These are tender mercies like you can't believe.

I can't believe how time flies. Transfers are next week. It is insane. I don't know what will happen. right now the Mandarin missionaries are odd, there are nine of them. Elder Hancey is going home this transfer, so there will be and even 8. However there is another Mandarin called missionary coming out this transfer as well. So there will be 9 again. Making it odd again. So I might stay, or I might go. We'll see what happens. I would like to stay another, but who knows.

Anyway, this week has been good. It has been warmer here which is really nice. We have had a Chinook. Which means the really cold weather gets trapped in the mountains and just kind of swirls around. This lest the warm air blow over the mountains and warm things up. I think that's how it goes. Whatever the case, I'm a fan. Oh and by the way, it's Chinook is pronounced with an Sh instead of a Ch. Just so you know. That way you don't go around talking like greenies haha.

Well we had a pretty cool experience this Sunday. We were in the west side of Calgary because that is where the mandarin branch meets. In the middle of second hour, we get a call from some elders in our zone. They told us they have a Chinese lady here that wants to be taught the lessons and what not. So we ditch out on third hour and drive back to their ward. We get there about half an hour into third hour and walk into Relief Society to sit next to the Lady and her friend who brought her. They step outside with us. We do the usual introductions and find out she is ready to be taught the lessons along with her two boys. We get her information and set up a time tonight for Monday. She seems golden! haha it was crazy. We get a call from other missionaries and thirty minutes later we have a new investigator to teach. It was awesome. 

Then to top it, we get another call a little later from the same missionaries saying they have another Chinese lady here that just showed up at church. Elder Hancey talks to her over the phone and next thing I know, she will be going to church next Sunday so we can meet her and possible teach her. Holy cow! This all happened within about an hour or so! Talk about silver platter! I can't believe it. These are tender mercies like you can't believe. This was the best part of the week that's for sure. 

Other than that things were pretty normal. I hope your weeks were good and productive. I pray for you always. And I am grateful for your prayers. I can feel them! Stay safe and take care of each other. 

Love you!!!

Your captain,

Elder Anderson

I am 11!

Me and Olsen emailing

(Who knows what that silly missionary has on his head)

I am 11! On a mission, you have a birthday every month. Today I turn 11. Nice! One away from halfway! It is crazy how time flies! I doesn't feel like I have been out almost a year.

Anyway. This week was good. It is crazy. Quite a few missionaries just got sent home. A couple were going home at the beginning of December anyway, but others had a while to go still. We don't have a clue what happened. It is weird. I don't know if any will come back out after a while. We'll just have to see.

This week was similar to the last couple weeks. Still working with the investigators we have. Some good news is that Al Valin from my last area got baptized! That is so awesome! I am so excited for him! It took a while but it finally happened.

Oh and I got in a fender bender haha. I hit some ice and hit a parked car. It only dented the bumper but it kinda stinks. We got it all figured out though. The people said they got hit the exact same way last year. Haha same exact thing. People are used to that kind of stuff here. With ice, it's always a possibility. Anyway. It all got figured out and squared away.

Well. Not much else is new. Hope all is good back home.

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

The tallest building in Calgary.

And me, the studdliest man.

It's hard to tell, but the architect built this portrait of his daughter in front of the building.

This is a better shot.

And me at Costco with pancakes.

(Jake told us he eats pancakes for breakfast and dinner some days. 

He has developed a pancake obsession!)

haha My sweet new watches. I also have one like the blue only it's gray.

(Jake bought these at the dollar store. He also has a watch obsession.)

I would like to be able to bear a simple testimony or say a quick prayer in Chinese

Jake and Elder Faimalo - his previous companion in Lethbridge

Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.If someone can riddle me that, I will be very impressed. You can't use the Internet!!!!!! I will give you a hint however, you must be a very good judge to figure it out.

Well we had a good week. We are still working with Daniel and Justin. They are doing great. Everything they should be doing. We told them to pray and ask God if baptism is something that is right for them. They are great and really prepared. I hope that they will be able to get a confirming answer that everything will be ok if they get baptized. Nevertheless, not my will be done. 

Lulu is doing great. We are planning on asking her to be baptized this week. She has already she will live the Word of Wisdom WHEN she is baptized. Haha she is great. Hopefully she feels as ready as we know she is! 

Brother Wang had a migraine so he couldn't read the scriptures but when he is feeling better he will get back into it. They planned on coming to church but the weather was bad so they didn't show. It was really cool. 

Woodbine ward had a bring a friend to church Sunday. There were a ton of non members there! It was great. Really good idea. They had sacrament then second hour was just a meet and greet social hour. They went in the Relief Society room and had snacks and talked. It was cool. 

I just got a Mandarin book that they give out in the MTC to help you learn the language. I will try to start learning a little bit. I would like to be able to bear a simple testimony or say a quick prayer in Chinese. That would be sweet. We'll see if I have the gift of tongues or not haha! 

Other than that, not much else is new. Another week gone. Another week closer to Christmas! I can't wait for that. My last Christmas in the mission haha! I hope you are all doing well back home! I miss you tons but love it here, in spite of the freezing cold! 

Take care until next week!

Elder Anderson

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Calgary in November

Well winter is here. And it's not fun. It's pretty cold. Hasn't been in the negatives yet, but I'm from California, what do you expect me to think about it? The ice isn't too bad yet but it's here. Just waiting for my first senior life alert moment. Can't wait...

Anyway. Good news. I found out that an investigator in my last area we were working with is now on date! November 8th!!! So stoked. We were working with him for a while. He was super busy so we couldn't meet with him lately. Things have slowed down for him now though. It's great to hear.

We had Zone Conference this week. It was great. They talked a lot about accountability. They talked about letting go of everything and giving yourself to the Lord 100%. They talked about how The Lord will bless us with tons more than we gave up. It was a great lesson and the spirit was great.

We found out that our investigators, Daniel and Justin, who are on date can't be baptized yet. Their dad is in China and he is trying to get a government job. If they find out that he has two sons that are Mormon, he won't be able to get the job. Once he gets the job they should be able to be baptized, but until then, we have to wait. That is a bummer but we will keep working with them and keep them progressing.

Lulu is doing good. We are hoping to put her on date soon and get her baptized. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and found out what we need to focus on. I think we will be able to get her on date soon. She is awesome. We found out our investigator Brother Wang wants to go to church. But he wants to go to an English sacrament. That is really good news. He hasn't had a desire to go in the past. We are excited for that.

It looks like we will be singing in the stake choir haha. We kinda got volunteered for that one. Should be fun though. The choir director is Sister Chipman from High River. It was cool seeing her again. She even remembered me haha! We are planning to go down to High River maybe this week to meet with an investigator and visit some people. I'm excited. Other than that not much else is new. The work is going great and we are having a ton of fun. I love this area. I hope all is well back home.

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Amazing Sister Roma Ranger drove all the way to Calgary to take Elder Jake and his companion out to lunch. She told me she would give him a hug from me, and she was true to her word. 

Lucky Roma!  Lucky Elder Jake!

Jake has made a new friend.  This adorable little Chinese boy is the son of on of their investigators.  Too cute!

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.  : )