The Last One

 Hey hey hey everybody! 

I hope you all had a good week and that you were able to see God's hand in your lives! 

Yes it's true, this is my last email home. It really doesn't feel real.... I feel like I'll just write another email next week and nothing will change. It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'll be home this time next week! 

I can't explain how grateful I am for these past 18 months. I don't think I could have grown as close to my Savior or grown as strong of a testimony if I hadn't have come on my mission. There have been a lot of hard days but never a bad day! 

For my last email I just want to leave you all with my testimony :)

I KNOW that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church. It truly has the fulness of Jesus Christ gospel. I know that the priesthood is God's power on Earth. I know that God is silent and He speaks through his prophets. I know that Jesus Christ is the head of this church. I know that He lives! I know that He knows YOU personally and can change you into your full potential if you let Him. I know He has changed me. I know that God loves all of His children. I have seen it over and over and over again. I know that God's hears your prayers! He may not answer them in the ways you want but He always answers your prayers in ways that are most expedient for you. 

I want to challenge all of you to pray to have your will aligned with God's. I know that His plan for you is better than any plan you have for yourself! 

I love you all SO MUCH! thank you for all of your support over the past 18 months. SEE YOU SOON! 

Love, 

Sister Anderson

Ps. I'll be home March 7th and my homecoming will be March 13th at 1:30! I'd love to see you all there :))

Weekend of Blessings!!

 Hey hey hey! 

Sorry I didn't write last week! Last week was just super slow and we only had 6 lessons! I didn't feel like writing about it haha. 

This week however we had 15 lessons which was WAY BETTER! We also had a lot more success tracting this week which felt really good:) throw out some prayers for Deepah please! She someone we met tracting and could be a potential friend. 

We also made a new friend this week! Her name is Mirelle and she is 9. Her family is all members but she just didn't get baptized due to covid. However, Washington state is lifting the mask mandate on March 21st! I'll be gone but what ever haha. Anyways she's super cute and we now meet with her weekly. 

We also had A HUGE MIRACLE IN MAYS POND. Our friend Laurie came to church to hear us speak and she cried the whole time! She cried even more when we sung the hymns. She ended up leaving during the closing prayer because she said she felt like a cry baby! We called her later and went over and she said that she had never felt that way before. She said she felt so loved, warm, and valued. We explained to her that that was the Holy Ghost! We talked about the Holy Ghost baptism and she said she wants to be baptized! There wasn't a dry eye in the room! Please keep Laurie in your prayers  she is so amazing! 

We also had a lesson with a partially less active fam. We taught them the first vision because the wife wanted to know what to share with a friend. The husband hasn't been to church in a while but the spirit in the room was so strong and we all felt it! At the end of the lesson I asked if they had any questions about what to share and the husband said "No, but what time is sacrament meeting?" It was so amazing! He didn't end up coming to sacrament this week but we will get em next time :)) 

We also have been working with another less active fam for a bit now. We have lessons with them and did some service for them this week and they came to church yesterday!! Yay! So good to see them there :)) they seemed super happy to be there! 

Next week will be my last weekly email. It really doesn't feel real. I feel like I'm not actually going home and it's just a prank. 

To end on a spiritual note, I know that it's not the mission that has changed me. It's Jesus Christ and His atonement that has changed me. I know that if you reach out to and study Him, He can change you too. You have so much worth, potential, and value!! Sometimes you just need His help to see that and also to get you there.

LOVE YOU ALL! 

Love,

Sister Anderson

Whatta Week...

Woah... this week was weird. 

Okay, so here's the high lights: 

We had a lesson cancel...at the door... literally we got there and they canceled. But that's okay!!! So we just started knocking doors with no luck. We were going to stop and try street contacting at a park BUT THEN, I got a feeling to do 1 more house. We knocked and a lady answered that said she grew up in the church but left about 10 years ago and isn't interested. But she was super sweet and let us in to get water. We ended up talking to her for a while and then her whole family came and they were all super sweet! They even invited us to stay for dinner and ice cream  super sweet! However, when we were about to leave, I asked if we bc could pray with them...they said no... but that's okay! The seed was planted :))) 

Also, I found my new favorite form of finding!!! HIGH FIT! Holy cow it's SO FUN. High fit is similar to Zumba for those who don't know. It's put on by some of our members at the church 3 times a week and its all free and a bunch of non members go. So we go and talk with them and show them that we are actually normal people and they're super sweet and ITS SUCH A PARTY! Way better than door knocking  

Our friend Laurie is doing really good! We taught her the resto! I love being able to share 3 Nephi 11:14-15. It always bring the spirit in so strong. I can see it all starting to click in her mind! Please keep her in your prayers :)) 

Unfortunately that's all the time I have for today but I love you all! Study one of the names of Christ this week and tell me how it goes! Ilyilyily 

- Sister Anderson 

Tracting with all the sisters! We actually found someone that said she had been looking for a church! 

Tree and I

Me

Us with sis Auna at church hahah 

The First of Many Lasts

Welp, I never thought the day would come but.... it's the start of my last transfer! I moved to the Mays Pond ward in Mill Creek! My new companion is Sister Tree and she is from Livermore California! I was actually her STL when I was up in Seedro-woolley and then we both moved down here to Lynnwood so I was her STL again and now I'm her companion!! We like to joke about how it's just a 6 week exchange lol. We are having a party though! 

I was really nervous about not being an STL anymore and just about going home so I asked my mission President for a priesthood blessing I'm SO glad I did! I felt a lot of peace after and know that Mays Pond is where I'm supposed to be. I have gained a firm testimony of priesthood blessings on my mission. It's really God speaking to YOU. God knows you perfectly and sometimes He's just waiting to be able to tell you things. Highly recommend getting a blessing to know what God has in mind for YOU.

One of the things I was nervous about for not being STL anymore was having too much free time. However, God has filled our week! We actually have a lot more time for street contacting and tracting which is kinda crazy to me because we hardly ever had time for that! While tracting, we accidentally tracted into one of our members! He's less active but super awesome! We set up a time for a lesson and he gave us 2 referrals! One of the referrals was super nice and we plan on going back! 

We also have an amazing friend that we are teaching named Lauri. I just love her!!!! She's older and has had a really hard time lately but is super anxious to learn more! She came to church and we set up times to meet with her twice a week! Prayers for Lauri! Also throw in some prayers for her sweet dog Leena.

We also went knocking on some member doors that no one had heard of and 1 of them was a super sweet old lady named Anna! She lives with her nieces family (who aren't members ) and as soon as we walked in she said "I'm so glad you're here!" And gave us a big hug   so tender! She's pretty deaf though so we pretty much had to yell hahaha. 

The Mays Pond ward is by far the biggest ward I have served in and its been awesome! We split the ward with some elders so that's new but also fun! It's been a good time here at the pond  I love you all! 

Take time this week to learn more about Jesus! 

Love, 

Sister Anderson

KEIVAN & TRANSFER NEWS

 Who wants to hear something that's actually insane? 

Wednesday is the start of my last transfer..... EVER. I can't believe it honestly. I feel like that fact hasn't totally sunk in yet.  We got transfer news on Saturday and found out that I'm being transferred and I'm no longer a sister training leader. It's actually super sad because I've only been here in Harbour Pointe for a transfer so I feel like I didn't get to know everyone like I would like to. Also, I've been a sister training leader for almost 9 months! It's all I know! It's going to be a weird adjustment to go back to the grind with out the responsibilities of STL. But hey, it's only 6 more weeks. 

This week was pretty good though! 

On Tuesday we had a social media training. It's so weird to not be in charge of those anymore! It was a lot of fun! We did a nerf war at the end for an activity and I totally destroyed everyone 

Later that night we had a super awesome lesson with our friend Rich! We taught him the plan of Salvation. I love being able to teach that to people  don't ever take for granted the fact that we know why we are here, where we came from, and where we are going! 

The next day we had a combined district council! That just means all the districts in the Lynnwood stake meet together for district council and president and sister Auna come :) it was awesome! It's was Elder Chans birthday so we had balloons and cake and cookies and banners. 

The topic was all about our Devine identity. The district leaders all took turns instructing a portion and us and the zone leaders did as well. It ended up being super powerful! There's another thing to never take for granted, you are a son or daughter of heavenly parents who have a perfect plan for YOU. 

Thursday we had a little miracle! We had a lesson cancel so we decided to go visit some people. One was a green dot (friend/investigator) on area book that we had never met. So we stopped by his house and this dude was higher than a kite. He was super nice though!  his fiancé Kaitlyn was there and she was on the phone with one of her friends that's a member of our church! She interrupted us talking with her high fiancé and said "my friend [the friend that she was talking to on the phone] is a Mormon too and wants to go back to church but she doesn't want to go to the YSA ward." 

Oh! Perfect! After we got a little more information on where she lives it turned out she would be in our ward boundaries! We left her friend with our number and then Kaitlyn quickly walked away.... haha. Pretty interesting but also cool! 

Friday was MLC! Little did I know it would be my last :(((( it was after MLC that President Auna released me as a sister training leader. I felt a lot of peace after he told me so I know it's the right thing. He even told me I'll be staying in the Lynnwood zone and I'll be the senior companion with another awesome sister. I just don't know who the sister is or what area hahah. I'll find out on Wednesday! Which is also my last day driving .  In this mission you aren't allowed to drive your last 6 weeks in the field. Imma miss it! 

KEIVAN! Okay this part is for the REAL ONES who have been reading my emails since DAY ONE. Keivan is someone I met over Facebook! He is a Muslim and is from Seattle. I was teaching him online for months and he would teach me about Muslim beliefs. He would also ask super deep questions just to make us think but we always gave it back in return  lol. So anyways we stopped teaching him a while ago but he did promise me that he would go to church in person at least once before I go home. Guess what.... HE CAME TO CHURCH WITH ME! He was pretty late but he came! We even talked afterward and it was the same old Keivan with deep questions and a stubborn attitude but we still love him! It was awesome to finally get to meet him in person! 

Nearing the end of my mission has been the most stressful, sad, exciting, and weird thing ever. I'm gonna really try not to think about it and just grind  

However, I'm going to really miss teaching people :*( so.... if you have been having questions or you need some hope at this time, email me!! I'm only a missionary for a little while longer and I would love to help! You and your questions matter to Him. 

Anywayyyysss I love you all and so does Jesus  

Love,

Sister Anderson 

Combined District Council

Sister Eyre and her trainee aka my lineage!

My lineage and sister Harmons lineage!! 

Pretty skies in WA

KEIVAN