I am so grateful for the spirit's help every day of my life

 Elder Jake and his new Mandarin companion, Elder Hancey

Jake said they get along great!

Winter is here! Well it is pretty cold. It snowed yesterday. That was about as depressing as it could have been. At least that means Christmas is coming! I can't wait for that!

The work is going well. Apparently this is the busiest Mandarin area so that's kinda cool. We are meeting with some sweet people. I had real Chinese food the other night for the first time. I have no clue what it was but it tasted great. And my hand felt like a pretzel after from using chopsticks haha! Those things hurt! One of our investigators, Lulu, fed us after we helped do some yard work for her. She is super nice and her little boy is super hyper and hilarious. I can't understand a word he says but he is super funny. We are basically best of buds.

We are also teaching two twins in college, Daniel and Justin. Their English is pretty good, but the lessons are in Mandarin so they understand them better. They are super cool. They live in a member's basement and that is how they were introduced to the church. The members called the missionaries for translating haha! Pretty cool.

We also are teaching this lady Jane. She comes to our ESL classes (English as a Second Language). She became interested in the church and we are now teaching her. She is super sweet. Her husband speaks really good English. He is really cool. We are also working with Joanne and Jimmy. They are husband and wife. They are super cool. She wanted the family to be united in a religion so she invited the missionaries over. The dad is really interested and she really likes what this church teaches.

We are also teaching a man Brother Wang (pronounced Wong). He is an eternal investigator haha. He smokes and doesn't really have any desire to quit, but he likes us coming over to teach him and he has a ping pong table downstairs that he lets us play on after the lesson for a few minutes haha.

Yeah so the teaching is going really good. Although there is an obvious language barrier, I am amazed at the opportunities I still get to help out in the lessons. For example, we were teaching Lulu. She speaks pretty basic English. She was struggling with tithing. She didn't understand why we had to pay it and why God wouldn't just bless us regardless of whether we pay it or not. I was able to share your experience with tithing, Mom. About when you were struggling and went to pay your tithing and when you put the check in the mail, there was a check for you in the mail from one of dad's cases that was supposed to come a while ago. I think that's how it went. I told her that the Lord helps us provide for our families when we help provide for his church. Right then she understood completely and it was no longer a question of why we have to pay tithing. It was awesome so see how well the spirit was able to help her understand what I was saying and the importance of this principle.

It is amazing the things that the spirit is able to do. I am so grateful for the spirit's help every day of my life. It is such a blessing in our lives to be able to have that direct connection to our Heavenly Father through the spirit. I hope that we are all doing our best to remain worthy of the wonderful blessings the spirit has to offer. For without the spirit, we are lost. I know this is true.

I hope you are doing well back home. I pray for you all every night! I am grateful for your prayers for I feel them all!

Take care! Love you!!

Elder Anderson

Elder Jake and the Leavitt Family from Lethbridge

Jake said they are "sick" which in Jake language means awesome!

I know there is a lot for me to learn here and that I am here for a reason

我是安长老
Translation: I am Elder Anderson!

I can even say it! I am serving in a zebra companionship. that means my companion is a Mandarin speaking elder. We cover two stakes, the South and Foothills. That means that High River is in our area too! I'm stoked to stop by and visit sometime. 

It is crazy going from Lethbridge to Calgary. It's a lot bigger and busier here. There are nine Mandarin speaking Elders in the mission and they are all in Calgary. North/Airdry, South/Foothills, East, West, and Downtown. I make the tenth Mandarin. It is almost like being part of a separate mission. It is cool.

They get together for meetings and what not. They kind of run their own show. It's as if we are our own zone. They are sweet too. They accepted me as one of their own. I had to do an initiation first. Just eat a Thai pepper that was super hot but after that, I was Mandarin! I even get to have my own Mandarin name tag! I'm stoked for that.

There is a good amount of work going on here. The Chinese people are so cool. They are super nice and humble. I don't help a lot during lessons, but occasionally I get to share a story or testimony here and there if they speak a little English. We are teaching this lady Lulu. She is sweet. Super nice. She is really interested and is doing great. I got to help teach her a little about tithing. It was awesome. It is sweet sitting back and listening to them speak Mandarin. It's a totally different experience. I love it!

Although I really miss this Lethbridge and Roma, I really like this area and am happy to be here. I'm super glad I get to serve with the Mandarin missionaries and see the mission life from this perspective. I know there is a lot for me to learn here and that I am here for a reason. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in this area. I can already tell it's going to be great. Other than that not much else is new. I hope all is well back home.

I love you all! 下周见 (See you next week)

爱,

长老安

( Love, Elder Anderson)

Goodbye Lethbridge

Well this is the moment I have been dreading. I love Lethbridge. I love this area but I had to leave at some point. It will be sad saying goodbye to everyone here. I love the members and the ward. I feel like this is my own ward now. I am going north. Probably Calgary. I will find out Thursday. Looks like I will be in the big city for the winter. Which also means Christmas. 

Anyway, I am grateful for the opportunity I was given to serve here. I hope I will be able to return here again and be close. I have learned so much in this area. I have spent 7 months here. There hasn't been a baptism for a while in this area. Some people are really close, but I won't be here to see them make the commitment. 

I hope I can leave like Abanadi. He didn't see any fruits of his labors but because of him thousands upon thousands were baptized. I hope that even though I wasn't able to get anyone baptized here, there will be people who will get baptized when I leave. I hope the efforts I put in here were not in vain. I hope that I have done something. I don't expect to be quite as accomplished as Abanadi though haha. 

As much as I will miss this area, I am excited to see what's to come in my new area. I'm ready for the new challenges and trials that I will inevitably face. And I am definitely ready for the good times. I have had some pretty sweet companions so far so I am due for a dork. That has me nervous haha. It will be good either way. 

The Lord kinda knows what he is doing haha. I'm sure things are exactly the way he wants them to be. And to know that I am in his hands brings me all the comfort I need. I hope you all know that the Lord looks after each and every one of you personally. He knows your situation and knows exactly what you need. All he asks us to do is ask him for help. The task ahead of you is never as great as the power behind you. And that is a promise. 

Take care until next time. 

Elder Anderson

Elder Jake is amused by a tired missionary who is sleeping during General Conference.

Missionaries work hard, so no judgement here.  : )