Week 100: Home

Hey yall! 

Today I returned home from my 2 years of service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and because of that this will be my last email. I am so grateful for all of you who read and responded to my emails, as well as all those who were cheering me on and praying for me during my adventure. These last two years truly have changed my life. I will never and can never forget the things I have learned and the experiences I have gained while serving in Mexico and Texas. While my mission has been anything but ordinary it has been 100% my own and I wouldn't change a thing. There were things in Mexico I needed to learn there, and there were things in Texas I needed to learn there. There were specific people in all parts of my mission service that I needed to come in contact with that have changed my life. 

Being a missionary I got to be a first-hand witness to the greatest miracle of all, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the way that it works in the lives of others. Through my experience helping others come to the joy of Jesus Christ's Atonement I have seen my own life change through that same exact miracle. My relationship with my Savior has been strengthened as well as my closeness and my communication to my Father in Heaven. I am forever grateful for my time as a missionary. While I am extremely sad my service has come to an end, I am extremely excited for the opportunity to begin this new phase of my life, now with all of these skills and with the increased testimony I have received. 

I just want to leave you all with my testimony. I know this church is true. I know that it was restored by God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. I testify that through the power of God Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon, a book that I hold so dearly to my heart. I love the Book of Mormon and know that it can be our guide and roadmap in this life if we study it, apply it, and pair it with sincere prayer. I testify that God really does know, love, and is mindful of each and every one of us. He hears our prayers, He mourns when we mourn, and He wants us to be happy. I testify that Jesus Christ really did suffer and die for us, and that he was resurrected and that he lives for us. I know that because he lives, I too can live and learn and grow and prepare to return to live with my Father one day. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the purest and easiest source of peace and hope we can ever attain in this life. 

Again, thank you all for your support over these last few years. If you have any questions about my full-time missionary service please feel free to reach out and I would love to talk. I love you all and can't wait to see you all soon.

Elder Anderson

 

 

 

 

Week 99: Happy 4th of July

 Hey y'all!

And happy 4th of July!!! This is such a great time of year, especially here in Texas. The people go all out here and it's awesome to be smothered in love for this country. We used this week as an opportunity to go out and talk to people and remind everyone that we are still here after so much time of being inside. Here are some of the highlights of our week:

Tuesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Pluim! Hes hilarious and it was a great opportunity to spend the day with him. We had a little bit of everything including some service, some video making and some contacting. Overall great exchange.

Saturday we attended the 4th of July Parade here in Round Rock. We took the opportunity to get to know people as well as pass our cards with pictures of Jesus on them. Basically any time someone would hand us something we'd swap it right away with a picture of Jesus. Pretty fair trade if you ask me. We also had a couple convos with people who are legitimately interested in learning some more about the church. It was a neat experience! We also attended Round Rocks Carnival type thing that same day and had some similar experiences.

Also, our District this transfer had a goal for a certain amount of people that we wanted to start teaching and we took it very seriously. We worked so hard and saw lots of success and were one person away from meeting our goal. Finally at 9:15 or so Friday night someone responded that I had reached out to on Facebook and we talked with them and they were interested in meeting with us. Such a huge miracle right at the buzzer. It just shows how goal setting and diligence paired together can bring huge miracles.

Anyways those were some of the highlights!

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 98: God Has A Plan for Me

 Hey yall!

Another week in Round Rock! And it was a good one. Heres the recap on all the events that went downnnnn:

Wednesday we had interviews with President. We had a really good discussion, focused a lot around how I'm feeling and how the state of the mission is right now. President is someone I love and admire so much. I think often that if it weren't for the Corona virus I never would have gotten to meet and learn from him. While sometimes I feel like the pandemic uprooted my mission, I can't help but remember all of the incredible people I never wouldve had the opportunity to meet had I stayed in Mexico. God really does have a plan for me!

Wednesday night we also had one of the most entertaining visits of my mission when we went over to teach the Andinos. Like always, they are practically impossible to keep still longer than a few minutes, however this week they were especially rowdy. This week's visit included: (1) Eliana dumping fish sticks all over the floor, which soon got ran over by Kenneths rolly chair (2) Eliana attempting to splatter mini tomatoes over our prestine white shirts (3) Iker getting mad at Kenneth and bringing out a belt to hit him with. And so much more craziness. However we did get kenneths attention long enough to teach him about repentence which actually ended up being a good lesson. It's amazing to see how quickly children grasp onto the principles of the gospel.

Thursday we got to attend a culdesac BBQ with the Davises! It was a great opportunity to get to know people in the area. We got to talk a lot with one of her neighbors named Shannon, who's from the Netherlands. She's been having some questions about the Holy Ghost so it was great to get to know her.

Saturday I had exchanges with Elder Rowell! I got to go to Stony Point Ward and see Elder Rowell be the leader of the area. It was great to see him go to work, he's young in the mission but has no fear of anything or anyone. We helped a couple cut out an agave bush and they were very appreciative. The husband invited us to do some fishing and barbecuing with him, and said he wanted to get to know more about who we are and what we do. We've got high hopes for them.

Overall those were some of the many great experiences! Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 97: God Loves You

 Hey yall!

Surprise Surprise, another great week here in the Round Rock Ward. Again, this week flew by and I cant believe we are already almost through June. This week we had some awesome miracles and worked extremely hard. The Texas heat is coming down STRONG right now and we are pushing through it.

The highlight of the week was definitely Tuesday when we had our Zone Conference. Because of recent changes to our Covid precautions we were able to finally have another multi-zone conference, something we have only done one other time as a mission (the Christmas Conference). Our Zone Conference featured our zone (the Mighty Round Rock East Zone), Round Rock Zone, and Austin Zone. We had some wonderful discussion and thoughts shared from our mission leadership, had some lunch, and had a good time seeing missionaries we haven't seen very often.

One thing covered in our Zone Conference was a new initiative being implemented in the mission to teach all families the principles of Love, Share, and Invite, principles to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want all members to be equipped with these skills so that they can be greater lights in the lives of those around them and help others taste the joy of the gospel that they have enjoyed for so long. We have shared these principles a couple times already and it's great to see how eager they are to get involved spreading the gospel.

This week we started teaching English to a young family from Ecuador. They are pretty concerned because they don't know much English and really need it to excel in their job and schooling. We plan on teaching them weekly as well as teaching them comforting truths of the gospel. Teaching English has been one of the skills I have enjoyed learning most on my mission and so I am excited to be able to help them out a little bit as well.

We also dropped some cookies off to some members in the ward that we haven't gotten to meet yet and have family members who aren't part of the church. We have been trying pretty hard to get to know them but haven't had too much success. Luckily cookies have magical powers and were able to get us into some doors finally. We had some great conversations and were able to bring the spirit into their homes. We are planting lots of seeds with a lot of these families and are hoping that it can bloom into something great!

So that's the week! We also had some good lessons with some friends of ours that went well and we continue to look for even more people to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. One scripture that has been on my mind a lot this week is 1 Nephi 11:17 that says, "And I said unto him: I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things". God loves you! He cares about you! He knows you and wants you to be happy. He wants to hear from you! Don't forget to talk with your Father in Heaven this week:).

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 96: I Shaved A Dog!

 Hey yall! This week absolutely FLEW. We had so much going on and it just feels like yesterday was Monday. I can't believe how quick some of the days go by when you got so much going on. Anyways here's the recap from this last week in the great Round Rock Ward. 

Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Dimond! He is currently serving as one of the Assistants to the President and is a phenomenal missionary. It was great to be able to pick his brain and talk about the work with him. We shared tons of stories as well and talked about how great missionary work is. We did some service, had some good visits and did some contacting. One visit we had was with a lady named Nancy, a new member to the church. We talked about the blessings that come from the commandments and how they free us instead of restrict us.

Friday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Rowell! Elder Rowell is my grandson, which means he is being trained by someone I trained (Elder Davenport). It was a beautiful family reunion and it was a great experience to be able to spend the day with him. Elder Rowell is new to the mission and so he is filled with something we call "greenie fire" which is just an added bit of love and motivation to work. It is great working with missionaries like that because you always stay busy. We had some great visits and the day flew by.

Other quick highlights:

-I shaved a dog!

-We had Stake Conference this weekend! It was awesome to see so many people gathered together on the stake level again, and the talks were phenomenal.

-we did some chalking as a district and drew the plan of salvation and the doctrine of Christ!

Overall great week!

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 95: Round Rock

 Hey yall!

Like always, another good week here in the Round Rock Ward. Here are some of the main highlights from the week.

-This week we got to see our good buddy Mack! He was baptized a few months ago and is a total rock star. However as a new member he's been dealing with a lot of trials as he tries to stay strong and faithful. Satan works extremely hard on new members to try and throw them off as they are already pretty vulnerable. We are gonna work hard with him and give him the support he needs to fight through. 

-On Friday we had MLC! Such an incredibly spiritual experience like always. We had some wonderful trainings as well as talked about some new initiatives that we wanted to focus on within the mission. The Assistants to the President shared a great training on enduring to the end and how when we go through trials on the mission, Jesus Christ is with us every step of the way because he has felt everything we feel. Thats something I need to remember more often when I dont find success or get discouraged in some type of way. I always need to rely on the Savior and his power to protect and comfort us. 

-On Friday also I got to do exchanges with Elder Sherwood in Paloma Lake. We had a hilarious member dinner where the family was cracking all kinds of jokes.  We also ate some really good curry and stuff which was cool because I don't get too much indian food out here haha. 

Overall great week! We just keep on keeping on here in the good old Round Rock! 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 94: Love

 Hey yall!

Great week this week in Round Rock. We had a busy week helping out with transfers and everything and helping move things along. We also had some great service opportunities and appointments as well. Heres the recap:

Wednesday was transfer day. While me and my companion were uneffected, there was a good amount of the mission that did move around. Since we are so close to everything Elder Park and I were asked to help with some of the logistical stuff. We also got to help out with the new trainers as they got their trainees which was a cool experience. I was envious of all the trainers as I know the wonderful experience it is to train a new missionary. 

Thursday we had a fun lesson with our good friend Catherine. She loves meeting with the missionaries and studying the scriptures and she gets all in. We were studying love this past week and she ate it all up. Love is such an essential part of the gospel and the foundation to everything we teach. 

Saturday we helped our good friends the Andinos out with a move. They are moving into a new apartment down the road and we were able to help them out shuttling some of their stuff over. They also took us to a Chinese buffet which always makes for a good day. The Andinos kids did a great job at keeping us entertained the whole time. There really never is a dull moment with them haha. 

Those are some of the highlights from this week! 

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson