Monday, September 8, 2014

July 21st, 2014

Floyd's Baptism--------
 
Floyd was baptized!!!! He had nearly 50 people at his baptism (I am so grateful for the support of the ward!). It was absoultely beautiful. Here is a run down of it:
 
At first it was in the baptismal room, but too many people came so we had to move it to the Relief Society room, then that got filled up too! President and Sister Turner came. I played a musical number on the piano and at the end Floyd bore his testimony. He said that 20-25 years ago, he went with a bus full of people down to a lake to be baptized. Upon being baptized, people came out of the water whooping and hollering, raising their hands, and praising the Lord. He said that he did too and that he felt guilty for not really feeling it but doing it. With the most sincere voice he said (speaking about today), "This, was my baptism. This was the real thing."
 
He then bore a beautiful testimony and turned to us and said "I can truly call you my sisters." He commended us on our dilligence, saying that he was not an easy sell. It's true, we had to work very hard for nearly 5 months, but it was worth every moment of it. We truly learned what it was like to plead with the Lord to soften Floyd's heart, to humbly petiton for guidance in the lessons we taught. Honestly though, looking back on these past few months. It wasn't us who really did anything, it was the Spirit. Floyd did what he needed to (such as reading, praying, and coming to church) inorder to feel the Spirit. I am so grateful that we can all be baptized becuase of Jesus Christ, becuase of the example he set.
 
Floyd is so happy now! He loves high priest group and they ALL love him. Floyd loves reading the Presidents of the Church books that we study each eyar. We are making ice cream in a bag with his great-grand kids this week. Clara is wonderful as well! She is so much fun to be around, we describe her as a "crack-up". She is hilarious. She has more spunk than most teenagers. We just love their family!
 
Miracle Moment: God Protects His Missionaries!-------
 
A few days ago, Sister Brown and I went to visit a family which we know quite well. They have a couple of dogs, one of which is a big pittbull, but is very kind-just a giant puppy. Well Sister Brown was walking ahead with the dog jumping all around while I locked the gate. She just turned the corner, then I heard a loud "yelp!" from the dog. I thought, "what did she do to him?".
 
Here is what happened: He was playing around as normal, but somehow or another bit her hand. She said that she could feel his teeth on her hand going into her skin, but right as it was about to penitrate her skin, he just yelped very loud and fell down/let go or something! She walked away without a scratch.
 
A few months ago, a dog went to bite her but bit her leather bag instead. She had giant bite marks on her old bag. Haha. Oh dogs! But seriously, tender mercies are every where. Heavenly Father has been doing a lot of protecting her with dogs!
 
*Disclaimer: If you get bit/or scratched on your mission by an animal, you have to go in for bloodwork and rabbies shots. A few months ago, my roommate, picked up an injured cat from the road to save it as a car was coming and got maulled by a cat, all over her legs. She had to get like 10 shots in each wound becuase it was a stray cat and they couldn't verify it didn't have rabbies. Moral of the story: We STAY AWAY from animals on your mission.
 
Ft. Jackson-------
 
Pvt. Korotaz and Hodge were baptized! I didn't have the privledge of teaching them, but I taught Mainville who was baptized a few weeks ago. Mainville brought Korotaz to church, then Korotaz got taught from there. Member missionary work is the best! Mainville came to church because he battle buddies: Applebaum, Lancaster, and Carr invited her. So, remember, invite your friends to church!
 
He will lead you to them, or them to you!-------
 
We have been in the process of finding new people to teach. In preach my gospel it talks about how we will be guided to those who are ready, or those who are ready will be guided to us. Well a few days ago, we were teaching the Hazen family, who are members of the ward and are conviently our neighbors when two girls come running in the door. One is their daughter and the other is a girl whom we had never met. We finished teaching and went to meet her family. It turns out Lashia has been wanting to come to church a a whle now. She is 10 years old and lives with her Mother. Her Mom was baptized into the church when she was 12, but hasn't really been since. It was a miracle! We are now preparing Lashia to be baptized and working on helping their family come closer to Christ.
 
We were not expecting to find Lashia, but we are so grateful. We could have just ignored her when she ran into the Hazen's lesson, but we took a moment to get to know her instead. If we wouldn't have taken that moment, we wouldn't have been able to help her family. When we just take a moment to get to know someone, we can make a new friend. An Elder in our mission once said that "strangers are just eternal friends waiting to happen" or something like that. I am grateful for the chance that I have to make new friends and help bring them to the gospel.
 
Last Miracle of the email-------
 
Friday night we planned to visit two families the next morning which we hadn't seen in a while: The Green's and Rosado's. The next morning, as we were walking down the street to Brother Green's home we met an Elderly couple which informed us that he had just passed away the night before. One of Brother Green's children lives a few houses away, that is the Rosado family. We waked up and saw them outside. We were able to visit with them for a moment and offer assistance in any way and just a sweet moment with them.
 
When we were planning the night before the idea to visit the Rosado's and Green's did not come as huge revelation. In all honestly, I didn't think much of it. Now, looking back, I know that was exactly where we needed to be.
 
(On the way back to the car we met a couple who knows a different member and is letting us come back to help clean. She is elderly and was just frettting about how she was going to dust under the bed, then we showed up moments later and offered to help serve or clean in any way! Miracle!)
 
Heavenly Father guides our life. I am certain of it!
 
When we count our blessing and acknowledge them more, we can see them more present in our lives. So instead of thinking that something is a conincidance, will y'all give the credit to Heavenly Father and thank Him? I can promise you, that if you do, you will be happier!
 
Love Ya!
Sister Susan Anderson
 
P.S. Sorry these are getting so long!
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July 28th, 2014

Sister, I have something to tell you.---------
 
Yesterday, I was walking in the church when Pvt. Tucker pulled me aside. He said that he had something he wanted to talk about, so I stopped walking and listened.
 
I have been teaching Pvt. Tucker for 3 to 4 weeks now. He is younger and comes with some of the best member battle buddies! An hour previous, I sat down at a table with about 6 soilders and went to teach them a lesson. I had already taught them several times and I was silently, but quickly trying to decide what to teach. As the opening prayer ended, the thought came to me to teach eternal marriage, so I did. I told them that today we were going to talk about Temples, the member Pvt. Applebaum said, "No way! We were just talking about that with them today." I then continued to say, in specific we are going to talk about eternal marriage." Now they all looked shocked and continued to explain that that was what they had questions about. I testified that the Spirit guides us in life. So I taught those two principles and the Plan of Salvation. After the lesson, I gave them some pamphlets to read on the Plan of Salvation.
 
Shortly after finishing the pamphlet, is when Tucker approached me, he said "Sister. I want to be baptized! How soon can be?!" Well that was just music to my ears! I was so excited!!
 
A few minutes later, I walked outside to the baptisms and met a soilder named Franks, this was his first week at church. We started talking and he told me how he had been listening to his LDS battle buddies teach his friends the gospel through out the week. (His LDS friend went through many of the lessons). He said very confidently that he also wanted to be baptized! I congratulated him and taught him the first lesson.
 
Fort Jackson is a place of miracles! It is the best feeling to have soilders walk up to you and tell you that they are ready and excited to be baptized!
 
This week Pvt. Dimry, Briggs, Steinhusier and Grider were all baptized!! It was a week of miracles!! There are many more exited to be baptized next week: Please pray for Pvt.: Tucker, Alvarez, Hanvey, Holley, and all the other people preparing. Thanks!
 
 
Soda Please!------
We were trying to find an address, that apparently didn't exist, when we stopped to ask a nice looking older couple for directions. The older gentleman was a little fiesty about us being mormon, well rather fiesty; his wife was so sweet and went out of her way to help us. As we were leaving she offered us a drink, she said "I have water and soft drinks, oh wait. You can't have soft drinks, sorry..." She was so kind!
 
We explained that we could have soda. While this was happening the older man was on the side of us listening to our words. Sister Brown, with out skipping a beat, asked for Sprite. As we were walking away she said, I didn't really want a soda, but it sounded good, and I wanted to show him that we could drink it.  Haha. I feel like much of my mission is clearing up false ideas. People often think we are Jehovah Witness but think that we follow Amish rules. Not everyone, but some people.
 
CRS-----
As we were searching for that same house, we knocked on a door and a large man about 6'2 walks out in huge overalls with zippers on them. (You have to love the South!) His name was Lee and he was about 60. I told him that I too use to wear overalls, but mine never had zippers in the front of the pocket or places for pens. As we were talking I had a hard time recalling something. He then promptly told me that I too suffered from a crippling disease of older folks, CRS. Can't Remember Stuff. I just laughted, what else are you suppose to do. Lee was hilarious with all the stories he told us. He use to know some LDS members, one of which was a young man about to leave on a mission, he talked to us all about how this young man rode his bike in South America. We just smiled. It is amazing that the things that people remember about the church. You make a larger impact on others than you know!
 
1 Lady, 3 Dogs, 1 Wagon, and 3 crazy Missionaries-------
We often drive down a major road named Platt Springs, usually about 2 times a day. Several times we have been driving and have seen an older woman in her 70/80's walking down the side walk walking a small dog and pushing two more small dogs in a little wagon. Kind of an unual sight.
 
Well this particular day, it was about 6 pm in the afternoon and I saw her again. Quickly I turn the car to the right and park in a parking lot. As I unbuckle rather suddenly, I explain to my companion and the member in the car that we are going to meet that lady. Just like that, I rush out of the car. ( They thought I was a little crazy, but agreed to go.) By this point she has turned around and is walking away from us. She has a good two blocks on us. So we start speed walking/jogging/running after this old lady down a major road. This must have looked like the most ridiculous sight. We had to be careful not to go too fast so it didn't look like we were trying to capture her or anything.
 
Finally a few minutes later, we catch up. We say hello and explain that we often see her walking and wanted to say hi. Her name is Elaine and she is delighted to meet us. We ask all about her dogs. She walks/pulls them each day. Two of them are too small to walk so far, so she pulls them in a wagon she got from her church. As we continue to talk, she tell us that her sister is a member in the LDS church in Newberry, a town about 35 miles away. We ask her if she has ever read the BOM, she said only a little before. She had actually misplaced her copy the other day and couldn't find it. Imagine that? We happen to meet someone who recently lost a BOM. Heavenly Father guides us!
 
So we give her a new Book of Mormon. We ran into her about 2 weeks later on accident and she said that she had read 3 Nephi 11, where Jesus Christ comes to the Americas, and loved it!
 
I know that there was a reason that we kept seeing Elaine on the side of the road. Heavenly Father puts people in our path to find and to talk to to. He wants us to help them, so He often puts them we were can see them. So much of life is just about timing. We need to open up our eyes and see that things happen for a reason. We have to believe that they do. There is a scripture in the Book of Esther that reads, "For such a time as this." Esther had been brought into the Kingdom "for such a time as this" so that she could save her people. I know that are here right now, "for such a time as this" so that we too might save our people, our brothers and sisters. So when you pass someone on the street, or in the store, or even a church, just take a moment to say hello. Who knows, maybe you were brought there "for such a time." Will y'all do that? Just say hello and get to knwo them and brighten their day. I can promise you that if you do, you will 1) have more friends and 2) will be able to see God's timing and hand more in your life. I love y'all and I love missionary work! Thanks for all the prayers!
 
(Photos)
1) Danny, Me and Sister Brown
2) Karen, Danny and Sister Brown
 
Danny was baptized in March and Karen is a member from Peru. We love them!
 
Love Ya,
Sister Anderson
 
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Aug 4th, 2014

I'M STAYING IN LEXINGTON!!!
I am so excited! I found out the other day! This will be my 5th transfer here, so at the end of this transfer, I will have been here about 7 months in Lexington/Ft.Jackson. Sister Brown is still my companion and we are beyond excited!
 
All My Friends-------
This week all my friends got baptized! Pvt. Holley, Hanvey, Tucker, Franks, and Tilley. Here is a little bit about them:
 
Franks: Pvt. Franks friends were baptized 2 weeks ago. He listened as Pvt. Van Der Graffe, the best member missionary, taught his friends. He listened, prayed, and read the Book of Mormon. Then two weeks ago, he told me that he wanted to be baptized, so I taught him the lessons!
----
Tilley: Pvt. Tilley was also a friend of Pvt. Van Der Graffe. During the lesson yesterday, I shared a scripture about soilders of Christ in 2 Timothy 2:3. After sharing that, Tilley turned to me and said, "This reminds me of a scripture that (someone) showed to me the other day." He then turns to the story of the Title of Liberty and shares a couple of scriptures with me, skipping over some and shortening others. I was shocked. Couldn't believe it. He was so ready to be baptized.
----
Tucker: Pvt. Tucker! I taught him the longest. He was a friend of Pvt. Applebaum, Lancaster, Carr, Palacios, and Clayson. He is the third friend of theirs to get baptized. Pvt. Tucker is a crack up. When something is serious, he jokes about it. That is just how he processes it. (Funny, but makes it harder to teach!) Tucker was the one who came up to me last week and asked to be baptized after the Plan of Salvation. He wrote me a letter, it was hilarious. I should have brought it with to share it with y'all. He just talked about how excited he was to be baptized.
 
Pvt. Tucker's family is catholic. He is going to be the first member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is telling his family this Thursday at his Basic Training graduation. Please pray for him! He is so excited to be able to use the priesthood and go to the Temple someday. He is determined to be an example to his family.
----
Hanvey: Pvt. Hanvey came to church a couple of weeks ago and was taught by Sister Roundy. She said that he didn't really have a belief in God. Well, a couple of weeks went by and he showed back up to church. I taught him in the Restoration class and when I asked if anyone wanted to be baptized. His, Holley, and Franks's hands shot up like rockets. They were determined to be baptized. They wanted it really bad.
 
Well after talking with him, I found out that he was being chaptered out. Meaning he was getting sent home. (You can be chaptered out for many reasons: Health, Disobedience, Refusal, Ect.). He didn't know when he would get sent home. Sister Brown promised him if he would pray and try his best, he would still be here to be baptized, and he was! We sent him home with a lot of information to study. He came to church and was taught a lot of lessons and was baptized before being chaptered out. Miracle!
----
Pvt. Holley: Pvt. Holley is the best! When I asked him how he felt yesterday, he said I feel "blahhh". He was just shining! He said, "I feel happy for no reason!" We explained that that was the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was just so, so happy! The Spirit will do that to you! His blessing was beautiful, it talked all about him preparing for responsibilites in the church and an eternal marriage. Holley was in my class last week and was also one of the ones who vaulenteered os quickly to be baptized.
----
I taught a lesson in the morning to a few soilders, two of which were Franks and Tilley. I tried to explain to them that they needed a few more lessons before the could be baptized. I told them that they could get them right now, a little quicker or have them spread out throughout the day and be baptized next week. I explained that this would give them more time. They would not have it. Not at all! They told me how they had been reading, praying, and had been to church several times. They explained that Pvt. Van Der Graft had taught them and how ready they were.
 
We have been trying to not rush soilders to baptism, that if they have a few weeks left here at basic, to give them more time than 2 weeks. These soilders still had some time left, but they were ready. Very much so. When you're ready, you're ready.
 
---The Atonement----
These soilders were so excited to be baptized and to be forgiven of their sins. To think, that they found out that all of the mistakes they had ever made could be washed away. It must have been amazing for them. The Savior said, "Behold, he who hath repented of his sins, the same if forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more."
 
Heavenly Father sent us here to earth to learn, to be become better, and eventually return home to Him. He knew that along the way we would make mistakes; that on our journey home, we might make a few wrong turns. That is why He sent his son, Jesus Christ to earth, to atone for our sins. To make those wrong turns right, so we could be on the right path.
 
Repentance is such a beautiful gift, becuase it allows us to live with God again. While on earth, we all make mistakes, "we all fall short of the glory of God" and become dirty. Dirty isn't a very good feeling, its hard, it makes us feel heavy, like we are carrying a burden. Heavenly Father doesn't want us to feel that way. We can repent and feel better, feel lighter, feel pure, feel clean. We can do this as we come to church each week and partake of the sacerment. I sometimes tell the soilders that it is like being baptized on the inside.
 
I found that asking myself these questions really help:
1) Do I regret it? (You must regret it to be sorry)
2) What did I learn from it? (Even if you messed up, if you learned from it, you can use that experience for good by learning.)
3) Will I do it again? (If you are truly repentant, you will not do it again)
 
I know that daily repentance makes us happier, it allows us to feel the Spirit more and feel that happy feeling that Pvt. Holley felt. It is the best feeling in the world to see the light of the gospel in someone's face, where it was not so evident before. I love being a missinoary.
 
Hope y'all enjoy my Ft. Jackson adventure. After reading these things, I invite y'all to ponder what you learned from it and how it can help you, and to then apply what every you learned to your life. I know that if you do this, that you will feel better. Also, please apply the three questions to your life.
 
I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I am so thankful to be a missionary. I know that repetnance, and this gospel is real becuase I have read the scriptures, prayed, and applied this to my life and it has only made it better.
 
Love Y'all!
Sister Susan Anderson
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Aug 11th, 2014

Dreams do come true----
 
Before I left on my mission, I had a vision for my mission. I felt like if I had a harmonica and played hymns on it during lessons, then that would just be wonderful. It would be perfect for the south and invite the spirit into the lesson. This week, my dream was realized, it came true.
 
This week I bought a harmonica- almost the happiest day of my whole entire mission! I now carry the harmonica in my purse. I love, love, love it. Every now and then during lessons, I pull it out and play a hymn while Sister Brown sings to it. She is such a great singer!
 
Baptisms:---
Pvt. Fulture was baptized! I didn't have the chance of teaching him personally, but I got to talk with him. He has been coming for a while and decided 4 days before he graduated, that he wanted to be baptized! It was a miracle. He was so excited to have the Holy Ghost with him so constantly. I was very happy for him.
 
Fun Moments:
Conquering yet another hill-----
 
Here are some fun moments from the week. Well Sister Brown and I went to the Cape Jasmine neighbrohood. The nieghbrohood is a giant hill. Giant. Well we parked the car closer to the top and decided to walk down it to go and meet some people towards the bottom. As we were walking down, we noticed that the clouds were very dark and stormy, kind of troublesome, but we just kept going thinking that if there was a problem with rain, we would deal with it later. It had been so hot that week, a little raing might feel good. Right?
 
Well a little while later, we are just leaving someone's home (at the bottom of the hill) when we hear this cracking thunder and see lightning. The sky turns dark and then it starts raining, so we start running (we have no umbrella with us), and running. Up the hill we go (Sister Brown has a white floral skirt on). There were some teeangers outside and they just watched us run and run up the hill-we could see from their expression that they were wondering if we would make it. We made it to our car, but we were wet. Along the way, we met a wonderful family though! It was such a blessing!
 
In the south it pours! In the book of Malachi it talks about the windows of heaven opening and pouring out blessings when we pay our tithing. Well in the same way, the windows of heaven open up on South Carolina frequently and just pour out buckets of water!
 
Moral of the story: If ye prepare, ye shall not fear. We knew we should have brought the umbrellas from the car, but we didn't becuase we thought "we will have time later", which we didn't. So prepare today, don't procrasitnate the day of your repentance.
 
It's just a dog, right?------------
 
Another dog story. Sister Brown and I were tracting, meaning knocking on doors trying to find people to share this wonderful message with, when we saw nice looking trailer enclosed with a gate. (Did I mention, it was raining that day too? :) )
 
Usually, gates mean dogs. Although this time, we didn't see a dog, so we thought. Why not? We didn't want to count anyone out from hearing this message. As we walk through the gate and closed it again with the lock that they had, an old lady comes out of her home and say's "why are you here?!". We walk closer and start explaining who we are. She then says, " Nooo, Why are you here? (with worry in her voice) I have a very mean dog." We say where is the dog? (I mean that's what anyone would want to know?!) She responds, "In the house eating..hurry leave." I think, well great! We are safe. The dog can't come out. We can share this message. Score. We conquered the dog problem... She then explains that there is a dog door.
 
She continues her message about how ferocious this dog is and ends with the plea "please, hurry leave!". She is quite scared by this point and so are we now that we understand that she can't control her dog. We start turning towards the gate as this massive dog (it looked like a small brown grizzly bear) comes barking and running out of the house. You bet we are booking it towards the gate. I hurry and get it open. I slip through with Sister Brown inches behind me. I start closing the gate, accidently on her! I thought she was through. Well just as I get the lock in place, the dog reaches the fence. We made it by a second. Whoo. Miracle. We walked briskly away from the house. We should have listened to the warning the first time.
 
The Message---------
 
Often, we have good intentions to follow advice, but our pride gets in the way. I was more than willing to listen to her advice to beware of the dog, but before I did, I wanted to share the message with her first.
 
In the other experience, I was more than willing to bring my umbrella. I mean I brought it into the car in the first place, I had used it before and I knew it helped. It's just that I didn't want to turn around and get it, I didn't want to expend that extra time becuase I was busy.
 
We are all going to be busy when warnings from the prophet comes. We might think that it is good advice and want to follow it, just after we do what we want. That is wrong! We need to heed them now becuase we "never know when the rain will come." Often we can see the storm clouds gathering meaning trouble ahead, but often an unforseen trouble, such as the quickness of the dog, may occur. We need to listen to the prophets advice today.
 
That is why we have the Book of Mormon and General Conference (when the Prophet and the 12 Apostles speak to the world). They prepare us for the second coming of the Messiah. We do not know when the second coming will occur, we can see the clouds gathering, but we don't know exactly when. We can stay safe by carrying our umbrellas, meaning by having protection, that protection comes in forms of the commandments. Hopefully this makes sense. Just be wise! Learn from my two stories and stay safe. "Don't flirt with the line."
 
Love Y'all!
Sister Susan Anderson
 
I think this is the quote, I may be off, but Pres. Kimball said, in his book, "The Mircale of Forgiveness:"
"Procrastination is an unwillingness to accept personal responsibility now."
 
 
 
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Aug 18th, 2014

The South is just wonderful! There are so many southern things here! I thought I would tell y'all a little bit about my mission.
 
Food: If it can be fried in butter, it will be! Butter is very popular here. So is pie, buscuits, and mac'n cheese. Macoroni and Cheese is baked in the oven/crock pot and eaten at every holiday/many family meals. Fried chicken is also very popular.
 
Bugs: The bug of the week is knats. Pronounced "nats." They are these little bugs that fly in the air and follow you around, literally from house to house, in your car to the house, etc." They don't bite, but they fly in your eyes and face constantly. They are attracted to sweat. (Today I saw a spider that was the size of my palm)
 
Hospitality: You can't beat it here! The Southern people just love to host. They are very kind to say hello and give you water.(Great to get invited inside when it is hot to share the message of the restoration)
 
Conversation: Today we went to the store. While we were at the cash register, we were talking to lady who was working there. I told her that I felt the Spirit when I watched the Becuase of Him video (www.mormon.org/becauseofhim) and invited her to watch it. She got excited and told us how she was going to share it with her co-workers. (We were at a christian frozen yogurt shop called FROG Yogurt: Fully Rely on God, for Sister Brown's birthday) When I told her about feeling the Spirit you would have thought that I brought up something like the weather, talking about our Savior and the Gospel is very natural here.
 
Rocking Chairs: Very popular in the south, they are everywhere! Everyone just loves outdoor furniture. You will often see rocking chairs, patio chairs, metal chairs, sofa's, reclines, any type of chair outside. They sit down and enjoy the weather and talk. (Great to sit in and share the gospel)
 
Heat: It is true, if you don't move fast, you won't get as hot. That is why some things are slower here. Even the cars drive slower. (Great to stop in the shade and talk to people about the Book of Mormon)
 
Sports: The only other religon more popular here than christianity, is sports. The biggest two are Clemson (orange and purple) and USC Gamecocks (Maroon, Black, and white). Stores will even have giant Gamecock logos in the middle of their store name. In walmart there is a gamecock shopping room, duck tape, rugs, clothes, ect. All of the pepsi cans were lined up to say USC Gamecock. It is very popular. I have had people tell me that the Gamecocks first Football game starst in 137 days before. (It is a great chance to talk to people. Great converstation starter.)
 
I love South Carolina, it is the best place to serve a mission on earth! I know that it is the best, becuase I think it is the best. There are a lot of hard things about serving here, but we don't focus on them. I know that it is the same with where ever y'all live. Every where is the best place to share the gospel. So go out and do it!
 
Quick Story: In the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi) the Savior was teaching the people, during that time the apostles taught them as well. At one point they were praying. They were to pray for that which they most desired. What do you think they prayed for? Knowledge? Help? Health? Understanding? They prayed, asking to have the Holy Ghost. I know that the Holy Ghost, the Spirit is somethign that we should most desire. The Spirit comes to our hearts very quickly from sharing the gospel. I know that as you share the gospel, you will feel the Spirit. So will you do it?
 
Love Ya!
Sister Anderson
 
 
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Aug 25th, 2014

Also, last week I neglected to say that Pvt. Porter was baptized at Fort Jackson! I didn't have the chance to teach him, but I talked to him for a moment and he was just so happy and over joyed to be there.
 
Here are some miracles for the week:
 
Miracle #1 The Food---------
So if anyone really knows me well, they know that I have had bad heartburn problems in the past. They have pretty much cleared up but I need to be careful with what I eat. Well this week, a wonderful senior missionary took us out to eat. Well we went to El Paso, a mexican restraunte. As we were waiting for our food, we were eating chips and salsa, after a few minutes, I got horribly sick. I went to the bathroom and ate a bunch of tums. Luckily I ordered a salad, nothing spicy. Well, I hurt bad then all the sudden, the pain went away. Just like that, miracle!
 
So now, its a few hours later, and we are heading into a member meal. I know that I need to be careful of what I eat, becuase when I get heartburn, it will often stay for a few days. Well we get there and the sweet famliy had cooked spicy enchaladas. The family explained that these enchiladas were very spicy and how wonderful they are. I thought, great! What I am going to do. I mean they looked great, I wanted to eat them but I didn't want to be sick. So, I did what every missionary does, I ate. During dinner she commented that these aren't spicy like normal. She wondered why. I just smiled internally, Heavenly Father was watching out for me. There were green chilies in the enchiladas, normally just one makes me sick and there were tons! It was such a blessing! I didn't get sick!
 
Miracle #2 The Cough----------
Well I have been coughing all week long for no apparent reason. I am not sick, my throat doesn't hurt, I just cough. In particular, every time I look down and move my head, I start coughing hard.
 
The funny part is that as missinoaries, we are always bowing our heads to pray, looking down to read scriptures, ect. You get the picture.
 
Well here we are at a returning members home to teach a lesson. We are going around the circle readning Alma 14 (go read it ) and talking about it.  I think once again, what am I going to do! To make it worse, he has multiple cats and they make breathing harder. Well, I start praying for help and sure enough I am coughing. Well it gets to my turn and MIRACLE, I read with very mininum coughing! But once it's not my turn, if I look down, I will start coughing. It  proceeded like this during the whole lesson. It was such a strong beautiful lesson!
 
Miracle #3 The Words------
Sister Brown and I were driving down a country road when we saw a sign in someone's yard that said, "Jesus Saves", we decided that since these people clearly believe in Jesus, that we should go and meet them. So we park meet a few of their neighbors first (aka knock) and then go to them.
 
It turns out that is was a spanish speaking man from Ohio. He was originally from Mexico. Well he speaks some english and we speak some spanish, so we start talking. It turns out that he has read some of the Book of Mormon before in Ohio, miracle!
 
Well Sister Brown and I haven't been speaking or practicing spanish for a while, so our spanish was very rusty. It was about 101 degrees outside and we just could not think in spanish very well.  As we are about to leave, I get voulenteered to pray.
 
I start praying (in spanish) and the prayer is going great, it can easily be understood. Towards the end of my prayer, I start asking for blessings on their family. I start to say something, during my prayer, when I realize that I don't know who to conjutgate a vital word. I realized that without it, it won't make much sense. Mini panic inside. Just like that, the word "estaba" comes into my mind, I say it and continue on.
 
That one word put everything together. Estaba was a word I have studied many times but have never been quite able to remember how to use it correctly, certainly not under pressure. Heavenly Father came through during my time of need.
 
How they Connect------
Heavenly Father helped me a lot, but it wasn't until I had done everything I could. In 2 Nephi 6:13, it reads "For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him." I know that is true. We must wait on the Lord, we must wait when we need help and try everything we can do in the meantime.
 
Waiting on the Lord means having trust in Him, having trust that he will fufill his promise to you. There is a scripture that talks about how God will give you the words that you need in the moment that you need them, I can testify that that is true. He could have divinly helped my spanish from the beining of the contact with the man, but he waited until the end.
 
During the waiting time, as we were speaking back in forth from spa to spa, then from eng to eng, the man was listening hard and so were we, to be able to understand each other. We were all carefully thinking things through. Had our communicate been perfect, that may have not happened.
 
I know that the Lord see's fit to help us when He feel it is best. So don't get too dismayed. One of my favorite hymn reads, "Fear not, I am with thee, Oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aid." I know this is true!
 
Will y'all all read Alma 14 and study how the people waited on the Lord? It is a wonderful and short read. I know that as we look for God's hand, we will see it more.
 
I love y'all ! Also, I haven't had any problems, but my roommates has had all of her packages stollen these past few months. The other rommates and I don't have a problem but she does, so to be safe please don't put "sister" with my name for a while. Don't worry, I have gotten everything. Love ya!
 
Love,
Sister Susan Anderson
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Sept 2, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and prayers, I know that they help a lot. I was just released from the hospital today! I was there for almost five days, I share this because those five days were such a blessing and learning experience, so many people to talk about the gospel with. I will share more about that in a minute and jump to the part y'all are dying to hear about.

I don't know if y'all are aware, but I got a blood clot in my leg in June. I have been on blood thinners for 3 months, but they didn't work. So the clot in my knee broke off and went to my lung and a new one formed under my knee in the same place. I am going to be coming home next week, but I know that it is all in the Lord's hands.

This past Thursday, I was not feeling well. I was having a hard time breathing and just felt sick. I tried taking benydril but nothing seemed to help or get it under control. I just contributed it to some other medical problems that I have been having and pushed on. Well the night came and it was worse, so we felt very prompted to go to urgent care. We got there and it was closed, but the thought kept coming very very strong to both me and my companion to go. We stopped in a pharmacy to get medicine and asked some strangers for directions, they urged us to go to a new hospital, one we had never been too or really knew where it was. We didn't know where it was, but it just felt right, so we found out and left.

When we arrived it was empty in the ER, there was only one other person coming in for treatment, so they saw me very quickly. They immediately knew what the problem was and did many tests. I then found myself in the ICU for a couple of days.

These days were just filled with the most peace and love. I felt total peace, a peace that did not come from this world. During my stay at the hospital, many missionaries came to help me and switch staying with me, many friends and members came, and even some recent converts. I was able to give out two Books of Mormon and have many lessons and contacts. We tried so very hard to smile at everyone we met, compliment them, and thank them for their service in helping me. By the end of the stay, everyone knew who the missionaries were and were willing to help them in any way. 

The hospital that I stayed at is actually straight down the street from my mission office and very close to the home of many missionaries. It was the perfect location. I know that we were prompted to come here, even though it was much farther than the other hospital that I have gone to in the past.

We found out how to get here, because one time I took a wrong turn on my way to a meeting and found it. At the time, it seemed like a silly mistake, but now I know it was Heavenly Father helping me.

The whole ride to the hospital I felt some of the most peace I have ever felt in my life which continued through the whole night; my companion felt it as well. During out car ride to the ER, the Spirit told me that my mission was over. I felt total peace and could feel this truth without a doubt. This spiritual confirmation helped so much before the Doctor officially said it, my companion could feel it as well. To those who wonder if I will be heading back out, the answer is no for now. I love my mission dearly, but I cannot deny the feeling that I have completed my mission here. I have been having some other medical problems for a while now and I need time to heal.

I can testify that when you truly try your best, not matter the outcome, you feel good and at peace. As we try our best to follow the commandments we can feel approved in the eyes of the Lord. I love my mission with all my heart. I am so grateful for my time here.

Thank you, thank you for your prayers, I have felt them and they have given me the courage to do hard things while in the hospital, so thank you. I love ya!

Love,
Sister Susan Ashley Anderson
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Sept 9, 2014

Hello Y'all from South Carolina!
 
Update-------------
I'm still here for a few more days. First, I want to thank y'all for all of your prayers on my behalf, I could truly feel them. When I wasn't feeling well, I would remember that there were others praying for me and that gave me more strength. Thank you, thank you. I am very grateful.
 
Baptism-----------------
Well, this past week Zoe was baptized! She is a darling ten year old girl whom we have been teaching. I wasn't able to personally attend the baptism, but my companion went and she said it was wonderful. The whole entire ward came together to help her.
 
Here is a little bit about Zoe. She is amazing! Well back in February, we went and met her Grandmother who is a member of the church. Over the next few months we became their friends. One day, after Zoe had been coming to church for months, we found out that she had not been baptized yet. So, we taught her the lessons and prepared her for baptism. Zoe is a bright girl and just retained so much of what we taught. The ward all chipped in to help, whether by hosting a lesson or dinner at their home, or even just an encouraging word and now she is  happy member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
 
Happiness------------
Happiness is a funny thing, everyone seems to want it but not everyone knows where to find it. We often spend a huge part of our lives working to be able to have happiness. I have found that true happiness lies in following the example of Jesus Christ. I know that is why we have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a road map to eternal lasting happiness; happiness that will come from living in God's presense with our families.
 
There is a story in the Book of Mormon where a  missionary named Aaron is teaching a King (Alma 22). Aaron had just taught him about God's plan for us to be saved through Jesus Christ. Upon hearing this, "the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken?...I wil give up all that I possess,... that I may recieve this great joy.." (*eternal life: living forever in God's presense.)
 
The King clearly understood the truth of this message. He understood its importance and thus was willing to do what ever it took to receive the fullness of the blessings which would come from it.
 
Aaron invited him to "repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believe that ye shall receive". In response, the King prayed and said, "I will give away all my sins to know thee."
 
I know that we too must give away our sins to know God more and thus to be more happy. Our life is dearly short, I know that deciding to be happy today is very important. I can promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ, that as you repent, you will feel closer to God. I strongly encourage you to do so. (*Repent: stopping doing things that distance us from God and try to go things that would right the wrongs we have caused and bring us closer to God. Repentance is possible through our Savior Jesus Christ.)
 
 
My Mission----------
Hands down, the greatest honor of my life. I love it with all my heart and I am grateful to have been able to share some of it with you. I am very grateful for this privledge to have been able to serve my Savior Jesus Christ and the people of South Carolina. I love them both.
 
My Plans--------------
In a few days, my Dad is going to fly out here to accompany me home on the plane.  I would love to see many of you, but before I do, I need to rest for a little while. I am still not very mobile; so I love you, but I will see you in person in a week or two. I promise to let y'all know!
 
I love y'all dearly!!
 
Love Ya,
Sister Susan Anderson
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