tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65372809008104584832024-02-19T05:03:22.668-08:00The Long Beach StoryThe Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-92021431454627812082015-03-31T16:14:00.001-07:002015-03-31T16:16:00.943-07:00Hello All,<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Man, I have a little over a week left.
That's weird to think. For this weeks email I'm going to cheat a little
and send what I wrote for our missions newsletter. All the missionaries
going home write a little article for the newsletter. Hopefully it's not
stupid...</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div class="" style="font-size: medium; outline: none;">
<div class="" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-radius: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; float: none!important; margin-bottom: 0px; width: 875px;">
<div class="" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(216,216,216); border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-radius: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: rgb(216,216,216); margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<div id=":2m1">
<div class="" style="padding-bottom: 20px; padding-left: 8px;">
<div class="" style="margin-left: 44px;">
<div class="" id=":2m3" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px;">
<div class="" id=":2m2" style="overflow: hidden;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My
mission has been such a great experience. I don't even know what words
to </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">use to describe that enough. It seems that anything I have to say
about it doesn't </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">do it justice. One thing I do know is that my mission
has been more fun than </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">anything I've done. Honestly, if my mission had
been any more fun it would be a </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">bad thing. All of the experiences, all
the lessons, all the crazy things that have </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">happened have been more fun
than I ever imagined. Now, my mission has also been </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">full of experiences
that weren't so fun. There's been a few times where I was convinced </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wouldn't make it through the day. The crazy thing is, here I am! It
doesn't matter </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">that sometimes I thought I was going to drop dead on a
side walk in Long Beach! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Heavenly Father asks us to serve 18-24 months
and he provides a way for us to </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">do it. Nobody can stop God's work from
moving forward. Not even the weaknesses </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">of those he sends to teach his
gospel. Heavenly Father wants his missionaries to b</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">e happy! Teaching and
finding and having awesome experiences make missionaries </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">happy! The
Lord will never leave you alone. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I can remember in
particular one investigator we had in Fountain Valley. The whole </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">6 weeks
we taught him we had powerful lessons where the spirit testified to him
and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">us that what we were saying was true. We had members actively
involved in the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">teaching process and eventually he was baptized by his
brother who had joined the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">church a year or so before. Along with all
that it was super fun! That's what missions </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">are meant to be like. You
should have the time of your life teaching and testifying! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Life is meant
to be enjoyed but you're the only one who can decide to enjoy it. I
love </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ll of ya'll and I know Heavenly Father does too. Keep on fighting,
keep on pushing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">he world needs what you have to say.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yeah that's right, I put keep it real at the end! I ain't no robot!!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-51543056673891615462015-03-16T10:24:00.000-07:002015-03-16T10:24:40.744-07:00Herro<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was pretty
crazy. We had a ton of problems with our car and trying to find lost gas
receipts and going to the DMV and getting the registration renewed
because the tags never came and they expired and all that crazy stuff.
Along with the crazy there were tons of awesome experiences though. We
had a really really good Zone Conference (my last one!). It was all
about helping investigators progress. That's the focus here for March.
In Southern CA there are TONS and TONS of people. That makes finding and
teaching a little bit easier. There are enough people who are open
minded that we are able to add to our teaching pools a lot, thus making
our teaching pools bigger and we can teach more. The hard thing however,
is helping investigators to progress. A lot of that depends on their
agency but we can create and environment where the spirit will be the
strongest and will testify the most to them. Then, when they feel
something hopefully they will do something. At the end of the day if we
do all we can and prepare and practice and execute it's all up to their
decision. That can be hard but as long as we do what we can then we know
that we're successful and we're doing what the Lord wants us to.</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope you guys all have a great week!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br clear="all" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-41173157515855330142015-03-04T17:44:00.001-08:002015-03-04T17:44:17.229-08:00Dear Family & Friends<div dir="ltr">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was pretty
cool. Elder Miura is awesome. He's told me a ton already about cool
Japanese stuff. Turns out they have 3 alphabets and one of them has like
thousands of letters! It's very uncommonly used though. They really
only use the other 2. Also one of them is used specifically for writing
out words that have heavy American influence. It's cool.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We
also had a great lesson with a new investigator named Debbie. She goes
to one of those really really big Christian churches where they have
super famous pastors that are all over tv and stuff like that. She was
pretty blown away by the Joseph Smith story and in particular the 1st
vision. She definitely felt the spirit and we made sure to point out
that she was feeling the Spirit so she would be able to recognize the
Spirit more. I've found that is a great way to help people to understand
the Holy Ghost in later experiences. One of the most powerful ways to
bear testimony is to say something along the lines of "I know that
[insert topic here] is true by the same feeling that is in your heart as
we talk" after pointing out that the spirit is testifying to them. The
times where I or my companion, or anyone I've been around for that
matter, have said something like that it's been a very powerful
statement. Being bold is the best way to testify. If you're going to
testify make it bold! They're going to feel the spirit either way, you
might as well add some extra juice to it! That's my personal philosophy
at least.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I hope you guys all have a great week! I love you all!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-49329969758549902632015-02-27T05:58:00.000-08:002015-02-27T05:58:11.291-08:00Hello All!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So transfers
came in and I'm staying right here in the Woodruff ward! I'm going to
finish my mission here! Great! Also I'm getting a new comp. He's from
Japan and his name is Elder Miura. I checked and yes, his name does have
"Yoshi" in it. Best. Comp. Ever. We're going to have a blast I already
know it. He's been out for about 3 months so he's straight fresh out. I
hope that keeps me from getting "trunky" #april7. I also found out that
one of the Elders I came out with who was in the zone is also staying!
And to add to that there's another Elder coming into the zone who is
"dying" this transfer! It's going to be a bunch of old men hanging out
together. It'll be a blast.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We had a really
cool experience with a brand new investigator named Jenny. We have
talked with her before but never actually taught her. The first time we
ran into her was just before Christmas. We happened to be in her
neighborhood just out of the blue. From what I remember we just took a
random turn down a street because we though a potential lived there. We
were walking by Jenny's house and she gave off every indication of being
someone that we <i>shouldn't </i>talk to (just based off of past
experience) she was on the phone, smoking, and looked like she was
having a bad day. She ended up being really awesome and we had a great
talk with her. So now fast forwarding to this past week: she had a close
friend pass away and we were able to teach her about how trials are
hard but God has a plan for us and we can make it through anything. It
was a great experience for sure.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I love you guys! I hope you all have a great week!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br clear="all" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"'; font-size: 7.0pt';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span>The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-45521484357614335682015-02-15T14:15:00.005-08:002015-02-15T14:15:53.817-08:00Hey there errybody,<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week was a pretty fun week. Lots and lots of fun times for sure. We
accomplished something great this week! We had NO people sign up to feed
us on our calendar so we went ahead and took matters into our own hands
and somehow managed to have a dinner (or at least someone dropping food
off or something like that) every night this week! Where there's a will
there's a way! That was cool. The members here are very loving and a
lot of them are willing to feed us but somehow don't get to see the
calendar. I guess some people get skipped over when it's being passed
around? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week our Mission President had
challenged every companionship to teach every night and we were able to
do it! We had some really good lessons and things kinda all fell into
place. We were also blessed to be able to have a lot of members from the
ward come out and teach with us. Having members take us to lessons is
the BOMB. We love it. We finally started to officially teach a guy named
Oscar that we've been trying to visit for a month or two. We were
finally able to teach him and focus on his family and how much of an
impact they have had on him. They moved a few years back to a completely
different place because he and his wife wanted their daughter to be in a
safe place. Now that's some commitment to helping a child. That was
super cool to hear from him. There are so many people that we meet who
are worried about their families and who want the best for them. Finding
and teaching those people are my favorite things to do! It really makes
me love being a missionary and doing this work. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope you guys all have a great week! Love love love</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">p.s.
I got my flight plans this week...Turns out I have a 5 hour layover in
Salt Lake City....That'll be fun...I'll just spend that time playing
with my phone and all that fun stuff that dudes coming home from their
missions <i>totally</i> have.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: '"Helvetica","Tahoma","Arial","sans-serif"'; font-size: 7.0pt';"><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></span>The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-75543568731651520762015-02-04T06:49:00.004-08:002015-02-04T06:56:44.485-08:00Talofa O'u aiga ma uo!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So this week was pretty cool.
We had a lot of fun for sure. We helped a few people do some service.
One type of service we did was taking apart pallets so that this lady
could make furniture out of it. Look it up on Pintrest that's where she
got the idea from. That was extremely difficult. We didn't even finish
it either. Turns out those things are <i>dang</i> hard to get apart. I
only broke 4 of the panel things on it. You know what it is. We're going
back tomorrow to finish the job. Hopefully we can do it without
breaking everything we try to take apart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We
also got to teach a lot more than usual this week. Our Mission
President has really been focusing on making sure that every
companionship teaches every night. In this mission that's sort of tough
to do but we're working on changing the culture of this mission to be a
mission where missionaries teach. We hope to be able to look back and
say "the missionaries in the California Long Beach Mission teach every
night". Everything we do has a culture. A culture is a way of life, an
expectation or a standard that you hold a group of people to. Along with
groups, individuals also have a culture. I think that could be better
worded as a character. President David O. McKay said<span style="color: #cccccc;"> <span style="line-height: 18px;"><i>“We
sow our thoughts, and we reap our actions; we sow our actions, and we
reap our habits; we sow our habits, and we reap our characters; we sow
our characters, and we reap our destiny.” </i>Changing your character to be
someone different, someone better, starts one thought at a time. Trust
me. My mission has changed me more than I could have ever known but my
character didn't start to change for the better until I dug deep and
started to change who I was, starting with what I thought.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I hope you guys all have a great week! I love you guys!</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br clear="all" /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-70763185024900303092015-01-19T12:17:00.002-08:002015-01-19T12:17:47.596-08:00We moved this week! <div>
Woo! Our last apartment was tiny. This one is nice and spacious. Also moving allowed us to use this!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<img height="342" src="http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/%7E/?auth=co&id=274489&part=2" width="456" /><br /></div>
<div>
We
got to drive the mission truck! It's a 2014 Chevy Silverado! Sick! That
was a ton of fun. We loaded that bad boy up and took care of everything
we had. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well that's all I really have time for this week! Have a great week!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Keep it real.</div>
<div>
<br clear="all" /><div>
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
Elder Sanderson</div>
#leavebetter</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-35304228346596674432015-01-14T07:23:00.000-08:002015-01-14T07:23:53.252-08:00Hello Erryone! <div dir="ltr">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Transfer
calls came in an I found out that Elder Van Kammen and I are staying
together again. It's pretty cool. This ward is the bomb. It's going to
be a great place to die. Unless President Tew decides to send me back to
HB for my last transfer. That's pretty much all I'll ask him to do
every week this transfer. Just kidding I'm glad to be wherever the Lord
needs me to be. This week we were able to teach a lot more than the past
few weeks. It's good because it seems to be a trend that the end of the
transfer is always a really slow week but we've kept things pretty
consistent. This week should be pretty fun. It's cool to get to see all
the new missionaries who come into the zone. Our zone is pretty
"stacked" right now. There are a ton of awesome missionaries here. There
are quite a few brand new missionaries in this zone. It's always
awesome having brand new missionaries (not greenies, Elder Baxter from
the Quorum of the 70 told us not to use that term anymore when he came
here last month). They always seem to bring a lot of enthusiasm to the
zone instead of being old washed up cynics like me. Just kidding that's
not how I am at all. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I hope all of you have a great week and remember how much I appreciate all of your lives. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-3339301042254676122014-12-30T06:48:00.004-08:002014-12-30T06:48:54.580-08:00Hey hey hey,<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">This
week turned out really good. Christmas was the BOMB. We got to watch
"It's a Wonderful Life". That movie is also the BOMB. We also had a
brunch. Brunches are the BOMB. Everything we did on Christmas was pretty
much the BOMB. It's good that our mission is so tiny that getting a
zone full of missionaries is super easy. Our dinner was really cool too.
We ate with an old lady and her family and she gave us these awesome
handmade blankets. Those blankets are the BOMB.</span></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;">The
beginning of the week was slow with teaching but we did get to have a
great time caroling to some investigators/LA's on Christmas Eve and
Night. Even though the beginning of the week was slower the weekend was
awesome. All the investigators that we found were Saturday and Sunday
and they were all awesome miracles. They were all pretty similar too. We
would go to a potential that we either had met before or set up a
return appointment with and we went over and the were super open and
willing to read the things we left with them like pamphlets or the Book
of Mormon. We hope to be able to have really good lessons with them this
week and to see if we can get any of them with baptismal dates.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I
hope you guys all had a sick Christmas. I know I sure did. This was my
last one of my mission. Crazy. It was also my last Skype home. WUT.
#4months #nottrunky</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Anywho, remember that you guys are awesome and that oute alofa iate outou! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-41116917951534821242014-12-22T13:07:00.000-08:002014-12-22T13:07:14.092-08:00Dear Friends and Family,<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sorry I haven't been sending
out very many of these. It's been pretty hard to find the time to email
lately. Things have been real real here. Christmas is just about here
and even though this crazy upside down place I'm in doesn't have any
snow I'm still extremely happy to be spending another Christmas in the
Great California Long Beach Mission. So far things are going great.
We've had a few great experiences this week. One was when<span style="font-size: 13px;"> we
were with a member visiting some people. Nobody was there, but as we were
standing there the daughter in law rolled up and we starting talking to
her and, long story short, she let us in and we taught her! It was
awesome! Finding new investigators every week is possible! It's one of
my favorite phases in missionary work for sure.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The
hustle and bustle is continuing to pick up and I'm sure by the night
before Christmas there will be many many creatures stirring around
trying to get the last minute shopping done. From the stores with 50%
off Christmas decorations to the BOGO sales many many people will be so
focused on getting things done before Christmas that they might forget
why they're really celebrating. Let's not forget why this all came to
be. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This all came to be because 2000 years ago
a baby was born. Lots of babies were born before that and lots of
babies have been born since and lots of babies will yet be born, but
this one was different. This baby was not just another bundle of joy
given to faithful parents. No, this baby was someone else. This
baby had a divine destiny that reached far beyond any other baby. This
baby was born of an earthly mother but a heavenly father. This baby was a
promised gift, a foretold bringer of peace and goodwill. Rather than
his birth being announced by just his parents, it was announced by
angels. This baby was Jesus the Christ. This baby was the fulfillment of
every prophet from Adam down. The birth of Jesus, like any other gift,
is not something we should take for granted. "For what doth it profit a
man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold,
he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, <i>neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift</i>."
(D&C 88:33 italics added) Let us receive the gift of Jesus' birth
and rejoice in Him and He who is the giver of the gift, our Father in
Heaven.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I love you guys and I wish you all a
very Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a fun and safe time. Have fun
in the snow for me! (for those of you who are fortunate enough to have
it)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real merry.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-90843366277914720392014-12-03T09:12:00.000-08:002014-12-03T09:12:03.527-08:00Cerritos zone! <img height="408" src="http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/%7E/?auth=co&id=267563&part=2" width="544" /><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I found out I'm leaving Cerritos and going back to Long Beach!! It's a different part though. It's the nice part. :D</div>
<br clear="all" /><div>
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
Elder Sanderson</div>
#leavebetter</div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-48451072980475474802014-11-24T14:34:00.004-08:002014-11-24T14:34:27.906-08:00Howdy!<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was pretty hectic again.
This is the last week of having two wards to cover! Woo! It'll be nice
to go back to covering one ward. It's been pretty fun to cover two wards
but a <i>ton</i> of time was spent driving around. I can't wait to get
to bike around again! We also had a lot of crazy stuff happen with
investigators and we had to drop some of our favorite investigators
because the parents don't want them investigating and even though some
of them are over 18 they want to respect what their parents say. That's a
bummer but we'll be all good. </span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's starting
to cool down here and stay cooled down. It still doesn't drop below 50
and it's usually in the 60's but for here that's considered cooling
down. This is my favorite time of year in California. It's the bomb.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week was a pretty trying week but here I am on Monday again! It's funny
that hard weeks seem like forever at the time but looking back it goes
by so fast. Heavenly Father definitely helps us through our hard times.
If we are so focused on how unhappy we are it's impossible to see the
positive side of a situation. There is always a positive side to things.
God himself created this world so there will never ever ever be a lack
of goodness. It may be hard to find, it may be small, but it will always
be there. God will not allow his creations to become overwhelmed with
darkness, and that even goes for you too! Remember that we're God's
creations too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, that's all for this week. Keep on truckin on! God will not let you fail! E moni le Talalelei!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-22250914249010994122014-11-19T05:54:00.002-08:002014-11-19T05:54:35.354-08:00Hey there erryone,<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Things are good. The library is
packed. Phones are ringing off the hook. A crazy lady is yelling at
people on the phone and spraying very liberal (that is an
understatement) amounts of hairspray while staring at a computer that
has been on the same webpage without any change for at least the hour or
so that I've been here. #SOCAL</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was awesome. Working two wards is crazy. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;">We've
got the system for working down better now but that doesn't always fit
the schedule for people we're teaching. I'm fine with that though, I'd
rather have a lesson with someone than not so I'm not upset if it
doesn't fit our predetermined system. Between the two wards we're doing
about as much work as if we we're in 1 ward so we just need to work on
being twice as effective so we can have each ward have the productivity
on a ward. That'll be tough but we're going to work harder on stacking
our nights with lessons so we can get as much done as possible. We're
even trying to get members from each ward to do splits with us so we can
cover both areas in the same day. If we do that I'm confident that we
will see even more miracles. We're looking for and praying for miracles
all the time. The Lord will provide!</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;">This
week our mission president encouraged us to make a "vision" for the
rest of our mission. A vision is a lofty, long term, overall end state,
goal that one makes to try and improve their character and accelerate
their progression. For mine I decided to go with the simple phrase
"Leave Better". I chose that because there's still a ton of changing for
me to do while I'm out here. It's always been my goal to become the
best I can be out here but the vision of "Leave Better" is going to help
me to improve the most that I possibly can. I encourage all of you to
"Leave Better" in whatever aspect of your life that applies to. Whether
school or work or finishing some sort of assignment. If you make that a
priority the Lord will shape you into who he wants you to be.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;">As always, I love you guys. I love my mission. You know the rest!</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;">Keep it real.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br style="background-color: #e7e6e2; color: #666666; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px; outline: 0px none;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#leavebetter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span>p.s. in case you haven't noticed it's kind of a big thing in this
mission to use hash-tags even though we don't use social media. I know
it's weird. It's just what we do in the California Long Beach Mission.</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-58448277482654650242014-11-10T11:42:00.000-08:002014-11-10T11:42:08.324-08:00Hey Homies,<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was pretty cool. You know just
hangin out, getting a new companion halfway through the transfer and
having mine get moved to a different ward because an Elder got his VISA,
and covering two wards instead of just one. The usual I guess. But for
real I got a new companion now! His name is Elder Sheen. He's awesome.
He's also from Idaho! That's two in a row. 3 in total. His companion
left a few weeks ago to go to Australia and so he was bouncing around
the zone for a few weeks but they decided they would put him with me and
have us cover both wards and kick Elder Stallings to another ward. It's
been cool. It's actually not as bad as I first thought it would be. We
just split up the wards every other day and on Sundays we just go to
both! It's super cool. 5 hours of church is fun. It makes Sundays fly by
super fast. It's weird.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week we had a
pretty cool finding experience. We went to visit an old potential and he
turned out to be super receptive. That really hasn't happened to us a
ton in this area. We were able to teaching him a little first lesson and
set up another time to come back this week. It was cool to see Heavenly
Father put someone who was willing to listen in our path. We've had a
few of those this week. He was the only one that we actually taught, but
we've been able to set up some really good return appointments for this
week. We've started to sow even more and hopefully soon will come the
time for reaping!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Also I had the opportunity to
sing in Sacrament meeting yesterday. It was awesome. I sang hymn 97
"Lead, Kindly Light". It was planned but the person in charge of making
the programs forgot, so I thought we weren't going to do it but then they
announced a change in the program so it was all good. It was my first
time ever singing alone at church! I was only having medium panic attacks
as I walked up to the stand. It was a great experience. Hopefully I get
to do it again soon!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, I hope ya'll have a great week and that all the things you do will be successful!! Love love love.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-18480147972652321842014-11-06T17:44:00.001-08:002014-11-06T17:44:56.595-08:00Dear Family and Homies,<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was bomba. We had a
lot of lessons this week and we got members involved more. That was
good. Our ward is doing so good. Even the members are starting to notice
that the chapel is more full. There have been a lot of less-active
members returning and we've been blessed to have investigators coming to
church. They all bailed this week :( but that's okay I think they'll be
back next week. This week we found this awesome lady named Jojo who is
just so solid</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. She has a strong
desire to simply find out what is true and what is not. She recognizes
that there must be a true church out there and that it's possible to
find out which church it is. One of the questions she asked was, in
effect, "which church is true and how will I know it?" Pretty sick
right? She just straight fell in our lap too. She flagged us down a
month ago, or something like that, and said to come visit her sometime.
This week was the first time we were able to catch her at home. We
brought a member with us to the first lesson even though the lesson
wasn't 100% solid but it worked out and the member was perfect for her. She bore super solid testimony and Jojo felt the increase in the Spirit
in her home for sure. It's so awesome to see the out pour of the spirit
when strong testimony is born. Something as simple as stating a simple
truth will bring the spirit more than any amount of tact or eloquence
would ever bring. From what I've seen in my mission, bearing testimony
that the Holy Ghost has confirmed to your heart that ____ (whatever
you're testifying of) is true brings the Spirit in a way that the person
listening will be able to notice it. When Emma Smith (at the time Emma
Hale), the wife of the Prophet Joseph, had to decide if what Joseph claimed
was true or not, she said she could tell that he believed what he said
from the look in his eyes when he bore his testimony. We need to have
that conviction when we share our testimonies with others. The question
is, how do we get that conviction? We need to receive a witness from the
Holy Ghost. It is the <i>only </i>way. So, ask, seek, and knock. You will receive. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So
far things have been going great. The Lord has been good. His blessings
really are all around us. If you feel that the blessings are hard to
see then ask God to help you recognize them. It's amazing to see what
blessings are around us when we have eyes to see and ears to hear. You
guys are all awesome and I'm grateful for all of you. I hope ya'll all
have a great week and have fun!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-66004468684433026602014-10-27T19:41:00.000-07:002014-10-27T19:41:59.391-07:00Dear Friends and Family,<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hey homies. This week was
pretty cool. We're still focusing a lot on doing service and stuff like
that. It's been pretty cool. We helped a lady in our ward move into her
new place. She's pretty crazy. She had a storage unit that was straight <i>full</i> of
just stuff. I mean lots and lots of just stuff. I don't think she even
knows what's in there. There was a cooler full of water that had a
string cheese and a sock. Wut. It was so crazy. The member who was with
us that had a truck turned around and said "I'm going home" when he saw
how much stuff there was. It was crazy. But don't worry he wasn't a mean
guy. We had already helped her for a few hours at this point so we just
saved it for the next day. It was insane. And this week we're going to
help her even more. She has a lot of stuff man.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We
had some investigators at church. They all enjoyed it a lot but none of
them could stay for class. :( Next week. We're glad that they at least
took the baby steps of showing up! All of them got to meet the Bishop so
that was good. Our bishop is the man! He is one of the biggest human
beings I've ever seen in person. It's awesome. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We
also had a way fun Halloween Party Saturday night! There was a chili
cook-off with the other ward in our building and the guy who won best
chili is in our ward so that was pretty cool! I had some chili dogs. And
before you get offended Mom and Dad, I got the chili <i>without </i>beans. To everyone else, yes, I don't prefer beans in my chili. I know I'm weird.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Things
have been good here. I feel like I've been in this area since the
beginning of time but at the same time I feel like this is a completely
different area than when I got here. It's been fun to see how big of a
change has occurred in this area. It's also fun that we don't have to
share the Ward with anyone else. :D </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Halloween
is the week! Woooo! Yay for having to stay inside and clean all night.
-_- Halloween night is always pretty crazy here. I bet there will be
missionary costumes <i>everywhere</i>. Boo sacrilege. Well, our
apartment could definitely use the cleaning though. It'll be more of a
cleansing. I feel like cleaning is too much of an understatement.
There's no roaches though! We roach bombed a few weeks ago. I didn't see
that many but I guess my companion saw them <i>all </i>the time. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well,
everyone have a fun and safe Halloween. Watch out for monsters. They'll
be everywhere. Have fun enjoying Halloween. Even if the Jehovah's
Witnesses call you a pagan :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yesterday my
companion stole my favorite phrase (keep it real) and said it to this
black guy in his 20's and he responded with "Always! Never change! Never
change for nobody!". It was pretty funny. I was pretty upset because
whenever I say it to people they just nod their head or something but
the one time my companion says it the guy says that. Oh well. Have a
great week everyone!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-88617553967326569322014-10-14T07:39:00.004-07:002014-10-14T07:40:36.418-07:00Dear Family and Friends,<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well, it's official. All the
Sisters I came out with are going home on Tuesday. That's super weird.
Time flies by way fast! Too fast. It seems like just yesterday I waddled
into the MTC and sat down and tried not to fall asleep. Things are
pretty much the same now. I just waddle around and try to stay
awake...Just kidding. The change that I've been able to see in myself is
more distinct than I ever though it would be. Now that's not to say
that I've changed into this awesome flawless guy, and it's not to say
that I'm done with the changing for the better. All I know is that the
person I was when I left and the person I am now is different. God can
change heart. Now don't get me wrong people can help push in the right
direction. It would be unfair to those who spend their time helping
like parents, friends, and even other missionaries, to not give them at
least some credit. At the same time we need to see that those people and
their actions are just God working through his children to bless
others. You really do not know how much good you can do. If you want
more evidence of that go and watch the new Mormon Message that's out. <span style="color: red;"><a class="Object" href="https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT1154_com_zimbra_url" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng</a> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">it's
the one called "you never know" It shows the impact that one's actions
can have. Also it's based off of one of President Hinckley's talks, for
those of you who are Hinckley fans.</span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I
found out that Elder Stallings and I will be staying together another
transfer here. It should be a pretty fun time. This'll be my 3rd area in
a row that I'll spend at least 6 months in! Crazy right? The Lord has a
purpose for me here and I'm going to find out what it is! We're still
having a great time teaching a lot. We just need to focus now on helping
our investigators keep their commitments so they can progress!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep
on keepin' on! Times get hard but if you can break through it then
it'll all be worth it. Heavenly Father sent us here so we could grow and
become the best we can be. Let's do it!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #cccccc;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-85602971358508883292014-10-06T14:33:00.001-07:002014-10-06T14:33:43.419-07:00Dear Family and Friends,<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was super good!
General Conference was as good as ever! What was your favorite talk?
Everyone has a favorite talk! I know you do. I think my favorite talk
was by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Even though it starts off quoting a
Shakespeare play that confused me because Shakespeare is hard to
understand...I'll probably have to listen to that part 2 or 3 more times
before I really understand it. Luckily Elder Christofferson expounds
more on it. I like how he explains the principal of moral agency and the
consequences that come from that freedom. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Also, </span>I like how he
emphasized the importance of receiving personal revelation. Personal
revelation is one of the most important principles but one of the most difficult to grasp. How great is it to think that God, the most supreme, powerful, all-knowing being in the universe <i>wants </i>to
speak to you? He has power over all things and yet He uses all that
power for you. That is if you will let him. God will not send revelation
if you decide to close him out. The power of God will not "distill upon
your soul" if you cover your soul with a sheet of rebellion and
disobedience. But even so God will not give up on you. The moment you
take off that sheet and open up the channels of revelation with him then
"<i>he doth immediately bless you". </i>Remember that.</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week was really really good. We had a lot of fun with different activities with the zone and things like that. Also Elder Stallings and I
got to go to the Newport Beach Temple so I could be with a Recent
Convert from Huntington Beach. I was really close with and he's
going on a mission now!! Such a great experience. It was so great to get
to be there with him and to see all the awesome members from the ward I
was in down there. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week should be a good
one. We have our zone conference this week and it falls on the same day
as my 18 month mark! Crazy right? I love you guys. Keep on truckin.
That's what Enduring to the End, the last of the 5 Principles that make
up the Gospel of Jesus Christ, boils down to. Keep on tuckin!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-106174246088385742014-09-30T06:30:00.001-07:002014-09-30T06:31:10.783-07:00Dear family and amigos,<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.9px;"><span style="color: black;">We've
been having a great time here. We're teaching a lot more still and been
having a great time. This ward is a lot different than when I got here
and it's been crazy to see how much it's changed. The members feed us
now and come out to lessons with us more. That's a big step up. I'm not
sure what changed about the ward but I think it was really that we put
more trust and faith in the Lord and so He was able to take over and
move his work along. If we don't leave a place in this work for God he
won't be able to help us. We need to involve Him in the work in order to
have success. God respects our agency so much that he will allow us to
stumble around for a while until we turn over our will to his. So the
faster we can stop stumbling around and turn our will over to his, the
faster we'll be able to see all those promises in the scriptures come
true. It's as easy as that!</span></span></span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><br /></span></span>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">A
cool experience we had this week was from our Recent Convert Michael,
whose niece passed away this week. He said that because of the things
he's learned from the lessons and the Book of Mormon it was a lot easier
for him to deal with everything. It warmed our hearts to hear him say
that. We knew that the Spirit truly touched his heart. It was so
cool because he took a long time to really be ready and he was willing
but things kept coming up that were holding him back. We could have just
dropped him and said "he's not ready now" and just left him alone but
we knew that his heart was where it needed to be and that if we kept on
helping him and encouraging him he would really be converted. And now he
is and we have no worries at all about him.'' </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Don't
give up! God provides a way. Don't look past the simple scriptures!
Nephi's example of going and doing may be the most quoted
scripture amongst Mormons but that doesn't diminish the meaning of it.
Go and do, the Lord will provide.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">I
love the opportunity to serve. My missoin has been so great so far and
it's flying by way too fast! I feel like I just got here and it's so
crazy how fast time flies. Gotta make every day count!</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Keep it real</span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: #cccccc;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="line-height: 16.8999996185303px;">Elder Sanderson</span></span></span></div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-61443822098906124782014-09-23T14:54:00.001-07:002014-09-23T14:54:15.303-07:00Hey Homies, <div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was pretty good. We're still
having a lot more success than before and we're having tons of fun. We
got to go down to Huntington Beach, a stake where both Elder Stallings
and I served in, because Elder Stallings got an ingrown toenail removed.
Ugh. Poor guy. His toe was pretty messed up the next day so we watched
as many church videos as we could. I honestly almost lost my mind. I
hope that <i>never</i> 鸛 鳥 士林區 彙 鴿 uhhh...sorry the computer changed to
Chinese again. I have no clue why that always happens in this library!
Hopefully I didn't accidentally write something offensive. Anyway, I
hope I never have to sit inside all day ever again. 0: Another cool
thing I did was send home a package with all the stuff that I've
acquired over the course of 18 months. I know you're probably thinking
"Elder Sanderson, what could you possibly have acquired?" To that I say,
all this stuff.</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<img height="408" src="http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/%7E/?auth=co&id=252480&part=2" width="544" /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A member was even nice enough to send it off for me! I tried to get her to not pay for it but she insisted. </span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's
weird how fast time is flying! It's been a blast so far and it only
keeps on getting better! I hope you guys have awesome weeks this week!
God loves you and He has a plan for all of us. No matter how little or
how much we understand, His love it's still there!</span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Keep it real</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Elder Sanderson</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-83052864535518807192014-09-15T13:05:00.003-07:002014-09-15T13:05:57.182-07:00Howdy Family and Friends<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was
really really good. Elder Stallings and I had a lot of teaching
appointments and we were able to find a lot of people. It's been really
cool to see all the miracles. We were blessed to find a new family of 4!
The family consists of the Mom, Mercedes, twin daughters Desere and
Erika, and a son, Alex. They had such awesome questions! They were
asking stuff like "why are there so many churches?" and "what happens
after death but before Resurrection?" just super golden questions. They
are all originally Catholic but they're open and I think they're really
interested in the fact that we have answers to their questions. And
these questions are questions they've had a for a very long time and
haven't been able to have them answered before.</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week we had a La/Pm family we're teaching come to church. We had Alex
(LA) and Lilyana (I) Ceja and their niece Cynai (I) and her husband
Gustavo (I) along with Alex's daughter and Gustavo's 2 kids. It was cool
to see them come to church again this week. We also had a less-active
family at church again this week, the Lavulo family. Church was also
really cool because we confirmed our Recent Covert Michael Swancy who
was baptized last Sunday! That was a really cool experience. The ward
has been super welcoming. In fact we already have a dinner planned with a
member where we'll teaching Michael a new member lesson after the meal!
Super sick. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">There's good stuff going on right
now and the way I see it as long as we keep on working hard and don't
mess anything up the Lord will keep blessing us with success.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Remember
that God is good and that He has a plan for us all. Winston Churchill
once said in an address simply, "Never ever ever ever ever give up".
Life is too short to give up. Eternity is worth the difficulty of
mortality.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-42347520613481139862014-09-08T11:33:00.003-07:002014-09-08T11:56:39.649-07:00Dear Family and Friends,<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week was pretty sick! Elder Stallings and I had a great time. We were
teaching more than usual and we had some cool finding experiences. We
were randomly impressed to go by a Less Active guy and see if he's home.
He's usually pretty busy and just says to give him a call but we
decided to drop by. We talked with him and his fiancee. She's talked
with Missionaries before and because Adrian (the LA guy and her fiancee)
reads the Book of Mormon a lot and her family are all Mormon, she is
pretty familiar with the Book of Mormon and the church. She said that
she's thought about baptism before and that she thinks it would be good
but she wants to take things slow. So we didn't set a date but we
definitely talked with her about it. Hopefully she turns out well.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This
week we had a great turnout at church. We had a Less active member
bring his wife, daughter, and his cousin and his wife. It was way cool.
the Less Active guy has been an awesome missionary to his family by
being an example with coming back to church and having scripture study.
We moved the Less active's records into our ward so he can get involved
with the ward. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Our investigator Michael came and he
was baptized after church!! He's gone through a lot of missionaries and
we were super excited to help him finally make the covenant of baptism.
After he was baptized he said, "man, I wish I had done that way sooner!"
That was a really cool thing to hear because it brought peace to our
hearts that he really was converted and his life has been changed. He's a
super solid guy and he knows a lot of ward members really well. We were
so blessed to be able to have that experience with Michael.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On
a bit of a lighter note, while Michael was getting changed we decided
to watch some Mormon Messages. Sounds easy enough right? Wrong. What
happened was when I moved the tv somehow the DVD player turned off. So, I
figured I'd deal with that later. In the mean time I decided to try and
get the tv into the center of the room. Well, as I was doing that one
of the wheels of the tv stand fell off and the tv was about a second
away from falling off...So hurriedly The Bishop came over to help and he
held up the tv while I tried to shimmy the wheel back in place. So now
the tv is in the center of the room where everyone can see it. Good.
After 20-30 seconds of quietly panicking I somehow got the DVD player to
turn on. I say somehow because I have no clue how it got turned off or
how I turned it back on. Okay, now the DVD player is on, the tv is on
and in the right place, now all I need to do is have the DVD run. If
only it were that easy. The Mormon Messages DVD we have has it's own
little special menu....and it doesn't really work very well. It's sorta
ghetto. To add to that the menu for some odd reason doesn't come up on
the tv because it's cut off. So I blindly navigated through the menu and
found the first video to play. That video plays and it's all good. Now
we need to get to the next video and of course out of all 30 of them
that are on the DVD I pick the only one that is entirely in
Spanish...Way to go. But even after all that everyone enjoyed the videos
and the baptism. The Lord helped everything work out in the end. He
always does!</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I love all of you tons, at least
this much
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Imagine how much God loves you.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Oh, p.s. after 8 transfers (for those of you who are not missionaries
that's a little under a year) I've been released from serving as a
District Leader. It's a bittersweet change but now the Lord wants me to
be back to focusing all my attention and energy on my area and my
companion. Being a District Leader has been such a great blessing for me
and I'm excited for this new change!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lovelovelove</span></div>
</div>
</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-79522621189901312352014-09-01T14:58:00.001-07:002014-09-01T14:58:22.003-07:00Dear Friends and Family<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sorry this is going to be
lame but these computers barely work and I don't have much time. We're
emailing at the church today because all the Libraries are closed for Labor Day. That's always fun. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This week was a little slow but I still had a great
week. Missions aren't perfect but they sure are the best thing that a
person can do with their life! I absolutely love my mission! It's been
the most life changing experience of my life. I'm so glad that I've been
able to be here. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I love all of you! Keep on truckin'!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson </span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-12685903994745021412014-08-25T17:10:00.002-07:002014-08-25T17:10:54.928-07:00Dear Family and FriendsThis week we had our investigator Michael at church with us. That was
way good because now he's been to church enough to where we don't have
to push back his date any more. He's looking pretty solid for baptism
this weekend. The only thing we're going to change for his date is from
Saturday to Sunday. There's a ward party on Saturday so it'll work
better to have it Sunday instead. He's shown a big change from when I
first got here. He's come to church 3 times in the last 4 weeks and he's
been reading and praying. We're really hoping that right now will be
the time where he goes through with baptism. He's all interviewed and we
just need to finish up a few more lessons with him and things will be
all good to go.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />Elder Stallings and I had a great week finding
wise.
The hardest things has been to have meetings every week with our
investigators. A lot of times we have a really good 1st lessons and
then they kind of drop off for a week or two. People here tend to be a
little bit flaky when it comes to appointments and stuff but a lot of
the lessons are way solid when we can meet with them.<br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We also got to speak this week in Sacrament Meeting. That was pretty cool. It was crazy though because we had to fill up the <i>whole entire 十]火</i>苗
杘 uhhh sorry the computer got turned to Chinese somehow...Anyway we had
to fill the entire meeting. Elder Stallings spoke for a good 12-13
minutes and I have the remaining 35 to talk...I decided to start off
with a joke. I told the congregation that because of the excess of time
that I would be reading all of <i>Preach My Gospel</i> to them. After an
outburst of loud laughter, more like a general light chuckle, I started
my talk. I think it went pretty well. I focused a lot on how to do
member missionary work. There's 3 major things I hit on. 1)
Fellowshipping Investigators, 2) Sharing the Gospel in Your Social
Circle, and 3) Being Involved in the Ward's Missionary Work. Those three
principals will be major stepping stones for success as a member
missionary. If you implement those three things into your character,
into who you are, you will be able to have success and see the blessings
of sharing the gospel.</span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I love all of you. Ya'll are super awesome. Keep up the good work. Alofa le ali'i!<br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Keep it real,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Elder Sanderson</span></div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6537280900810458483.post-75172719570072927152014-08-18T13:07:00.003-07:002014-08-18T13:07:45.100-07:00Hello Erryone!Not too much time this week but I
figured I may as well write something since I don't want to miss 2 weeks
in a row! This week was way good. I had a great time. Elder Stallings
and I get along really really well so that makes things really good.
Here's a fun picture for you all<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div>
<img height="408" src="http://web.mail.comcast.net/service/home/%7E/?auth=co&id=242600&part=2" width="544" /></div>
Our ward doesn't even know our names...It's supposed to be Sanderson and Stallings... Yay for us</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I hope ya'll have awesome weeks. May the Lord bless you in all the things that you do! I love all of you!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Elder Sanderson</div>
The Best Two Yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04101680673355887624noreply@blogger.com0