staying in Huntsville

Family this week was great! a lot of good happened! On Tuesday our Zone Training went very good. We wanted to do something that would get everyone involved with out us just talking the whole time. Elder munns, sisters decker and hazlegren and i got together on Sunday night to go over what we all thought would work and bring the spirit. Well we decided to use the Tree of Life Chapter and apply it to our zone. Elder Munns and I got some of the stuff we needed and we met up Monday night and set it up we had the Iron Rod, the Tree of Life, the Straight and Narrow path, River, Mist of Darkness, and the great and spacious building. We gave everyone a topic about each place and they took 10 mins to apply it to missionary work. Example... The Straight and Narrow path was Personal study, Companion sunday she was there with her family. A man came up to us and said I'm from florida i was taught everything and was going to get baptized this weekend but had to move can yall teach me so i can be baptized. And another investigator as well. Winchester had 4 investigators at church all wanting to be baptized! Jesse was confirmed also. Im very excited to be able to train it is an answer to my prayers. The temple was great as always. The spirit was so strong! Once again im very excited for this next transfer! have a good week!
Love elder anderson

on study, Diligence, and obedience in Preach My Gospel. The spirit was very strong as we did this! We then felt very prompted to have a testimony meeting. There was not a dry eye in the room the zone has come so close together and they know what they need to do to have success. That was the most spiritual zone meeting i have been to. We them went to Fayettville to interview their baptism dates. They were all baptized Rebecca, cheyanna, and Becker. They are working very hard and doing a great job.We have been teaching a lady named Tisha she is very open and ready to be baptized her and her daughter both she is in the winchester ward. At church

busy month

Hi Ya'll

I am now serving up in the Huntsville Area and it covers quite a large area.  It goes from Tennessee to Georgia, but 90 percent of the area is still in Alabama.  Me and my companion have mostly been doing exchanges with other companions so help them with any of their needs, so we are not spending too much time right in the Hunstville area. Infact, I think since I have been here for the last 8 weeks, I have spent a total of 1 week in our apartment.  The other times have been in all the other areas.  I want to share just a few experiences below.

On Wednesday Elder Crainer and I went to Fort Payne to see some of the missionaries investigators there and found out they both have baptism dates and are doing well. We had a spiritual experience while we were at this run down trailer.    There was so much noise going on and lots of distractions and this man had a child with ADD and he was bouncing off the walls.  The man named Lee said to us,  I just want some peace and to be able study with yall. Well,  I asked if we could leave a blessing upon his home. He had his son yelling,  the ac blaring and dogs barking like crazy. As we humbly knelt down on his floor,  that had holes from possums and rats,  I said in the name of Jesus Christ and by his Priesthood authority I leave the Saviors peace and blessing upon this home and it all stopped. It was so quite. His 6 year old son stopped yelling and knelt down with us,  the dogs stopped barking and the ac turned off. After the blessing and inbetween tears and laughing he said “the dogs stopped barking” I wrapped my arms around him and told him how much Heavenly Father loved him and how much I loved him. The Saviors peace was truly upon his home.

 We also had another amazing experience. A 14 year old boy asked for a Book of Mormon through momon.org. We went to his house and visited him and asked him why do you like to come to our church?  Why did you request a Book of Mormon? He said very humbly.. “your church teaches the truth and I feel the spirit.” This young boy remembered the missionaries coming over years ago teaching his father and even though the father isn’t ready to come to church yet,  this young man has come 3 times and has a baptism date. Truly the Children shall lead them.

 Well that leads into one of the the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission.. We got to go to the temple on Saturday  with Brother and Sister Reed. (Sister Reed was baptized a year ago)  I was so excited! We got dressed and went to the dressing room and I saw Brother Reed and the bishop and gave them a big hug, it was so good to see them again because it has been a while.  .Well as my companion and I  sat down,  Sister Reed walked in just glowing! She looked so happy! The session was great! As we then went to the sealing room,  we sat down and the sealer was Brother Einfeldt  and was the one that came to our house at Christmas time.  He asked the Reeds who the witnesses were and Brother Reed said Elder Anderson and I was so honored, but in a daze! I wasn't even sure what I was suppose to even do! haha but as I signed the certificate, I was shaking so hard  it looks like i was having a seizure haha I was so nervous,  but  the spirit so strong it was incredible.   Well the sealing was done and as I went up to tell them congrats,  Brother Reed started to hug me and started crying and said I would of never thought I would be sealed in this temple.   This is all because of the knock of the door as you followed the spirit! I was so happy! i went back to the Celestial  room and just made sure I thanked Heavenly Father for allowing the spirit to be present in my life at that right time. words cant explain that day! but I am very thankful for it! 

Time is going so fast, I can't believe that I have been out for 22 months already.  I still have so much I need to do.  Someone needs to slow time down. 

Thank you for all your love, prayers and support. 

Love, 

Elder Anderson

april 30 2013

Family this week went so great! We were able to help out in the zone all week. On Tuesday we had another great district meeting with Elder Clanton training. Following we were able to get in contact with an investigator that was being taught by Elder Watt and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! That was very exciting. We met up with the Capshaw area sisters that night to teach one of their male investigators. On Wednesday Elder Crainer and I went to Fort Payne to see their  investigators and they both have baptism dates and are doing well. We had a spiritual experience.   We were at this run down trailer and there was so much noise going on lots of distractions.  This man had a child with ADD and he was bouncing off the walls and he said to us,  I just wanted some peace and to study with yall. Well I asked if we could leave a blessing upon his home. He had a kid yelling,  the ac blaring and dogs barking like crazy. As we humbly knelt down on his floor that had holes from possums and rats,  I said in the name of Jesus Christ and by his Priesthood authority I leave the Saviors peace and Blessing upon this home and it all stopped. It was so quite. His 6 year old son stopped yelling and knelt down,  the dogs stopped barking and the ac turned off. After the blessing and in between tears and laughing he said “the dogs stopped barking” I wrapped my arms around him and told him how much Heavenly Father loved him and how much I loved him. The Saviors peace was truly upon his home. We also had another amazing experience. A 14 year old boy asked for a Book of Mormon through momon.org. We went and visited him and asked him why would you like to come to our church and why did you request a Book of Mormon. He said very humbly.. “your church teaches the truth and I feel the spirit.” This young boy remember the missionaries coming over years ago teaching his father and even though the father isn’t ready to come check out the church yet this young man has come 3 times and has a baptism date. Truly the Children shall lead them.( 12 And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, together; and a littlechild shall lead them. I was about in tears I have been having so many spiritual experiences lately and I love it!  We were also able to see some of the converts from when we both served there. On Thursday we were in Fayettville I was with Elder Scott and he is such an amazing missionary.   He is so smart and teaches well with the spirit. We were able to do a baptism interview for this coming weekend. And teach some of their progressing investigators. They seem to be doing well.   Elder Scott is a hard worker. We came back to their district meeting on Friday and had a good training lesson on being on the same level as your investigators. Saturday we were able to teach with the Huntsville Spanish B sisters.   Two of their Spanish investigators that Elder Olson was able to help with! Laura was baptized in Weatherly as well. I was shocked when we got transfer calls this morning I was not expecting Elder Olson to leave we have been working so hard and trying to do our best to help the zone but I truly know that President Holzapfel is inspired by God.

Love Elder Anderson

the weeks are flying by April 8, 2013

Family!

 The week came and was gone like a racecar in Talladega Alabama! Wow can't believe how fast it went. We had Zone training on Tuesday my first one it went well. We did a roll play on how personal and companion study should be.   We changed our clothes and I was in sweat pants and a white shirt and continually  spitting sun flower seeds. We were showing how not to do it haha. Then we went over how we should do it. We went over how to find people to teach and how to commit them to baptism. We have a lot of new missionaries in our zone so it was pretty basic. Wednesday we  tried to see some people form the ward to get to know the ward a little better. We went on exchanges in Scottsboro on Thursday.   It’s a nice little town and of course I have told yall before,  but that’s where the  Unclaimed Baggage store is! And it’s insane! We went to see one of the investigators there.   Preston and Rhett are going to die in this store.   There is nothing close to any store I have ever been in ha. The exchange went well,  I was with Elder Mckay from Preston Idaho. We came back late Friday and next morning went to the church for conference! It was so good! They seem to be getting bolder every time or maybe that’s just me? I did see a few people in the Choir that I knew and yes Chase Lodder was one of them! Pretty cool! I loved President Monsons story about setting the fire.   He is so good at relating things so we understand them and can apply them in our life’s without teaching way deep doctrine. That’s something you get in the trap of doing as a missionary sometimes

is trying to teach deeper than you need to go. We went to a trail today that was pretty fun I will send a few pictures! Love yall so much!

Elder anderson

March 4, 2012

Family this week went good the zone activity was great on Monday it was fun to be able to get to know people in our zone a little bit better and some of their likes and where they are from. We taught the Green family that night it went well we had a member with us that was able to help us out where she is also a convert to the church. They seemed very excited and wanting to learn more. We were able to see Cori on Tuesday and she said she was ready to be baptized so we moved her date up to yesterday she was prepared and very excited. We are trying to work with more less actives they are truly a great source of finding people to teach and to help bring them back is also very exciting! We went on exchanges on Wednesday it took us 4 hours of riding the bus but we were able to get there and back Elder Emmanuel came up here to work he is a great missionary with a big heart and has an amazing story! He built my testimony a lot from what he has gone through. We were able to teach the greens that night the husband wasn’t there and the wife tmeka was not very happy that he wasn’t home to hear the lesson she said it would happen again. Cori also was interviewed on Wednesday for her baptism and passed Elder Jensen gave her the interview. Thursday we were downtown Birmingham tracted a lot of the day using the tool it was good to be able to see how others are also using the finding tool in their area. We had district meeting on Friday and we went over revelation through prayer. It went very well they all seemed to be doing well with it but we talked about how prayers need to be simple but sincere and how we can help people get out of the habit of their written out prayers.  We also were able to have some good lessons on the bus I got to talk with a man from Egypt he was very nice but was moving to New York the next day! Saturday we got everything ready for Sunday for the baptism and were able to spend a little time with some of the members that needed help on Saturday. Sunday was great to see Elder Johnson in white and all excited along with Cori they baptism went great it was done right the first time and she was confirmed by a member she happened to go to high school with so it was a great experience! Things are going well still he is a great missionary that I am learning a lot from.  That is so crazy to see Landon home! He looks great! And so does Parker! Haha he was a great example to me! I just got a call saying I will be getting 2 more sisters in our district and in our ward now also! That is 6 missionarys in one ward!!!! That’s crazy it now puts 16 in my district! That’s a lot haha but things are going great! We are in the finding process again looking for those that need the gospel! Its so great to be able to talk with people about Christ and to share our beliefs with them even if they don’t agree its nice to be able to know that we all rely on Jesus Christ as our Savior to help us though this life. Of course we want them all to convert to the Gospel so they can enjoy all the Blessing we get each and every day but not everyone will. I love this gospel! J haha just as I love yall! And hope you have a great week!!!!

Elder Anderson

February 25, 2013

WOW things are speeding up every day! It does not slow down! A lot has been going on! This last week on Monday I found out that I was staying in Vestavia Hills again.   That makes 5 transfers that I have been here. I am still district leader with 13 missionaries in the district.   I am also training an 18 year old missionary that is a great missionary! He is from Benson,  Utah up by Logan and is a farmer,  so we have talked about the farm quite a bit.   He is a good kid and very humble. So tell me what my chances are of having 2 companions named Elder Johnson in a row.. Well that is his last name too haha.

  Tuesday we had zone conference that was great.   It is always good to be able to receive more training. We are using a finding tool where when we knock on the door and then we ask if we can leave the Saviors peace and blessing upon their home.   It has been working really well.  A lot of people are willing to pray with you. 

Wednesday we had transfers  and that’s when I received my new companion and also had to said goodbye to some of my good friends I have made on the mission! Its always sad to see them go home! But all missions have to come to an end!

 Friday we had district meeting and we discussed up dating the area book and how important it is to do that everyday. Could you imagine if Nephi thought, "I will just keep a few records!" We would miss out on some important items.   So our goal is to keep a good area book that will keep the work moving forward even after we get transferred and also we will be able to remember what we have already taught investigators  so we don’t keep teaching the same things over again.

On  Tuesday night I was able to interview fabiana for baptism.  He is the one I shared the story about us biking back and talking to her.    Her husband was also interviewed. Another interview was Logan and Emily.   That has been a really neat experience.   Logan is a good kid.   He is 14 or 15 and just had a change of heart one day. On Sunday we were able to witness fabiana be baptized in her native language  of portages and ramon be baptized in Spanish.   logan and emilys cousins flew in from Texas and baptized them.   He  was 16 years old.   So neat  to see! 

Heavenly Father loves his children so much! We had a really cool experience this week we were walking it with Elder Johnsons first day and we were on a main road.   We saw this man and his car was moving very slow,  he was going maybe 10 MPH on a 50 MPH road.   As we got closer, we saw he was unconscious so we were freaking out.   He was right by the off ramp of the highway and cars were flying past him.  He was drilling curbs and medians so we decided to call 911 and as we call he started to speed up.   His foot must of pushed on the gas! So we were running after the car while talking to 911 and he drilled a curb got some are and somehow stayed on the road we chased him and it seemed like a mile till he hit a curb and it stopped the car.   I wanted to go pull him out of the car but we saw a cop so we waved him over and he got fire trucks and ambulances there. Well,  we left after giving them the report and went on our way. The next day a cop talked to two other missionaries thinking it was us and told them he was having a diabetic attack and he was a former cop here in Birmingham so we felt good that we followed the spirit by calling and being able to help get help to him quickly.   Pretty exciting first day for my new companion! haha 

This weekend we will have a member of the Quorum of the Twelve; a member of the Presidency of the Seventy; a member of the Presiding Bishopric; and Elder Bluth of the Seventy with us. I'm excited about that.

 So hope yall have a great week! Thank you for all you do!

Love elder anderson

February 11, 2013

Dear Family and friends!

Elder Rice and I was on the bus this week and the bus driver asked us about the genealogy in our church and how it is done in our church.  So we  explain it to him for a bit and before we knew it,  we were shoved to the back of the bus with so many people getting on the bus.   We were hip to hip with people and every time we would go over a bump the bus would bottom out!  We just kept talking with people about the church and the gospel and got a few new potential investigators. We didn’t get to give the bus driver our information because of all the people and  we couldn’t get to him. The next day we got on the bus and it happened to be just him so this time we had a good 25 minute lesson with him on the bus we asked if we could come visit him and his family sometime,  but he said he didn’t like people just showing up and he didn’t like to give his number out so we told him we could meet him at the family history center sometime and gave him the info for it so hopefully something will happen there.  

 We were able to go out with Bishop May this week also and see some investigators and recent converts. It went really well.   He is a very great man! One of the missionary’s had to go home to take care of some medical stuff we were sad to see him leave.. We haven’t heard anything about transfers yet president told us the Lord wasn’t done yet.. so we will find out tonight around 9pm. We are receiving 17 Spanish sisters! Crazy!!!! 

The weather has been pretty crazy.  Lots of rain and hard wind.

 We got a referral this week that said I’m engaged to a member and want to be baptized.. haha it was great! We went and saw her and she came to church on Sunday and loved it.   We will be having a lesson with her tonight! Then I have a baptism interviewstonight and tomorrow to give!  I was very excited and humbled as I read the talk in the new Ensign by President Uchtdorf.  I loved this part and wanted to share. 

Sometimes we take upon ourselves too much credit or too much blame when it comes to others accepting the gospel. It’s important to remember that the Lord doesn’t expect us to do the converting. Conversion comes not through our words but through the heavenly ministrations of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes all it takes is one single phrase of our testimony or about an experience to set in motion the softening of a heart or the opening of a door that can lead others to experience sublime truths through the promptings of the Spirit.

I have been able to witness this. I have told you this story before,  but I would like to share it again. Elder Larsen and I were headed to a investigators home and we biked passed this lady and her little daughter.   We felt the need to turn around and go back and as we did we were able to set up an  appointment to meet with her, but when we went over she wasn’t home,  but her husband was and he said he spoke Spanish.   We looked down the street and  there were two Spanish missionary’s. They have been teaching Fabiana and Ramon for 3 months. He received his answer and they are being baptized next Sunday. I know that Heavenly Father loves his children so much and I’m so thankful for the Holy Ghost and the guidance he gave us that day and every day. Have a great week!

Love elder anderson 

Feb 4, 2013

Hey family and friends,
Well this has been a crazy but good week. They moved a missionary up from Montgomery, Elder Rice, and we were assigned to be trainers for two new visa waiters straight from the MTC. Today we moved into a different (bigger) apartment (in the same complex) to handle the four of us. We moved from a one bedroom, one bath to a two bedroom, two bath! This beats the four of us in one bedroom sharing one bathroom. No more cold showers! :) My new address is 48 Aspen Cove apt. 204 Homewood, Al  35209. Not sure how long this will be my address, we have transfers next week on the 13th. We will see what happens.
I'm training Elder Johnson from Pennsylvania he waiting for his visa and will serve in Brazil. He is a very quiet, soft spoken missionary and very humble. I'm very thankful to be serving with him. Elder Rice is from Montana. He and I get along great. He is very good at playing the piano, like probably the best I have seen. haha Elder Rice is training Elder Blocher from Tennessee. He too is waiting for his visa and will serve in Brazil. I am the only one that knows the area, so it has been a little crazy trying to get everyone up to speed.
We had zone training this week and the discussion was about how we can step up even more to be better missionaries. I still have a lot I can work on, but I'm very thankful for the love and patience Heavenly Father has for me.
So yesterday I got up to bear my testimony and shared the story about Rhett finding his phone in the snow. Not sure why, but it keep coming in my mind. Maybe someone needed to hear about an example of faith and prayer. Rhett has always been one that has faith in prayer, that's awesome!
We walked probably 10 miles in one day this week. Haha. It was pretty intense. It started to rain and was freezing! I don't want it to be summer, it is toooooo hot down here! But I don't want it to be cold! I wish I could control the weather.
This Sunday we will be having a "come and see Sunday". This is where they put out a sign on the front lawn of the church and people come and see what it is like to attend a Mormon church. Members invite friends and afterwards there is a tour of the church and a potluck dinner. Should be fun!
I didn't even know it was the Superbowl Sunday! Haha. I always love getting together to watch it with family and friends. I hope y'all had fun! I will be there to watch the next one with you.
I can't believe all the friends returning home from their missions. That crazy! Time is going by quick!
Well, enough for now. Thank you for all the prayers! Hope all is well.
Love y'all!
Elder Anderson

01/28/13

Family and Friends,

Well Elder Mauigoa is being transferred tomorrow to Montgomery. I’m pretty sad about it but it’s what the Lord wants not what we want.  I will be getting a brand new Visa missionary that will arrive tonight. I will pick him up along with two more missionaries tomorrow at a trainers meeting.  A little mid transfer, then on top of that, we are moving on the 4^th of Feb. with transfers on Feb. 13^th haha ADVENTURE TIME!

We got to go to Bessemer this week. Elder Mauigoa and I biked there from our apartment 20 mile bike ride. (luckily we got a ride back) I was so excited to see those that I haven’t seen in such a long time. Dominic was one of the first that was baptized when Elder Sawyer and I was there. He is now 19 and he told me he had finished the whole Book of Mormon! I was ecstatic! I asked him a couple questions about it and he was able to answer them all! He said that he loved reading it and that he was looking forward to starting over again. We also saw Nick, he is now 17. He is still going to church and staying active with the youth, but has not blessed the sacrament yet. But he told me he would this Sunday. We saw Ashley and Amber they are both doing well. Ashley’s mother won’t allow her to come to church until she is 18 but she is still reading from the Book of Mormon and attending activities as much as she can. Amber has been a little on and off lately, but we hope she will start attending again regularly. We had dinner with the Reeds. Sister Reed she is preparing to go to the temple and be sealed to Brother Reed for time and all eternity! They are planning to go to the temple in May. I’m very excited about that. She told me she has not missed church since Easter. She is doing great!

I’m looking forward to helping the new missionary get use to mission life. I will do all I can to help him and help us stay obedient to the mission rules. Book of Mormon reading is still going well. I’m very thankful for all those who took the time to write down the things that were going on back then. I am grateful for all the revelations they received, so that we could have the Book of Mormon today to help us in our everyday life.

Well I have been 18 months! That’s crazy! Elder Crainer said a couple of the sisters missionaries that we came out with wrote him and said they were home! Wow, hard to believe.

Things are going to be a little crazy for the next couple weeks! Please keep us in your prayers. Love y’all so much! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Anderson

1/22/13

Hello family and friends,

This was a good week, and the best part was it snowed! :) We didn’t get as much as I would have liked, and I didn’t have a snowboard strapped to my feet. I did get to make a snow angel and a snowman though!

The day it snowed I was on an exchange in Center Point and man y’all should have seen everyone. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. People were getting out of their cars, turning their hazard lights on and just leaving the cars in the road. Schools were letting the kids go early, people were sent home from work and everything was just shut down. It was insane! And the snow total… maybe 3 inches haha. It was great! The first thing everyone did was run to the store and by bread and milk. The stores were sold out in minutes. haha.

We have been doing a lot of recent convert work still just trying to help them all stay active and go to the temple. We have been working with the Green family trying to help them come closer to Christ. They came to church on Sunday and that was great!

I have enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon. I love how you always learn something new. It doesn’t matter how many times you read it there is always something new to be learned.

I’m going to Bessemer on Thursday. I’m pretty excited about that. It will be fun to go back for the day and see all the people there.

Love y’all, thanks for all you do for me!

Love, Elder Anderson

January 14, 2013

01/14/13

Family & Friends,

As you may know, we are reading the Book of Mormon as a mission. All the missionaries are reading the same six pages every morning. I love it! It’ great! I'm glad y’all have chosen to read it with us! Elder Mauigoa and I will be going throughout the day and find ourselves talking about the pages we read. We are trying to apply them to our missionary work. I have truly seen a huge change in my understanding and reading as I have applied it as a missionary and district leader. I prepared for district meeting for a week on 1 Nephi 8 and 11. I taught these chapters applying them to our district and the mission field. I was amazed at how well it all fit together. We have a great district that loves to participate and work together to help each other with the work. Wednesday we took the bus to the north side Birmingham. (was that ever a journey!) It took almost 2 hours on the bus to get there and as we arrived we were not getting some pretty nasty looks. We arrived at the house where our appointment was scheduled and the lady answered the door and said that it wasn’t a good time. :( Elder Mauigoa and I had a lot of time to talk and plan as we waited for the bus and took the long bus ride home to our next appointment. We have been doing a lot of sifting with our investigators and a lot of recent convert work.

Elder May, Elder Jensen and I had an amazing experience on Friday. We went to see a family that loves the church but they are holding back on baptism. We read Mosiah 18 and we likened it to their family. The waters of Mormon is the baptism font and Alma is us as missionary’s and so on.   We decided to kneel after reading verse 10 and we asked the mother to pray and ask Heavenly Father if she and her family should be baptized on Jan. 27^th. We invited her to say a silent prayer, pause and just think about it and when she was done and had received an answer, to then close the prayer. To which she agreed. Well, we all knelt down and waited for a couple minutes for her to close the prayer and we were all praying silently hoping she would get her answer. She said Amen and started telling us all the feeling she had received and was so excited. We will continue to work with her so she will continue to have those feeling. She has a neighbor that is not too fond of the church, but she said she won’t let him get to her anymore. Also on that same page Elder Bentley and I did that same thing with one of their investigators on Sunday in the chapel. We knelt there for 40 minutes until he closed his prayer.   Well, he is getting very close to getting his answer too. He is Spanish so I didn’t understand it all, but felt the spirit so strong! When Elder Larsen was here we biked passed this gentlemen’s wife and after passing her we were prompted to go back and talk with her. She told us she is half way through Alma in the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized but is waiting for her husband. Please pray for these families.

 Thank you for your love and support. Y’all stay warm! Sounds like it has been cold there. :)

Love, Elder Anderson

Great Week.. January 14, 2013

-- Family & Friends..

This week was great!   I love reading the Book of Mormon as a mission it is so great! I'm glad yall are reading it with us also! Elder Mauigoa and I will be going throughout the day and will find ourselves talking about the pages we read and applying it to our missionary work. I have truly seen a huge change in my understanding and reading as I have applied it as a missionary and district leader. I prepared for district meeting for a week on 1 Nephi 8 and 11 and applied it to our district and the mission field. I was amazed at how well it all fit together. We have a great district that loves to participate and work together to help each other out in the work. We had Brother Evans come and share his testimony and he has a strong one. Wednesday we took the bus to the north side Birmingham and was that ever a journey! It took almost 2 hours on the bus to get there and as we got there we were not getting some pretty nasty looks.  We got to the house  where our appointment was and the lady answered the door and said that it wasn’t a good time. So Elder Mauigoa and I  had a lot of time to talk and plan as we were waiting for the bus to come to get to our next appointment. We have been doing a lot of sifting with our investigators and a lot of recent convert work.

 Elder May,  Elder Jensen and I had an amazing experience on Friday.   We went to see a family that loves the church but are kind of holding back on baptism,  so we read Mosiah 18 and we likened it to their family.   The waters of Mormon was the baptism font and Alma was us as missionary’s and so on.   We decided to kneel after reading VS 10 and we asked the mother to  pray and ask Heavenly Father if her and her family should be baptized on Jan. 27^{th.  We told her}  to pause and just think about it and when you’re done and you have received your answer then end the prayer and she agreed to do it.   Well  we all knelt down and waited for a couple minutes for her to close the prayer and we were all praying silently hoping she would get her answer. She said amen and started telling us all the feeling she had received and was so excited,  so we are going to help her keep feeling those feelings. She has a neighbor that is not too fond of the church,  but she said she won’t let him get to her. Also on that same page Elder Bentley and I did that same thing with one of their investigators on Sunday in the chapel and we knelt there for 40 mins till he closed his prayer.   Well, he is getting very close to getting his answer also. He is Spanish so I didn’t understand it all,  but felt the spirit so strong! When Elder Larsen was here we biked passed his wife and after we bike for a second we felt the need to go back so we talked with her and she invited us over. She is half way through Alma in the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized but is waiting for her husband.

 I really enjoyed stake conference.  Elder Cook spoke and he mentioned a conversion story from the Alabama Birmingham Mission.  We were all excited to hear that.  

I get to go to Bessemer for the day sometime in the next couple weeks and will be going to Center Point Wednesday! So got some exchanges comin up!

 Well yall stay warm! Love yall..

Love Elder Anderson!

another great week

Family and friends! Hello! This week has been great we have been working with (Tj) ** an investigator that we met that is a cousin to a member in the ward we are teaching him and are working on having his cousin (Freddy) ****** baptize him as he continues to progress! We are also teaching (jasmine) ******* she has a baptism date set for this Sunday we are going to make sure that she is completely ready to make that convent though but she should be ready! We have been teaching her for a couple weeks now but she has been taught before. We have also been teaching (misty) ***** still and she was baptized on Sunday! We got to attend the temple on Wednesday! And I loved every minute of it I wish I could go to the temple everyday! They had a nativity scene set up outside I will send pictures. We were there with the entire Birmingham zone so it was packed but that’s the best way to have it! I got to see brother (einfelt) ****** from Bessemer also so that was great! J After the temple I went to the Birmingham area with elder Ingersoll from alpine ut and elder sablan from Seattle WA. It was great to be able to go with them for a couple days and work in their area they are two great missionaries! So while I was down there we were biking out of an apartment complex and a huge German Sheppard came running after us I thought I was a dead man! But I peddled as fast as I could on the bike! And started passing the other two! But he stopped after a bit probably got tired but man was that close! Friday we came back and had district meeting about obedience to the mission rules and how to begin teaching. I have seen a huge difference from when I have strived to be exact obedience and when I have just somewhat tried. We had our ward Christmas party Saturday morning at 8 just had breakfast and some skits! It was different than a dinner but still worked out. Had some bad weather this weekend just rain and wind nothing too bad and the tornado last week was about 8 miles from us so we are fine J misty’s ***** baptism was great we had a less active we have been working with baptize her and they were both stoked! So hope we can get him on a mission and hope the rest of misty ****** family will come around! The library is closing at 6 tonight so we have to be off at 530 so please don’t use names for the blog! J And sorry we probably won’t get to e mail back and forth! What time we are skyping let me know! Love yall! And dad keep checking my card cuz I have been spending a little money!

Elder Anderson!

Ps thank you for all the Christmas cards and pkgs I have been getting I hope to be getting more! Haha and happy b day aunt tam!!!!