From One Washington to the Other: September 8, 2014

Howdy.

Welp. I'm training a new missionary. I got a phone call last Sunday night that I would be training. One of the assistants tot he president, Elder Ni, called and told me that the Lord has chosen me to train. that's a big phone call to get... I was a little nervous, but after going to the "train the trainers" meeting on Tuesday, I only felt excitement. We were told that we would either make or break this missionary's mission, and we have a huge responsibility to train them how to be exactly obedient. THey told us that after their future spouse and their parents, we would have the biggest impact on this missionary's life. WOW. But I mean, I feel like it's true. I adore my trainer, Sister Hansen!!! She helped me SO much and I will always look up to her! On Thursday we had a meeting separate from the big transfer meeting where they put all the trainers and trainees in the same room. All of us trainers were already sitting there and we just had to wait for the new missioanries to walk in. As soon as they filed in, I knew who I was training. I picked her out the moment I saw her. The way that President Riggs announces who is training who is by calling up the new missionary first to introduce themselves. Then he calls out the trainer. Sister Williams went up and introduced herself and then before calling anyone's name to announce her trainer, he looked off to the side at her and said, "Sister Williams, do you love to laugh?" And as SOON as he said that, I leaped out of my seat and said, "I KNEW IT!!!!" and I ran up and gave her a big hug! hahahahhahahahaa President didn't even call my name! It was a great moment! Later, I asked SIster Williams if I had scared her, and she said, "nope! Honestly I'm glad it wasn't awkwardly silent!" :) :) We're going to have a GREAT transfer together!!! OH GUESS WHAT THE COOLEST PART IS?!?!?! Sister Williams is Jenna Lythgoe's cousin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Small world right? She's from Kimberly, ID and has one older sister, one younger sister and a younger brother. She went to BYUI and played pretty much all of the intermural sports. She's so awesome! It feels like she's training me...literally. She is already so bold and is such an amazing missionary. It will be really cool to see her grow because she's going to be a powerhouse missionary once she gets everything down. It's been interesting to see myself in her as a new missionary. It's made me appreciate my own trainer a WHOLE LOT MORE. Wow. My trainer was SO patient with me. Sister Williams and I are really similar. Our personalities are both really strong and we are both leaders, so we've had a little bit of a clash, but we're working really hard on it. Once we figure out to be completely unified, there will be literally nothing to stop us. I'm really excited!!!!!!!! I'm working hard to be a good trainer. It's difficult for me to step back and let her mess things up so that she can learn from her mistakes, but it's been fun to let her take the lead in teaching situations. I remember how hard it was to be a new missinoary and to just jump into eveyrthing...it's a bit overwhelming. So it's easy to be understanding and loving. :)

Before Sister Lamborn left, we found a lady named Marita. it was one of those miracles stories where she needed us, and we were in the right place at the right time. God literally led us to her. I love it when that happens. :) We went to visit a less active, who didn't answer, so we each chose a house to knock on and Marita's house was the one that I randomly chose! She opened the door and let us right in. She said that she worked for the Marriot family for 10 years raising their horses, and she just adores their family. It was funny to me that she was surprised that I didn't know the entire life history of the Marriots. She said, "you're Mormon aren't you? Why dont' you know more about them?" hahahaha. But Marita explained that she was in desperate need of spiritual nourishment in her life and she's been exploring other churches lately. (Those words are enough to make missiaonries drool with excitement!) We tried to give her a book of mormon, but she's older and can't read the smaller print. So we ordered her a big copy and we're bringing it to her on Tuesday:)

Yesterday was fast Sunday. One way that we can "own" the ward, or help the members to love and trust us, is to get up and bear our testimonies. I told Sister Williams that she had to get up first to set the tone for the entire meeting, and she surprised me by actually doing it! I did NOT bear my testimony the first fast Sunday that I was in the mission! hahahahahaha!! (I really do have a lot of power as a trainer, and that's a scary thought!) But she did so well!!! The spirit was so strong, and every single member that got up after her bore their testimonies about missionary work. My plan worked mwahaha! Don't worry, I like to keep the commitments I give people and I practice what I preach so I bore my testimony too! After church, we got our meal calendar back, and we had more members sign up to feed us than we've had in a while!! I love seeing the immediate results to my missionary efforts!!

I love you all!! Ah! I have to share this with you! Today I was studying Preach My Gospel chapter 2 and right at the beginning of the chapter it says, "For you to grow in the gospel and stay on the path that leads to eternal life, you need to develop a habit of gospel study." That statement is followed by the scripture D&C 131:6 which says, "It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance." Man, that really hit me hard today. It makes me not ever want to miss a single day of scripture study ever again in my entire life!!! But I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father gave us scriptures that are enjoyable to read like the Book of Mormon so that we can study and treasure up the words of eternal life, rather than being out of the loop. Don't be out of God's loop! Keep reading the scriptures every day!!! :)

Have a wonderful week!!! I love you so much!
Love,
Sister Anderson