February 17th, 2014

This week was just full of adventures:

Transfers, ice storms, no electricity for two days, birthday dinner and breakfast, weddings, professional photography, wedding music, music in the church, cancelled meetings, baptisms,...just to name a few!

Weddings: We had an investigator and a member of the ward get married! I was asked to be the pianist (luckily  had pachel canon in D with me) and Sister Stanley was the photographer! You do everything and anything you are asked to do as a missionary!

Baptisms: Ahmad and Jennifer! We went to their baptism, but the font was full of yellow icky water so we had to relocate to the Myrtle Beach building (about 30 minutes away). Well the MB Chapel is in North Myrtle Beach, next to the ocean, hense a popular place. There happen to be a huge marathon happening the street next to the chapel…so we had to delay the baptism a couple of hours because some people were stuck in the road! Don’t worry, they were baptized!

Background on Baptisms: We met Jennifer one night at the Singleton’s home. That night, a month ago, it was storming bad, we were given permission to head indoors for safety due to weather, but we didn’t! For some reason, I felt we needed to be there. We taught Calistro, Sister Singelton’s boyfriend a lesson in Spanish, it went great, but he wasn’t too interested. As we left, I noticed Jennifer on the couch on her phone. I invited her to learn more, she said yes! Turns out she speaks Spanish and heard everything we were teaching! We referred her to the Elders (she was in their area). Well Jennifer loved the gospel so much that she referred her friend, Ahmad (who was in our area) to hear about it! Well, they just couldn’t learn enough and wait to be baptized! All in all, due to boundary changes, Ahmad was taught be 3 sets of missionaries in one month!

Ice Storms: Well there was a big ice storm that hit the east coast. It was cold and icy here, but the real impact of the storms was lack of electricity. We live in downtown Conway, (the city is over 250 years old) and there are huge billowing oak trees everywhere. They line all of the streets and home, putting the sky in a canapé of Spanish moss, (its beautiful!)

Unfortunately, the ice was so heavy that the trees all broke….landing on power lines! We kept hearing this mass crashing all morning (sounding like a gun shot), and looked out to see trees falling on cars, houses, streets, ect. There was no power for 2 full days, so we stayed with a member. It was so much fun to be at her home! Some parts of the state and city didn’t have power for a couple of days.

Tender mercy, it was her birthday the next day and she had moved out and separated from her husband about a month previous. We were able to cook, decorate, and spoil her rotten! We all loved it!

Transfers: I am being transfered!  I am excited for a new start, but I will miss Conway. I have truly come to love these people. Yesterday, I played a song in sacrament (the one I played at my farewell), as I looked over the congregation, I felt as though I was leaving my home again to go on a mission. I just felt so loved. I love the people here and I will miss them tremendously, but I know that the Lord has a plan for me elsewhere.

This week has a lot more of my activities during the week than my spiritual activities.I love being a missionary! I love all of this buissniess and funness, but most of all, I really just love sharing the gospel. During the ice storm, Sister Stanley and I were sick again. We had to stay inside to get better, it was so hard, we were going stir crazy. By the end of it, we came to realize how much more we loved being missionaries. I love talking to others about Jesus Christ and about how he is always there for us. I just love it. I know that he is my Savior.

Moral of the Story: Sometimes we don't appreciate something until its gone, or we don't realize how much we truly love it. I always knew that I loved this, but after that, I really knew that I did.

Will ya'll take a moment to pause and picture your life without something that you do everyday? And then when you do, will you say a prayer of gratitude for what which you do have? I know that if you do this, you will gain a deeper love and appreciation for that which you have.

Love Always,

Sister Anderson

February 24th, 2014

Dear Family,

 

Well this week was full of changes:

 

New Areas: I am now serving in Lexington ward, which is in West Columbia. I was also given the special assignment, with my companion, to serve on the Fort Jackson Military Base on Sunday's with the missionaries that serve there! They needed more missionaries to be able to teach all the troops that want to learn, so we were assigned!

 

New Home: I now live with another set of Sisters! Sister Ramstedt, who I know from the MTC, and Sister Jensen!

 

New Companion: Sister Doughtery. She went to BYU for 4 years and now is serving a mission! She is from, get this, Fairfax, Virginia and knows my cousins the Eccles! What a small world! Her family is all military, perfect right?! 

 

More Connections:

1) Austin Garbrick, who was in my homeward growing up and married someone I know, served in this ward for 6 months (about 1-2 years ago). All of them know and love him!

2) Laurie Farnsworth brother, Brother Temple, is in this ward! He sent a photo of me to her after sacrament. She was also in my ward growing up as a small child. He knows a handful of my family friends from back home.

3) Last May/June, while I was at BYU-I, I ran into a friend of mine, Sister Jacobson, serving in Rexburg. She was at the missionary desk with three other missinoaries, one of which was from, Lexington SC. Well Sister Christiansen, told her Mom in an email to look out for me. (One year later)  I was in the car with her Mom, Sister Pollander, this week and figured out the connection! I walked into her home and saw a giant picture of her daughter, I said, thats her! Small, small world.

4) Sister Pollander grew up in the area where my Father served his mission, the same time my Dad was there!

5) Small world!

 

Funny Moment: My Bishop in my last area told me that he use to do this in church: When he was teaching a class, every now and then he would be slight off doctorine into the lesson. All the older men would wake up and "correct him" then at the end of the lesson, he would do it again. He said it was very affective to keep people awake!

 

FORT JACKSON:

I love serving on the army base! It is amazing! We literally have a horse troft that we baptize people in outside. The troops are so humble and ready to learn the gospel. Due to basic training, they are very straightforward and answer all my questions. Becuase there is only a small window of time we can be there at church, we teach them lessons invidtually while in the same room as our companion in order to teach more people. For once in my mission, my prosolighting close (dress or skirt) is normal clothing compared to the normal military attire. Crazy huh?

 

Yesterday, I was teaching Specialist Guo. Specialist Guo loves the church! Her native language is chinese, but she speaks english pretty well. While I was teaching her (using chinese pamphlets for reading and english for speaking), I noticed a soilder by himself. I found out that he was a member of the Church, Private Lau Fulu, from Somao. Well, english was not his native lanuage either. He spoke less english than her; his native langauge is Samoan. I invited him to join in on the lesson. Your thinking, "Oh great! More confusion." It was amazing though, how this lesson was so power full and it was clearly understood! I know that even though the english was not perfect, it was understood. I am grateful that the Spirit teaches the universal language.

 

LEXINGTON:

I love Lexington! It is a normal city, but I feel as though I am in the deep south. Here are some common phrases: "When the south will rise again..", "We will be ready when the government takes over...", "Bubba Gump", "I fixin too.." I sure do love it!

 

The area has more members densley populated, so there are 3 wards that meet in this buliding! Unheard of in my last area!

We had a baptism this Saturday! Tappreona Moore, who is 17 years old. She was so excited to be baptized! It was wonderful! The ward loves her.

 

Tender Mercies: I was standing at a door of an investigators home, waiting for him to come to the door, thinking how nice it would be to have some chocolate. Well he came back with some chocolate hearts for us! I was elated! I know that God hears and answers our prayers. Not that I prayed for chocolate, its just that I had had a long day and that sounded nice. Heavenly Father knew that, and blessed me through the actions of another person.

 

I know that the Lord is so aware of us and that He loves us so much! This week there was a big german shepard blocking our path home, so we said a prayer and felt that it would be ok to proceed. Moments later, as we proceeded to the path (pepper spray in hand), three young men came out of the dark street and started walking the direction we needed to go. They then walked through the gate where the dog was, so we followed them and were unharmed. Moments later, after safeftly making it through, one of the young men turned around to talk to us. He asked me for a cigarette, I told him that I didn't have any but I had a picture of Jesus, so I gave it to him.

 

I know that the Lord will always provide a way for us to do the things that we need to do, to follow Him. Lastly, here is a scripture I love: "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the thigns which the Lord hath commanded, for I knwo that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commanded them" (1 Nephi 3:7).

 

I love y'all! Will you do the things that you know to be right? I know that if you do, you will be aided by the Lord.

 

Love Always

Sister Anderson

110 Oak Park Dr #B, Irmo, SC 29063

March 3rd, 2014

Hello Friends and Family! Weekly update!

 

This week we had two baptisms at the base! Pvt Fuller and Meek! It was the best!

Privet Meek attended church last week, had the first lesson and liked it, he commited to baptisms in two weeks! Well, yesterday, I taught him and his battle buddy, Pvt Nichauls ( who is a member of the LDS Church, lesson three. At the end of it, I asked him if he would like to have the Holy Ghost with him always, he said yes. I then asked if he still wanted to be baptized, he said yes! I then asked if he wanted to be baptized this week or next week, he said this week! So, I started teaching lesson four, all the commandments. Then we went to sacrament, after sacrament, he was interviewed, baptized, and confirmed, all in two hours! It was amazing!

 

Funny Moment: Elder Fenton, a senior missionary (senior missionaries are those who choose to serve missions on their own or as a couple after retirement) helps with the baptisms.  Here is what happens: The troops walk outside the church and everyone who is interested follows to watch. They get baptized in a set up horse troft, used for water. As the person being baptized goes down, being held by the one baptizing, Elder Fenton reaches into the water and pushes down the troops legs so they don't come up! It is hilarious!

 

We baptize the exact same way that Jesus Christ was baptized, by full immersion. Therefore, in order to be baptized like him, we must go fully under the water. Afterwards, I asked a soilder what he thought of the baptism. The soilder leaned over to me, not understanding this concept, and said "It looks like you are trying to drown him!" I smiled and then explained. Oh, I love being a missionary!

 

At the end of church, two pvt's ran up to me and asked if I saw their battle buddies who were late for the bus, I said no. They ran away looking for them with this urgency in their eyes, I then realized that if one person breaks rules, they all get punished. I felt bad for them!

 

This week, I have been finding spanish speakers left and right! The missionaries assigned to speak spanish (the spanish elders) saw our car (It's not hard to miss with the bike rack on the back and pictures of Jesus Christ in the windows) and left a pass along card. It read "Do you know where any mexicans are? Call us! Your Spanish Elders ###-###) Well if that didn't excite me, then I don't know what else would! I decided to be on the look out.

 

This week,  I was able to "run into" many different spanish speakers, speak with them, pray with them, tell them about the church, and then reffer them to the Elders! The Lord uses our talents to bring to pass His works and help others! My companion has taught two lessons in sign language since we have been together, the whole time I just smiled. Smiles are the universal language!

 

Also, tomorrow, I am going on an exchange (when you swith companions for 24 hours in order to learn more about how to missionary work) with Sister Emily Bell! Sister Bell went to seminary with me growing up and tomorrow we get to be companions for the day. It will be so fun!

 

Lastly, this week I have been thinking about the attributes of Christ: Faith, Hope, Charity and Love, Knowledge, Patience, Humility, Diligence, Obedience, and Virtue. I know that as we work on these traits, we become more Christ like. Will y'all choose one and work on it this week?

March 10th, 2014

This week we had 7 baptisms at Fort Jackson! Yes 7 of them! It was amazing! Miracles just continue to occur there! (Look at photos)

Those who were baptized: Pvt’s: Reynolds, Guo, Johnsey, Pfeifferm Faulk, Mendez, and Winfield.

---------------- Fort Jackson:

I absolutely love serving on the military base! This week was another miracle,  like last time! I met a soldier, Pvt Winfield, who had been to church once and loved it. He had committed to baptism. So I invited him to be baptized this week and then taught him the commandments and Gospel of Jesus Christ, then set him up for an interview. He was so ready to be baptized! By the end of the lesson, he was the one teaching me why it is important to follow God’s commandment!

Here is a quote from Elder Richard L. Evans:

“A prophet of God has said: “Men are that they might have joy” – a joy that includes a fullness of life, a life dedicated to service, to love and harmony in the home, and the fruits of honest toil – an acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – of it’s requirements and commandments.

Only in these will you find true happiness, the happiness which doesn’t fade with the lights and the music and the crowd.”

I know that this is so true!

Also, Specialist Guo got baptized too! She was the one who spoke Chinese and English! She is so sweet! I love her!

Fort Jackson is the best, because everyone in basic training has to live the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity for 10 weeks! This really helps for interviews and worthiness. (In order for someone to be baptized, they must be living the WOW for 1 week and the LOC.

I am grateful to get to serve here with so many missionaries and soilders. It is such a group effort to help everyone to prepare to be baptized! We can’t do it without each other and the Lord!

-------------------------- Miracles:

 We have been searching in a big trailer park for a less active member of the church who recently moved in. After 3 weeks, we found him! His name is Charles. Last week, we taught Charles a lesson. As we were wrapping up the lesson, I felt impressed to share an obscure story from the BOM with him. At first, I was uncomfortable sharing it, thinking that he may be offeneded by the message, but I knew that I needed to, so I trusted and did.

Well as I did, a head popped up from a chair. There was a man in the back of the room, who had been listening! That man was Bill, he loved the story! He then opened up and told us about his life, which led to us inviting him to be baptized! Bill now wants us to meet his neighbor Larry to share more with him too! I know that when we are diligent in our task, Heavenly Father blesses us. I know that there was a reason that I studied that story in Alma that morning and that there was a reason that I needed to share it. Heavenly Father has such a great plan!

----------------- Exchanges:

This week, I went on three exchanges, one of which was with Sister Bell! We got to be companions for 24 hours and saw so many miracles together! There certainly is something to be said about success that comes from companions who are in unity and who are happy!

Sidenote, my companion is awesome!

Another miracle: On one of the exchanges, I was with Sister McHaley, who serves in the YSA ward. She is incharge of all the ysa in the area. Well we just happen to have been teaching one of our new investigators, who is 23. She now is going to be baptized and wants to share the gospel with her softball team.

It was a miracle because she said yes to baptism and becuase Sister McHaley was there. Sister McHaley and her companion Sister Creager, will be the ones to teach her now. Miracles are out there!

-----------

I know that if you look for miracles every day that you will find them! I am so grateful for all of the miracles and blessing I am receiving and seeing out ehre. I love y'all. Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Anderson

 

March 17th, 2014

This week was a whirwind! Highlights:

 

Elder Zwick, of the First Quorum of the 70 came and spoke with us this week! He did a mission tour and spent all of Thursday teaching us. I was privileged to go to a leadership meeting with him the next day as well, where he taught us in a smaller setting. He is a very charismatic man and it was great learning from him. My highlight though, would have to be the fact that he had a personal interview with me and my companion.

 

Interview:

Well we sat in a room with him for about twenty-five minutes where he asked us questions and experiences about our mission. He asked us about our experiences being STL's (Sister Training Leaders) then commented that he was going to call President Eyring later that week to tell him about what he found about STL's from interviewing us! Oh, man! No pressure. Luckily he told us after we answered all of the questions.

 

Well part way through the interview he said something about needing to be worthy, which of course I agreed with. You need to be worthy to serve an effective mission. But then a split second later, I realized, as his eyes did not leave mine, that he was not commenting about needing to be worthy, he was looking me in the eyes and asking me specifically, if I was completely worthy to serve a mission.

 

Realizing what was happening a half of second later, I just nodded that I was. Nothing crossed my mind but that I was. Then he turned to my companion and asked her the same question. She said yes. Those few seconds seemed an eternity. Well, this is a rather personal experience, but I am sharing it with y'all because it taught me a lesson.

 

In that moment, Elder Zwick, was acting in behalf of the Savior, when he asked me if I was worthy. Likewise, we are going to be asked by the Savior someday if we are worthy to not only serve him, but live with him. I always want to be able to say yes.

 

I am not perfect, or even close to it, but being on my mission, a lot of wordly influlences are eliminated. I don’t have too many distractions to take me away from the work, so it was easier, in some regards, to answer yes. How this relates to you: The less distractions you have, the less your mind is being taken away from the Savior. Sometimes we do things in life that seem important, but really aren’t. Or we watch something that seems harmless, yet it really is. So I invite you to see what distractions you have in your life that aren’t needed and cut them out.

 

While we may not all be interviewed by a member of the 70, our Bishop and Stake President act as a representative of the Lord when they interview us.

 

Funny Moment: The Lottery Ticket

Well, we were pulling up to someone’s street for an appointment, when a car drives by. I jokingly say that it is going to be Charles, the man we have an appointment with and of course it is him! So our appointment is driving away in the opposite direction of his home. Great.

 

Well just then, he then pulls over and tells us that he will be right back. He has to run to the gas station and do something with a lottery ticket. Charles, is a newly baptized member, who hasn’t been coming so frequently to church but wants to start to. ) So I open my mouth about to explain that we as a church, do not believe in gambling WHEN he say’s: “I just won $1000, I am going to go and tell them! I can’t retrieve it there, but I want to tell them.”

 

My mouth just closes as he drives away. Later that day we taught him. Haha, funny moments as a missionary. My companion suggested to let the Elders Quroum President teach that in a lesson on church on Sunday. One thing at a time.

 

Fort Jackson: Two more baptisms this week!

 

We have a couple more who will be baptized next week too! Because of all of our hard work on Ft. Jackson, we get to go to the Temple soon! I am so very excited to go. I love the Temple and miss it so much. This week one of the baptisms was Pvt. Shefield. He is a very nice young man who wants to follow Christ! I was able to teach him a lesson and invite him to be baptized. When I did, I accidently invited one of his friends, who was already a member of the church to be baptized as well, he graciously declined. All is well that ends well!

 

 Y'all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Anderson, 110 Oak Park Dr #B, Irmo, SC

March 24th, 2014

Baptims:-----------------------------------

 

Fort Jackson: Two more on Fort Jackson! One of them was Pvt Cody Denmnan, someone who I taught. It was so fun to see his smile after being baptized!

 

Conway: Jamie and Autumn Smith, a Mom and her 17 yr old daughter were baptized!! I am so excited, I taught them in Conway for a while and invited them to be baptized. So 2 more baptisms in Conway. The work just keeps moving forward! I sure do love Conway and miss it a little!

 

Prayers: Please pray for Danny Pridgen. He is an investigator who we are working with. He is going to be baptized on Saturday at 11am. Please pray that he will be able to continue to live the WOW and that sweet tea will not tempt him. Please pray that he can make it to his baptism.

 

Danny: He has a long duck dynasty style beard and was born and raised in the South. We met him when he was riding his bike. He is about 53 years old.

 

Exchange Miracles:-------------------------------------------

 

This week, I was on exchanges in Pelion, a country town. I was with Sister Barnson, who has been out about 5 weeks-she is a great artist, anyways we went to our appointment but arrived a few minutes early. So what did we decided to do, go knocking of course!

 

We found three spanish families! So, I got to teach them in spanish until I ran out of words to say or until I couldn't understand them anymore. Slightly awakard moment. We were talking to a lady who said that her neighbor just had a baby. So we went to knock on her neighbors door, who was clearly pregnant.

 

I assumed she must of just had her baby becuase she was very pregant. I explianed that we were missinoaries and would like to pray for her and her baby. She said yes, come in and some other stuff that I didn't understand becuase she only spoke spanish. Well I went to pray for her baby (in spanish) and then afterwards spoke her and her family. During this whole time I never saw her baby. Well, we left and met her other neighbor, who had just had a baby.

 

So apparently, we went to the wrong house. She was still pregant, no baby yet. I mean we can all use prayers, but I just thought it was funny becuase of the language barrier that I missed that part. Oops!

 

Other miracles, it seemed like evryone we spoke to on that street listend to us. After teaching a couple lessons on the door steps we decded to leave, as we were walking away I had this feeling that there was still someone there who we needed to talk to. So we went back and knocked on one more door and found her. Sister Barnson bascially told her that she needed to join our church,( the girl was in high school), well the girl didn't object. It was great! Loved it. They are going back to teach her more.

 

I am so grateful for the Spirit, that he can guide us to the people that we need to speak with or the places we need to go. I know we can be guided in our every day lives by that same spirit. 

 

Church-------------

In church we did a musical number, Nearer My God To Thee. Sister Doughterty sang, she sings really good, and the two Elders also sang while I played the piano.

 

Tender Mercy:------------------------------------

Last week, I had a day that was harder for me. That night I recieved a letter in the mail from my trainer, telling me how much she loved me. All it was was a simple note, but it made the biggest difference to me. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us. He knew that I would need that lift to get me through and He knew that Sister Lundholm could help me.

 

So the next time you have a thought run through your head, such as "I wonder how Brittany is doing?" or "She looks really good in that sweater" or "I am going to write Chris", just do it! Act on it. You never know what will make another's day.

 

Will y'all all do that? Will you act on your impressions? I know if you do, you will be led by the Spirit more becuase you will be acting on thoughts. I know that this will help to make someone else's day.

 

Love Y'all!

Sister Anderson

110 Oak Park Dr #B

Irmo, SC 29063

 

 

March 31st, 2014

Fort Jackson: Do the miracles ever cease?!

 

This week we had a couple people set to be baptzied, but for one reason or another, it didn't happen. They either weren't there or didn't live the word of wisdom, basically a heart breaker. Well there we were sitting outside of sacrament meeting for a moment, when,....Private Cappelle walked through the doors, late! We welcomed her in and helped her get ready to be baptzied! It was great. Miracles do happen. "Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Ether 12:6

 

Lexington: Bye, bye sins!

 

Danny Pridgen got baptized in Lexington! He is a southerner, born and raised in South Carolina. He is in his fifties.

 

So right after he comes out of the water after being baptzied he says real loud, "Well, I feel better!" It was the best, so hilarious. Then later during the service, we could hear the baptismal font water draining, so he leans over to Brother Mayo and says, "You hear that? That is the sound of my sins washing down the drain!" Danny knows what it means to be baptzied.

 

Service Prjoect: Did we help or make it worse?

 

Well Danny is building this shed, 9 ft by 10ft, and we have been offering to help him for a while, so he finally said yes. So we show up to his house in our jeans, already to work. We start off by putting together some metal frames and then we start on the floor. He has the ground all level with the plank foundation. We get to use an electric drill(disclaimer: thanks Dad for all those projects growing up, I aleady knew how to use it :) ) and things seem to be going good. So we go crazy screwing in this plywood to the floor. The most fun we have had in a while. We have rows and rows of screws all lined up and looking nice. We have about 10 minutes before we have to leave, 90% of the floor done, when Danny realizes that we did it wrong. He hadn't payed attention and apprarently the wood was in the wrong place for support. So he had to unscrew everything and start over. We felt so bad! But he is letting us come back to help again so it couldn't have been that bad. He said he should have got it, oh well!

 

Thought of the week:

 

I have been studing the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. There is a part where the people are in the middle of a war. The bad guys (Lamanities) came and tried to attack one of the good guy's (Nephities) weaker cities, but "to their astonishment, the city of Noah, which had hitherto been a weak place, had now..., become strong." (Alma 49:14)

 

I love that story the enemy tried to get a cheap shot in by attacking a weak place, just like Satan tries to get us where we are weak. But the people had a good leader, and he helped them to prepare by making their weakness their strength, so when the advisary came, they had no power.

 

I know that as we look at our weak places and work on them to make them strong we can "astonish" others when hard things come our way. The scriptures said that "they were prepared..., in a manner which never had been known". I know that preperation is critical.

 

I invite y'all to see what weakness you have, whether it be a temper, shaken faith, a bad habit you give into, and work on it. Make your weaker things, your strongest things. And if you want to know how to do that. Read the Book of Mormon and follow it's advice to fortify yourself. And pray of course. That is number one.

 

Well I love y'all. Enjoy the photos!

 

Love,

Sister Susan Anderson

110 Oak Park Dr #B

Irmo, SC 29063

April 7th, 2014

Well this week has been eventful! I thought that I would give you more of an update of what I do during the week.

 

--------------Transfers:

Transfers happen. Nothing changed. Sister Dougherty and I are still together and are still STL's but now we are only incharge of 5 sets of sisters instead of 10, so that is a lot easier!

 

-------------"Wen" you choose to follow Christ...

Private Jiayu Wen got baptized at Ft. Jackson!! She is so sweet. She is from California and is in her AIT training at FT. Jackson. This was her last week. We have been teaching her for many weeks now. Everyone loves her! She is friends with Guo and Xu. Guo was recently baptized and Xu (pronounced su) is a member. I sent a photo of all three of us a couple weeks ago. She is the best! Also Guo, graduated her AIT Specialized training as THE top graduate. She won every single award they had, I was so proud when I found out. They are all amazing! Xu is going to Korea for a year very soon.

 

------------Pollen Season:

So the south has a lot of pollen, when I say a lot, I mean a lot! When we walk outside in the morning, our shoes are covered in thick green dust. We have to use the windshield wippers to wipe off the pollen before we can drive. Its crazy! Welcome to the south.

Pollen=Beatutiful Trees=Allergies.

 

Well I learned something interesting this week. I already knew I was partly allergic to pollen, it gives me allergy induced asthma and other stuff, but I also learned that it causes hives. So my whole body has been covered in hives for the past week, but don't worry its not so bad. Miracle moment, the hives don't bother me as much during lessons, so that is some motivation to teach people! Doctor Rose says that is should go away soon, or become chronic and stay for months, I guess I will find out soon!

 

-----------Dumpster Diving

A couple nights ago, I was getting in bed, about to take some medicaine, when I realized that I didn't know how much mediciane to take. I then realized that I already threw out the mediciane cover the night before, thus I needed to get it from the garbage. So I headed outside in my pajamas and a blanket with a flash light, ready to dumpster dive. I got it really easily and went back inside. One moment later, we went to the door a found groceries there! Our ward mission leader had dropped them off for us. Here is the great part. I saw a car when I went dumpster diving in my pj's not realizing it was him. Haha, he most likely saw us digging in the dumpster late at night. Love it. He proably thinks that missinonaries are crazy! I am so grateful for him brining us groceries.

 

------------A Whole Lot of Ice Cream: Don't Offend your Members

Speaking of more crazy events. The Briles family offered to feed us lunch at the church between conference sessions. They also fed two sets of Elders. Well the week before, they asked what my favorite ice cream was, so they could get it. I told them and that was that. Well as they brought out the ice cream, they put a whole quart of it in a massive bowl for me and set it down at the table. They did the same for two of the Elders (They got 1.5 quarts) . Everyone else got to eat any ice cream they wanted. Apparently, when Brother Briles was on a mission, a family made him eat a whole pint of ice cream, so now he guilt trips all the new missionaries into doing it. He sat there staring at me for 35 minutes telling me to not "offend the members" and "waste their money" and eat it and what not.

 

My companion was not help what so ever because it was a right of passage and everyone else had already had that done. I DID NOT eat all of it, or even close! No way! One of the Elders at the whole thing and the other one had a melt down and his companion had to talk with him in the bathroom for like 15 minutes. He just sat their staring at the food, he has only been out a few weeks. I felt bad for him.

 

It was very kind of the members to feed us, it was a good laugh.

 

---------------Protections from the Lord

 Two cars on either side of our house, so a total of 4, may be 3 cars- were broken into, windows were cracked, things stolen. But our cars, which were nice too, where not broken into. The Lord protects his missionaries!

 

--------------"We aren't your typical mormons"

Well this week we brought a returning member of the church to a lesson with us to see our investigators. In order for them to feel more comfortable and understand her better she told them that "I'm not your typical mormon, I have tatoos, like pitbulls, ect....". Well our slightly drunken investigator turns to her with out missing a beat and say, "Were not your typical mormons either, we haven't been baptized!" He said it matter of factly, I could barley keep from laughing, I was so proud! We can help him change that last part.

 

--------------General Conference

I love General Conference. It is when our prophet and his apostles speak to the world and tell us things that we need to know to become better and they warn of us dangers. I invite all of y'all to listen to it. It is just wonderful, you can find it on "www.lds.org" then you will see "general conference." It was the best becuase we could just walk up to people contacting and say "We have a prophet today, just like God had in ancient times, and he is speaking to the world tomorrow, will you come with us and hear him?" Or "If we had a prophet today, would you be interested in hearing what he had to say?"

 

Will you share something your learned from GC with your friends?I know that as you do you will be doing missionary work, which is part of our purpose here on earth.

 

I know that Thomas S. Monson truly is a prophet of God and that leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today under the direction of Jesus Christ. This is Christ's church. I know that it is. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I believe in him and want to follow him!