Julie has a new address....

Sister Julie Anderson

13550 Heathcote Blvd. #121

Gainesville, VA. 20155

She LOVES mail.  Thanks for everyone's love and support.

June 16,2014

CRAZY week!!! Transfers were this week and I am now in the Haymarket Ward. 

Transfer calls came Tuesday night. Well, they usually do. But our district leader somehow forgot to call us (even though we are the only sisters in the entire zone! how does that happen?? oh well. elders. haha) We anxiously waited ALL night for our phone to ring. Finally at 10:29, I decided to call. It's pretty funny. We're asked to be extra polite on the phone and introduce who is speaking before saying anything else. But I was so tired of waiting, I skipped formalities and said, "Alright, who's getting transferred?" hahahaha. It was pretty funny. The elder that picked up was like, "uhhh...can we call you back?" Finally they called back to tell me I was leaving. I guess I need to pray for patience! :) 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with Sister Borden, who's one of our less actives who is returning to church after 20 or so years. We didn't get to see her for about two weeks because she had an emergency and went into the hospital. We wanted to visit her, but her hospital is in in district, so we weren't able to go. :( But we were finally able to visit my last day in the area!!! She had picked up smoking a while ago and just told us that she really wanted to quit. Sister Udall and I already knew that she smoked way before she told us. On May 30, we were studying about how we could help her overcome her addiction and we both strongly felt that we needed to give something up that we were addicted to so that we could relate with her better. The only thing that I'm really addicted to is chocolate. It's something I could never "live without". haha. So both Sister Udall and I committed ourselves to never eating chocolate again for the rest of our lives. Yep. We're crazy! Anyway. We told SIster Borden about it, and she started crying. She was really touched by our sacrifice in her behalf and that we had given her even greater motivation to quit smoking. It was a moment that I will never forget. THe spirit was so strong. 

I love the Centreville 2nd ward. It was harder for me to leave than it was for me to leave my home ward to go on my mission. We stopped by to say goodbye to some of our favorite members, and I was totally a mess. It was so embarrassing. I'm still trying to learn how tears are a good thing. It was really hard because I love everyone so much. 

Transfers were Thursday. President usually reads off the huge long list of who is travelling to which ward and it takes forever. Everytime he said "sister _______" my heart skipped a beat because part of me thought he was reading off my name. Transfers are always stressful. Anyways. My new companion's name is Sister Courtney Lamborn and she is from Bear Lake Utah. First companion from Utah, believe it or not!!! Haha. She's the best. She is SO easy to talk to. She's been out for a little over a year and she is the oldest of four girls. She grew up on a farm, but she's not a cowgirl. She played volleyball, basketball and ran track all four years of high school. She's really easy to work with! Before transfers I prayed that I would be friends with my new companion right away, and my prayer was answered!!! SHe's so much fun! We are going to have a great time here together.

I feel pretty great about where I'm at right now on my mission. I feel great about this ward and I feel confident in myself as a missionary...which usually means that the Lord is going to mix things up a bit and give me some crazy trial to overcome. I'm just grateful that the bed bug trial is over and done with. haha. (And if I were to get them again, I would know exactly what to do to get rid of them this time!) I've also been a lot more confident in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost. I have been more committed to tracting and finding people to teach than ever before on my mission. I made the decision to treat every transfer like it's my last. I'm leaving everything I've got on the court!!! I'm not going to wait to the end of my mission to get serious about this work. It's actually really fun! I used to be really nervous about tracting BIG houses. Some rich people can be intimidating! But I've felt the fear and done it anyway! We haven't found any solid investigators quite yet, but we have some really great potentials who know members of our ward from work who said they'd be willing to meet with us in the near future! WOO!!!! But yeah. I'm leaving everything on the court because you never know what could happen. There have been a lot of missionaries from our mission who have gone home early for unexpected medical reasons. I really don't want anything to happen to me, but just in case something did happen for whatever reason, I want to be able to say that I gave the Lord my ALL up to the very end. And when nothing does go wrong, I'll still be able to say that because it will be true!!

About half of the Haymarket ward members are less active. We spend a lot of time tracking them down. We found a less active part member family who is going to have us over next Saturday morning to do service for them!!! They live on a farm with chickens and sheep and llamas. We're going to rebuild their fence! Can't wait!!! I love it when people take me up on my offers to serve them!

The Haymarket area kind of reminds me of home in that it takes at least 20 minutes to get anywhere and it's really really green. It's almost more green here. Everything is hidden by all the trees and bushes...it's crazy green everywhere! I'm grateful Sister Lamborn has a GPS, because I feel really lost all the time! 

Hm. Nothing crazy exciting has happened yet. I've been crazy bold with people while contacting, and we've seen some small miracles from it. I can't wait for this area to explode! Sister Lamborn and I are GOING to have a baptism this transfer! I can feel it in my bones! OH! We've been getting really specific in our prayers lately and God has been right on top of things. Two nights ago I prayed before our daily planning session and asked taht God would lead us to a place to tract where we would find a man who would be excited to receive his own copy of the Book of Mormon, and who would want to learn more from us! And the next day we felt like we needed to go tracting in the neighborhood of one of our members, and the very first door that we knocked on was a man who rode to work every morning with our member and he was really happy to get the Book of Mormon from us!! Miracle! I'm going to be very exact in all my prayers from now on! 

I love you! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! 

Have a great week!!
Love,

Sister Anderson

June 9, 2014

We've had a great week!

 

Monday we taught our new investigator, Jeff. He's the one who loves his kitties. We went over and followed up with him on whether he had been praying to know that what we've taught him so far is true. He said that he's been praying every night to his dead cat, Mr. Gus and that he hasn't ever had an answer from God. We decided to change our lesson plan and teach him about the importance of praying directly to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. So Jeff LOVES cats. It's almost creepy how much he loves his cats. But his kitties are his only family, so of course he loves them! He's always talking about how he lost his cat, Mr. Gus....and out of nowhere, I was prompted to share my story about how I lost my cat, Stinky, when I was in the third grade. I loved that cat and was devastated when he died!!! By the end of my story, Jeff was tearing up. Poor guy. But I explained to him that talking to Heavenly Father helped me through my cat's death a lot more than praying to my cat. I distinctly remember praying and asking Heavenly Father to take good care of Stinky for me until I was able to take care of him again. Jeff liked that.

 

We also followed up to see if he had read the Book of Mormon since our last lesson. He said that he had read what we assigned him, which was Alma 32, just barely 10 minutes before we came over. At least he read it! We assigned him Enos 1, which is all about how God answers prayers, and committed him to praying directly to Heavenly Father in the name of Christ. He said he'd give it a try.

 

The next time we saw him was Friday night and he told us that he's been praying the way we asked him to, and then he goes on to pray to Mr. Gus...he really likes talking to his kitty! He said that his prayers have been going for at least 15 minutes every night now. We taught him about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how he can receive answers to all of his questions by reading it. At the end we shared Moroni 10:3-5 and asked him to read it. He read aloud the 5th verse, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of all things" and he sat there and thought for a solid minute.

 

So a little background on Jeff. He LOVES to watch TV. That's all he does when he's home from work. He knows every TV show ever made it seems like. It's funny. He especially loves the sci-fi shows.

 

After reading those verses and thinking for a minute, he said that he thought of a show that he used to watch a while back that wasn't on any more. It was about a space ship that went out searching for the source of all truth, and there needed to be 10 volunteers to run it. And there needed to be volunteers because they would be risking their lives. He talked about that for a while and then said that he would be one of those 10 people to volunteer because he really wanted truth. I got all excited and pointed to the book of Mormon saying, "Jeff!! THIS is your ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He let that sink in. He said that he would read at least 5 minutes every single day. :)

 

I asked him what show he was talking about and he said that it was Star Gate. Sweet! I told him my dad used to be addicted to that show and wouldn't let me or my siblings watch anything else. He was like "Yep. Sounds about right."

 

I also told Jeff that my sister's name was Belana. That's all I had to say and he was like, "Oh yeah. Star Trek." He knew the exact season and episodes and everything that had to do with Belana.  hahahahahahahahhahahaha. I know I'm meant to teach this man!

 

We actually saw Donna this week!!! We stopped by on Tuesday and Saturday night! She loves having us come over, but we still haven't been able to get to the bottom of her concerns. Every time we go over to her apartment, there are way too many distractions and it's hard for her to focus enough to feel the spirit. SHE asked us to give her a church tour and she scheduled it (not us this time) for this Friday morning! I'm way excited to get her into the church where she will feel the spirit and there won't be any distractions! I'll let you know how it goes next week!!!!

 

We stopped by and visited with a cute lady from the Philippines who's been in our ward for at least 10 years. She is older and doesn't have a job so all she does all day long is fold paper into little triangles and then put them all together to make animals and shapes. She made both me and Sister Udall swans in our favorite colors. :) I'll send pictures! It's pretty cool.

 

Remember the Greenhalghs? Sister Dorothy Greenhalgh was the one who emailed you the picture of me and Sister Udall with her three girls! Anyway we had a lesson with their family again this week. I love them so much. One of the twins, Abby, said the sweetest prayer at the beginning- she prayed that transfers wouldn't happen because she loves us too much. (oh yeah, transfers are this Thursday by the way) It was just really cute! We talked about the importance of studying the scriptures and committed them to study every single day!!! We shared a really cool story with them from one of the recent Ensign magazines. I'll forward it to you- I love it. Anyway. It's SO important for families to read the scriptures as individuals and as families. That's how we prepare for eternal life together!!!

 

Wow, sorry, this is a long email. I didn't think I'd have much to write this week...but I guess I was wrong! haha

 

We had a REALLY cool miracle this week! There is a woman in the ward who lives in a mansion. Her name is Sister Coury. She gave us a tour of her entire house- it even has secret hiding spots in the walls!!! She has two Hispanic maids that work for her from El Salvador. She's giving both of them a copy of the book of Mormon is Spanish and is always trying to have them sit down for a lesson with us! It's pretty cute. Okay, so Friday we had an appointment at 4pm. We went to the door and knocked before I realized, "Oh no! She asked us not to come this week because she'll be recovering from surgery!!!" So we ran back to our car before anyone saw us. haha! We were going to drive to the library where we could work on our progress record and do some online missionary work, when I decided to look at the phone. We had just barely missed a phone call from Sister Coury. I called her right back and she asked if we were close to her house. We were about five minutes away so I was like, "Yeah, what can we help you with?" She then went on to explain that one of her maids had just lost her brother, who had been battling cancer all his life, from a heart attack. This maid had just talked to her brother on the phone the night before and he sounded great, so this death was really unexpected. The maid's name is Delila. She had to call her mom who lives in El Salvador, and she didn't have the heart to do it because she had just lost her dad the year before and knew this news would hurt her mom. Sister Coury told us that Delila was a MESS and the only thing she could think of that would help was talking to us! We went over immediately!!! We gave Delila a hug and sang her some hymns. We talked about hope and faith in Jesus Christ. We shared our testimonies of the Plan of Salvation and how this isn't the end. We were there for about an hour and a half, and before we left, Delila still looked sad, but her face wasn't red any more and she wasn't crying at all. It was a miracle! We committed her to read the Book of Mormon every day, because that is where she will find true peace. She said she would!!! :) It was amazing to be God's hands in that moment.

 

It was a great week. Transfers are coming up this Thursday. My friend Brother Mercer asked if he could throw me a good bye party. haha! He's such a funny old man! I have no idea if I'm actually leaving or not. But if I am, I'll be sure to send you my new address as soon as I find out!

 

I love you! Have a great week! Whatever you do, read the book of Mormon!!!! I promise, you need the spirit more than you need the time it takes to read it!

 

Love,

Sister Anderson

 

June 2, 2014

Hi!

I can't believe Belana's going to be graduated this Friday!!!! She was beautiful in all the pictures you sent me. Makes me miss choir! I know she'll miss it a lot too. I can't wait to sing with her when we're reunited :)

Good job reading this week! 4 days is SO much better than 0! But of course, there's always room for improvement :) Keep it up!!!!!!! Also, keep an eye out for a letter- I'm going to be sending you something that will help with reading every day!

Okay. I don't know if I've already told you this or not, and maybe it's super missionary of me but I don't care! :) I have a testimony that everything happens for a reason. God is in every detail of our lives.

I am SO happy that Dayle's working so hard to get his Eagle!!!!!!! I'm going to really miss being able to help out! I've always loved helping at Eagle projects. But I know you'll keep me in the loop with all the pictures you send me. You're pretty great at that, Mom! :)

The weather is starting to get really hot. I think the hottest it's been was 90...plus humidity. This summer is going to be a trial of my faith. It's physically challenging for me to MOVE as quickly as I need to when it is really hot and humid out. Honestly, it scares me. but a great member of my ward bought me a water bottle with a icepack, so i'll be set! haha

We haven't seen Donna since she dropped us. We had scheduled a return appointment to help her settle her concerns and let her know that she can still be a godmother, but she missed the appointment. And then we tried stopping by at a time when she is always home, and she didn't answer. I think she feels bad. It's just hard because I have so many things I want to tell her, but when she chooses to not meet with us... she's missing out! :( It makes me really sad. But life goes on!

We have two new investigators and we found both of them through referrals from members.

The first one is Jeff. I can't remember if I've already talked about him or not, but he's great. He is single and in his 40s (the Potomac Mid Singles ward prepared me for lessons with him haha) and he loves his kitties. He is really great. He says that he believes in aliens, but that he wants to have a belief in jesus Christ as his Savior. We're teaching him tonight! :)

Next, the Bishop's 18 year old daughter who reminds me a bit of Belana has a friend named Bria who asked to come over and meet with us!!!!! Can I just say MIRACLE?!?!!!! We taught her the restoration and she really wants to learn more. The Bishop's daughter, Chelsea, is a great member missionary. She gave her friend a Book of Mormon a year ago, and was just casually talking about how her brother is serving a mission right now, and Bria was like, "I want to meet with the missionaries!" out of the blue! I can't wait to teach her again. God has really prepared her to receive and act upon this gospel.

I've loved working with members. You might have seen this on my facebook already, but that's ok. There's a member who LOVES acronyms.

We've come up with
PLAY= Put the Lord Above Yourself
GAME= God Approves My Efforts
WIN= Whatever Is Necessary
LOSS= Left Over Stubborn Sin

Pretty cool. Also, today in my studies, I was reading in 2 Nephi 9. In verse 39 it talks about SMILE= Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal. :)

I love you all! I hope you have a great week and do all that you can to PLAY. :)

Love,
Sister Anderson

May 26, 2014

Hello!

I am sunburnt. There's an older couple in the ward that has a big
garden party every Memorial Day. It's a big ward tradition and they
invited us to come! I decided I wanted to play volleyball with the
youth. I realized that I need to start making sunscreen a part of my
morning routine... Haha oops.

This week had it's ups and downs. Donna was supposed to meet
with us twice, but cancelled both lessons. :( I was so sad. We
rescheduled an appointment for 12pm on Friday. We went to the church
and prepared a church tour for her. We were practicing and planning
for her ALL morning. And then I checked the phone at 11 to see that
she cancelled on us again. :((((( She said she wanted to stay Catholic
so that she could be a Godmother for someone, but that she still
really liked us and loved it when we came over. So we aren't really
sure what we are going to do with her, but hopefully we will be
meeting with her tonight.

Oh, our less active that we see every week, Mercedes, dropped us. She
sent us an email asking us to stop coming over because she never wants
to come back to our church. :( I was so heartbroken that I called her
and asked if we could at least come over one last time so I could say
goodbye. She said we could. I am grateful that she didn't shut me down
because she's become one of my really good friends and I love her!

Rejection and disappointment unfortunately are a big part of
missionary work. But I am not discouraged! :)

We have a new investigator named Jeff. We met him last Monday night
and talked to him through his kitchen window...he didn't want to open
the door because he wasn't dressed or something, awkward. But we set
up a return appointment and when we came back, he had clothes on.
Thank goodness! But he is a character! He doesn't have much of a
social life and so he doesn't really know how to act around us. His
two best friends are his cats, Cali and Bella. He has a cat that died
a few years ago named Gus and he is really upset because of it
still.... He loooooves his kitties... Anyway. He hasn't had a job
since December, and had his very first no interview on Wednesday. He
doesn't have a pretty good relationship with his mom or any of his
three step fathers, so he called us on Thursday to tell us that he got
the job because we were the only people who cared. So sweet and sad at
the same time. I can't wait to teach him again.

Anyway, I can't think of what else to write about. This week was so
crazy and I can't remember what happened! Haha. We are just spending a
lot of time finding and trying to find people who will listen.

Love you all so much. I can't wait to hear back from Belana, Dayle and
Brendan :)  (She sent letters with questions AND a self addressed stamped envelope! She needs mail!)
 Have a great week. Good job reading the Book of Mormon every day!!!!
Keep it up- you're only tapping into a few of the blessings The Lord
has for you! :)

Love,
Sister Anderson
Sent from my iPad

Julie with Clamatis!  Too bad they don't smell!

Julie with another Clamatis.  I don't know where she is!

PDAY!

Sister Udall