july 23, 2012 update

Hi yall

 This week we taught one of the families that there son was one of the boys we helped in baseball.   The son can speak english but the rest of the family only speaks Spanish.   Elder perkins and i went over and I basically just sat there most of the time.  He would then would give my testimony in english it went pretty good. We set a date for the 28th of July for them to be baptized and they said yes,  but they first need to learn more they said.

 Tuesday I was with Elder Perkins.   They got there visas so they were showing us where the investigators they were working with live. We then had dinner a familys house that made us gautamulin  kind of food.  I was really nervous,  but it was pretty good.! 

Wednesday we went to one of the part member families homes and had a lesson.   Jermey came with us and it went good.  He is still not ready for baptism yet though.   He said he still needs to receive his answer.

 Thursday we had  our weekly planning and then we tracted for a bit.   We saw Chris and his family.  They are the ones from the baseball team.   We taught them the restoration. The spirit was very strong as Elder Perkins gave the account of the first vision.  Chris was actually saying it with him so it was a cool experience. We then had dinner at a members house and then our corrilation meeting.

 Friday we had district meeting and one of our zone leaders Elder Schawrting taught the meeting.   It went well.   He is really good at all he does and knows a lot about the gospel. He is from Long Island New York. He talked about dead works which sometimes means going through the motions. It was a good one to be at.

 Saturday we did service for a referral that  we received out in Rainsville.   He is a non member, but his son served a mission and was a bishop and is now a Dr.  in texas. Ben is the father and his house got hit by the tornado.   We went and helped him pull nails out of boards and clean some stuff up. They then made us some good deep fried chicken,  okra,  corn and all that good stuff that came right out of the garden. Then we went to Jason and Marandas and read the Book of Mormon with them.   They just finished with 2 nephi! yay! 

Sunday we had church of course then after the other elders started packing up all there stuff to go to Argentina.    Elder Whipple and I saw some members.   We came home and everything was all packed up. We took them down to the Birmingham on Monday morning.  Transfers were this week, but Elder Whipple and I we will be here for another 6 weeks.

 Hope yall have a great week!

 love you so much

Elder Anderson

busy week of june 9th

whats up yall

 This week has been pretty good. Tuesday we went to the country to see some members for most the day an then they were having their firework show at the Fort Payne High school and a member took us.  We talked to some people until it was 830 and then we had to leave! :( so no fireworks for the missionaries... but thats ok because I went home wrote in my journal and drew some in there so that should make up for it right? 

Wednesday we had zone leader training in Huntsville.   We drove to the meeting and it was  good.  I like hearing our leaders talk. We then came home and tracted the rest of the day. 

Thursday was pretty busy.   We had weekly planning in the morning then we have been asked to start doing 4 hours of service in the community.   We searched for service,  but everyone just looked at us like we were talking a different language.. so we went to an all you can eat pizza place called Stevie B's.   You can put whatever you want on a pizza there.   We did some service for them and they allowed us to get some food so that worked out great :) Then we had branch corrilation that night and a storm rolled in with heavy winds and rain.   The 2 visa missionaries were lovin it. I went out in it for legit 5 seconds and was soaked head to toe... 

Friday morning during studys door bell rings and it was the mail lady and what does she have? A pkg from Uncle Kirk. Lets be for real.   Whenever he sends something,  you know its home made,  So I ripped it open and there it was..... the best jam in the world! Two  loafs of bread gone that day! We then tracted and contacted the rest of the day. We were able to watch tv special 20/20 Where Heaven Is.   It was pretty cool that it talked about our church. 

 Saturday we helped our branch mission leader start putting up a shed just like Uncle Rex's tin one.  It is 17 ft tall 40 ft long! Man that was tough,  we only got 4 sections up andwe got sun burned! Man am I greatful for sundays and church.   I taught GP's class again   The visa waiters  had 2 investigators come to church that I had talked to before.   It was weird they remembered me to, it was pretty cool,  I really hope they keep coming. Then after church Jason and Maranda had us over for dinner and we watched the 20/20 with them.   So all and all it was a pretty good week. The weather radio calls for rain everyday this week,  but I doubt it.  The weather in Bama is bi polor! Gas was down to 2.94 now its back to 3.04.  I never thought it would get that low again.

 Well hope yall have a great week! Much love!

Edlder anderson

hot hot in Alabama

Well this week has been hot!!!!! They said it is never this hot till end of August,  but it was over 103 for 3 straight days with the humidity! The heat index got up to 112 one of the days..

 So Monday the baseball team won.  They were down by a few runs,  but then they started to get it together and let  Shane pitched and they ended up going into extra innings and ended up winning. When we came back home,  there were police boats and scuba divers out in the lake by our apartment. Come to find out someone drown and they couldn't find his body. Later on in the week they did find his body about a mile down the lake from where they last saw him sad...

 Tuesday we tracted all day and then the team had another game that we went to that and they lost.. so now they are out. The good news is we gave another book of mormon to someone else that asked for one,  so that was good. 

Wednesday we got up at 5 am and got to go to the Temple! I love the temple.   It was great to be able to go and feel the spirirt with a room filled with missionaries! We saw brother Bush from Bessemer at the temple cutting the lawn with some boys from Bessemer.   He  took us out to lunch to Hamburger Heaven and it was pretty good!

 Thursday Elder Perkins and I  went out  tracting and it was so hot!  We had some good lessons and found 2 potential investigators,  so we will see where that goes. I forgot my planner at the house so sorry I'm  winging it from memory!

 Friday was just another day of heat and tracting. We had district meeting over the phone because everyone was out of miles on their cars. 

Saturday we were in Collinsville and it was another way hot day on the bikes until Elder Whipples chain on his  broke off.  We then we had to walk all the way back to the car it wasn't very fun haha.

 Fast Sunday was yesterday and we talked to John and had him pray during the sacrament  We then asked him to read a story from the Ensign and pray about the 14th of July and he said he would,  we are really hoping for that!  We had a pretty good storm last night that was needed because  everything is dying because of the heat. The new elders thought the lighting and thunder was pretty sweet!

 Well I love yall so much and have a good 4th of july. 

Happy Birthday Markell! love yall!

Elder anderson

Fort Payne All Stars

The Fort Payne All Star Team.  A letter that one of the parents wrote to President and  my testimony that I wrote and put inside all the Book of Mormons.

11 months and counting

Hi y’all

Here's a rundown of our past week. 

Tuesday we went to try to see a lot of the members and less actives and so we did that most of the day.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Scottsboro. Then on the way home we saw more members. That night we had branch mission council.

Thursday we did service for a thrift store down here and they just had us do all the nasty jobs :) it was great! Then we tracked most the day. Later that day we went to the all-star team’s last practice. Elder Whipple and I had written each one of the boys on the team a little letter and then wrote our testimonies in Book of Mormons to give to the parents at the first playoff game the following day. The parents all wrote President Holzapfel letters thanking him for allowing us to help with the team. That was so nice of them. We went to the practice and it was so hot we just died in our long pants. The team gave us a team hat and they are way sweet. They also sent one to Elder James in Cali.

Friday same thing tracked a lot of the day, then that night went to the all-star game. They got killed! It is double elimination so after the game they talked about their next game that would be Saturday at 8. We would not be able to go to the game because our mission president was coming to meet with us and some investigators. I asked the coach if I could say a few words and he said yes. I stood there for a second and just started crying in front of the whole team. I thanked them for all they had done, for the examples they have been to me and for allowing us to help. As I looked up, a lot of the boys were in tears and they all come up after and gave us hugs. We gave them the letters and the parents the Book of Mormons. Only 1 family didn't take one. One of the coaches is a youth minister and he even took one! It was so great! I hope this will open some doors to share the gospel.

Saturday rolls around and my heart would not stop racing all day. President Holzapfel is one of the last people I would ever want to disappoint. The night came and Elder Whipple and I felt the need to show the hour long restoration film. We were so nervous about the meeting because we told president that the lessons are only 45 minutes long. Anyway, we got to the church and watched it. The spirit was so strong and I was dreading for it to be over because the lights were off and when they came back on I knew I had to share my testimony. It’s so hard for me to bear my testimony, especially about Joseph Smith ever since Dad took me to the Sacred Grove. I got up and could not even talk, I was crying so hard. Once I calmed down I said how thankful I am for Joseph Smith and all he went through to restore the gospel. Then Elder Whipple bore his testimony and talked about his little brother he lost. Then another member bore his testimony and then President Holzapfel bore his. It was just a huge chain reaction and it was amazing! I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers! We got there at 6:30 and ended up leaving the church at 8:30. I’m thinking great we went way over time, but president told us we did the right thing and that he was very glad he came to that lesson that night. I am thankful to have the amazing mission president that I have.

Sunday we were at it again. President Holzapfel came and taught in a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting, then turned around and spoke in sacrament meeting. I got an idea.... send me a walkie talkie and you can hear him too :) maybe someday!

Well, sorry this is kind of long but hope y’all have a great week! Can you believe on Wednesday I will have been out 11 months! On Wednesday we are going to the temple and I can’t think of a better place to be than at the temple!

Thanks for all your love and support!

Love, Elder Anderson