SOoo Many Things Have Happened This Week!

I don't even know if I can put them all in this email, but I will try.

So first of all guess who is my new companion/who I'm training is?!

Its Sister Moyer!! You know, Alyssa Moyer? From Woodland Hills? We graduated together and did track and went to elementary school and ya da ya da…  SO COOL! She is awesome and so ready to be a hard working missionary! Well she already is one! We get along super well and it's great :)

On Wednesday me and sister Stacey drove to Helena and Sister Stacey got with her new companion and took off. I stayed in Helena for the night with the Sister training leaders because the new missionaries don't get here until Thursday, so that was so fun to go around with them for the day! Then the next day I got Sister Moyer and we left to go back to Great Falls!

Sorry to bring a downer into this email, but the P family I would say has taken a step down from where they were before. We aren't exactly sure, but it sounds like they are having some contention in their family and we haven't been able to meet with them much.

Also we met with D yesterday and it was just a whole rollercoaster of everything in that lesson. We started out reading 2 nephi 31 all about baptism and somehow it got into how she is having surgery tomorrow and she is not expecting to live through it and tears were shed that's for sure. Then we continued reading and, well we have been bringing up baptism a lot more with her throughout the last few lesson and she just has not liked that and she just straight up said "I will never be baptized and I will never be Mormon"....so we explained our purpose and now she is basically dropped.. which is sad, but hopefully she will come around sometime in the future :)

So I think yesterday was like "National don't wear a shirt day" or something because everyone (the guys) didn't have a shirt on!  haha This one guy was so interesting. Once we got on the street we could hear this super loud, some sort of indian or Mexican music blasting from this house.  We went and knocked on the door and it was this old man, without a shirt of course.  I think he was doing some sort of yoga or something haha but I don't even know how to explain what happened there, but he was just an interesting fellow.

Also this week and next week is the state fair so our zone is doing a free car wash! We did it on Saturday and we are going to do it again on this Saturday. We have actually been getting a lot of referrals and some potential investigators! So that's cool!

We have been meeting so many awesome people these last couple of days who are so ready for the gospel in their lives! Its great!

On Friday we were going to this lady we had an appointment with and somehow we got on the wrong street and realized the house we parked next to, thinking it was hers, wasn't. So we just walked up the street to her house and the lady canceled on us.  So we went back to our car and both me and sister moyer were just kinda looking at the house that we had parked next to, and both of us felt like we needed to go to this house.  I thought that maybe I had tracted into this house before, but I didn't know and we figured if I had then the worst that could happen is they would tell us that we had already been there, right? So we went and knocked on the door & the lady opened the door and she was so happy to see us! She asked if we could come by the next day, so we did! When we did she practically asked if she could be baptized! haha She is a young mom, has two little kids and her husband was out of town so she didn't want to set a date yet until she talked to him about it, but we are so excited for her! :)

Then later that day we were walking around this place called chowen springs and I don't know if I have talked about it before, but it is some sort of government housing or something.  The people are usually pretty humble and there are also some very interesting people around there haha.  We were walking back to our car and these two little girls were outside and we said hi to them and one of them says "are you going to see my parents?" and I said "I don't know should we?" She said yes, so we did! haha  Turns out they were interested and we have another appointment with them too!

"From the mouths of babes" isn't that a quote or something?

Also while we were walking around there one guy said hi to us, which was unusual and we had a quick lesson with him too.  We are going to see him again and also this other guy that we met!

Since we have ipads, we can use all of the videos and stuff that are on gospel library and it is SUCH a blessing! We show the video 'He Lives' and 'Because of Him" a lot with people that we tract into. I just love those videos! If you haven't seen them then I suggest you do! I have watched them so many times, and they never get old! They bring the spirit so strong, so fast. The other day we were talking to a girl that was studying to be a pastor or something and we showed her that video and her face was just totally changed after. I don't know how to explain it, but I am so grateful we have the technology we do!

It has just been such a great week! I can't even wait to see what will happen this week! :) This gospel is amazing! Before my mission I don't think I ever realized how centered on Christ everything is! I love it! Whenever we share the video “He Lives” or “Because of Him” we ask them if they could finish that sentence "because of him..." or "because he lives..." how would you finish it?  I love hearing people's answers!  They are all so different! So now I’m asking all of you! If you could finish that sentence "because of Him..." how would you?  You can write it in your journal or send it to me whatever, but it is just something good to think about everyday :)

I love you all!

Love, Sister Anderson

With Sister Moyer after tracting in the rain

Pushin the handcart at a ward pioneer day pot luck dinner

A little craziness at the car wash

Beautiful Montana Sunset

With Sister Cutler - a Sister Training Leader

Bi-polar Montana weather

Ya want smore?  

Stripes

BIG NEWS!!

Boy oh boy I've got some news! It has been a pretty looong week

because we have been waiting to hear if we will be transferred or not!

So yesterday we got the call from the zone leader and I had sister

Stacey go first haha and he said that she was being transferred to

Shelby.. So then I was so scared/sad/I don't even know what I was

thinking except for the fact that sister Stacey was leaving me! And

then he told me what mine was... and Guess what... IM GOING TO BE

TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!! Oh my goodness sakes I'm still in my own

training for another transfer though so I don't even know how that

works! I guess I'll just train myself. I don't know I'm

so stinkin nervous! And excited though! Oh man I don't even know her

name yet but, I already love her! Keep her in your prayers! Haha I go

to get her in Helena on Thursday! :)

So that's exciting!

We got called a few different things this week haha my personal

favorite was when we were called false prophets :) haha people are

great.

Nothing too crazy happened this week, but we did get in contact with a

few less actives! Now we are gonna start meeting with them every

week which IS A MIRACLE really! We hopefully have a couple of new

investigators! So that's exciting too!

We didn't have any investigators at church this week, that was a bit

of a bummer. But we will get them next week! We've been having some

less actives be back at church lately and they are so awesome!

Goodness the gospel is just SO great!

The P is being randomly out of town and sometimes half of them or just

one of them is there so it is hard to teach something and need to

still teach it to the others too when they get back, but they are

still progressing slowly and on track for their baptisms coming up!

They have come so far! It is so amazing to watch as the gospel changes

people's lives.

I don't have much more to say, but I just love being a missionary and

talking to everybody! It seems like just about everyone we talk to has

lived these crazy hard lives. I have really realized how blessed that

I am to have grown up in the church with active members all around me.

It makes such a difference!

I am still having the time of my life here! I'm so happy that I didn't

get transferred out of this area because the people here are THE BEST!

:)

I love you all!

Love, Sister Anderson

Jessica right after receiving the news that she will be a trainer after just one month in the field =)

The Missouri River

Cool panoramic picture

Jessica’s first day after MTC just after being hit by a big rainstorm out street contacting

MONTANA MONTANA!!

hiya!

This week felt a bit longer than usual, and by that I mean it felt like maybe two days instead of one. haha

We had a zone conference this week and it was so good! They always are! We did what you might call a "faith experiment"? We all went to a quiet place in the room and knelt down to pray, specifically asking a question that we had, and after we prayed we'd wait for the answer. The spirit was so strong as we all did this and we all received answers to our questions right there! I love the spirit. It's the best! We also taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to little kids to practice teaching it simply. Me and Sister Stacey got a little 6 year old, Willa and her little brother, Carl, who was 4. haha Willa sat still for most of it, but Carl was shaking his bum at us the whole time! hahaha It was a good time.

When we went to D's this week and it was great! We were reading the Book of Mormon and D was reading. We usually just read a couple verses at a time and then explain to her what is happening, but she just kept reading and reading! Once she stopped she said "that was cool" we asked her what she meant by that and she said that it was the first time she had ever been able to understand what she was reading while she read it and that she felt the Holy Ghost so strong while she was reading it, so she didn't want to stop. Aw she is just so great!

In the P family the 17 year old daughter told us that she wants to be baptized! Now the three of them will be baptized all together! I really hope I don't get transferred out of this area cause I want to see them be baptized! :)

We had to drop one of our investigators this week :( He's 86 years old, but looks like he's 60ish and he is so so nice! We have been teaching him every week since we got here and he has made really no progress at all.  He has been all over the world fighting in war and stuff and he always tells us the many stories about war (the same ones) haha We love him, but he doesn't believe much of what we tell him unless it is something about Jesus Christ, so it is hard for us to teach him much. We asked him why he has us over and he told us that he just likes to state his opinion and see what we think about it. Well we explained our purpose as missionaries and basically said that we won’t be back anytime soon. Then at the end he handed us his calendar, which we usually write on it when we are coming back and we had to say no.. it was the saddest thing ever!! I just wanted to cry!

Man I just love the people here and I want them all to come unto Christ! But if they aren't doing their part and making progress then we need to move on and give our time to other people that will. It's sad, but our time here is SO SHORT!

I am loving it here in Great Falls! The ward we are in just loves us so much and we love them! I haven't been to anywhere else so I don't know if all wards are this great, but I just love it here :)

I hope you all are doing great! Thank you for your prayers! I am praying for you too!

I love ya'll ta pieces!

Love,

Sister Anderson

PS. DO the Faith Experiment!

From the youth conference a week ago with Captain Moroni

Teaching the little kids.  She's in the back left corner...

The pink palace (her apartment)

Her car

an attempt to show Montana's Big Sky

This was the Fastest Week Ever!

This was the fastest week ever! Too fast!!

We have met a lot of new people this week and have a couple of new investigators! Its so exciting when people are actually interested in what we have to say! I love it. A lot of the time they just tell us what their religion is and close the door, but in a nice way! Everybody is just so nice in Montana! Well not everybody but most! Last night we knocked on this door and the lady just let us right in and gave us apples. haha We didn't know if she was a member or something? But it turns out she is just a really nice lady and likes to learn about different religions! So we got teaching and they had SO MANY questions and some of them I had no idea how to answer. Luckily I am not the teacher and the spirit work wonders!  As long as I have done my part the Lord will do the rest and I just need to have faith and open my mouth :)

This week we met the new mission president! They had half of the mission meet them in Billings on Thursday and the other half meet them in Helena on Friday.  So we went to Helena again on Friday and it was great! Nobody hit any deer this time so that was good :) Him and his wife are great and so nice! I love them already! President Mecham has had the whole mission praying for them since April, so once they got here it felt so right. They have such amazing testimonies and are going to bring so much to this mission! While we were there the assistants did a role play thing and we learned all about asking inspired questions. As we did all of this and as they bore their testimonies I have never felt the spirit so strong. You know how people say the spirit was so strong that you could have sliced it with a knife or how it was just tangible? Well it was like that but more! I don't know how to explain it, but I love it when soo many missionaries get together. The spirit is just so strong! Sister Granados was there and it was great to see her again :) Oh and after this we all got to take individual pictures with President and Sister Wadsworth. So I did that, but right after the picture I just walked away. I was suppose to give them a hug and a handshake goodbye! Then sister Adair said "are you going to say bye?!" haha so I quickly turned around and gave them a hug and a handshake goodbye! I guess president looked pretty confused while I was walking away. ha.. but it's okay! We all laughed about it! haha

On the 4th of July we got to be in the parade! It was so much fun! It wasn’t as hot as I thought it was going to be! Our float was a big cardboard thing of the Salt Lake temple. I'll send some pictures! We could hear people and little kids saying "look at the castle!" haha We handed out Mormon.org cards, pictures of the Salt Lake temple, information about Jesus Christ, and family proclamations. We had tons and tons of them and we handed out all of them! Some people would say no every now and then, but it was great! Then we got to stay out until 10:30 to watch fireworks! We needed to be with a member or an investigator, so we went with 'D'! I love that lady. It was so much fun! I guess here you can light off any kind of firework that you want until midnight and that is what everyone was doing! Everywhere you would look there would be big fireworks going off! We wheeled D up to the top of this hill kinda and we watched all of the fireworks going off everywhere! So fun!

Also on the 4th I had never been so full in my life.. For lunch most of our zone all went to café rio and then two hours later our members fed us all of this yummy BBQ stuff and the best homemade oreo ice cream! And then we tracted into a members home and she gave us some cupcakes.. Oh man... Me and Sister Stacey were going to explode! I was full till dinner the next day! Which was nice since the next day was fast Sunday haha ;)

The 'P' family, I don't know if I already mentioned this, but the mom and the 19 year old daughter are on date. They are still so awesome! They have read all the way to Jacob now in the Book of Mormon and they are learning so much! The other day the mother asked if they needed to read all of the Book of Mormon before they could be baptized haha we said they don't have to, but they totally will! They are GOLDEN.

Everything is going so great here in Great Falls! Yesterday it was randomly 55 degrees? Don't know where that came from and it was raining the weirdest rain! It was like a strong mist.  It felt like the tingling you get when your arm falls asleep you know? haha I love love love it here!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Love, Sister Anderson

With the new mission President: President & Sister Wadsworth

With Sister Granados

Mom put hundreds of these stars in Jessica's care package which ended up on the floor of their car =)

Ya got us mom!

More care package contents...

Happy 4th of July!

The missionary float for the July 4th parade