I'm super excited.

Elder Jake enjoying beautiful Waterton National Park

I'm pregnant!  Haha I'll have to explain what I'm pregnant means. It means I'm going to train a brand new missionary. I'm super excited. This is an awesome area to start in. He will be spoiled. I am on my way to Waterton right now and the member is letting me use his laptop to email so I don't have much time. I will email you more probably tomorrow when my son gets here. 

Elder Becker on his last P-Day as Jake's companion

Today I shall live as if this is the day I will be remembered.

Well this week was a pretty routine week. Nothing too special. "A" was supposed to get baptized last Saturday but we have to move it back a couple of weeks. He is still super solid and ready. 

This will probably be a short email as I have nothing new to tell you. However, there is one thing I learned that I wish I would have learned long ago. In High River, my mission was very different. We did tons of service. We did some teaching, but not nearly as much as we do now. The whole thought of going into that area was that we were going to prepare the hearts of the people. We were going to prepare the way for future missionaries to teach people by serving everyone and softening their heart towards God and his church. We knew that we wouldn't see much success right away and because we went into there knowing that, we were fine with not seeing much progress. 

Well, when I got to Lethbridge, I expected now to start seeing tons of teaching, progress, and baptisms. I expected to go into an area that had already been prepared like what we were doing in High River. Well, that wasn't the case. There was more teaching, sure. But not much has happened beyond that yet. And I have been here longer than I was in High River. What I was not thinking was that we would still be doing a lot of preparing the way for future missionaries. Even though that wasn't our only goal now. 

I came here with the attitude that I prepared people, now it's time to move on to the next level and see some fruits of our labors. When I didn't see that right away, I was a little bummed. It is very discouraging when you set your expectations at a certain level and they are not met. I forgot my purpose as a missionary. "My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ." It is not to baptize people. It is not to make others come unto Christ. It is not even to have others come unto Christ. It is to invite. We are not commanded to baptize x people or reactivate x people. We are simply commanded to invite. 

I have felt like I was not fulfilling my purpose because I forgot my purpose. It is all too often in this life when we forget our purpose. We feel that we are not fulfilling our duties here on this earth. Well do we even know what duties we are supposed to fulfill? We must never forget why we are here, why God has given us this life, what he asks us to do. We are here for a reason, but unless we know the reason, we are lost. Our life is without meaning then. We have a purpose. Always remember what that purpose is. What are you doing to fulfill it? 

Dr Suess said, "Today I shall live as if this is the day I will be remembered." How will you be remembered? I hope to be remembered as the missionary that handed off every area he served in better than what it was when he got there. Progress is only made when we are working towards a goal. This is how I will serve for the rest of my mission here in Canada, as well as here on this earth. 

Take care and stay safe. I love you all. 

Elder Anderson

One thing you will learn about missions is that it is literally two years of awkward moments.

We felt so blessed to be able to meet Sister Roma Ranger, the angelic woman that Elder Jake is living with. (She is between Dave and Pam and her sweet granddaughter is on the right.) She is vacationing near us and we were able to get together and thank her personally for all she has done for our missionary. We adore her, and so does Jake!

Hi everyone!

This week was pretty cool. We had another lesson with "M" on Thursday. We went to the Kolibars again to teach her. We taught her the Restoration and Book of Mormon, Lesson 1. It went really well. At the end we challenged her to be baptized on August 23. She said yes! We are super excited for her. We have to make sure her mom is on board with it but I'm sure it will all work out. Her mom is dating a member and hopefully we will be able to start teaching her mom soon. "M" is so prepared it is insane. She is perfect for this gospel. The Kolibars are such good examples to her and so supportive. She couldn't have a better fellowship family than them. 

There was a car show here in Lethbridge this week too. There were tons of restored old hot rods and muscle cars driving down the streets. There were also a ton of custom cars that had nos and hydraulics and everything like that. It was super cool. We got to see a lot of cool cars. I'll send some pictures. 

Now Sunday was the real dirt of the week. We have "A" as an investigator and he is supposed to get baptized this Saturday. We might have to push it back a week because we still have a bit to teach. We were trying to teach him as much as we could so we decided to use Gospel Principles class as an opportunity to teach him. Well we figured there wouldn't be a big turnout because there would be lots of people out of town. We were hoping that would be the case because the lesson we needed to share was the Word of Wisdom, not bad, and the Law of Chastity, terrible. 

Just so I get things clear. I didn't want to teach the Law of Chastity to an investigator during Sunday school, but Elder Becker insisted. Well we show up to teach and see that this soon to be awkward situation just got a whole lot more awkward. Sitting in the class was the Drews. Now they are a sweet family. Moved into the ward a couple months ago. Had us for dinner a few days after moving into their new home. Great time. Love em. The super awkward part however was that it wasn't just the parents in the class. The twin 18 year old daughters were sitting with them. My first thought, "Kill me now." 

It's bad enough to have to teach the law of chastity to adults, but to teenagers?! I don't think so! "A" hadn't showed up yet so Elder Becker told the people in the class what we were planning on teaching and why super quick. "A" walks in right in the middle of explaining. Becker just cuts it off mid sentence and we have a glorious awkward silence. Thinking this will be the worst 45 minutes of my life, it gets worse. 

The twins get up and say they are going to leave! Oh man it was terrible. I didn't know what to say. I just said something like, "Yeah no worries" or "Yeah we understand." The class was horrifying. The Law of Chastity is the absolute worst lesson to have to teach on your mission. And it makes it much worse when there are six other members present when you teach it. Not including the two that walked out at the beginning. I honestly don't know what to say about that. I would have done the same though I'm sure. That is just unbearable. Needless to say, we kept it as general as possible and blasted through it. That is a lesson you check off the check-list and move on as quickly as possible. 

One thing you will learn about missions is that it is literally two years of awkward moments. There is no other way to put it. You must learn to embrace the moment and pray you will never see the person again afterwards. Otherwise, you pray they only learn what the spirit teaches them and not what you say. It was a great end to the week though. And it made for a pretty good story. Lesson learned. 

Anyway, the only other things that were special was the thunder storm that hit this week. The storms up here are awesome. The thunder is almost non stop literally. The one we had a couple weeks ago didn't have a single second of pauses. It was literally rolling thunder. They are awesome. And the lightning is spectacular. By the next morning. You would have never know it had rained. Everything is dry. 

Well that's all I have for the week. I hope everyone is doing well back home. I love you all and pray for you always. 

Take care!

Elder Anderson

Elder Jake sent us a picture of his breakfast.

And of his lunch.  He's quite a chef!

I love this gospel with all my heart.

Elder Jake showing off the haircut he gave himself.  Not bad!!

Well it's probably a good thing I decided to wait until today to write because we had some pretty awesome experiences the past couple of days. I'll start with the week before last though. On Monday we had a lesson with our investigator "A". He is still preparing to get baptized this month on the 19th. He is doing awesome. He always says how this church is what was missing in his life. He was prepared from the beginning. 

Saturday we got to teach the "L" family. The dad is a less-active we have been working with. The mom is not a member and just had a baby a couple days ago. We are teaching the mom. They have a little girl who is maybe 7 and the newborn. They are sweet. "S" knows exactly why we are there. To get him back to church. One of the members of our bishopric, Brother Duncan (who used to be our old ward mission leader and who is so awesome), told "S" straight up that he is out next project haha! "S" knows that he needs to come back to church and I think this new baby will get him in gear so he can bless it and baptize his wife and kid when she gets old enough. 

Now at some point last week we wanted Wili Wa's. Those are Slurpees at a gas station up here called Gas King. They are really good so we get lots. (I'm sure Jake's endocrinologist would be thrilled to know this!  NOT! Haha!) While in there we talked with one of the workers a little bit. She said that she was Mormon but wasn't active. We asked her why and she said that she got baptized by missionaries and then got offended and left. We bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and a customer came in that she needed to help. We waited while she helped the customer. After they were helped she just gave us her name and number and told us if we could find out what ward she was in she would sit down and talk with the missionaries. She was in the other ward. We told the missionaries there and they called her. She said she would meet with them and not only that but come to church Sunday. How awesome is that? The Lord works in amazing ways. 

Now on Sunday we were able to meet with "A" again. He is continuing to plug along. The next thing we are going to share with him is the gospel of Jesus Christ. On Wednesday we were finally able to get in with the "D" family. The mom is less-active and the rest of the family are not members. We weren't able to share a message with them because we were hanging out with her two boys (10 and 11) on the trampoline. (I'm sure Jake's orthopedic surgeon would be thrilled to know this!  Such a naughty missionary, but I have to admit, I'm so happy he is able to do all of these things!  It's truly a miracle!) We ran out of time but have another appointment set up for this week. We are going to share a message this time. 

Thursday was amazing. Our last appointment of the day was with a girl, "M". She is friends with a young woman in the ward, Carlee. We went over to the Kolibar's house (Carlee's house) and taught her. This was our first time teaching her. She lost her dad a little while ago. I'm not sure how long ago. We went in with the second lesson, The Plan of Salvation. We went through the whole lesson. It was pretty different than most of the lessons we teach. Most of them are super serious and no nonsense. This one was different. The Kolibars are a super sweet family so we joke around a lot. During the lesson we would make a joke or two about relating the lesson to someone in the family in a funny way or something. It was a much more casual lesson. At the end we challenged "M" to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We then asked Carlee what she thought about the BOM. She said she had just finished it the other week and prayed to know if it was true again. She said she woke up in the middle of the night one night and had a really good feeling about it being true. That was how she knew. She got a little  choked up at that point. We then asked Brother and Sister Kolibar if they had anything to share. They talked about how much the plan meant to them and how they knew that Maddy's dad was in the spirit world probably taking the lessons. They bore amazing testimonies. The lesson became very serious. "M" was crying at the end. She is seriously so solid! This last Sunday she was going to come to church. Well Carlee ended up cutting the tip of her finger off at work, Carlee couldn't go to church. "M" still came though! She came with the Kolibars. I can't believe it. She has been prepared for this gospel and she knows it. I can't wait to see her progress toward baptism because I know it will happen. 

Friday was awesome because the Elders in the Henderson ward needed to go to Calgary for a meeting and we had to drive them. So we got to go to Calgary and hang out up there for the day. It was awesome. We ate Chinese for lunch at an amazing place called Brothers, then dinner at Costa Vida. Oh man it was a sweet day. Then on Saturday we volunteered at Coldale. They had a parade and some booths that they set up to do stuff. Me and Elder Becker had the best booth by far! We got to help at the reptile booth. He got to hold a Ball Python for two hours and I got to hold a Bearded Dragon. It was amazing. Another missionary got pictures of us so I will have to get them and send them to you. 

Sunday we met with the "S" family. Her kids aren't members and her husband is not a member and just now starting to allow the kids to go to church again. The kids are awesome and want to be baptized, we are just waiting for the dad's approval and them it can happen. 

The past two weeks have been awesome. The area here is really starting to have some amazing things happen. I am so grateful to be able to be here on my mission and serve the people. I have made friendships that I hope I will continue to keep in contact with. I want to come back here and visit Lethbridge for sure. This ward is seriously amazing. They provide people for us to teach. This is the dream ward for missionaries. And I am blessed enough to be here. 

I love this gospel with all my heart. There is no doubt in my mind that this church is true and that God lives and loves us more than we could possibly imagine. No matter who we are, He will always be there for us. That thought alone is what has made me who I am. I have Him to thank for everything in my life. Especially my family who loves me so much and who I love more. I will never be able to pay back the debt that Jesus paid for me. No matter how much I give, it won't be enough. I hope you can see God's hand in all of your lives and can recognize His influence and love for you. Never will you be alone in this life. Never will you be forgotten. Never will you be a hopeless cause. If Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah can make the change they did and go out and perform so much good for God, then so can you. Never give up. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our loving brother and Savior, Amen. 

I love you all and pray for you every night. take care and be safe!

Elder Anderson

Elder Becker and Elder Anderson and their new "friends".

Crazy missionaries!  Love them all!

This week was pretty good.

Elder Becker (right) and Elder Jake with the new missionary and his companion

That is an inspiring quote from my beloved District Leader, Elder Downing. "This week has definitely been a week." - Elder Downing. I honestly don't know where he comes up with these. It's truly inspired. "Your email is not coming very far." - Elder Downing. He's on a roll today! But he's right. I'll probably try to start here. 

This week was pretty good. We picked up two new investigators. One of the girls we were teaching turned 9 so technically she became an official investigator so that really doesn't count but for number purposes, it does. Then we taught a Less-Actives wife and picked her up. She is ready to have a baby. She should in the next couple days now. 

We had a pretty successful week though. We had quite a few lessons and what not. We got a greenie! He's from England. I don't know where though. I think a pretty dangerous place from the sounds of it. He's a pretty solid missionary though. He's not afraid to talk to people which is good. You do a lot of that here. 

It finally stopped raining. Some people's basements are starting to flood a little. Just some water that they have to pump out. High River is probably freaking out. 

Honestly nothing much is new this week. We didn't do a whole lot of other stuff. It was a pretty boring week. As far as the work is concerned it is good but there isn't a whole lot other than that. No cool stories to tell or anything like that. Maybe this week I will look for ways I can put my life in danger trying to save someone else so I will have a good story to tell. 

I hope all is well back home. Sorry for the short email. Well not really but that's ok. Talk to you soon!

Elder Anderson

Know that the Lord is "With you whithersoever thou goest."

Man the weather here is pretty cool as long as you have a car like we do. At least until tomorrow. There have been a few pretty cool thunder storms the past week or so. Friday it rained so hard it started hailing for a little bit. Last year they had what they call a Micro Burst. It hailed ice the size of golf balls. Lots of people's roofs and siding on their houses got destroyed. There is a lot of construction going on right now because of that. Even cars got pretty beat up. 

Despite all of the rain, the weather is still pretty dry usually. It hasn't affected me much but you can tell. It will pour rain in the morning and by late afternoon you would almost never have known it rained. The wind and dryness dries things up pretty quick. I think when the Summer Solstice comes it should clear up and be beautiful the rest of the summer. We'll see. Apparently Lethbridge has the sunniest weather in all of Alberta. It is the best weather. It is kind of like the San Diego of Alberta. Only not nearly as incredible as back home. But it's the best they got so we'll take it I guess. 

Anyway, last week was a little better than the previous weeks. Still a little slow but better for sure. We taught Bruce again. He is hilarious. We stopped by when he was finishing painting his garage and we helped him clean up a bit. Elder Becker rinsed out the paintbrush using the water from storm gutter on his house because it was raining and it made half of his neighbors driveway turn white from the paint. Bruce was freaking out. It was hilarious. We had to get the hose and chase it off the drive way. Then the gutter all the way down the street turned white too and he was freaking out again. I was dying laughing. He say a neighbor outside talking on the phone and Bruce said he was probably calling the cops. He was quietly shouting for him to put the phone down and that he was sorry. Then Bruce said he didn't know who Elder Becker was and that he was some random guy that was walking by. Haha it was so funny. He is Hilarious. 

Anyway, we invited him to be baptized and he said he wasn't sure about it. He doesn't think he is ready yet. We challenged him to prepare and he is going to do that. We told him about church and he thinks the third hour is weird that it's only guys haha. He wants to be with the ladies. We offered to give him a blessing for his cold and he thought that was weird having us lay our hands on his head so we just said a prayer for him instead haha. He is pretty funny. He is great though. I know he will come around. He always jokes that he is going to need a snorkel when he gets baptized because he has so many sins that they are going to have to hold him down for a while to wash them all away. Haha I love Bruce. 

Well other than that not much has happened. I can't believe that tomorrow I will have been out for six months! Time has flown! It is incredible to think that a quarter of my mission is already done. What an experience it has been. I have learned more about this gospel than I ever thought I would. It is so amazing to live it every day of my life to the degree in which we do. 

I am so thankful for all of the support and love I feel from back home. There are so many people who have been such great examples to me and have taught me so much growing up and prepared me for this. I hope that you can see and feel the Lord's blessings being poured out of heaven every minute of every day. I know he lives and loves us beyond what we will ever be able to comprehend. Never give up. Know that the Lord is "With you whithersoever thou goest." 

I love you all and hope you are doing well. Be safe and take care.

Elder Anderson

Missionaries providing bush removal service!

Looks like the missionaries conquered the bush!

Being spoiled by WONDERFUL Sister Ranger!

There is no doubt in my mind that God lives and loves us more than we could ever imagine.

P-Day in Waterton

Man what a... two weeks. I don't know what to say about it actually. Two Sundays ago we had a Canada wide stake conference where Elder Holland and President Eyring spoke to us. It was pretty sweet. We didn't have a lot that went on that week though. It was kind of a slow two weeks.

Last week we didn't get a single investigator lesson. We had lots of appointments and everything but they all fell through. Somehow we managed to have six of our investigators to church though. We have never had that many before. That was sweet. 

We found a new investigator two weeks ago. His name is Alexander. I may have already told you about him but you're going to have to hear it again. He only speaks Russian so that's kind of tricky but we were able to find an RM (returned missionary) in Lehtbridge who went to Russia on his mission so we brought him along and it went great. He took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he would read it. When we met with him again he said that he read it and it was really easy to understand. That was sweet. He said that a lot of Russian bibles will have Latin in them so it is hard to understand them but the BoM didn't have any of that so it was much easier. 

Other than that we haven't had a whole lot going on. We went to the mountains on Monday with a family in the ward. That was super fun. I totally forgot to take pictures so that kind of stinks but that's ok. I have some from the trip before. 

The work is really good here. All we need to do is find time to meet with our investigators. They are all super busy and hard to get a hold of but they are all so willing and wanting to meet with us. I know that so many of them are ready and prepared. If we could only teach them. We probably have eight or more who are pretty much ready for baptism, they just need to be taught the lessons and invited to baptism. But that won't happen unless we meet with them. 

There are definitely some frustrating times as a missionary. It is so hard when you can see the bigger picture and know that this is exactly what your investigators need when they are hesitant because they don't have that same perspective. The gospel is exactly what everyone needs and it is always there exactly when they need it. They just need to trust the Lord and test it out. God will never show you anything other than blessings when you live the gospel. It's so simple yet people can't seem to understand that. You have to understand that in order to receive the blessings that God has for you, you have to show him that you are willing to earn them and ask for them. The problem with everyone is that they want to see the reward before they dive into it. God has promised us a reward. He doesn't lie or lead us astray. Either way, His will be done. 

It is crazy how much teaching about this gospel builds your testimony. I thought before my mission that I had a pretty good knowledge of the truthfulness of this gospel. I didn't think I could know more that this gospel is true. Now I realize that I was wrong. I know more now than I did then about how true and real this gospel really is. This is something that you can truly come to know and see in your life. I have literally seen the way this gospel influences our lives. It is real. There is no doubt in my mind that God lives and loves us more than we could ever imagine. We will never be able to comprehend all that he does for us. We will never be able to make it up to him. And he doesn't expect us to. All he asks of us is for our best. Nothing more and nothing less. It is not always easy, but it is always possible. I love this gospel so much and couldn't imaging a world without it. I hope you can all see and realize this as well and know that you are never alone. You will never be left to fend for yourself. 

I love you all and pray for you every night. I know God hears my prayers and I know He answers them, so I know that you will be watched over and taken care of. Take care and stay safe. 

I love you all!

Elder Anderson