Transfers!

Hello, I am staying in this area for at least another 6 weeks and my last comp Elder Olsen left after just 6 weeks and he is now in Dubuque, Iowa. I received Elder Frew, he is a very interesting fellow and gets on my nerves sometimes. lol It’s all good though it should be a good transfer, the district is cool. Should have some good ball on P days!

Tuesday we got our Transfer calls while we were at the Food Pantry. I was wanting to stay, I don't know what Elder Olsen was hoping for. But then they said where Elder Olsen was going but we didn't know who he said at the time and Elder Olsen was laughing so hard and looking at me like I’m in trouble for my next transfer. lol I was like oh great! But then I asked him who it was that was getting transferred and it was Elder Olsen so I started laughing at him! haha His new comp is apparently going home this next transfer so he was scared that he was gonna be lazy haha.

Since Wednesday was P day we went to the John Deere Pavilion again! That's a cool place! Then we balled a little but we had a lot of guys that like to play board games so that was really boring.

Thursday Elder Fox and I went on Exchanges while our companions got transferred. Then we got our companions and went to lunch. I let Elder Frew get unpacked while I cleaned the apartment, then we headed out. We taught our Investigator Dawn, she is in her 60s and is pretty cool. She’s interested and even kept our commitment of reading the Introduction to the Book of Mormon. She said she will be at church this week. We’re gonna try and get a member out with us to teach her so she can have friends other than us. Also on Thursday Tom Parsons our Recent Convert called and said he is resigning from the church. He left all the books and pamphlets at the church with a letter to Bishop Johnson, I couldn't believe it! But after talking to him on the phone and visiting him, all he told us is that he thought we were taking things too fast and he was stressing to much and it’s bad for his health. I thought for sure he told his Methodist pastor or something, which we have encouraged him to do but he hasn't. He has been working on getting the Priesthood and the Priesthood in our church is a lot different in others. Because they have to go to schooling to get it and we believe it’s for any male member worthy of it. But Bishop went and talked to him and he told us he was stressing about some misdeeds he had done in his life. So they cleared all that up and Tom took back his books and said he will come to church. So that's good!

Friday was a pretty normal day, just working on finding new investigators. We also got to play some street ball with a bunch of guys. It was a lot of fun, even though they tried playing dirty, I still danced on them and broke some ankles. lolol

Saturday we had D meet and on the way home we got in a crash! We were parked at a red light and truck flew into the car that was parked behind us, causing them to fly into the back of us. No one was hurt, our car wasn't even hurt to bad.

Levi Hamby is leaving on his mission. He is in our ward here, he is a great young kid and is serving in the Las Vegas West Mission. He gave a great Farewell talk, and he will make a great missionary!

Well it’s been a great week! The work has been slow but we’re working hard on working with members more so hopefully we can get some solid referrals this week and find a ton of new investigators! I love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder Anderson

Elder Frew

Hot & Sweaty!

Transfers are this week! We find out tomorrow. I hope I stay! Tuesday we did service at the Food Pantry again. After that we took studies at the Library out there in Geneseo, then we stayed all day out in Geneseo working. We went to Subway for lunch, we walked in and a guy was like "Wow I just ran into the Elders!" At first we thought he was gonna yell at us or something like some of the mean people we meet out here that hate us. But nope, He said "I’m Bro Swan from Michigan!" Long story short he bought us lunch and we talked for a little while and he is a truck driver that was just passing through. Super cool and a Miracle cause I'm broke! haha That night we had Dinner with our ward mission leader. Afterwards we went and balled at the church for the Wards Tuesday night ball.

Wednesday it was really hot and we were knocking on doors most of the day! I was drenched in sweat all day long, it was bad! But I found an address in my planner and I didn't know what it was, but we went and tried by and the guy wasn't really interested and we were in a sketchy part of town. But after him we decided to knock some of the small apartments by his apartment. We got a few new investigators right off the bat! Then we knocked on a door and the lady was not interested but I offered her a mormon.org card even tho she said "Sure idk what I would do with it" haha. But then her son came out and started talking to us and he said he would come to church. He's Handicapped but he said he would bring his uncle too. So we told him to go get the card from his mom and it has the address on it. So we walked away but then he came running back and told us his mom ripped it up so he needed a new one. We gave it to him and he told us his mom practices Whichen. They do Spells and curses or something like that. He said he has been mistreated most of his life, but he loves Jesus. Then we were sitting in Sunday School and no one came to church even tho so many people said they would! But someone came in and grabbed us and said our Investigators showed up! So we went out and it was him, Daniel and his Uncle Lee! His Uncle is pretty cool, we were able to teach them the Restoration at church and it was awesome!

Then back up to Thursday when half the mission met in Iowa City for a meeting with Elder Keach of the 70. It was awesome and he taught some great things and did mostly a Q and A so that was cool!  

Friday we helped an Investigator from another missionaries area move into our area. We assumed she was just using the missionaries for help because she doesn't seem interested but it was good!

Saturday we spent time going by less actives and members and knocking around their houses. This week was kind of a long one, its getting hot out and the work is rough, but it just makes the success so much better! We were able to find 7 new investigators so I hope we can start working with them this week.

This morning I read in Ether when the Brother of Jared talks to the Lord and instructs him on building the barges, I can't imagine the faith he had. I know that as we strive to strengthen our faith and our testimonies we can be closer to the Lord. I have seen it help me in the work recently as I study the Savior and His life. I encourage you all to do the same and you will be happier! I love you all and God is good!

Love, Elder Anderson

Said goodbye to Elder Anitok, he goes home to Hawaii on Friday!

Blur

Hello everyone! These weeks go by so fast that they’re just blurs! Good thing I write in my journal or else I wouldn't remember anything! Nothing to exciting this week, just normal things happening, lots of knocking and lots of lessons.

Tuesday was normal we went out to Geneseo and did service. I forgot the phone so we couldn't stay out there all day so we came back and worked in East Moline.

Wednesday we had a great day we met with Lee, he just graduated high school and is from Taiwan. He is really cool and loves it when we come over. He hasn't come to church yet but we are working on that. We found 3 new investigators that day, some were super cool people. I hope we can meet with them more this week. None of them made it to church though, but hopefully after we meet with them more they will be more comfortable.

Thursday we had exchanges and they were out of our area. I went with Elder Jenkins and he goes home in a week and a half! He’s from Rexburg, Idaho. It was a fun exchange.  

Friday was good and that evening we went back and talked to Ed, the guy that flagged us down on the street last week. We had dinner with him and then we asked him if he had been reading out of the Book of Mormon. He said no, but he did some research. Which means he got into a ton of anti mormon stuff and he showed us some of it. It was just crazy! haha we tried to clear it up the best we could. But we figured that since he is old and very lonely, that’s the only reason he wanted to talk. We might go by again in a few weeks.

Saturday we helped a lady in the ward move and that went good. We were able to meet with some cool people. We knocked on a former Investigators door and he is super cool and gave us ties. Sundays are always great! I love going and refueling my spirit! We have an awesome Sunday school teacher who always teaches great lessons, usually some great doctrine. Sometimes people almost start arguing haha its pretty cool tho. It’s always a great discussion!

Well I hope you all have an awesome week! Things are going great out here! Choose the Right and study the scriptures! God loves you!

Love,

Elder Anderson

P.S: I was on T.V. the other week for the big service project, pretty sweet! That's the second time on my mission, I guess you could say I'm Famous!

Happy Birthday to me! Sweet 19!

My new haircut

The Mississippi River

Driving fun =)

Sites from around town

7 Months Down!

Monday night we had a BBQ with some members and witnessed a motorcycle accident. The Motorcycle flew into the side of a truck that ran a stop sign. He was on a 2013 Honda Crf250r Enduro no helmet, short sleeves, and shorts. Haha not to smart, but he was ok and it wasn't too bad, he may have broken his leg. Then the guy that ran the stop sign was high and had weed so he got arrested.  

Tuesday we did service at the Food Pantry and spent the rest of the day working in Geneseo. Geneseo is a half hour a way so it’s good to get out there. We did find a new investigator so that was sweet. Wednesday we had District meeting, it went well. Then we went to Pizza Ranch and had some great food. It’s just like Pizza Pie Cafe but they have an Ice Cream machine. After that we helped Sis. Hirst plant some flowers, then she took us out to Whitey’s!  I love Whitey’s! Then we helped Bro. Penfold with his home teaching, and that’s always fun.

Thursday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders in their area, it was a good time and we found some new investigators. Friday we weekly planned and were finally able to get out and talk to our investigators and go knocking.

Saturday we did service for a Kids Against Hunger service project all day,  it was awesome. I taped the boxes full of food then took them out to the truck all day. hahaha It was fun but I was sweating sooo bad. There was like 1000 people there throughout the day and probably 600 non members so we did it in our proselyting clothes. We set up a table and put BOM’s and pass along cards on it and gave away 7 BOM’s so that was cool.

We didn't get anyone to church yesterday. Had some close calls, we will work on them this week.  

Have a great week everyone!

Love Elder Anderson

No pictures again, sorry next week.