"Bits & Pieces" from December 2014

December 1, 2014....
 

I'm glad to hear y'all had an awesome Thanksgiving! I wish I could have been there. But next year I will be:) Thanks for the package.  We loved it and all the elders say thank you.  I'll send the picture of the tree, and the pies did hold up. They were a little smashed but they were sooo good. I've missed them so much. It has been too long since I've had some soda cracker pie. And it was funny when we were sitting on the Marta Elder Lanier and I were talking about our families and what we did and the one thing that stuck out in my mind was "up the river down the river!" I can't wait to play it again and just beat you! It'll be good.

I spent my Thanksgiving with two families. The first one was the Hinkle family, which was so good. She invited her daughter and her kids so it was really fun. We just hung out with her two boys and it was good cause the daughter really wanted a blessing so we were able to give her one. Then our second one was sooooo good. Sis Reams, who was in the Carrollton ward when I was there recently moved over here to Atlanta, so when she saw me at church she invited us over and all her family came so it was good to see some old faces. She is just an older lady that lives there by herself but she makes the best food!!! We had  a smoked turkey with duck, the best mac n cheese, and some real good collard greens.  We had so much food, and then she sent us home with like half of her kitchen!! She is so funny, I love her. We did have some cool miracles this week. We found a family of 6 that were open and willing to learn more! but transfer news, Lanier is leaving and I am getting a missionary who is 6 weeks old! I'll be 2nd training him so it'll be a blast and I know who it is because he is serving in college park which is still in the ward. His name is Elder Clarke. He is from Grantsville.  I am staying in the apt with Elder Clarke and they are white washing us into Elder Marriott and Elder Hansens area so I'll be in a different proselyting area and they are white washing them down to college park. Then they are bringing a trio into our apt. and one of those will be the DL and another Elder will be training as well so there will now be 5 in the apt! Crazy, I know. 

 

 

Thanksgiving with Sister Reams

 December 8, 2014....

I'm glad to hear y'all had a great stake conference. The scriptures have been my favorite since I have been out. I never thought I would like to study or anything like that but I wish I could do it for hours. I hope I stay the same when I get home and that I don't let other things distract me.

The new area is pretty good, a lot more run down and ghetto than my last area:) but its still nice. We are just lucky at least one of us is half black and big cause if not it might get a little weird. But I do love it and we are working with some incredible people. A few of them are on date. One guy is so open and wanting to learn. He was taught when he was in DC and moved down here and wants to be baptized. Another man, who is an uncle of a member who has been taught for awhile now.  He needs to work on the Word of Wisdom and he'll be dunked. Then this week we were knocking and found a family of at least 3. We were talking to them about coming to church and they said that their aunt went there and she is an awesome member who is just getting back into activity!! It was so cool and the 2 young ones have already been to our church so we were pretty stoked on that miracle. So we do have a lot of great families we are working with right now.

My new companion is Elder Clark from Grantsville UT. He's a great kid with a good heart. I'm excited to work with him. And the new five man is awesome. Elder Webster is the DL. He was an assistant to the President for like 9 months. He only has 6 weeks left and then Elder Meservey who is one of my homies of the mission are training elder Kalosi who is super chill so its fun. We are both training. and Elder Webster is my new running partner and we have been hittng it real hard since he is going home. But everything is going good I'm excited to get more familiar with the area and get things rolling.

 

Elder Anderson and Elder Clarke

December 15, 2014.....

I'm sorry this email might be a little short. We don't have to much time to write today. That's so cool y'all get to go to Virginia!! And y'all are going to be in Atlanta!! Just think when your'e in the airport you will be about 10 miles away from me!!! How scary is that! You could hop on the Marta train and be to me in 4 stops! haha JK don't do that...

Thanks for the early Christmas present with the 12 ways of Christmas!! Its super cool. We enjoy it and we read it each night before we go to bed. I have opened the Increase, Shelter, and Rescue ones. I really enjoy it so thanks. This week was pretty good and ya we did teach that family and they are super cool and want a change in their life. They were supposed to come to church this week but 2 of them were isick, so they all just stayed home. Everyone else is doing good. We are just trying to make sure everyone we teach are keeping there commitments. I love being here in Atlanta, we get to see some crazy stuff everyday that I'll never experience again so its fun. I'm just soaking it all in.

I hope y'all have a great safe trip to Virginia and back. Let all of the family know I say hi and love them and to write me so I can get to know them better.

 

 

 December 22, 2014....

So I know you said that this cant be a short one but.... it might be:)

I can't believe its already time to skype again. And to think when the next call comes it will be time for me to come home! It's crazy! 

The week was pretty good. We got the usual "hit me up after the holiday" thing which I hated, and the family wasn't able to come cause the mom got sick. But we will keep trying on them. A lot of people here have been catching the flu bug which is aweful cause it makes it tough to get in to the homes. But we are still working hard. We have a lot set up for Christmas Eve and Christmas so I'm excited for those days. On Christmas we are seeing one of our solid investigators at lunch, then going to Sis Reams (the lady from Carrollton) to eat, then going over to the Bishops house to eat, then going to the Cottrells:) so it will be a good Christmas, I'm excited. But I can't wait to see y'all I'm so excited!

 

 

December 29, 2014....

 

 

Elder Anderson showing off his Christmas present to himself

Christmas dinner, Southern Style!

 

 

 

"Bits & Pieces" from November 2014

November 3, 2014.....

I don't know if you heard, but here in Georgia it has been a frozen tundra! The past 3 days in the morning has been like 30 degrees! And the high is at most 50. With the wind it has been real bad! But we haven't let it stop the work from progressing! But this week was awesome! We taught some amazing lessons. The first one we taught was a former investigator that we found who had been on date before but they just lost contact with her and she was so excited when we came and saw her.  We taught her the plan of salvation because she had some questions and it made so much sense to her and she was really excited and accepted a date to be baptized. Now, we just have to get her work schedule changed so she can come to church. Another guy, who actually used to be a professional golfer let us right into his house and fed us (which never happens!) But he sat us down and said "I'm going to ask you a question and depending on how you answer it will determine whether I'm going to listen to you or not.." ( gotta love some pressure) but he asked about why there were so many races and languages and and why God divided us. Elder Lanier jumped in and gave a great detailed answer about the tower of babel. It was good. Then he looked at me and said do you have something else. And this is why I love being a missionary, cause during the time Lanier was answering I was getting a huge prompting from the spirit to focus on faith. So I said, "it all comes down to faith. We honestly don't really know. All we know is God's ways are higher than our ways and he has a purpose. And all of our messages that we want to share with you come down to faith, and praying to come to know it to be true. We dont want you to take our word for it." And he looked at me and said "that's exactly what I wanted to hear   Now I can listen to you, so share with me your message!" It was so awesome! We had an awesome lesson with him and he's gonna read and we will see him this week! One more cool story, we had a really smart member with us on a team up and we went to see a lady we met a few days earlier and we showed up the same time they did and went in and got to know them a little more. Her boyfriend was there with them and he is so prepared for the gospel. He looks like a thug but is so smart and knows a lot about Jewish and Egyptian history. So while we were sharing our message and the member finds out this guy knows his stuff he just went off on how the Book of Mormon is so key and how it came about and they connected so well but it was such a spiritual lesson because this guy at the end was like "I feel this burning in my chest and it feels so good!" We all started laughing and brought out the scriptures and showed him that that was the spirit testifying that this is true!! It was a very good week with lots of awesome things happening. Oh and during the lesson with them, they have a pet cockatoo, and I taught the whole lesson with it on my shoulder!! haha it was cool. But the Atlanta ward is still crazy, you can always feel the spirit with them!

Josh and his new companion

November 10, 2015...

 

This week was pretty good with a great ending! We found some pretty cool people this week, one of those being Big J. He reminds me so much of Tyrus, its scary. but he said 2 weeks ago that God was leading him out of his old ways ( hustling) and trying to show him a better life and then he said and then ya'll came up and talked to me. God had something to do with it! Sadly he lives in a different ward, but he works in our area so we will be keeping up with him. The great ending was K and her 2 daughters came to church!! They loved it and they stayed all 3 hours and the girls were saying they loved their classes and the kids in there and K had a great time. She said she learned a lot but we had a member pick them up and take them home and after he dropped them off, he called us and said that she is so ready to be baptized! He said that she was saying that she loved the church and wanted the change in her life and knew that this is how she could do it! So we are super excited for them. Oh and I also got to go to the temple which was great. But this is what I am really excited about and I want to let you know what I'll be doing with my studies for basically the rest of my mission or however long it takes mixed in with all the other stuff that I have to study. But you sent that blue journal to me and I wanted to use it as my own personal study/doctrine and covenants where I receive my own revelation But I wasn't using as much as I wanted to but I received revelation a few days ago when I was reading over my favorite talk from the last General Conference, "The Reason for our Hope" by Boyd K Packer. Through the whole talk he bears testimony of the Savior and what he can do in our lives. At the end he talks on how the most important thing in the church and how we know we have "true succes is by the spiritual strength of its individual members" which is so true, but in the beginning of the talk he talks about going to Oxford University to find an ancestors name, but he went back to give the University a set of the Standard Works. and at first he said "they were a little confused not knowing we were really Christians, but before he handed them over he opened the Topical Guide and showed them one subject: 18 pages, very fine print, single spaced, listing references to the the subject of 'Jesus Christ' One of the most Comprehensive compilations of scriptural references that has ever been assembled, a testimony from the old and new testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price."  So I received revelation on what I needed to do. I am gonna go line by line, scripture by scripture, showing all the references and seeing how each book fits perfectly together and seeing that the Church really is the only true and living church on the earth today! I am so stoked! I'm hoping to gain just a pure sound testimony that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Savior for the entire world! and learn more about his life his teachings and the his atonement. and whats cool and I didn't realize this till yesterday but my Patriarchal Blessing states many times that I need to become learned in the scriptures and to come to know the importance of the Savior Jesus Christ in my life and in the lives of those I will come in contact with and it will prepare me for my future tasks and responsibilities. I think its cool how the Holy Ghost can work to lead you exactly to where you need to be or what you need to be doing at a certain time in your life! but im so excited! 

Elder Anderson & Elder Hansen

 November 17, 2015.....

Sorry for how late this email is but we just had an awesome p-day! We went to midtown and walked around and a member in our ward got us into the Aquarium! It was sweet. A lot of cool stuff  is in there and there is a sweet dolphin show we got to watch as well so it was worth the waiting email. This week was pretty good. It was slow at times cause we had a lot of things going on. They took our car so we are now just on the MARTA and bike.. which isnt bad but it just takes a lot longer. On Tuesday I went on exchanges down to college park and had a great day. We helped a member build a green house and then we did get to see one of our investigators. He is doing great. He's been reading a little bit but we had a great lesson with him again and hopefully we get him to church. K and her kids couldn't make it this week to church because she had to go to work but they are coming next week and we are seeing them again tomorrow. They are awesome and so easy to teach. but on Sunday this week was super cool.  We had a HUGE surprise for sacrament meeting.  Sis. Soares, Sis Kopischke, and Sis. Zwick of whom all of their husbands are in the first quorom of 70!! They all were there and spoke to us! Then President and Sister Harding were both there and spoke. It was soooo sweet and we did have one investigator there and he really enjoyed it! But it was super spiritual and this week we have Elder Kopischke taking a tour of our mission so we have a big conference with him on wednesday. I'm so stoked for that. 

November 24, 2014.....

 

That's great y'all are keeping it traditional and getting together at home! It'll be nice to sit around the dinner table again with the whole family! Such small things that we take for granted every single day. That's been what I'm so grateful for, my Heavenly Father blessing me with such a great family and leading me in the right direction to lead me where I am today without me even knowing it. And for my Savior, Jesus Christ. This study has been awesome so far. It's going by slowly but surely I probably won't finish it till right when I finish the mission, but I couldn't be more grateful for what I have in my life! And yes, you don't have to worry about me getting fed. We are gonna be playing in the turkey bowl in the morning!!! Then we are going to the Hinkles house and then a big surprise, a member in the Carrollton Ward, an older lady named Sis. Reams who is sooo amazing just moved to the Atlanta ward so now we have 2 dinners! Hopefully we get some more this week! haha I finally feel like I can splurge myself cause I'm getting back in shape so I'm happy I can enjoy myself! But Elder Kopischke was awesome!!! We all had so much revelation in those meetings it was crazy! At the start of the meeting he said that it would be a meeting full of revelation and invited every missionary to write down 3 questions they wanted answers to and promised they would get answered! and it was so cool that when you prepare yourself to receive revelation and are listening for the Holy Ghost to give you that answer you will always get it! All of mine were answered. He talked about some amazing stuff that this mission really needed to hear about faith and about Form vs. Power (JS-H 1:19) it was so cool. We were missing Gods power in the work so I cant wait to see where the mission will go now! But the investigators are doing great, sadly no one came to church on Sunday due to the stupid huge rain storm that came in the morning. No one wanted to go outside... and a lot of our people have to take Marta so they didn't come. But its all good, we had great lessons with Kesha and her family and with Royce and we are seeing him again tomorrow night.My new family that we are working with is so sweet!! It's a part member family. They had us over for dinner last Monday. She has been a life long member and he is not a member. They have had 10 kids! and I think half are members. but the husband played in the NFL for a few years for the Falcons but he has been a coach in the NFL for 28 years!!! So sick!! You know me and him connected real well! He was telling me a lot of his stories, one cool DYK(did you know) is when he was the defensive coordinator for the Jets, he has been the only person ever to shut out Peyton Manning in his whole career! He has the game ball and I held it! He still works for the NFL a an appeals officer or something like that. He works with the players who get fined..  The wife's big goal is to get them sealed. They remind me a lot of you and dad. So pray for them.

But I love you so much and miss you. I hope y'all have a great thanksgiving!! Don't miss me too much. and I'm so grateful to be able to call you my family!