the rest because the weather had gotten pretty bad. It was really icy! We weren't allowed to drive anywhere yesterday, so we walked everywhere. We fasted during the day and were planning on having dinner with a potential investigator that we had met two weeks before. We called and confirmed with her the day before and she said that she would be waiting for us at 6! A member dropped us off adn we went to knock on the door...her roommate opened the door and said taht she wasn't home!!! :O WHAT. We had been fasting ALL DAY and then our DINNER appointment flaked on us?! I thought I was going to die. hhahahaha. Oh man. We didn't have our car so we couldn't just drive home...and we couldn't buy anything to eat because it was Sunday... so we just started working and talking to as many people as we could. The miracle of the day was just that I was distracted from my hunger! haha. We made contact and had a stop-by lesson with a less active that we'd been rying to get ahold of, and then we decided to walk to another apartment complex where our investigator lives...it turned out to be a lot farther away than we thought. Walking around sure does make me appreciate the elders that don't have a car... since it was so icy out, it felt like we were ice skating all night. The sidewalks weren't cleared very well and there was about a centimeter of freezing rain that had covered everything! Sis Sav and I started playing what I call the "grateful game" where we just take turns saying out loud things that we're grateful for. It feels obnoxious at first, but it really helped make our night fun! We actually talked to a TON of people on foot and we had a really productive night. At 9 we were too far away from home, so we called a member to give us a ride. We came home and ate a TON of food! hahahahaha. It was definitely a night I'll never forget.

Things are going really well! The fact that I come home so soon is really motivating for me to push myself and work extra hard, and we're seeing miracles from it! I know that this is the Lord's work, and I'm so grateful He's allowed me to be a part of

I love you!
Sister Anderson