February 12, 2017

- Santa Ana Parin -February 5, 2017

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

To start off, transfers came this week and.... Nothing happened! I'm still in Santa Ana with Elder Torion, which means I will be killing him (sending him home) because this is his last cycle here in the mission.  However, I'm excited for this next transfer and I know we'll be doing good work.

This week we had the missionary broadcast everyone has been talking about but I'm sure you already know the details of the changes, so I won't explain further. However, it was great and helped me realize what my focus needs to be in my work.  

We found two investigators this week, bata pa sila, mga 9 years old sila, pero they are really excited to learn about the gospel and they understand our teaching very well.  We review every lesson but they are able to tell us everything we taught them almost word for word. They actually read the assignments we give them and they keep all of our commitments even without their parents reminding them. They are great!

Now for the Spiritual Thought:

This week I was reading in Mormon and I read chapter 2, verses 11-14.  This is the time in Nephite history where the people were in constant war and God was not giving the Nephites strength because of their wickedness.  Then, in verse 11 the people began to mourn due to the great amount of death among them. In verse 12, the people began to remember God and would "sorrow before the Lord" but, as we read in the later verses, they remembered the Lord for the wrong reasons.  Rather than humbling themselves and asking for forgiveness, the people cursed God and therefore did not receive blessings but continued in their torment.

Applied to us, when we have trials in our lives we have choices.  One of them is how we react towards our Heavenly Father.  We can remember Him, ask for help, and be strengthened; or we can ask "why me?" and receive pretty much no help at all.  We must offer up "broken hearts and contrite spirits" to the Lord in order to receive His help.  I know that our trials can strengthen us, or tear us down; and the decision is up to us.  I've definitely learned that here on the mission, when trials come along, I always need to turn to the Lord and receive His strength if I wish to succeed, for I know I am nothing without the Lord.

Mahal ko kayo!

-Elder Anderson

Personal Growth -January 29, 2017

Hello everyone!

First off, this week was not very eventful in work. We had zone conference which ate up a full day of work, but I can say that I experienced a lot of personal revelation both about missionary work and what I want to become after the mission.  I came to realize things that were holding me back in the work that shouldn't be. Limitations that weren't really there, imagined. I have set goals and made plans to accomplish them in the next transfer (which happens to be next week). I will know by next monday if I will be transferring or not and whether or not I will have a leadership position. I will keep you all posted!

This week however, we did get to teach our investigators who are extremely interested in finding the truth.  They are Norma and Romi, and they have been members of three different religions so far but have left them because they found that they did not comply with the Bible as much as they claimed.  We met them last week and they have been greatly interested in our interpretation of the Bible and our beliefs. They ask us loads of questions and we answer them with scriptural evidence and they come to understand that our beliefs are in harmony with the Bible. We have also given them a Book of Mormon and they have started reading it this week.  They promised more questions when we come back and I can't wait! It's so nice to have someone who is truly concerned with finding the truth. We extended a baptismal invitation but they declined, saying they weren't quite sure if our message was true, but will continue to investigate our message. However, they gave us a compliment saying we are the only people they have met with that doesn't start sweating at their questions.  It's truly been an awesome teaching experience and I hope I can continue to teach them. 

That's all I really have to report for this week, so now it's spiritual thought time!

This week I was reading in 3 Nephi where Christ appears to the Nephites and the signs that foretell His crucifixion.  Following Christ's death on the cross, there was great destruction in the land, earthquakes, whirlwinds, fires, and many other forms of chaos. Thousands were slain because of their wickedness. After these events the voice of Christ was heard in the land, and in 3 Nephi 9:13 Christ invites men to come unto Him by saying "O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?" (emphasis added). This verse was especially powerful to me because Christ makes it clear that the decision to be cleansed of sin-- to be healed spiritually-- is our own. Christ asks us to turn to Him, to let Him heal us.  His arm is always extended out to us, the only thing holding us back from the power of the Atonement is ourselves.  

I would invite all to come unto Christ. To let Him heal you. To choose to partake of His love. To experience the everlasting joy that comes through His Atonement.

I know with my whole heart that Christ can and will heal us if we let Him.  I have experienced personally this cleansing, strengthening power, and the everlasting joy that comes after true repentance.  If any of you have things that are preventing you from enjoying all of the blessings that God has to offer, I would invite you to change, exercise the power of the Atonement and turn your back on whatever may be causing you to miss out on fully partaking of the joy of the Gospel

I know that this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is true. I know that we can all change through the power of the Atonement. And I know that God loves us, and wants each and every one of us to partake of His joy.

-Elder Anderson

Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked, and Walked, and Walked... -January 22, 2017

Hello everyone!

This week was alright. The work was good this week even though we had to go to the hospital in a different zone to get a check up for my companion. Don't worry, he's doing ok.

This week was kind of a normal week, nothing too exciting to report. However, we worked super hard this week and tried to change up our route by going to different barangays in our area that we haven't really been to so far because our current areas aren't really progressing. The problem is, we ended up having to go pretty far, around 5 miles, from our house in order to get to this new area. We took a jeep-ney out there and got to work. However, when we were going home after our work, we waited for a ride back, pero walang sakyan doon pagkatapos 6 o'clock, so we had to walk the whole way back to the apartment. It took us over an hour and a half but we made it home safely.

Sorry for the pretty boring email about the work, there really wasn't anything too exciting to share, so I'll just go on to my spiritual thought.

I was reading Christ and the New Covenant this week by Jeffrey R. Holland, which is about The Book of Mormon and its mission to testify of Christ. In his work, Elder Holland emphasizes how all of the prophets in The Book of Mormon testify of Christ, but also refer to the testimonies of their fathers, which came from the brass plates (Their Old Testament). Elder Holland then goes on to discuss how the prophets referenced in The Book of Mormon are nowhere to be found in our modern day Bibles, showing that many plain and precious things were lost from our Bible today, especially the many, many testimonies of the coming of Christ, the Messiah. This made me realize how lucky we are to have The Book of Mormon today, to help us better understand the mission of Christ and the way to eternal life. Without The Book of Mormon, we would not fully understand the gospel, especially the important and critical role of Jesus Christ. Without The Book of Mormon, we would be left in the same confused state as other religions, left to our own devices to interpret the Bible. Thankfully, back in 1820, Joseph Smith had a question. He prayed, and received the answer that changed the course of modern history.

I'm so very grateful for the scriptures, especially The Book of Mormon. I know with my whole heart that they are true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and was prepared to help restore Christ's church on the earth today. I know that the greatest joy comes through the gospel, and through the gospel all of our questions can be answered, our weaknesses turned to strengths, and our burdens can become light.

Mahal ko kayo,

-Elder Anderson