Monday, December 26, 2016

Transfer Day ... Going to Duluth with Elder Johnston

Hey everyone, I do not have a lot of time this week to email! I apologize for that. Our baptism did not go through this week. It made us really sad! The Towah's will be baptized eventually. I am going to be transferred to Duluth on Wednesday. I am very sad to be leaving Elder Newbold but we will still be best friends even though we won't
be serving together.

I will be serving in Duluth with Elder Johnston who is also from South Jordan. Anyway hope you had a great Christmas! Love you all :)



Monday, December 12, 2016

It Actually Feels Like I'm in Minnesota Now .... Medicine Lake with Elder Newbold

Hello Everyone,

        We had a really good week. The snow is falling and it is pretty cold outside. It is currently 2 degrees, with windchill it is -11. It really feels like Christmas season now, which I actually love. This week was a good one. We had a great district meeting Tuesday, Elder Newbold and I gave a training from chapter 2 in Preach my Gospel. It was a good meeting. We had a lesson with Antoinette and her boys. That lesson went really well. We were reading 2 Nephi 31 and Elrad a 12 year old was taking lots of notes. He was writing things like "The Doctrine of Christ is the way to salvation" I am amazed with this entire family every time that we teach them.

Wednesday: We had a basketball game The Grapes (Youth) Vs. The Raisins (Adults). We were invited to play and we played on the grapes team. It was super sick! We ended up losing.. But it was fun to be with a lot of the members in the Ward. We had a lesson with our investigator Johnny after the game. We took brother Willoughby and he was perfect for him. He related the gospel really well to him and was pretty bold. Johnny is really progressing. :)

Thursday: We had a district meeting with the Weaver Lake District. We went to the Brooklyn Park chapel and it was an incredible meeting. I felt the spirit very strongly and was motivated to work! Then we went on exchanges with Weaver Lake. I went with Elder Weissinger in our area. We started off by tracting for about 45 minutes. No one really answered. We did talk to a lady who knew about the rule of 3 and said that we could come back when her husband is home. We then had a lesson with Todd Barberis. It was great! That man continues to amaze me and it makes me very happy to see how much he is reading from the Book of Mormon. We had a pass off lesson with the Crystal Elders after that. Elder Weissinger is from California and talks more than I have ever really heard someone talk hahah.. To be honest it was like a one way conversation of him just shooting a bunch of information into my head hahah. To say the least at the end of the night I was very tired and excited to sleep. Elder Weissinger is a convert and I really love that Elder.

Friday: We exchanged back in the morning after studies. We had planning and accountability in the early afternoon. We had a lesson with Boimah, one of the sisters investigators. It was a pass off lesson because Boimah was kinda being creepy to the sisters and we just all felt like it would be better if we taught him instead.

Saturday: we had coordination in the morning with Brother Gruber and the Sisters. We had service with Dave Smith. He made really good pancakes which I loved! We had a lesson with a new recent convert who moved from Virginia a couple of months ago that we never met. His name is Jerry Nyumah, we had a lesson with him and when we got there he had 3 roommates there as well, we invited them to come a long and listen to the lesson. We shared the #LightTheWorld video and then taught the restoration from that. They all committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We were super excited about that! We then had a lesson with a less active member who we had never met before, Michael Taylor and his roommate Preston. We shared the #LightTheWorld video and again taught the restoration to Preston while Tyler Driskill (Recently Returned missionary) talked to Michael. It was really cool. The Ward Christmas party then happened. It was really fun! I love this Ward! Leroy Williams then came joint teaching with us to Johnny, but he wasn't there so we took Leroy home. 

Sunday: We had Ward council in the morning, after Ward council we got a text that was a referral and at first I was really excited but then we looked who it was and it was Leroy Williams a recent convert who doesn't remember a lot of things. He referred himself on Mormon.org because he wants to meet with us like everyday. We went joint teaching with him the night before hahah. He is so funny! We had our investigator Steven there at church. Sister Jones brought him and it went well. After our Sacrament meeting I had the opportunity to interview someone for baptism that the weaver lake elders are teaching. His name is Femi and wow was that a cool experience. He is very ready for baptism! :) Michael Henstrom is a 18 year old in the Ward with down syndrome and he is one of the best people ever. He was telling everyone in Elders quorum how much he loves them. He is a bit hard to understand but he's amazing! Steven our investigator after Elders Quorum goes up to Michael and puts his hand out like darth Vader does when he is choking someone out and he actually puts his hand on his neck and starts saying "In the name of Jesus Christ I command your throat to be opened, your voice and tongue to be loosed. In Jesus name I pray amen. Now say amen Michael" it was one of the weirdest things. He is a very interesting man! After church we had a lesson with Daniel Hansen. He is really doing well and since we met him a month and a half ago, he is doing much better! We had dinner with the Lamprechts another sweet couple in the Ward. The Minnesota Mormon Chorale came to the stake center for a fireside and it was a really cool experience. They are a miniature Mormon tabernacle choir. We brought Steven and Leroy to that! It was incredible.

I cannot tell you how much I love being a missionary especially during this Christmas time. It makes me so grateful for the savior and everything he has done for us. His birth is why we celebrate Christmas. We need to always remember that He is the reason for this season. I love this gospel and it makes me so happy to go out and share it every single day. You will be blessed and your testimony will grow as you share it. I love you all and have a great week!

1 Nephi 8:12
1. Weaver Lake Ward Party.
2. A funny video elder Newbold made haha






Love, Elder Anderson

Monday, December 5, 2016

#LighttheWorld : Medicine Lake with Elder Newbold

Hello Everyone,

This week has been a really good one. Lots of things are going on in our Ward! I especially love being a missionary at this time of the year. The new #LightTheWorld video has been so fun to share with members and nonmembers.

We had exchanges this week, I went with Elder Kershaw (a former companion) in maple grove. We had a fun exchange we biked around and talked to some people in their front yards. We were able to learn things from each other and it was great. It felt like we were back in Red Wing together. :)

On Thursday, we had MLC in Bloomington. We had a discussion on how we can set a culture of finding in our mission. We also talked about how we can improve the obedience of missionaries! It was one of my favorite MLC's I have been to. Elder Newbold and I were talking after and we figured out a lot of things that we can improve on and what we can help the Anoka Zone improve on.  Then we had a lesson with Antoinette, Ednet, and Elrad.  We lanned on reading 2 Nephi 31 for the lesson. But we felt prompted to share the Mormon message "Mountains To Climb." It touched them and brought them to tears, we found out some things they are going through. We testified of the power of prayer, Gods love, and the Savior. It was great! I seriously love these people so much. To see them progress in the gospel is just  an amazing thing to witness. We then had a lesson with Todd Barberis. That man has changed so much in the past two months, it's crazy!

Friday we had our Christmas zone conference in Elk River. I conducted the meeting and we got some trainings from some other missionaries that were really good. We got to watch a movie with President and Sister Forbes. We watched Chariots of Fire, I had never seen it. It
was good! We gave President and Sister Forbes a gift from the Anoka Zone. We all made a short video telling them thank you and Merry Christmas. I will send the video to you so you can see it. It's really great. Then we went and saw Brother Nunelly. He's a great guy!

Saturday we had coordination with the WML Brother Gruber. Then we had service with Dave Smith. It was pretty cold, we helped him move buckets of dirt. He's a good guy! We had a lesson with our investigator named Dago. He is from Mexico and so we brought the Hermana's with us to the lesson so we could pass him off to them. It was really cool to be there and here the sisters testify in Spanish. I enjoyed that a lot! We had dinner with sister jones, Leroy, antoinette, and her two boys. It was great! Sister jones is seriously so amazing. Any investigator, less active, or anyone we talk about she says " can I invite them over for dinner? " or "can I come with you to the lesson?"  We were asking sister jones why she is so amazing and is so missionary minded. She then shared with us a story back when she lived in Alaska. She had a friend who was not a member of the church and every once in awhile her friend or sister jones would bring up the church but kinda in a joking manner. Anyway, she never actually tried to share the gospel with her. Her friend ended up passing away and at the funeral they were saying a prayer and sister jones just had this overwhelming though of "you never actually shared the gospel with her." She broke down to tears and said that from that point forward she would do everything she can to share the gospel. She tells the story a lot better then I can! She is just a great example to me and to all members of the church.

Sunday was awesome. We had a great fast and testimony meeting. We had many people we are working with come to church! We had a lesson with Steven, that was a little frustrating. Then we had dinner at the Henstrom's house. We watched the devotional at Brother Gruber's house with Leroy and the sisters. It was great! I love the mission. Have a
great week!





Love, Elder Anderson