March 17, 2014 - Weak Things Can Become Strong, I guess

This was a pretty good week. Again it was kinda slow for my liking, but we made a lot of progress.

 

My goodness, I'm learning so much about myself. Every single meeting that we have has been specifically for me and the things I'm struggling with. Not that I have huge struggles and problems or anything, but ya know. Growing pains. I know I'll be grateful for them when all is said and done. But going through them right now just hurts. As you all already know from your own experiences.

 

Our only investigator right now, Donna, is so sweet. We stopped by her house and taught her about Joseph Smith, and she just soaked it all up! She has these big blue eyes and she never breaks eye contact when we are teaching her! We invited her to come to a new member fireside that our mission puts on and she said she wanted to come! BUT last minute she had to back out because she was taking care of her neighbor's five year old. She's just so hard to get ahold of!!! But the lord will work everything out, I just know it! He loves her, and if he wants her to have blessings of this gospel at this point in her life, he will make it happen. :)

 

I love Centreville 2nd ward. So much. I love the families and all the kids and I just love everyone so much. The ward mission leader is the greatest! He is always asking how he can help us, I mean, last week he made me take off my shoes to shine them for me! Haha! He is giving us names of former investigators to go check on and he is so supportive. I couldn't ask for a better leader.

 

About my companion, we are doing well. This has been the hardest six weeks of my mission. The entire time I kept thinking to myself about how she is NOT humble at ALL. And she HAS to do things her way. Buuuuuuuut as it turns out, I've been the exact same way. We've spent hours on end talking about it and trying to fix it, but it wasn't until yesterday that our conversation was actually effective. We spent all day after stake conference just talking. And I cried, so you of all people (and dad haha) that the conversation was actually getting somewhere. I have no idea what will happen for transfers this Thursday, except for the fact that I know I'm staying here, but I'm just really sad that it took all transfer for me and Sister McKee to really get along. I'm really, really sad it had to be that way. I know that if we had gotten along a lot sooner, we might have seen a ton more miracles. This transfer has been really dry in terms of our teaching pool. And now I know why. My mission has been the most humbling experience of my life. I always felt like I was the one putting in all the effort in this companionship and that she wasn't doing anything. But I really wasn't doing enough. Yikes. This is something I know I'll learn and re-learn over and over again, but at least I have this experience to live by. I really hope Sister McKee and I have another transfer together so that we can put our newly found trust and unity to good use. It's all up to the Lord at this point, because I can see it going either way.

 

Sister McKee and I talked about the scripture in Ether 12:27. As a side note, I think it's kinda funny that I chose that verse to be the one on my missionary plaque. Haha. I just chose a random scripture because I know they needed one in order to hang it up on the wall... But even six months into my mission, it really has become a personal theme.

 

Ether 12:37 

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

 

Especially since being on my mission, I'm doing my best to be exactly obedient in keeping ALL of God's commandments. I'm not letting myself pick and choose, but I'm keeping all of them to the very best of my ability. I'm trying so hard to not give into those excuses I make for myself, that everyone has. And by doing so, I'm truly coming closer to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn, but to show how applicable this scripture has become in my life. The very first line of the scripture says that if men come unto Christ, he will show them their weaknesses. And as I've come unto Him, he's made a TON of my weaknesses known to me. I'm sure my weaknesses were known to everyone else, especially those in my family... but now I can see. Just like in the song, Amazing Grace, I was blind but now I see. It's not easy to have all my weaknesses thrown at me in such a short period of time. Haha- Sister McKee and I were talking, and we decided that there needs to be a fine print at the bottom of this verse that says PROCEED WITH CAUTION; WEAKNESSES HURT. A LOT. I'm learning how to be okay with the weaknesses I have as I work to overcome them. Like I said before, this has been the most humbling experience of my life. But if I take the medicine with a spoonful of sugar, The Lord WILL make all these things work out for my good! It's like working out my spiritual muscles- and right now I'm super sore! But I'm glad it hurts because it means I'm on my way to become more like Christ.

 

Anyway, enough of my sermon. hahaha! Sister McKee and I are doing really well. We are understanding each other and serving each other. I'm laughing again :) And things are just so much better! I was able to say "I love you" and really feel like I meant it.

 

So it snowed. Again. It always seems to snow on Preparation days. Haha. But today I have another chance to redeem myself for being lazy on the last time it snowed on pday. God is so good! Second chances are real! Haha.

 

I love you all! Sorry I don' thave too many stories this week, but that's because the Lord has used this time to break me down a little so that he could build me up even stronger. So I know that great miracles are on their way!

Have a great week!

Love

Sister Anderson

Sister Anderson with her St. Patrick's Day package. Brendan helped me pick out her goodies!  Whoohoo!  Had to include some green frogs!  Ha ha!

April 13, 2014 - Sorry, these are late

OK everyone, so I have to admit that I thought I was keeping Julie's blog up to date pretty well.  Come to find out I am a month behind!!!!  I am sorry that I have slacked!  I am back on it and there will be more to come.  Please forgive me and enjoy her letters.  Thanks!

March 10, 2014

This week was a tough one! It started out painfully slow. Monday we had a huge snow storm and were stuck inside. Mondays are Preparation days. So I could have used the time to clean the apartment, or organized my desk, or something to help prepare for the week. But no. I'm embarrassed to say that I sat around and did almost nothing. And oh my goodness. I do not know how I did that before my mission. It was literally painful to not be doing anything! Right then and there, I made a promise with myself and with Heavenly Father that I will NEVER be bored again. Ever. Even after my mission. No, especially after my mission. Time is so short. It comes and it goes. If we don't do anything with it, we are out of luck. In Alma 34:32 it says For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. Can I get an AMEN?! Oh my gosh. I will NEVER be lazy ever again. In Relief Society we had a lesson from the Joseph F Smith booklet. The lesson was about Faith and Repentance. There was a quote in there that said something about how procrastination is the thief of eternal life. That statement just hit me! In my past life, I was the queen of procrastination! But now that I've learned so much about my Father in Heaven, I don't want anything to stand in the way of my returning back to Him! I feel so strongly about this. (Ha. Mom and Dad- as you're reading this you're probably thinking, "FINALLY! It only took her going on a mission to learn that!" Well, yep. It really did take me going on a mission to learn it... But thanks for doing all you could to try to teach me that when I was at home. Using your time wisely is a good habit to be in. I'm sorry I never really listened before!)

 

So the first few days after that, I was making up for not doing what I should have with my time on Monday. And it hurt. I kinda felt like I was being punished for it! We FOUR lessons all right in a row on Tuesday after our missionary meetings, and every single one of them fell through. Yeah, that kinda hurt. I was so excited for each lesson, and made sure to practice teach and study up for each one! And then, nothing. Everyone decided that they had better things to do than meet with us. I mean, it's okay. Everyone has agency, and the world doesn't revolve around me, but it was still tough. I took it as Heavenly Father telling me that I really shouldn't have wasted my time. Since then, I have repented! Godly sorrow is a good thing- I will make sure I NEVER do it again!

 

Wednesday we had our technology training and were given our iPads! Pretty exciting stuff! I'm so excited to use mine to help move the work forward in my area! Not to worry, there are no games and only apps that are useful to our purpose as missionaries. We have our entire area book and planner in one app and can sync info to our companions! It's awesome. I love not having to carry around so many books with me all the time! I just have my iPad. :) Right after our tech training, we had to go all the way out to Sterling to get the tires changed on our car. I guess they were really bald or something and our vehicle coordinator at the mission office was freaking out. So we went to a place called Fire Stone Tires, left our car and went to a place with wifi. We found a frozen yogurt place a few stores over. As we were walking there, we passed a radio shack. I had a thought to look in to see how much a keyboard would be for my new iPad. I grabbed the first one I saw and asked the man working to check the price for me. I went back to looking around and about five minutes later, he came up to me and said, "yeah, this item is no longer in our inventory. So you can have it for free!" My jaw dropped. The other keyboards I was looking at were about 50 bucks. And he just gave this one to me for free. Talk about miracles!!! I was so grateful. Haha- I wanted to make sure it wasn't a joke, so I offered to buy something, or sign a piece of paper that said that I wasn't stealing..hahaha! But it was for real! I got a free keyboard! Oh my. It's been such a blessing- we have to type up every record that we've ever taken on every person we've taught and it's gone so much faster because of the keyboard! 

 

We've been working with a lot of less active members and they are all doing great. Oh! Thursday night, our appointment fell through and I felt like we needed to see Donna, one of our investigators that we haven't been able to get a hold of in a while. We dropped by her house and she was home! We ended up talking to her for a while. She is in her 50's, divorced, has two daughters who are 21 and 22. She is currently living in her aunt and uncle's place, renting out a room. She took her 22 year old neighbor and her 5 year old son under her wing because she got kicked out of her boyfriend's place. Donna is the sweetest, most loving person I know. She says that she has been reading the Book of Mormon when she's at work. Oh my gosh I love her to pieces! We were on our way out and she said, "Wait! We have to pray!" She likes to pray all holding hands in a circle. We sat there for a second waiting for someone to volunteer for the prayer. I thought Donna'd ask me or Sister McKee to say it, but instead she looked up at us with eager eyes and asked if she could say it. It was one of the sweetest prayers I have ever heard in my life. It was so simple. By the time she had finished, she looked up at us with big eyes and said, "did I do it right?!" I smiled so big my cheeks hurt and said that she did great! She reminded me of an innocent little kid that was looking for their parents approval. It was one of the sweeter moments I've had on my mission. Donna has been so prepared for this message of the restored gospel! I love her! Pray for her to find time to meet with us! The gospel will do her SO much good!

 

The week started out hard, but it ended really well. :) Heavenly Father is the perfect tutor, and He's teaching me all that I need to know to improve myself and turn my weaknesses into strengths. He sure does love me, that much I know. And He loves all of His children! He spoils us with blessings, and yet, we still ask for more. He's a good father and I love him! 

 

I love you all! 

Sister Anderson

Sister Anderson and Alexis

Sister Hansen and Sister Anderson - she gave no names for these two but they look nice!

Sister Anderson and Sister Gawthrop. She's wearing a Star Trek dress. She thinks it's awesome my sister's name is Belana! :) Sister Gawthrop also knitted me a hat with matching gloves to keep warm when it snows.



My ward mission leader, Brother Stark, polished my shoes for me yesterday after our correlation meeting! He said that he refused to let his missionaries walk around with dull looking shoes! Ha ha!!! 

March 3, 2014 - Sister Anderson has a BLOG!!

This is from Sister Anderson's FaceBook Page!  Look out world!

Woo! The Washington DC South mission now has iPads! Not only will I be able to further my missionary efforts through Facebook, but I'll be able to teach people via Skype! The Lord has given us great tools to help further His work! If you have any questions as to what Mormons are all about, just let me know! 

Missionaries using iPads! 

March 3, 2014

Lots happened this week. We had a bunch of lessons set up with new people that we had found, but they all fell through. One guy that we found is named Nate Red. We talked to him on the sidewalk as he was walking his dog. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was super excited about it. Ha. So, of course, we were way excited about having a lesson with him. We knock on his apartment, and a lady opens the door. She said that Nate didn't live there. Cool fake address! We had even gone out of our way to get our ward mission leader and his wife to come along with us...... It turned out okay. We got to talking to the lady who lived there, and she said she's a Jehovah's Witness. I've never talked to a witness before. So it was really awesome. So far on my mission, I've learned so much about so many different religions and beliefs. It was really good to talk to her. If I don't help convert anyone on my mission, at least I'm helping people realize that Mormons are good, normal people with great values. And at the same time, I'm learning the same about so many other religions as well! I love it! Anyway, about Nate Red... I told Sister McKee that I hope we ran into him again sometime so I could introduce myself as Sister Purple. Haha. 

There are so many less active women in this ward. And they all have huge major issues. Two ladies, that don't know each other at all, have bi-polar disorder. One of those ladies' husband ran away from home for the third time... oh my goodness. It's so hard to know how to help these people. I'm not a doctor or a shrink, but I am a representative of Jesus Christ. It's so hard. Pretty much all I can do for these women is love them. 

 

We're working with the Elders in our ward to set up a Book of Mormon study class! It'll be every Tuesday night. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! It's going to be like a Bible study, except all about the Book of Mormon! The people that we work with do not understand what they are reading in the Book of Mormon! And it's so important that they read it and gain a testimony of it! I started my own missionary blog. My first post was all about the Book of Mormon. You should read it!!! 

http://sisterjulieanderson.blogspot.com/ :)

Oh my! We had a GREAT lesson in a members' home with one of our returning less active members and her 8 year old son who is preparing for baptism. The 8 yr old, Zaine, thought that the Holy Ghost was a scary thing. When he thinks of ghosts, the first thing he thinks of is Halloween and scary movies. Haha. So cute. So we taught all about the Holy Ghost and it's role in conversion. We also talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost that is given to us after we are baptized. It was a powerful lesson. And now Zaine understands that the Holy Ghost isn't a scary thing :) 

 

We had a Family Fun night with a few members in our ward and their cute neighbors! We played Telepictionary (I think that'swhat the game was called) but it was so fun! President Riggs asked us to do family fun nights with members to introduce us to their friends and neighbors. That way, they get to know us outside of just us knocking their door that they will just open and shut after a few seconds. It's so great!

 

I've loved keeping in contact with my friends who are serving in other places in the world. It's hard to email/write them every week, but it's been fun sending quick emails of encouragement and support back and forth. I've been in the most contact with Sister Woolf and Elder Clark. Man! I KNOW that they're such great missionaries! The Lord has blessed me with so many great friends! I feel so lucky! 

 

Thanks for the update on the family! Sounds like you'reall keeping busy! Love you all! 

 

Love,

Sister Anderson

February 24, 2014

What happened this week..... too much. I can't even organize my thoughts! Let's see.

We have some new investigators! :D WOOO! Their names are Brian and Tiffany. They are awesome. Brian is a firefighter and says really funny off the wall comments, and Tiffany is a zumba instructor and a boxer. They're both really smart people-and they're NORMAL! :) We had the first half of the Restoration lesson up to the Atonement. Brian has seen a lot of really hard things working as a firefighter. He's usually the first one on the scene when there's a death or a really hard situation...and we talked about how Jesus Christ can help! He liked that a lot. They're great. We found them in our area book. Previous missionaries had tracted into them a few months ago and we checked back with them to set an appointment. They said they may or may not change, but that's okay!!! We have new people to teach and I love them!

I had my very first headquarter referral. We had info sent into us from Salt Lake via text message (which surprised me) for a woman named Janet. We gave her a call and she said she'd meet us at our church building for a lesson! She's from Peru! I'm so excited! We're meeting with her tomorrow after our zone conference. 

 

Today we went over to a member's house to clean/take down christmas decorations, which is why I wasn't able to email earlier. She's going through a divorce right now, has two young girls and is 7 months pregnant and struggles to get around. I love it when people actually let us serve them! I'm glad Mom and Dad taught me how to work hard because we were able to get a ton done for her. 

 

Yesterday our Relief Society President's son got home from his mission. It's really cool that he is just so excited about the work. I mean, I wouldn't expect it any other way, but he is just SO into it!! He told us that he would help us in any and every way that he could. He is already going to all his friends/old teacher's homes and inviting them to take the missinoary lessons!!!! I am going to be like that when I get home from my misison. His name is Mattson and he said multiple times, "I want to be the member that I wish I could have worked with on my mission" It's so awesome!

 

We've contacted a lot of new people and have lots of lessons set up for this next week! And we're working with a ton of less active members. Oh, I have a story. So there's one less active that doesn't want to come back at all. She's going to another church and is very active there. But she lets us come over once a week to have a "bible study" with her. (I always throw in a Book of Mormon message in there somewhere...haha it's awesome).

Thanks for the updates on everyone every week. It's so nice to know what's going on. Belana's face is so funny!!!!! Thanks for all the pictures! :) 

 

I love you all. I am having a great experience in the Centreville 2nd ward!!! I love it here so much! God really is directing this work and I'm so glad that he trusts me to be His hands at this time of the hastening!!! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Anderson

HI

Washington DC South mission! Satan doesn't stand a chance!

Great week. We've been teaching a ton of lessons! When we aren't out knocking doors or talking to people in the streets, we're teaching members in their homes. We have definitely been keeping busy!

 

Centreville 2nd ward is awesome. I love it! The members are so missionary minded. There were four women who came out with us this week, each on a different night. It's just amazing to see the miracles that happen when members and missionaries literally work together!!! 

 

Miracle #1. Our Relief Society President came out with us to check on a few less active members. We decided to check on a part member family to get to know them and help them all feel welcomed in the ward. The wife is a member of the church, and the husband isn't. He answered the door. Sister Heiner, the relief society pres, loves to sing hymns...so we asked if we could sing to him! He said we could (he was probably thinking we were insane...haha!) But we sang, the spirit was there, and he came to church on Sunday! Woo!

 

Miracle #2 We went out to check on another less active member with Sister Hughes, a ward missionary. We couldn't remember where this person lived, so we knocked on the door that we thought was right. Turns out, she didn't live there...but a really great lady named Annita does! She's from India and was so sweet. There was a bit of a language barrier, but as soon as we said "Jesus Christ" she was all smiles! We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and promised to come back at another time with a copy in Hindi. We also invited her to come to church and she said she wanted to, but that she'd have to check with her hubby first.

 

Miracle #3 Sister Miller, a former ward missionary, and her husband took us out to dinner on Saturday. We started talking about the ward and found out that her new calling is teaching the 5 and 6 year olds during Sunday School. There were a few kids that don't show up as often, so we made plans to go out the next day and visit them together. Sister Miller is awesome. After we visited the few houses that we had planned on, with not much luck, she said, "Well hey. I'll just hang out with you guys until your next appointment if that's all right!" She was with us for three hours yesterday. Talk about going the extra mile. It was awesome. We went to various apartment complexes hoping to catch some potential investigators at home. On our way to check on Paul, a high schooler that we talked to earlier that week, we met Paul's brother on the doorstep. His name is Semo, visiting from Mississippi. Sister Miller, Sister McKee and I taught him the first lesson all together right there on the doorstep! He took the Book of Mormon and agreed to have misisonaries over when he gets back home to Mississippi!! Sister Miller was so excited!

 

I'm tellin ya! Members + Missionaries = MIRACLES. And that's a promise! I've seen too many miracles to say otherwise!

 

Thursday there was a huge snow storm. We couldn't drive anywhere so we put on our pants (HALLELUJAH) and helped our neighbors shovel our their cars so they could get out. It was a lot of fun. We had a snow shovel in our closet, and borrowed another from the elders. (There are three sets of elders that live in the same apartment complex) We would just walk up to someone who was shoveling the snow, and jumped in helping them! It was so fun! Turns out, we helped all the right people. The first man said that we were heaven sent because he was having major back problems. It was just a great opportunity to get to know our neighbors. And it was a lot of fun! I'm grateful that Mom and Dad taught me how to work. And I'm grateful Sister McKee isn't afraid to work.  It's AWESOME.  

Sister Anderson and Sister McKee shoveling snow.

Sister Anderson

 We had a few appointments Thursday night, but we weren't allowed to drive our cars in the snow. We decided to try to walk over. We made it a ways out, but our growling tummies got the best of us. And it was freezing. We made it to a little strip mall area. We narrowed down our choices between Panda Express (my first choice) and 5 Guys. I was set on Panda, but decided a burger didn't sound too bad... God works in mysterious ways...because he works through our empty tummies. While we were there, a less active member that we've been trying to get a hold of and trying to help out just walked in! I smiled really big, waved at her and invited her to sit with us! She said we were sweet, but that she was just picking something up for her hubby. We said we'd come by later the next week :) 

 

Miracles are happening in Centreville! I'm so excited!!!! I love this area so much!

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

President Riggs has challenged all of us missionaries to memorize all the scripture references in the first three lessons of Preach My Gospel. And right now we're working on the Plan of Salvation lesson. There are soooo many scriptures in this chapter! But as I've been studying and trying to use the scriptures in my teaching, I've really come to appreciate this wonderful plan that our Father in Heaven has laid out for each of us. We are here on earth to be happy and to become like Him. Our savior is central to this plan, because we couldn't become like Heavenly Father without Him and His atonement. There is so much peace and hope that comes from knowing where we lived before this life, why we are here, and where we are going after we die. Because of this plan, I am not afraid to die! I know that so long as I'm doing what I can to understand and become like Christ, I'll be okay. And I know my family will be okay. I love this gospel!

 

Have a great week!! Pray for your own miracles! You can be a part of them too! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! I know it's hard, but it's worth it. It really is another testament of Jesus Christ, and it will bring you even closer to Him. I know that it will!

Love you all!

Sister Anderson

I'M IN A FAMILY WARD! - Feb 10, 2014

I'M IN A FAMILY WARD AHHHHHH I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it. I feel more at home. I'm in the Centreville 2nd ward. My companion's name is Sister McKee. She's from Cambridge, Idaho and is the youngest in her family. She has two older brothers. She was in the MTC the same time that Sister Hansen was! So she's been out 11 months. It's nice having companions who've been out a lot longer than me-they know what they're doing! She's really sweet. She says she's shy, but she talks to me a whole lot! :) She loves basketball, volleyball and track, doesn't really sing on key, and has beautiful thick black hair! (Hopefully she'll let me take a picture with her so I can send it to you! haha!)

Sister Anderson and Sister McKee!

 My new address is 14203 Lotus Ln #625 Centreville, VA 20120. We have our own apartment. President Riggs doesn't like companionships to have roommates, which makes sense. They're too much of a fun distraction! :) I liked roommates, but it's nice to be able to focus. (Especially since I have a hard enough time focusing in the first place!) The apartment is kinda dirty...there isn't too much clutter, but it looks like no one has really deep cleaned it in a while. Gross. So I'll spend a good chunk of my preparation day today scrubbing... We have our own washer/dryer!! WOO! I don't have to spend almost 2 bucks on each load!

 

If you want to send me letters/packages, we have our very own mailbox! It's like ours at home where you need a key to get in.

 

Our ward feeds us REALLY well. We have a ton of food in our apartment. I won't need to go grocery shopping today! It's so nice not to have to worry about that. This ward is really great. The bishop and ward mission leader meet with the missionaries EVERY week!!!  They are so serious about this work and they want to do everything that they can to help us! It makes me so happy. It all starts with the bishop and the leadership. Once they're on board, the work is so much smoother.

 

Family wards just feel so much more normal than single adult wards. The lady who taught Relief Society yesterday reminded me of a mix between Sister Bates and Leslie Burnette. So, obviously, I LOVED it.

 

This ward has a set of sisters and a set of elders.

 

At the moment we don't have too many people that we're working with. There are a TON of less active members in this ward, and the ward mission leader, Brother Stark, wants the sisters to work with them because people have a soft spot for sisters aparently. So the elders have all the investigators at the moment.  

 

I'm glad baseball's started up again. Brendan's a good player. I love bragging about how my family's the baseball family! :) Give Lisa Jones a hug for me! She's a good coach. That'll be a lot of fun.

 

This area is a lot of fun. We've met a few really great people from knocking doors, and we'll check back with them this week. There's one couple that we checked on my first day here, and their story broke my heart. The sisters before me went to check on the wife, who was a former investigator of the church. The husband opened the door and said, "You are heaven sent. Come back tomorrow when my wife is here." So they came back the next day and met the wife...she is literally crazy. She took some weight loss pills three months ago that messed with the chemistry in her brain. And now she thinks that the FBI is always after her....and that's all she can talk about. The husband likes us coming over and talking to her. She is the sweetest lady. She really truly believes that the FBI is after her. Her hubby, Ray, is so sad. He is a really tough looking man from Queens, NY. He just sits there in the living room chair, exhausted and tired. He's desperate. While his wife talked about one of her stories about how she ran away from the FBI with Sis McKee, I started up a side conversation with Ray. Of course, we got to the subject of religion and God, and he claims to not believe. I asked him why, and he started his story, but never finished. I can't wait to go back and talk to him again. I was able to make him laugh for a little bit, and that made me feel good. He says that he thinks I'm cool, so I made a new friend. :)

 

I can't wait for the miracles that Sister McKee and I will be a part of in this area. The Centreville 2nd ward is the best in Virginia!!!!!!

 

Love you! Have a great week!

Sister Anderson

February 3, 2014 - Grumpy Men in Arlington

This week was a good one. Not to say that I didn't see miracles, but nothing too spectacular happened. We spend a lot of time working with members since that's where President Riggs says that's where our focus should be. I love teaching them the missionary lessons, even though they already know the material. It just proves that even though I'm the one speaking, the real teacher is the spirit! There is ALWAYS something new to be learned, or remembered from the simple doctrines of Christ's church!

 

We always try to take an hour every day to find people to teach. We don't always get around to it because we have many appointments to run to. But one evening we were checking on a less active member. She wasn't home. We know that God has a purpose for sending us to each place we go each day, so we decided to make the most of the time we had in that small neighborhood. We knocked on every cute little townhouse door we could see. No one was too interested, but most people were polite. Which I DEFINITELY appreciate. I mean, rejection is hard enough as it is! Sister Hansen and I do a pretty good job keeping in good spirits though. We make it fun! My favorite door of that night was a grumpy old man. Haha. It was one of those moments where I really wish I had been holding a camera so I could show him how silly he was acting. It was my turn to introduce ourselves and who we represent, so I gave a nice musical knock. This gentleman opened the door and immediately looked confused. Our conversation went something like this:

"Hello? What can I do for you?"

"Hello Sir! My name is Sister Anderson and this is Sister Hansen! What's your name?"

"Um. Okaayy. What do you want?"

"We just want you to know that your Father in Heaven loves you so much! He--"

"Wait. Who are you?"

"Representatives of Jesus Christ."
"OHHH you people are SICK!!!!!!! GET out of here!"

*starts doing a little dance*

"YAH just get off my porch. Come back when you find a God that cares about people!" (Goes on his angry rant for a bit longer...)

"Okay sir, have a good night! :) Goodbye"

 

Oh man. I couldn't even believe it. I mean, sure people yell at us all the time (you could call it an occupational hazard), but he was the worst by far. I walked away wishing that people would be a little more mature with how they handled themselves. I wish people really knew that we are not walking around just trying to convert people. I mean what do we have to gain? Nothing from a worldly perspective! We talk to as many people as we can every single day so that they can experience the same happiness that this gospel brings into our lives! If they REALLY understood Jesus Christ and His teachings, they would at least give this message a chance. I do not care about numbers. I care about helping my brothers and sisters realize their full potential that they can achieve in this life and the life to come. This is a gospel of love. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ! :)

 

Anywhooo. That was a fun one. :) I've been learning a lot about people and how different everyone really is. I'm grateful for every experience I've had on my mission and I can't wait for more to come.

 

We had another lesson with Chad this week. It was a rough one. He is really closed off to anything and everything we say. One of the members that we brought with us to his lesson was bearing his testimony, and Chad cut him off to yell, "NO. Absolutely NOT. I could NEVER believe that." Sooooo....... we decided not to teach him for a while. We are going to focus our efforts on people that are prepared and receptive! Not that we're completely forgetting about Chad, but we're just going to let him simmer down for a little bit until the right set of missionaries feel inspired to start teaching him again. He's a great person! He just doesn't see us as representatives of Jesus Christ... everything we say isn't credible to him and he blows us off. His lessons are just so stressful! So it'll be nice to take a good break for a while. :)

 

We had a last lesson with Brother Garlock this week! He moved to North Carolina. We prayed about what our last lesson should be about, and we felt like he needed to be reminded of repentance. Again. We gave him a going away gift! We gave him a pen...I had taped a piece of paper to it that said rePENt! in really big letters. Hahaha! So cheesy. But I love it!

 

Sister Hansen, Sister Taylor and I got to sing our "Amazing Grace" again at a New Member Fireside. There were about 5 new members of the church that bore their testimonies about why they decided to join the church. The spirit was so strong! Their stories about their conversion to Christ are so touching. I felt so blessed to share my testimony with them through song.

 

I love being a missionary. It really is the best thing I've ever done in all 20 years of my life! I'm learning so much about myself, my Savior, and what I need to do/become in order to become more like Him.

 

Transfers are coming up this week! I'll be getting a phone call hopefully tonight or tomorrow night that will confirm whether or not I'll be staying or leaving. (I'm probably leaving though. President Riggs himself told me that it was about time. haha!) I'll be sure to email you my new address as soon as I find out!

 

Love you! Have a great week!!!!

Love,

Sister Anderson

Julie @ Arlington National Cemetary