Hello Group,

This week was a little rough. But that's okay. We got to help some other missionaries find some potentials through sending some referrals, so that's good enough for me. I get bugged whenever missionaries use the fact that they can't continue teaching someone as an excuse to give up on the contact or the lesson or whatever finding situation you're in. We are all on the same team my friends. There is no A-team or B-team. There is no Red team, Blue team. When it comes to being engaged in the wonderful work of salvation, there can be no divisions. If there are, they need to be fixed. That applies to not just missionaries but to all members. Since we're already in the middle of an analogy of teams, I'll continue. Members are not the crowd or the cheerleaders, as important as those people may be. Members are mixed right in with the players. There are missionaries out there who are not pulling their full weight and there are members out there who pull more that their fair share. As unfortunate as it is that some missionaries are not as "anxiously engaged" as they should be, it happens. Missionaries and members work together so the members can help push through missionaries weakness' and missionaries do just the same for members. Heavenly Father is very, very good at working with imperfect people. With the exception of the Savior it's all He's been given to work with. We can each make a difference. Remember, the Grand Canyon was not formed overnight; Mount Everest was not built up in an afternoon. Sometimes these things take time. Remember that, and you will not be discouraged.

I cannot fully express my gratitude for you all. I'm gratefully for each of you. I hope you are all doing well. I hear good things from many of you. To those of you who I don't, you know who you are. Just kidding. Alofa ia te outou (Love to you all).

Alofa,

Elder Sanderson

Dear Friends and Family,

I don't know how everything got shaded in gray...I apologize. I'll ask a scientist when I get the chance. Oh, I figured it out. Oh well. I like it.

This week was a little dead kinda like a baby zombie. We had a ton of stuff that was pretty set fall through which is always a bummer but we still got to have some good experiences. We got to teach Tapu, the older lady we found last week, again. This time she seemed a lot more willing to do something. She accepted a Book of Mormon and committed to start reading it and to pray about it. That was a pretty big step because last week she kept talking about how all religions are the same and that everything is good. I'm glad that she is willing to at least look into the fact that there is a true church out there and that she can ask God which church it is. We also had a cool experience with one of our member families, the Arps. We shared a thought with them yesterday and asked them for referrals when we felt the Spirit was right and he talked about a friend that he wanted to keep trying to talk to. Then Brother Arp asked us to come back tonight to give a family home evening lesson about how members can help us do missionary work. It was a really cool experience to have with them. Hopefully we can give them a good enough lesson.

All in all this week was good. Slow, but good. When we were at the Arps I got to play their ukulele too. It was way legit. I felt like a Samoan. I got new Samoan books too! Straight from the MTC baby. Fluency here I come! 

That's it for this week. 

Keep it real.

Alofa

Elder Sanderson

In case you can't tell I'm just now starting to play with the font settings and stuff.

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a little slower again. We did have a really cool finding experience this week. We decided a while ago to start going through some names on a really well organized but really old potentials list. We have been working this list for a while and a lot of the stuff is outdated but we've been hitting the pavement hard on it. We finally had a really good experience. We found this elderly lady and she is living with her son. We started talking to us and we were able to teach her about the restored gospel. She goes to church but she is unhappy with a few of the things they do, such as having to pay the ministers a ton of money. We shared as many basic, simple, overview doctrines as we could in the time that we had and set up a return appointment. She was quite receptive and it turns out her grandkids are members and they haven't been to church in a little while so their sort of on the downward slope to being less-active. It just seemed like the timing was all perfect that we found this lady, named Tapu, to teach and then found a family to try and reactivate. People are prepared to receive the gospel! Miracles happen when you turn your heart to the Lord. I can guarantee you that there are people around you; your friends, your family, your classmates, it goes on and on, who are ready to hear the gospel. If you don't believe me then I invite you to try! Reach out to your friends, your family, or your classmates. I promise that there is some sort of good that you can do. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. I know they are. 

This week we also had a lot of fun! the ward had some really great activities and there was a really good turnout for nonmembers. It was cool to see members invite their friends out without any fear in them! Let's all follow the example of these wonderfull Brown people!

Das it for this week! I appreciate all of you and everything you do. I really am grateful for each an every one of you.

Keep it realz.

Alofa

Elder Sanderson

This week

This week was slow again. It just seemed like everyone was either busy, not home, or not interested. We did end up hearing some good news from our progressing investigators Tony and Tai. We learned that a spot opened up in the apartment complex they were trying to move into so they're going to be moving into the ward boundaries in a few weeks. That was a huge miracle because that spot had been taken by another family that really really wanted to move in there about a month ago. Turns out that same family is going to be moving out so that spot's open. It's perfect because two of the families that are fellow shipping Tony and Tai a lot live there. One of them is even our ward mission leader. Another thing that was really cool with them is they started Tony's divorce papers. They were told that the papers should go through pretty quick seeing how long Tony and his wife have been separated. We've been praying a ton for them and we're starting to see the hand of the Lord in our work.

I'm going to be staying in the Samoan Ward for another Transfer and McPheeters and I are staying together. It's going to be super cool! I hope you all like the picture :)

Fa'afatai tele ma fa'amanuia Le Atua ile tatau uma! (Thank you very much and God bless you all!)

Alofa

Elder Sanderson

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was pretty cool. We had a little bit of a tough week with investigators canceling and being out of town and stuff like that. It was tough but it's all good. So far the Samoan ward has been treating me well! The food is really good and now that I've lost like 10 pounds from being sick a few weeks back I can gain it all back!

This past week one of our members, Bro Tufuga brought a friend to church. We met him last week and we started teaching him. This Sunday he got called into work so he couldn't come. Also this week Tony and Tai who are usually solid 2 lessons a week investigators had to cancel both lessons because of Tai being out of town and Tony being back and forth from LAX airport helping her out. Even though they were all messed up we got to teach some people that we haven't been able get a hold of for a while. One is named Doug and the other is Paulo. We got to teach Doug and his less-active in-laws about the Plan of Salvation. He was really involved and he agreed to be baptized. but he doesn't want to set a date yet. We'll get him. Paulo's lesson was ALL IN SAMOAN. I could not follow it. I could pick out some words here and there but I couldn't follow the conversation that well. I am getting a little better though. I'm up to now being able to usually understand what the very broad subject of talks in sacrament meeting are! I'm happy about that.

I'm super excited for this week. We already have some pretty solid stuff lined up. I still have to squeeze another exchange with the other companionship in my district so that'll be tough. I also need to go with the Zone leaders too. It'll be an interesting week for sure.

You all are awesome! I hope that all of you know that. I'm grateful for the blessing I have to be a missionary. I hope the Lord blesses all of you from my service. The blessings of missionary work don't just come to the missionary they come to everyone that the missionary cares about and loves as well. I hope you all receive the choicest blessings the Lord has in store for you. The Church is True! Even when it's in a language you can't understand. It's still true and the Spirit is still there. I promise you all that if you look to the Lord he will bless you. I know he will. I know he loves us all.

Have a great week. I'm gratefully for each and every one of you!

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was pretty cool. Tony and Tai were as solid as usual! We taught them on Saturday and Sunday. They were really accepting and again they even shared a few thoughts/scriptures of their own! It was way good. 

I don't have a ton to report on this week. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. The work here is not at all like what I'm used to. We do a lot of working with members. That's how we find almost all of our investigators. Well, all of them really. The people we do find are usually pretty solid because of it. Working with members is hands down the most efficient way to do missionary work. Especially when the member is prepared themselves to help teach. The more prepared the member the more effective the work with them will be. I can only think of a few times when a member who was prepared and provided someone for us to teach that was not successful. Missionaries and members working is the way that the Lord wants us to do His work. Imagine that. The Boss of the company is telling us exactly what he wants us to do! How often does that happen to us? Usually it doesn't but it happens in missionary work. The Lord has told us the way. Lets use that.

I can't adequately express my love and appreciation for all of you. I'm grateful for each of you and I hope each and every one of you know it. I love you and pray for you. I hope that helps you in whatever way you may need this week. Keep up the smiles and as always keep it real!

Love,

Elder Sanderson