June 24th.2013

Dear Family and Friends,

All is well in this part of the Lord's vineyard.  The work is beginning to go forward.  The Worldwide Leadership broadcast was this last Sunday and it was a great reminder of the importance of member missionary work.  since I have the blessing of serving as a full-time missionary I can testify of the importance of missionary work.  The members of the ward help to ensure that investigators are comfortable at church, they provide investigators or recent converts with a friend and they can help the missionaries find and teach investigators.  

In Doctrine and Covenants we are given a promise.  We learn that if we bring one of the souls our Heavenly Father has created, great shall be our joy.  Furthermore we learn that, "If your joy will be great with one soul...How great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me." (D&C 18:15-16)  I cannot think of any more joyous an occasion than that of a baptism of someone who has accepted the gospel.  I cannot even imagine the joy of seeing that person, as Doctrine and Covenants states, "In the kingdom of my Father".

Through embracing member missionary work we can all work towards our goal of having true joy.  May we all have a fullness of joy.  Remember that it was Jesus Christ himself who said "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

Elder Sanderson

Dear Friends and Family

Today (6-10-13) I hit my two month mark!  It's gone by so fast I can't even comprehend it!  The past few weeks have been crazy.  Transfers were this last week.  My trainer, Elder Wahlen, was transferred, which is very rare.  Usually trainers stay for 12 weeks.  Since he's gone and my new companion, Elder Burns, has never been here in Whittier, I now am a lot more responsible for things like planning and getting where we need to go.  It's sort of tough since I've only been here for 7 weeks now and it's my first area.  At first it was a little scary, not going to lie.  It's not too scary anymore though.  I know that I'm being led by the Lord and I know that as long as I'm doing His work, I'll know where to go, what to do and what to say.  The Lord provides a way.  Who can forget the courageous words of Nephi?  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."  (1 Nephi 3:7)  How often are we asked to risk our possessions, or even our lives?  How often are the Lord's commandments things such as "Love one another"?  (John 13:34) How often does he ask us to simply show our love for someone who overcame the world for us?  King Benjamin basically lays out all that our Heavenly Father requires of us.  "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promise you that... ye should prosper in the land... therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you".  (Mosiah 2:22)  Our Father in Heaven loves us all individually.  He has a plan for all of us.  If we will "Go and do" as Nephi, we are promised blessings.  May we all "Go and do". 

I'm very grateful for all your love and support.  I appreciate everything that has been sent, mailed, etc. I pray for you all each day and I love you all.  Remember that your Father in Heaven loves you as well.

Elder Sanderson

Week of June 10th

The internet is a pretty powerful resource when used correctly. We have the opportunity to have an hour a week to visit the Mormon.org website. They want to make sure that we are all used to the layout and what not so we can help investigators and members use it. We've also had the chance to share some Mormon messages with people. Mormon messages are a great way to invite the spirit into someone's home. I would highly recommend using them if you ever have the chance to share the gospel with someone.

Sorry for not saying anything about the package, I tend to forget to mention a lot of things when I write so sorry about that. The package was great! I loved the Book of Mormon especially! The talks were also awesome. If I didn't love you so much I would rebuke you for sending me an Elane S. Dalton talk. I'm sure you love her a ton but I have trouble relating to her because I'm not a woman. Just in case you cannot tell, I am just being goofy. It can be hard to display jokes in emails. But I digress. The package was great. I haven't had candy in a really long time to be honest. It doesn't really seem worth it to buy anymore.

The work is going pretty well. Some days are tough but that's just part of life. Especially missionary life. It seems like the hardest days are the days that end up being the most rewarding in the end.

I'll probably be sending that SD card home this week so I hope that gets home safely. I hope that everyone is doing well. I love you guys and I pray for you all every day.

Love,

Elder Sanderson

Weekly Leter 5/27/13

Dear Family and Friends,

The last week has been pretty good.  We finally had our first real lesson!  We taught a couple named Maria and George.  The are a perfect example of how the Lord prepares people for us to teach.  Maria and George were raised Catholic (Just like EVERYONE in California) but don't go to church (just like EVERYONE in California - just kidding, a ton of people go to church here).  Even though they have stopped going they feel like church is important and they can feel something missing because they do not attend church.  If that isn't the Lord preparing someone to receive the gospel then I don't know what is!

I feel like this has become sort of a Mormon cliche, the example of Nephi is perfect!  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandth them"  The Lord does provide a way.  There is ALWAYS a way.  I know that the Lord provides a way.  He knows us perfectly.  I would like to challenge everyone reading this to look for a way to do  something you thought to be impossible.  Share the gospel with a friend, go to church even if your schedule is tough or take time to read the scriptures for at least a little bit every day.  I know that the Lord will prepare a way.

Elder Sanderson

Weekly Letter 5/20/13

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was full of learning opportunities.  I had the chance to go on exchanges with our district leader.  It was great and I learned a ton.  This week was also full of some tough days.  We had almost no success in finding and we had only one appointment actually go through.  This week went by slower than any other week so far.  I really hope this next week is better.  There were some times when I was pretty discouraged.  There were some times where I wanted to just throw in the towel.  How blessed I feel.  How blessed that the Lord loves me enough to  teach me how to improve.  Trials are interesting.  It seems like the more trials, the more I'm grateful for them.  It's amazing that we can learn so much from such awful experiences.  I'm glad that things aren't easy.  I'm glad that things don't always work out perfectly.  I know that the Lord is going to help me and I know that through the Lord I can do great things.  By myself I can do nothing but with the Lord I can do anything.  Anyone can.  The Lord prepares a way.

Elder Sanderson

Dear Family and Friends

This week was pretty tough.  We again were struggling to find people to teach and to teach people we found.  It seemed like the people we met were solid but most of them ended up never following through with being taught.

We had a few people who were nice, let us talk to them and set up times to come back this coming week.  I hope those work out because if not then it's going to be a really rough week.  That being said, I'm really not too worried that things won't go well because even if we don't visit these people then there's someone that we're supposed to meet, maybe someone who lives by them or maybe a family member.  There's always a reason to what happens. We may not always understand that reason but things eventually come together.  Doctrine and Covenants Section 6 verse 36 says; "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not,"  It's so simple that it's almost difficult.  "Doubt not, fear not."  May we all remember those simple words and put all our trust in the Lord.

Elder Sanderson

Week of May 14th

Dear Family and Friends,

 I've already been out for over a month and it has flown by! I can't believe how quickly things have started going. We are still struggling to find people to teach, but they'll come. As long as we keep working hard, they'll come.

We got a chance to go to the Newport Beach Temple this morning. We had to wake up at around 3:00 am to get there though. It was tough to get up so early but it was worth it. The temple was beautiful (I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures D: I'll get some next time.) and the session we went to was really nice. They have a lot of really cool painting and murals and stuff like that. It's amazing how I just keep learning more and more from the temple. I love it and I can't wait to keep going back.

As usual, I'll send out a letter this week that you guys can put up. I hope you are able to read my writing all the time. I think it's getting better. At least I hope so.

I just want to share an experience I had. We having a rough day. Nobody really seemed interested in what we had to say and our appointments were falling through. We got to an appointment and nobody was home. It was at an apartment complex. We decided to knock on some doors around us. We went to the first door and when the guy answered things felt...Different. He was very receptive and we were able to have a great conversation. I invited him to be baptized (my first invitation). He didn't say yes but he also didn't say no so it's a start! I learned that as long as you keep trying and keep having faith the Lord will bless you.

I hope all is well at home. It was really nice to talk to you all on mothers day and I hope that was a great holiday for you.

Love,

Elder Sanderson