Disney for my 20th 🥳🥳 - Huntington Beach, California

No way I'd rather spend my 20th birthday!! It's so bizarre to me that I turn 20 today and that I hit 7 months as a missionary this week. Mind: blown. 

The past couple weeks have been so good! It's definitely very different from my last mission, and I find myself getting exhausted pretty frequently hahaha BUT it's such a fulfilling work so it's worth it! We have the coolest ward ever. Everyone is so stoked to have us and we've been focusing a lot on visiting members and inviting them to share the gospel in normal and natural ways! We even gave talks in church last week about missionary work  I'm excited to see some miracles from everyone's hard work and faith! We have had so many activities this week, all with insane amounts of food lol. Our fridge is stocked full of leftovers, because they literally just give us all the food at the end of all the events they have. They definitely take care of us

We finally have a friend!! We're teaching Jessica, which has been so awesome. She has already been coming to church in both the MSA and family wards, and all the members just adore her. She reads the book of mormon in between all the other studying she has right now, and she's so interested in learning more. I'm so excited to be teaching her!! 

This mission is very focused right now on miracles, so we share the miracles we see with each other and our ward leaders, which is super awesome. Prayers for Sister Langi and I to see some miracles in our area would be appreciated! #faithpreceedsmiracles

We met one of our neighbors, this super sweet old lady named Edna, last week and decided to make her cookies. So we brought them to her and she invited us in and told us her whole life story and gave us a bunch of things she's getting rid of. She's the sweetest person - we invited her to church with us so I hope she comes sometime 

Our ward doesn't have any kids, but another ward came and did their primary program for us which was awesome!! I love primary programs it was a nice treat 

Anyway that's about it, I hope you all have a fabulous week and thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!! 

Sister Anderson 

Newport Beach temple! 

Newport Beach temple! 

Newport Beach temple! 

7 months down, 11 months to go ;)

Downtown disney!!!

First week in the California Anaheim Mission!! - Huntington Beach, California

My first week has not been what I expected haha but it's been so good! The adjustment into a proselyting field hasn't really been that hard. It's definitely different, in a lot of different ways than I thought, but it's not bad at all. The mission and the missionaries here are so awesome and there's just such a good environment of love and encouragement. It's so good! My trainer is Sister Langi, who's polynesian and from Hawaii! She's so cool I love her 

I'm in an MSA ward! (Middle-aged single adults) Yes, it is really as fun as it sounds. Haha no it actually is such a good ward. Our first Sunday in the ward they had a break the fast/linger longer, which was not just a light lunch - it was an all you can eat gourmet buffet. I kid you not there's an entire committee for the lunches they do. We came to help in the morning and we got here around 10am for 1 pm church, just to help food prep hahahaha. It was so fire though. We're gonna get fed WELL in this ward for sure. Plus it was a great way to socialize and get to know the ward better! We're whitewashing the area, which means that both my companion and I are brand new to the area. So this week has been a lot of calling members and other people in our area book just to get to know what we're working with a little better. We have some awesomeee ward and stake leaders that I'm so excited to work with! We aren't teaching any friends right now, but we have a literal golden referral that's being taught by some other missionaries that they're passing off to us this week!! We're so excited to meet her she sounds so cool  

My companion doesn't drive, so we finally got me set up with the tiwi system and got our car today, but we've been on bike and bus and foot all week :/ idk how people do that their entire missions it seriously takes so much time to travel haha. We'll be able to do 5x more work now I'm so excited. I sent a picture of our bikes because they're just so funny. They're beach cruisers that our bishop lent to us, and they've got an extra seat for someone on the back! Just lmk if you ever want a ride around Huntington beach I got you

I think that's everything I have to say about this week! I have a super awesome zone and I'm so excited to get to know them all better! Love you all :)

P.S. my mailing address is now: 

2500 N Bristol St 

Santa Ana CA 92706

Sister Anderson

The best STLs! 

Del taco drive thru after a long day of biking haha 

Break the fast 

Huntington Beach Zone 

My mobat/Anaheim bestie 

Facebook Good-bye post - Mormon Battalion Historic Site

Well, my time at the Mormon Battalion Historic Site has officially come to an end. I don't think I ever expected to feel such a strong connection with this place, this story, or these people, but it truly has become so special to my heart. I have loved serving on this sacred ground every day for the last six months and I will forever look back on it with fondness. This is a place where I have learned so much about myself, about the Savior's infinite grace and goodness, and about how He views and values each person that I got to meet there (and all of His children!) The Battalion's story of service, sacrifice, and faith in Jesus Christ has inspired me to strengthen those qualities in myself and has made me a better missionary and disciple of Christ. Their story truly is so inspiring to me. As I continue my mission in Anaheim starting this week, I will take with me what I learned and I know the love of the amazing people I served with and the "Mormon Battlion in the sky" will carry me. I'm so grateful for my time here and everything that it's taught me. I'm grateful for the Lord's hand in my service here. I love my Savior. I'm so infinitely grateful for His Atoning Sacrifice that makes second chances and eternal glory possible. I know He lives. I love living this gospel. It brings me so much JOY! God is so good:)

If you're ever in San Diego, stop by and say hi for me;) I promise you'll fall in love with it too!