It was great to see my family on facetime this week! I have 2 stories to tell over this letter today: one of a really sketchy situation right outside our window last night and the second of a really awesome spiritual experience.

     So last night I was writing in my journal before bed @ about 1015, and I heard some guy honking his horn for like 10 minutes straight. I didn't think much of it because we kind of live in the sketchy part of Gillette, so I looked out the window to see what was going on. When I looked out I could see this car just sitting there impatiently waiting to pick up someone in the apartment. Then this guy came out of a different house and walked right up to the car and started banging on the window of the driver. He was really mad about all the honking and they started to yell and everything got really heated. They started challenging each other and I thought it would turn into a fight. then the people who the driver was honking at came out and got in the car. They were probably both on drugs or something and it was a good thing that one of them was in a car otherwise we probably would have had to call the cops for our neighbors. But yeah it was just like watching a football game, rooting and cheering for the underdog the (guy outside of the car) but hey we live in the best part of town for missionary work because everyone really needs the gospel in their lives.

      When church was over we were waiting around in the church to get our meal calendar when this lady came into the church confused and looking like she really needed some help. We met with her in the bishop's office and she said that she didn't have much but she wanted to quit drinking because she knows it is really bad for her and she just wanted some support. We told her that she came to the right place. she didn't want to go to the catholic church. Anyways she was crying and said she really needed help, so the ward really stepped up and had her over for dinner and gave her some cloths for her baby and just were awesome. I know that this church is true and that it is Jesus Christ's only true church on this earth. No other church has the priesthood. I know that when we gave her a blessing that she was touched and felt immediate comfort. I have a strong testimony that joseph smith was a true prophet and that through him the church was restored. I know that we can be forgiven of the mistakes we have made and we can be helped with the trials we are facing through the savior's atoning sacrifice. Jesus christ lives and he loves us so much and I am so grateful for that.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen 

I love you all and thanks for the amazing Christmas! Best present ever!

Love, Elder Anderson

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty good! We are on fire right now in Gillette! We have this board in our apartment with like 200 less actives and we are trying to find out if they are interested or not and we will give this list to bishop when we are done.

 Also we are training this week on inviting new investigators that we meet and inviting them on the first lesson to be baptized. It is pretty scary to ask the zone to do stuff sometimes, but it is really fun to see all the missionaries and to be here in Gillette. 

We found 5 new people this week and one of those accepted a baptism date of Feb 1. We have this investigator who is really old and can't come to church very often, but he really wants to be baptized. His name is Dennis. That would be really awesome if you could pray for him. He lives with his son who isn't very nice to him and doesn't have the patience for an old man. 

It's pretty short today, but I will see you all on Christmas, I am excited!

Love Elder Anderson

A Visit to the Coal Mines!

Discomfort creates humility!

November 17th, 2014

Something awesome happened this week, the snow that came created many opportunities to help more people. Yesterday when we went to Lusk. We had about 30 minutes before a lesson and we had some shovels in the back of the car and we decided to shovel some fresh snow. We knocked on a door and asked if we could shovel her driveway and her walk. She looked shocked and told us she would make us some cookies (she was about 70 or so). We shoveled for about 20 minutes and she came outside and asked if we could come in to warm up. We came in and she told us that she was to thankful for us, because she had recently had back problems and fell against a wall and split her head open. She told us that we were sent to her from God because she had been praying for someone to help her. Elder Oswald and I probably shoveled 10 driveways this week and got lots of hot chocolate and lots of very friendly people to come back and to teach. Many people were thankful for us and one actually came to church because of our help. 

Elder Oswald is doing pretty good, this is his last week in training, and after that he will take over the area and I know that if he works hard he will do just fine. Elder Child and Elder Beare are doing really well right now. They are teaching lots of people and are having lots of success. We found Amy, our investigator who was supposed to be baptized a couple of weeks ago, & she will be ready to go either this week or the next. Also We will have 2 more, one in December, and on in January. Thanks for all your prayers and your support!

Love Elder Anderson   

November 24th, 2014

If you haven't heard yet I am in Gillette now. I just arrived like 2 hours ago and we had to drive our own car here instead of getting picked up by the transfer van because the roads were icy and snowy. On the way here we almost slid off the interstate because of the icy roads and of all the weight in our car, but we made it safely. 

I am the new zone leader here and I am learning all I can.

Love Elder Anderson 

December 2, 2014

Hello! sorry I was not emailing yesterday, I was in Rapid City for a mission leadership council so we can present our trainings at zone conference. Every month all the zone leaders from around the mission drive down to Rapid City, even if they are from Fargo, and we show up for the leadership meeting. But we also get there on Monday so we can have p-day together in Rapid City before the meeting starts, so there was like 30 missionaries that showed up and we all went ice skating downtown! In this mission where everyone is so spread out this is the only time we can do this so it was pretty fun. 

Being a zone leader is very different than anything else. I am a little nervous about the whole thing , but I have a great companion to help me!  I love being with Elder Brownlee! He is such a great missionary and he works super hard! He loves to tract and find people on the street and I am so happy about that! Together we make such a great team as we work hard and to do the Lord's work. We have many things in common. We are teaching effectively and we have great studies. One thing I am nervous about is the training we will give in ZTM. But I know that it will be good for me, just like the first couple of district meetings I gave when I was a district leader, discomfort creates humility.

One thing that we are doing in our area right now is working with the list of 400 less active member list our bishop gave us to go and see. We are down to like 300 now. One thing we are training our zone on is about this christmas season and the #he is the gift initiative. It is the perfect time to talk to people about Jesus Christ because that is what the season is about. I don't know if any on you have seen the video "he is the gift"on the website christmas.mormon.org  but it is a sweet video about Jesus Christ and how we should share it with other people. Think of how you could share it this season. 

It's good to see that you all had a great Thanksgiving! I wish I could have been there, but I know I am supposed to be here right now. Keep sending email and pictures and stuff. I love to hear about all that is going on back home!  By the way I am still in oil field and coal mining country, just north instead of south of the mines and about the same distance apart. I am happy to be here and loving it here so far. I love you all have a great week!

Love Elder Anderson

I Can't Think of a Better Place to Be!

Heellooo! I hope you are all doing well. Me and Elder Oswald are doing well and always improving. General conference was sweet. Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk was truly inspiring to me and gave me reason to change and to be a better member of the church and missionary. He talked about 5 or 6 points and he was really bold. Tad R. Callister talked about if you lower the Lord's standards to meet the worlds standards is apostasy. I know sometimes we justify what we do becuase other people do them and that is apostasy. This week was a good week of hard work. One thing that was frustrating was district meeting; we went over time 1 hour and we didn't even set a goal because we couldn't decide on any to set. I am still getting the hang on things especially in district meeting, but Elder Child is very helpful; he has been district leader before.

 It is starting to get colder and I really and looking forward to a change in the weather. I am very excited for this work and everything that is going on. Oh, by the way we will be going to Rapid City for a tri-zone conference and a general authority will speak to us there. It will be on the 30th. 

 We are going around to all the members in our area and teaching them about missionary work so they can do it themselves, and so we can increase the excitement here in Douglas.

Oswald is doing much better! We aren't teaching a ton of people, but that will come as we contiue to do what we are doing. The district is doing good except for the Glenrock missionaries. Elder Cook went home early, but he intends to come back out. Last transfer out of the 6 missionaries we had 4 of them either have gone home or were emergency transfered. I hope Elder Deeter, who is the missionary left in Glenrock, keeps positive.

 I am here in Douglas for 1 and a half more months and I will have been here for 9 months. I couldn't think of a better place to be. We are having stake conference and Lynn Robbins will speak to us. We will also be able to listen to another general authority on the 30th in Rapid City. It is exciting to hear from you all thanks for the great emails!,

Love Elder Parker Anderson   

Motivating the Elders

This week was good. We struggled with numbers, but we are still working hard and learning a lot of lessons. We had 4 lessons total on before Saturday and we really wanted to teach more so we went out to our area and we taught 3 lessons in a couple of hours. I know that if we just keep trying that we will be rewarded for our efforts. 

One of the areas in the district is really struggling to stay busy and they really discouraged. They called me and asked for a "motivational call", so I told them to keep their heads up and to show what faith they had, or to gain faith, you need to work and get out and in their area and not stay in their apartment. If we sit inside all day and someone moves into our area that is ready to receive the gospel, then we are not doing our job as missionaries. 

We are teaching Amy, she is our progressing investigator. she will be baptized on Nov. 1. She is coming to church every Sunday and progressing very well. I am really excited for the winter. I miss the hot chocolate and wintery stuff. Nobody here likes egg nog, but I'm sure I will get them to like my hot chocolate/egg nog recipe. I would like some Jon Schmidt music. I deleted all of it  accidentally.  Thanks for keeping me updated on everything back home. 

Love Elder Anderson

Taking in Every Moment

Elder Oswald and I are doing great, except that Elder Oswald is home sick today. He is slowly adjusting to missionary life. He really loves the workout in the morning, personal study, and sleep. Our area is in need of some new people to teach, so we are finding some. Elder Oswald is a little timid about tracting and it is hard for him, just like it was for me. But we are working on that. 

One of our investigators is on date for the 1st of November and she is coming to church every week. Her name is Amy. We found her while tracting and she said that she grew up going to primary, but never go baptized and didn't go back to the church since. I will leave just after her baptism in November. 

What are some things you would like for me top take a picture of? I will do it , but I have just run out of ideas and that is why I have not taken as many. 

I'm not gonna lie, being a district leader and a trainer is hard, not too overwhelming, but it is definitely stressful at times, especially when I have never trained before and I have only been a district leader for a short time. This is really good practice though and I am learning a lot and taking in every moment I can and enjoying my time as a missionary. I love you all and have a good week!

Love Elder Anderson  

Another Great Week!....and SNOW!

Holy cow, I have almost been out 1 year! It definitely doesn't feel like a year, but this week was really great. I have a great companion who wants to work hard and to be a good missionary. We get along good and the missionary work is moving along. our district started at the bottom of the hill this transfer, but we are climbing very fast and improving to make a great district. 

We were asked to give talks in Lusk and we had 1 day notice. We prepared them Sunday morning and we were asked to take 10- 12 minutes. Elder Oswald spoke and I noticed that he was bearing his testimony for a really long time, and then he finished with like a 6-7 minute talk and graciously left me with the rest of the time:) there was a rerst hymn and I was writing down so many scriptures during that song. I ended up talking 30 minutes on the gospel of jesus Christ. I actually felt like it was a good talk and I had no trouble talking for 30 minutes, it felt like I was talking at district meeting, but no one responded back so I was like giving a really long sermon on the mount.

I am really getting to know the people here in Douglas & by the time I leave I will have been here for 9 months. It will be a sad day when I leave. What else is happening back home? It sounds like I am missing lots of sports, activities, dances...(oh, bummer), and other stuff. You should send one of those Madison sport schedules again so I can keep up. Right now I think I pretty much an set for winter and I have everything that I need, I will probably go to an outdoor store and buy a mitten cover shell thing for my wool gloves. Did you hear about the snow this week? It was just like Christmas; we had hot chocolate and played Christmas music because it snowed for 2 days. but now it is back up to the 70s. That's pretty much all that happened this week, I love you all!

Elder Anderson 

I love it here and I will love it till I leave!!!

So, I am now companions with Elder Oswald from Utah. We are very similar in personality and I am very excited with the next 3 months. He wants to work, and he is a very fast learner. When we set our daily planning goals for yesterday we set a goal of 5 contacts in the small town of lusk where there are no people, and we talked to 17 people in 39 minutes and got 17 contacts. Miracles are already starting to happen; it's amazing how much the work can change when you have companion that wants to work hard and is obedient. The other set in Douglas is a fresh set of missionaries and they are the same way. Elder Oswald loves to run, swim, do outdoors stuff, and yeah, it's pretty cool. 

I met another person that I know at church last night. I was just sitting there waiting for the sacrament song  to start when I heard,"hey are you the son of Tom and Kerry Anderson from Rexburg? He said his name was Jed Mum, and he knows the Saunders real well & he also worked with dad @ the college. I'm sure dad knows him, he looks like a mountain man and has a big scruffy beard. I seem to run into people that know me almost every Sunday, it's pretty cool.

Right now in our area we are trying to build it up by finding new people to teach. By the time Elder Oswald is done being trained, he will be a great finding missionary. I know that I will probably leave after he is trained because I will have been in Douglas for 9 months! I love it here and I will love it till I leave!. We are going to Casper today to get some winter sloths for the new misisonaries, because it is supposed to snow on Thursday:) So yeah that is all that is happening. Also I am working with the Glenrock missionaries so they are not so depressed in their area. They are struggling to keep busy and I am going to their area to help them today. 

I hope you are all doing well. 

Love 
Elder Anderson

A new companion! Hooray!

This week was Elder Thornton's last week! Holy crap, he was difficult, but it is over now and I have grown a ton these last 6 weeks. This is definitely been the hardest 6 weeks of the mission so far.   It was rough; he still did not get up on time, or work out, and it was very hard to motivate him to go work and to do missionary work. I hope he is doing well at home.  :)

Elder Child got here and he will be training a new missionary and I will be training one also. I saw a picture of my companion and he looks pretty cool.  He is from South Jordan, Utah. He will have a good time here in Douglas, i'm sure. I was very sad that Dezerae didn't get baptized, but we will let things settle and she will when she is ready.  My letter probably is going to be small this week, but I will have more to talk about when I am with my new companion. 

These are pictures of Elder Thornton and I helping move the Wellmans.  Great family!!! I love you all! Love Elder Anderson

This week was interesting.  We got a call from President and he told Elder Cook that he was being transferred  to Glenrock. So we now have 2 in Douglas instead of 3. Now we have the whole town of Douglas to find and teach.  Not what was expecting, but Oh well. We are now a 4-missionary district and I think most of the missionaries will leave this transfer and I will be the only one left again, but hey, that's alright, because I love it here. 

We have zone conference this week and we are also planning on teaching 20 lessons this week which is the standard of excellence. I have never reached that in one week and I am excited to teach this week. Today we are planning on 4 lessons in 2 hours, so we will go on splits with the members. 

I hope this was enough, I tried to make extra to type. It sounds like everything is busy back home, or will get busy. Keep me updated on all the soccer games and all the other stuff that happens. 

Love Elder Anderson   

Advice for future missionaries

Elder Elison got transfered to Souix Falls, so we are now in a tri-panionship for the next 3 weeks. It is sorta fun, but a lot harder to get new investigators, so we are just maintaning the ones we have. We set Amelia on date for the 11 of October. She is so self-critical of herself and during the lesson @ the church Suzan, our investigator who will be baptized on the 23, walked in for night sacrament mtg. and that was the best thing that happened that night for Amelia, becasue Suzan has been where she is now.  So, we were so excited to do service for the state fair that is going on this week and we went like a month and a half ago to set it up by talking to the people in charge, but it's not goin to0 well now. The person in charge, Tyler, told us to go pick up trash the first time we went over, which was fine, but we came back when he told us to and he couldn't think of anything for us to do. I was pretty mad, so we just left. Also, Elder Thorton was getting pretty trunky, but now that we are in a tri-panonship he is doing really well. I don't even think he will sit around and do nothing for the last few weeks because there are two of us to motivate him now.

You asked me what the youth can do to prepare for their missions.  Here is what our mission president suggested:

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR MISSION (President and Sister Anderson’s top ten picks)

1. Learn how your family works. Discover the blessings your family has received because of the Restoration of the Gospel. (Hang out with your dad (Boys). Hang out with your mom (Girls)
2. Learn how to be courageous and "do hard things". (Get a job)
3. Know what it feels like to feel the Holy Ghost in your life and learn how to sustain it.
4. Read and have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
5. Know how to pray, not just how to say a prayer.
6. Be able to “Go and do” on your own initiative.
7. Know how to keep the space you occupy clean.
8. Develop a personal fitness plan and be responsible for your own health.
9. Learn to be obedient and how to repent and how to help your friends be obedient and repent. (In other words be a missionary before you are called as a missionary)
10. If you are afraid to inform people they need to repent, Get over it.

I sent this to jacob a couple of weeks ago when he got his call. But personaly one thing I would suggest that helped me is home teaching, so visiting teaching for the young women. The first lesson I had with someone was just a visit and I felt comfortable because I went home teaching. I knew how to talk to connect with people in that kind of setting. Also, I wish that I would have gone out with the missionaries in Rexburg before I left. I'm sure the missionaries would love people to go teaching with them. If not, they are crazy or they aren't doing enough work:) That's what I would personally suggest because no matter what anyone tells you about missionary work, the best way to know is to experience it for yourself.

Thanks so much, Mom, you are the best.

I love you all,

Love Elder Anderson

 Time to catch up (4 weeks!)

July 14, 2014

This last week was pretty good. We are teaching all new investigators that we found in the last 2 weeks, because the people we were teaching weren't answering the phone and not keeping their commitments. So we are teaching different people who will listen to us and keep our commitments. One of our investigators was waiting all day for us come over.  Her name is Diana. She is on date for Aug 23. We have 4 people that I know will be baptized who are on date right now, because they are progressing so well and wanting to learn. This area is so exciting to be in right now with all the hard work we are doing & it is finally paying off. 

I don't know where my camera is. Elder Eckley has some pictures I can bring up of the Legend of Rawhide in Lusk. We went to an Indian pageant about the history of the area and of how the Indians and the whites hated each other. 

One funny missionary moment we had was when Elder Eckley got mad and blew up at a person on the door step while tracting. This lady told us that we were teaching a lie, then Elder Eckley got mad and said something back. Then the she told us that Mormons had the highest suicide rate because of the high school she went to as a kid. Eckley told her that was just that city, not the whole mormon population. Then she said we were a lie because we believe that we can become gods. Elder Eckley said "well if we are god's children then we can become like him becuase children become like their parents". Then she told him that he was good at twisting words, he said," Well you are too ma'am", then we left. I thought it was pretty funny. I love you all.

Elder Anderson  

July 28, 2014

This week Elder Eckley left and Elder Thornton is now my companion. Elder Thornton has lots of good ideas and I will try some of them and hopefully the area benefits from him. He is from North Carolina and is planning on going into the navy when he is thorugh with the mission. With this being his last transfer, he tells me that he is trunky,  but for being out 23 months he is doing really good. The area is doing well and we are trying new things to do better, like scheduling better and working with the members.  One of our investigators told us they didn't want to convert and they told us to stop meeting with them. I know they felt the spirit in the lessons and they know the truth, but they got offended by one of the leaders of the church. Also, one of our investigators wants to be baptized on the 30th of August. Her name is Dezerae. She has been investigating for 6 months and she is finaly able to be baptized! We are really excited for her and she is excited also. I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week.

Love Elder Anderson

Hello Maggie! thank you so much for sending a letter! we went fishing last week, but I didn't catch anything. This last week it was in the 90s and I was pretty hot, but this nice guy gave us cold air fans for us to put into our house, so our house is cold. A couple of weeks ago we went hiking and there was a bear cave where I crawled into. It was awesome and I was scared that a bear would come in and find me, but nothing happened and we had a good hike. Maggie,I hope you have a great week! Thank you for the letter.   Here is a picture of a lightning strike:)                                                                                    

August 4, 2014

Hello from Douglas Wyoming! I love it here in Wyoming. The people are pretty rough, & the area is pretty rough. We have other missionaries in the same town, so life is good. Well, I will start with the good news from this last week. Dezerae is getting baptized on the 30th. Suzan will be baptized either on the 16 or the 30th because of work. and Hope is still on date. AlsoA will be on date soon, but not yet. Bad news: Diana dropped us because one of our wealthy church leaders offended her. Also, Tyler will be moving soon, but hopefully not to soon:) and Howard has been gone ever since you left. Elder Thornton couldn't believe when he got here that we had 6 people on date. but now we have 3 soon to be more:) 

District leader is ok. I never thought it would be fun; I was right. Elder Cook and Elder Thornton had a little argument, well not little, but I had to intervene so Elder Thornton didn't kill Elder Cook. Yeah, its not fun but I am still doing well. I am definitely learning a lot. Oh, thanks so much for all the birthday stuff. I had an amazing birthday. I used the money to buy a board game called empire monopoly. I loved the derby pie. It reminded me of home. Thanks so much for everything.

Love Elder anderson

New nickname: "Strongman Anderson" (Bucking hay in Lusk)

The mission is goin pretty good this week. We had a great time in Lusk on Saturday. We bucked hay for 9 hours. We didn't expect to work for that long, but they needed help for the whole day so we helped. The family was the Eatons. I took a couple of good pics. It was hard work. I would compare this to calf branding, but without the kick to the face, or the punch to the face or a boot to the head. the Eatons gave me a nickname "Strongman Anderson". The kids are like 15 and 16 and they liked it when I threw the hay bales like a shotput thrower, by twisting around. So the truck would drive around the bales and we would throw them up on the trailor and stack them. After we loaded the trailer we would load them in the barn and make stairs of hay up to the barn. One of the trips they left us in the barn and we were stranded for a little while. 

The barn was really cool and was built in 1927.   We picked up somewhere around 5 tons of hay. It was fun, but very tiring . That was something cool that happened this week. 

Things are still dificult here, but we are pressing forward and good things will come. 

Happy Birthday, Maggie!

Love Elder Anderson

Time to catch up on Parker's letters!

Elder Eckley and I had an alright week. We had a hard time getting lessons this week because they kept falling through. The people are all going on vacation and it is hard to find a time to meet with people. But, we are working harder than ever and I know it will pay off eventually. We recently had 2 new people to teach, Tom and Howard. Howard committed to be baptized on the first lesson and Tom is a less active we found. We are working good as companions together, but it is hard sometimes.   It will make me a better person and a better teacher. 

The weather was good this last week, but Wyoming gets lots of bad thunder storms. We have had tornado warnings a couple of times. I am wanting to see a tornado this summer. I like going up to Lusk on the weekends. Lusk is a small town of 2500 we visit every weekend where we go to church. We stay at a members home there. Things have been slow there, but with recent hard work it has picked up and getting better. Everyone we are teaching is moving away and going on vacation for the summer :( Oh well. Thanks for the pictures. They were great. 

We are going to Casper next week to go rock climbing on p-day. That should be fun. Well, have a good week!

Love Elder Anderson 

Wyoming transfer & Martin's Cove trip

We went to Martin's Cove this Monday and it was so cool to go back and
feel the spirit that it brings.We went there to do service and we also hitched
 rides up to the cove itself by golf cart and truck. I've been there a couple of
 times before on trek, but I never thought I would go as a missionary.  

Our investigators are doing well. 

We have one person on date for baptism and we have many others who are
close to being on date. Here is a great story:. So one time when we were
walking around doing service we offered to help shovel this guy's porch and
 after we shoveled.  He asked us to come back to his bible study class. He
 had a bad impression of Mormons and he thought he knew everything about
 us.  He was very knowledgeable about the bible and other stuff. We came by
for bible study. In the bible study they talked about John the Baptist and we put
 in some very good input. They afterwards asked us some questions that were
very challenging and we answered their questions so well. I know it was not just
 my knowlege because I don't have very much knowledge. I know it was the spirit
 and they felt it too. His perspective of us changed and he told us to come back
and tell him more; then I was transferred to Wyoming. 

Our message is so clear and simple it's crazy! There is no message so correct and so
complete than the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love Elder Anderson

First Curling Lesson

Hello

I had a great week. I didn't get to go fishing, but did have a curling lesson this week. I will be getting a new companion tomorrow. He will be the district leader and I will be the senior companion. He has been out 10 months and his name is Elder Winger.  

This week we still had a good teaching week even though Elder Barber is leaving. We gave one of our nonmember friends a priesthood blessing last night for her surgery. Before we came over, she had 15 or so other priests from another religion come over and pray with her and do their blessing for 2 hours. When we gave her a priesthood blessing with the proper authority she was amazed. I know she felt the spirit more with the proper priesthood than when all of the priests came. I'm sure that she was comforted by the priests that came and did their thing, but I know that without a doubt that this is the true church and the priesthood blessing that we gave her was real and no other can give such a blessing without the proper priesthood authority. That was a cool experience. 

We were invited to go curling on Wednesday so we asked our mission president if that was alright. He told us to go once to see if we could talk to the people while we were playing and see if we could get some service from it. The guy who gave me the curling lesson said I had a perfect takeoff and when I went to push it off he told me that if he would have let it go I would have punched a hole though the wall.

 Thanks for everything and have a good week!

Elder Anderson

Walking in -28 degrees is better when you can feel your toes:) and....Go Broncos!

This week was great. We had 9 total lessons for the week which is the most we've ever had.. We really had a lot of success with teaching people and this area is growing like never before. 

This week we went to a potential's door and we taught a lesson of the restoration. The son is deaf but understands sign language and l haven't felt the spirit so strong like that before. After they watched the movie we asked if they believe it was true and they told us, "Yes".   They also want us to come back to teach more. So, that was really cool. We haven't had a new investigator for a while and now we have 2!

 My companion, Elder Barber, will probably be leaving in a couple of weeks. He has been here for 7 months now and it will be sad to see him leave. I will probably stay and be in charge of the area. I will definitely be humbled and It will be a great experience for me.

 It would be nice if you could send toe warmers.   Walking in -28 degrees is better when you can feel your toes:), but the weather has been nice here. for once it got above freezing and was a great day.

 Have a great week everyone!

Elder Anderson

-55 today (with the windchill), so let's go....CURLING!

 trying to go Curling later today for P-day.  Exciting!!!

Is this a Church?

If you've got it, Flaunt It!  (Even if it happened 23 years ago!)

Parker is in there.......somewhere!

This week was a good week. Even though it was too cold for us to do work much of this week the work still moved forward and we had a good amount of lessons. We had an exchange with the zone leaders, Elder Parish and Wagner. It was good because we learned how to improve what we were doing. It's always good to learn how to be better from other missionaries. 

Last night, we were at a non-member's house and they got a call and said something was on fire. we looked out the window and what did we see? A huge grain tower up in flames just one street away! We got out of the house as fast as we could and went to our house to get our warm clothes. We watched it burn for a while then went to bed. The town is going nuts due to the excitement.   Because of the cold, we stayed inside for like 3 days. It's -55 with wind chill right now,  but it's been a good week and we are still working hard.

When the temps are too cold to go out, we have to stay inside. The last 3 days, all we have done is watch church movies and sleep.  Very boring.  

We are trying to go "Curling" later today since there is nothing else to do in town for P-day.  

Love, Elder Anderson