Mission Letter 31 "Don't You Just Love the World on a Day Like This?"

This month I have really gained a testimony of service. I think of a
quote from Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration, in which a
woman tells Joseph, "I don't agree with your religion, but I
appreciate your service," and he responds, "Mam, service is our
religion." I have truly seen how it can soften hearts--including my
own.

Some time ago we had felt prompted to knock the door of Perla's
sister, Laticia (not knowing she was Perla's sister). She turned us
down flat. This past week when we asked Perla if we could see her she
said to come to her sister's place and gave us the address. Laticia
recognized us and let us in. She and Perla are both single parents
with little kids and the apartment was a mess. "Can we help?" I
asked,and she declined. Then, as Sis Hinojosa talked with Perla, I
felt like we needed to serve. I got up and cleaned the kitchen and
Laticia's countenance visibly changed. She listened to what Sis
Hinojosa was teaching Perla and by the time we had both finished, we
asked her if she would listen to a message and she eagerly agreed.
I realized that i had judged her as not ready, but that we can't
judge. Also, that day had also honestly been a one hard for me and
leaving her house, I was so happy and so full of love for her and her
kids. Honestly all I could think of was the quote from Ann of Green
Gables, "Don't you just love the world on a day like this?" I
certainly did.

Also, I FINALLY finished the Book of Mormon yesterday and I love that
Book so much!! I was so eager to start again that I am already half
way through first Nephi. This morning I woke up early to read and told
myself I would read until I felt the spirit. I could have stopped
after a couple verses, but I couldn't stop! The spirit was so strong.
My new study themes are "Evidences of God's patience, grace, hope and
mercy with those who love him and desire to serve Him" and "the
relation between Faith and Power."

Hermana Anderson

Our last supper with the elders at Pizza Hut
Our cute little lizard friend that made it into our apartment and
entertained us for part of weekly planning (Hna Hinojosa had never
held a lizard before . . .)

Mission Letter 30 "(no subject)"

First of all, I love you all so much. Thanks for your continued prayers and support. 

Secondly, Miracles! . . .

Wednesday we had set up an appointment with our new investigator, Jesus, to meet at the church with some members for a bible study at 7:00. Well, 7:15 rolled around and Jesus was there but the members still hadn't arrived and we couldn't contact them. We were praying that somehow it would work out (especially cuz being Sisters and all we couldn't exactly teach Jesus at the church alone). Just then, a Sister from our Spanish Branch walked into the fowyer. "Could you join us for a quick lesson?" I asked her. We ended up having a wonderful lesson on the Plan of Salvation and Jesus took such an interest in it that he went home that very night and read the rest of the chapter we'd been studying and invited his two roommates to church with him. 

Friday afternoon we taught the Restoration through hymns with a less active with learning disabilities and she loved it! We brought our Ward mission leader and his wife to sing with us and she really enjoyed them. AND she came to church this Sunday!  

Friday evening, our recent convert, Pearl, called us to tell us she had a friend that wants to take the lessons. He is recently out of jail and looking for a change in his life. We invited the elders to join us for the lesson and it went really well. He is hoping to make it to church next Sunday. :)

. . . and Priesthood Power:

Friday night we had invited a member, Brother Allred, out with us to visit a less active that recently moved into our area. The less active wasn't home so we brought him to see our 12-year old investigator, Hailey. Hailey's 7-year old friend, Monique, was over playing and listened to the lesson as well. We talked to them about the priesthood and Brother Allred offered some great insights. After the lesson we asked Monique what she thought. "This makes me feel like I should go to church," she said. She, Hailey, and her little sister all came on Sunday. :)

The following morning I woke up early really sick. At 1:00 the Elders came to gave me a priesthood blessing. I was told that i would have peace and comfort and they commanded that the sickness depart, according to my faith. As soon as they left I finally fell asleep and slept for 2-3 hours. When I woke up, all my symptoms were gone (except of course for that after sickness achieness and exhaustion). 

I am so grateful for the Priesthood: the power of God given to worthy men on earth to act in his name for the salvation of his children. What an incredible trust and blessing!

Hope you all have a great week! Con amor,

Hermana Anderson

1. Exchanges with Sister McCombie-service at the Rex Allen museum
2. We got watermelon :)
3. Waiting to exchange back. I love this picture because I look tan ;)
4 & 5. Our ward mission leader's cat had a npbunch of kittens and this
one is my favorite so he let me name it. I called her "Little Bit"
(yes, Hna Farias, I was thinking of you ;)

 

Mission Letter 29 "We Found Jesús"

. . . So yes, I have, on my mission, come to know my Savior so much
more deeply and personally. And in that way, I have found Jesus. But .
. . When I say "we found Jesus" I refer not to the Jesus of Nazareth,
but to the very tall, bald Jesus with a huge smile, jeans, and a
tattered Bible. And technically, we didn't find him--Sister Collins
did.

He was walking home from the store carrying a bag of groceries when
Sister Collins passed him in her car, turned around, and offered him a
ride. Jesus, in his broken English asked her, "Are you Christian?"
Sister Collins replied that she was. They got to talking a little,
Jesus in his very broken English, and Sister Collins knowing no
Spanish, and Sister Collins offered to show him our meeting house and
asked him if two sister missionaries could come talk with him.

Here's where we come into the picture :). What we found out was,
little did Sister Collins know, at the precise moment that she drove
by Jesus, exhausted from a night at work, his hands hurting from his
grocery bags, had prayed that someone would give him a ride. Hence the
question, "Are you Christian?"

Jesus has a vast knowledge of the Bible and loved church on Sunday. We
are meeting with him and a couple other members of the Spanish branch
for a Bible study at the church on Wednesday and Jesus is excited to
attend.

Other Highlights of the Week:

Ivan asked us to teach his family and we had a beautiful lesson with
them. After sharing with them the account of Joseph Smith's first
vision, we asked them how they felt about it. The mother, Alexis, who
had been very quiet the whole time said softly, "I believe it." She
proceeded to tell us of an incredible experience she'd had one night
while she was driving. She had been crying--depressed about life
circumstances and confused about how to proceed. She said a prayer and
said she saw a light as if it was projecting from her forehead and in
the light she saw an angel sitting with her in his arms. "After that,"
she said, "I felt happy and at peace. I feel that same way now."

Pearl bore her testimony with us for the first time in Sacrament
meeting today. It was a very brief but powerful testimony of how the
Book of Mormon has blessed her life and the lives of her daughters. It
was such a sweet experience!

Last Monday we had family home evening with Carmen Morse and her
husband, Roger. We read the first three sections of D&C, played a dice
game, and had chips and dip and pie. It was such a fun, wonderful
night. But the best part for me was seeing how they had brought the
Spirit into their home. It was so sweet, I cried. I know, I'm pathetic
:)

Lots of love,
Hermana Anderson

PS Sorry no pictures. I'll repent next week :)
Sent from my iPad

Mission Letter 28 "In the News!"

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, and love! It is so fun to celebrate a birthday on the mission! My companion told the member we were having dinner with, Sister Thom, that it would be my birthday and she was sweet--she made me a chocolate cake and surprised me with a card and gift! 

Last Monday morning we were planning to celebrate my birthday a day early by spending the day in Sierra Vista with some other sisters for P Day. By 8:30 we were ready to head out and.  .. no car key. We searched for hours before finally giving up. We texted the sisters in Sierra Vista that we wouldn't make it, took naps, and then walked to Pizza Hut because Pizza makes everything better. 

We decided to ask the Sisters to have the entire zone pray that we could find our keys. All day we expected to get some sort of revelation and find them. But such was not the case. 

Friday morning we called the mission office and told them our situation. "Well," they said, "looks like you are going to have to buy a new key. In the meantime, we can send you the spare we have here. Let me go check and make sure we have it." A few minutes later he came back on the line, "Well Sisters, you must be living right. Your truck is the only one with two spare keys." I am convinced it is because of the prayers of our zone. And meanwhile, although losing the key was frustrating, it turned out to be the biggest blessing! The morning of my Birthday we were stopped on our bikes by a reporter who wanted a picture for the newspaper! AND, we found so many investigators! #exhausted

For five months now I have been praying for more Spanish investigators and all along they have been right under our noses! Riding bikes gave us the opportunity to talk to more people, and we talked to everyone. One thing I have learned is that "If God is preparing people to hear the Gospel (And He is :) then you can't not find someone when you talk to everyone. 

Last week when I was praying for more Spanish investigators, we were biking past a house and I felt like we should stop. Already late for another lesson, we kept biking. Then yesterday we passed by the house again and I knew we had to stop. A nice older man, Ivan, answered the door and told us in Spanish that he was glad we had knocked--he was looking for God and for answers. We are excited to continue teaching him and his family. 

Another neat miracle came through the power of fasting and prayer. 

Our branch has been fasting with us for our investigators and a month ago we asked some of them to fast for our investigator, Guillermina. Since then she's moved and we lost contact. We thought about asking the members to fast for someone else instead, but never did get around to it. Well I have a strong testimony of fasting and faith: Yesterday Guillermina called us and told us about some recent occurrences in her life that have lead her husband back to church. She gave us her new address and told us she and her family will be in church next Sunday! 

Quick update:

Carmen went to the temple last week to do baptisms for the dead and loved it! 

Perla is preparing names from her family to take to the temple in a couple weeks.

Armida and Pete haven't been to church yet so we will have to push back their baptismal date. Pete loves to pray and tells us often of experiences he has had with prayer. 

Love,

Hermana Anderson

Pics:

All the letters=all the love :)

Loving Arizona sunsets

Making fried icecream because we were feeling too skinny (jk, we made it for my birthday)

See that beautiful cactus? That's dinner :) We saw someone out cutting the cactus and talked with her and she showed us how to cook cactus and gave us some so that we could make our very own gourmet cactus :) I'm excited.

Sister Thom's beautiful birthday decorations

Moving our beds together on the floor in the living room to be closer to the AC #sleepover

My chocolate cake. And yes, there are 21 candles :) 

sd

Mission Letter 27 "TRANSFERS!"

Perla (Pearl) Mendoza got baptized! And she was confirmed and given
the gift of the Holy Ghost on Easter Sunday. It was such a beautiful
blessing. And her adorable 3-year-old daughter, Misha, says, "Mom, I
want to be baptized!" Let's hope she is still as eager in five years
:)

Armida and Pete accepted the invitation to be baptized, and after we
taught Hailey about our purpose here on earth and the afterlife SHE
asked US if she could be baptized. Why, of course you can, Hailey! :)
They are all preparing to be baptized on May 27th.

Carrie, our sweet landlord, is moving this week to Kansas and we will
really miss her. We had another member who is moving this week to
Florida as well, so between them and our usual service cleaning out a
wear-house, we have been busy and exhausted. Not to mention we were on
bikes this week (which is actually really fun).

And what you have all been waiting for, transfer news! Drum roll . . .
We're both staying in blessed Willcox!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!
Hermana Anderson

Bike life
Zone Meeting
Perla!

Mission Letter 26 "SPEAK! :)"

Ok, so really guys, I have the best work in the world. Why? Because I am paid better than anyone else in the world: I'm happy. And is that not all anyone wants?

MY MISSION VISSION:

Our mission president challenged us last week to think of a vision for ourselves for our time on the mission. I read and thought and prayed, and prayed some more. The first thing that came to mind was "To be happy."

"God," I said aloud, "that sounds like a dumb vision."

And in reply came the thought, "it's my vision for you. Can't we have the same vision?"

Why, yes. I suppose we can. And I am so glad We are working on it together :) No wonder I've been so happy!

RESTORATION CHALLENGE:

Our zone has the challenge of teaching the message of the restoration once a day for the month of April. It was Monday night, we had 15 minutes before we had to be home and we hadn't taught it yet. We had just returned from talking with an atheist. He was pretty prideful and stubborn and I left feeling sad for him and feeling like we had wasted our time. We came home, unloaded our groceries, and with 15 minutes left headed back out. At our gate I stopped and prayed, "God, we really want to meet our zone goal of teaching the Restoration once a day this month and we haven't taught it yet today. I know there is someone you have prepared to hear it. I don't know who or where, but I know you do. Please guide me by the spirit that we may find them tonight." I paused, then added, "I feel like we should knock the apartments across the street, but . . ."

I stopped myself there. I wasn't sure about knocking those apartments, but if I had just said I felt we should, I was going to act on that prompting. We knocked a couple doors with no answer so we walked a little further and then I felt like I should stop at one door. We knocked it and Serena answered. After we had shared with her Joseph Smith's first vision she told us, "I don't usually answer the door at night, and I don't usually like to talk to missionaries of any faith. But that was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. It gave me warm chills."

I am so grateful for the guidance of the spirit and that I have this opportunity to learn to follow it better.

PERLA:

We taught Pearl the Word of Wisdom this week and she quit drinking Coffee and Tea cold turkey and is feeling ready for her baptism this Saturday!

ARMIDA AND PETE:

We found them at a friend's house that we had knocked a couple times before but stopped knocking because the friend, Sherry, wasn't interested. We felt like we should knock though and ask Sherry again if she would like to hear our message. Again, she said no. But Armida said, "I would love to hear your message." We have been teaching her and her 8 year old son, Pete, for a week and a half now and both of them love to read the Book of Mormon and have already had some beautiful experiences with prayer.

40-DAY FAST: SPEAK

Our mission president issued a challenge that we chose something we can do to be better missionaries and do it for 40 days. I was thinking about what I could do and read an article about the commandment to 'Preach to EVERY creature." I decided that for 40 days I would talk to EVERYONE I could. After only two days of doing so I can say it is hard sometimes but I am amazed at how many people will listen, and how many people want to hear more. We found a family of five, and three others who asked us to come back! My companion and I also have the goal to speak only Spanish whenever possible and so far it has been easier than I thought it would be. I LOVE being a missionary!