now serving in Fort Payne

Hi y'all

I got transferred and I am now serving in Fort Payne.  It is about 2 1/2 hours northeast of where I was serving in Hueytown.   My mission also covers some of Georgia.  We only have a small branch here of about 35-40 people so there is lots of work to do. When the Baptist in Fort Payne heard that the Mormons were building a temple in Birmingham, they built a massive cross in Fort Payne.    My companion is from California and will be going home next transfer.  He is a great companion.  One of the first things I was able to do while in Fort Payne was go to the Birmingham Temple and witness a temple sealing of a family that my companion taught a year ago.  They had a little baby sealed to them too.  It was way sweet.

A lady that we were teaching in Hueytown for a while committed to baptism after I was transferred. She called and asked if I could come back and speak at her baptism.  I had to get special permission from the Mission President where it was out of my area.  So on Saturday, May 12th we had 2 baptisms in Fort Payne.  They were a young married couple that Elder James had been teaching for a while. Then we took off and drove 2 1/2 hours to the Bessemer ward to be there for Sister Reed's baptism.  I was honored she ask me to speak.  It was a very very long day, but a really great day.  Her husband was a member, but not active and she was a Methodist and had been taught by many different missionaries, but just wasn't ready yet.  We taught her and I guess she couldn't fight it anymore.  I am so happy for her.

The area in Fort Payne is very spread out and we have to bike everywhere.  In the first week and a half, I lost 10 lbs! We live 10 miles from the church.  No one in our branch can play the piano, so we have a player piano to sing to.

I am so grateful that I came on a mission and I am so happy that I am serving here in Alabama.

Thank you for all the support you give me.

Elder Gentry Anderson

Transfers and I'm now in Fort Payne

Hi Y’all,

So I got transferred to Fort Payne Alabama.  Part of my mission covers Georgia.  I had no idea what to think, but when I got here it is like a huge Tremonton, and it really reminds me of Tremonton too.   I LOVE IT!  We cover a huge area, but have a really small branch.  Only like 40 people.   Wow, that’s how many people were in my Sunday school class!  ha ha, not really but still is way small..  There is a lot more stuff to do around here.  We might go to Georgia next week and go the Falls, (big waterfalls).  I really like it up here, but it is starting to get way hot.  

My new companion is Elder James and he is a biker, so we will be biking a lot.  We also started do P90X in the mornings.  I feel like I have my own personal trainer, but its good cause I need to get back into shape.  Elder James is from Indio, California and only has 6 weeks left of his mission.  He is way sweet.

  

I have already been asked to talk in church on May 13th..  Ha... that was fast.

We have already started teaching 2 new investigators. They are a young married couple named Jason and Maranda. They have set a baptismal date set for May 12th!! So that is real cool.

Our apartment is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with 2 walk in closets.  It is older, but we will make it work. 

So check this out, they have a flea market up here on Saturdays like the one that we go to with Grandma and Grandpa in Yuma. But it is way bigger and it is called trade days.  Well we set up a booth and gave out free Book of Mormons...  Ha... Thinking out of the box right??

Things are going great and I am glad to be here.  I will do my best!  

I’m was sad to hear about Grandpa James. Please tell Uncle Al, Auntie Deb, Madison, Mark and Mallory I love them and my thoughts and prayers are with them.

I’m glad that Markell got that job, that’s great!

Well I’ve got to go, have a great week!

Love you all, 

Elder Anderson

A pretty fast week

Hi Ya'll

So this week has gone pretty fast.  On Monday we taught Craton's sister's boyfriend, but he thinks that all churches are true.  Oh well, we tried.  Then we headed over to Craton's house.  He was packing for his mission.  Sunday was a little tough for me it was Craton’s farewell and we came to be pretty close friends. His dad talked then he talked and during his talk he said I just want to thank Elder Anderson and Sawyer and he started to tear up, for all they have done for me. It made me feel so good to know we were able to make an impact on him. We later went to say bye to Craton.  He is a good kid, he will do well.

Tuesday I went to Jasper.  We took the back way to save miles and that was where the last tornado came through. I was able to see where it hit. It was about 6 to 9 miles north of our house and it destroyed a lot. Jasper is the hit man city of the U.S. You can hire a hit man for really cheap there. It’s more of a country setting with a lot of land with cows and horses. I was with Elder Shaw, our district leader, and they have a 2 bed room apt up there. We got there and biked across town and it dumped rain on us like buckets! People were yellin at us sayin come stand under here! That’s one thing that’s nice here, if there is a storm, everyone no matter what will let you in cuz they know what can happen. So we stood under a porch for about 45 mins as the roads just flooded! It took 3 days for my shoes to dry out!

 On Wednesday we drove back to Bessemer and met Tina, the subway lady, and her mom and son.  Their question was where do we go after this life before heaven! I wish everyone would ask questions like that.. then that night we went out to the Reeds and taught the restoration and she understood it.   That went good.   We had elk lasagna and then he gave us 5lbs of deer jerky! mmmm so good!

 Thursday we weekly planned then went out with the Smiths. Elder Sawyer and I tried so hard to get in contact with a part member family and we never could. I felt impressed to go and try to see them. So we went out and the mom answered the door and had us come in. She has twin girls age 8 and a 10 yr. old boy not baptized.  We talked a bit and I just straight up asked her would you be alright with them being baptized?  She said yes. That’s what I want to happen! So that’s way exciting. We are going over on Wednesday night to start teaching them! Then we went to the Campbell’s and taught Ashley and showed her how everything was going to go for her baptism on Saturday. She was excited.

Friday I went on my last exchange with elder York :( he goes home on the 26th. We had a great time! Saturday, Ashley was baptized and her family came. It went really well! Then we went to the Campbell’s for pizza afterwards. That night I had a very bad head ache! It killed. People think it’s because I have allergies down here.

 For gospel principles on Sunday, we watched the restoration, the extended one. Sister Reed was crying the whole time the spirit was so strong! We are going to ask her to be baptized tomorrow!  Later we took the sacrament to Sister Ali because she wasn't at church. So that’s how my week was. Pretty good week in all. This may be my last week here in Bessemer!!! Transfer are next Wednesday, we’ll see what happens.

Love Ya'll, 

Elder Anderson

p.s.  Mom don't get mad at my picture.  I am just following in Uncle Rex's footsteps.  

A ROLLER COASTER WEEK

Hello Ya'll

So this week has been like a roller coaster and we have had some ups and downs. There are some weeks that people will reject everything you say and try to do and this week was one of those weeks.

Tuesday we had a district meeting and then tracted for practically the rest of the day until the Preach my Gospel class that night. At the PMG class we watched a church movie and had pizza. Wednesday we tracted for most of the day, but at lunch time we stopped by Subway to get our free sub for the week and one of the workers there said she wanted us to meet with her and her kids. We are really hoping that goes through. Thursday we studied, planned, tracted , had lunch and then set a date with T********. This is absolutely her last chance. We have been teaching her for 6 months now and we will set an appointment and she keeps blowing us off. She blew us off 2 times last week. Then we taught A****** at the church. She is doing so good. She asked me to baptize her on April 14, but I told her she should have Brother C******* from the ward baptize her, so that is what’s going to happen. It’s really exciting. Friday we tried to help a older lady who was mowing her lawn with an old push lawn mower with no motor. She had a cane too, but she told us no and that we could not help her. We then asked a lady that was washing her car if we could help her and she told us no and told us that she already had a church and then turned her back to us. It was a rough day tracting. Saturday we went with Elder and Sister Smith to visit some of the less active members and share an Easter message, then we went to a members house that had just had surgery. Sunday was a good day. Sacrament meeting was really good, then we went to the E****** for Easter dinner. That was really fun. Then Monday we just deep cleaned our house and we are just going to rest up. Tomorrow I am going to Jasper, which is about 2 hours away for an exchange. It should be interesting.

We do somewhat have a new investigator. She is part member in the ward, so that should be good. Then we are still trying to get back in contact with J********. In all, it has been a pretty decent week.

Thanks for all you do..

Love, Elder Anderson

lifes a zoo

Well this week we have been trying to teach A***** family, but her step dad is pretty set of being a Baptist and thinks you saved by grace and not by works. We have helped him build a room in his attic, but I don't think he will be going anywhere in the church. A***** is doing great though, she went to the temple last week so that was way good.

A******* wants to be baptized on April 14th and she asked me to baptize her so that is really exciting.

Sounds like ya'll have a fun trip in Palmyra. Did you meet any of the sister missionaries? Three of the sisters that are serving there now were in my district in the MTC.

We had a multi zone meeting which was really good. I still have a lot to learn. President has been going to mega Baptist churches and speaking about our beliefs to them. This is huge

Sister H******** just received a calling to be the primary presidency as the secretary and she is really excited about that. We are headed over the Sister A**** with her for family home evening tonight.

I have been listening to Octobers general conference talks about 10 times this week. I am so excited for conference this weekend. Please watch with no distractions.

It has been really hot already here. It was 95 degrees when we went to the zoo so the heat is on its way!

We helped Brother C******** with a bbq. Not the way that it is done in the west, but a legit southern bbq. We could only help for a bit. He bbq'd about 80 Boston butt (a pork roast that actually comes from the front shoulder of the front leg) over a open flame.

It's going to be weird not going up to Howell and going on the hill for Easter. I bet it will be great weather for ya'll.

Love to ya'll

Elder Anderson

a service week

Hi Ya'll,

So I forgot my planner, so it is going to be hard to get all the details of my week. We fished on prep day. Tuesday we had our Preach My Gospel class. Wednesday we had ward cor and went to seminary. Thursday we had our weekly planning meeting. Then at night on Thursday, we went to Amber's house and taught her family. Her step dad thinks that it is just by the grace of God that we are saved and that it has nothing to do with our works. I didn't want to bash, so I went home and called Elder York and found a ton of scriptures in the Bible that say if you just accept Jesus as your Savior, you are saved.. so to me, it is pretty much a cop out for those who don't want to do it the right way. I then found some more scriptures that talk about doing works like 2 Nephi 31 so we will have a lot to talked about next time we go over there. Friday we went to lunch with the Hepworth’s at the Cracker Barrel, which was really fun. We then went out tracting, but with not much luck. That night we went to the Campbell's with Craton and taught Ashley a lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ and ate a ton of shrimp. The lesson went good. She asked the question why is baptism so different in our church than other churches. I told her there were 2 parts in our church. The baptism and also the confirmation to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I told her that baptism was pointless without the confirmation, and it really upset her. I didn't mean to say it that way, so I just sat there for a minute and said, let me share a scripture with you not having any idea what I was going to share. So I said, in Acts, I flipped it open to Acts and nothing was highlighted, but I read a scripture where Peter asks these people, Have you received the Holy Ghost? and they say no and he basically tells them that the baptism was pointless. It was so crazy how it all happened. When Craton, Elder Epperson and I got in the car, they both asked me how I pulled that off. As soon as we got home, I grabbed my other scriptures that I always mark up and turned to the scripture that I read to Ashley and it wasn't even marked in that book. I know that the Holy Ghost helped me in that situation because I don't think I have ever read that scripture before in my life.

Saturday we went and help the Hepworth’s lay cement in their basement. This is going to sound like a lie, but it is not. We mixed and laid 3,200 lbs. of cements. It was a lot of work, but worth it. Brother Hepworth's dad was there to help us out, it looks really good. Then we cut our lawn for Brother Stacey (he owns our house). Then Sunday was a really long day. I had a really bad headache, but we went to Sister Ali's and had dinner after church, then we came home and studied.

It was a pretty busy week..

Love you all.. Elder Anderson

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK

It was another great week this week.

We taught Johndarius on Tuesday to get him ready for his baptism on Saturday. He asked me and Elder Sawyer to confirm him. I don't think he understood that only one could do it, so I told Elder Sawyer that he could do it... We then had our PMG class and was teaching about the comparisons of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Amber, Ashley and Erin came after the class and we had another amazing lesson on the Restoration. Erin’s dad, brother Campbell was there to help some and the spirit was so strong. Then on Wednesday we had a meeting with Brother and Sister Callister (Elder Tad Callisters brother) who are teaching all the missionaries to be master teachers. I am a little nervous to go to that because we are asked to use conference language. That means we are not suppose too use words like cool, awesome, sick, or sweet. I am really trying to work on that. They also want us to memorize one scripture a day. It is really hard, but I am trying hard.

Wednesday, we went to the ward and played dodgeball with the young men for their activity, and then had another great lesson teaching Amber. She moved up her date for her baptism from the 24th of March, to the 10th. She also asked me to baptize her. I am really excited about that. We are still working on her family and hope they will come around.

Thursday we went to Oak Mountain for a district meeting. I taught about revelation through prayer and how to use it for our advantage. Then a couple of the older youth there took us out for a BBQ dinner. The one youth said he now wanted to go on a mission after getting to know us. I hope he does. During church on Sunday and bore his testimony and said that he really wanted to go on a mission and it was because of us. It was a tender moment for me as I was thinking of what my patriarchal blessing says about helping out here. We try to be good examples to the youth here. Then Lorenzo was interviewed that night for his baptism.

Friday was really bad weather and we had several conference calls and texts to make sure we were prepared for what was coming. We continued to tract as much as we could. We felt safe and knew we were protected. The schools were let out early that day and the Ali's invited us over for dinner that night and also to teach Amber another lesson. Sister Ali cooked Cafe Rio that night (she got the recipe from mom) it was so good. We had 50 cent piece hail there, funnel clouds (they didn't touch the ground) and lightening. I decided the hail was the closest thing to snow I would see for 2 years.

Elder York and Elder Sawyer came to our house to sleep that night and it was crazy. Every 20 seconds our house would completely light up from the lightening and then the loud bang of thunder, but all is good because it didn't get that close to us this time.

Then Saturday morning we went to the church and filled up the font for Lorenzo's baptism. His brother Dominic baptized him and it was so sweet. Lorenzo asked me to confirm him, but I asked him if it would be okay if Creighton (a boy in the ward that is getting ready to leave for his mission) could do it, and he agreed. It was great. I did bare my testimony and right after I sat down, my boy Dominic got up to bare his.. He is such a stud.. We will have Johndarius and Ambers baptism this coming Saturday. Things are going so good.

Thank you for all you do for me and for all the support.

Love to ya'll... Elder Anderson