Season 8 Episode 4

Hello Family and Friends,

        Sorry that I have not been good at writing recently. Things have been a little bit crazy here in Red Wing. But the work is definitely going forward and we are seeing Heavenly Fathers hand in our missionary work each day.

Monday: We went on exchanges in Hudson WI again with our zone leaders because I left my credit card at Buffalo Wild Wings from two weeks ago. The only way to get it back was to be there with my ID ..  So That was really fun! Both of our Zone Leaders I get a long really well with. I always enjoy the time we spend with them! We played basketball again on the street with a bunch of random kids. It was very fun!

Tuesday: We had a Zone Specialty Training in Oakdale. It was really good, I got to see some old missionary friends. I love that! Then after that, we went straight to Cannon Falls for a lesson we had with a women named Jane. She had previously told us that she notices something different about the Mormon Religion. She says " You all seem so happy " We explained where that happiness comes from. The lesson was incredible, she felt the spirit so strong. She was even taking notes during the lesson, how sick is that? We didn't even have to invite her to Pray about the Book of Mormon. She told us "I am going to read and pray about this book as soon as I can" She is super solid and awesome. I love lessons like that!

Wednesday: We did service at connecting connection and then we did some service for Sister Hamblin, we are putting in mulch around a couple of trees for her. Her husband works all around the world and is gone a lot, so we help her often because she has a lot of things to worry about in her yard. Then we got invited to the YM and YW softball game which was so sick. I loved it! It really made me miss putting on cleats and playing actual baseball.

Thursday: We did some tracting and we did not see too much success with that. But we did talk to some people which is better than usual. Then we did a couple of stop by's with some potential investigators which was good. We got in contact with a few of them which was great. 

Friday: We did weekly planning and then we mowed the Dunlap's lawn and weeded there garden for them. That was good! Then we went to dinner with the Hadler's they are a super cool family and I really like them. Then we went to cannon falls again with our WML Bro Gram and we had a lesson with the Fickle's who are members who just moved from Hawaii. They are super cool and it was a great lesson! :)

Saturday: We actually finished up the Dunlap's garden because we didn't have time the day before. It was super hot and humid. Like super humid. I don't enjoy the humidity at all, that's why I love UT. Then we did some more stop by's in the afternoon. Then we went to Hastings to pick up my repaired IPad from the sisters in the Cottage Grove area. That was quite a drive. But we have a couple people in Hastings to stop by, but no one was interested that we stopped by.

Sunday: Best Sunday ever!! We had 4 investigators at church. Like what? That never happens here. It was totally unexpected too. Heather Jensen our investigator came and stayed for all 3 hours. She loved it and just gave us a call and said " How do I become a member of this church? What do I have to do?" Hahah that doesn't happen everyday. So she will probably be baptized very soon. But we do not want her to get baptized if she doesn't understand why and what the church teaches. She needs to have a testimony before she joins the church. But the ward here in Red wing was so awesome to her. They all invited her to things throughout the week. It honestly made me tear up. I can't tell you how great this ward is! They are so loving, accepting, and willing to do missionary work. I never want to leave!! Earlier in the week we got a call asking if we could be in a parade on Sunday. A less active member I have never met is the one who asked us. We said we didn't know if we could because it was a Sunday. So we called President Forbes and he thought about it for a while but he said yes. So after church we went and we were passing out water bottles to people on the sides. It was so much fun!! We loved it! And because we helped her, she said that she is going to be in church on Sunday. And she has not been to church when I have been here. So Wahoo!! Then we went and taught a few people, one of our recent converts is an 18 year old Chinese guy who's parents are baptist and they are very anti Mormon. We listened to part of the CD that they gave him and it's so stupid and actually made us super mad.

We had a great week!! Things are crazy. Sorry that I am emailing late, today a lady asked for help to move out of her house and we said yes. We started at 9:00 and went until 6:00. So it was an all day project!! Love you all, have a great week!!

Love, Elder Anderson

Season 8 Episode 3

Hey everyone,

This week I do not have a lot of time. We are with the zone leaders in Hudson Wisconsin and we are doing lots of things today. I will let you guys know what's going on in the area and how everything is working out next week!

My boy Elder Rhees hit his year mark this past week. Time just keeps going faster and faster.

Love you all! Hope to hear from you next week!

Love,
Elder Anderson

Season 8 Episode 2: Elder Kershaw

Hello Family and Friends,

        Sorry about last week, we had P day with the Zone Leaders in Hudson, WI. We were playing basketball all day so it was hard for me to email haha. But this week was good.

Monday: Elder Moss packed up all his stuff early in the morning and we went to Hudson to spend p day with the ZL's and we played basketball all day. It was fun! That night I went on exchanges with one of my favorite missionaries Elder Oldroyd who came out the same time as me. We prayed about a street and we went tracting. We did not even have to knock on one door. There was a lady standing outside with her poodle and at first she was like " GO AWAY" , but then we just started having a normal conversation with her and we ended up sharing a message with her and getting a return appointment. That was awesome! :) Then we went with the other elders we were with and played basketball with a
bunch of kids. It was pretty fun! You could say they were all just a bit cocky haha.. ;) Too bad elder Lowe wasn't there, he would have been dunking and it would have been so sick!

Tuesday: We woke up early and the ZL's had there leadership meeting in Bloomington. I said by to elder moss and I went and worked in Oakdale again with the elders there. We did not do much.. It was really boring! Then I met Elder Kershaw and we went home and he got all settled in! That was a long day.

Wednesday: We started off by mowing the Voigts lawn and there yard is very hilly so it was hard haha. Then we went to sister Hamblins and helped her with some of her yard work. Bro Stanich from the Lake Marion ward came again and he took us out to eat at a place called Randy's. It was okay. It was great to see him though, he cracks me up haha. I had him meet bro Edwards and I got a picture with two of my favorite people haha. Then we had coordination later that night.

Thursday: We had a lesson with our investigator Aki. It was a great lesson. Jonny Banks the recently returned missionary came with us and he was great. We talked about the Book of Mormon. He told us he believes it to be the word of God. After the lesson we were talking and we think that he doesn't know what that means he needs to do if the Book of Mormon is true. So hopefully this week we can explain what that means in a little better detail. We went to Cannon Falls with Bishop. He had some people on his mind and we went out to see people. We stopped by 7 people, talked to 5, and got 4 return appointments. Two of them being investigators. We were so pumped after that!! Bishop
Johnson is a great bishop and he just loves missionary work. It is cool to see how the ward here has such a desire to share the gospel. 

Friday: In the morning we actually helped and investigator Danielle White with some yard work in her dads yard. Then we went to the Dunlap's and we were talking to them a little bit and then I started mowing there lawn, then all the sudden it starts hailing super bad and
then the wind starts picking up. So we all run inside and it's crazy winds and hail for like 25 minutes. Once it ends we go outside and tons of huge trees are blown into houses and cars and there was even a little fire. So the Fire Department came and it was just nuts. I will send you some pictures of it! WOW it was something I will not forget. So we ended up just staying there for dinner because on the weather it said there was going to be another huge storm. We shared with the two pamphlets and they want to watch meet the Mormons with us so that's cool.

Saturday: I finished the Dunlap's lawn. Then we went to the ward fishing activity, that was fun! We had a good time there! It was good for elder Kershaw to meet some families in the ward. Then we went to sister dorado's and helped her organize some things so she can move this Friday, she was super bossy and rude to us. Mostly Bro Edwards though. How could you be rude to him? He's like the nicest guy ever hah. Then we went to Lake City to do some finding, we didn't find much success. But we shared a message with the Coons family who I do not really know too well.

Sunday: well that night I didn't sleep like at all.. It was crazy thunderstorms and lighting. Haha so I got up in the middle of the night and just started listening to conference talks because I couldn't sleep. The lighting felt like it was hitting out yard. The house and my bed were shaking.. It was not fun at all.. Then we had church which was good! It was ward conference and Stake Presidency was there. They share very powerful messages. Heather was supposed to come to church but 10 minutes before she cancelled but told us she wanted to meet at 7:00 that night and so we said that would be good. 10 minutes before that she cancelled again. I was pretty frustrated! But as of right now we are meeting with her tonight!

Thanks everyone for everything! Love you all!!

Bro. Edwards and Bro. Stanich:

These are pictures of what the storm did:

Exchange with Zone Leaders:

Love,

Elder Anderson

Season 8 Episode 1

Hi Everyone, this week was okay. Elder Lowe went home :( I found out my new companion would be Elder Kershaw but I found out he wouldn't be able to make it until this upcoming week because he had a baptism. So I served with Elder Moss for a week. I don't have a lot of time this week, we are in Hudson with the ZL's for P day.. I will email you more next week. 

Love you guys!!

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