Season 7 Episode 6

Hello Friends and Family,

I just found out who my new companion is going to be. His name is Elder Kershaw. I have no Idea who he is. So I am excited to meet him and see how we work together!

Monday: Went to Wabasha which is about an hour away. The National Eagle Center is there. It is amazing, they have lots of eagles and I got to see one eat a fish. We learned about them and it was a great P Day. I will send some pictures!

Tuesday: We did service at Annedee's Closet. Then we had dinner with Bro Miller, Bro Edwards, and Bro Sellnar at Arby's. Then I mowed a lawn for an investigator. It was crazy, it was starting to get dark so I was like running haha.

Wednesday: We had Zone Conference in Oakdale. It was great! I enjoyed being uplifted and motivated to do missionary work. It was right next to the temple so that was cool to see that again :) Other than that not much happened that night..

Thursday: We did service at connecting connections and then we stopped by our investigator Aki so Elder Lowe could say goodbye. Then we had a lesson with John Johnson about Repentance. Dinner at the kennedy's and we had amazing Fajitas. Then we had a lesson with Bro Edwards and we listened to the talk "The Only True and Living Church" By Elder Oaks.

Friday: We had weekly planning and as we were just pondering and thinking about what we could do to find more people to teach, we get a call from Connecting Connections and she said that someone we helped move in to their house was looking for a church that is family oriented and our church fits perfectly for that! So we got her number and called her and she said she was going to come to church this past Sunday, but she didn't. She also said she wants to meet with us. So that was a huge miracle. We were pumped about that! Then we were invited to go to the temple that night because a recent convert was taking her endowments out and we got permission to go. So that was amazing! It is always amazing to go to the temple and feel the spirit there :)

Saturday: We helped out a sister that is moving and getting a divorce. She was very unorganized so that was hard to pack.. Hahah!  Then we went to another Sisters house and helped her in her yard. It was pouring super hard one minute, then the next it wasn't. That happened quite a bit! Haha! Then we had dinner with the Midtoven's and that was fun. They are hilarious. Then gave a blessing to Bro Edwards because he got sick..

Sunday: We had an awesome church service. Not a lot of people were there but it was awesome. We taught Gospel Principles. We taught on Baptism and that was good! :) After church the Dunlap's had us over and they asked for some help moving things out of their garage. We had dinner over there and we were able to share a spiritual message. I hope that we can soon be able to start teaching them!

The area is pretty slow.. But we are going to pick it up and find some people to teach. I am grateful for elder Lowe's service and example. I hope you will see him on TV this fall playing ball at the Y. :) Thanks for the emails everyone! Love you all!

Love, Elder Anderson

Season 7 Episode 5: "When Ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God"

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope that you guys are having a great last little bit of school. I know I always enjoyed the excitement that summer brings. This week was a bit slow and the area is not doing too great, but we are doing some good things.

Tuesday: we did service in the morning at Annedees closet. That was good, then we helped an inactive member move some stuff around in there house. They live in the middle of no where haha. Then we mowed a members lawn and did a little bit of yard work there. Then we helped another member moving a huge tree that fell down in there yard.

Wednesday: We did service at connecting connections. Man that place is so unorganized it's sad. Then we went back and finished up a couple things we needed to on the lawn we were working on the day before. That night the youth of the Ward made us dinner and it was so nice of them. It was like a farewell dinner from the Ward to him. They went
around and everyone thanked Elder Lowe and then they had us bare our testimonies at the end. They even caught that on video and I have it, haha I will send it to you guys. They made us shirts that they all signed and it was just so nice. They are amazing! I really love this Ward!

Thursday: We went with Bro John Johnson at a place called Randy's in downtown Red Wing. It was good!  Then we did some more yard work at a members home. I have come to love doing service for members. We always ask if there is anyone they know who we can do service for and usually they have someone. It is just a great opportunity and Elder Lowe and I really love it. Then we had a lesson with Bro Edwards, we listened to the talk by Elder D. Todd Christofferson called " Free Forever, To Act for Themselves" I highly recommend reading that. Elder Christofferson is so intelligent. He does not waste even one word in his talks. They all have a purpose. It's incredible. Then we had a lesson with the a less active member.

Friday: First thing in the morning Elder Lowe had thought he lost his iPad at the lesson we had with the less active member, so we called them to see if we could come pick it up and they said that they couldn't find it, but they said to come look. We got there and they then told us that the man of the house had a baby with another women and that she is moving back to Utah where she is originally from and they are getting a divorce. Talk about awkward for us.. They were both right there and it was just so sad! Then we did our weekly planning and that wasn't too bad this week. Then that night we went to see a less active that we were working with about a month ago but she went to rehab for a month in Elk River so we weren't able to see her, so we called her and it happened to be the day she got back from rehab. We showed up and she was ticked off at everything and had kicked her boyfriend out of the house because he had another women in the house. So they broke up and it was just sad and again another awkward moment.. Elder Lowe and I got home that night and were just talking about how grateful we are for the gospel. That if you truly live the gospel principles as a family that you are going to be happy. We both said man we just want to hug our future wife's and tell them that we would never do that to them. Hahah ! But for real, this day was very weird and very sad.

Saturday: We started off the day by going to Sister Caulkins and helping her cut down some branches, and then we did service for her neighbor, pulling weeds and putting mulch down. That took awhile, but it was good. We both love being in the heat and it was nice for it to be hot again. Then we went to a investigator/members home and did service putting mulch down and some gardening stuff. I was using a broom and I guess I pushed to hard on it and I broke the stick on it and it snapped but not all the way and it came back and pinched by finger and it cut it very deep. I might have to get stitches. I am going to let it go and just have like a bandaid on it for this week and see if it heals any. It doesn't hurt at all though. It's just kinda gross.. We had another lesson with the McGrath's and that went
well, we taught a little bit of the Plan of Salvation. We gave them some conference talks to answer some of their questions. 

Sunday: We had church which went well then we helped out an investigator in her parents yard with digging up some grass. Then we had dinner with the Banks and they are super cool. Then we had a lesson with Matthew Jankowski, he is a recent convert and he is from
China. He's a great kid. He works at 3 subways and literally never has anytime to do anything but work. But we got a lesson in with him, we read the talk by Elder Robert D Hales " Meeting the Challenges of Today's World " It's a great talk.

This week was a little bit hard, we aren't have a lot of lessons which makes us sad. It is pretty slow right now, but we are working with the members and really want to gain more investigators. Service has been a great opportunity to receive referrals and new investigators. This is Elder Lowe's last week of his mission and that makes me sad :( But he has a lot great things ahead of him.

I love you guys! Have a great week!!

Love, Elder Anderson

Season 7 Episode 4

Hello Family and Friends,

This week went by very fast and I am sure these next few weeks will too as Elder Lowe  finishes up his mission. It is sad, I don't want him to leave. I really love him a lot! We have plans to hangout after the mission though so it will only be a short goodbye haha.

Tuesday: We did service at Annedees Closet. Then we came home and had lunch and cleaned the apartment. I can testify that when your apartment is clean, you have the spirit and can feel it much more. I wish I would have done that back home haha. Then we did some cleaning on the car because it was dirty too. We washed it and vacuumed the inside. Then we had dinner in Lake City with the Nybergs. They invited a less active over and we shared a message about Scripture study. This week we were able to study a talk by David A Bednar called " A Resivoir of Living Waters " It talks about Lehi's dream. It is amazing! I highly recommend going to read it and applying what it teaches.

Wednesday: We drove to Bloomington early in the morning and got a brand new 2016 Toyota Corolla. It took a lot longer than we thought to finish the everything because lots of missionaries were there getting new cars. We had District meeting a 10:30 in Red Wing and we were in Bloomington a 10:00 and we hadn't left yet and it is more than an hour drive to Red Wing so we called our bishop to give a key to the missionaries in our district so they could get in the church and have district meeting. Then we got to the church and Elder Lowe and I made Pork Tacos. They were incredible! I love them haha! Then we hiked a bluff in Red Wing and it was fun. Then we went to a members home and played ping pong and other games, it was really fun. That night I went on exchanges with Elder Badder's our district leader. He is from California. He told me he is cousins with Taylor Catmull so that's
cool! I know her! Our exchange was good, we weren't able to have any lessons. But we had a good talk and got to know each other better.

Thursday: We played ball in the morning and that was fun with the Eagan Elders. Then we did service at connecting connections. We then had a lesson with our investigator Aki Tsuchiya. Well actually for the first hour he taught us a little bit of drawing. We drew a picture of Jesus Christ and I will send a picture of it. This guy is amazing though. His paintings go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. This guy is like famous haha. But our lesson was good. We read D&C 9:8 and Alma 32:28. He is very sincere about learning more and receiving that spiritual witness. But he has not told his wife about meeting with us, she just thinks we are taking art lessons from him and not teaching him the Gospel. So right as we were about to talk to him about talking to his wife and telling her the truth about meeting with us. She
walked in and was not very nice at all. I think that she was pretty mad at him and us. So we will see what happens with this whole situation . We were going to our dinner appointment and I was at a stop sign and it was my turn to go and I start going out and this huge truck ran the stop sign going fast and almost hit us. It was scary! I am totally fine mom and dad don't worry I was being careful. It was just a little bit scary.

Friday: Weekly planning.. Really slow day. Like really slow!! We had a dinner with a members in laws that are really Catholic. We had a Q&A lesson. They wanted to know about the temple and just everything. It was honestly awesome. The spirit was there so strong and we might be teaching them the discussions which would make us so happy. \

Saturday: We helped out that same family with a highway cleanup and that went really fast with how many people showed up. It was great. Then we went to Sister Midtoven's and did service in their yard all afternoon. It was good! Then we had dinner with the Nueffer's and Hadler's. We had FHE after and it was weird not giving the lesson. Honestly it was kinda nice that they took over haha.

Sunday: another great day at church. The red wing Ward is so great. Then we helped out the Dunlap's in their yard and then we had dinner at the millers. They are so knowledgeable of the Gospel. We could honestly talk to them all day and just ask questions. Hahah they know the scriptures so well it's so cool!!

This week was slow but good! We are trying to get this area a lot better. It is just hard at times! We know that if we are obedient and trust the Lord that He will work everything out. Thanks for everything y'all do. Miss and love you guys, have the best week!

Elder Lowe and I picking up garbage at the highway cleanup

Bro Edwards 

 Our District at the top of our hike.

The actual picture. Aki's Drawing. My Drawing. Hahah he's amazing.

Love, 
Elder Anderson

Season 7 Episode 3: Mother's Day

Hello Family and Friends,

This week was really slow. It was a rough week, but we did get to Skype home and that's always amazing :) I loved that!

Tuesday: We did service at Annedees Closet. That was good! Then we helped out one of the members of the Ward, Sister Vanacek's neighbor who needed some help cause he is moving. That was really good! Then we had dinner in Stockholm Wisconsin, which is a good 35 minutes away from Red Wing haha. We have a lot of members that live outside of Red
Wing.

Wednesday: we had a lesson with our investigator Joy. We invited her to be baptized and she got mad at us.. That wasn't good. We ended up dropping her because she just doesn't do anything that we say! Then we did service at Connecting Connections for like 3 hours. We helped them clean up. Anything you can think of, they have 4 of that thing. It's the most unorganized place and they have to clean it up, or they are getting kicked out. Hey just have huge garages of stuff just on top of stuff. It's sad. So we tried to help, but we did t really even make a dent In it.

Thursday: Super slow day for us.. Everything fell through. It was so long and just didn't get much done. Days like that are never fun! We went to good ole bro Edwards and we washed the outside of our car. Because we have to clean it up good because we are giving it to the
mission office and getting a new one. We are getting a 2016 Toyota Carolla. We are going to Bloomington to get that this Wednesday, I am excited to be the first to drive it :) then at night we saw a less active member and shared the story of the Good Samaritan. It was really good, I love that story.

Friday: We did our weekly planning session which is never really fun.. But it is effective. Then we went and did some tracting and got like 4 doors slammed in our face hahah. People just don't give you even a little bit of a chance. It's sad how rude they are! Then me and Elder
Lowe Played basketball with some little kids. It was fun hahah. I'll send a little video clip of it. Then we went the Bro Johnson's and talked forever and before we knew it, we had to go home, so we didn't even have a lesson haha.

Saturday: We went to sister caulkins and did some yard work there. We cut down lots of branches on trees and it was fun. We also had a wonderful opportunity to help out her neighbor and her neighbor wants us to come back next week to help. So this Saturday we are going to help again. Service is the best way to do missionary work. I love it! It opens hearts and minds and gains trust. That's how I have seen success. Then we had dinner with the Poppe's and they invited their non member neighbors and it was great. We shared a message about eternal families. Then we had a lesson with a less active in Cannon
Falls. It went well, we brought another member with us, and they just clicked, it was great.

Sunday: We went to church and that went great, I love this Ward. They are really great missionaries. Then we wrote our email for the Ward, then we helped bro Edwards , move some plants and then we had dinner and got to talk to our wonderful families. It was so great! I loved it! I really love seeing you guys. I also got to see my boy Tniel for a little bit. Hahah thanks mom, thanks Tricia for making that possible for us to do that :) it's always hard to say goodbye though😥.

It was a slow week, but we aren't going to let that get us down. We are motivated and ready to find those specific people that are prepared to hear the great and wonderful message. Love you all! Have a great week :)

Elder Lowe and I playing ball:

My good friend from Lake Marion, Bro. Stanich came to visit me and take me out to lunch.  What a guy! He also brought Nate Watkins who also is in that Ward. Me and him were tight!

Just a random picture I took:

I found this on lds.org, isn't that beautiful? i guess you guys get to see this. Lucky you!

Love, Elder Anderson

Mother's Day 2016

Season 7 Episode 2: "Mission Conference"

Hello Family and Friends,

        We had a great week this week. A lot happened. I cannot believe it is May now. Time is going by so fast.

Tuesday: We did service to start the day at Annedees Closet. It is a thrift store and we folded clothing for like 2 hours. It was fun hahah. Then we had a lesson with a less active and got him to come to the church and do family history work, and he had a great experience. He is coming back tomorrow to do it again. Then we had a lesson with Marcos Lopez at Bishops house. We were planning on teaching the Plan of Salvation, but he told us before we started the lesson that he is not really ready right now, he just wants to give it some time. So we did not end up teaching him anything, bishop and his wife pretty much
bore their testimonies on Eternal Families. They are so solid and are really missionary minded!

Wednesday: We had mission conference in Bloomington. Elder Lowe was playing the piano for some sister missionaries that sang in the conference. So we went early and practiced with them. So we left pretty early to get there on time. Larry R Lawrence of the Seventy and his wife came and instructed us. Wow it was so good! The spirit was so
strong the entire time. He talked about 3 things Unity, Obedience, and Sacrifice and I really liked the things he said about all of them. I think Sacrifice is the one that caught my eye the most. What are we willing to sacrifice to see miracles happen? He just made us really
think and motivated all of us to do some awesome things here. He talked a lot about Baptisms. Our mission is lacking on Baptisms right now and so that was another focus he had. He met with the Leaders of our Mission and they all prayed and set a goal of 100 date sets per month. That is a very high goal, but it is very achievable if rely on the Lord and put our trust in him. Everyone was just so pumped after it to Baptize people. I got to see all my past companions but one of them because he is home. It was so nice! I really love so many people in this mission! It just makes me super happy to see all of them. Oh I
just remembered, at lunch me and Elder Lowe sat down at a table and Larry R Lawrence, his wife, President Forbes, and sister Forbes all sat down by us and just talked to us about red wing. It was like the coolest thing. I sat right next to him and we just talked for like 45
minutes haha! With this 100 date sets per month goal. We also were committed to in every personal, companionship, and just every prayer we say with anyone we pray about this goal. So If you don't mind, please pray for the Minneapolis Minnesota Mission to reach this goal.

Thursday: It went really good. We were super busy. We had like 5 lessons. One was with our investigator Aki and we were so pumped about Mission Conference we decided we would invite him to be Baptized and he said he will when he gets that spiritual confirmation. It was great! Our lesson with him went for so long ahah, he just has so many good questions. Then we had a dinner at the Kennedy's and she made my favorite peach dessert that my mom makes, so that was nice. 

Friday: We did our weekly planning session.. We made some really good plans and goals though! We were actually excited to plan it out because we have a lot going for us in the area. 

Saturday: In the morning we went out to Stockholm Wisconsin and helped a member out with cutting trees down and just cleaning up the yard. The whole Elders Quorum came and helped. It was really great! This Ward is really unified it is great to see that in a Ward. It was also really fun. We then went to a dinner in Lake City ( which is where water skiing was invented ). We went there and we had dinner. Members feed us so much dessert and I really don't like it now. I just realize how bad food can be for you.. I don't like even looking at any sweets anymore, that is weird to hear from me, but I just don't like it anymore haha.

Sunday: We had a great Sunday. We had a Ward Fast for missionary work/a mission fast for the goals we set. Everyone was baring there testimonies on missionary work. Then for 2nd and 3rd hour we listened to this audio fireside called " Missionary Next Door " It is so good. I sent it home. So family, be expecting it soon. If you have the chance to listen to it, DO IT. It really is inspiring. We then had a opportunity to do service at this non members home. The Dunlaps. They asked me to mow the lawn so I did, and it felt great to be working Lawn Mowers again. We helped them all afternoon and they were very appreciative. The guy works for Red Wing Shoes. He gave me and Elder Lowe some work boots that he went and got for us that are $300-$400 for free. It was so sick! Haha.

This week was great. Very uplifting and exciting. Can't believe it is May! It's a great month of the year! :) Love you guys! Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Anderson