Goodbye Hannibal

Hello everyone!

We had a great week this week! Did a lot of knocking. We got a few New Investigators! The first one was on Tuesday, Troy Porter. He is a media referral we got a week or two ago and we have been trying to meet with him for awhile. We finally met and taught him the Restoration and he loved it. He has some kind of disease in his brain that is incurable. It makes him black out every now and then and he can’t remember a lot. But he is really cool I hope they can keep teaching him! We also got another cool guy his name is Trevor, he has been a potential for a while and we were finally able to teach him, he is younger probably in his 20s, seems cool. He is interested and hopefully will come to church soon. Then when we were knocking there was a couple kids playing basketball, so I went over and started to talk to them. One was an older guy and he said he didn't believe in God but the other one is a 12 year old black kid, his name is Markel he is super cool. We taught him the Restoration and then I beat him in Horse haha!

I am getting transferred to Moline, Illinois! It is in the Davenport, Iowa stake! I’m super Excited, I hear it’s a great place! I leave on Thursday, I have loved my time here in Hannibal and wish I could have stayed one more transfer but the Lord has other plans for me.  

Well it was a great week! I don’t have a ton of time because today is not our P day, it’s on Wednesday this week because of transfers. I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Anderson

Me on a tank

At the Shethi's for lunch after district meeting

Yogurt at the Spoon Wave

A deadhead they found last Monday

Busy Week!

Hello Everyone,

This week was busy. We did a lot of finding and found some cool new potentials. We weren't able to meet with our main investigators due to Zone Conference. We had Zone Conference on Friday so we left here at like 3 on Thursday and drove to Quincy, then to Iowa City which is about a 2 and a half hour drive. We got there and stayed the night and then had Zone Conference all day long, it was rough but I learned a lot. We got back Saturday morning and went to the Shethi’s for another great breakfast. I love going there.

Nothing crazy happened just normal things, lots of service and finding. I’m short on time today, I hope you all have a great week! Love, Elder Anderson

Serving at the food pantry

Cops, Tornados, and Muscle Milk

Pretty great week this week! So last Monday I went to GNC to buy some protein powder, and when we were walking back to the car there was this box sitting in the middle of the parking lot and It says Muscle Milk. I ran up and kicked it just expecting it was empty, but it was clear full of protein shakes! I picked it up and ran to the car! Everyone was wanting one so I had to give a couple away but I still have a ton and now I'm gonna get huge! Haha

We have had a few tornado's, one night we were at Wal-mart and the tornado sirens started going off. You could hear the rain coming down super hard and the wind blowing. Then they came on the intercom and said there's a tornado, everyone get to the back of the store. Most people were running to get out before they got locked in haha. But we went to the back of the store and stayed there for about an hour, and then they let us go. It went right over Hannibal but never touched down! One other night we had a big storm but no tornado's.  

Then the other day we were driving out to a referrals house. I was kinda going fast and I came around a corner and Tiwi (the box in our car that yells at us when we go to fast or drive aggressively) was yelling at me. So I was trying to slow down. Anyways everything happened so fast but the cop pulled me over and came to my window and the first thing he said was " Hey that's a nice watch" hahaha. Then he told me I was going too fast and he gave me a warning. It's up on my fridge now it’s pretty sweet! Lol

We also had exchanges with the Zone Leaders and that went great. We found 4 new Investigators, a couple of them seem solid. We weren't able to meet with Reid and Shelby this week they were too busy but hopefully this week. One day we were out knocking and we knocked on our old first counselor's door haha. We didn't know where he lived and accidentally knocked on his house. He let us in for awhile and gave us $30 for dinner haha. We ate good that night! We knocked a lot this week and found a few people so hopefully we can get a lot of lessons this week.

Love, Elder Anderson

Exchanges

4 Months!

Hello everybody, four months down already!

This week was a good one, P day was good, Monday night we had Ethen's Baptism interview and it went great! Tuesday we had Interviews with our President and those went great, and I gave a training on why the LDS church doesn't have crosses. It's mainly because we believe in a living Christ and It says in the Bible "If ye love me Keep my Commandments" not if ye love me have a cross. And to not carry our cross physically but to carry it by living the atonement. But we don't have anything really against it, we pretty much choose not to, and we still respect it.

Wednesday we just stopped by some people and spent some time with them and did a little knocking. Thursday we made programs for the baptism. We also had a short lesson with Terry, Ethen, and his daughter that wants to take the lessons in the summertime when school is out. Friday we went running in the morning and weekly planned. Later we went to Reid and Shelby’s for a great dinner and we had a great discussion with them, it wasn't on anything specific, it was just talking about random things and trying to answer their questions the best we could, I love going over there because I learn so much about so many things and when I can’t answer them I write them down and go study and am able to text them the answers, It’s so cool because we aren't just teaching them they are teaching us and it’s awesome!

Saturday was Ethen’s baptism and it went great. It took three times but we got it done! haha I pretty much had to put the whole thing together and it was kind of stressful I had never done it before and my comp is the senior comp and should know how but he had no idea! That's how this whole transfer has been, I feel like I’m just pulling him and he doesn't really know or care about what’s going on he just goes with the flow. It’s ok though it has been a HUGE learning experience. Yesterday Ethen was confirmed and it went great!

It’s been a great week! We have a great week planned ahead of us!

Love, Elder Anderson

Terry & Ethen

A great day!

Another Week!

Monday: Balled hard at the YMCA. Then worked out at the zone leaders new place and I ran a few miles with a full sauna suit! I've never sweated so much in my life.

Tuesday: A normal Tuesday of doing service at the Food Pantry and having dinner with a member!

Wednesday: We tried by a lot of potentials and didn't get much luck. We then we had a lesson with Ethan and we went over the Baptismal Interview Questions and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it went well. It's hard to get him to pay attention but it went good and he is getting baptized this Saturday, so we’re super pumped for that! Later on Wednesday night we went knocking and knocked on this old man’s door. He hates Mormons and we got into a somewhat heated discussion but not really. He said tons of false things about our church like he thought we worshipped Joseph Smith and he's mad that we don't have crosses on our churches. I thought I did a good job on explaining everything to him and he just thought I was lying. And then he said " Don’t ever come back!' and " you're not gonna be saved" over and over. I just kept smiling at him and walked away! I honestly love explaining our church to people like that because they just have so much false doctrine. My comp hates it and gets super mad so I have to calm him down haha.

Thursday: We went to Quincy and had Zone Training meeting and it was great! After we went to Buffalo Wild Wings like always! haha I love that place!

Friday: We went on Exchanges with Elder McGiven and Elder Miller, we had a lot of fun with them! That night we went to the Shethi’s for dinner and had some good curry!

Saturday morning we went to the Shethi’s again for breakfast and had our giant omelette. I don’t remember what else we did that day haha.

Sunday was good, it was great to go to church and re fuel on the spirit! Shawn came and after we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we got Invited to go to dinner and a study with a bunch of college kids or newly weds and that was fun. Their all from some christian church. Hopefully we Baptize them all. lol

It’s been a great week, me and Elder Youngstrom are doing great! I hope you all have a great week!​

Love, Elder Anderson

The Zone

Transfers

This week has been awesome! We have been super busy!

Monday wasn't P day but we still emailed. Then on Tuesday we kinda went around and Elder Roskelley was saying goodbye to people because we got our transfer calls and I am staying in Hannibal. Elder Roskelley is going to Iowa City to serve in the YSA ward. He was way pumped! So on Wednesday we went to the Temple and did a session. It was awesome! I love going up to Nauvoo! Thursday we went to Quincy with our Branch mission leader. He dropped me off and Elder Roskelley went to Iowa City for transfers. So we went on exchanges for bit while we waited for our new companions! Then they rolled up around 1 and we all went to B-Dubs for lunch! I'm serving with Elder Youngstrom! He's different and kinda weird and awkward but we are gonna work hard together this transfer and learn a lot! I'm excited!  

We had to stay the night in Quincy because we went back to Hannibal but I forgot the keys to the car, so we went back to Quincy and helped the Zone leaders move to there new apartment. We stayed all day Friday helping them and stayed the night again. We got back to Hannibal early Saturday morning and went straight to the Shethi’s for a big breakfast! That's how we break in the new guys! My first day we went straight to the Shethi’s for Thanksgiving dinner. haha They make great food! Then I showed him all around Hannibal.

We also met with Reid and Shelby again! We had dinner with them and went over the Plan of Salvation. They have so many questions and I think we answered them pretty good, but it's awesome because I learn so much from going over there too!

Yesterday was Stake Conference, we are in the Nauvoo Stake so they had it up in Nauvoo, but they broadcast it to our church. President Badger spoke and Elder Joseph Satoti from the 70! It was great! Our Investigator Shawn was there and we taught him the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome!

It's been an awesome week! I am loving the change and I have already learned so much!! I have been in the lead with pretty much everything lately and I am learning so much from it! My comp is kinda quiet in lessons so I am the main talker. I am learning sooo much and can’t wait to learn so much more this transfer!

Love,

Elder Anderson

New Comp Elder Youngstrom from Idaho Falls, Idaho

Dope Hannibal sign

Mark Twain

The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple

100 Days on the Mission

Pretty good week this week. We had some fun, and had a lot of success. I don't remember much tho so idk how long this will be haha.

We had a great District meeting this week about being Sanctified and Developing your Vision. It was great! We went on a short Exchange with the Zone Leaders and I learned a lot. On Saturday we went knocking on a street a lady told us not to go to because it was to dangerous, but we actually found some awesome people. We were knocking and a guy from across the street came out and asked us if we had had dinner yet, and we said no. So we went to his apartment and him and his wife had just gotten married back in July and they are both in their early 20's. At first I thought it was a joke and he was a Returned Missionary and everything, cause they looked like a young couple at BYU, haha but it wasn't a joke. They're just super cool and they go to a small Christian Church, they both Minored in Bible study at the college here. They had a lot of questions and they might be a hard sell but it will be fun working with them. And he invited us to go play ball at the college so we did. He has a ton of cool friends and some were interested, so we got some potentials from that.

Yesterday I finally gave my talk in church and I think it went pretty well! I spoke on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They asked me to speak for 15 minutes and I think I spoke for exactly 15 minutes haha. I had been praying a lot to have the spirit with me when I speak and I definitely did, it went great.

Things are going good out here, we find out about transfers on Tuesday. My comp totally thinks he is leaving and he most likely will and I will probably stay. I really want to stay too, I'm praying hard that I get a good companion! I hope you all have a great week this week!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Serving at the food pantry with Elder Roskelly

3 Months

Hello everyone!

Another week in the mission field! I hit my 3 month mark! Time flies out here.  Kinda a normal week.

Monday: Balled at the YMCA and went to FHE at our Recent Converts house and had a good time there.  

Tuesday:  We got a media referral so we went and taught him the Restoration, he accepted to be baptized. Then we taught Shawn about the BOM. It went well and his mom was there at the beginning and she had a lot of questions because she was curious about what her son was getting into. She had heard a lot of false things about our church so we cleared all that up. Then we went to the Food Pantry and did service and got some food. We had a dinner and after that we went to Quincy to start our exchanges with Elder Fox and McGiven.

Wednesday: We had exchanges and I went with Elder McGiven and had a good time. He is from Orem and went to Utah state for a year and played football. He's really cool. We had to end exchanges early because we were leaving to Burlington, Iowa to stay the night because we had Zone Conference the next day in Iowa City so we needed to be closer. There was 21 elders that stayed there that night in a little apartment! It was nuts! We all balled that night and that was way fun!

Thursday: Zone conference was alright. After zone conference we went to Texas Roadhouse! We had to stay in Burlington again.

Friday: We left early and when we got back we went to village inn! Then we studied together in Quincy and went to Golden Corral then bounced back to Hannibal! So pretty much I spent all my money this week haha

Saturday: Was kinda a rough and long day. We ate our huge egg omelets like we do every Saturday and the Shethis. We went to our Investigator Chads house and pretty much told him we aren't coming anymore, because my comp has been teaching him since August and he hasn't really progressed much at all, and he drinks coffee while we talk to him! haha

Sunday was great! I had a great fast and a great time at church! I LOVE CHURCH! haha The spirit is always so sweet! And being able to partake of the sacrament always makes me feel good! I got to ordain Terry to the Priesthood! It was my first blessing and I was pretty nervous but it went great! The spirit just took over. Plus Shawn came to Church! He walked to church even tho he was way sick!

Well it was a pretty good week!

Transfers are next week, so I am senior Companion all week. So I have been driving and our little box thing called Tiwi that yells at us when we speed or drive aggressively is soooo annoying! I'm gonna rip it out one of these times haha! Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Anderson

The Mississippi River

Squad

Another Week

Hello!

This week we had a Missionary Broadcast and it was great! I learned a lot. They changed up our schedule and key indicators. They made our schedule really flexible, so pretty much we can choose when we study, and we only get a half hour for lunch now when normally it’s and hour. We only have 4 Key Indicators now, that's kinda nice. My comp is always stressing about numbers for some reason so hopefully this will be good.

Thursday was a weird day. We were doing every thing like we normally do, but we didn't have any lessons and every house we knocked on was empty. No one was home!  Friday we were knocking and an old lady came out and said "Oh hello! Come in"  We thought it was weird but we quickly realized that she didn't know who we were! She thought we were her twin grand kids. When we told her we were there missionaries she thought we were messing with her. Me and my comp were freaking out! But eventually she believed us I guess haha. We talked to her for awhile and she said she is 96! And she was getting around just fine! haha Then we taught Terry and Ethan again and they are doing great!

Saturday we went to Chad’s house. The guy with one leg and lives in a nasty house. Anyways. My comp has been meeting with him every week since August! I'm getting tired of him because he doesn't keep any commitments and drinks coffee and tea when we’re there. He says he is trying so hard to stop. But on Saturday we told him we can’t keep meeting with him if he won’t keep his commitments. He sometimes gets offended when we talk like that and says he feels cornered. It's weird because we are his only friends so he doesn't want to lose us. Haha

Saturday night we were knocking and a guy opened the door and he looked familiar. Then we remembered him from another area. He said he was at his Grandma’s last time and at his sister's today. Last time he said his grandma would be interested, so we were gonna come back. But this time he said his grandma had recently died. So we tried to comfort him and tell him he would see her again. He let us in and we taught him the Restoration, the spirit was crazy strong, and he started to cry. He told us he knew his grandma had sent us. Elder Roskelley started to cry too. But I didn't because I'm a man! haha jk My eyes were a little wet. Then he said the prayer for us and started crying again! We invited him to church and he said he might be able to make it, but he would have to walk because he doesn't own a car. It was an awesome experience!

On Sunday we were driving to Church and we saw a guy walking up the street and as we passed we saw that it was Shawn!! The guy who's grandma just died. It was 30 degrees and he was walking! We wanted to pick him up but we aren't allowed to! So we were pumped. Then we got to church and he never showed up! We were so bummed, we figured he went to the wrong church because there are a lot of other churches on the way. We will get him there next week!

Last night an older couple probably in there 60's let us in and gave us dinner and everything! They are catholic and his sister is mormon in Indiana and her son served a mission! So they took some pictures and sent them to them. They said we’re always welcome and said to give them a call if we ever need dinner! That was awesome!

Well that's about it!  Sorry it's so long again haha.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Anderson

I heard last weeks pics didn't get out so here they are:

Squad pic

The Equinox looking good

pic for our movie

another pic for our movie, lol

Toledo Lane

Hello Everyone!

We had an awesome week this week! On Monday we stayed up in Quincy because we had District Meeting and Interviews with our Mission President the next morning. So that was fun and Elder Madsen cut my hair for the first time since the MTC. It was getting pretty long haha. District Meeting and Interviews went great!  

Then Wednesday morning we went to Quincy again for Exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Madson and we taught a couple the Restoration and made them new investigators. Then we had lunch and had Knocked on 3 doors when our Mission President called us and told us to drive to Nauvoo to get our District leader a Package. So we were like ROAD TRIP! It’s only an hour away but we had fun. haha The rest of the night was fun and we found some cool people. The next morning we had to go to Kirksville with them because Elder Anitok needed a bed frame and some other stuff that he left in his last area and someone was bringing them to Kirksville and Kirksville is about 2 hours away. So we get there and they didn't even have his stuff, all they had was a football and a bag of a few things. But they took us out to lunch. Then we left and they let me drive!! The first time in over 2 and a half months, you can only guess what happened. haha

We were on our way home and I wasn't paying attention to the GPS so I missed a turn and the GPS recalculated and made me take a dirt road to get back to the other road. It has been raining a lot here so the road was really muddy and looked like a lot of fun! But it got worse and worse, and eventually we slid off into a corn field! And the mud was really deep! We got stuck, we tried and tried to get out but it only got worse. We called a ton of people, tow trucks, wreckers, members, everyone but no one could help us. After a few hours we found someone that could come pick us up and we were covered in mud, we played football in the mud cause that's all we could do haha. We walked back to the main road and one guy stopped and said " It’s not everyday you see a bunch of guys like you playing football in the road in the middle of nowhere!" haha We laughed, then he offered us a beer and left. Another guy stopped and said the same thing, then said he could get us out. But I knew he couldn't, even in his F-350.  We got in and we went to see the car and he almost got stuck, luckily he had a big tractor at his house just down the street. So we went and got it and it pulled us right out! haha it was awesome! The road we got stuck on was called Toledo lane. We liked it and said they should make a movie ​​of what happened today and name it Toledo Lane haha! We got a bunch of videos and pictures! We got stuck at around 1:30 and got out around 6. We got home late so we stayed another night in Quincy. So that was a great memory made. haha The guy that helped us thought it was weird how we were all laughing about it and smiling all the time. Haha We had fun!

On Saturday we got to go help a guy that is moving into our branch, he lives clear out in the boonies on a farm he just bought. He is a really cool guy and reminds me of people back home. He is getting mules, goats, donkeys, and chickens so we helped him fix up all the fences so he could have them. That was way fun! He says he loves having the Elders over and doing stuff with them. He is gonna take us to come cool caves sometime soon! Well it’s been an awesome week. Sorry this is so long haha

I hope you all have a great week!​​

Love, Elder Anderson

Sweet Week!

Hello Everyone,

Nothing too crazy this week. Tuesday we talked to a guy who's uncle told him he would live forever, and his uncle thought he would live forever too, but he died a couple months ago. He thinks that everyone that has died was killed by Satan or Satan tricked them into death. Idk hes crazy. We went on Exchanges again in Quincy on Wednesday and that was fun! On Thursday we had Zone training meeting, those are always great meetings. Me and a few other Elders from the District sang for the spiritual music note. It was pretty bad we didn't sound good haha!  

We got a few new Investigators this week, one of them is Hindu and her boyfriend is on a mission in Idaho. She was over at her boyfriend's family's house when we were there for dinner and we taught her the first lesson. It was kinda weird because it's hard to teach someone who has never been a christian. Since pretty much everyone we teach is apart of another church or has been so they all can understand it better. We don't know how much of it she got but we tried to break it down. It helps that she is good friends with a member family so she can ask them questions.

Then we got an older couple named Johnny and Kathy probably in there 60's and we met them at the food pantry. We have tried to set something up for while and finally we got in one night and had an awesome lesson with them. The spirit was strong and John liked what we were saying and he said "you would have to be a fool to not get baptized if you new it was true." haha They said they really liked the lesson so I hope we can meet with them again soon. We also talked to 3 younger guys probably in the 20's and we gave them the first lesson on the front porch while they were all smoking, and it was freezing. They said they liked the lesson and would get baptized if they came to know it was true, I hope we can set something up with them soon.

I lucked out big time again on giving a talk in sacrament, there was supposed to be a big ice storm here for the past few days but it has just been raining, it’s too warm. But they canceled church anyways so I didn't have to talk! haha low key I was praying they would cancel! Jk I love church but I don't like giving talks. But now I have two talks written that I can give the next time they need me to talk.

Last night we were knocking and literally everyone had the Green Bay game on and everyone was drunk.  They would come to the door then say the games on and close the door. Or there would be an old man that's super drunk and not have a shirt on and say something inappropriate and slam the door! We got all kinds of stuff last night! haha I found it super funny! So I know that green bay won in overtime with a last second kick just from getting an update at every door.

Pretty great week! Have a sweet week everyone!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Zone Training Meeting

This is where the LDS pioneers crossed the Mississippi River in Quincy

Some weird legs sitting on someones fence! Lol

Transfer Week

Hello everyone!

Another week! Time flies! It was a great week tho!

We got our transfer calls on Tuesday and we are both staying. 2 Elders in Quincy got transferred after just 6 weeks, I was happy. So we got 3 new Elders and they are awesome! Ones from Hawaii and two are from Orem. They are all so funny. We have an awesome district, this is gonna be a great transfer!  

On P-day we got to go to the temple because we had P day on Wednesday. The temple was open because it’s closed on Mondays (our normal P day). It was AWESOME! That Temple is so beautiful inside and out! They have some super cool historical stuff in the temple. We also got to see where Joseph Smith is buried, Hyrum, and Emma. Super cool!

We woke up to a little bit of snow on Thursday so we went out and shoveled the whole neighborhood! We also shoveled the church. We went to a few lessons and knocked on a lot of doors. We met some nice people! We visited Terry all week this week and Saturday was the big day! The Baptism went great! Terry loved it! It was awesome experiencing my first baptism! Then on Sunday Terry got confirmed and next Sunday I have the opportunity to ordain him the Aaronic Priesthood!

We got a few new Investigators this week.We hope we can get in contact with them and be able to get them on date and get them progressing! Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Terry's Baptism

Our District!

At the Nauvoo Temple!

The graves of Joseph & Emma Smith and Joseph's brother Hyrum Smith

Looking out towards the Mississippi River

Running to the cars, it was like 5 degrees!

Happy New Year! 2017! 2 Months Down!

Happy New Year Everyone!

We have been crazy busy the last few weeks with a ton of meetings and all the holidays and what not. It's all a big blur now. My comp is a terrible driver and we have almost died like 10 times. We’re gonna get in a crash soon haha.

This week we had some awesome nerf wars in the church, I’ll send some sweet pics that I got. Tuesday we went to Sherri and Jerri’s new house. They live about 25 minutes away now and they bought a good size house, but it is sooo disgusting. A bunch of meth heads were living there before them and it smells like poop.  We tried cleaning it up for awhile but it’s hard because we’re cleaning things that need to be ripped out and thrown away! haha They have a kid who is about 8 or 9 and a new born baby, so it’s not gonna be a good living place for them or anyone. I hope they get it nice in there but I don’t think they will, their kinda crazy.  

Wednesday we had District meeting and we all bore our testimonies because transfers are this week. The spirit was super strong and it was awesome! Then we went and got our Asus Zen Watches, they’re super sick! We then went home and taught my man Terry. He is getting baptized this Saturday. I am super excited for him!  Pray for him because I'm sure Satan is gonna work on him this week.

We went on Exchanges and I went with the District Leader, Elder Crandall. He is from Springville so that’s cool.  He is a good guy but he completely changes when he starts talking to an investigator or on someone’s porch.  He completely changes his voice and it’s really weird, I like to just be myself because I don’t want people thinking that the missionaries aren’t normal. Anyways it was fun and I learned a lot!  

New Years Eve was fun. We couldn’t go knocking so we went to Quincy and played basketball and went to B-Dubs for lunch. Elder Madsen the zone leader had to pay for my meal because I made a one handed, facing the opposite way, left handed shot from the opposite free throw line, my first try!  haha B-Dubs is great! Then we went home and got picked up from a member cause our cars were grounded. We went to their house and played games and watched the testaments and ate a lot of food.  

That night I finished preparing my talk, they forgot to ask for speakers so it was gonna be me and the second counselor. I was told to prepare about 25 minutes. I’ve only talked twice in my life and the longest was maybe 15 minutes, but I was feeling confident. Then we went to church and right when we walked in they said I wouldn’t be speaking because we were getting a new Branch Presidency. It was a super scattered sacrament meeting. But the Branch President got tired and needed to be done I guess, he has only been in for about 2 years.  

Anyways it was a good week! Today Isn't P day for us because of transfers, P day is on Wednesday but they said to still email today, so that means we get more time on P day. Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Anderson

My District

Nerf wars!

My Zone

Merry Christmas!

Cool farm picture