-- Buena Park, California

This week was so good! We got to go to BRITT'S BAPTISM!! It was the happiest day ever. Sister Langi and I got to be witnesses for her, and it was so special to see her take this next step towards Christ. I am so grateful I got to be a part of her story!! Plus it was super fun to be back in huntington beach and see a bunch of my favorite MSA members and missionaries I used to serve with:) There is so much JOY in helping people come closer to Christ! 

It's been raining pretty much non-stop here, so I've just gotten used to coming home completely drenched every night haha fun memories

We have been teaching this cute old lady named Ellen, whose grandson joined the church a few years ago, but hasn't been super active since. They both have so much faith, and a strong belief in God and the Bible that we can build off and add restored truth to. They are so sweet and I really enjoy teaching them. Her grandson Elijah joined the church because he had a friend who was strong in the church, and his family does all they can to just be Christlike and kind to him. You never know the impact that your example can have on someone, even if you're just in high school. The Light of Christ is contagious!

We also did so much service this week!! I looove doing service so getting to help people move, give out food to people in need, and even deep clean church bathrooms makes me so happy hahaha 

Quote of the week: "I would say have a great day, but have a great life" 

Sister Anderson :)

Pictures:

Britt's baptism!! YAY!

Service with my fav sisters 

Exchanges with Hermana Votaw!

Ellen & Elijah <3

The Cypress Zoneeee 

Change is hard, but good!! - Buena Park, California

The past couple weeks have been WILD 

As a zone, we got a little nativity set from our mission and then picked a family in our stake who is going through a really hard time and delivered the pieces to them leading up to Christmas. We each got a piece and a day to drop it off anonymously, and then we went and caroled to them all together on Christmas Eve! It was such a special way to serve them:)

Christmas was bittersweet. We got transfer news (on Christmas Eve, of all days) and found out that both Sister Langi and I had to leave the area:((( It was pretty much the last thing we were expecting- we were so shocked. I genuinely love the MSA ward and Sister Langi so much and so many good things were happening in our area. We stopped by our friend Britt on Christmas morning and brought her and her son a little present. They came to church (yay!) but we had to tell them we were leaving and say goodbye (). It's one of those things that you always hear about, but until you experience leaving people behind like that yourself, you don't really understand just how hard it is. They're in good hands with the new sisters, it was just heartbreaking to have to leave all our awesome friends and members behind :( 

I'm now in the Cypress Zone in Buena Park (I live right down the street from Knott's Berry Farm ) with Sister Jones, who is also from Arizona! We're on bike, but this time with real bikes and not beach cruisers with baby seats haha. Biking has been kinda hard for me so far. My first night, it was pouring and we got soaked all the way through. Plus I had been up all night packing and cleaning and was already so exhausted. It was a challenge, but we made it work and it's already getting better. With the Lord all things are possible! We are sharing a ward with a companionship of elders, which has been so fun because we go to dinner appointments and stuff together all the time!

This week I've been studying in 1 Nephi, specifically about what Nephi and Lehi did to receive revelation. Some things I loved are that they 1. Asked questions and received answers 2. Acted on the revelation they received and then received more, and 3. Trusted in the Lord when they couldn't see the whole picture. I loved seeing these principles in action in their story and thinking about how I can be more like them!

Happy new year!! Love you all

 Sister Anderson 

Pictures!!

- this cute pedestrian sign we drove past all the time 

- saying bye to the best ward members:(

- accidental Christmas colors!

- HB zone on Christmas 

Milagros!! - Huntington Beach, California

So most of our lessons actually fell through this week, and a lot of our friends are being fake and not getting back to us. BUT as always, we still saw some miracles. 

This week we had exchanges, so I got to lead the area and work with Hermana Amèzquita for the day (SO hype). We had a lesson with our friend Britt and her son Noah. We taught her the restoration and then PUT HER ON DATE FOR BAPTISM!!!! I can't describe the joy that is felt in moments like that as a missionary. It's just so happy watching people commit to doing something that brings you personally so much joy, and you know it will bless them. We are also planning on extending a baptismal date to our friend Jessica this week. We've been working with her for a while and we finally feel like she's ready! She has come so far and is basically already there, she just has a hard time committing, so everyone please pray for her! 

We have been sharing special Christmas messages with a ton of people, and most of the time, we share this video that depicts the birth of Christ. I've seen it so many times but I still love it so much. And a new part stands out to me every time, so I feel like I've come to know this story on a way deeper level because of it. If you haven't seen this video, or if you have, take 18 minutes out of your day to watch it. I promise you will feel the Spirit:) AND for bonus points, you can share it/watch it with a friend!

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2019-09-0050-the-christ-child?lang=eng&alang=eng

Being a missionary during Christmas is the coolest thing ever. Hearts are softened and opened to us that normally wouldn't be and its so amazing to see the Lord's hand orchestrating everything <3 

Also, here is my address for letters. I know missionaries addresses usually change all the time, but our mail here gets sent to the mission office first, so it will always be the same! 

2500 N Bristol St Santa Ana, CA 92706 

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Sister Anderson 

Holiday Miracles - Huntington Beach, California

 The past couple weeks have been so great! We have had this Christmas festival called the Crèche going on at our church building all weekend and its been a lot of fun to help out with that!

I've been called as my zone's family history rep, which is ironic because I had no idea how to do family history two weeks ago. BUT my testimony of it and love for it have grown so much as I've learned how to do different things and learned more about my family! It's truly an incredible tool and we're so lucky to have it. I encourage you all to go look at your family tree and see if you can learn something new about your ancestors! (I promise you'll find something interesting in 3 minutes, it's that easy) 

We got to go to the LA temple to see the Christmas lights with our ward! It is such a huge and beautiful temple I can't wait to go inside someday! 

Story time!

So on Thanksgiving, we were supposed to go to this members house to eat. We talked to him at church, he said there would be a ton of people there, and he told us to come at 2 pm. So we show up at 2 pm, and he lets us in! Then he starts asking us if we have a place to eat and invites us to eat with him and his two family members that were home. We thought he was kidding. We started teaching his inactive son and 45 minutes later when the dinner was ready, we finally realized that we were at the wrong house 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ we mixed up these two old geezers in our bishopric and I still can't get over how embarrassing it was hahahah. They were both so nice about it but it was pretty unfortunate and funny

We had a sisters devotional this week and someone mentioned looking for little "love notes from God" every day to see how much He is aware of you. I love that idea! If you ever need a reminder of how much God loves you, just look for those little moments everyday, they're there I promise :) 

No time this week but lots of fun pictures! Have a great week everyone! 

❤️Sister Anderson 

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!!!