Hey all! Sorry about the lack of updates. Had some stuff going on on my end. So here's every e-mail I've received from our girl's mum since my last update. The dates are the dates I received them. And so, without furth ado, INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!!

5/03/09
Exerpts from e-mails curtosy of her mum:
"May 27:



“I hope there’s SOMETHING that can get the branch motivated. See, the last couple baptisms this branch has seen, and KEPT, are people that are self-sustaining. Sara (who I went through the temple with) will come to this church and be valiant through fire and hell. Her own husband makes fun of her, but still she comes, so the lack of fellowshipping in the branch isn’t gonna phase her any. And Tammy has Rick, a self-reactivated man that is on fire for missionary work. But like Sis R has said before, the Lord won’t send his prepared people to his unprepared servants. So until this branch shapes up, they just won’t be ready for new baptisms. It’s sad. And our investigators that have sortuv fizzled (actually, that’s probably the right word. We actually got a call yesterday from a couple, the McCords, that said they couldn’t take the time to really focus on this church, but they love to have us over to talk about the scriptures. Ray even said that as far as he’s concerned, we’re the nicest people they know. We got to help them pick cherries this morning, actually. It was fun and I have pictures and bruises to show for it. ^_^) but there are others that we’re finding that are promising. We just need to get their schedules worked out.



We actually had a downpour on Monday and there was a wedding going on! Barb was asked to be photographer for it so she and another sister in the branch said a quick prayer asking Heavenly Father to clear things up for just the ceremony (not in the temple, by the way) and maybe even for a little sunshine for the pictures. Barb said Heavenly Father obliged. ^_^ I can’t wait to see those pictures now!



This’ll probably be the only e-mail I send today, but tell everyone I love them!”



And from Monday, June 1st :



“Yeah, Memorial Day threw off our schedule, so we had to find time during the week for e-mails. Sorry, but I didn’t get that “I caught you!” e-mail. I think I had time left on the internet, but we had a kinda busy day, so we wanted to get done with e-mails quickly, so I didn’t try to stay on too long.



Of course, the hottest weather forcasted for this week had to be TODAY when we went hiking. It didn’t turn out to bad, but you know just how much I love hiking *insert sarcasm* But I was a good sport about it. We (Sis R, Sis Morrill and I) went with a couple branch members, Sis Stutsman and her daughter Jordan. I’ve told you about Jordan, right? Anyway, we like to hang out with them. And Sis Stutsman was my saving grace because she took it slower than my comps, so I was able to hang back and go slower.



I think that’s about it. I don’t have my notes with me since we came to do e-mails right after hiking and lunch.

Oh man, I gotta go! I love you so much! Hug everyone you can for me! Taptaptaptap!**”

HER MUM SAYS **This is from something that I told "her" about from when "Her Brother & His Wife" got married: the gentleman who performed the ceremony in the temple was talking to the couple a bit just before hand, and mentioned something simple that he and his wife have always done—he would tap her hand three times to indicate “I love you” and she would tap back “I love you, too”."


5/19/09
"Hey everybody!

Guess what happened yesterday? A baptism! Remember when I told you about our miracle of fasting a while back? Well, it was Tammy Buckholz that got baptized. Remember that e-mail about them? (By the way, Sis R and I actually got permission to watch "Savage Journey" which was way cool. It's an old western, but it was pretty good. Richard Mahl was Joseph Smith, if that means anything to you older folk) It was cool when Tammy had her baptisimal interview and Elder Davies (our District Leader) said that it was the most spiritual interview he had ever done. Tammy and Rick are gonna tear it up in Waterloo, I tell you what!

Unfortunately, Tammy was our only progressing investigator. Meaning she was the only one that we were moving toward baptism with. We have a number of other investigators, but they need a lot more work. So we've been tracting a lot lately to try and find some new people, those people that have been waiting for the truth, even if they didn't know it.

Oh man, I'm outta time! I was gonna tell you something else, but it's gotta be for next time.

I love you all so very much! Make good choices!"

6/17/09
"Subject: Teaching Nathan and Albert. Emergency transfer.

Hey everybody! How’s it going?

I’m doin’ great here in the mish. Last week something kinda crazy happened. I was writing a letter to an Elder friend on Monday (that’s our preparation day, so we gotta do all our writing letters then) when we got a voice mail from our mission president. Turns out there’s a sister going home (she’s sick is all) and I was going to be moved to Frontinac on Thursday! I just kinda stood there like an owl blinking for a few seconds. I mean, Pres had told me I’d be leaving Waterloo soon, but I figured it’d be at the end of a transfer! So anyway, I started saying my good-byes to people, then we get a call on Wednesday that since Pres has been busy with Zone conferences (those’re when all the missionaries in a stake get together to report on their areas, get taught by Pres and other missionary leaders and to have lunch. It’s actually a lot of fun) that it didn’t get organized in time. Which is weird because we thought it was a sure thing. Anyway, they were gonna call at the end of the week, but here we are Monday and no call! So yeah, I’m still in Waterloo. I had one of our members (Barb Whitehouse. She is made of awesome) call and leave a message at home not to mail anything directly to the apartment, but to the mission office. This makes mail take twice as long and I’m starting to wonder if I jumped the gun…Sis R figures I’ll be moved Tuesday or Wednesday this week because it’ll be cheaper to fly the Sister home in the middle of the week. But we haven’t gotten word, so now I’m confused.

Oh! Get this, I’ve been telling people in Waterloo that I’m leaving, right? So yesterday in church I was standing by a door waiting to go into class. Sister Watters (sweet lady that lives in the COOLEST Victorian home that used to be a bed and breakfast. We helped her clean her crystal chandelier and muck out her fountain) stands next to me and says “So how have you been getting along without Sister Anderson?” I just kinda stared at her, then she looked at me, looked at my tag and goes, “You are Sister Anderson!” Oh my gosh, it was the funniest thing! It’s a good thing I was leaning against the wall or I might’ve fallen over. Sister Morrill and Barb were standing there too so they saw it. But I’ve been getting a lot of “I thought you were leaving!” and I just say “So did I!” At least I got to go to church one more time to say good-bye to most of the people there.

So anyway, teaching has been going great. We’ve been teaching these two guys Nathan and Albert. They live at a care center (where one of our less-active members live. We visit her once a week) and actually approached us when we were visiting Lorelei one week. I tell you, since then it’s been amazing. They have both been so prepared by the Lord for this gospel. Albert in a very spiritual, heartfelt way. He’s been able to come to church the last two weeks and everyone that meets him just get a good feeling about him. And Nathan is practically teaching US! They’ve both been through so much in their lives that have led them to this gospel. Just soaking it in like a sponge. Brother Rick Buckholz has been able to meet with them and us a couple times (and Tammy too, yesterday) and Nathan has really connected with him. It’s awesome. And a family in the branch invited Albert to lunch at their house, then we taught him the Plan of Salvation afterwards. It was so amazing to do it in a family setting instead of at the care center. Nathan will be going to visit his parents in Arkansas here in a week or so and he’s been talking to them over the phone about what he’s been learning from us. Barb looked up on the internet to see how far the nearest congregation to his parent’s house is and it’s only 12 miles! So we’re stoked. We’re so sure that Nathan is going to bring his family into the gospel simply from the way it’s changing his life. The man that was drinking two pots of coffee when we started meeting with him (like, two weeks ago) hadn’t had any yesterday. They both have stopped smoking and whenever the staff at the care center give them flak about changing religions, they just laugh at it, because it’s so dumb. Seriously, these two are amazing. We’ve already asked Albert to pray for a baptismal date. ^_______^

Anyway, things are awesome. Tammy (who got baptized last month) is just fantastic. She and Rick are gonna do wonders to this branch.

All of my love to you! Trust the Lord in everything you do and he will direct thy paths! "

6/23/09
"Hey everyone!

How’s everything going? Well, I hope. Things here in Illinois have been going great. Guess what we got to do on Saturday? My companions, a couple of members (Rick and Tammy B, who you may remember got baptized about a month ago) and I got to go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square in St. Louis! Oh my gosh, it was so amazing! The three of us had actually been given tickets by a member in the branch that hadn’t realized that her daughter had a dance recital that night. And then someone anonymously gave the mission 60 tickets for us to take investigators to the concert, so we snagged a couple for the B’s. Because let’s face it, Tammy’s a recent convert and Rick just came back from being inactive and they are the most awesome people ever, so we decided they deserved it. ^_^

Anyway, it was funny because later on, Bro R told Tammy that she’d have to go to the MTC to see as many missionaries as we did that night at the Scottrade Center. Really, there were so many missionaries! I even got to see Elder N, an Elder from my MTC district that I hadn’t seen since we got out here to the mission field in February. But every time we turned around, it seemed, there was someone hollering for Sister R. She’d served right around in the city area, so there were a lot of people there that knew her and were happy to see her. Sister M also saw some people she knew, but the only people I saw were other missionaries! Well, we did see an investigator and his member wife, Jimmy and Tiffany, which we weren’t expecting, so that was way cool.

Oh, get this: You may wanna keep an eye out on the BYU channel for a special on Mo Tab, because I may be in it! There was a cameraman going around getting footage of all the people before the concert and he got some of us Sisters talking to some of the ladies that came with the choir. I dunno how much they’re gonna use or when it’ll be shown, but I asked a lady and she said they usually play those clips on the BYU channel between conferences or something like that. I’m just curious, but if you do see me, lemme know! ^_^

So anyway, the concert was, of course, AMAZING. Sis R made the comment that people don’t necessarily go to Mo Tab for the music itself (which of course is beautiful) but more for the feeling. The Holy Ghost is so strong whenever they start to sing. They sang a really good mix of songs. Some of my favorites were when they sang “Come to My Garden” from Secret Garden. See, they put out a CD called “Showtime!” of Hollywood and Broadway songs and I love it. At the end I was afraid they weren’t going to sing “God Be With You Til We Meet Again” (in the program, they had all the CDs listed that were available for sale with the songs listed. Of those listed, the ones in bold were going to be sung that night at the concert. I saw God Be With You bolded and I got all excited) but that’s the very last thing they sang, right after the announcer guy (the guy that’s the voice for Music and the Spoken Word) said good night. Oh, and another of my favorite songs was a Nigerian song called “Betelehemu” with all this clapping and drums and it was so upbeat, but what really touched me was how very joyous it was. Really, I didn’t understand anything they were saying, but I knew they were praising God in all joy and gladness. It was amazing.

Here’s a funny, at one point in the concert, the announcer took a moment to introduce the choir and what they’ve done, how they’re volunteers and everything. He had everyone in the choir and orchestra stand up if they were married to someone else in the choir or orchestra. He made a joke that if we counted real fast, that should have come out even. And then he said something about since they were in St. Louis, maybe he should have all the Cardinals fans stand up, but he wasn’t serious. Three of the men (two in the choir and one percussionist) were, though, and stood up. That got a laugh and the announcer said since they were in St. Louis, everyone should have stood up.

The whole concert was a truly choice experience. They were selling CDs at intermission and I had to get one of the sets. Sis Morrill wanted a CD out of one of them, so I got that set and let her pay me back for the one. Of course a recording never holds a candle to the real performance, but at least it’s something to remember them by.

So anyway, that was the excitement of the past week. Can you tell that we don’t get out much? XD Our investigators are doing great and we actually set a baptismal date with two of them for July 25th! Nathan and Albert are just so amazing and we can’t wait for them to truly receive this Gospel in its fullness. What a blessing.

So I’ll wrap this up now. I love you all! Keep up the fantastic work, whatever it is you’re doing! ^_^ I always love letters *hint hint*!"

6/29/09
"Well, I have found out if I'm staying in Waterlooo or not. I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm not even in Waterloo right now. I was moved to Frontenac as of Friday after lunch. See, I had been under the impression that the sister that was supposed to be leaving had gotten better, and so she wasn't. Apparently not, so she went home Friday and my new companion, Sister Seamons, picked me up after taking her to the airport! I got the call Thursday at 3 o'clock, so I had a little less than 22 hours notice of my departure. So my head spun a little, but it was no big deal. I'd already said my good-byes three weeks ago, so there wasn't much to do but pack up! I think after a few more tries, I'll have this speed packing thing down.

So anyway, Sister Seamons is actually a single Senior sister that wanted a proselyting companion as well as her office job. She's the housing coordinator, but that really doesn't take all that much time. So we do a lot of visiting less-actives but there are investigators we're teaching as well. We're in the same ward as everyone else in the office, too, such as President and Sister Turley, the assistants to the President, and the other senior missionaries. Being comp to a senior sister (not to mention housing coordinator) has it's perks. Such as a MUCH nicer appartment (my own bathroom, walk-in closet. There's a fitness room for the complex with an eliptical machine, it's bigger and just a whole lot cleaner) I'm using Sis S's personal laptop instead of going to the library, she has her own car as well, so I don't have to back her and we go the the office a few times a week, so I can just pick up my mail there. The way it sounds, I'm gonna be here for a while. At least that's the plan, because Frontenac's seen (including me) three different comps in the past month.

Lemme tell you about this really cool project that we're working on getting up and running here in Frontenac. St. Louis is apparently the hub of a large deaf community in this area, but only 3% of them attend a church because there isn't anyone that provides an ASL interpreter. Well just recently a couple (the Swings) moved into Frontenac and they both know ASL, Brother Swing even being Federally licenced as an interpreter. So Sis Seamons is working on organizing a class taught by Bro Swing to teach ward members ASL so they can welcome the hearing-impared into the ward. There's also a less-active woman that has ties to the deaf community (but she herself can hear) and even has a couple of friends she wants to bring to church. She went to the distribution center and ordered 12 copies of the Book of Mormon in ASL on DVD and she just gave them to us! I tell you, I am so excited for all of this! I plan on watching the DVD so I can memorize certain scripture passages in ASL that we use frequently in teaching, such as Joseph Smith's first vision and Moroni 10:4-5. I've already learned some words, like "Sister" (so I can then finger spell my name. I tell you, I almost got a cramp in my hand last night as I was practicing spelling "anderson" quickly), "Lord Jesus Christ" "welcome" and "feel" (so I can ask how they feel in their hearts). The eventual goal with this is to generate enough interest in the deaf community (and word will travel fast, I'm told) for Salt Lake to send ASL missionaries and to grow a deaf branch. How cool would that be?! I've been wanting to learn ASL for a long time, but what better time than in service to the Lord? Wish us luck!

Also, I wanna tell you about the team-ups we had on Friday. The Sisters from Rockwood came down to Waterloo Thursday night to spend the night and then on Friday we split up. I went with Sis Jones while Sis R and Sis Morril went with Sis Thurber so we could get twice the work done in our area! It's a great learning opportunity, to see how other missionaries teach and tract and so on. Plus, they say that sisters team-ups are actually glorified slumber parties. XD It was fun.

And lastly, I FINALLY got to see the pictures of Finn's blessing and Todd's wedding! Dad had sent me a DVD of everyone's pictures, but the Waterloo library computers couldn't read it! So finally, I'm here and Sis Seamons let me look at the pictures. It took a while, but it made me happy. ^_^ I think I'll see if Elder Wood might have access to a computer he can use to look at them, then I could loan him my DVD, if he doesn't already have one. Dunno when I'll see him next, though, because I'm not in his zone anymore. Whatever, I'll figure it out.

Anyway, I love you all! Keep on keeping on! The Lord loves you!"

7/06/09
"Don't you hate it when you type a huge long e-mail, and then it somehow gets deleted? Yeah, I hate that too. It just happened, so I'm gonna do a much shorter e-mail this time. Sorry.

So anyway, things are going really well here in Frontenac. We got a little swamped with housing paperwork mucky-muck when a new appartment had to be found for a new Spanish-speaking area. That kinda consumed the better part of a few days this week. And then there are also the meetings that Sister Seamons has to be at the office for, so we don't actually get to go out and work as much as I'm used to, but that's okay! I spend a lot of extra time at the office working on my ASL memorization. I'm about halfway through verse 4 of Moroni 10.

Our investigator Stephen is doing really well. We were able to give him a tour of the temple grounds as well as take him inside as far as the desk and waiting room. It was so neat that he was able to feel the Spirit there so strongly. We also taught him the first lesson in the form of a tour around the church building. Kind of. We call it a tour, but it's more of a visual first lesson, going through a few rooms with pictures of the old testament prophets, Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles (old and new) set up so they make more sense. It was all very cool.

Oh man, it's time to go! I love you all very much! God does too! ^_^"

Whew! And that's the end of it. Alrighty, luvvies! Hope you enjoyed reading about how our girl's doing! As always, send her love, letters, and munchies! ^_~ Trust me when I say she will be THRILLED!

Buh-bye for now!
UmbraNixum