2nd Week in Virginia!!

Hola amigos!

This week we had zone conference where Facebook was introduced! We are 1 of 86 missions in the church using Facebook. It is going to be very interesting trying to find people using Facebook. As of right now our mission president wants us to spend 2 hours a day on Facebook, using it to teach and find people. We are definitely learning as we go along.

The weather here is really nice right now. It hasn't rained since I've been here. Its humid but not too bad.

So this week was full of watching Facebook videos and learning how to use Facebook for missionary purposes. Mom,  I am not gonna lie, it's super hard to not look up what you guys are doing or posting. This first transfer I can read emails through the week so I would love to hear what you have to say. I try not to look all the time but I do look if I am really missing you all. Just know that I really love you guys and miss you.

Right now we don't tract a lot because we have a lot of investigators to teach but right now none of them are really progressing so we are going to really start to find new people to teach. We have 11 or 12 investigators and only one came to church. So that was super lame. But we taught him after church and had a really powerful lesson with some members and I was so excited to invite him to be baptized because I was so sure he would say yes...so I invited him and he said he couldn't say yes. He says he isn't sure if he can really commit. He said he is really going to pray constantly and with his whole heart to see if this is true and what he should really do. So that is exciting!

On Saturday our stake had a day of service where they had a station to give blood, index, tie quilts, put humanitarian kits together, make cards, and some other stuff! It was super cool. Not a ton of Hispanic people came but it was fun to see so many people wanting to serve.

Saturday was also women's conference. It was awesome. We watched it English because none of our members or investigators came to the church. A little weird to watch it at 8:00 at night but super cool. I loved the first talk so much too. Watching the women's conference as a missionary was a little different because I didn't realize how much the talks apply to me as a missionary and my life before I was a missionary. Ya Know?? I also loved President Uchtdorf's talk. I can't wait to go back and read them.

 There are so many trees here. So many. You'll be driving on the freeway and not even realize you are in the middle of the city because there are so many trees. 

We got Chick-Fil-A this week

Here are two of our investigators at a party for one of their birthdays! 

First Week in Virginia!!!

Hola Family and Friends!!!

My new address::

2322 Long Boat Court
Henrico Virginia 23294

So I made it to Virginia.... it was a little rough because we flew from SLC to Atlanta and landing was definitely a little sketchy. If any of you know me and my history of motion sickness you know how that ended... HAHA!! It was a sad time but its super funny now so just laugh about it!

When we got here President Smith picked us up and took us back to the mission home and we pretty much just went to bed because it was so late! Tuesday we had some training and learned how everything works in Virginia... There were 6 other missionaries that came from the Mexico MTC that are super awesome so Elder Bird (the Spanish speaking elder from Provo MTC) and I really bonded with them and got to know them!

On Wednesday we went to a church and met our trainers! My new companion is Hermana Coleman. She is from Riverton, Utah and has been on her mission for 7 months! She is seriously so awesome and I am so thankful for her. She speaks really solid Spanish and never has communication problems with anyone! Its awesome :) She likes to run and play basketball so we have gone running a couple of times and have done some other work outs. She likes to work hard and I love her a ton. It's just her and I living in our apartment! After I met Hermana Coleman, we were on our way to the transfer meeting and I saw Allison and it was awesome. I was super excited and I cried a little because I was so excited. WE both definitely ran in the church but it was super exciting!!
Answers to some of your questions:::

My area is great! I have no idea what we really cover because Virginia is super confusing and there is not a straight street here at all!! Lots of diversity. I hardly see any white people! Its awesome. Also fun fact about Richmond: Downtown Richmond has more murders per capita than Chicago... but don't worry, its not a sister area!

We make lunch for ourselves but all the dinners are from members! We get fed so much food. I promise you I will not starve here. Anytime we go anywhere people try to feed us. One day I seriously thought I was going to throw up because I had eaten so much. So I promise there will not be any problems there! :)

Its super pretty here! There are so many trees, its insane. When you drive on the freeway all you see is trees. No buildings or houses or anything. Just trees. And they are huge trees.

I can feel the love from family for me. I can feel your prayers. I wouldn't be able to do this alone. There is no way. I don't know why its super hard at times because we aren't doing anything crazy but for some reason its pretty rough, but it's all good.

It's suggested that we don't read emails through the week... so there is that... I don't really have time to read a ton anyway...

On Wednesday we started going to people's houses and talking to investigators and stuff and I can understand a lot more Spanish than I expected. I know I am going to learn Spanish because there are a ton of Spanish speakers here!! Anyways, I can understand a ton of what is said.. most of the time. Some people from certain countries talk super fast and I have a hard time understanding but generally I can understand! However,, if I am not completely focused on what they are saying then I don't understand! Speaking is a little rough but I know I'll get there eventually. I know it will not come as fast as I want it to but I know it will come if I keep working.

We have a lot of investigators but sadly no one is really progressing. So we are trying to figure out ways to help their testimonies grow! Cool thing that happened though: We went to go teach a new investigator, Elkin. I had never met him but Hermana Coleman had taught him once before and said he is super cool and wants to learn a lot so we went to go teach him and his wife, (well we hope they are married, no one really is around here) came and sat down with us and had a ton of questions and was super interested! Then her son came and he's probably 22 and he started asking us a million questions and telling us how our church doesn't make sense and that Judaism makes way more sense and all this stuff. I really wanted to argue with him because he was speaking English - so I totally could have - but Hermana Coleman handled it like a boss and just told him that if he wanted to know he needed to read the Book of Mormon and all this stuff. I am learning so much from her and how to be a great missionary.  Anyways it was cool because Marta asked her son to leave because she wanted to keep reading in the Book of Mormon and he was not allowing us to do that!! So she wants to learn more and keep hearing from us, we have another lesson with  them this week and I'm so excited!!

On Saturday we had a fiesta of the nations at the church with all the members and it was so much fun!! Super loud Hispanic music and a ton of Hispanic food which is so good! I love the food here so much!! Church was pretty great! I could understand most of what was said. A talk was given in English by  the high councilman... that's not normal though haha!! Some of the members speak English so if someone really wanted to get to know me they would speak in English and Spanish so I could fully understand what they were saying!

P-days are different here.. there is so much more to do! We have to clean our apartment and our car.  We don't email for too long but its all good! I like it :)

Keep praying for me!

Allison and I

My comp and I

My first time having papayas 

Last Week in the MTC

Hola amigos!

This week flew by!! On Tuesday we had a devotional with Elder Oaks which was absolutely incredible. He talked about a million things! He talked about how important the resurrection is and how important it is that we are teaching of the resurrection. Also he quoted from preach my gospel like the entire time, it really emphasized how important that book is. He talked about things we will need to change in order to become a missionary, like changing our habits. He emphasized being a FULL time missionary and how that is our choice. It takes a change of mindset to do that though. then our branch president talked to us after and told us it is our decision whether we be an alright missionary, a good missionary, or an excellent missionary. And we can decide right now what we will be.

We taught one of our teachers and he treated it like a door approach and that was really different. He didn't want to let us in and that was super rough but we got through. My gospel Spanish is pretty good and my conversational is just alright so it was hard to talk to him about other things!! So pray for me for when I go to the field!!

Yesterday was my final "real" day in the MTC and that was super weird! I have enjoyed the MTC and have learned so so much. I am not ready to stop going to class and having to learn Spanish with my teachers!! But I am so so excited to go to Virginia on Monday!! I love you all!!

Hermana Hathaway and I the morning she left for Argentina

My district with one of our teachers

One Month Down..... Seventeen to Go!

Hola amigos!

I LOVED THE PICTURES OF BECKETT. I showed everyone!! If he does say my name you have to record it and send it to me!!

This week has been so fast. I blinked and it was gone! On Sunday, we heard from Gary Crittenden the managing Director of the Missionary Department. It was really cool he told us that as of Sunday there were approximately 2,694 missionaries in the MTC. That alone is such a testimony builder for me. To run something like the MTC for 2700 people is insane. Meals are crazy but everyone gets fed and its just amazing how everything works here and runs relatively smoothly. He talked about three decisions we need to make on our missions that will help us  be successful:

• Take good care of your body on your mission. 
• Serve with all your heart,  might, mind and strength. 
• Live to be worthy of the Spirit. 

These things seem to be really simple but can really determine how your mission goes. Sometimes I struggle remembering to do some of these things but this was a really good reminder for me to take care of myself so I can take care of others.

Tuesday devotional we heard from Christopher Waddle, the second counselor int he Presiding Bishopric. He talked about some concerns some of the 12 have with missionaries right now. The main thing he discussed was the importance of the Book of Mormon. They feel like it is not getting stressed like it should. Which is insane because the Book of Mormon is the most important thing we have in our gospel. It changes lives. It should be our anchor.

We taught our investigator three times this week. She committed her to baptism and she said she would get baptized on the 9th of September. (She is already a member and not actually going to get baptized but there are some people that are not actually members that some people in our district taught.) She had so many questions about the translation process of the Book of Mormon. When she finally accepted the fact the Joseph Smith was uneducated and had to do it by the power of God she realized that he was a true prophet. The next lesson we talked about the commandments like chasity, the word of wisdom, and the law of tithing. She had a hard time accepting tithing and the fact that they "are so strict". But then we shared Mosiah 2:22-24 with her where it talks about if Christ gave up his life for us, and God has given us everything that we have, we can do what He commands. The Spirit was so strong and she cried and it was incredible. She decided that she could give up a little because she has been given so much. This was in our last lesson with her and it was just amazing.

On Friday we got our travel plans!!!!! I fly out on September 11th, at like 7 am but I have to report to the travel office at 3:30!! I am so excited but super nervous because I feel like I still don't know enough Spanish! But the Lord will be with me!!

Only 1 more week in the MTC!! It insane!! :)
I love you guys all so so much!!

We attempted to match lol but it didn't work too well

Our investigator, Adrianna! She really is a happy person even though she doesn't look too happy!!

Are You Guys Real Missionaries?

Mom,

My companion attends Utah State. She loves biology and anatomy! She wants to be a dentist or an orthodontist. She doesn't like Disneyland because she doesn't like the crowds! I think she may be more sarcastic than I am!! She is the youngest of 6 children!

The biggest thing I have learned at the MTC besides spanish is, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. I have learned that I think about myself way too often and that this is about helping other  people have the same oppurtunity I have had by coming unto Christ. Turn outward when I would normally just think about myself. My mindset is starting to change and its awesome!

On Monday we had exersise time during the eclipse! So we went outside and played spikeball and we borrowed some Elder's glasses so we could look at it and that was really cool!

Our devotionals this week were pretty great! Kenneth Cope, a singer, came and spoke to us and sang to us about Christ. His music is pretty great and he made us all aware that "we share the same papa"! So now our whole district constantly tells each other that we share the same papa! Its super funny!! On tuesday Elder Weatherford T. Clayton came and spoke to us and I loved it. He compared the eclipse to our lives and sometimes we can still see the gospel or the sun but the moon is blocking the way! It was awesome and I seriosuly love devotionals so much.

We have continued teaching our investigator, Adrinna, this week. She is catholic and so we had to explain why the fall was a good thing and part of the plan. Doing that in English can be sort of confusing so doing that in Spanish was all sorts of hard! But we think we made it clear and if you use scripture in your lessons it makes everything so much better!   So she loves the book of mormon and says its "muy bonita" every time she reads it. Which is great but i'm sitting there like "is it pretty enough that you believe it???" She also says she loves the way our church and information makes her feel but she doesn't want to disrespect her parents by getting baptized. ON friday we got to bring a member again and we had the same member!! that is like unheard of in the  MTC so I was so pumped! I was telling her how excited i was and the member said "sister, speak spanish"! But after that lesson our member was saying how our investigator is so close!! Its super awesome!

So our current classroom on the 5th floor is under construction so we got moved to the 1st flooor in the classroom that they used for the tours so people were constantly watching us learn and it was awkward! but one time someone asked us "Are you guys real missionaries??" It was super funny but also super weird. Like ya dude, the church just asked some random people to come act like they're learning spanish.

So the tours are officially over and I'm super sad about it! I loved seeing so many different people especially all the little kids. I also  loved the possibillity of seeing people I know so that is super lame but its all good! Seeing Lesia this week was super awesome!  We ran to each other and I am pretty sure it was super un lady like but its all good!

I have seen Harrison Hayes here so thats pretty cool! He got here like a week and a half ago!

I have played baksetball several times! There is a Hermana that lives next door who plays and its super fun! I wish I could guard the Elders but that is definitley against the rules so thats lame! But its all good, I still school em ;)

My spanish is improving. Sometimes I get super overwelmed and feel like I will never learn but its all good! I think I will be okay but I am nervous for when I get to the field and am supposed understand people that speak super fast!

Oh! And i saw Adhieu!! She works in the cafeteria! So I may get to see her more!! :)

My roommates and I in front of the legendary map!

Hermana Hathaway and I. Shes the one who plays basketball with me! She leaves a week before me and I may cry!

We Are Blessed at the MTC

Dear Family,

This week was another roller-coaster ride. Sometimes I love it here and sometimes I feel like I am never going to get out of here. Last week I got like 30 emails through the week, no joke like 30 so  I was constantly reminded of how loved I am and how many people are cheering me on. This week was not like that. I got like one a day and that was all. Which is still a lot and I know I should be thankful for that but it was rough. I know I shouldn't depend on other people to realize why I am here but it sure is nice to hear from home. But its all good.  I love getting your emails through the week. Even if it just says "thinking of ya" I especially love the pictures. I miss you guys a lot!

This Sunday, we heard from M. Russell Ballard. So that was awesome. They broadcast  it to all the MTCs in the world. But he talked about locking your heart and how God puts missionaries where they are suppose to be and when they are supposed to be there. I know that because so many things have happened here that would not happen without Heavenly Father.

We started teaching an investigator this week and she was this sweet old lady. Our Spanish is still bad and I feel like I speak like a 5 year old but its the thought that counts lol. But the Spirit was so strong in the lessons it was incredible. She was super interested in the Book of Mormon and when Christ came to the Americas so we had her read third Nephi chapters 11 and 12. On our third lesson we had a member come with us and she bore her testimony after we invited our investigator to be baptized and it was so powerful. Now I understand why people are supposed to go out with the missionaries. Especially if the missionaries don't speak the language well. Her testimony was incredible and it was one of the times that I felt the spirit the strongest here at the MTC. She then said she would go and pray about being baptized.

On Tuesday we heard form Elder Neil L. Anderson. So yes I have heard from three apostles while being here. Crazy right? He talked about not letting anyone extinguish your flame of faith. The Spirit was amazing. I was again reminded to "forget myself and go to work" I always need the reminder to forget myself and go to work because I start missing my family and friends and then start to feel bad for myself. Its super lame but its good that I get the reminder so often. He also talked about how people are being prepared for me to teach them and that was a great thing to remember because I always get nervous that I am going to come off as pushy or trying to shove the gospel in someone's face but I don't think that is what will be happening.

I got to play basketball again! Its hard to play because I can only guard girls! But I found one to play against and it was fun. Some elders make it sound like they have never seen a girl play basketball before. It makes me giggle a little! We also went and played spike ball as a district and that was super fun! I also played some 4 square! I love gym time because I see people I know on the tours. This week I saw Nathalia, you should have gotten a picture from her.... I also saw Brooke and Andrew Peterson! So that was cool! I love having the tours going because we get to see little kids all the time when normally its just a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds that act like little kids.

The time here is so weird because it feels like I didn't have a life before this but the days all blur together and I feel like I was just writing you guys!! I love you all so much! Thanks to people who have written me! You are helping me keep going! My testimony grows every day here. Its awesome, but I also don't want to stay here forever hahahah! but I need to stay longer because Spanish!

I love you all so much!!!

All 3 Hermana Andersons in the zone.

Be Happy, Have Cheer, and Count Your Blessings

Hola familia!

I GOT YOUR PACKAGE and it was amazing. Thanks so much mom.

The MTC is such a roller coaster ride. Its so great. This week has been fantastic!! I totally understand why everyone says to make it to Sunday. Sunday was incredible. I felt the Spirit so strong all day. Our devotional was with Jenny Oaks Baker (I feel super lame that I didn't know that she was Elder Oak's child but now I do so its good) and it was awesome. She and her kids played a bunch of songs for us and she talked about some experiences they've had an it was just super cool. Then the whole MTC was required to watch "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. That talked about how we need to turn away from the natural man and turn outward like Christ would do when the natural instinct would be to turn inward. That hit me super hard and I realized I needed to stop feeling bad for myself and get to work. I had been missing my family and friends so much because you all are so awesome and I just love ya but it was making this work super hard. I still miss ya, I promise but its different. But after character of Christ the MTC president said he had a surprise for us and Elder Bednar and his wife came  and did a question and answer session with the whole MTC for an hour. Anyone that had any questions about The Character of Christ was able to ask him questions. It was amazing. The Spirit that an apostle of God brings is so amazing. At one point in time Sister Bednar was asked why they are always so happy so she answered but during her answer she said "Be happy, have cheer and count your blessings." I was reminded again of how blessed I am to know so many great people and have such a great family and I should be thankful for you all instead of being sad that I can't see ya. Its all good and that hour was seriously life changing and mission motivating. SO COOL!!!!!

On Monday Heavenly Father blessed me again with CHICK FIL A dinner. Oh my heck, it was awesome. I definitely needed that. So that was super awesome and then the elders thought I couldn't eat two sandwiches and I totally proved them wrong! hahahahh!! So yes mom(s) I am eating!!!

On Tuesday we had to take this Spanish test and it was so discouraging because I am terrible at Spanish. I actually cried like two tears after because I was so upset but then I realized I still hadn't been in the MTC for a week and I should chill out.

We taught our investigator three more times and it improved. The third and fourth lesson the spirit was even there which is amazing considering I don't know Spanish. Then we had a devotional that night with Elder Sitati from the 70 and his wife. I was reminded that I have people on both sides of the veil cheering me on and I was called by God to do this work.

My roommates and I figured out this week that we are all related. Like 6th cousins and 8th cousins hahaha! Hermana Anderson and I both feel like we have known each other our entire lives and that we have met before!

On Friday, my district was assigned to the tour so yes, I was at the end of the tour and got to talk to like a million people. It was so great. That's how you got all those pictures and then the lady that kinda supervises our dorm had to come to our room for something and I asked her to send you a pic. I got you mom, I'm glad you liked them! :) I'm always thinking of my family.

For gym, I have played basketball but it is hard to find a girl that knows how to play to guard me because I can't guard an Elder but its funny to see some elders react when they see I can make a 3 point shot! Our district is super close so we go play kickball and volley ball together and it is so fun. We are not the most athletic bunch and that makes it more fun! The grass was wet when we played kickball and everyone kept slipping and it was hilarious.

My schedule most of the time is breakfast, class for three hours, study time, lunch, study time, work out, study time, dinner, class, bedtime. Or its mixed up a little but that is generally how it goes. My companion and I get along really well and we love to talk so we get distracted a lot during our studies. We are already super close and have planned hanging out after the mission already. We decided that I'm and extroverted version of her and she is an introverted version of me. We both have super analytical personalities which can be good and bad at times but its great.

The Spirit at the MTC is so amazing and at first I couldn't really feel it but once I started to look for it,  I can feel it all the time. I also kind of didn't love it here at first but now I would recommend this to anyone even though it is hard.

Sorry this is so long. If you managed to make it to the end thank you and I have a question for you. Do you think Satan has the power to work harder on a group of people(missionaries)? Hermana Welch thinks that since we can feel the Spirit so strong that we can feel the other side as well? Thoughts are welcome.

I love you all!

My roommates and I. Hermana Welch is the tall one. My companion is next to me and Hermana Anderson is in chevron

My district