June 30th, 2014

Good Morning! Sorry for not sending an email last week!

 

I wanted to make up for it by telling you all about Ft. Jackson this week. ----------------

 

1) Well first off, I didn't get transfered! Yay! I am still with Sister Brown in Lexington/Ft. Jackson Military base!

 

2) Pvt. Applebaum is a young lady in her early 20's. She joined the church about two years ago and is amazing! She is always smiling when I see her, which says a lot being in basic training. She is such a good example and always brings friends to church, the last friend that she, Carr, and Lancaster brought was Pvt. Mainville who was baptized two weeks ago!

 

So Pvt. Applebaum has 4 sets of uniforms that she wears for 10 weeks. One Sunday she proudly smiles and tells me that she is wearing her Sunday clothes. I look a little confused. She asks if hers looks cleaner and then explains that she only wear these ones on Sunday. She just wear the other 3 instead. She is amazing. She finds ways to honor the honor the sabath day even in basic training.

 

3) We were sitting in benches right outside the chapel doors waiting for the sacerment to be passed. Just then 3 soilders come running up, out of breath, sweating to the doors. They calmly open them and stand revently still waiting for the sacerment.

 

When you are in basic training they give you a bus ride to church, but when you are in AIT (Advanced Individual Training 10 weeks) you don't get a ride, you have to walk and go to church during your breakfast hour. So usually the soilders have to walk about 1 1/2 minimum one way. They ran to church to make it for the sacerment. Dedication!

 

4) I turn to one of my friends at the base and say, next week bring some friends! He looks at me with this confused face and then points to a group of soilders. He had already brought 5 friends that weeks! I love member missionary work at Ft. Jackson!

 

5) Pvt. Jones was baptized! He is a young soilder for Tennessee. I was able to teach him a couple of times and he is so humble! When I was teaching the commandments this is what happened:

 

"Well the next commandment that we want to talk about is called the Law of Chasitity. It involves keeping our physical bodies clean because our bodies are temples...". I get that far when he cuts in. "CAN I STILL EAT PIZZA?!" I look so confused, like where did that come from? He has this earnest look on his face. Then I realized that he is talking about the word of wisdom, so I teach that one next then go back to the Law of Chastity. He accepts all the commandments and gets baptized.

 

6) So Pvt. Jones was interviewed and ready to be baptized, but he needed someone to do it. So Sister Brown and walk into sacerment, point to two soilders and have them come out: Pvt. Hill (his fellowshipper who I went to college with) and Pvt. Ashby. We explain that Jones is being baptized right now and that we would like them to baptized and confirm. They look momentarily shocked, and say yes and follow us to change and get interviewd to be able to baptize. I just love that we can pull soilders out of church (towards the end of serivce) and they are worthy, able, and willing to baptize.

 

Fort Jackson is an amazing place! I love it!----------

 

"...therefore endure harness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3

 

Even though we are not in basic training, I know that we are all soilders of Jesus Christ. He is our commander and chief and we are here on earth to do his will, to follow his example and every command. We can greater follow him in the fight for truth by following the example of these amazing soilders today by:

 

[ in order of the stories]

 

1) Staying active in the church

2) Respecting the sabbath day

3) Coming to church, not matter the cost to take the sacerment

4) Sharing the gospel

5) Asking questions for understanding and accepting the commandments

6) Being ready and willing to serve

 

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that we are children of God. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers becuase He certainly answered mine this week. I also know that this cause of spreading the gospel is so imporant, it is vital. We need this truth to return home to live with God again forever, so go out and share it! Will you do that? I know that if you do, lives will be changed and testimonies strengthened. Be a good soilder!

 

Love Ya'll

Sister Anderson

 

 (reminder: the mail is just fine now )

P.S. Thank you so much for all of the love and support y'all give me!

July 7th, 2014

Our New Mission Preident------

This week we met our new Mission President  (President Turner ) and his wife (Sister Turner). They are amazing! They are so down to earth and very easy to talk toI was blessed to have gotten to spend a lot of time with them this week, they even came to Ft. Jackson. I am so grateful to have them here in South Carolina to guide us. When I was talking to them, I was trying to think what I could share with them that would help them with this new transition from living in SLC to now living in South Carolina. I decided to gently warn them of the danger of going outside with out bug spray or hand sanitizer, so I feel like I have done my duty now.

 

Happy Days!-------

I just love it when our investigators give us their coffee and coffee pots. It always makes me so happy to be able to throw them away. This week, Floyd commited to keep the word of wisdom and gave us his coffee. I am so proud of him, he is 80 and has been drinking coffee his whole life! It was so hard for him to give it up! He came to church again on Sunday (this is his 4 or 5th time) and said while leaving "I'll be back!" quoting Arnold Schwendaduer. We just smiled. Yes he will. He also comes with his wife Clara. We just love them. She is so funny!

 

More Prayers Answered-----

I had been praying all week to have a certain number of people prepare to be baptized by a specific date. I knew that we could do it, we could find these souls. As the week progressed, we found more and more people who wanted to be baptized. Finally, I shared my goal with my companion that I had secretly been praying for. She was exited, but it was the night before the deadline I had set and we only had 20 minutes left to work and still one more person to find. We said and earnest prayer and went to check on a refferal, and met a lady along the way. She wasn't super inerested. Then we went to the refferal's house, and she wasn't feeling good and could talk. Time was ticking by, but our faith was only increasing. We had a few minutes left and we were surrounded by houses. Which house to knock on? We decided on one and que pasa (guess what) ? That was the house!!

 

We met a family and the father, Richard, had never been baptized before. We taught him about Jesus Christ and what we do as missionaries, what we teach. He loved it and committed to work towards baptism in three weeks. It was amazing! We left with excitment and gratitude in our hearts. We knew that we would find someone, we just knew. We were so grateful to Heavenly Father, for him answering our earnest plea.

 

I set this goal internally to stretch us, becuase I knew that we could do more. We could help more people to come unto Christ, if only we could find them. I am grateful we did

 

The Miracles Keep Coming------------

Pvt. Green and Stewart were baptized this week at Ft. Jackson! It was such a miracle. We had about 5 people who were very excited to and ready to be baptized this week, but they had an issue with the bus schedule and they all missed church. It was so sad becuase they graduated this week, but we were still blessed regardless.

 

So I have taught Pvt. Green for 3 week now. The first time I taught him, he sat in on a lesson where I was focusing on teaching a few other investigators. The second time, he sat in a class of 15-20 or so of people, of which I was was teaching. So both times, he kind of flew under the radar. I knew he was there, but I knew he was graudating soon and there were other people who were more excited and ready to move forward.

 

Well this week sat down at a table to teach 3 soilders, all of whom needed different lessons, so I decided to just teach Lesson One and Three together to best help them. As I was teaching, I felt like I needed to ask Pvt. Green to be baptized. When I did, he explained to me that he had been reading the BOM (Book of Mormon)  all week and praying to know if he should be baptzied and join this church. He wasn't quite sure, but he felt it was what God wanted him to do. I invited him to say a prayer on the spot and ask God. He did and felt "something different" then he explained to me how excited he always was to read the BOM. I then bodly testified that this is truly Christ's church and that it would bless him immensly. He said yes I want to be baptized. Then knowing that he graudated on Thursday, I invited him to be baptized today and took a moment to think and said yes! It was so amazing. The baptism was beautiful. Pvt. Hill and Ashby, who had been teaching him through out the week, were the ones to baptized and confir the Holy Ghost on him.

 

I share this story becuase no one, I mean no one expected Green to be baptized today. He flew under the radar, he never expressed much interest. He actually was invited in a group to be baptized last week and never really responded. BUT, Heavenly Father knew he was ready. Green had done the work, he had prayed and read the Book of Mormon and when the time came that I asked him if it was true, Heavenly Father confirmed the answer to him.

 

I know that there are many peole whom y'all have shared the gospel with, who may have not responded much the first or second time, but don't give up! Heavenly Father doesn't ever give up on us or others, so we should not give up on others also. Sometimes, we just need time. I know that this gospel is meant for everyone and that if we just share it that it will make a difference. We never know when someone will be ready to accept it, so we must never give up.

 

My weekly committment, is to rethink the people you have shared the gospel with, who didn't respond as desired. Or to rethink the people you tried to be kind and befriend, who didn't respond super friendly and give them another chance. Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of that. So we as his followers, should be good examples too. I can promise you that if you do that, that miracles will happen as hearts are changed. "Courage, not compersmise , brings the smile of God's approval." -President Monson.

 

Yo se que es la verdad. I know that is the truth.

 

Love Ya!

Sister Susan Anderson

110 Oak Park Dr #B

Irmo, SC 29063

 

July 14th, 2014

Dear Friends and Family, Hello ! Or should I say Hola? Becuase we spoke a LOT of spanish these week!

Baptisms-----------

 

This week Pvt. Harland was baptized! (See photo) It was great. She was SO excited for her baptism. When I first invited her to be baptized three weeks ago, she practically volunteered as tears ran down her face. She had been meeting with missionaries off and on back home becuase her boyfriend is LDS. She came to basic training and after coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon, she just wanted to be baptized! She was just so happy on her baptism day! She said, "I woke up and thought, yay it's baptism day!"

 

She reminds me of the scripture in Mosiah 18:11, where Alma teaches the people what it means to be baptized. "And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts." When we follow Jesus Christ we have joy!

 

Spanish---------------

 

This week we met a whole bunch of new spanish speakers! It was a blast! In preperation for a lesson with the spanish Elders, Sister Brown and I made the committment to only speak in spanish when possible for a day or so, wow did it help us! We went to teach a lesson with the Spanish Elders, becuase we were introducing Adela and Lupe to them, during the lesson (the restoration) I was able to understand 85% of it. It was amazing! I studied spanish during my meals this week and made a big effort to pray in spanish as well. It made a huge difference. Heavenly Father blessed us so much with increased communciation skills! It seemed like everywhere we went, we just ran into spanish speakers. We also made flan for Adela, it was fun!

 

I can do tough things! Conquering the Hill---------

 

This week, Sister Brown and I took our bikes out for a ride. In my last area, we went biking a lot more than we do here. We haven't spent time biking recently, because we have just been so busy with appointments and mainly with my asthma and the pollen, we haven't been able to-so we decided this week to just set time aside and go.

 

At first it was really fun, but then we realized that her bike didn't shift gear, so we had to do it manully using the chains. A small set back, but we kept going. At one point we were riding and we went down a hill and this came into my mind, I thought "wow, I have never gone this fast before on a bike on my mission...." then I thought, "wow,....this is going to be really tough to bike back up." And it was! At one point, I realized that I could walk faster than I was biking, that's when I knew I had a problem. I had made the mistake of shifting up instead of shifting down for the hill. I learned a vaulable lesson!

 

It was such a blessing to ride our bikes. We were able to meet so many more people. I know that when we go a little bit out of our way, that Heavenly Father will put people in our path for us to help.

 

Random Acts of Service------

 

Recently, we have been able to do random acts of service. We have helped pick of pruned leaves, mowed a couple lawns, help empty the trash, you name it. If we see it, we will try and help! The hardest part isn't the actual service, it's convincing someone to let us help! It is amazing to see the light change in other's eyes when they get help. I know that part of the reason that people loved Jesus Christ was becuase he was always serving.

 

By Small and Simple Things------

 

We have been teaching Floyd and Clara since March. Floyd is 80 and has been married to Clara for 8 years. Clara is a returning member. We love them so much, we have tried our absolute hardest to help them  to come closer to the gospel. Last week Floyd gave us his coffee maker and this week he decided to be baptized! On Thursday, he told us that he would give us an answer about baptism on Sunday at church. That was such a long wait, but we had faith, we knew he would say yes! He was already talking about possible dates to be baptized on and now he is getting baptized this Saturday.

 

We asked Floyd how he reiceved his answer and he said: The Book of Mormon, us teaching him, coming to church, the members, the Lorenzo Snow:Prophets of the Church book, praying, and so on. It was a lot of little things. I know that it is the same way with our testimonies. That is is all the small little things put together that makes a difference.

 

"By small and simple things, are great things brought to pass." It is the small every day things that we do that makes a difference. You build a foundation, one brick at a time. I know that the small things we do add up. They really do! That is what it took with Floyd to know that this church is true and I know that it what it takes for us to be able to know as well.

 

When teaching, we always invite people to do these three things: church, pray, and read. Together they spell CPR, something that saves lives. I know that these three things are the foundation for a strong testimony, one that will stay firm when the hard winds of life come. (Read Helaman 5:12)

 

Will y'all focus on the small things this week that you do? I can promise you that if you do, you will be able to better discern if those small choices are building or breaking your testimony and you will be able to better fortify your foundation with good ones.

 

Love Ya!

Sister Susan Anderson

110 Oak Park Dr. #B

Irmo, SC 29063

 

P.S. President Holm always said something along these lines: "Your life is made up of a bunch of days. If you want to have a great life, have a great day!"

I haven't sent many photos recently, so this week I am making up for it and sending a lot!

 

1 Pvt. Harland right before her baptism

2 Sister Roundy and I with a helicopter from WW2 or Vietnam

3 Sister Brown and I infront of tanks