My Testimony

June 1, 2015...

My Final Testimony,

The time has finally come. Who would have thought it would already be here. At times it feels as though I have only been here a few weeks and at times it feels like its been a trillion years since I've been home. But all I can say is I would never trade these past 2 years for anything. I have found myself. I know who I am and more importantly I know who my Heavenly Father is and my Savior Jesus Christ and I know who I can become, and that one aspect changes everything. I am grateful for the eternal perspective the gospel brings into our lives, from the Plan of Salvation we can know our eternal destiny. And with that Destination in mind it will and should mold our desires, decisions, and our will to move forward in life. and I am so grateful I have finally understood that the most important thing we can learn and understand is that through Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement, constantly repenting and changing those things in our lives that are holding us back from progressing. Being Baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God, to receive a remission of our sins. and after being baptized we must always return to church each week faithfully and partake of the Sacrament and renew those covenants that we made. To receive the Holy Ghost in our life, the greatest gift we can receive here in this life, and to have it as a constant companion to be lead and guided everyday in our life. And to have that we must focus on the little things, daily individual and family prayer, studying the scriptures daily, and a desire to go to the temple often to receive that revelation and personal connection with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. If we can take this route and endure it faithfully have a perfect brightness of hope every single day that we wake up. Knowing our true divine nature and role in this life as a Son of Daughter of our Father in Heaven and to have charity with all those that we come in contact. I know that we will one day have Eternal Life and live with our Heavenly Father, our Redeemer Jesus Christ and with our Families Forever! What more could we want?  

I have experienced that "Change of Heart" which Alma talked about and I have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, and want to share it with the entire world. I know that I was supposed to serve here in the Georgia Atlanta Mission. I have found and touched people that God sent me to for a reason. And these people will always be in my heart, I love them so much and they have changed my life forever. But here in our mission we call this mission the M2 and we are preparing for the M3. I feel as if I have sufficiently prepared myself now to start this new Mission, the M3! I am ready for the challenge, I am ready for change, and I am ready to show my Father in Heaven that what I have learned I can put it to the test. I know it won't be easy cause nothing is in life. But I do know now that its possible for everyone. If we can hold on to the Iron Rod, and never let go. Be Faithful, and Be Obedient to the rules and guidelines set forth to keep us safe and protected from sin and pain. we can all make it, that is when you find eternal joy and happiness. That is when life becomes easy and your yoke is lifted because you are letting the Savior into your life. 

I love this work it has changed my life. and I know that if we lose ourselves in it, we will find ourselves. We will find who we really are and who we can become. I have studied rigorously the life and teachings of our Savior for the past year or so and I have found him. I know that he lives, that he knows each and every one of us personally and suffered for each of us one by one to make it back to Him. He is our Friend. He is the Great I Am. He is Everything. And if there is one thing that I know is that His Grace is Sufficient for each one of us. I want to close my testimony the same way Moroni closed his and say "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." I bear my testimony that this is true, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With all my Love,

Elder Josh Anderson

"Bits & Pieces" from May 2015

May 4, 2015.....

Do I have a week for y'all, it has been a wild one! 

We first off had a huge miracle with David Jackson and his family. On Monday when everyone in the house started asking us a bunch of questions because they are seeing a lot of changes in Davids life. So we got them excited and now they will be taking the lessons which is a huge step for that family! And whats amazing is David this week in church Blessed the Sacrament!!! It was awesome.  He also bore his testimony. That kid is changing so much. Then on Wednesday, we had our mission council  which went really well.  It took out a lot of the day. Then Thursday was super crazy because President on Wednesday said he was calling an "audible" and was gonna have everyone hold their zone training meeting on Friday and not go to the temple and that we would be the only ones doing the training for 3 hours so all day Thursday for some odd reason so many companionships had problems and questions so we were on the phone for 7 straight hours!!! and did no work and had to scramble and plan for the meeting on Friday morning. But all the stress and preparation paid off in the end cause we had a super spiritual meeting! Because we weren't going to the temple we still wanted them to have a really good experience. So first off we had the STL's talk about faith and our barriers and walls we are facing to get over and then Elder Barnes gave a training on Obedience, sacrifice and consecration. then I taught about our teaching skills and how we need to invite and testify more as we teach and we watched a video called "A man without Eloquence" which talks about Brigham young and his conversion. Then got to practice and it was really good. But the whole meeting we were having them ponder and think about 1 thing they could acquire to bring them closer to the Savior and 1 thing they could get rid of and this is where we wanted it to be spiritual so we decided to have "The Joseph Smith Experience" where we went and buried Book of Mormons for everyone and took them out in the woods behind the church and took them out there and talked about Joseph and his experience receiving revelation and we all quoted the 1st vision and we knew that it would be from the book of Mormon and then had them dig up the "plates" and committed them to write down those things they could do to come closer to the Savior. and then to have them study from that Book of Mormon. And to close the meeting out there in the woods Elder Barnes, Shepherd and I sang a musical number "Joseph Smiths First Prayer" to the tune of "Come thou Fount" while Elder Barnes was reading the words in Joseph Smith history! It was super powerful and the first time I've done a musical number like that. But the meeting went great and we got a lot of good feedback what was sad, but great is that it was my last zone training meeting! What a way to finish!

Then the last miracle is Monica and Eric are now Married!!! We had the wedding last night and it was amazing and they are now so excited for their baptisms in 2 weeks! it has been fun to watch their countenances change! Its amazing what the gospel can do to peoples lives. But I'll send pics from all the events. I love this work! It's crazy to think that when you are at the top of your game and you finally feel like you know what it takes to be a missionary they send you home! hahaha good preparation for the real world!

I love you and miss you and cant wait to see you on Sunday!!

Last Zone Meeting

They said "I do"!

May 17, 2015....

Crazy week this week.  First and foremost Monica and Eric were baptized and are now members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!! And they are loving it, they are so happy and to see their journey they have made is incredible. Eric was also interviewed for the Priesthood and will receive it next week! But it was an awesome service, Elder Shepherd was able to baptize both of them and a member who set up the wedding Bro Buck was the one that confirmed them! It was great!! The rest of the week was super hectic involving us having to drive a lot for baptismal interviews.  We did 2 exchanges on Tuesday with Jonesboro and Friday with Stockbridge. Then on Thursday we were privileged to join in with the Stake and be apart of the Bishops Roundtable which was a very cool experience to be apart of and to talk about the missionary work and to help them out with some things. They have a lot of trust in us which makes it easy to have them help us. The stake President is so on board with everything right now, its awesome. and then my other miracle for the week, I told you on the call that I didn't end up buying those boots but one of my favorite members gave me 2 pairs of his old cowboy boots and they're legit! As well the sickest belt!! I'll send a pic! 

But for transfers I will be staying here for my last 2 weeks!!! I'm happy about that. Elder Barnes will be training a new zone leader for when I leave and Elder Shepherd is going to be a District Leader!! He is gonna be awesome. He is very prepared and qualified for the assignment! We are excited for him.

 

 

May 27, 2015.....

Thanks for sending me those things from President Hinkley. I have been pondering on those things for the past few months and really tried to make sure I have secured each one of them so I can be ready for when I get home! I cant believe its almost time to give you a big bear hug again!! That's awesome that that member called you, makes me feel good. And always remember that I will always be proud to call you my mommy and you're the best one 4 knuckle heads could ever ask for. I cant believe how many others are coming home in the next few weeks its gonna be crazy with all the homecomings. 

But this week has been fun, the New Elder replacing me is Elder Hanson! We have a lot in common. He is from Cedar City! He went to Canyon View and wrestled and played football. We were both trained by Elder Goss and the last area he just came from was Carrollton!! So its been fun talking and telling stories about the areas and companions and about home. But he is great and will be a great addition to the Conyers ward. Elder Shepherd went to Douglasville and what's pretty sweet, my first baby Elder Talbot is now a Zone Leader in Griffin!! Oh and my MTC companion Elder Nelson is the new AP!! lots of crazy stuff happening. 

This week was filled with a lot of meetings. We had to meet with each of the District leaders and go over expectations and all that stuff which took up a lot of time. We had a pretty sweet memorial day party at a members house and had a few of our investigators come to that. But nothing too crazy has happened. I am just ready to work to the last second and make everything count! I love the Lord and I love this work!!

and of course i love you:)