Free pants from a JW - Norwalk, California

The last couple weeks have been great!! We have transfers on a Friday now instead of Tuesdays, so that's been throwing us off, but I have a new companion! Sister Dalton got moved to the mandarin branch, so I stayed in Norwalk, and Sister Cook came in. She is the best. We'd served together in Cypress so we already knew each other, but being her comp is so much fun! And we have lots of work to do in this area, so we are feeling super blessed! 

One of the people we're teaching is named Josh! He's probably my favorite person to teach. He just accepts everything we teach him so readily, and is so willing and prepared to learn everything we have to teach him and do what we ask him to do. His wife is not super open to our religion though, so that's kind of stopping him from being all in. So please pray for him!! 

We're teaching a bunch of people rn who are in super different places in life, but it's been so amazing to see that the common ground between all of them is Christ. Every single one of them just genuinely wants to be a better person, or have a stronger relationship with God, or be happier in life, and Jesus Christ is the way to achieve all of those things. As Ryan K. Olsen said in general conference last year: "no matter how difficult or confusing the challenges may be, you can always remember that the answer is simple: it is always Jesus." I've had many opportunities to testify of the Savior recently, and it brings me so much joy!! I love to see how He can succor and change people, through us, the humble instruments in His hands:,) 

We have a lot going on with the family history work too! We're making this giant guidebook for the mission so that everyone will know how to use familysearch and be able to teach other people how to do it. It's a cool project to be working on and I hope it will help a lot of people! 

We have a new mission president as of this morning  President and Sister Galotera and their three kids flew in this morning, and we will get to meet them tomorrow morning!! I get the blessing of having three different mission presidents, and I know that each of them were called to be MY mission president for a reason. I have loved getting to serve with the Platts and I will forever be grateful for their high love + high expectations. I love President and Sister Platt so much and I'm grateful for all they taught me:) 

I love you all, I love the Lord, I love this work. If you want to pray for our friends, that would be much appreciated. Keep in your prayers: Emily, Jason, Josh, Jaylen, Lopez family, Jonathan, Cheryl, Kenric and Patricia <3

 Sister Anderson 

Pictures:

We play Secret Hitler almost every pday in this
zone hahaha it's so fun, really feel the Spirit 

The ladies in our ward have a sewing night
every week and teach us how to crochet:)

Sister Dalton

Morning sports with Cypritos! 

More Mobat/Anaheim sisters!!! 

Last hug from the Platts:,( 

Cool pants we got from a Jehova's Witness garage sale 
We ended up referring my man Fabian in the end lol

Family history MIRACLES! - Long Beach? Norwalk?, California

Hey everyone, the last few weeks have been incredible! We are finding so many people to teach, and the Lord is entrusting us with people who are so prepared! It's amazing!

One of the miracles we saw yesterday was this lady named Anne! She was talking to my companion on social media about her family history- she's adopted and wants to find out more about her birth parents. Yesterday, we went over and talked to her, got some more information from her, then went to work to find her records of her parents! We ended up finding both her birth parents, grandparents, and so many of her full siblings!! It was so exciting, because she didn't know hardly anything about these people before, but we were able to connect her to her family, which meant so much to her!! 

 

We are also working on 'Family History for Dummies: for Missionaries' lol which is a comprehensive guide of how to use the family search app, so that all our missionaries can feel comfortable doing their own family history, and be prepared to help other people, just like we helped Anne! It's a lot of work, but it's a good project to work on in our free time:)

This was my favorite miracle of the week: so for some backstory, in my last transfer at the mobat, President Top challenged us to mark up a Book of Mormon with our favorite scriptures about Christ, write our testimony in it, and then give it to someone really special we meet before we left the site. Well, I marked it up and everything, but never ended up giving it to anyone before I left San Diego. I was kind of discouraged about it, but I was determined to still find someone to give it to. It was sitting in my suitcase for a while, but I had a prompting to pull it out and leave it in our car for when I needed it. Yesterday, we went to a members house that we go to every week, and they have an 11 year old niece who is staying with them who really wants to get baptized and learn more about Jesus. We started teaching her, and even though she lives in Vegas and won't be able to get baptized here, we are going to start teaching her every week. We went to our car to get a Book of Mormon for her, and I had my special copy to give her!! I was so happy I finally have someone to give it to, and I really hope my markings are meaningful to her, and that she finds her own verses that will have meaning to her too. We talk a lot about how people are prepared to hear and receive the gospel, and I think Heavenly Father prepared that special copy of the Book of Mormon just for Emily. It just makes my heart so happy!! I love being a part of this work

We have seen lots of miracles, and we know there are many more to come!! One of the biggest things I've learned this transfer is how to really receive revelation for my area. It really is the Lord's work, and it's sooo much better when you do it His way:) 

Anyway, I love it here in California! It's actually been super overcast and chilly for the past couple months, so it doesn't really feel like summer yet haha. But its okay, I love sweater weather. I love being a missionary, and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!! Have a fantastic week everyone:))

 Sister Anderson

Went to a baptism in the mandarin branch and
my comp translated. She's so cool 

Zone sports + service is my fav!

Gluten free + vegan cookies

JACARANDAS (still can't figure out the correct
way to pronounce it, but I love these purple
trees so much. They bring my joy)

Family History ROCKS! - Cypress, California

Probably the biggest thing that happened these last two weeks is that we got a car again!! I was called as the family history team lead for the mission, which means we get to train missionaries and volunteer at a family history center far far away on Judea's plains. So they gave us a car! So far this calling has been a little stressful, it's just a lot to juggle on top of doing regular missionary work, but it's really exciting and I know I was chosen for it for a reason.

One of our goals for this transfer is to help our missionaries work together with members to share family history with people. Family history is such a great missionary tool, and it's something that everyone can talk about. So, I have challenge for you all:

For members: pray for an opportunity to share the family search app with someone you know, someone you meet, whoever you feel prompted to!

For missionaries: roleplay with your members how they can talk about it, so they can effectively share it!

I'm really excited to see how this improves our finding, and love for family history in this mission as we do this with our members!! My testimony of family history definitely has grown in the last few months. I can confidently say I had no idea what I was doing or why it was important before my mission, but now I love it and it's clear to me that the Lord has given us this tool to utilize at this time for many reasons. 

On that note, we had such a tender mercy miracle this week! We're working with a less active recent convert named Elijah, and preparing him to go to the temple for the first time to do baptisms next week! So, we brought him into the family history center to start his family tree. With limited knowledge of really any of his family members, we were able to do some work and within 45 minutes, we had four of his relatives ready to baptize, and had requested a few more. It was clear that the Spirit was touching him and he shared with us that most of his family members are unsupportive of him being a member, but he feels like he's been placed in this difficult situation so he could bless his family members in this life, and help them receive these ordinances in the next. He has grown sooo much in the last couple months we've been here and it's been truly incredible to see how the gospel has changed him :,) Yay for temples/family history work!! 

That's all I have time for today, but I love you all and lmk if you ever need anything! 

Sister Anderson 

The night we got our car

Valentines cookies from Suekay:)

Mini golfingggg

Sis Harrington, who we helped move and had to

say bye to :,( we've really grown to love her 

Barbara Bell, who is the sweetest little lady you'll ever meet 

Lunch with the Mortensens!!!