Elder Johnston/MLC/Miracles in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Family and Friends,

 This was an eventful week. A week ago today we went to the twins game for Memorial Day. It was a 1:00 game in the afternoon and they played the Astros and the twins lost. High scoring game though which was fun to watch. We had Elder Johnston with us from Sunday night to Wednesday morning. So on Tuesday we exchanged with the Sauk Rapids Elders (Elder Lowell and Elder Nelson). I took Elder Lowell to Bloomington and Elder Last went to Sauk Rapids with Elder Nelson. Sauk Rapids is right next to St Cloud and so it took awhile to get back to Bloomington. But for Elder Johnston's last night in the field we had a lesson with a man named Bill Cannon and we taught about the Atonement and it was very powerful lesson. From 8:30 - 9:00 we went tracting right next to the mission home. We weren't able to find someone until about 8:55. We knocked on a door and a younger guy answered named Robert and he told us that he works at the University of Minnesota, him and his wife just moved into the house 6 months ago and Elder Johnston was able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and he said we could come back in a week.  It was a cool miracle for Elder Johnston's last Book of Mormon he handed out as a missionary.

   We had asked President and Sister Forbes if we could sleep at the mission home because it was his last night and they said yes. So we got to hang out with President Forbes a little bit before we went to sleep.
   
Wednesday morning we took Elder Johnston to the airport to drop him off. That was tough. It's hard to see a best friend go! But what was cool is I felt a desire to finish my mission strong and to be the best I could be until the end!

   Thursday we had MLC. Elder Last and I led a discussion on how to motivate missionaries. Which went fairly well! We had some of the Zone Leaders lead a discussion on some of the concerns they had. It was President Forbes last MLC and so it was definitely a good one! 

   Friday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Jeremy Potter. He met us at the chapel and we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson. We read 2 Nephi 31 and taught from that! He really understood the doctrine very well. We invited him to be baptized and he said " I am not going to say yes, but I am definitely not going to
say no because I could see myself being baptized into the church. Jeremy is a really Christlike person and is definitely someone prepared to accept the gospel. In the afternoon we went on exchanges with the Karen Speaking Elders in North St Paul. I went with Elder Williams and we had a lesson with a man and it was so cool, i did not understand what was going on really but I could feel the spirit. It was really awesome.

   Saturday we did service at Feed My Starving Children in downtown St Paul. That was really fun. We had missionaries from lots of zones going!

   Sunday in the evening we contacted this lady sitting outside her apartment building and she was so nice. When we gave her the Book of Mormon she took it as a big deal and said she would read it that night! Her boss is mormon and she is so excited to tell him she met some missionaries and is now reading the Book of Mormon. We could just picture her in a white baptismal suit about to be baptized. This lady is prepared!
   
It was a great week! I can't believe it is June right now. The weather here is starting to get very humid and hot which is way better than the cold! I love you all! Have a great week!

1) Elder Johnston's Last lesson
2) In the mission home with President!

Back to Duluth in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Everyone,

  We had a good week this week. We went to Duluth this week which was cool to go back and see my last area. I went with Elder Huntley and Elder Black the Duluth Elders. Elder Last went with Elder Miller and Elder Ellsworth the Superior elders. It was a good day, we were able to teach some good lessons. I didn't get to see a lot of the people that I love in Duluth. But it was still good to be back in a place where I made many memories.

   On Friday when we got home from Duluth we went and exchanges with the New Brighton Elders. That afternoon we did we did a mission wide finding hour. We a car fast where no missionaries could use there cars but could only use their bikes or be on feet just out finding. It was awesome! I was biking around with Elder Hodgson and we tracted and talked to some cool people, it was a good thing to do for the mission! That evening we were biking and these people in their late 20's were sitting around a fire and one of them stands up and waves us down. He invites us to their back yard, gets us water, gives us a bunch of food, and was seriously some of the nicest people i have met on my mission. They asked questions about studying the scriptures and all these super sweet questions and they told us to come back anytime. I was super excited about this miracle that we saw!

Elder Johnston goes home this Wednesday and I get to be his companion the last couple of days, I can't believe that he is done with his mission! I am going miss him.

1.Duluth Elders
2. Elder Hodgson and I
3. The people who waved us down to come join them around the fire.
(Sam and Cyrus)

President Russell M. Nelson in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Everyone,

        This was one amazing week. We had President Russell M Nelson of the quorum of the twelve apostles visit our mission. So a lot of this week we were helping President Forbes prepare for the conference. So much
went into the conference it was honestly so cool! As President Nelson arrived to the building we had everyone in the Cultural Hall for a mission picture with President Nelson. So when he walked in he came into the gym and we snapped a quick picture, President Nelson walked out and went to the entrance into the chapel and he shook everyone's hand as we walked in. Elder Craig C Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy was also there. He is also a powerhouse! We were instructed for two hours by these two special witnesses of the Savior. President Nelson talked about what we learn from the Book of Mormon and posed the question "What would you do without the Book of Mormon in missionary work?" We talked about all of the things we learn and things that are clarified and it helped strengthen my testimony of Book of Mormon. His testimony was powerful and pure, just being in his presence was a blessing. He truly is an amazing man! 92 years old and walking like a champ.

        He held a YSA fireside that evening and we were able to also go to that because we had a member go with us. He is a very Christlike man! What an example! I seriously love him and will never forget this week.

        Sunday we had Mission President's Fireside that I conducted. We had all the missionaries in the Twin Cities bring their investigators and recent converts speak and tell their conversion story. It is a great event! We had two people from the Young Single Adults ward speak. It was great to hear their stories. It strengthens my testimony.

        I got to go on exchanges with Elder Peterson who I served with over a year ago in the Lake Marion ward. We were in St Paul and we had a good day. We went joint teaching with a awesome priest. We called a member from the Lake Marion ward who loved us both a lot. He accepted to come and take us out to breakfast. We went to a place called Mickey's diner that has been open 24/7 since 1930. How cool is that? It was a great
time being back with an old companion catching up on old times.


1. The Priest From St Paul
2. Elder Peterson and I
3. Brother Stanich at Mickey's Diner
4. The Entire Mission With President Nelson(See if you can find me)

Exchanges/Miracles/Mother's Day in Bloomington with Elder Last

Hello Friends and Family,

        We had a wonderful week this week. We taught some really solid lessons to some really prepared people. Also, what a Mother's Day being able to talk to the family. Tuesday we had exchanges with the Medicine Lake Elders (My old area). I went with Elder Larson who is a new Zone Leader and is from North Sanpete. He is a great guy and I really enjoyed the exchange we were able to get in with a part member family home here in Bloomington.

        Thursday we went on exchanges with the Lakeville Zone Leaders and I went with Elder Kemberling. That was a good exchange, we were in Burnsville/Lakeville and we did finding for a long time which was really good. We talked to some nice people and not so nice people, but overall it was a good experience. I served in Lakeville over a year ago, so it was good to be back and see parts of my old area. That night we got a call from the Cottage Grove Sisters telling us that they had contacted the most prepared person they had met on their mission and that he lives in Bloomington. So they gave us his number and address and told us to call him the next day.

        Friday called him and he totally wanted to meet up. He told us that he was maybe not going to be able to make it to the lesson we set up for 7:30. He texted us and told us he would hustle back and be able to
make it to the church by 8:30. So we met him at the church and 8:30 and we was super nice and we went directly into the chapel and taught a really powerful restoration lesson. What a spiritual experience for him! As he learned about Joseph Smith these are the words he said "That makes sense. The Book of Mormon is something I am very curious about now." This man is an answer to many prayers! He is one of the elect that are prepared to hear and accept the gospel. 

        Saturday we taught our investigator Solo Hne (From Liberia). He is so ready for the gospel as well, we taught the restoration and you could physically see the spirit teaching him. It was a great experience!

        Sunday Solo came to church and stayed for all 3 hours. He really enjoyed it and hopefully will come next week with our other investigator Peter who is his roommate and they are both solid investigators. We had our family of investigators come to church James and angie and there kids. We also had our investigator Steve come, so we had 7 investigators to church and it was a really great sunday because after that we face timed our families.

        The work is moving forward here in Bloomington, we are seeing lots of miracles and really enjoying our time together!

Here is some big news: President Russell M Nelson will be holding a mission conference this Saturday for our mission. We will each be able to shake his hand, this is something I will never forget! I am so excited to hear his words to our mission. What a great opportunity! I love you all! Have a great week.

1. Our investigator Solo Hne right after our lesson
2. Multi Zone Service - Helping out with a 5k Run in Eagan.
3. Helping these garbage men. A member got a picture in action!

Transfer Week in Bloomington: New companion Elder Last

Hello Family and Friends,
 
I apologize for not emailing last week because we were busy with transfer stuff. Monday was really fun, we did a lot of transfer stuff with President Forbes and the board came out. It was really fun! Later that evening we taught our investigator tom Walters. He is a cool guy! Tuesday we had the departing missionaries in the mission home doing their departing stuff with President and Sister Forbes. Elder Johnston is going home in the middle of the transfer so he was their and it was just so weird to see him getting ready to go home. He leaves the 31st of May to go back for football practice. That evening they had all the departing missionaries share their testimonies and wow was that a powerful experience to be apart of.
        
Wednesday we had breakfast with all the departing missionaries and then we packed all their stuff into the van to take them to the airport to drop them off. Sister Frank a Sister missionary who I served around a lot had her parents show up at the mission home. It was so cool to see her and her parents see each other again. We then drove all the departing missionaries to the airport. It was 7 sister missionaries and 1 elder.  After we got back I went with President and Sister Forbes to pick up the new missionaries at the airport. It was so fun to greet them all, Elder Last (my new companion) and I gave a little training to them about inviting someone to be baptized. It was really good, i love the excitement these new missionaries have. Wednesday was a crazy day, but it was really great!

Thursday we had MLC, Elder Last and I gave a training on how to make companionship exchanges the most effective as possible. It went well! We had a good discussion. MLC always seems to go well.
        
Friday was nice because we finally got to slow down and clean up our apartment, and get to work in our area. Elder Last is my new companion, he is from Hurricane UT. He has been out on his mission 14 months and is a really solid elder. We have a lot of good work to do here in Bloomington and we are gonna work our tails off to see success this transfer. Saturday we taught two men named Solo Hne and Peter Matatlay, they are from Liberia and really have interest in learning more about the gospel. We taught them briefly about the restoration and it went well, peter committed to coming to church. He came to church on Sunday and that was a good experience for him.

I am doing well in the mission and loving it! We are working hard, this is God's work, we have the blessing of sharing this with the world. I invite you all to look for more missionary opportunities and open your mouth! Have a wonderful week. D&C 33:8-10

1) Elder Last and I after service
2) my vehicles i have driven in the last two areas

A Wonderful Week of Surprises in Bloomington with Elder Oldroyd

Hello Family and Friends,


   This week was a good one. We have been very blessed this week! On Monday we went to the Anoka Zone P day and played kickball which was fun. On Tuesday we had some good lessons with our investigators. We taught a kid named buddy he is our 17 year old investigator who is progressing a lot just since I have been here. We taught Timothy and Steve our other two investigators who are a little odd, but they are doing well.

   On Wednesday we drove for a super long time driving missionaries around. We dropped off Elder Johnston in Buffalo and picked up our new companion Elder Bullock. Elder Bullock is from McCammon Idaho and it has been fun having 2 companions. We now have 6 missionaries in the ward. Because now the sisters have a 3rd companion as well.

   Friday we did the mission wide finding hour and it went well. We went tracting for an hour and talked to a lot of good people it was a good time for all the missionaries and we saw lots of miracles again. On Friday we went to the twins game in the evening. Our investigator Tom Walters is a season ticket holder front row in target field and really wanted us to go and check it out, so we went to the game and it as super cool. They were playing the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander was on the mound, so that was cool to see him play. We had amazing seats!! Oh I forgot something to tell you, earlier that day we met up with my former Duluth investigator Ken. She was in the cities so Elder Johnston in Buffalo and me in Bloomington met her at the Maple Grove Zupas. She told us she is planning on being Baptized. What an amazing miracle. She told us that the spirit has told her many many times that being baptized is what she needs to do. I seriously am so happy for her and the decision she has made. The baptism will be sometime in May and that will be a very neat experience.

Sunday we had mission presidents fireside which was really great. The Minnesota Mormon Chorale was there and it was a really powerful event with 300 people in attendance. We had our investigator Buddy there and he really liked it!

I had a great week and I am really enjoying serving here in Bloomington. It is crazy to think that transfers is coming up so quickly. They are next week... wow! Hope everything is well for you!



1. Our investigator Buddy coming to church.
2. Exchanges with the Elder Moore in Elm Creek
3. My last companion and my current companion
4. All of the missionaries in the Bloomington Ward.

A Week of Miracles in the Mission with Elder Oldroyd

Hello Everyone,

  This week was a good one full of many miracles. On Tuesday we had a eally cool experience. We had dinner with the Stone's and we had our recent convert Jennifer over for dinner as well. After dinner we had a new member discussion with the entire family and Jennifer. The Stone's the night before studied Preach My Gospel and specifically all the points in the Restoration lesson and it was so cool that they all taught the 1st lesson to her. Elder Oldroyd and I added our testimonies to it, but it was so cool to see these members so engaged in teaching these new member discussions to Jennifer. 

  A miracle we saw on Wednesday night was we went to teach a man named timothy and with a member named Shawn. Previously we had gone over to his house and he had been super wasted and just been drinking  all day
so we weren't really able to teach him that well. We went over this time and he was completely sober, we were able to teach him the Restoration lesson and the spirit was so strong, this man had a sincere desire to learn more and we were able to teach him about prophets and how important it is in our lives that we follow prophets.
  
 This past Friday we had another cool experience. As a mission we had an hour of finding together. So we had a short spiritual thought and prayer on a conference call before and it was really cool to have everyone in the entire mission out knocking on doors, contacting people on the streets, and just teaching people. It was a really cool experience and we were able to find 53 new investigators in one hour all around Minnesota. We also shared the video 121 times! Anyway, it was just a cool thing we did as a mission this week.

   On Saturday we went to the Minneapolis Zone service and helped set up an Easter egg hunt. It was really fun, then that same evening we went with the Anoka Zone and did a downtown Minneapolis blitz where everyone went and shared the video as well as copies of the Book of Mormon.
   

Thanks for everything! Have a wonderful week!

Elder Anderson
Minneapolis Minnesota Mission
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

1) Minneapolis Zone Service

2)Anoka Zone Blitz

3) A long lost member we contacted in downtown Minneapolis