Week 7 ... Crooked River

Hello fam and friends,

This week has been fun!

Monday was P-day so I didn't do anything useful until dinner we ate with a super awesome family and had a lesson on the restoration because Gage who is one of the kids is a new member so we get to teach him and his non member step mom a bunch so that's cool, but that's the only time we taught pretty much all week so yeah it's awesome!

Tuesday we had done conference which was super awesome but it was a seven hour meeting so YEAH. Yeah it was super long so I'll just say the best thing I got out of it, with the priesthood or our calling we are given authority from the Almighty God to access the power of the priesthood we must be righteous and obedient to God's commandments. After that we ate dinner with the Shaffer family and brother Shaffer is the funniest person alive and that's all I can say if anyone wants to know more on that you can ask in a personal email or ask after the mission but he and his family are the best and super missionary minded!

Wednesday we had to go service the car so Elder Beck and I took a trip to Kansas, I didn't know that till we got there cause I fell asleep in the car, I know I'm a sinner I've repented, but that took a bit and we got to get some Krispy Kreams and see the largest mall in American Legends Mall ad we drove by do that was super awesome! We ate ribs at the Rose house and after we unloaded tons and tons of wood at the Thomsons, they are a less active family but want to come back so we enjoy being there. Brad Thomson is a super funny guy and we hung out with him and did service at his house like 4 times this week and he made like the time machine thing from doctor who life size in his garage and I'll see a low quality pic of that from my trashy phone.

Thursday we adventured out to Plattesburg Missouri and did some tracking where nobody answered except for one get nice African American lady who told us she loves Jesus but didn't want to talk to us. We also saw a bunch of African American kids so we will deffinelty go back cause Elder Beck is crazy good at basketball and we want to get in with those people cause they are the best out here, they are super vocal on their love of Jesus so we want to get to know them and get back there a lot. That night we did some more awesome service for Brother Thomson unloading more wood, cause he bought like 2 tons of wood from the Amish here in Missouri, I want to meet some Amish while I'm here, so we did that for like 3 more hours.

Friday in the morning we helped pay down a bunch of time for some people building their home and later that night helped brother Thomson finish unloading his wood with the help of the sisters

Saturday we took a trip to Lee's Summit which is like a hour away with Brother Cooperrider to grab his new fridge and freezer, we then ate sandwiches at his house and helped him unpack and organize tons of stuff in his storage room. After that we spent the rest of the day and night with Brother Thomson cleaning up all the wood left over, organizing his stuff and getting rid of all his trash and we had a super fun time with him and he and his daughter treated us with subway that night so it was an awesome day and we were in service cloths the whole time and I loved that a lot haha 

We got to teach a lesson yesterday on the Sabath Day and it went super well and I'm so grateful for Sunday and the Sacrament it trumps the rest of the week along with our priesthood lesson we had on the priesthood haha the talk from last session of conference The Preisthood and the Saviors Atoning Power by Elder Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostiles. He compared the priesthood to a rocketship, and explains that we need to be worthy and not have any minor defects because if a rocket has any minor defects then it will malfunction and not perform it's duty. He also explains that the purpose of the priesthood is to help and serve others and invite all to come unto Christ. Anyone that attempts to misuse the priesthood for selfish use won't get anything out of it and if we are worthy to use it then the authority we have will be accompanied with power from God. Some of the brethren in the class shared experiences where blessings were given and some individuals left the church because something they promised didn't happen, but they then admitted to have ignored the spirit. Others shared experiences of following the spirit, which sometimes didn't offer the expected blessings, but in the end all promises came. 

I experienced this a little when I gave my first blessing over someone who was very sick my first week in the MTC. A sister had been throwing up all night and asked for a blessing, I was extremely nervous because I had never given a blessing before and I didn't feel ready, and during the beginning of the blessing I stumbled through. The moment I gained enough confidence to follow the Spirit my mouth was filled and I had never felt or heard that sort of strength of confidence come out of me before and that's because it wasn't really me. In the scriptures it talks about feeling the spirit like a fire in your heart and I felt that during that blessing, I will never forget that experience or that feeling. I love the priesthood, and I'm so grateful that God has enough trust in us to let us use his power.

Also just to finish up, if you ever have a question ever that you need an answer to, Elder Bednar says to write it down and continually think about it as you read the book of Mormon. I read like non stop. I restarted the Book of Mormon about a week and a half ago and I'm 2/3 of the way through Alma and this time through I have gotten so much out of it cause I'll have a question in mind, then just read and that question is answered! When I say ask any question I mean any question.  2 Nephi 32:3- Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 

The words of Christ will tell you ALL THINGS which you should do. Whether that's a super deep doctrinal question or where you left your keys ask and ye shall receive, from the words of Christ. If you don't believe me Sister Nelson wife to the prophet said the same thing in her new book, I can't remember the name of the book so you'll have to go find it but I invite all of you to read the Book of Mormon daily, and questions and if you ask in faith you'll get answers. Sister Martino shared that idea from Sister Nelsons book with all the missionaries at the MTC and I tried it and it is stupid cool cause it works haha

Anyways I know the Book of Mormon can change your life cause it's changing mine every time I read it, also read conference talks in prep for GC in like three weeks! I know President Nelson is a prophet and that this Church is true, in the name if Jesus Christ amen

I love all you guys and I pray for you all often so I hope you feel that, I'll send pics in a bit and I'll talk to y'all next week

Elder Andersen 

Week 6 ... Crooked River

Hello People,

So last Sunday I forgot to say, we had a special fast to help weaken and remove the influence of the adversary on the ward members, less active members and investigators, because there are tons of problems in the ward with tons of stuff so the Bishop wanted us all to fast for them so we did and I'll talk more about that later.

So Elder Beck and I had a lot of fun this week, we have to take the car in for service, get an oil change and on like Tuesday we got a crappy flat tire so that was awesome! We were driving on a doughnut tire for like 2 days and we then drove down to Kansas city, went to a firestone to fix the tire and then waited for five hours for the whole thing to get done! We had one flat, then they put 4 new tires on and 're aligned the car so it was crazy boring and we wasted the whole day haha so that was super cool and we still need to go back to KC this week to get the car services and an oil change so that will be fun going back

So the Rose family in our ward had us over for dinner on Wednesday and then invited us for breakfast on Friday with the bonus to go visit some of their neighbors that we haven't been able to meet with yet so we totally said yes, breakfast was awesome and several of the neighbors said they couldn't meet that but one that Brother Ross was super excited to meet with was home and we had a nice chat with him. He is a 84 year old man and he lives on his property alone. Sister Rose gave us a gift bag to give to him so things were looking good. 

We pull up and out he comes, he says "Oh I've been waiting for you to come back here cause all you want to do is fix me!"

He then just goes on and on about people trying to convert him his whole life and how he doesn't think that is right. 

Brother Rose tryed to explain that wasn't our intention we just wanted to meet him and see if he wanted any help, Brother Rose just wants to be a good neighbor 

This grumpy old man kept saying, "Oh I don't believe that at all you just want to chase me around, argue the bible, stir me up to convince me that only you can 'save my soul' because if I don't get baptized in your church I'm going to hell"

This old man was flailing his arms everywhere, pointing fingers and accusing us of disturbing his peace. May I add that we haven't brought up religion, we brought a gift basket, and all we wanted to know is if he wanted help with anything cause here in Missouri that's really the only way for people to even talk to you is with service in my experience. 

Elder Beck gets pretty fed up with this guy attacking brother Rose so he very simply says that we aren't here to chase you to getting baptized and we haven't even brought up religion, we don't want to argue about the bible we are here to help and brother Rose is here to be a good neighbor, I can say that quiet him down really fast and he settled down and said if he needs help he will ask and we went back to the Roses house. 

Brother Rose was shaken and so was I a bit cause that old guy went crazy but in the end I got a good story out of it and hopefully that old guy will soften up and receive our help one day so it was a good experience 

That night we got to finally go meet a less active family, we did some service hauling wood in our white shirts and ties but it was a good experience. They lost their son about four months ago and we are just trying to get them to church and they want to come but it's super hard because last time they were at the church building was their sons funeral, it's just a sad situation so please keep the Thomson family in your prayers so that they will meet with us more and we can do some good for them.

I feel like my emails are long so I'm sorry if they are, but I got some more to say haha

So back to our ward fast, this Sunday at sacrament meeting tons of less active members and members that has not been to church in weeks came and Elder Beck and I set up some meetings with them so that was a super cool miracle that took place yesterday and the testimony meeting this week was super good too.

 Second hour we had to teach because the teacher didn't show up, so we taught on the sacrament and the importance of preparing yourself for the sacrament, always being worthy and keeping you covenant that you made at baptism. It went super well, a sister that I had not met prior asked how she could best prepare for the sacrament so that she could feel clean and feel the power of the Holy Ghost because she struggles gravely with depression. As a class we discussed the power of scripture study, prayer, and staying busy. I felt inspired to share Elder Holland's talk from the October 2012 General Conference titled The First Great Commandment, one of the best talks ever btw. I shared that if we love God and keep His commandments we will welcome his help and if we also live the second great commandment, love thy neighbor then we will no longer feel our pain, but the love we feel for those we serve will cast out all our doubts and fears. Moroni 8  16- Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.

And perfect love is charity, serving your neighbor. Hartman Rector Jr said that Charity is love plus sacrifice, sacrificing what we what to help and serve others. 

When I was set apart as a missionary my stake President blessed me to obtain the gift of charity, and Moroni says in Moroni 7:48 that we must pray with all the energy of our hearts to be filled with this love and I have been praying since I got here and I will invite all of you to do so also because when I'm serving others, nothing else matters and I'm happier then I could ever be otherwise. 

Needless to say at the end of the lesson Elder Beck bore his testimony and most people in the class were in tears and it was awesome.

We also had an amazing lesson on grace third hour with the bishop but I'll save that for later because I have already shared a lot, I love all you guys so much! Every member is a missionary so pray for the gift of charity and get out there and serve, I'll do the same I know that we will bring forth miracles as we grow our faith by loving others and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen

Elder Andersen