More Snow...

This week we found a sweet Food Pantry to do service at. We met a lot of people and one of the volunteers invited us over to watch her husband bottle feed the calves. Then they took us to their huge barn with all the huge tractors! That was really cool. We had a great lesson with our investigator Loriann. We had sis Whiltsie come with us because she is so great! She even brought Loriann cookies!

We had Exchanges with the Hampton Elders also, it was a great exchange and we got a lot of work done! We found 7 new investigators and one of them came to church! His name is Chuck Kostka, a really good guy and the Ward loved him. Chad Rugland came to church again also. Loriann was gonna come for the last hour but ended up not making it. She couldn't make the beginning because she promised her uncle she would go to his Baptist church!

Then just when we thought spring was here because all the snow was gone, it had to dump on us! Saturday morning we woke up to around 17 inches of snow! All in one night! And it was still a blizzard! The plows didn’t make it to our apartments until late that night so we had to dig a trail out for our car! But they grounded cars at the first of the day to wait until it got better. Luckily a member came and got us and we helped them. It was like we were at war with all the snow plows, tractors, bobcats, snowblowers, and people shoveling snow everywhere you looked.

Sunday morning after Ward Council we found out an older lady was snowed in. So us and a member flew over there and it was a way long drive way for the 25 minutes we had. But we went to town and got it done! Just barely made it to church before it started and they asked me to speak! They texted us Saturday night asking me to be the back up in case one person that was supposed to speak didn't show. So they didn't show and I didn't prepare anything. But I got up there and spoke about the Importance of Modern Day Prophets and how listening to the Prophets voice gives us greater knowledge and that gives us greater power, which gives us more confidence in all that we do! It turned out pretty well, I took about 15 minutes, they didn't give me a time frame.

Then after church we were going around visiting people and looking for people to help dig out of the snow. We went by one member and he wasn't home but I felt prompted to knock on his neighbors door so we did. She came out and we introduced ourselves and she slammed the door. Then we heard on the other side that she just wanted someone to dig her van out because she had left it on the street so the snow plow literally packed like 5 feet of snow all around it. So we did and right after we were done she came out and was almost in tears and kept telling us how grateful she was. Turns out she is a friend of our investigator Loriann! So she promised us she will be at the church this weekend to watch a session of General Conference! MIRACLE!

I love this work! The Gospel is true! Love,

Elder Anderson

At the church

SNOW!

With Mr Eggwards =)

Lunch With a 70

Man we had a great week! I love the work! Time is flying by. Last Monday we drove down to Ames for Preparation Day and had a ton of fun with the zone. Played some good ball, and volleyball!

Tuesday we were able to take one of the priests from the Ward out with us! He is 16, he is a stud! Super funny, we had a blast with him and he even gave out a Book of Mormon! That night we had dinner with the Wiltsies! An awesome couple from the Ward, they are so much fun! They are doing great things here for the Ward. We helped them with their Family History since my companion used to be a Family History consultant, so I am learning a lot from him too! All the Families here are great and want to share the Gospel but most struggle on knowing what to do, so we are helping them with that!

Wednesday we had a good meeting with the Ward Mission Leader! When I got here they didn't have any Ward missionaries or a Ward mission leader assistant so we talked to the Bishop and we should be getting them soon! That will be great for this ward. After that we did some knocking for a while and man ever since I have been here, when ever we go knocking I swear there is never anyone home! haha so thats been rough but it should get better as it warms up outside. Knocking is a lot of fun when there are a lot of people to talk to, we always get some funny stories. That night we drove to Ft Dodge, and right when we got there I went to a lesson with one of the Zone Leaders. We taught a solid family from Haiti! Super cool!

Thursday we drove to Des Moines and had Mission tour! Elder Costa of the 70 was there! We had a leadership meeting with him right before and that was awesome! I learned a ton from him! He is from Argentina and is really funny! When we went to have lunch I sat down at a table with some homies and Elder Costa came and sat right by me! Same with President and Sister Badger so we had a great time, it was really cool to be able to talk to him about the work here. Elder Costa was baptized at age 24, he was an active Catholic before that. After Mission Tour the Zone all went to T Roadhouse to celebrate!

Friday we had some good lessons and finally caught a Less active family and they are super cool. We invited them to the Ward BBQ on Saturday night and they came! And we’re going back for dinner with them this week! The Ward BBQ was awesome! Lots of non members and Less actives we got to meet!

Sunday right before church I was flipping through the area book calling every teaching record that had a phone number and the last one I called answered and was down to come to church! And he Did! It was awesome! Hopefully we can start teaching him!

Also had Lorianne come to church! The missionaries here just haven't really strived to teach her yet for some reason. But we are and she is solid, we set a baptism date with her. Awesome week I am loving it here in Mason City! Love you all so much!

Elder Anderson

Elder Gardner and I at Clear lake, in the ice cream thing there is a fish that our investigator gave to us. But since we cant have pets we dumped him in the lake to be free. But there lake was freezing and we watched him die! lol

Hello FAM

Another week in this 2 year journey!
So last week for P day we just shopped and cleaned the apartment. The Apartment was nasty when I got here so we got some cleaning supplies and some good candles and wax stuff. So it is real nice now!

Tuesday we had a lesson with one of our investigators. We’re pretty sure he has some mental problems, but the Gospel is for everyone! Then the AP's came over and we had lunch at B-dubs and then went to the other apartment here in town and the AP's took all the furniture out of it because they closed that area. Then they left us to clean it completely and get it ready to sale! That place was disgusting!! The Elders left so much trash and a full sink of dishes! So we spent almost all day cleaning!

Wednesday we did some more cleaning in their apartment and then got to work! I love the Ward here we get fed quite a bit so we have had dinner with a few really cool families.

Thursday we went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Fort Dodge, IA. We had a good time there! I went with Elder McCain from Washington. We drove a ways out to go to a media referral they got. When we got there, we knocked and someone said "who is it?" we said "the missionaries" then she came and looked through the curtain on the door and said "tell me why I shouldn't call the cops right now!" and we were like we’re just missionaries, we showed her our name tag. Then she opened the door and was calling the cops! lol turns out the guy that we where there for, actually held this woman captive a couple weeks ago and he is wanted for leaving the country while on parole. So when she heard his name she freaked out. So the cops showed up and got it all figured out. Apparently the guy we wanted just goes from Church to church asking for money!

Friday we had interviews in Fort Dodge and that lasted about all day, it was great tho always good seeing the Badgers.

Saturday we finally had a full day to work. So in the morning we had an awesome member from Utah and her son come pick us up and take us to a lesson with a Less Active family that has a 7 yr old and a 9 yr old. Their pretty strong good members, but their excuse is that they work too much. The 9 yr olds name is Allen and he is super smart! We had a lesson on the Restoration and just asked a bunch of questions and whenever they got it right we gave them candy! It worked super well! They payed attention the whole time! The thing is his mom for some reason doesn't think he is ready for Baptism. Which is tough because he really is! He knows way more about the church than I did when I was 8. After that we got back to Mason City and had a lesson at the church with a media referral we got! We still had Sis Woods and her 16 yr old son with us for that too! Her name is Gracie and she is a media referral from a while back, but she was uncontacted so the mission re sent it! We called her and set it up. She lives 45 minutes from the church and drove all the way there! She is 18 and has had a tough life with her family not supporting her. So a friend of hers adopted her, and her family turned on her even harder. She is a super good wrestler and goes to the community college in Forest City. It was an awesome lesson, if we didn't have Sis woods there it would have been sooo different because she adopted her son and they had so much in common! So Sis woods is inviting her over for dinner this week with us! Super excited!

That is about it for this week! I’m loving the mission and am so thankful to be out here!

Love,
Elder Anderson

Mason City

They Transferred me to Mason City.

It is a big town and we have a ton of ground to cover! Normally there are a lot of missionaries serving in this area but since our mission is down sizing so we can add the Peoria stake into our mission and all the missionaries that will be joining us from the Chicago West mission when it gets dissolved.

So our hands are full! We met with the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader yesterday and had a awesome meeting. We went over things about the Ward and what we want to be doing. I learned a lot from Bishop, he is super smart! My new Companion is Elder Gardner and he is from Arizona, Sun tan valley. He just got done being trained so he has been out for 4 months. This is the 3rd person in a row I have broken! Crazy!

It was really bittersweet leaving Lenox, it was a really tough area. But the people I got really close to the Steeles and the Ralstons, so it was hard saying good bye! They were like family! But President Ralston said he will take me Turkey Hunting out here when I come back! DJ Steele said we will go deer hunting when I come back too! So that's awesome! Last P day in Lenox we went to the YMCA one last time and I was able to play with some of the guys from the College team. That was fun! I also talked to them about the church afterwards so that was awesome!

Tuesday night we went to the Steeles to say goodbye, and they fed us some really good roast! Then they remembered that DJ promised me his famous Ribs, so they invited us over Wednesday night too so I could have some of his famous RIbs and play games and we had an awesome Gospel Discussion! They are slowly being prepared. But they will get there soon! And boy were those some awesome Ribs!!!

Short on time today! I Love you all!

                                                             Elder, Anderson

Elder Gardner and I

The Ralstons. He was the Branch President in Lenox.

My Man DJ Steele!! Love this guy!

The Austins (the old couple) and the Bloyds! Austin is the young one and he is the one we would ball with at the Y every week!