Being Bold

October 19, 2014

Magandang Tenghali po!

Well this week was so fun and I loved my first whole week with my anak, Sister Valdez! She is so cute and so shy and really lacks confidence, so it is my goal to get her comfortable and feeling like she can do this whole "missionary work" thing. She has been homesick a little bit lately, which I have assured her is normal. I just try to keep her mind off of it by working! That poor girl gets so tired, but there are places to go, investigators to teach, and people to find. The work never ends!!

On Wednesday it was my birthday. I was honestly expecting no one to know or remember.. but they did! Sister Valdez wrote me a sweet note and gave me a Spiderman water bottle that is awesome and cute Sister Sanders made me pancakes for breakfast. She and Sister Wiradi also took the decorations that Grandma sent me and decorated our study room with streamers and balloons. I am just so spoiled!! Duday and Sarah worked with us all afternoon and then we met up with Sister Sanders and Sister Wiradi at Mang Inasal for dinner and Sister Sanders had bought me a big ole chocolate cake to celebrate. I have just never felt so loved! And a great big shout out to all of you who sent your love to me to make this day so special!! Kayo po ang pinakamagaling tao sa buong mundo! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!

On Tuesday we had an AMAZING zone conference in which we learned all about being bold.. and so that day we put or boldness to the test! Sister Valdez and I visited our investigators, Norma and Jose, who live up in the mountains and are in their 50s. We had a great lesson about the Restoration and at the end Sister Valdez invited them to be baptized. They did the usual, "Umm, we will think about it," type of thing. That was not good enough for me. The Spirit just took over and I felt a love that I had never experienced before. I asked them if they knew if our message was true, in which they assured me they did. I am not quite sure what happened next, but I know that Heavenly Father used me as His mouthpiece. I bore the strongest testimony I think I have ever born and told them in the most bold way that I could that they could not return back to their Heavenly Father if they did not take this step. I paused and then after a moment invited them to be baptized. The room was absolutely silent and the Spirit was really working in them. The silence broke when both Jose and Norma accepted the invitation to follow their Savior through baptism.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to be serving. I know that I am still so far from perfect, but I am grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to be a representative of His son. I know that sometimes we need to be bold with those we love because the day will come when they will stand worthy of their actions. I know that if we are bold out of love, great things can happen. Sure, some may take the truth to be hard, but we all have to sound the warning voice. I love you and am so grateful for you!!!

Go find someone today to share this glorious gospel with!!

Sister Anderson

It's a BOY.. That's it's tail.. It's a GIRL!!

October 12, 2014

Hello!!

Whelp, for all you who didn't guess it right, it's a girl!! She was born on Wednesday, October 8th at 3:12pm. She's about 4" 11' and weighs about 80lbs. She has dark brown hair and came out speaking fluent Tagalog! Her name is Sister Valdez and is an adorable Filipina!! It feels great to be a mom!

Training is so fun, especially when you have the cutest anak in the world! Sister Valdez already came to so prepared to the mission and she is just ready to work! As soon as we dropped off her luggage on transfer day, we went straight out to work! No time to unpack or anything... Work work work! That is what we do when we are on the Lord's time!! She doesn't speak too much English. So we basically talk in Tagalog! Hopefully I will get pretty fluent during these next few transfers! 

So it was Christmas this week as we got to watch General Conference! I know that you all already got to watch it, but boy am I grateful for modern-day prophets and apostles who lead Christ's church. The talks were so inspired and I received lots and lots of revelation. I really enjoyed the talks about sustaining our leaders because that is a HUGE problem that we face here. Last night as we taught one less active family, they just went on and on complaining about the leaders. I simply bore testimony to them that our leaders were called of God. There is nothing more to it. They are not perfect but they have been called of God. If we don't sustain and support our leaders, we are creating our own sort of personal apostasy and are turning our backs on our Savior. 

Thanks to everyone who has so graciously helped my cute fam back on the home-front with that giant disaster! I seriously just felt so much love for each of you as my parents expressed how everyone came together so quickly and without question to battle that giant flood. No other organization in the world could gather so many hands in the matter of minutes. How blessed we are to be members of the true church of Jesus Christ!

I love you all sooo sooo much! Have a fantastic week and remember that the most important part of conference is when it is over- when we go home to live it! So go review your favorite talks and follow the counsel of our inspired leaders!!

 Love, 

Sister Anderson

 

Buntis na Ako!!

October 5, 2014

 Magandang umago sa inyong lahat!!
 
Thanks for all the prayers that you have sent my way. I am feeling sooo much better and I know that Heavenly Father has been keenly aware of me and my needs at this time. It was awful being so sick for such a long time- not only for me, but for my sweet companion, and especially our area! I felt awful not being able to go and visit them all the time and because of that, they aren't progressing as they could be. I do know however, that this all happened for a reason and that I really have learned more during the past 2 weeks than at any other time.
 
So.... namatay na si Sister Taufa... She died! It was so hard to say goodbye to her and send her back to the 801, but she really had finished everything that the Lord had sent her here to do. I have learned more from her, than anyone else since being here and I am just so blessed that Heavenly Father allowed me to serve right alongside her. She really has blessed my life in ways that I cannot even begin to express and although we were only together for 6 weeks, I really know we will stay in contact forever. She is just that great! We had a great last day on Sunday, and then that night we went over to the Susa Family's for dinner and they made a little movie for Sister Taufa to say goodbye. I'll have to get a copy of it and send it to you!!
 
I have a surprise.. Buntis na ako! I am having a child!! What?! Ya, I know! Ever since I got here in Morong, I just had this undeniable feeling that I was going to train after Sister Taufa left.. And then in my last interview with President, he confirmed it with me! So I leave tomorrow morning at 5:30 to head to the mission home and pick up my anak! I will update you all next week as to how it goes!

This week has been crazy trying to get Sister Taufa all packed and ready to go! After she left yesterday morning, I was put in a three some with Sister Sanders and Sister Fewster and we had a great time! I got to work in their area which was great, and they helped work in mine. We found an awesome new investigator named Susan that is super prepared. We also went to the hospital here in Morong to visit the investigators of some elders in our zone, whose baby is really sick. It made me sick to my stomach seeing how awful the healthcare here is. The hospital was just plain with white walls with a sour smell, and who knows how many people crammed into one room. All of the patients lied helpless in these crib like things, just taking care of themselves. Oh how grateful I am for the medical care in the states! It was a neat experience meeting these investigators though, Jeanette and Lisa, and Jeanette's baby, Ramjan. He was so cute and has  downs-syndrome and just was as sick as could be. We brought them a snack and visited for a little while, and then left a prayer before we left. I have no doubt they will be baptized.
 
Speaking of health...Poor Sister Fewster is just so kawawa! She gets these giant allergic reactions to some insects here, which have just left here with these HUGE volcanoes on her legs and hips. Poor thing is ALWAYS in pain, and I have had to do surgery on her multiple times, trying to get these things to drain. Dad, you really would be sooo proud of me!!
 
So all in all this week was great! Cannot wait to see what this transfer has in store for me! I can need all the prayers I can get so I can train my anak well!! I love you all!
 
Sister Anderson

Sorry, It's Just a Little

Good Morning po sa inyong lahat!

Sorry, this email is not going to be anything exciting!! Didn't have much work this week because of the typhoon that hit and also the fact that I got hit pretty hard with some nasty bacterial infection that left  me on deaths doorstep. I am just so grateful for the power of the Priesthood and the blessing that it can be to each an every one of us. On Saturday night I received a beautiful blessing from the second counselor in our branch, Brother Susa, in which he told me that I would be healed according to my faith. I know that Heavenly Father was speaking directly to me through Brother Susa and my heart just overflowed with gratitude as I felt the reality of the power of the priesthood in my life. How blessed we are to be able to call on the power of God to help us in whatever circumstance we are placed in. 

I know that Heavenly Father is so aware each and every one of us, no matter what stage of life we are placed in. I am grateful for His trust in me as His servant and for the strength that He gives me to press forward.

I love you all and I promise to write a better email next week!! 

Sister Anderson

Letter and Pictures From Sister Faasavalu

September 21, 2014

Hello, I am Sister Faasavalu and I'm from Hawaii. I was with Sister Anderson just for one week because i got ET over and be triosom with them. Sister Anderson is AMAZING. I love her so much. She's just one transfer ahead of me. She is doing AWESOME. I learned so much from you, and It felt like we've been together for so long. She's so sweet, and we enjoyed our week together. We became super closed, and she's my SISTER here in the mission and FOREVER. I cried when she was transferred to Morong, so we're hoping to see each other again SOON. She is a greatest example here in the mission. Just wanted to let you know that she is doing GREAT! She is fluent in tagalog too. I LOVE SISTER ANDERSON so much.

p.s: Here are some pics that she wanted, and we're not allowed to email each other. So she told me to send it to you, and you can send it to her. Thank you:)

Sister Faasavalu

sister fewster performing surgery on me 

 me and sis taufa

                                 we got stuck in the mountains behind a cow

 

 nanay and tatay musende

Caught in the Act

September 14, 2014

Well Hello once again from the beautiful area of Morong!

This week has gone by fast! Guess that's what happens when you're having fun and you have the BEST companion in the whole entire world!! Man, I wish everyone in the world could have a friend like Sister Taufa! This world would be such a better place because she really is just that amazing!

This week we went on exchanges with the STLs on Thursday which was fun! I was pretty proud of myself because even though I;m still fairly new here, I got the two of us around just fine! AND we celebrated Sister Fewster's 20th birthday! We made pancakes and gave her gifts and surprised her with a cake and decorated the apartment! It's hard work to plan a party though and be a missionary!

Speaking of Sister Fewster, she is such a champ! My feet are sooo infected with these nasty bites and so she took it on herself to take care of me. She'd already experienced the bites before, so she knew what to do! She put of some gloves and went to work squeezing out the puss in all of my wounds. Sorry, super gross, I know... BUT my ankle is no longer the size of an elephant and the bites look so much better!

This past week I hit my 6 month mark since I've been here in the Philippines.. What?! That is just insane! I am finally able to see how much progress I've made, especially with the language and I am grateful to say that the language no longer stresses me out. That in itself is a miracle!!

Our investigators are fine, but we need to find more. Joy is doing AMAZING though!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom the other day and she let us know that she drinks a minimum of three cups a day... We committed her to live this commandment though and when we followed up with her on Saturday, she said that she hadn't drank any coffee since our lesson. That is pure faith right there!

Hey, guess what?! I totally performed the best fall thus far since being in the Philippines! Yesterday Sister Taufa and I were walking down the side of a muddy, steep mountain after going to a birthday party for a part member family, and I completely slipped. And I landed in like 2 feet of mud and then I bathed in a puddle to clean myself off. The life of a missionary in the Philippines!!

 
Wellllll... just when I thought my life couldn't get any more exciting, it did!!! Last night at about 2:30am I had to go to the bathroom really bad but I was so lazy and didn't want to get up. It finally got unbearable to I decided to go downstairs and use the restroom. As I got up, I just thought to myself that I would take Sister Taufa's flashlight so I wouldn't turn on any lights in the house, but then for some reason I just decided to turn on the light of the room right next to us so I could make my way downstairs. As i reached the bottom of the stairs, I noticed that our windows were opened and the sudden feeling came over me that someone was trying to break in. At just that moment I heard a group of men outside our house yelling, "May ilaw, may ilaw!!" meaning that they noticed that there was a light inside our house. Thank heavens that I turned on the light and didn't just use the flashlight or else they might have gotten away with their burglary... but instead, I caught them in the act and they ran away!!! Don't worry, Mom.. I am fine! I am used to situations like these and Sister Taufa is super protective of me!!!
 

Well that is about it! Ingpat!! Mahal na mahal ko kayo!!

Love,

Sister Anderson