Home Stretch!!!

 

Us and our awesome teacher Sister Winn!

September 19, 2014

Alright, I'm on the home stretch now. in just a few days ill be on my way to daejeon korea, the land where i have been prepared to go for longer than i can even remember. i know for sure that i am supposed to be going to this wonderful place to meet the amazing people there. I feel somewhat confident in holding my own in a gospel lesson in korean, but everyday life stuff, thatll be tough. thank goodness for trainers! And also prayer, prayers good too. We had elder scott come and talk to us on tuesday about prayer. having him walk in the room and seeing everyone stand up was probably the coolest thing i have ever experienced, goosebumps and chills everywhere!! his message was so simple and clear, but with so much power and conviction that you could not deny the truth of his message and that he has a sincere, personal testimony of this restored gospel.

this week has already flown by!! my goodness, its going so fast. the mtc has gone so fast, but it has been so fun and i have progressed so much. My teacher recommended me and eld tischner to do the how to begin teaching demonstration for the new missionaries! it was such a great opportunity! i was really scared and nervous at first, but it went great. basically, they set up a mock living room, hooked us up with mics, and had us know on a door. we went in, and just started talking to the lady(man next time) in front of abig group of new missionaries. The administrateor guy came up to us after and said that it ws the best hed ever seend done. it was so great! i loved it! i have honestly come so far. eld tischner said that if i hadnt told him, he would have had no idea that i was so shy growing up. i have come so far and can actually talk to people now! or at least try to, korean is still totugh, but itll come with hard work and prayer.

This week has gone by so fast that i dont really even know what has happened. just a lot lof study, learning, and good stuff! i love my district so much and its going to be so sad when we all separate. oh! im the travel leader for the daejeon missionaries, so thatll be pretty fun!

Thanks for all the support everyone!! i am so grateful to have all of you and hope i can make you proud.

Elder Anderson

 

Brownie party! Thanks grandma, and i saw my friend Elder Nathan Steele from school going to Taiwan

 Mike left, and pauls visa hasnt come(again) so hes been here for an extra 2 weeks and will go stateside. My district with the korean flag, and president snow of our branch presidency.

Anticipation

September 11, 2014

 

Hello people back home and wherever you are. I dont really know who reads these, but whoever you are I hope youre doing well! This week has been so great! Last week, i talked about how i was a little scared to skype with the people in korea. well, it was my favorite moment ever! each of our teachers picked someone they met or taught in korea to portray as an investigator. one of them is bro kwak. Well, on friday,, we had the chance to talk with the real brother kwak in korea and it was the coolest experience ever!! He was the nicest, funniest guy. His family arent members and at first they were pretty opposed. He said that theyre warming up now and thinks eventually will be baptized. We asked him to share Mosiah 2:41 with tehm and his testimony, and to our surprise, he said he would do it that day!! Our teacher is going to talk to him and follow up on him. Ive been praying for him and his family a lot, and really hope that a change happens in their hearts. I cant wait to get to korea and interact with the amazing people there!

Things are still going very well. Korean is advancing very well, and im happy with my progress. but not satisfied, there is sooo much more that i need to learn and get down. our district was asked to participate in a new teacher training activity yesterday which was awesome. the teacher asked us to raise our hands if the language was a struggle when teaching our investigators. elder tischner and i were the only ones who did not raise our hands, and we were being completely honest. We are able to say what needs to be said. you dont need to use elaborate words or sentences to convey this simple gospel. I believe that this simple gospel should be matched with simple words, especially for those who are new to it, and especially new to the idea of God like the people I'll be talking to. 

So thats been great! i love being able to teach in korea, even if the ones i teach right now are white and from america. its still so fun and i love seeing the progression in people and figuring out what needs to be said and explained better. 

it is crazy to look back and see how far we have all come, in language, growth, and especially time. I get my flight plans tomorrow! in a week and a half, i think, i will be on my way to the beautiful nation of South Korea,eating kimchi, walking past dog farms, not writing someones name in red ink becasue it means you want them dead, discovering their other funny traditions, and working hard for the salvation of Gods children. God and Jesus Christ personally know and love every person who has, is, and every will be on this earth. The book of mormon really helps us realize this divine relationship we can have. ive learned how well the bom describes the atonement, especially when compared to the bible. both are great and testify of christ, but htere is somehting special about the book of mormon. ive really grown to love it. 

i hope all of you really study this beautiful book that has been prepared for our day. I know that through it, we can grow much closer to our father in heaven.

Things are great here!! dont worry about me one bit. Love you all!

Time's Running Down

             We do wall sits after class if we were bad. We also take majestic pictures at the temple.

Me and some of the district bros! minus elders baugh, porcaro, and hines

September 4, 2014

Hello again people back home. It sure does feel like it was just yesterday that i was writing home. It is so crazy how fast it goes! We got another batch of korean missionaries, so now there are 3 generations and i am the oldest. Now thats hard to believe! The MTC really is so great and i love it here, but this past week i've a bit more anxious to get to korea. Ooh!!! Heres something crazy and also a bit terrifying. Tomorrow we are skyping with people in Korea, and having a 40 MINUTE LONG spiritual thought/discussion for TRC. 40 minutes with real koreans, in real korea, speaking real korean speed. Its pretty intimidating! but itll be a good time. I hope! Thats a long time to speak only korean with people who only speak korean. but im pretty excited for it too!
 

Its pretty hard trying to remember what has happened this last week. so dont get mad if youre disappointed with what a wirite. Because anger is bad!!

Ooh! I have a request for all of you. read john 16, and pay special attention to the last half. it is amazing! its Christ talking to His disciples about how he is going to leave them soon. The last verse is up there with my favorites of all time! So please read it!! and all of the scriptures! They are so amazing. I never really got into the scriptures before coming here, and boy do i regret that now. They really are an amazing blessing and gift from God, so please use this wonderful gift. I dont think anoyone would regret studying the scriptures too much, just like being too kind. So be kind to everyone! Especially new converts. They need your love and support soooo much and member involvement cannot be overstated.

This next sunday is fast sunday! Which means ill have the opporutinity to bear my testimony in the great language of korean. It really is crazy how fast we learn here. I wish i could just talk to all of you and show you the effects of the amazing spirit thats here.

Korea is coming up and it is so crazy. Im super excited, pretty scared, and also sad to leave. but i know that i am meant ot be in korea. Im going to do all i can to prepare for those people. Thank you so much for everything, i love you all, and i love the message i have the opportunity to share!

Half Way There!!

August 28, 2014

Holy cow I have been here for a month! It’s so crazy to look back on premission life and how far we have come in ALL aspects. Language, spiritually, friendships, I love it! One of my favorite things here at the MTC are the opportunities we have to teach our teachers as investigators. The Lord really does use this time as preparation for the field. We have one investigator named Brother Lee(sounds nothing like it but the darn romanization kills korean and I don’t have a korean keyboard on this computer). He is a buddhist, has practically no background on the church, and asks sooooo many questions! The awesome thing is that we can understand and give responses in both korean and scripture. After the first or second lesson we had still only talked about God and the Holy Ghost and touched on Christ because of all his questions. We asked him to pray as homework and when we came back the next time he said he had felt a good feeling. We had a whole lesson planned about Joseph Smith and the restoration but instead were prompted talked all about baptism! At the end we challenged him to be baptized and he said he would pray about it. He hasn’t even heard the name Joseph Smith but we'll see what happens!!

Yesterday we had the chance to teach another companionship. We choose someone we know and take on that character to be taught. It was amazing!! The words seem to just flow now, and I keep amazing myself with how much I can speak when I really try and push myself. We give over 30 minute long lessons with 0 korean help, in full korean. Everything!! And don’t even think that the teachers/investigators will listen if you say english. In those discussions, we are in korea and they do an awesome job of that. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I am loving my time here and thinking about leaving honestly makes me sad. I am best friends with my district and think that these friendships are going to last a long time. They truly are my best friends. That doesn’t mean we're without struggles. There’s one elder in particular who does not want to work and who has a pretty bad attitude. I can’t even imagine what his companion is going through right now. My mission has already started. The first lines in preach my gospel are "You are surrounded my people." How true is that! And all those people are God's children. Everyone here has accepted God and Jesus Christ once, and they can do it again. In fact, that is our entire purpose of existence! We are here to return to love with our Heavenly Father. My purpose as a missionary is to help people realize this. And our duty as people who know this is to help others know as well. I read Mosiah 2 and 3 yesterday and would invite you all to do so as well. The main points I got were that obedience leads to blessings, and once you have heard the word, you have a great responsibility. You always hear that sin corresponds with immediate gratification, however, there’s a verse in there that says when we obey, god will IMMEDIATELY bless us. We just need to look for these blessings. They are there, I promise. There’s now a big emphasis on leading investigators to enduring to the end. If they hear the word and are baptized, and fall away, it would’ve been better for them to not hear it at all. I love the people of Korea and I want them to go as far as possible. I am determined to teach the importance of enduring to the end and continued obedience past baptism. I love those people too much to let them fall.

That’s a lesson for all of you!! You know the truth, and you have been blessed with the chance to hear it. Don't forget your testimonies and continue to build them. Remember what’s important in this life. Study the scriptures, they have the answers to life's toughest questions. Listen to the prophet. He has been called of God and knows what he's talking about, even if he's an old man.

The church is true! Jesus Christ is the only way to return to our Heavenly Father and find true happiness. Good luck everyone!

 Donut parties

I Have Been Gone 4 Weeks!

Aug 21 at 9:22 AM

Holy moly the weeks go by so fast here. It feels like I was just at the computer yesterday writing home, and here I am again!! I can now say more complex sentences with more than one verb! Yay for teaching yourself! The lessons are going a lot better now, there’s a lot more conversation than before, and we aren’t using scripts! We just write points that we want to make and scriptures that would go along with it, and then some vocab that would be helpful. It’s really cool!  At trc last Friday they had real Korean volunteers!! I actually got to teach real Koreans for the first time and it got me pretty excited to go to Korea. Asians are awesome!

I think my favorite part of the mtc are the district review discussions we have after the devotionals. Those are the best most spiritual things ever!! So great! And it’s comforting to hear how many people have been through the same kind of stuff as me. My district is so diverse with personalities but they are the best people ever!

I’ve been learning so much here! Even though all the gospel lessons are in Korean, I still get so much out of it. I’ve really learned about the importance of studying the scriptures. I really admire those people who just know what scripture can relate to a situation and I really want to be like that. There are sooo many amazing lessons to be learned and help to be received from the scriptures. Right now especially, the scriptures teach a whole lot better than I do. So they have been a big help in the lessons. 

 
The gift of tongues is real. It is incredible how fast we learn!! I know that I have a looong way to go, but I’m happy with the progress I have made. Whenever I feel discouraged with the language, Heavenly Father seems to place someone in my path to help encourage me. It has been such a blessing to have people compliment me on how well I am doing, sometimes even people I don’t even know. It really gives a big boost. 
 
Elder Baugh told us a story in one of our reviews and I would like to give some advice to all of you. Follow all promptings you receive, even if you don’t know why and may never know why in this life. But by simply talking to someone, you could save someone’s life. Heavenly Father knows everything, surely His will is greater than ours. Please conform to it. Blessings will come. To you and to others. 
 
Thank you all for your support! The church is true and its message is beautiful!

Elder Anderson

 

 My stash

Me and my awesome teacher Chandler Hyeongjenim(Brother)

 

 

Week Whatever

August 14, 2014

Time really is flying by here at the MTC. I never understood what people meant by the days would be long but the weeks would go by fast, but now I do! It’s so true, they days seem to be pretty long, but it amazes me how fast the weeks go. 

 

I got to host the new missionaries yesterday and it was an awesome experience. It’s crazy to think that 3 weeks ago that day I was the one saying goodbye to my family. And now I am perfectly adjusting, speaking entire 30 minute long lessons in 한국말.(Hangukmar, Korean), It’s so fun and I love speaking it! It still amazes me how fast we are all learning. The Korean language really is so interesting and super fun. I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. I know that I am supposed to be serving the people of Korea and there are people prepared for me. 

 

The mtc really is a special place. There’s just a different feeling here and everyone’s here for the same reason. And they’re all so friendly! Pretty much all, anyways. I had a tough time with some people, but after praying every day for charity, I have grown to really like and care for these people. Yay prayer! Oh! And the temple, the temple is awesome. If you ever have something that you are worried about or have a question on that you can’t find the answer to, go to the temple and pray about it! I had an awesome experience with that last week and it has given me a huge boost in confidence here on my mission. So if you’re having troubles in your life, go to the temple! If you don’t have time for it, you’re lying. Make time!

 I am doing great here! So no one worry about me, ok? I am being well taken care of and I couldn’t be happier. My district is super close and we all work well together. The language is tough but really fun, and to be honest it is coming along. I explained and invited to church yesterday in all Korean but 2 words and it was so cool! I can convey my thoughts and ideas in another language after just 3 weeks!! Nowhere else can you say that but at eth mtc. It’s a special place. 

 Thanks for all your support and prayers. 

 Love,
Elder Anderson