This week we had the goal to set three batsman dates. We haven't set
any in over a month. We started the week with a fast and then fasted
midweek as well. Thursday night I felt like we needed to visit the
Lopez family. The entire family are members except for Carolina but
they had been inactive for a long time before we started visiting them
The mother, Yasmin, wasn't available but Braulio (17 years old) let us
in and we talked with him and his eleven-year-old sister, Carolina.
The last time we had seen them was about a week ago. That night, too,
had been with only Carolina and Braulio. We had left with them during
the previous visit the commitment to read the introduction of the Book
of Mormon, and since they hadn't yet, we read it with them. During the
course of the lesson, Braulio expressed to us his question and doubts
about the nature of God, His existence, the Book of Mormon, and the
idea of a modern prophet.
As we read the the introduction to the Book of Mormon one word stuck
out to me: testimony.
I felt like I should ask Braulio what a testimony is. I thought it a
dumb question--of course he knows what a testimony is, he's been going
to church for a while--but I followed the prompting and asked. Turns
out, he didn't feel like he had a testimony because he had never had
any powerful spiritual experiences and so felt like he didn't know
that anything was true.
What followed was a powerful spiritual experience for me as I bore
testimony to him of the Book of Mormon and how a testimony can be even
just a desire to believe.
Thursday night too he had many questions and so I decided to focus on
what had always brought me the answer and what I was confident could
bring him his answers once he understood it better: the atonement.
To help them lien it to themselves we put Braulio in the place of the
Savior and asked him what he would do to help and protect his sister,
and how Carolina would feel if he died for her.
The spirit was strong en and I thought of something Sam (our recent 9
year old convert) said in a recent lesson. I'd asked him what the
bread and water in the sacrament represent. "Love!" he said. My first
instinct was to correct him. But really, he was absolutely right. And
at is what I tried to express to Braulio and Carolina. Braulio it
turns out hadn't understood mercy, but he did then.
And when we asked Carolina if she would be baptized next month she
said yes! And Braulio gave the closing prayer, a simple, sincere
prayer expressing his desires to know more.
We also met with Oscar, our downstairs neighbor who we have talked
with a couple times before. He told us when we shared Joseph Smith's
vision of Christ and God that he heard a voice telling him to listen.
He reads the Book of Mormon and believes it but won't pray and won't
come to church. We talked with him about what is holding him back and
I was able to resolve a lot of his concerns through my own experience
and what I had studied that very morning. He said he was worried that
once he got baptized he wouldn't be able to love worthy of the Holy
Ghost and the expectations that would be set for him. I told him I had
the same concern as a missionary and I asked him, what was the last
gift you received. He told us and I asked him why that person had
given it to him. The answer:because she loved him. The Holy Ghost is a
gift, I told him. It's true that we must be living worthy of it to
have its constant companionship, but, I told him, "It's not like we
are given all these commandments that we have to love perfectly to
have the holy ghost, rather we have the holy host to help us live the
commandments.
Halfway through the lesson I felt very strongly that we needed to
commit him to live the Word of Wisdom (no drugs or alchohol). I read
to him the promises God promises us if we live it (found inD&C 89). He
said they sounded familiar and he committed to stop smoking. (So far,
he has t smoked since). He also accepted a baptismal date for next
month. (He also to,s us the past three times we knocked on his door he
had been thinking about or praying about our message and we had come
as his answer).
The third date was set with an 11 year old boy, Elihu, whose ,other,
after hearing our dinner message, decided she wanted him baptized, and
she herself began to attend church again.
We got I late at night and only had a few minutes to teach and had no
idea what we should teach him. After the opening prayer I felt like I
should ask him what he knew about God and we talked for a while about
God and how he is our loving Heavenly Father and how to pray to him.
We talked then about baptism and the Holy Ghost. At the end of he
lesson he exclaimed, "I get it now! God will always be my father and I
will always be his son, so he will always love me. And I know now what
the spirit feels like." It was a beautiful moment, especially because
we found out after the lesson that their dad had left them some time
ago. He is excited to be baptized in three weeks.
We also had two others who are cited to read e Book of Mormon and said
that if they feel that it is true after reading and praying they want
to be baptized.
The lord answered our fast and prayers and the Spirit guided us this
entire week. It was one big miracle!
Sorry for the novel. One last bit of news: tomorrow is transfers. I am
going to a nearby area where my last trainer, Hna Beatty went. She is
going home and I am taking her place. My new companion is Hna Hoffman.
I am thrilled! I've already been on a couple exchanges with her and
she is so sweet, fun, and hard working. I will still be in the same
zone and will get to see my late companion, Hna Sands, often. Which is
a good thing. We've come to be good friends. And what's more, I will
be close enough to attend the baptisms of Oscar, Carolina, and Elihu!
Saying goodbye to our ward was hard--I love these people!
Hermana Anderson
#allforHim
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Mission Letter 5 "Las Cucarachas"
This week was pretty slow. We had meetings on Wed and Thu, weekly
planning on Fri, service all Sat afternoon, and then Saturday night
and all day Sunday I was throwing up.
Saturday we went to help a ward member move apartments and it was
infested with cock roaches. We were spraying Raid like crazy and then
I, being the least fearful of the cucarachas, was down in the cabinets
sweeping them out and cleaning and finding all the pockets of them. We
think inhaling the Raid so much is what got me sick.
We had a whole six lessons. (Compared to the 20 we had two weeks ago).
But, we had a LOT of referrals from ward members, and it was amazing
how many calls we had from ward members as soon as they found out I
was sick--we are so loved here.
And my companion was so good to me, and such a good sport to be stuck
in the apartment all day.
Twice at dinner after we shared a message we had some one ask us to
come teach a friend or member of their family. It feels so good to
have their trust and to know that they were able to feel the spirit
through us.
A scripture we have been sharing recently for our dinner message is 2
Nephi 9:21-22. Wherever it says "all men" we substitute the name of
the person we are sharing the message with.
21 And he (Jesus) cometh into the world that he may save (your name)
if (he or she) will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth
the pains of (your name) . . .
22 And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon (your
name), that (he or she) might stand before him at the great and
judgment day.
I love that scripture and I love personalizing it. That's something.
I've been working on lately: personalizing the atonement. And so every
night I write down what significance the atonement had for me that
day. It's been really neat and I encourage all to give it a try.
Con amor,
Hermana Anderson
planning on Fri, service all Sat afternoon, and then Saturday night
and all day Sunday I was throwing up.
Saturday we went to help a ward member move apartments and it was
infested with cock roaches. We were spraying Raid like crazy and then
I, being the least fearful of the cucarachas, was down in the cabinets
sweeping them out and cleaning and finding all the pockets of them. We
think inhaling the Raid so much is what got me sick.
We had a whole six lessons. (Compared to the 20 we had two weeks ago).
But, we had a LOT of referrals from ward members, and it was amazing
how many calls we had from ward members as soon as they found out I
was sick--we are so loved here.
And my companion was so good to me, and such a good sport to be stuck
in the apartment all day.
Twice at dinner after we shared a message we had some one ask us to
come teach a friend or member of their family. It feels so good to
have their trust and to know that they were able to feel the spirit
through us.
A scripture we have been sharing recently for our dinner message is 2
Nephi 9:21-22. Wherever it says "all men" we substitute the name of
the person we are sharing the message with.
21 And he (Jesus) cometh into the world that he may save (your name)
if (he or she) will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth
the pains of (your name) . . .
22 And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon (your
name), that (he or she) might stand before him at the great and
judgment day.
I love that scripture and I love personalizing it. That's something.
I've been working on lately: personalizing the atonement. And so every
night I write down what significance the atonement had for me that
day. It's been really neat and I encourage all to give it a try.
Con amor,
Hermana Anderson
Mission Letter 4 "We Need to Change Our Message"
Transfer news:
My trainer, Hermana Beatty, got moved to another area in our zone and
I got to take over our area with my new trainer, Hermana Sands.
Fortunately Hna Beatty is only a phone call away and will remain my
Sister Training Leader.
I decided at the beginning of the transfer I wanted to work on
humility and patience. Well, the Lord answers prayers, so be careful
what you pray for.
We got lost a lot, and we had to drop a lot of investigators who
wouldn't keep appoint,mets or weren't progressing, and today we had to
drop another one who I really liked.
I'll be completely honest, getting a new companion was harder than I
thought it would be. It's a lot of change and adjusting. She is super
sweet, but since she knows nothing about the area the first week felt
like it was all on me. And it's hard to feel the spirit when you're
stressed. Then on top of that we had to finalize the plans for Sam and
Sophia's baptism on Saturday.
It was such a sweet service. Sam and Sophia gave the opening and
closing prayers and Sam kept telling me how happy he felt.
The service was well attended and it was heart warming to see the
support that came out for them, especially considering that since Sam
and Sophia understand English better the service was in English, and
yet there were some members there who spoke only Spanish.
And, since Hna Beatty is still in the zone, she got to come for the baptism!
After the baptism I was still feeling a little overwhelmed so I asked
the district leader for a blessing. In it, God promised that I would
be guided by the Spirit in all I did. Later that day, we were trying
to decide whether to go to dinner with a member who had sign d up to
feed us a while ago but who wasn't answering her phone to confirm. I
felt like we should go, so we did. The member wasn't home, but her
hired help welcomed us in and whipped together some food. She wasn't a
member of the church and we shared a short message from the Book of
Mormon. I left, though, frustrated. She had talked a LOT and I hadn't
been able to understand very much. I felt bad that she had to whip up
a dinner last minute and that the member wasn't home. And our message
had been rushed so that we could get to our next appointment. And on
top of that my comapnion later told me she had felt like we shouldn't
go. Why had the spirit told me to go?
Really, I'm not sure. I began to doubt the promise in my blessing.
The next day at dinner we ate with four elders and a member family. My
companion and I had been asked to give the dinner message and we were
planning to share a message about testimonies and missionary work,
when, right after dinner, I felt like we should talk about the
atonement instead. I admit, I was tentative to say anything to my
companion. At last I told her, "We need to change our message. I'm on
it." I wasn't really sure what to talk about or how to begin, but I
know the spirit lead me because afterwards the mother of the family
thanked me for sharing just what she needed.
Sometimes it feels like the work is going nowhere and God is just
playing with the dials seeing how hard he can make it before you
break, but I know he guides this work. I know transfers are inspired.
And this coming week my companion and I set high goals and we plan to
work for them with Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 as our motto.
Con amor,
Hermana Anderson
#allforHim
My trainer, Hermana Beatty, got moved to another area in our zone and
I got to take over our area with my new trainer, Hermana Sands.
Fortunately Hna Beatty is only a phone call away and will remain my
Sister Training Leader.
I decided at the beginning of the transfer I wanted to work on
humility and patience. Well, the Lord answers prayers, so be careful
what you pray for.
We got lost a lot, and we had to drop a lot of investigators who
wouldn't keep appoint,mets or weren't progressing, and today we had to
drop another one who I really liked.
I'll be completely honest, getting a new companion was harder than I
thought it would be. It's a lot of change and adjusting. She is super
sweet, but since she knows nothing about the area the first week felt
like it was all on me. And it's hard to feel the spirit when you're
stressed. Then on top of that we had to finalize the plans for Sam and
Sophia's baptism on Saturday.
It was such a sweet service. Sam and Sophia gave the opening and
closing prayers and Sam kept telling me how happy he felt.
The service was well attended and it was heart warming to see the
support that came out for them, especially considering that since Sam
and Sophia understand English better the service was in English, and
yet there were some members there who spoke only Spanish.
And, since Hna Beatty is still in the zone, she got to come for the baptism!
After the baptism I was still feeling a little overwhelmed so I asked
the district leader for a blessing. In it, God promised that I would
be guided by the Spirit in all I did. Later that day, we were trying
to decide whether to go to dinner with a member who had sign d up to
feed us a while ago but who wasn't answering her phone to confirm. I
felt like we should go, so we did. The member wasn't home, but her
hired help welcomed us in and whipped together some food. She wasn't a
member of the church and we shared a short message from the Book of
Mormon. I left, though, frustrated. She had talked a LOT and I hadn't
been able to understand very much. I felt bad that she had to whip up
a dinner last minute and that the member wasn't home. And our message
had been rushed so that we could get to our next appointment. And on
top of that my comapnion later told me she had felt like we shouldn't
go. Why had the spirit told me to go?
Really, I'm not sure. I began to doubt the promise in my blessing.
The next day at dinner we ate with four elders and a member family. My
companion and I had been asked to give the dinner message and we were
planning to share a message about testimonies and missionary work,
when, right after dinner, I felt like we should talk about the
atonement instead. I admit, I was tentative to say anything to my
companion. At last I told her, "We need to change our message. I'm on
it." I wasn't really sure what to talk about or how to begin, but I
know the spirit lead me because afterwards the mother of the family
thanked me for sharing just what she needed.
Sometimes it feels like the work is going nowhere and God is just
playing with the dials seeing how hard he can make it before you
break, but I know he guides this work. I know transfers are inspired.
And this coming week my companion and I set high goals and we plan to
work for them with Doctrine and Covenants 123:17 as our motto.
Con amor,
Hermana Anderson
#allforHim
Mission Letter 3 "Become as a Little Child"
This week was one of miracles. On Wednesday I decided to fast that we would find more investigators and that I would find ways to focus better on the work. That morning in our companionship study I was thinking about things that I could improve and my morning prayers came to mind. Often times I feel like I say them before any part of me is really awake and so I neglect to really focus on what I am praying for, on our investigators, and on my communication with my Heavenly Father. I decided that this week I would wake up fifteen minutes before when we planned to get up and read my scriptures before our morning prayers. And what a difference it has made! My prayers are more focused and spiritual, and since I start the day reading in Spanish, it gets my brain in a Spanish mode for the rest of the day :).
The other blessing of my fast came in the form of Oscar, Lupe, and Raugelio. We were on our way out of our apartment to go teach a referral and Oscar s out walking his dog. We stopped to talk to him and shared with him that God is our loving heavenly Father, that He wants us to pray to Him, that he has always given us prophets to guide us, and that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. He said he would read the introduction and that we could come back to talk to him on Saturday. On Saturday we went back and shared with him the message of the restoration--that God has restored his power and authority and the fulness of the Gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. Afterward, we asked him what he thought, and he said that a year ago he would have ha no interest, but in that time his mom had passed away, he had been homeless, he had been angry at God, and had begun to see the ways that God speaks to Him. He said that normally when someone comes to talk to him about God he slams the door, but he had felt that we had something special, and he told us that when we had shared with him Joseph Smith's experience he had heard a voice that said to him, "Listen."
After talking with Oscar we found Lupe and Raugelio. They asked what missionaries were and what we did and how we payed for it and where our families were. They were full of questions. And so we told them that we were from different parts of the US, where our families still are, that we worked before our mission to pay for it, and that we considered it a priviledge to leave our families for eighteen months so that others could be with theirs for eternity. Lupe lit up at the truth that families can be together forever and is eager for us to return and teach her.
We have also been working for acouple weeks now with Yasmin and her children:Carolina, Ricardo, and Teresa. Yasmin hadn't been to church in a long time. Her husband is in jail, her mother is in the hospital with cancer and other issues, and Carolina was severely injured a couple months ago and just had her last surgery. Carolina now wants to be baptized as soon as she is healed enough from her surgery, Yasmin attends church regurlarly, and Teresa and Ricardo have just begun attending as well. There is literally a new light in their countenances and you can feel the change in their home. There is so much more peace and joy. it is beautiful to see what the light and knowledge of the gospel can do for individuals and families.
Sam and Sophia are getting baptized this Saturday and they are so excited for it and excited to bring their friend, Marcos. i love their faith and humility. last week we taught them about tithing by using chocolate chips. We taught them that tithing is the opportunity to give back to the Lord and show our grattitude to him, and that all he asks is ten percent. We gave Sam ten chocolate chips and told him that one would be given back to the Lord. "Just one?" he asked. "That's it! He doesn't get very much . . ." Then when we told him what tithing is used for: to build temples and help others, he exclaimed, "I want to give Him all of it so He can build the temple!" It is no wonder Christ said that we must become as a little child to inherit the kingdom of God :)
Well, my novel is about finished. Sorry it's so long. This week has been incredible (and I get to use a computer instead of my ipad so it's a lot easier to type :)
This week I am getting a new companion. My companion hermana beatty will be in a nearby area, still in our zone, so I'll still see her :) I'm excited to meet my new companion tomorrow.
Love Hermana Anderson
#AllforHim
Mission Letter 2 "Storms and Tender Mercies"
This week we moved apartments and we had to completely shut down our old one and move everything out, so between that and weekly planning, we did comparatively little of what most people think of when they think of missionary work,which was a little hard actually. I was so ready to get out of our apartment and teach!
We did though get to teach Sam and Sophia, the cute little nine-year-old twins preparing for baptism on the 13th of August. I love teaching them because they are so eager to learn and to share what they learn. Sam has really taken to reading the Book of Mormon and his love for it is inspiring. While we were at their house teaching them Sam's friend, Marcos, came over. We told Marcos we were reviewing the hand signs we had taught them last time for the Ten Commandments and he said, "Oh yeah, Sam showed me those." He and Sam read the Book of Mormon together during our lesson and after the lesson Sam asked if he could read more. He turned to a random spot and began reading, and Marcos read with him. Turns out, they were reading about exactly what we had just taught them. Marcos wants to come to church and have us teach him, but he has to check with his mom, so we are praying for the OK :)
We went to a relief society activity (relief society is an organization in the church for women 18 years and older) and I am finally getting to know the women in the ward and I love them so much! We taught gospel principles this Sunday and I was honestly a little nervous but my Spanish held out and it was a great lesson.
Monday I was on exchanges in another area speaking English with Sister Tanner and we saw one miracle after another. Their area had been pretty stagnant and on Thursday they had hit some really rough patches, so our miracles were really tender mercies for Sister Tanner. We had decided to go see someone they hadn't been able to get in with in a long time. She lives in a gated community, but we decided to give it a try. The gate was locked but I had a feeling to try the back. There was another gate, also closed. Let's try it, sister Tanner said. The gates work so that as soon as they close they should have locked, but it was closed and unlocked. We were able to answer a lot of questions of the woman we met with and she wanted us to come back. That night we got in with a woman who said she wanted to be baptized, and as we drove home I got to see the most AMAZING lightning I have ever seen. It was incredible. We saw a double rainbow and then it poured rain all night and the lyrics from the song Blessing go came to mind: "what if our blessings come through raindrops . . . What if the storms . . . are Your mercies in disguise"
Hermana Anderson
#AllforHim
We did though get to teach Sam and Sophia, the cute little nine-year-old twins preparing for baptism on the 13th of August. I love teaching them because they are so eager to learn and to share what they learn. Sam has really taken to reading the Book of Mormon and his love for it is inspiring. While we were at their house teaching them Sam's friend, Marcos, came over. We told Marcos we were reviewing the hand signs we had taught them last time for the Ten Commandments and he said, "Oh yeah, Sam showed me those." He and Sam read the Book of Mormon together during our lesson and after the lesson Sam asked if he could read more. He turned to a random spot and began reading, and Marcos read with him. Turns out, they were reading about exactly what we had just taught them. Marcos wants to come to church and have us teach him, but he has to check with his mom, so we are praying for the OK :)
We went to a relief society activity (relief society is an organization in the church for women 18 years and older) and I am finally getting to know the women in the ward and I love them so much! We taught gospel principles this Sunday and I was honestly a little nervous but my Spanish held out and it was a great lesson.
Monday I was on exchanges in another area speaking English with Sister Tanner and we saw one miracle after another. Their area had been pretty stagnant and on Thursday they had hit some really rough patches, so our miracles were really tender mercies for Sister Tanner. We had decided to go see someone they hadn't been able to get in with in a long time. She lives in a gated community, but we decided to give it a try. The gate was locked but I had a feeling to try the back. There was another gate, also closed. Let's try it, sister Tanner said. The gates work so that as soon as they close they should have locked, but it was closed and unlocked. We were able to answer a lot of questions of the woman we met with and she wanted us to come back. That night we got in with a woman who said she wanted to be baptized, and as we drove home I got to see the most AMAZING lightning I have ever seen. It was incredible. We saw a double rainbow and then it poured rain all night and the lyrics from the song Blessing go came to mind: "what if our blessings come through raindrops . . . What if the storms . . . are Your mercies in disguise"
Hermana Anderson
#AllforHim
Sister Brooke Ellen Anderson
Arizona Tucson Mission
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