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

Amazing Grace

As many of you know, Sister Anderson is a Facebook missionary as well.  She has the opportunity to communicate via social media.  It is something kind of new for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to allow missionaries to participate.  They have very strict rules for the missionaries on social media to keep everything inline with mission rules.

Sister Anderson and two other sisters at an evening church meeting sang Amazing Grace.  They did a very nice job.  The link to her Facebook page is below, if you would like to watch them sing.  Cut and paste if it doesn't directly take you there when you click on it.  Check it out!

I'm very proud of my daughter!

https://www.facebook.com/sisterjulie.anderson?fref=ts

January 27, 2014

Transfers are coming on Feb 6th. 

 

Hi!

 

Update on the weather for mom: it's warmer today! The snow is mostly melted! Thank goodness. :) The weather goes back and forth from week to week. It's crazy. haha. Last week, we got snowed in, and this week it's supposed to warm up a little and then the week after that goes back to fridged cold again. The missionaries are handling it well. We are well taken care of. Other than Sister Hansen biffing it, everyone has been great. All the sisters in the mission have cars with nice warm heaters, and the elders....well. They are on bike or walking everywhere. But they're tough. :) haha.

 

I live in a two bedroom apartment with another companionship. Sister Hansen and I lucked out and got the master bedroom and Sisters Lindmeir and Gray have the smaller room. ;) mwahah. It's a lot of fun having roommates. It's fun to get to know three missionaries instead of just one at a time. We all have so much fun together. We all laugh and sing and goof around the apartment together right before bed time. I have made some really great friends so far!

 

Chances are, I will be transferred soon. We had interviews with President Riggs and he flat out told me that it's time. Haha! I mean, he still needs to seek revelation and all that, but he still thinks I'll be leaving. I really have been getting pretty comfy in the Potomac ward. A lot of the members have started remarking that I've been here for a long time! HA they're sick of me! ;) It's okay though. I really hope that I am sent to a family ward. Sister Hansen thinks I'll be training a new missionary. We'll see what happens. Transfers are Feb 6th. They happen every 6 weeks if you were wondering.

 

Anderson Headstone--wonder if we are related!

We got to go to the Arlington Cemetary today. I loved it. We got to watch the end part of the changing of the guard. On our way to the tomb of the unknown soldier, we passed by a funeral. I feel kidna bad saying this about a funeral, but it was so cool. They had a band and a bunch of men all dressed up with their guns on their shoulders. I don't know who passed away, but I was grateful to be a part of that moment. It was really interesting. Just walking around the cemetary, I got to thinking about how grateful I am for all these men and women who died for our country. They died so that I could enjoy the freedoms that I have. If they didn't make the sacrifices that they had, I probably wouldn't have had the option of serving a mission. I am just so grateful. I really am proud to be an American! As soon as I get home, I've decided I'm going to dedicate a good part of my time to researching and understanding more about our nation's history. It just amazes me! I love it!

 



Julie and Sister?? at Arlington National Cemetery!



A few days ago I got into a really weird funk. I was just not in a good mood. The mission is a really weird thing. A lot of really good comes out in a person, but so does a lot of bad. I guess that's okay because there's opposition in all things right? Oh man. But Sister Hansen really helped me. Turns out I've been really stressed out. She showed me a missionary supplement handbook thing that addresses how to deal with this kind of stress. So I'll be fine. But it's been tough.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

So this week was a bit slower....we spend a good chunk of time stuck indoors because of the weather conditions, or stuck in the doctor's office waiting for Sister Hansen to get her wrist situation all taken care of. She's in a cast now, by the way. Thank goodness! She only has to wear it for four weeks. She's doing really well! But yeah. Slow week in terms of the work. However, we still saw miracles! I couldn't believe it! We had two lessons this weekend with two new investigators! One man is from Ghana. His name is Eric. Most of the Africans that I've met have migrated to America to find a white wife.....So Eric has a friend back in Ghana who is a member of the church. He told us how he was talking to his frined about how he was meeting with the missionaries. His friend in Ghana got all excited, but then told Eric that he was NOT allowed to think of the sisters in "that way" hahaha. He told us how he decided that he wasn't even going to look at us so that he wouldn't be tempted..........I just about BUSTED up laughing. Luckily, we have a member of our congregation from Ghana as well so he talked to him a lot of the time. Oh my. But Eric has been really prepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We were teaching him and didn't even make it all the way through the first lesson and he cut us off to ask how he could become a member of the church!!!!! And because he refused to look at me, I smiled so big! And then he went on to ask if we paid tithing and if it was 10% of our income. Of course we said yes, and he said, "Good. I definitely agree with this." :D :D :D I made another huge smiley face as soon as he said that! Hahaha! (I've gotten used to making whatever face I want! It helps to have a blind investigator, or an investigator that refuses to look at you! Although, I know that I need to be careful. Haha)

 

We had another lesson with a man right after church. His name is Arthur. He has been coming to church on his own the past couple of weeks. He is so great. He's from North Carolina. He has been so prepared as well!!! I just feel so blessed! We have TWO NEW PEOPLE THAT WE ARE TEACHING!!!! I'm kinda bummed that all these people are showing up right when I have to leave the area. :( But that's okay! These people are starting their journey to come closer to Christ than they've ever been in their entire lives! :D It's so great.

 

So Sister Hansen is from California. And she is a crazy California driver. Like big time. She's got the "California stops" down to a T. And she's been driving with one hand lately because of her cast, and it's so scary. I don't like it one bit. And she gets annoyed whenever I say anything... Yikes. The funny part about it is that whenever I tell her about Crazy California drivers, she tells me about "Safe Washington Drivers" HAHAHAHAH!! They've stereotyped us as really cautious drivers that drive the speed limit....hahahahaha she told me that and I busted up laughing! I told her that I know PLENTY of scary Washington drivers, but they all stop at stop signs at least. ;) haha. Funny.

 

One of our members took us out to dinner at a cute mom and pop pizza shop. It amazes me how political everything is here. I mean, it totally makes sense because I live in DC area...but we got a pizza called "Barak my world".... Just not something you'd see in Washington state. Haha!

 

Okay that's all I can think of to write about! Thanks for all the pictures you send me! It's great to see everyone. And also, how does Brendan already look so big? I've only been gone for 4 months and he looks bigger somehow. Haha. I love you all! Have a great week! I pray for you all every night!

 

Love,

Sister Anderson