Week 27: snow and rain and hail and sun and almost peed our pants

Hola todos! This week like almost all of our lessons cancelled. Not
sure why. And also Friday we experienced every single type of weather
in one day. It was ACTUALLY INSANE. we were struggling a little bit
but it made for a good memory haha.

But on Sunday we were doing some contacting and warden and I were
having a good ol time like normal. We know eachother a little too well
hahaha. But we were walking away from this one house and warden did
something really funny and I almost peed my pants laughing so hard.
It's gonna be weird to not be her comp anymore. And we were like
running from different houses that we knew trying to find somewhere to
use the bathroom and we got into this less actives house that we'd
been trying to get in contact with 5ever. It was the guys birthday and
they had some BOMB tres leches cake. His brothers very active family
was there so we were talking about our missions together and sharing
some cool experiences.

But now let me get to the good stuff. I haven't talked about Olga for
a while bc she was out of town. But she's back now and she didn't
really wanna get baptized for a while. She felt like she didn't know
too much and she wanted to keep reading the Book of Mormon and going
to church and learning. So on Tuesday we left her with the challenge
to pray about a date to get baptized. To really ask god when the best
time to get baptized would be. She was thinking sometime in July and
that's way far out. She has a really strong testimony of prayer so she
was super down for it. So we came back Thursday like normal and she
didn't have a date. She said she really didn't know when she needed to
get baptized. So we read the baptismal questions with her and
reassured her that she knew everything that she needed to know. She
answered the questions perfectly. Like honestly probably better than a
member of their whole life would answer them. She has so much faith
and she is so prepared for this. So we present the date of may 13th
and she was like okay! That's perfect! A couple weeks ago when we
first got her on date, she wanted all of her kids to come from Mexico
and California to see her get baptized and she wanted to wait for
them. And now she's so ready that she's just gonna do it without them
and see them whenever they come over the summer. Olga is so gooood
though omg. During the closing prayer she said that she was so
thankful for this day and she would always remember it because it was
the day she decided to get baptized. ️️️ she's so cute. We're
pumped for her.

But yeah that's it y'all. OMG NO WAIT IM GONNA BE OUT FOR 6 MONTHS
TOMORROW. Crazy!!! It's seriously flown by so fast, but it's been so
great. I wouldn't trade these past 6 months for anything and I'm
pumped for what the next year has in store.

Have a great week! Here's some pics.

Hna anderson

Mi entrenadora went home. RIP hna Avalos

Week 26: ya girls are staying together! Woooo!

This week has been fantastic. Seriously. I just wrote out all the good
stuff that happened and then it deleted so this is gonna be short
haha. BUT warden and I are staying together for a 3rd transfer out
here in West Jordan! And that like never happens in this mission so we
are really pumped. We feel like the people that we are teaching out
here need both of us, not just one of us and someone else. We've built
up a lot of trust with the members and our investigators and so we are
hoping to make some cool stuff happen this transfer.

Anyway we had a lesson with natalie this past week and she's SO GOOD!
So they had been taking lessons from the missionaries before and her
and her husband got married so that she could get baptized. They loved
going to church but some stuff happened and they moved so they stopped
going. But one day some crazy cool miracle stuff happened to her and
she got online and requested missionaries on her own! Then a
missionary from the st. George visitors center kept in contact with
her and with us to make sure we finally got to meet her. And we did
and it was so good! She's been so prepared and she really wants to get
baptized. We went over the restoration with them and invited them to
start coming to church and to be baptized! We set them in date for may
20th and she's so excited. We met with her again on Saturday and her
husband David got a promotion and so he would be commuting back and
forth from Milwaukee. So that's kinda tough for her. But she and her
kids came to church on Sunday and they loved it! She's sooo cute.
We're so happy that we get to teach her!

Also our ward mission leader had a great idea last fast Sunday for the
ward council, ward missionaries, and us to fast for all of our
investigators! So we did and seriously fasting is amazing. We had a
lesson with this One less active man and his daughter that we've been
teaching for a while. He's not too down for his daughter to get
baptized bc he wants her to read and study more about the church. But
he already has a really strong testimony of fasting from whenever he
was younger and a recent convert in the church. So before the fast we
told him we were going to do it and invited him to fast with us! And
he did! When we went back and met with them he was completely
different. His daughter really likes it when we come and we went over
the restoration with them again. We invited her to be baptized at the
end and for him to prepare to baptize her and they said they would! We
set them on date for may 27th. We're pumped for them!

Anyway this week was awesome. Recuérdense leer las escrituras y orar
cada noche! Dios se ama mucho!

Con amor, hermana anderson.

Week 24: Feliz dia de pascua! (belated)

Hola familiares, amigos, y vecinos! This week was another amazing week
packed full of miracles. I feel like my testimony of the power of
prayer is growing SO much and I love it! There was also some other
cool stuff that happened too. Earlier last week we had a mission tour
where elder Christensen of the presidency of the quorum of the 70 came
to talk to us! (Mission tour is basically zone conference but for the
whole mission) and it was so good! He and his wife focused a ton on
the atonement and how we can apply it in every single thing that we do
in our lives. It was such a good meeting and it pumped us all up to go
spread the gospel haha. Also something somewhat funny that happened
this week. We were walking to our dinner appointment on Thursday and
there was this guy out in his yard. He like basically ran up to us and
started talking to us. Seconds into the conversation we realize he's
super anti and he's trynna pick a fight. His whole argument was that
we didn't believe in the same Jesus as everyone else. Like dude yes I
promise, it's Holy Week up in here and we're celebrating the same
Jesus that suffered, died, and lived again. But he wouldn't believe us
and at one point he pointed at a tree that was beside us and was like
"okay so if I told you this tree was Jesus would you believe me?" And
my comp is super witty so she was like "well he appeared to Moses in a
burning bush so it's honestly a possibility" 😂😂 haha the whole thing
was dumb and we just walked away while he followed/yelled up the
street at us.

But now for the good stuff. We've been praying all week that we could
find this one referral that we got from the st. George visitors center
that says it's a young family and they wanna get baptized. We've been
in contact with her over the phone and text but we've never actually
met her bc of her schedule bc she's super busy and has 2 young kids.
They live in the basement of a house with no separate entrance to the
basement so we always have to knock on the regular front door to the
house. And they're never home or the kids that live upstairs answer.
And we tried on Tuesday and one kid answered the door and told us what
her car looks like and that they usually leave at 8 in the morning. So
we were like ok. We're gonna try it at 8am. So all that week in our
prayers we told Heavenly Father that we were gonna go try to find them
on Friday morning at 8 and that she could be there and that we could
make an appointment with them. On Friday morning we went over there
and her car was in the driveway that the kid described! And so we
called her and texted her to ask her to come outside so we could meet
her but she didn't answer. And we didn't really wanna knock on the
front door and wake everyone else up. So we decided to say a prayer
that she would come outside. And not even a minute later she opens the
back gate and comes out to her car!!!!!! Seriously such an immediate
answer to prayer! She was so cute and so nice (her name is natalie)
and she was really excited to finally meet us. And we have an
appointment set up to meet with them tonight! So we're pumped about
it. We were also able to have a lesson with these people that we've
been praying that they would contact us bc every time we try they are
busy or some other excuse. But on Saturday we both had the impression
that we should try their house one more time, and they were home!
They've been coming to church every sunday forever but we've never
been able to figure out why they haven't gotten baptized or anything.
The lesson was kinda weird, but we figured out why and now we know how
to help them! We were also praying that we could know what we need to
do to help their family come closer to Jesus Christ. And that prayer
sure was answered haha.

Anyways, yesterday was SO GOOD. Sacrament meeting was perfect for our
investigators and our gospel principles teacher is absolutely amazing.
Then after church we went to Maritza y Abrahams house and they had
this cook out but with a ton of Mexican food and it was amazing. I
tried cactus for the first time and it was actually pretty good! Kinda
like okra but a little different. Easter isn't the big holiday for
latinos but seriously these guys know how to do holiday food. It was
the best. And then We helped them set up an Easter egg hunt for the
kids and it was so funny to watch haha. It was such a good day! Later
that evening after we ate and talked with them for a while we tried to
go find some people but that didn't work out so well bc nobody's home
or they are but they're just busy. But it was a great Easter none the
less.

Anyway I hope everyone had a great easter! Remember there's always
someone there for you that knows exactly how you feel and more.

Con amor,
Hermana anderson

Abraham y maritza y Cecil! And mateo in the front haha

gettin weird with the selfies

Right after our miracle on Friday morning!

Week 23: Utah weather is crazy

Heeeeyyy errbody! This week has been another great week. Everything's all good in the hood minus the fact that the weather here in Utah is insane. It was forecasted to rain on Saturday so we dressed for that weather. After a while of being completely sunny and hot we were wishing we weren't wearing boots and jackets and everything. We even got sunburnt from how sunny it was. So after we got out of an appointment it finally started raining, but also the wind was insane so it was like horizontal rain slapping you in the face haha. And the rain got super cold so we didn't regret the boots or jackets. But the wind was so crazy that our umbrellas broke and our appointment cancelled so we were running around in the rain like crazy people trying to get in someone's house. Eventually we had someone pick us up so we could go put some warmer clothes on. We were only home for like 20 min, then we walked out side and it was literally snowing. LITERALLY SNOWING. I think I experienced every season in one day that day. It was crazy. Anyywayyyy this week was great none the less! We lost our phone on Sunday after conference and we were super stressed. So that night when our DL facetimed us he suggested we make a specific prayer about the situation. Not too long after that and before we could even make a specific prayer, we found the phone. Little miracle. But we thought that we should still do it for other things. So this week we were scheduled to go on exchanges with the STLs on Tuesday. Our girl Olga has had a hard time with baptism and feeling like she's had an answer to her prayers or not. So we prayed that whoever stayed and whoever came would help her accept a baptismal date. I ended up leaving (and went back to my greenies area in magna ️️️️) which was SO GOOD! Some people that we were teaching there were finally getting baptized! They got baptized this past weekend. I wasn't able to go but I know hey we're pumped! Another family that we were teaching as well is on track to get baptized in a couple weeks! And their younger daughter was my first lesson ever when I came out into the field. I'm so happy for them. Anyway! Warden and hermana Guillén came here and it was soooo good. They helped Olga resolve some of her doubts and she accepted a date for April 29th! Kinda hesitantly but she did it! That night after we exchanged back we prayed again specifically that the next day when we met with her, she would feel more secure about baptism and have the desire to move forward with it. The next day we went over there and she said she had some news for us. Good and bad. So she told us that she woke up that morning feeling super happy and excited to get baptized and she knew that she wanted this really bad now. The other news was that she didn't know if she would get baptized on the 29th because she wanted her family from out of town to be able to come and be a part of it and see her make this big step in her life. So honestly it wasn't bad news at all! She realizes that this thing is a family thing! And we know that they are super supportive of her as well so it's all gonna work out great. Specific prayer brings miracles y'all! It's so good! We also saw a few other answers to specific prayers as well this week but that was definitely the biggest one. The lord knows our situation so well and he knows what we need, we just have to ask for it! Hope everyone has a great week!  Hermana anderson random snow  the day before, warmish and cloudy. Wendy's Martiza's son left some golden selfies on my ipad lol

Week 22: Milagros y conferencia general

Hola familia, amigos, y vecinos! This week was soooooo good and full
of some awesome miracles as well as general conference!

Hermana warden and I had the great opportunity to go to 2 sessions of
general conference this weekend! We were only planning on going to one
with our investigator Olga. But on Friday afternoon, we had a lesson
with another one of our investigators Stephanie. I don't remember how
much I've talked about her or if I have, but she's 20 and she moved
here from El Salvador about 1.5 years ago and has been being taught by
missionaries ever since. Her sister and mom and dad are members but
she isn't. During lessons in the beginning when I first got here, she
wouldn't let us read anything, watch any bible videos or even pray.
But we've been working with her and building our relationship with her
and the lessons have been so good recently! She's told us her hopes
and dreams for her life, she's admitted to praying on her own (on
accident I think lol) and we've caught her actually reading the
principios del evangelio Book during class. Anyway, this past Friday
we had a lesson with her like we normally do and the time before, we
brought up maybe watching the restoration video. She was hesitant but
said that would be okay. So on Friday we did! But the DVD we had
(which we didn't know at first) was super scratched and kinda old. So
it started skipping while we were watching it, and then someone
downstairs started vacuuming. So it was really annoying and it was
hard for everyone to concentrate. So while that was all happening
warden and I were praying in our minds so hard that the technology
would work and that we could feel the spirit. Then during the first
vision part right when it started to say "vi una columna de luz.." it
stopped skipping and the vacuuming immediately stopped. SO COOL MAN.
and the spirit was sooooo strong. So after the video we went and sat
down with her where we normally do and talked and she said she really
liked it and that it was so beautiful. And we kept talking about the
Book of Mormon and baptism and she said she would be baptized! She
wouldn't accept any specific day, but it was huge! So after we left we
had this strong feeling that she needed to go to conference. Keep in
mind this is Friday night around 8pm, and she couldn't go to any
Sunday sessions bc their family was getting together and watching it.
So we called and texted everyone they we knew that might have some and
nobody did. So we got home that night and the English sisters invited
us to go play volleyball with them and their district at the building
right by our house the next morning at 6am. I didn't really want to bc
that was really early and sleep is special. Warden doesn't even like
volleyball but she was down with it, and I was kinda hesitant but I
said yes too. So we prayed that night before bed that we would find
some tickets for us to go to the Saturday afternoon session. The next
morning we woke up early and I was super not down to go. I almost told
them that we weren't gonna go but I didn't for some reason. And then
we got there and the other sisters in their district had 3 extra
tickets! So cool! And so we went to conference and she liked it a lot.
We feel like she got a lot out of it.

Then we also went to conference with our girl Olga on Sunday morning.
She loved it! And we loved it too. It was so amazing to hear the
prophet speak. I thought it was so interesting what he talked about
too. Because he's super old and can't stand up for that long, he used
3 minutes to speak about something that wouldn't be sugar coated or
mixed with a ton of other stuff too. He chose to speak on the
importance of the Book of Mormon in our lives! So good.

Anyway there was some other cool stuff that happened this week but I
thought that was the coolest thing. Hope y'all have a great week! God
loves you!

Hermana anderson

 

Week 21: when the rains come down and the floods come up

Heeeeyyyyy errbody! I guess last weeks email had some trouble getting
out. Not sure what's up. But if it keeps doing that I'll just have
y'all read the blog that my sister puts my weekly emails on. That
could be a lot easier.

But anyway! We moved last week to the house that the English sisters
live in! The basement is super big and there's a ton of room for us
and we're pumped. So on Thursday it started to rain a bunch. And by a
bunch, I just mean a steady rain fall for most of the day. So we're on
our couch studying and then I stand up and see that the floor is
completely wet! We look around and the water is coming through one of
our window wells that's under the deck outside. And the window well
has like a foot and a half of water filled up in it. So we scrambled
and went outside to see what the problem was and the water from one of
the gutters runs right down where our window is. Anyway long story
short me and warden got under the deck in the mud and started scooping
out water from the window well with buckets and then we had to
engineer a pipe thing to steer the water away from our window. We
worked on that until we left for dinner that day. It was insane.  If I
ever said any other week was crazy, I was lying bc this week was
actually really crazy! A bunch of other stuff happened too but I'm
just gonna keep this short. We also had the last minute opportunity to
go to women's conference at the conference center! The English sisters
called about an hour before we had to leave and said they had 4 extra
tickets if we and some other people wanted to go! And soooo YES OF
COURSE WE DID! We called like every investigator and less active that
we could think of but everyone was busy since it was so last minute.
So we found a young women and her sister in the ward and they went
with us! It was soooooo so so so good. Ive been focusing lots on
humility this week and trying to find the things I need to work on so
that I can be a better missionary and help those people come closer to
Christ! So I loved eyerings talk. One thing that he said that I loved
is that those who do not see their weaknesses cannot progress. Which
is so true. If we don't know what we need to work on, we're just going
to be stationary and not move forward and change to the person God
wants us to become. God will show us our weaknesses but in order to
really become the best servants possible, we have to be willing to
work on those weaknesses enough so that they aren't weaknesses
anymore. None of us are perfect, but through Christ and his wonderful
healing power we really can be made clean and whole.

I'm so grateful for another week as a missionary! Even though this
week was super crazy and kinda hectic I wouldn't wanna be anywhere
else. Love y'all! Have a great week!

Hermana anderson