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

 

 

Week 93: Loving Four Things

 Hey yall!

We keep chugging along here in the Round Rock Ward! We keep ourselves busy and have been seeing some pretty cool miracles! Heres the recap from the last week:

We had a cool experience Tuesday at a visit with the Davis's who are one of the families in our ward. They are an awesome family and we had a great time getting to know them. For our spiritual message we focused on Christs Atonement and how it can make us clean and the spirit was so strong. They were so grateful that we were able to bring the spirit so strongly in their home and they thanked us for the visit. I still think it's such a blessing how as missionaries we can be a source of the spirit for so many people. It's awesome to get to be able to bring that to everyone we come in contact with and share that light. So if any of yall are needing a quick spiritual boost, Don't hesitate to call the local missionaries. They'll help you out.

Wednesday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Davenport! For yall who don't remember, Elder Davenport was my first trainee I trained back in Hill Country Ward way back last August. It was so great to catch up with him and reminisce on some of the good old Hill Country days. In our exchange we did some drop bys to some less Active members of the church and got rejected pretty hardcore but Elder Davenports attitude is great and we kept on chugging along.

Thursday I got to attend Pflugerville District's District Council because it was Elder McAllisters last DC before he heads home this Wednesday. Elder McAllister is one of our Assistants to the President and has been a great example to the mission of a hard working, joyful, obedient missionary. He gave a training on loving the mission and it was powerful. He focused his whole training on loving 4 things. 1. The mission rules. 2. The people we are around. 3. The gospel we preach and 4. The growth we make. I think this can be applied so well to life in general. If we love God's commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ, love and cherish those around us, and love the people we are becoming and the growth we make every day we will be happy and we will be filled more profoundly with the light of Christ in our lives. I definitely plan on applying this in my life in general even after my mission as I try and keep the joy of the gospel with me always.

Those are my thoughts this week!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 92: Home Run

 Hey yall!

Great week in Round Rock Ward this week. Filled with some huge miracles and lots of learned lessons. I don't have a lot of time so here's the wrap up:

Wednesday I got to do exchanges with Elder Ross and serve in the Palm Valley Spanish Branch. We had a real fun member dinner and some great lessons. We taught the Andino kids about how they should behave during the sacrament. We talked about folding our arms and thinking about Jesus. Really good lesson and they understood it really well. Afterwards Oliver turned on Chicken Rave (look it up if you haven't seen it) and we were bumping. 

However the night didn't turn out exactly perfect. We left the visit to find that the other elders car had been towed because it was parked in a reserved spot. So the next morning we had to drive down to the mission office to pick it up from our vehicle coordinator and a $300 fine was paid. Definitely not ideal. But it was a good learning experience. 

Friday we had a really good MLC call where we talked a lot about reaching the youth/young adult age range. They are often the ones looking for direction and guidance and we need to learn how to find them. We talked about finding ways to engage the youth in our wards and invite them to invite their friends. Overall a very uplifting call. 

Saturday we had exchanges with the APs! I got to work with my dear friend Elder McAllister which I was stoked about. He goes home a week from this Wednesday and it was great to pick his brain and try and squeeze every little bit of knowledge he has out. He's a really good missionary and it's been a great opportunity to get to know him. We also talked about the needs of the zone and how we can help every missionary. Very productive exchange. 

A cool experience we had this week is when we were knocking on Part Member Family doors. We knocked this one where the lady we were looking for didn't live there, however another lady did who was also a member of the church. She said we could visit her and share a little bit. She hasn't been to church in a while and it is a miracle that we are getting to know her and bringing that light back in her life. The Lord puts people in our paths every day! 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

Also President let us go to a Round Rock Express game today for P Day (minor league baseball) and the very first hit of the game was a home run and I caught it haha. Pic below to prove it. 

 

 

Week 91: Free Lunch

 

Hey yall!

Another week has gone by in the Round Rock Ward and we keep seeing miracles and having great experiences. Here are the highlights!!

Wednesday we had a fun lesson with Shell and Jaden. They are a mom and son duo who have been meeting with the missionaries for the last little bit. Jaden is 9 years old and was showing us all his cool parkour. We shared a thought and then had a prayer. He wanted to say a prayer too and had us repeat after him. He talked about giving the whole world a hug if his arms were big enough and all kinds of fun stuff. He also started like climbing around while he was saying the prayer. It was pretty legendary.

Wednesday night we also had a fun visit with the Andinos. They are a part member family with a ton of little kids who are all over the place. We did the thing to their son Oliver where we act like we turn him invisible and he loved it. Afterwards while we were teaching the lesson, their 3 year old kid named Iker comes in with a 2 gallon jug of apple juice and goes bottoms up and starts chugging it. We couldn't help but die laughing. There wasn't much left in it but he very impressively downed the rest. Then proceeded to ask his mom to open another one, which she declined.

Thursday I got to go on exchanges with a good buddy of mine Elder Keith! You might recognize Elder Keith, he shared the Hill Country Ward with me back last August and September. It was fun to catch up with him and see him do the work out in Pflugerville. For our comp study we listened to this amazing BYU Devotional called "Wrestling with Comparisons". If you have not seen it I invite you to go watch it because it's life changing. He talks all about the distructiveness of comparing ourselves and how we can overcome comparing. He says the quote, "The competition is not us VS others, but us VS our former selves". Comparing is something I've been trying to work on and that talk helped me a lot for sure.

Friday, Elder Park and I got to join the Paloma Lake District in their district council. They had it all the way out in Rockdale, so we got to take the 1 1/2 hour drive out to attend. Afterwards we stopped at a local BBQ place called Brett's. As soon as we got out of the car a man came up and handed us $60 to get some food. Super awesome. Then we waited in line, ordered, and then went to pay, and someone before us had already paid for us. So we got double paid for. It was crazy. Rockdale is a pretty magical place. 

So those were the highlights! Overall great week. So excited to keep working hard! 

Love and miss you all! 

Elder Anderson

 

 

Week 90: Round Rock Donut Challenge

 Hey yall!!

We had a super busy week this week serving in the Round Rock Ward. All kinds of different activities kept us super busy and made the week fly by. Here are the highlights from the week:

Tuesday we helped out at the Bishops storehouse. The Bishop Storehouse is something the church has all around the world to provide groceries for people who may be struggling. It's a really cool place that benefits a ton of people. We helped gather orders for people and bring it out to their car. It was a cool opportunity to help those who needed some type of support.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference! As always, it was an amazing conference and I learned a ton. We focused mainly on faith, diligence and following the spirit. Elder Park and I got to give a training on diligence which went pretty well. We have a really strong zone so we got plenty of insights.

Friday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Meyer out in the Paloma Lake area. Elder Meyer is our missions only ASL missionary, so it was cool to see him do a little bit of his ASL. He's a good missionary and it was cool to be able to learn a little bit from his example. We did some finding, some studies and reached out to some people. Something I really liked about Elder Meyer is that he was super prayerful, never missing an opportunity to ask the Lord or seek His guidance. That was a great example for me as too often I tend to forget that aspect.

Overall great week! We also had some fun lessons, did a couple fun service projects, and ate some yummy food! Also, last Monday I did the Round Rock Donut challenge, which is a gigantic donut that you have to eat as fast as possible. I beat the other missionaries participating (obviously) and came in with a time of 6:30. Just wanted to let y'all know. 

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson