Missionary work is about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

 Hi everyone! How have you been? 

We have been really busy this past week. The service has picked up. We have been helping a lot of people move and clean their houses. It is crazy to see how people are still not even fully recovered from the flood. Some people are still trying to put insulation in their basements because they haven't been able to do that yet. 

We are working for a group called Habitat for Humanity. We volunteer there once a week. We go to a job site (someone's house) and work with a guy named Bill. He is awesome. He is from England and has a super strong accent. We have done laminate flooring, framing walls in basements and insulating walls in basements so far. He will teach us how to do it and then let us go off on our own and just supervise and help when we need it. It is so fun. 

Our area covers High River, a little village called Caylie (that is where me and Elder Stewart live, about 15 minutes south of town) and a small town called Nanton (another 10 minutes south of Caylie). We have been going out to Nanton lately and putting up our fliers offering free service. We have already done a few jobs out there. Nanton has more antique shops than I have ever seen in my life. The town is so small you could walk through it in two minutes but it manages to have an insane amount of antique shops. There is even a restaurant that has antiques on the wall that you can buy. At a restaurant! They have a problem. 

They also have a candy store there. They have an insane amount of candy. I found out that they call M&M's smarties here. There are always boxes of smarties at the check out lines in stores and I wondered why Canadians like them so much. I found out they are M&M's. Weird. 

Well not much new has been going on. The weather has been a few degrees positive lately so that has been awesome. When it's like this all we need is jeans and a sweater. I remember mornings like that at work (Jake is talking about when he worked at the local golf course back home and would go in at 4:00 am) thinking it was so cold I would freeze to death. Now it feels like beach weather. 

In ward council they have been talking about doing emergency preparedness classes and doing anxiety classes to help people not freak out this spring when the snow melts. It's funny back home spring was awesome because it meant winter was over and it was almost summer time. Here though, spring means flood time. The ward council is worried that people are going to stress out when the weather really starts to warm up. They even talk about how the youth will handle it. 

The flood really messed a lot of people up. It really was a devastating blow to the people here. Like I said, many people still haven't recovered. I am glad I am able to offer my help to these people. They have been through a lot. It is so rewarding doing what I am doing. Knowing that we are making a difference, no matter how small, is more than I could ever ask for. Maybe I'm not teaching people about Christ and maybe I'm not converting anyone. I'm still doing the Lord's work and that is all that matters. Our efforts are not in vain. I know that good things are to come from what we are doing. 

Missionary work is not always about preaching the word of God. Missionary work is about being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. It is about going out and doing what the Lord asks of us. Sometimes he asks us to do big things and sometimes he asks us to do little things. He will never ask us to do something too big that we can't handle it, and he will never ask us to do something that is pointless. Everything he asks of us has a reason. Whether it be for our benefit or for the benefit of others. His will be done. I know this to be true and testify to you that if you keep the commandments, even the commandments given to you personally from the Lord, you will be blessed more that you deserve. 

The church is true. There is no way around it. Don't waste this precious gift your Father has given you. This life is for us to grow, and we grow by following Christ and keeping the Commandments given to us. Don't you forget it. 

With love

Elder Anderson

Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.

Hello!

Man this has been a little bit longer week. Sorry I forgot to tell you that it is transfers tomorrow so our P-day is today not yesterday. I meant to mention that last week but forgot. But I'm still alive. Haven't frozen yet. Came pretty close a few times though. Not much has changed really. Except I now am a legit cowboy. I found some cowboy boots at a salvage center here for 5 bucks and bought a cowboy hat to go along with it. I also have a belt buckle that is pretty sweet. It has the American flag on it. I miss America. What a country. 

The service here has slowed down a little bit. We are still keeping busy but it's not as crazy. Our investigator Ty never meets with us anymore. We text him and he says he will meet with us or go to church but he is always able to find excuses. We will keep trying anyway. 

OH! We found a Foosball table in Brother Baker's basement. We have been playing that a little. It's so much fun. We will play a few games before bed or something like that. Stewart owes me a Slurpee and I owe him a soda haha. Brother Baker also has a bowflex in his basement so we have been using that to work out. I hate the bowflex... So much pain. 

Well that's about it. Not much has happened as I said. If there is one thing I want you all to know it is Joshua 1:9. That was our scripture for the year a couple years ago I think in young mens. Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. This is absolutely true. You have God on your side, how can you ever lose? You can't unless you give up. Don't give up. God will never give up on you, don't give up on Him. Just keep swimming :). (This is Pam.  I sent Jake an inspiring talk entitled "Enduring Well" by Elder J. Christopher Lansing that you can read here if you'd like.  In the article he talks about the movie Finding Nemo and how when things get tough, Dori says over and over, "Just keep swimming."  Now I sign all my emails and letters to Jake with those words, just keep swimming.  That's why Jake uses that quote here.)

I love you all and hope you are all doing well. Try not to miss me too much even though I know that's super hard. Cause I'm awesome and all. Not to mention my humility. Take care until next time.

Elder Anderson

The only thing holding you back is you.

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Hi all!

How have you all been? It's been great here. We are keeping real busy with all the service. We helped frame a basement last Tuesday. That was awesome. Lots of people keep telling us how much they appreciate what we are doing. In fact, the other day at McDonalds, we were eating and a guy stopped me while I was walking to my seat and gave me a twenty dollar gift card. He said this is for us because of all we are doing and he is really grateful. It is amazing to see the change we are able to bring the people here in High River. Oh, by the way, turns out the town is called that because of how many floods that happen there. How stupid is that? Who would ever want to live there knowing that? I have also heard that over 2000 people are still not in their homes yet. It's been over seven months! And apparently this was one of the worst natural disasters to ever happen to Canada. It is so crazy. 

It's been colder here. We went out visiting less actives yesterday. That was cool doing something different. One man was super nice and scheduled a time for us to come back and teach him. Another lady was not so nice. 

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he just said she couldn't meet with us today and to call again before coming by. We also talk

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 to another lady who was nice. We will be going back to teach her too. 

Well, I had quite the sweet experience this week. We were at a member's house eating dinner. I had the message and I had no clue what I was going to share. During dinner, I said a prayer and told God I will just listen to the family during dinner and not worry about the lesson if he would put the words in my mouth at the very hour I needed them. I remember reading that in the scriptures in the MTC so i gave it a shot. Well, just a few minutes after the prayer, the man of the house said how there was this guy at work he had been wanting to talk about the gospel to. I started to get excited thinking of how I could tie that into the lesson. I still couldn't think of a scripture though. Lo and behold, he follows that up with, I guess I'm just trying to build up the courage..." The first thing that popped into my head was not too small of a prompting. It was more of a shout. "NEPHI WAS COURAGEOUS AND THIS WAS HIS REPLY. 'I WILL GO I WILL DO THE THINGS THE LORD COMMANDS!'" Immediately I thought of 1 Nephi 3:7. 

I was able to use that scripture with the family and I talked about how we don't always know what the Lord wants us to say or do, but as long as we have faith and follow his commandments, he will provide a way for 

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to accomplish the thing that he commands us. The man was so thankful and he said that he totally forgot about that scripture and that was exactly what he needed to hear. It is amazing what the Lord can do for us. I now know that if we just have faith that he will provide a way, then we have nothing to worry about. He will never leave us hanging high and dry all by ourselves. 

I thanked the Lord abundantly that night for what He did for me. I would encourage all of you to never be afraid of sharing the gospel with people. When Nephi was commanded to go and get the plates, he had no idea what to do. He didn't know how he was going to get them. He didn't even get them the first try. It took a few times before he was able to get the plates. The last time he went into the city, the Lord provided a way. It was possible because of both Nephi and his courage, and because of the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all they might. He will never let you down. I know that for a fact. Don't let fear control you. Your Father in Heaven will bless you ten times more than you deserve if you trust in Him and have faith. I hope you all will be able to follow your Father's commandments. I know you can. The only thing holding you back is you. Don't get in the way of your salvation or the salvation of others. 

I love you all and hope all is well back home. Take care!

Elder Anderson

Here's a pic of Jake and his companion, Elder Stewart.  Silly missionaries!!

This is Jake's normal missionary attire.  Not the white shirt and tie that most missionaries wear, but this is what you wear when rebuilding a flooded town.

Regarding this picture, Jake said to his family who has always lived in sunny So. California,
"This is what trees look like after snow."

It sure is flat in High River!!

Jake is so proud of these $15 boots he bought at Walmart.

He picked up this beanie at Walmart, too.
It makes me happy happy happy to know his head is warm!

The scriptures have never spoken to me like they do now.

Jake sent this pic that his companion, Elder Stewart, took with his camera

Hi all!

How's it going? It's been great this week. We taught our first investigator! His name is Ty and he is 17. He is a friend of a less active's and he wanted to meet with us because he wants to change his life around. He is awesome! He said a prayer at the end of the lesson. It was absolutely amazing! He is such a great kid and I know that the Lord has prepared him for us and the gospel. 

The other elders also found two girls who came up to them when they were eating dinner at a restaurant and they were asking them questions for two hours. They are going to teach them this week. We now have four investigators here in the area. It is awesome. None of us expected to have the work move along so quick. 

We have still been giving a lot of service. We are cleaning this family's house right now. They just want it to look good so they can get rid of it. It is full of trash and mud (which is actually sewage poop) from the flood. It is crazy how bad it is. We have found some disgusting, unspeakable things in there too. Horrifying. We are doing a lot of ice breaking here too. Everyone's sidewalks are covered in a thick layer of ice. We are going to lots of houses doing that stuff. It is hard work and we will sweat while doing it even when it's zero degrees out. It always feels good to do stuff like that. 

People are constantly coming up to us thanking us for the work we are doing here in the community. It is so rewarding hearing that we are actually making a difference. We are trying to work with the ward members more. We have given them handouts with our contact information on them asking them to give them to their neighbors so we can continue to get the word out. We are also helping out the members. We helped an older man move some stuff around in his house and take out some of the flooring. We helped another family put in the baseboards all along their basement and in all the rooms. 

The people are always grateful for our help and we are always happy to help. We get fed a lot still. Just the other day we got breakfast, lunch, and dinner from people. It is awesome. We helped this hospital move a lot of shelves to their basement and they gave us each ten bucks to their cafe so we got breakfast there. Then we helped with the basement and they fed us lunch. We had dinner with the Kabeary's again. We got Alberta Steaks. The beef here is awesome. All throughout Canada it's called Alberta Beef. The steak we had was from the bishops meat store. He owns one in Okotoks and is known throughout the world for his beef and cattle. 

Well it has been awesome so far. I love it here and love serving the Lord. The scriptures have never spoken to me like they do now. I get excited every day for personal study so I can read the scriptures. The stories in them are true and truly amazing. I know that we speak to God through prayer, and He speaks to us through the scriptures. If you want answers, read the scriptures. All things will be made known to you through them. I know this to be true. I love you all!

Elder Anderson

I know if you always turn to the Lord with your problems, he will guide you through them.

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Hello!

Man I can't believe how time flies. It seems like just yesterday that it was P-day. We have ​s​till been busy with service. We get calls all the time from people who saw our fliers or heard about us. It's awesome! We have gotten an investigator from it too. We shoveled some snow for her and helped her clean her house. She has three heart attacks so it is hard for her to do anything like that. She was so grateful for our help she asked if there was anything she could do for us. Elder Madsen and Elder Roper asked if they could teach her about the message they had. She said yes and they have taught her one lesson and are going back for another. 

Me and Elder Stewart are trying to teach Spencer's friend. Spencer is a less active who has just recently come back to church. His friend said he would like to learn more about God but apparently he was high when he said that and is now not as interested. We are still trying to get in contact with him. We haven't given up. 

We have been going around now trying to post our fliers on all of the mailboxes. The more people who know about us the better. It has been warmer and that has been awesome. Just the other day we were driving around with our windows down enjoying the warmth. The ward members are still super nice. The Kabearys have had us over for dinner at least four times since I have been here. They are so nice. The dad is the one giving us updates on football. He is a Broncos fan so he's pretty stoked. Last night after putting fliers on mailboxes, we went over to the Swihearts. They gave us hot chocolate and let us visit with them. We were able to share a message. They are super nice too. Bishop has been out of town for the past couple of weeks so we haven't talked with him in a while but he should be back this week. Hopefully we can go back over to his Cow Palace and help him out again. That was fun.

  

Well, I just want to share with you one message. We have been talking about God's plan for us lately. One thing that has stuck out to me is trials. We came down here to face challenges. We learn and grow from them. I like to think of it like taking a test. If we were given a math test, the​n​ given an answer sheet, we wouldn't learn anything from taking the test. But if we were given the same test and had to work out the problems for ourselves, then we would learn a lot. We would learn how to do certain problems certain ways that can make it easier for us. When we learn these things, we can face the next problem with more confidence and understanding. Chances are, it won't be nearly as hard. Life is the same way. When we are faced with a trial, we should get excited. We should think with better perspective. We should think, "Awesome! God wants me to be stronger and this is how he will help me grow." When we go into trials with that attitude and perspective, we will find that not only will it be easier, but we will come out of it with so much more understanding and knowledge than we had before. Trials are how we will be able to live with our Father again. I know if you always turn to the Lord with your problems, he will guide you through them. You are never alone. Don't forget it. 

I love you all and pray for you always. Take care until next time.

With love,

Elder Anderson

​Here's a link to an article that talks about what Jake and the other elders in High River are doing to help clean up from the flood this past summer:

http://www.highrivertimes.com/2014/01/15/local-church-lends-residents-a-helping-hand

Here's a link to a touching video about an inspiring woman who has grown closer to her Father in Heaven through tremendous trials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHDvxPjsm8E

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The Lord knows us perfectly and knows what's best for us.

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Hi all!

Man it has been awesome here! The weather has warmed up to around zero. (That's Celsius of course. I wouldn't be calling that warm if it weren't). We have been giving a lot of service. As I said, the flood has ruined a lot of people's homes and many still haven't moved back in. We have been doing a lot of shoveling snow. We have also cleaned a non-member's house. They were hilarious because they thought our entire mission was dedicated to cleaning people's houses. The lady would constantly ask me, "Andrew, (she thinks that's my name) do you have other houses to clean that you need to get going to?" They are crazy. We cleaned their house for two days. They were very grateful. They took us to lunch one of those days. 

We also helped do some flooring for a sushi restaurant. They paid us in sushi.  (What Jake means is that they thanked them with sushi.  Missionaries don't get paid, except with lots of blessings, which are far more valuable than money.)​ I didn't think I liked sushi, but it was great! They probably gave us over a hundred dollars worth of it. They are super nice too. I think some of their family members are LDS but they aren't. They are super nice though and we are going to build a relationship with them and hopefully try to teach them. The members here are awesome. They are super nice and feed us well.

My companion started his mission here. That was before the flood of course. He said when he was here before, the people were much more closed off and now​ they are​ willing to talk to the missionaries. He thinks because of the flood, they are much more humble and open to talking. Right after the flood, the church sent a lot of the missionaries here to help with the clean up. They all wore the yellow Helping Hands vests. When we are out and about that's what we wear.

This is a picture of one missionary's name tag after helping to clean up from the flood.
He is also wearing the yellow vest that Jake mentioned.  

People constantly stop us and thank us for the help we gave back after the flood. They say how the missionaries cleared out their basement and how they wouldn't have a place to stay if it weren't for them. That has really made it easy to talk to people about service. We go around handing out fliers to people on the street with our contact info on them. We just quickly tell them what we are doing and if they need any help with anything, they just need to call. We have also handed out fliers to the local stores and churches without info on them. 

This is a picture of the terrible flood that hit High River this past summer.  

It's funny, we went to catholic mass a couple nights ago. We wanted to talk to the Father there and tell him about what we are doing and ask him to spread the word. Every time we stopped by the church, he wasn't there. So we just decided to go to mass. We were able to talk to him after. He was super nice and appreciative. The only teaching we have been really doing here is to the members. We have taught a couple of less actives. (Less actives are members of the church who are not currently attending.)​ One of them is a kid named Spencer. He is seventeen and has just started coming back to church. He had a spiritual experience that he said was like a slap in the face. ​H​e had been drink​ing​ and smoking with some of his friends and about a month ago he had the "slap in the face". He has stopped since then and has been coming back to church. He is a great kid. He is excited to serve a mission. He already has an amazing desire to teach the gospel. He has been teaching his friends a lot. His mom wants us to befriend him and sort of teach him how to be a missionary so he will be able to better teach his friends. He is excited to go out with us and teach. 

It has really been a blessing being out here on this mission. I know it is exactly where I need to be. The Lord knows us perfectly and knows what's best for us. I have seen His hand in my life so much here on the mission and am grateful every day for it. I know I couldn't do this without His help. I would only hope that you all can see some of the many ways He has blessed you and that you always praise Him for it. When Nephi was on the ship he built, sailing across the sea, his brothers tied him up. For four days he was tied up. I'm sure he was never given a break from being bound and I'm sure they were tied very tight. When his brothers finally released him because they were afraid they would sink in the storm. Nephi said that his wrists and ankles were exceedingly sore and he was in much pain. However, the first thing he does after being released is praise the Lord. He could have complained or been angry. But instead, he praises the Lord. I hope we all can one day have the faith and perspective he had. I hope that even in times of trial we can still turn to our Lord and praise him. Nephi was blessed for his faith and obedience. I know that we can be too if we but strive to follow Christ. If we always remember this, we will never feel alone and lost. I leave you these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With love,

Elder Anderson

A few thoughts from Pam:

Oh how I love love love Mondays!!!!!!  Here's the latest from our missionary, and he sounds so much more like his happy self this week.  Last week's email had me a teeny bit concerned (okay, so maybe I freaked out a bit!) but this week Jake sounds just like Jake, and I am so very grateful!!!!!  

One of my BIG concerns last week was that Jake didn't have a coat and boots.  The mission instructions said he should buy those items in Canada when he arrived, so we didn't send him with them.  Somehow after being there a week he still didn't have a coat or boots.  Here is the tender mercy that came to Jake this week regarding this situation:

The local library called us and told us that they saw our fliers and loved what we were doing. They said they have clothes that were donated for them to give away and said we could come check it out and take whatever we needed. I found a sweet Billabong jacket that fits perfect and is super warm. Then we went to Walmart and I got some rubber boots for like fifteen bucks. So now I'm pretty set. I just need a warmer jacket for proselyting. And by the way. The service we are giving is in civilian clothes. We just wear jeans, and jackets with the yellow Mormon Helping Hands Vests.

I know that our Father in Heaven watches over each of us so personally, and He is certainly watching over Jake.  Thank you, each of you, for loving and praying for our missionary.  It means so much to us!!!

We might just be preparing the people for future missionaries.

Just a short email from Elder Jake but we are so grateful to know where he is and what he's up to.  He also sent these pics, which made our day!!!

The view from Jake's front window.  Brrrrrrr!!!!!

Hi all,

Well I'm finally able to email. Mondays are my P-Days. Right now I am serving in High River. It's about an hour south of Calgary. It has been freezing. Yesterday it was -29 degrees Celsius. We went snow plowing. Serving in this area will be a little different than normal. There was a bad flood here back in the summer last year. Many homes were flooded. So instead of going out and looking for investigators, our main focus will be giving service. The past two days we have been handing our fliers talking about our service and shoveling snow. My companion is Elder Stewart and we are also sharing the area with another set of elders, Elder Madsen and Elder Roper. I haven't gotten a coat or boots yet but I have managed. A lady from the ward loaned me a coat until I can get one myself. The ward members are really nice. We have been fed really well so far. We have dinner appointments all this week too. The food is good. Really no different than Back home. Except no Mexican. We have a car. It's a Subaru Impreza. The roads are pretty icey but we manage. The town is small. We live with a member named Brother Baker. He is really nice. he lives on a farm. He has somewhere around 79 Acres. It's super flat here too. We can see the mountains of British Columbia from here. That's about the only thing that sticks up from the horizon.

Other than that not much has been going on. Hopefully we get some calls from people wanting our service. We are planning on helping people out with cleaning up after the flood. Even though it was seven months ago, some people are still not in their homes. Hopefully the service will lead to some lessons and baptisms but there is no way to know for sure. We might just be preparing the people for future missionaries.

Well that's about it. I'll try to write some written letters too. Glad to know all is going well back home. Hope to hear from you soon.

Elder Anderson

Picture of Jake and his MTC district at the Provo Temple.  (Jake is 3rd from the right.)

Another picture from the MTC.  (Jake is in the middle.  Haha!)

Jake and his MTC roommates.  He loved his experience in the MTC!!!

Jake's MTC district with his two teachers.