Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Past Three Weeks!

Dec 7

Hola friends...the song this week is another veggie tales one because sister harrison made me sing it to her a million times and it is...the yodeling veternarian of the alps. haha i love it..first off..it's pouring rain right now...i used my umbrella this morning..it's crazy!!so this week was pretty good. we've decided the ants in cali are a sign of the times..instead of pestilence..it's ants! tons of people in the ward have complained about the ants in their homes and how they can't get rid of them and how the ant traps don't work  and it's the same thing in our apartment! ah it's so bad!!! this week is transferrs and three of us in the apartment and poor sister morgan has to stay and deal with them some more! so yes..this week is transferred. we are getting two new sisters and we pretty much knew for sure that sis harrison would be training and leaving the area because she's been here for so long so she would be training and whitewashing an area but we figured that iw ould probably stay in the area and someone would join me here WRONG! we were both pretty shocked when e. bell said we were both leaving! that means they are whitewashing our area and most likely with elders. everyone in the ward was pretty bummed. sister harrison was really sad because she's been in this area the whole time they have had sisters. apparently the area was kind of a mess before she got here 7.5 months ago because of a previous elder and now that the area is doing better they are taking the sisters out:(  i obviously don't know if that for sure is the reason but it seems pretty logical. the biggest reason i was so sad is because we had a lesson with one of our investigators this week, tia.. her husband is an active member as of recent, probably the past 8 months or so. and she goes to church every week with him and their two kids and she has been taking the lessons for a while and she reads and prays and has a testimony of Christ..she has a testimony of it ALL but just had not realized it yet...so anyway..our zone leader suggested that we get president sears(the stake pres.) to come to the lesson with us. we did and it was the BEST lesson i've been in yet. I love seeing leaders of the church in action. it was such a testimony of his office and the fact that he was supposed to be the stake president haha! we sat down and he started asking them some questions just to get to know them and then he starts telling tia about his conversion story...we had not told him that tia LOVES to hear other people's conversion stories...we then talked for maybe ten minutes about prayer and fasting...the rest we all him just sharing stories about his conversion and his testimony...the spirit was so incredibly strong and he said to her...what an amazing gift to give Christ to celebrate His birthday, being baptized...she was sobbing at this point and so was pres. sears and tia's husband AND sis harrison...i was feeling the same spirit they were but i was just so HAPPY that it was all happening, i had to contain my smile..she then through tears and tears said..what a small gift to give Him after everything He's done for me.  she didn't end up technically commiting...she already has a goal date in january but i'm pretty sure she will move that date closer to christmas..before the new year...it was amazing.  Heavenly Father answers prayers. He answered our prayers as missionaries, He answered Tia's prayers to know what to do, and i'm sure he answered her husband's prayers..It's so amazing to be able to see those sort of miracles...it makes everything worth it...to see someone, just one person accept the truthfulness of the gospel makes all rejection worth it. did you all get to see the devotional yesterday? we missed it but we saw the last 10 minutes or so of Pres Monson's talk...the spirit was there in those last ten mintues so i can only imagine what the whole thing was like! well...i think that's all for this week..the ants really do go marching to get out of the rain, believe it! I hope you're all doing well and i hope this week is great. wish me luck on my first transfer and loss of my training wheels...i know it will all work out and i will love my new area! i love you all!!! love molly



Nov.30


song of the week - scatter sunshine all along the way - cheer and bless and brighten every passing day!! i'm glad to hear thanksgiving went well! it sounds like lots of fun...i'm jealous you all got to go to the temple together - way fun! that's so cool about the singing road - i think i've heard of that on a honda commercial or soemthing liek that haha that's sweet. well...  this week was not too shabby. monday night we went on exchanges - i went up to the desert which was cold cold cold..it's getting pretty chilly down here too but there are some random warm days...like today haha. so that was fun - i learned a lot from sister steele and i came to appreciate more my area and amazing companion:) i really did enjoy it though. thursday of course was thanksgiving... and it was lots of fun - in the morning we made some yummy things like cheese cake and cookies to take to people and then we went to dinner. one of our investigators joaquin came with us because he lives alone and is a little on the depressed side sometimes so we made him come with us..it was great we did the dishes afterward for the family that we were with and it took us like two hours!! after that we went and visited another family in the ward for about half an hour and then we had to come home cuz our roommate needed some help. after that me and sister morgan (the other sister who knows asl) went to the church and watched some book of mormon stories in asl while our companions practiced the piano! it was lots of fun...exhausting though!! we're not sure how legit this investigator in wrightwood is but we're practicing so we can be ready if he is for sure interested....it's slowgoing and i feel like i can't remember anything!! the same frustrations i had in highschool are coming back to me now...oye.  friday was just a long day of weekly planning...honestly it took us forever!! we have two hours set aside in the am each friday for weekly planning..we started about ten minutes late and then spent the next half hour cleaning all the ANTS off my BED!! when we finally got rid of them all our dear zone leaders called us and wanted to talk about stake correlation..so that took another half hour! so with walking back and forth from our apartment to outside to talk to the zone leaders and then back and forth again - we had about 20 minutes to plan! so we had to eat lunch and get ready for our next appt after lunch then after our appointment we went to a nearby park and spent the next 2 hours that we were supposed to be visiting potential investigators, planning sheesh! then our dinner cancelled so we went and ate dinner and then just visited someone...it felt like we didn't get anything accomplished but at the same time our planning was very efficient and will help us have a very productive week! so anyway saturday was all tracting and visiting investigators and such. we helped one of our investigators move in teh morning though so it was really just the afternoon. then later more asl! sunday was great as always - i love sundays. there's an investigator of our district leaders that has come to our ward just out of confusion last week and this week and i'm so jealous of those stinkin elders who get to teach him. he's like the old school southern baptist type and every comment he makes starts with praise the lord! or hellelujah brother amen!! but he's so smart and sincere and he is always saying    i'm in it to win it! i wanna learn about joseph smith and brigham young and be baptized!! haha i guess the elders were sick this week when they were supposed to get with him so he said..i need to get with those elders so they can tell me what i need to do to be baptized!!ah he's so awesome and he quotes these amazing bible stories liek no ones business! he's cool.  so this week we will get transfer calls.....and there's a 99.99 percent chance sister harrison will be transferred:( i'm losing my yoda and i'm so sad!! i don't know what i'm going to do without her - i'm fairly concerned. there's a pretty good chance that i will stay so it will happen that i know whats up with the ward and area but i'm not the senior companion...i relaly don't know what i'm going to do...it's probably for my benefit though - i'm constantly asking sister harrison..how do you do that or what do i do for this...i guess i've relied on her too much and so she's being taken away  :(.  and now i'm going to have to go to dinner for christmas at the percy's house without her...he's the guy i told you about that reminds me of dad but is outrageously intimidating!  i'm super nervous about that especially. well that's about it...this week was pretty lam-eh if you know what i mean...i think the most exciting thing that happened was our tracting yesterday - we found a pretty amazing street with a lot of really receptive people on it. we feel very blessed. soo....wish me luck this week that i can glean all the necessary info from my yoda friend as possible!!  i hope you all have a great week - this gospel is true and we don't realize how blessed we are to have it ...share it! and if you can't do that - do all you can to help the missionaries share it!! go to lessons with them - invite their investigators into your home.....when you pray earnestly to have a missionary like attitude Heavenly Father will bless you and the missionaries will LOVE you....and lets be honest - who doesn't love being friends with the missionaries!!!! alright dear ones - i love you all and hope you're doing well...don't forget me i still need your love!:):) Love, Molly....sister anderson



Nov 23.



song of the week..........the cheesburger song by mr. lunt(veggietales...look it up it's good, especially the part about wiping the cheese off haha)
well well well...this...was an interesting week. we had a few amazing moments so i'll tell you about that - and i would prefer to just forget the rest of the week haha .  so ! thursday we had "mission tour" which is basically one of the general authorities (elder kenneth johnson, in this case) comes and like reviews all the aspects of the mission and helps us understand what we can do better. so that was pretty much amazing, elder and sister johnson are from england or wales or something liek that so they have this cool accent and elder johnson is probably one of the funniest men ever. and it was just so stinking helpful. i feel really blessed to be able to experience this at the beginning of my mission, i can see the vast amounts of improvement that i can make but i'm glad to have had that chance to be directed as to what to improve! if that made any sense. so that was just so so good and i got to see one of my elder friends from my mtc district which was so great..it was like seeing a family member after not seeing them for a really long time. then after the mission tour i have to tell you a little story that will make sense later on . at lunch after our big meeting, me and s. morgan (one of my roommates) were talking about asl. she knows it apparently and i was telling her how i feel really guilty because i've buried my talent and now i don't know it as well as i used to by far. ok so remember that for a little bit. later that night the relief society was having their "relief society activity" formally known as enrichment night. and we were so luckily - our investigator liz was able to come. it was all about "believing" and there were a few women from the ward that shared their conversion stories and the spirit was so strong and we were so stinking grateful that she was able to come - she was able to recognize the spirit and she mentioned that when all the women got a little teary eyed while talking she said "that's the spirit right? now i know why i felt that way last week" because last week she was getting a little choked up at our lesson. so we were just tickled pink about that and she was really hitting it off with this one member and anyway...we're really excited about her and that whole day...whilst watching a little video after the testimonies our AP's call...sister harrison went out into the hall to answer it and then came back in and said it was for me....weird.....so i get on the phone and it's elder krebbs and elder krebbs says...so...sister anderson........i got a phone call.........at this point my heart dropped i'm thinking is someone sick did someone die what's going on!!! then i realized if that were the case i wouldn't be talking to an AP i'd be talking to the P haha anywho so to continue on he says....from somone in the mission up in the mountains area they have an investigator who only signs, and i remember from your info sheet that you know asl, would you feel confident enough to share the gospel in it? AH i was so shocked i coudln't believe he asked me that...so i saidwell i would need a lot of practice and like an asl dictionary or something but i can't say no i won't try...so then he says...this is the worst part!!! "it will give you a chance to use your talent" !!!! I couldn't believe the words actually came out of his mouth...God works in mysterious ways....i was just awed at this point haha i told him about the afformentioned conversation and he just laughed and said oooh i got ya..you have to do it now haha. soooo i'm trying to figure out how to sign the gospel haha. luckily there's a women in our ward who knows it and is going to share some literature with me...keep me in your prayers...hopefully this counts as like "gift of hands" or something like that haha.  so that was a crazy night. way way way way awesome and it seems that everytime we do anything with liz i just come out feeling on top of the world. she alone would make this 18 months worth it i think. i'm so very blessed. so the next night...friday... we went to dinner at this members home. she's from columbia and anyway she gave us these huge plates full of food and i unthinkingly ate it all then she gives us this HUGE piece of strawberry flan...yuck... i only had like two or three bites and then we were about to leaveand she said why did you not finish?? i was like what? you dont' ask people that! so i just said i'm so so full! which i was but if it had not been flan i could have finished. so anyway - we had to leave and then come back...long story...so we came back and we didn't end up being able to do what we had planned so she made us some hot chocolate, with toast...totally fine right...WRONG! she's done making the hot chocolate which sounds like it is oging to be really good and then she gets out....this block of mozerella cheese...and cuts it up....and then...puts in IN THE GLASSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i couldn't believe it !!! i didn't know what to do! she said this is how they have it in columbia and oh it's so good you'll love it on and on and on . sister harrison said as soon as she saw that cheese she thought oh no sister anderson hates cheese! haha let alone that it's IN HOT CHOCOLATE!! hello who does that!!! oh my heavens it  was so horrifying. i  did the best i could - the cheese got liek really soft and she was showing us that you scoop it out with the spoon and eat it and it tastes like chocolate so i like scooped it out and couldn't eat it i just put it in my mouth and swallowed...it was so terrible.  the chocolate was really really good i loved it but the cheese. oh dear...  i was sick to my stomach all day friday and for most of the day on sundaysaturday night it was the worst though the members we ate with took us to this mexican restuarant and i got a bean and cheese burrito and only ate like 10 tiny little bites...my intestines were so sad:(  i felt so bad for putting them through such torture.  i have a renewed determination for not feeling bad when denying food that i don't want to eat.  oh boy...it was so so bad. i'm feeling totally fine now thank heavens but i thought i would probably die on friday - i had to take a short nap it was so bad. so anywho...this week we're going on exchanges - i'm going up to the desert...last week we had to go up to the desert for choir practice and all was well until i looked out my window and see a road sign that says what?...you guessed it ..PALMDALE...i wanted to cry...or turn around haha soemthing liek that. it was crazy...i don't think i told you about the first members home that i went to for dinner, i was telling the dad about how my parents lived in cali and what not the whole shpeel and he said "so it took God to tell you to come to so cal" haha i was like yeah i never thought of it that way but i guess you're right haha anyway. so i'm out in the desert to wander. wish me luck, i'm fairly nervous. so anyway there are the long and lengthy highlights of the two days this week. i hope all is doing well - i'm glad you both are enjoying work more - i felt the same way when i started at legacy house - i would leave for work and be really nervous and my heart would be pounding and i would get there and be just fine haha, it's no fun!  anyway - i love you so much and i hope your thanksgiving full of people is fun fun fun - good luck with the cupboards dad! I love you all have a great week!! Love - molly

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