Hey there erryone,

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

This week was awesome. Working two wards is crazy. 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!

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.

As always, I love you guys. I love my mission. You know the rest!

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

#leavebetter

 

 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.

Hey Homies,

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.

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!

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!

Well, I hope ya'll have a great week and that all the things you do will be successful!! Love love love.

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

Dear Family and Homies,

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. 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 only way. So, ask, seek, and knock. You will receive. 

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!

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

Dear Friends and Family,

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 full 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.

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. 

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 without beans. To everyone else, yes, I don't prefer beans in my chili. I know I'm weird.

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 

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 everywhere. 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 all the time. 

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 :)

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!

Keep it real

Elder Sanderson

Dear Family and Friends,

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. https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2014?lang=eng 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.

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!

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!

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

Dear Family and Friends,

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. Also, 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 wants 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 "he doth immediately bless you". Remember that.

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. 

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!

Keep it real.

Elder Sanderson

Dear family and amigos,

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!

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.'' 

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.

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!

Keep it real

Elder Sanderson