Same Area New Companion

Hola amigos! :)

This week has been a crazy one! On Tuesday Hermana Ashcraft and I found a new investigator, Alfonso and he is super cool! He has  a family and we had already talked to his daughter and he has a lot of friends that are members! We have another appointment with him on Wednesday and I am super excited!

On Wednesday we drove to Richmond to transfer meeting! My new companion is Hermana Barton. She is from Sandy (mom, she went to Brighton!) and we came to the mission at the same time, she just went to the Mexico MTC. We are having so much fun and every day is a blast! She thinks Staunton is a super weird place, which it is but it is super funny!

On Friday we had another meeting in Richmond. So we had to drive 2 hours back and it was really great. We talked a lot about consecrating ourselves to our missions and I feel like it really relates to how we need to be doing that all the time with the gospel. We can always be thinking about the gospel and how that will really keep us on the right path. I was also able to see Hermana Whetten and Hermana Coleman and it was so much fun especially since Hermana Barton has been companions with both of them :)

Then we came back and had a lesson with Ervin. He for some reason has an issue with understanding faith and what it means to act on faith. So we are working on that with him... but he says he loves the Book of Mormon and believes in it so there is that... haha

On Saturday we were trying to contact these people, Marleni and Otoniel, but they weren't home and we met Marleni's sister and gave her a Book of Mormon. Then a little later Marleni and Otoniel came home so we started talking to Marleni and she invited us and and we read the Book of Mormon with her and it went really well. She was so willing to have us back and she had already read the Book of Mormon before we got there. We are so excited to keep working with them, we have a super good feeling about it :)

Last night we also found another family who seems pretty interested in the gospel! We are so excited for the next 6 weeks. Its going to be a blast!

I love and miss you guys but I honestly forgot that it was the day you were going to Upton yesterday haha and I was glad because a couple of months ago I would have been really distracted but I wasn't!

This week is going to be awesome. We are having a 70 coming to the mission and at zone conference he wants to meet with the leaders of the mission so we get to be in on a meeting with him and like 8 other missionaries and that's it so we are super excited.

I LOVE YOU!!

Well, I Touched Pumba Today

Hola amigos!

On Monday we met Ervin and his brother Gustavo in the park to teach them and we taught the restoration to them and it was awesome. Ervin loved it. Gustavo really likes us but he is not super open to the gospel right now. Later that week we were driving through a neighborhood looking for some Cubans because someone told us that they had moved into the neighborhood and we see Gustavo sitting outside his house. (Keep in mind, we did not know where he lived because we always met them in the park) So we talked to him for a little bit and then he told us the Cubans are his wife and her family lol! Gustavo told us we should work for the FBI because we are really good at finding all the Hispanics hahah! Later that week we met with Ervin and he was telling us about how he wanted to be clean so we talked about baptism and asked if that is something he wanted. He said he needs more time but he said he would pray about it. We are going to meet with him tonight :)

We had exchanges this week and Sister Bate and I had a lesson in the park with Eloy (a guy from Facebook who wanted to know where his dad is, because his dad passed away 2 years ago). He had read Alma 40, the introduction, the testimonies of the witnesses and the testimony of Joseph Smith. SO AWESOME. Sister Bate doesn't speak Spanish and Eloy doesn't speak English so it was just me and the Spirit on this lesson but it worked out so well. He wanted to know who Joseph Smith was so we talked about the restoration and then he asked "How do I know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet?" I was stoked. So we talked about prayer and the Spirit. Then he asked what are the things we "can't do" in our church. So i briefly explained the word of wisdom and he doesn't drink or smoke! So that was exciting. He committed to read every single day and pray to know if it is true and he said he would get baptized if he knows its true!! So awesome :))

We tried a house the elders said they say a Hispanic at and we talked to Julieta. She remembers meeting with missionaries when she was little in Waynesboro :) She was really excited to take a Book of Mormon and asked for a second one in Spanish so her husband can read it :)

On Saturday there was a baptism in our branch and wow the Spirit was so strong. It was incredible. When Maria got up and shared her testimony about the prophet Joseph Smith it was amazing. You can just tell that she knows without a doubt in her mind that this is the church of Jesus Christ.

I loved the phone call so much. I get nervous before them because I know that I won't want to hang up. I love and miss you guys so much but grandpa Larrabee is right. I am having too much fun :) I love this work with all of my heart. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

Alejandro the Aloe Plant

Hola amigos!!

It's weird that I hit my half way. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it.

I had no idea that there was a fire here in Virginia. I am in the valley so maybe the mountains are blocking the smoke... I don't know haha. Cory came and found me at the gas station this week. It was so odd  but good to talk to her for a couple minutes and she gave me some bread that reminded me of your bread :)

On Tuesday we had another park meeting to give a guy a Book of Mormon. He is super cool.  He wanted to know where his dad was because he passed away a couple of years ago so we told him on facebook that we had an answer in a book! So we met him and gave it to him and now we are meeting him again tonight to talk about what he read!

Then we headed over to this less actives house, David to talk to him but we saw this other guy Kevin. We met Kevin like a month ago at the branch president's house and we had dinner with him but we didn't have a way to contact him but turns out Kevin lives in the same house as David. So we talked to Kevin for a good 40 minutes about why we are missionaries and how come there are so many religions. He was really interested in what we were saying and we are going to meet with him tonight too!

Then we had our lesson with David and it was so powerful. The Spirit was so strong you could almost touch it.  We were prompted to share Mosiah 2:21-24 with him and talk about how God will bless him so much when he starts to keep his commandments again. It was crazy. I never thought the Spirit would be so strong somehwere where two missionaries are sitting outside with the door open and someone else sitting inside (we couldn't go in because we didn't have a third female) but it was insane.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with a guy, Filemon and his son. We taught a spanglish restoration and then asked Filemon that if he knew it were true if he would get baptized and he said yes. So thats exciting. He says he is going to read the whole Book of Mormon because he loves to read. :) We have another lesson with them tomorrow.

We met with Arturo again. We taught the second half of the plan of Salvation and he had read the whole pamphlet and had some questions. So we explained the three kingdoms of glory and Hermana Ashcraft was able to ask him if he knew these things were true if he would get baptized... and he said yes. So that was exciting. The spirit was super strong during that lesson. We haven't heard from him for a while though...so we are getting a little nervous but hopefully we will be able to extend a baptismal date to him this week!

On Thursday we had a super funny and awkward missionary experience. Hermana Ashcraft had been talking to this super cool guy on facebook for like 2 weeks and we thought we were going to meet him to give him a book of Mormon but he never responded. We were pretty sad but we moved on, well this week we totally tracted into him! It was hilarious. We were talking to his dad (in english) and his dad nicely told us they already had a church then I switched the conversation to spanish and he invited us back! It was awesome. We are going back this week :)

Last week we had an interaction with a lady named Pollie on the street and she asked us to pray for her daughter who was having surgery to remove her cancer. So we prayed for her all week and we went back to see how things went and we talked with Pollie for a while about so many different things. She has talked to missionaries before and even has a Book  of Mormon. Then she asked us how we do our work without being too pushy. So we started to explain that Jesus came to the Americas and we have a record of it. The she said "What? Jesus came here? That is so cool." And then we were like "See how we just got you interested? that is how we get them" hahah it was funny but we wrote down the page number of 3 Nephi 11 and she is going to read it. Sometime during the conversation she said "maybe I will become a mormon"haha.

On friday, we met Victor. Funny story of how we found him. I had been talking to this guy on facebook but he wasn't super interested and he is way busy so I asked him if he knew of anyone I could talk about Jesus with and he said "let me ask a couple of my friends." Then a couple minutes later he was like "you can talk to my brother, here is his phone number". So we texted him and set up an appointment and then taught him. He is super humble and has a lot of good questions. He asked us what we thought about there being a prophet and apostles on the earth. So we showed him 2 Nephi 29:9 and talkeda bout how if God is the same, he would call  a prophet. He thought it was interesting and he is excited to read the Book of Mormon and we will be meeting with him this week :)

On Saturday we went to the farmers market.. a member from the english ward said some hispanics go there. So we went and the only hispanics there were selling some plants. So we hung out for a while and they didn't come ask us if we needed help or anything so we decided that we needed to buy something so we could talk to them... so we bought an aloe plant haha! So now we have Alejandro the aloe plant and we didin't do that great of a job talking with them so we will probably have to go back next week haha!


it was a great week here in Staunton! I hope you all have a good week!

Gypsy Hill Park is Our Best Friend

Hola amigos!

I LOVE THE LIVING CHRIST. My favorite part is the paragraph where it says "We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary". I can testify with those apostles that He lives. He is an eternal being and His life is central to all of mankind. It is very interesting that you say that it would be easy to give up. because it would. It would be really easy but so not worth it. Its hard to keep an enternal perspective but when we do we are able to see that it is better to stick to the rod and keep your head up.

This week we had zone conference and it was awesome. President Smith spoke to us about making spiritual goals for our mission and for our life. I was able to envision what I want to be at the end of my mission and where i want my life to be spiritually. We also got phones at zone conference so now we have a smart phone which makes it super nice to communicate with people because we can hotspot and use internet wherever.

On wednesday we were suppose to have a lesson with our investigator Arturo but his wife would not be able to sit in on the lesson so we could not go in and I was so mad about this specific rule. It was such a harmless situation and we don't have a lot of memebers that can come with us but we were obedient and rescheduled for the next day. Well we went finding and we came in contact with a less active that we didn't even know lived in our area and now we have contact with him and are going to start meeting with him! Then the next day we found some members to come with us to the lesson and we had a really good lesson and afterwards the members were so grateful and said they had been praying for a spiritual experience. So it all worked out. God works in His way and will bless us when we are obedient :)

On Friday we were finding and we tried a door that the english elders said they talked to and they were hispanic. A lady opened the door and when we said we were missionaries, she told us to come in and started telling us how she had been praying all day for help because she was going through a hard time and then we showed up. Coincidence? I think not :) She is from Puerto Rico and met with missionaries there! She also came to church with her daughter! So so awesome :)

On Saturday we went to this park Gypsy Hill Park to go finding. We spotted a hispanic man and worked up the courage to go talk to him. He has only been here for 3 months and does not speak any english so he was so suprised that we could speak spanish! It was awesome. He has also talked to missionaries in guatamala and was really willing to accept a Book of Mormon. We are going to start teaching him english in the park and teaching him the lessons :)

We also tried a different form of finding...Walmart finding. We were able to talk to a guy but he is a truck driver and was just staying the night in the  parking lot but we are excited to keep trying this form of finding :)

ok...So I have been talking to this guy on facebook for almsot 2 months. He came to Virginia 2 weeks ago and he wanted a Book of Mormon. So we met him in the park and gave him the Book of Mormon and he said that he is going to use it to stop smoking. He wants to read it when he feels like smoking :) So that is awesome!

sorry this is a long one! Love you all! have a great week!

Arturo = Arthur

Hola amigos!!!

I am so glad you had some fun lunch dates! Hermana Coleman's mom (Kris is her name right?) sounds awesome. I am excited to meet her! Hermana Coleman wants to meet you so you might want to expect that in like 4 months... haha! Also, super small world.

This week has been really great in Staunton. We found 5 new investigators! We met with one of the investigators from last Sunday. His name is Arturo. He is so cool and so willing to learn. He has a family and when we went to teach him his 14 year old daughter sat in on the lesson and then she took a Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson. He had a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon and our church and he said he would read 1 Nephi 1 so that he could ask us more questions! He also said that his wife would sit on the next lesson too!

Remember that Peruvian couple from like 3 weeks ago?? We met with them again and taught them the whole restoration! They really liked it and they said they want to read the Book of Mormon to know if it is true. We have an appointment with them this week! She also asked us what our purpose is as missionaries so we told her it is to help people come closer to Christ through baptism. Then she told us she wants us to keep coming. She also apparently took the lessons in Peru! :) So we are so excited to keep teaching them!!

This week I read President Nelson's talk when he announced the temple's in spanish and I had a super cool confirmation that He truly is the prophet on the earth. He is directing and guiding the Church of Jesus Christ and I know it with all of my heart.

 I hope yall have a great week! Love you!!

much love,
Hermana Anderson

subject line.. hahah our investigator's name is Arturo and we were randomly doing something and it hit me that his name is the hispanic version of Arthur... hahahah!

We Found a Family

Hola amigos!
Transfers are this week but Hermana Ashcraft and I are both staying in Staunton :)

This week has been so great. On friday we had a day full of finding and we hadn't found any hispanics. We went back to this house that we had tried two times before but we decided to go at a different time a day and there was a car there! This guy from Cuba answered the door and we started talking to him and he knows someone that attends the english ward! We taught him the restoration and we used the dot analogy with the bible and the Book of Mormon.  (The bible is the center dot and there are a bunch of lines going through it and all the lines are different religions but then there is another dot that is the Book of Mormon and there is only one line that can connect the two dots and it is our church) He loved that analogy and was really excited about it. Well we were getting ready to leave and his family came home and they invited us in and we gave a Book of Mormon to his wife and daughter! Then Luis (the man) explained the dot thing to his wife! It was so awesome :) We have an appointment with them for  this saturday!

On Saturday we went on exchanges and Sister  Bate and I went and visited a less active, Cinthia. She hasn't been to church for about a year and while we were visiting she told us that she will be getting her drivers license this week so she will actually be able to come to church! It was so awesome :)

On Sunday, we had 4 people at church!!!! Arnulfo, Argelia, Jocelyn and Kimberly came! Argelia, Jocelyn, and Kimberly are investigators that have only come to church two times in the last 8 months. We didin't know if we were going to continue teaching them so we prayed and told Heavenly Father that if they don't come to church then we would stop teaching them... Well, I guess he didn't want us to stop teaching them.. haha! Then after church we went and tried 4 houses. 3 of them answered and we got 3 new investigators! They were all really interested in the Book of Mormon, 2 of them set a return appointment for wednesday and one for monday, yes the next day!!! It was so great. I can really feel God using us as instruments in His work!

Most of our success in this area is because of member missionary work. Its so important! Help out your missionaries! :)

I hope you have a great week:)

much love

The Lord is Hastening His Work in VA and the World World

Hola amigos!!

Wow this week (especially this weekend) has been one to remember. The temple announcements almost brought me to tears. I was sitting in a chapel with a bunch of missionaries and 3 elderly people (well over the age of 80). I think every one of them left the ground when they announced the temple in Richmond. The people in Virginia have been waiting for so long and i am so grateful that the faithful people here will have a temple in their state. I will cherish this memory forever. I am grateful the work is still hastening in Utah. Another temple is so exciting! Russia and India?!?! How awesome is that? I thought of the people I know that have served in Russia and how excited they must be! This truly is the Lord's work and I know that He is in charge. I am grateful that He has let me be apart of it.

To participate in a Solemn Assembly was just wow. I don't have words. It was so amazing. I recieved several confirmations through conference that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of God and he has been called to direct The Church of Jesus Christ. The changes in the church are inspired. Bishop Gerald Causse said that this church is about people and I know that through these changes God is focusing on the people and their personal needs. I hope we all take theses changes and run with them so we can increase the building of the kingdom of God! I loved ever single one of the messages but I loved President Uchtdorf's message. I have been studying the life of Christ and have really been studying His last week. I loved the stress of President Uchtdorf saying that this event was the most important of all history because it truly was. I also loved that he said "The most important day in our lives is when we learn t Behold the Man and commit to follow him. May that be a day that occurs over and over in our lives." SO POWERFUL. This should be happening several times in our lives and I had this experience during conference. I commit to follow my risen Savior. I know He lives.

This week we had an interesting interaction with a Pentecostal woman. She had so many questions.. the first one being "are you Jehovah witnesses?" and they didnt want to hear from us. But once we told them we were from a different church they were a little more open but they didn't want to listen to us. We convinced them to watch the Prince of Peace and they really liked it. But they had so many questions like "why do you wear that and does everyone have to dress like that?" and "what are you rules?" It was terrifying because they were already so closed off and if we said something they didn't like then they would just stop listening but we eventually taught them the restoration and it was super powerful. The Spirit guided this conversation. I felt the gift of tongues working because I could understand everything they asked and I felt like words were being put into my mouth. Super cool.

Anyways! I hope you all had a great general conference! I am excited to re read all the talks!