GENERAL CONFERENCE

What a weekend watching the Apostles of Jesus Christ speak to us! I loved all the talks and learned so much! We watched all the sessions at the Cedar Rapids Stake Center, brand new Stake Center too. Some talks that stood out to me were Elder Eyring's and Tad R Callister's! Elder Eyring's were so powerful and the spirit testified to me so strongly, gave me chills! Tad R Callister's was a big answer to my prayers and to my question, very powerful and clear!

This week we were super busy, we have been trying to free up our evenings to be able to go knocking when people are home but about everyday this week we had things going on.

Tuesday: We spent some time going by some Less Actives and Ex communicated members. We met some awesome people who are ready to change and come back to Church. Also had a lesson with Rosie, we taught her more about The Book of Mormon and General Conference, with Bro Bailey there, and it went great. She watched Conference and loved it!

Wednesday: We were going all day with District Meeting and another lesson with Rosie with our Ward Mission Leader Bro Sherwood who is a convert and the lesson was powerful. Bro Sherwood helped Rosie so much! That Night we had dinner at a nice restaurant with a member, then had Ward Coordination meeting at the Church, and man this ward is Awesome! Their truly doing their part in the Missionary work here and helping soooo much!

Thursday was my first day on the mission where I got to ride bikes!!! It was awesome! We rode around all day going by people and knocking, also spent the night helping a recent convert move.

Friday: I went on exchanges with Elder Jacobson from Springville, UT. That was fun, we did a lot of knocking in his area.  

Saturday and Sunday we spent most of the day watching conference and eating. Since we were a ways out of our area we couldn't get out to work since we had to save miles.

Great week tho, the Ward is giving a lot of solid Referrals so I am super pumped to see the success in this area! I know that this work is so true and the Apostles and Prophet are truly called of God, I loved being able to listen to them. I was sad to hear about Elder Hales, glad he went peacefully, he was a very powerful man. Sad to see that Thomas S Monson couldn't make it, I hope all is well with him. Love you all! Elder Anderson

On Bikes!

We got stranded with no car or bikes, so we bought some PIZZA!

Investigators

First week in Cedar Rapids down!! I have learned that this is a blessed place with a lot of AWESOME people! Great Ward and people to talk to!

Tuesday:

We finally got into our apartment, we moved the Zls in to there new apt and then Elder and Sister Martin a senior couple took us all out to Pizza Ranch for lunch! Pizza Ranch is a lot like Pizza Pie Cafe, except some different pizzas, and they have Ice Cream!

Wednesday:

We have Zone Exercise in the mornings, so we all go to the Stake center and play ball or frisbee so that’s fun!  We also had District meeting after that. We also had our first lesson with Rosie, Sis Gardners friend that has been coming to church. She is so awesome and so Prepared! We can’t wait for her to progress to Baptism.

Thursday:

Went by some formers and did a lot of knocking

Friday:

Found some awesome Former Investigators that want to start learning again! Also a lot of knocking and New Investigators.

Saturday:

We did some service for Bro and Sis Novak and helped them in their yard. Then lots of knocking. Saturdays are rough tho, Cause no one is home! You would think they would be, but no one was around! Same with Sundays.  

Sunday: We had Ward Council and then Church. Great time at Church, sadly no investigators there yet, but next week!  

Training has been great, my boy is pretty prepared so he is catching on quickly. Except for the sleep part, he has been exhausted lately. haha Since we’re both new to the area we have had some long days knocking doors. I wouldn't say long, they all go by so fast. We also found 10 new investigators this week. Quite a while ago I stopped asking people if they were interested and just start teaching the Restoration. If their really not interested then they will interrupt us, or if they're not prepared. This way we teach instead of knock haha. My voice hurts at the end of the day because everyone we talk to we’re teaching. TEACH TEACH TEACH, it’s the most important thing. If someone is not interested at the end of the lesson, then it is still such a bigger seed planted then just asking if they’re interested at the first. So things are great out here, my boy is catching on quick with all this teaching, we now have a lot of investigators to try to work with so this week hopefully we can follow up with all the return appointments and get people to church.

I hope you're all super excited for General Conference, on my mission I actually listen to it so I found out its awesome! haha I invite you all to watch it with a Question that you want answered. I definitely am going to. I can’t wait!  

Love you all! Elder Anderson

I gave my Boy a fresh cut!  hahaha

Cedar Rapids and a Boy

Well this week was exciting!

Tuesday we got our Transfer calls! I am getting transferred already, I am now in Cedar Rapids training Elder York! Fresh out of the MTC. He is from Phoenix, Arizona. He is pretty interesting, I'm sure I am going to learn a lot these next 2 transfers! So Tuesday we got the call and then went on exchanges, I went and said goodbye to who I could. We went to say goodbye to Jessi and as soon as we got there she came outside while on the phone, so we waited and then she hung up and she told us she just got off the phone with the Girl Jessi's husband Brandon had been cheating on her with. She started crying and we felt so bad and didn't know what to do, we just talked for a little while and tried to comfort her. I believe everything happens for a reason, I think her and Brandon might need to split. Brandon hasn't been able to give up his bad habits. I'm not sure what’s happening now but Jessi is so strong. She told us before we left she needed to go read The Book of Mormon to feel better, which was awesome!  

Well Thursday we went to Iowa City for the New Trainers meeting and to pick up my Boy. Then we left to Cedar Rapids with the other two Elders we are sharing a ward with. As for now we have been living with them until we move into our apartment on Wednesday. Things are good and we already found 5 New Investigators since we have been here, I have heard so many great things about this area and can’t wait to get to work here!  

Yesterday at Church a member brought a friend, her friend has come a few times and really loves it so we are gonna start teaching her. The Ward here is so awesome, they really play their part in Missionary work! It's so cool! I’m so excited to be here! Thank you all for everything.

Love, Elder Anderson

Good bye to Jessi & DJ

My Boy - Elder York

Goodbye to Luis

P day Squad

3 in 1

3 weeks in one? I’ll try to keep this short!

Well pretty much the last 3 weeks have been very busy and exhausting! But super productive! The work has been great! Last week Jessi Gobble got Baptized! Along with Hardy Kasalou, the Sisters here in Marshalltown taught Hardy and we decided to have both their Baptisms on the same night! And it all went great. Elder Dunn Baptized Jessi and Confirmed her yesterday. It was all awesome! Jessi even bore her testimony and it was super powerful! She already has a strong testimony, her husband was even able to make it to the Confirmation.

Over the last 3 weeks we have had Exchanges, Interviews, Zone Conference, and they were all great. All of those are great learning opportunities that they give us and I appreciate them! I also feel like I get something from each one of those.

We had 3 people at Church Yesterday, that was awesome. One of them was Shawn and it was his first time! He got there like an hour early too! haha and he asked us who he needs to see to get Baptized and he asked if he could do it right now. haha He said he had a change of clothes and everything! He is super cool and said he will be coming back!

Well that’s all I can remember it’s all a big blur when I look back. haha Time flies out here. I have really enjoyed my studies lately, idk what it is but we have ran into a lot of people that want to tear down my testimony lately! Lots of rude people, and people that claim they have picked apart the Book of Mormon for 40 years, and people wanting to bash, and people cussing us out and laughing at us. But it’s all part of my personal conversion.

The Ap's have given us a Calendar called 13 weeks to Consecrated. So everyday we study a few pages out of Preach My Gospel, a Chapter a week. It’s been a big help, I LOVE PREACH MY GOSPEL. It helps with everything! I have learned so much, doing all the activities and reading all the scriptures. It has strengthened my testimony in so many ways! I encourage you all to read Preach My Gospel more and it will help you share the Gospel and Bless your life. God Promises Eternal blessings to those who share his Gospel. He will bless you forever! He promises that and I think that's amazing!

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Jessi's Baptism

Jessi, Hardy, Elder Dunn

Hardy

Hardy has so much SWAG! Always looks so fresh at church

Recent converts

Our district, the biggest in the mission

Golf in a suit

Waves of corn!

Our place, we play ball outside in the mornings. Big blessing!

=)

JESSI

Hello, I’m back!

Last Monday we got to give a few people blessings in the Morning and that took awhile so we grabbed some lunch and went to play Basketball! We wanted to ball more than we wanted to email, haha. But I am really grateful for the time they give us to email you guys!

I dont have anytime tho. All is well and Jessi Gobble is getting baptized this Friday! She is so excited and so are we, she is super prepared!  

Love you all! Elder Anderson

Praying With Drunks

Great week!

Last Monday we had a bunch of Chinese guys come play ball for P day! One was a recent convert and some of the other ones are investigators! And they were all pretty good at ball! So that made P day fun! That night we went to the Sanchez Family for family night, and the Dad doesn't speak any English so most of the time everyone is speaking Spanish so I just sit there and act like I'm paying attention when I have no idea what’s going on! Haha

Some Highlights from the week are when we prayed with drunks. Haha So we went by an African family that we found and they are already members but they haven't gone for a little while, they were Baptized a year ago in Kansas. Their house has close to nothing in it, not even mattresses or a couch, they sleep on blankets, it's so sad, we have been trying to find them some free stuff. But the Mom has gotten back into smoking and drinking so she wants us to help. Her brothers are always outside on the lawn drunk and smoking and causing neighbors to get mad. The one drunk brothers name is Jimmy and he is always drunk and on something and the whole town knows him! haha But he said "Let's Pray, Let's Pray"  so we said ok, then we were all holding hands praying when a lady in a nice big truck rolled up and started yelling at Atong the mom. She was furious that the drunks were still there, then she called the cops and had the cops tell them to leave! haha We were just awkwardly sitting there in the middle of it all.

Another Highlight is when I went on exchanges with a missionary that just got to the mission field 2 weeks ago. I thought it was the perfect time to take him to Mike Curly, the crazy, insane excommunicated member. Haha We went and I let him go first and Mike was going crazy, and he just talks so fast and is always running around asking questions and talking about his home made wine, and why they excommunicated him. Haha the Greenie was so shocked, and for the rest of the night he was like "Why did you take me there!!"

We have Jessi Gobble as our best Investigator right now, she will be getting baptized on September 8th. She is really cool except she has had a very tough life. She has lost around 5 kids, all when they were very young or not even born yet, because of her husband. He is a recovering drug addict, lots of meth. He is not allowed to live with her right now but he will be soon. He smokes a lot, and Jessi has recently quit smoking because she is ready to give it up and come to Christ and be baptized. She has 2 kids right now, and I really hope things will go good for her, she is really excited to be Baptized. Lately she has had really bad migraines, but she is still coming to Church and we had a good lesson yesterday with the Dunn’s the Senior Missionary couple. We taught her Tithing and Fast Offerings. She loved it and said she is already doing it! So that was awesome!  Keep her in your Prayers.

We have Luis Mora also, he is in his 30's from Mexico, speaks good English, and is dating a member that lives in Honduras. They met each other on line and he just got back from meeting her and her family for the first time. He came to Church for the first hour and had to leave for some reason. His date is to be Baptized Sept. 23rd, but he might wait because he is going to Honduras again in December and might get Baptized down there so his Girlfriend can be there. But we encourage him to do it as soon as possible because, Satan will work on you harder and harder if you wait. We will see what he decides.

We have Brandy, a girl we met this week. she is kinda shy and pretty weird, but we taught her twice this week. She came to church for all 3 hours and found out that some members in the Ward are her Grandparents by Marriage! So that's awesome! Instant fellow shippers! So we’re excited for her!

We have found 6 new investigators this past week, one couple that is super sick! The guy had a nice haircut and said he cuts hair and said he would cut ours for free! They also said they have been looking for a church and then we showed up. Their so cool, I sure hope they don’t get antied, because she was looking Thomas S. Monson up online. haha Usually that ends up in the people seeing anti.

This is really long but it was another great week, my love grows for this work every day! I love talking to people about the Gospel constantly and finding ways to make it more and more fun! This week I have been cruising thru the Book of Mormon, I love the stories and the great teachings it has. I encourage you all to read as much as possible from the Book of Mormon everyday. It truly will bring you closer to Christ and will make your day so much better!  

Love,

Elder Anderson

Our backyard

Something Cool

This week was fun, last Monday we played ball with the District, it was pretty good ball. But the Zone leaders don’t come every week so today we didn’t have very good ball, kind of a bummer.

Tuesday we did service for a really cool/funny member. After, he played us in pool and foosball in his man cave! He is really good at pool, and thinks he is really good at foosball. But this week I’m gonna show him a thing or two! haha He is one of those guys that used to play pool, foosball, air hockey, darts and what not for a living! Pretty cool. I’ll keep you updated haha

Wednesday we did a triple blitz in our area, so two other companionships came and we hit our area hard! It was fun, I went with Elder Dunford and he is from San Diego, so we had fun talking about that haha. We went to Eldora, Iowa it’s 40 minutes from Marshall Town but is a nice little town out in the middle of nowhere. The people were super nice but nobody wanted to listen. That night we hunted some possums with golf clubs in our back yard, because there is a ton of them! We got one tree'd but never got it down haha. And we thought we found another one, so we ran after it but it was a skunk so we ran back! I wasn't about to get sprayed!

The rest of the week we had District meeting and the car appreciation day where we walk all day long. Luckily it hasn't been hot here at all! Which is crazy for the middle of August out here. So we talked to a lot of people. We got dropped off by a member one day to go by someone and right when we got out a guy from the 2nd story of an apartment building was yelling "come here come here quick!" And we were like is he talking to us? haha So we went and the guy was pretty Psycho and talking super fast and running around putting clothes on and cleaning up his house. And he yelled I’m a returned missionary! Long story short he got excommunicated for some reason. Probably cause our WML said he got caught growing weed on his front porch and who knows what. He is pretty creepy, but I mentioned my dad served in the same mission he did and around the same time. So he freaked out trying to think if he new my dad. Then we left and were at the library taking mormon.org time and he walked in and said "there they are!" haha and came and talked to us and said he had an Elder Anderson as his companion but he wasn't sure if it was the same one. But he said he was going crazy and riding his bike everywhere to find us and doing research to see if he knew him. Haha Im sure we will run into him again so we will see what happens!

Anyways we have some great investigators, not as many as I would like, so hopefully we can change that this week. One of them is Jessi Gobble, her husband is a member but very inactive and is a drug addict. He is in a halfway house, so like half jail I think. haha He isn't a very good man idk why she is with him, but his parents are active members and that’s how they found Jessie and we have been teaching her with the Dunns, a senior couple that works in Marshall town also, so she is on date to be Baptized Sept 2nd.

Also we have Luiz who is dating a member that lives in Honduras and he just got back from visiting her, so he should be getting baptized soon also!

Sorry this is so long, I don’t have pictures this week!  Love you all!  Keep praying and going to church!

Love, Elder Anderson

Marshall Town

Well I have been transferred to Marshall Town, Iowa! My new Companion is Elder Dotimas, he is from Maryland, originally from the Philippians. He is a Spanish Elder so we do a lot of Spanish lessons where I pretty much just sit there! haha He can speak Tagolick, Spanish, English, and some Martial Ease. Pretty cool! Man I really wish I would have learned a language now! Marshall Town is kinda smaller, still a good size tho.  Lots of Mexicans, cool little town overall! Yes there are still waves of corn just on the outside of town! We live with members in the basement, they are old and don’t do much or go anywhere. But it is a nice house, and we have a nice place, with sleep number beds, there so cool, they move up and down and give massages! haha  We drive a 2015 Subaru Legacy, it’s pretty nice!

Well It was hard leaving east Moline, I really loved that area but I'm excited to be here! I don’t know much about our area yet. We have just been finding and teaching some investigators that they already have. We found a few new investigators that are pretty cool and one of them gave us awesome ceramic dragons! He paints them and just gives them away to people!

In East Moline I had to say goodbye to Demetrice! I was so sad, he is super solid and I hope he can continue to progress. Me and him got along great, but the relationship wasn't the same with my comp that is staying there, and I don’t think the new guy will get along with him as well as we did! I hope he can keep going!  Demetrice also came to Tuesday night ball! So sick!

Well I’m Excited to be here in Marshall Town, I love My New Companion he is super funny! And We had one cool Investigator at church that I haven't really gotten to meet yet. I will let you guys know more next week!

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Goodbye to Tom Parsons, one of the Recent Converts in East Moline

Goodbye to Elder Baxter, he returned home from his mission last week! He was a stud and I learned a lot from him!

Saying goodbye to the stud Demetrice!

Last Week in East Moline?

Hello Everyone,

Transfers are this week and I most likely will be getting transferred, we find out tomorrow. This week was a good one even tho I got a really bad cold out of nowhere! I don't know why I always get colds. But Hopefully it’s gone soon.

This week we spent more time knocking to save miles, and we did a ton of knocking. We found a few new investigators and had a few guys get really mad at us for coming to their house. Some people have some serious hatred towards us for some reason, and they use colorful language! Haha

The best thing from this week is that we got an awesome new investigator on Saturday and he came to church on Sunday! We knocked on his door and he let us in! He is a black midget and he is awesome! I think he is in his 20s and lives alone, never really gone to a church before but is really willing to learn. He came to church for all 3 hours and stayed for the ward pot luck afterwards! Same with our other investigator Francine, I was so glad to have both of them there! Demetrice is the new guys name and we set a baptism date with him for the 9th of September! Now I wanna stay here in this area, but I don't think I will make it another transfer.

We played a little more ball with some guys on the streets and that was fun, I sure hope a lot of guys show up for ball on Tuesday night! Have a Great week Everyone!

Love, Elder Anderson

John Deere World Headquarters

We saved this racoons life

Me and some corn

Heat Wave/Corn Wave

This week was so hot! The humidity is killer, constantly dripping sweat! On top of that they have cut down on our miles for the car, we get 1,400 a month. Which is crazy, I'm normally used to like 1,800. We also have a really big area so we can’t get to the outside towns anymore. We have been walking a lot lately in this heat, which means a lot of knocking. There has also been a ton of rain here this week which just makes the humidity worse! The corn out here is getting so tall and there is so much corn, just waves and waves of corn for as far as you can see once you get out of the city. Its nuts!

We have been meeting with an investigator that moved into our area about a month ago, we go over a couple times a week to teach her. She has a bunch of little kids, she is from Africa, and she has a newborn that she is trying to help to sleep through the night. So she doesn't get much sleep, she hasn't been able to come to church yet. She also smokes and drinks so we will have to help her with that.

Francine is doing good we met with her once this week. We had Sis. Hirst there with us and it was awesome. Sis. Hirst comforted her and we talked about how missionaries will leave but members will be there. So now she has another familiar face at church. She didn't make it to church yesterday tho, Sis Hirst went to go pick her up but I guess Francine was busy. Sis Hirst also took them some big fans to help cool off there house because their A/C doesn't work.

We also had exchanges and Zone Conference this week, so that was fun. On exchanges all four of us went and 2 of us were on one side of the street and two on the other, and we just both worked down the street haha it was fun. Knocked out a few streets doing that.

Last night we were knocking a street and we talked to a cool kid that plays basketball and we just gave him a card, then kept knocking. But he went outside to play basketball in the driveway and we were heading in for the night. But the Spirit kept saying go play with him and invite him to Tuesday night basketball at the church. Haha I just kept thinking of how cool the conversion story would be haha. But I was like no lets just go in, then I was like wait! Then like nah let’s go in, but then the Spirit slapped me and told me to go play with him, haha so we did. It was a nice outdoor court, we were in a nice area, the kid was about 17 yrs old probably. We started playing 21, a fun game. He was pretty good at ball, he plays for the local high school, but I was dancing on him and breaking his ankles! Haha I won, and you could tell he was embarrassed and thought it was pretty funny that he just got beat by some missionary! haha but I told him to come to Basketball on Tuesday nights so I really hope he does! Haha I love playing street ball with people out here, they all think it’s crazy that I play in church clothes, but then they get beat. hahaha Super fun sharing the gospel that way!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Me and some corn

Helicopter ride over Nauvoo

Nauvoo Pageant

This week was filled with a lot of lessons and knocking. We found several new investigators and set aside several investigators. Monday night we had Dinner with the Snyder family, they're an awesome family who live out in the fields but have an amazing yard with a pool and lots of land. Their house is kinda up on a hill, it’s their dream house and really cool. So many fireflies flying all around out there too it was cool.

Tuesday we went to the Food Pantry out in Geneseo for the last time since the mission has cut down on our miles. So we have been very careful of how far we drive everyday. Wednesday we got to hit the pavement and went knocking most of the day. We found several new investigators and taught lots of lessons.

Thursday we had District Meeting and the Zone Leaders talked for a little bit and told us how we can better help get our investigators to church and it was awesome, I learned a lot. They talked about explaining what goes on at church with people and relating everything we teach back to church and starting off with church. Friday was another hit the pavement day!

Saturday we got to go to the Nauvoo Pageant! The Snyder Family gave us a ride down and it was awesome! We went to a few plays during the day that were really good and cool. They are performed by missionaries that get set apart for 4 months to do it and they are really good at what they do. Then we walked around the temple and got some fudge at the fudge shop! At night the Pageant started and right as you walk in there is a guy that passes out a newspaper. Then you walk a little further and theirs senior missionaries that say here is the real one throw that one in the trash because it is anti mormon. Talks about tons of stuff. SO crazy that those guys have nothing better to do, and they call themselves christian, that's not very christian like. I'd love to sit down and teach/show those guys the truth.

Anyways awesome time in Nauvoo and awesome week! It truly is a miracle what the saints did, the Lord was with them every step of the way! And He is with us every step of the way if we are willing to use the Atonement and strive for greatness everyday! I love you all!

Love, Elder Anderson

The Nauvoo Pageant 2017

America

Hello, This week was fun! Tuesday for the 4th of July we went to the Wards Pancake Breakfast which was good, then we got to work until 4. We got in a few lessons and one new investigator! No members invited us to do anything with them so we stayed in the apartment for the night. Suuupppeerrr boring! I sure missed all the fun things we would do for the 4th back home!

Wednesday we got a few lessons and 3 new Investigators! A Recent Convert took us out to what was apparently the first Dairy Queen, just one of the small ones where you sit outside. Pretty cool! That night we went by an investigator we found the week before and he said he was praying for truth and then we showed up. We talked for a while and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would do some research which is never good, it just means they will get antied. Sure enough, we’re pretty sure he did since he had a lot of really crazy deep questions. Like Kolob stuff, haha but we cleared it up and he said he was gonna give us the Book of Mormon back but he said he will give it another try and pray about it. We told him to make sure he is studying from the source and praying about it.  

Thursday we had Interviews with the Badgers, those are always great! We were able to find 3 New Investigators that day also. Friday we had exchanges, I went with Elder Fox to his area we had a lot of fun. Elder Fox and I have served around each other almost our entire missions so it’s awesome! We were able to find a few New Investigators for them.

Saturday we were trying to round up Investigators and get them to church. I always make a big list of everyone we can go by and invite to church. I also find a lot of former Investigators from the Area book and go by them. It helps a lot and a lot of People say they will come but most don't.

However on Sunday morning we had scheduled to go to Francine's to remind her about church, so we went by but no one answered. We went and took lunch then I felt prompted to go back one more time right before church, so we did and her mom answered and said she was asleep. But she went and woke her up! haha and she said she wanted to come! So we hurried and went to the church and got a member to pick her up with us! She stayed for all three hours and said she liked it! Francine has lived in the USA for 10 years now, she is 20 years old and very shy. So it was awesome that she came to church fighting the shyness. We hope she will continue to progress.

Well it’s been an awesome week! Keep studying from the source and praying! Overcome your fears and follow spiritual promptings! Those are some random things that I saw this week from our Investigators haha! Didn't get any pictures this week, maybe next week sorry! Have a great week everyone!

Love, Elder Anderson

Hola Familia!

Hola Familia,

Another week down! It was a good one! I hit my 8 month mark! I have been baptized!! haha Time really flies! This week was great! We have had the Zone Leaders stay at our house all last week and all this week because their car is in the shop. So that has been a blessing because my comp and I don’t get along too great but it’s not to bad!

This week we found 7 new investigators and I was shocked at how cool some of them are! I really hope we can start working with them this week and meeting with them regularly! We have just been knocking on a lot of doors everyday and talking to as many people as possible. A goal that I set for this transfer is to go by 2 members homes a day just to build trust and hopefully get some sweet referrals! It has been going good but no referrals yet. We also never get dinners here, we only had one or two last week and nothing this week. Nobody even signed up to have us over for the 4th, kinda a bummer.

Most everyone in the ward is gone on vacation, probably to Utah where their all from lol. None of the bishopric was there yesterday so the Stake President had to come. Things are good out here tho!

I love you all and happy fourth!

Love, Elder Anderson