What a week it has been!

What a week it has been!  Thank you all for your letters and packages!  I just love mail and it really gives me boosts. 

Missions are so crazy.  I swear that they're like roller-coasters.  On Monday one of our very few investigators dropped us.  It was unfortunate but didn't get us down.  We're serving the Lord and doing our best so nothing else matters.  I've really thought a lot about how if we were always teaching and baptizing like crazy I would be so happy but I don't think that I would appreciate each of them as much.  Plus, sometimes we need to be stretched so that we can become who the Lord sees fit for us to become.  I think that if it was up to us none of us would have any trials or hard times and where is the good in that?  What would we learn?  How would we progress?  There's no way that we would ever get anywhere.  I'm just so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who lets us go through hard times and even puts us in hard times.  

Sister Mackay's companion joined us Monday night-Wednesday night while Sister Mackay went to Tucson.  It was fun to have her around but just reminded me of how lucky I am to be companions with Sister Curlee.  She's a great missionary but I feel like I have so much to learn from Sister Curlee and we work well together. 

On Tuesday night we had an appointment with Heather and Mikayla.  They're the 16 and 12 year old girls that we're teaching.  They told us that they've been coming to church off and on for about 4 years and that their mom is now letting them get baptized!  Yay!  The only condition is that they have a testimony.  I personally think that this is a great condition.  We asked them if they thought that they had testimonies and they both said no.  So we asked them if they believed in our Heavenly Father.  They both said that they definitely believed in Him.  After that we asked if they believed in Joseph Smith and they both said yes.  I was happy to inform them that they both had testimonies and that they needed to be baptized.  So as of right now they are going to be baptized on September 4th!  I'm way excited!  They're so nice and truly just want to do what is right.  Heather and Mikayla definitely are a bright spot in our lives right now. 

Another bright spot is that Bishop Bryce of the Patton Ward has put missionary work as a top priority in his ward right now.  He had us speak yesterday in church.  Sister Curlee spoke about testimonies and I spoke about missionary work.  I shared the story of David P Kimball and how he carried the people across the Sweet Water River and really saved their lives.  I told the ward that our job is the same, it's up to us to save souls.  I referenced D&C 15 and 18.  Every soul is great in the sight of God and it is our duty to help them come unto Him.  It was amazing because I didn't really have any idea of what I was going to talk about and I got up and spoke for about 10 mins.  Things sure have changed since I left home.  It is amazing how the spirit works with us when we put our trust and faith in the Lord.   After we spoke the bishop stood and announced that next Sunday we'll be having a ward fast to find new investigators.  I'm so thankful for his desire to help us and the desire of the ward mission leader as well. 

We saw a miracle in the San Pedro ward yesterday.  An hermana from Tombstone showed up to church.  She doesn't understand a word of English so Bishop Trejo called a brother and myself out of the audience to bare our testimonies in Spanish.  Before calling us up he was talking about how he was going to surprise some people and call them up.  I was laughing to myself and wondering who the unfortunate person would be but it turned out that it was me.  I was nervous because I haven't spoken in Spanish in church for months but it all worked out.  The Lord put words into my mouth.  It definitely wasn't the greatest Spanish but the spirit was there and that's all that matters.  It was really neat to be able to share my testimony in Spanish again in church.
They also had someone interpret for her and had a Spanish Sunday school class.  I really think that she may be the key to finding Hispanics in Tombstone. 

So yeah, things are really starting to move forward and I'm so thankful.  I'm so excited for this week and the potential that it has.  We're going to see miracles!  Also, we get to go to the temple on Wednesday!  I'm SO excited!  It's been over a year since I've had the opportunity to go.  I'm excited to just go, feel the peace and love there, and get a spiritual boost.  It will be so amazing!  The temple really is the house of the Lord.  We are so blessed to have them! 

I hope that you all have a great week!  The Church is definitely true!  Look for the small miracles that happen every day.  They're there!  I love you all lots!

Love,
Hermana Anderson 

Hey There Everyone!

Hey there everyone!  How's it going?  Things are going well here in St. David.  I've had a lot of realizations this week.  It's kind of been a rough week. 

The work is just not progressing like I would like it to.  We picked up a few new investigators who are kind of luke-warm right now.  I'm excited to teach them this week and see what happens. 

So this week they had this big leadership meeting for all of the leaders in the mission and the people that will be leading next transfer.  It seemed like everyone went.  Sister Mackay went because she is training and all of the sisters, but one other companionship went.  At first I was a little bugged because I've been out for 14 months and sisters who have been out for 3 weeks went.  There are a lot of new english sisters coming in so all of the english sisters will be training next transfer.  It's crazy because all but one of them have been out for less than 2 full transfers.  It's crazy.  Anyway, I was feeling like everyone was progressing but me, you know, just feeling sorry for myself but than I realized something... it doesn't matter where you are serving or in what position, it just matters HOW you serve.  Nothing else matters.  I know that I'm where I'm at for a reason.  There's no doubt about it.  The Lord has placed me in this position for a reason and I'm excited to find out what that is. 

I've really come to realize the need to lift where you stand.  We all have so much potential and it's up to us to build the area that we are in.  There are people that we all need to touch.  People that need lifting.  There is a quote that I love from President Hinckley.  It's in PMG Chapter 9 and I can't remember it word for word but it talks about how we need to reach down and pull up the helpless hands and the feeble knees.  It says that as we do so we will be happy.  It is so true, as we pull up those around us and dust the dirt off of their knees everyone will be able to feel the love of our Heavenly Father.  I love it!  Isn't it amazing that Heavenly Father trusts us to be His instruments?  It is amazing.  Every time I testify or help someone out I just feel so good. 

There is a part-member family here.  The husband is the member and pretty anti.  Well Sister Curlee and I went to visit him and his wife and he told us that they couldn't visit because she wasn't feeling well.  We decided that we needed to do something nice for them so we made some cookies and took them over with a note.  It was amazing to see the change in this brother's eyes.  Nothing was said about the Gospel but he could recognize that we were there because we loved them and wanted to help them.  It was pretty neat.  It's amazing what a little card or quick visit can do. 

So this week was crazy because Sister Mackay's companion showed up unexpectedly on Thursday so she had an hour to pack and was gone.  It was pretty crazy.  Even though it's different without her, I think that it will be a good change.  She and I did a lot together and it was time for her to go to a new area and I'm way happy that Sister Curlee is here with me.  It's crazy because at church everyone was just shocked that she was gone and kept assuring me that the church is still true.  Of course it is!  There is no doubt about it!  The Gospel will always be true. 

This week I've really come to feel that trials are here to help us.  There is no way that we can progress without them.  No way.  We need them.  So I've decided to just be happy and smile about any trial put in my way.  I know that I will be blessed and become the missionary that the Lord needs me to be.  I think that our attitudes often affect our altitude.  If we chose to be happy we will progress more than we could ever imagine. 

I'm so thankful that I'm a missionary.  Every day I think about how much my life has been blessed because of my being here.  I hope that I'm a better person because of it.  The Gospel is definitely true and it is up to us to chose to be happy and to lift where we stand.  I know that as we do so we will see miracles.  Look for the Lord's hands in your lives and you will find them.  I know it!  Have a great week!  Love you all lots!

Love, Sister Anderson 

you know you've been in the Arizonia Tucson mission awhile when...

Hey everyone!  It sounds like you're all doing really well!  Anderson clan, thanks so much for all of the letters!  I loved reading them!  Also, thanks to everyone that has been writing me.  Sorry if I haven't written back yet, I'm really behind in writing.  You may be wondering what my subject is referring to.  Well, I've decided that you know that you've been in the Arizona Tucson Mission awhile when you have to put on your winter coat for 70 degree weather.  Monsoon season has arrived and I love it!  I just love the downpours.  Don't worry, I learned last year the proper safety procedures for monsoons.  I just love watching a downpour and seeing the streets flooded.  It's great!   
So this week was another awesome week!  We had zone conference and it turns out that there will be a lot of changes in missionary work.  The missionary department has changed a lot of things up.  We're now only having zone conferences and interviews once a quarter.  This leaves room for a lot of other things such as leadership meetings, sister conferences, etc.  They're changing things up so things are done more on a month to month bases rather than a 6 week to 6 week basis.  We'll still have 6 week transfers but everything will be more monthly.  I'm really excited about this because it seems like it will help us focus on our purpose more.  Also, we'll be seeing a lot more of President and Sister Walker because they'll be coming to district meetings and showing up to go to lessons with us and what not.  It's pretty exciting!  They also informed us that we'll be going to the temple in a few weeks as a zone!  I can't wait!  It will have been over a year since I've been to the temple and I'm so excited about feeling the peace and joy that comes from being in the house of the Lord.  Also, next month we'll be having our first ever mission conference!  Since the mission is now smaller we can all get together and meet!  Having a mission conference is so cool but even cooler is that a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, Elder Christofferson and quite a few members of the 70 will be there teaching us!  I'm so excited!  The missionary department has also decided to start a media campaign in our mission.  It will be such a blessing to our mission and we'll see so many miracles from it.  So yeah, as you can see, there are a lot of really awesome things going on in this mission!  I'm so excited to be a part of it and to see the miracles that will be coming.  We've been working so hard to be obedient and diligent missionaries and we're starting to see quite a few miracles.  We didn't have a whole lot of success numbers wise this week but we definitely did in other aspects of the work and we have so much potential this week.  Here is a list of some of the miracles that we saw:
• we had our first successful coordination meeting with one of our ward mission leaders
• There is a girl that has been very disinterested in joining the church.  She comes every week and knows that it is true but hasn't wanted to meet with us.  Well, she's agreed to start meeting with us! 
• There are 2 teenage girls who's mom hasn't allowed them to join the church.  They've been coming every week for years and their mom has finally taken away the rule of not being able to be baptized!  We talked with the mom and she said that we can meet with her daughters on Tuesday!   
• One ward who has kept missionary work on the back burner since before we got here has had a mighty change of heart.  They've decided that it is their turn to have success with missionary work and the bishop is lighting a fire underneath the ward council.  He's realized that missionary work must be a priority and he's willing to do all that it takes to have success. 
So as you can see there are a lot of really good things going on in this area and I'm excited to be a part of it!  This town had an awesome 24th of July celebration!  There was a parade with 14 entries from the different wards in it.  It was pretty funny.  Before it started the 3 of us were walking down the street talking to people and it was so funny because people were clapping for us.  It was so funny.  It is way cool to serve in an area that has so much pioneer history.  I always try to think of David P. Kimball, the person that the town got its name from and one of the 3 boys who carried the pioneers across the Sweet Water River.  He left an amazing legacy and I wonder what kind of legacy I'm leaving.  We can learn so much as we look to the past at our ancestors.  The pioneers were so amazing.  They left everything for the Gospel.  Are we willing to do the same?  I know that as we are willing to do the same we will see the Lord's hands in our lives more than we could ever imagine.  He's waiting to bless us, we just need to do our part.  I hope that you all have a great week and think about the legacies that you're leaving.  The Church is definitely true and I'm so thankful to be a part of it.  One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 2: 41.  It talks about the blessed and happy state of those that stay true to the Gospel.  The Gospel really is the source of happiness.  Wickedness never was happiness but Christ is.  Find ways that you can be happier.  Look to God and live!  Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Anderson