Herro.

Man this week was a blast. We had some super cool stuff happen. We were eating dinner with a member Friday night and, as missionaries always do, we asked her if there was any of her friends that we could teach. She gave us a family to go by and agreed that she would come with. We went over Saturday morning and taught the family about the Book of Mormon. After that Sister Betham (the member) wanted us to go by another family that she knew. So then we went by her and taught her the first lesson. We set times to return to both of the families we taught. It was a great experience. Later that night our ward mission leader had us over for dinner. He invited his friends who have been taking the lessons and after we ate dinner we taught them a lesson. Their names are Tony and Ta'i. At the end of talking with them Tony wanted to be baptized immediately but because of a situation with en ex wife in Samoa who isn't legally officially an ex wife, we need to wait. Tony was bummed and with a sad look he asked, "How long is it going to take? 4 months? Longer?" His look of despair left as we told him that if everything was resolved we could have him baptized  sooner than 4 months or longer. He was overjoyed at the idea of not having to wait that long to be baptized. It was so cool to see his faith in action. Meanwhile Ta'i sat next to him and talked about how she knows the church is true and that she finally understands what people mean when they say in testimony meeting that they know the church is true.

Also I've been learning more and more Samoan. We have a nice MTC textbook from the 80's or 90's. Sweet. I even have been given a Samoan last name. Because Sanderson is too hard for them to say, that's why. 

Anywho, I love each and every one of you. Keep it realer than you have ever kept it.

Fa Soifua!

Elder Samesogi

Dear Friends and Family,

How are you all doing? I'm doing well thank you. First week in the Samoan Ward down! It's been nuts. We get tons of food and tons of gift cards. I don't even need to buy groceries this week because I didn't eat any of the food that I got last week! Isn't that fun? My new companion is awesome too. He's from Utah. Third one in a row...It's cool though. He's been in the ward for a little while so he knows some Samoan and I've been learning. I know the numbers and how to say hello, how are you, and goodbye. That's it. It's a party learning Samoan! We even have Samoan Preach My Gospels, Book of Mormons, dictionaries and textbooks. WE GO HARD. The work here is very interesting. We pretty much just go over to members houses and share spiritual thoughts until the give us people to teach. Either that or do less-active/ recent convert work. Either way we end up being pretty busy and it's awesome. We had a lesson during church yesterday. Our ward mission leader, Brother Tia, brought a family that he's friends with to church. Almost the whole lesson was in Samoan so we don't know exactly what was being said but we knew what was going on. At the end of it the guy was talking about how he wants to skip the lessons and be baptized! Also his wife said that she will go to the church that he goes too and she says she feels the spirit here! It was so awesome!

It was a good week and I'm super pumped to be here in Long Beach!! I hope you all had a fun and safe new years!

Keep it real,

Elder Sanderson

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was so cool! We had Christmas stuff! It was Gnar. It all started on Tuesday. Tuesday we went caroling! It was sweet! We visited investigators and less-actives and good stuff like that. Then came Wednesday. Also known as Christmas. The FIRST thing Elder Roe and I did was open our presents!! We put our beds around our little tree that my mom sent me and we had a blast! My parents got me a George Foreman Grill! that's probably the high light of what I got but ya'll will see pictures eventually of all that. Then after that we had a big zone breakfast at this rich lady's house. there were so many missionaries there! I made the hash browns :) After that we went and had lunch with a member then Skyped! That was one of the best parts of the day. Most people said it was kinda weird to see their families. I thought it was the most baller thing ever! Maybe it's just because I like to party. Anywho. After that we watched Ephraim's Rescue. Super Good.

Another fun thing. I'm getting transferred tomorrow to a SAMOAN WARD in LONG BEACH! Yeaaaa! I'm so excited! It's gunna be a super fun time I'm sure. That's my big news for this week. I'm probably going to get fat...Worth it...

I'm so excited to go to Long Beach. there are a ton of people there! I LOVE my mission so far. It has been the best thing I've ever done with my life and it'll keep getting better and better! I love all of you! Keep it real :D

Love

Elder Sanderson

Hello Family and Friends,

This week was slow again. We worked hard though. We had some problems with sickness though. Elder Roe was sick for a few days during the week. There's a bug going around our zone right now. It's pretty rough. It only lasts a few days though. Also I had a dentists appointment so that didn't help. I'm not too upset though to be honest. Sometimes it gets to the point where I accept the fact that working hard does not always yield the fruits that I have in mind. Ideally every person I speak to will accept an invitation to learn more about the restored gospel. Ideally those people who accept the invitation will accept the invitation to be baptized. Ideally those people will follow through with that commitment and will be baptized and endure to the end. That doesn't always happen. As long as I am able to lay my head down at night knowing that I wanted to help others to come unto Christ and did my best to do so, no matter how flawed and imperfect those attempts were. Things will always get better. That is an eternal principal. Things will be better. they may not be better right when I want them to be but Heavenly Father promises us that we will be able to endure our trials and He does not lie. I know that things will improve and that we will find people to teach as long as we are obedient, as long as we work hard, and as long as we have faith. If we sow hard work and obedience we will reap success. 

I love all of ya'll. I'm so happy when I hear good things from anyone. I hope you have a great Christmas season and remember the Christ in Christmas!

Keep it real.

nosrednaS werdnA nosaJ redlE

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was slow but it's all good. We still had a good time. Elder Roe and I are all moved in to our apartment and now we finally have all the "essential" things. Such as trash cans that we didn't have before...That's cool though. We've been partying hard. They're kicking us off the computers right now so this is going to be a lame email but if you want a nice, detailed, interesting read you should pick up the Book of Mormon!

The Church is True, the Book is blue and I love every one of you!

Keeps it real.

Elder S.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was sloooooooooooow. But that's okay. We still had fun. We moved into a new place. We got a nice condo all to ourselves so that's cool. Elder Roe and I are still together. It's hard to believe we've been comps for 4 months! I'm still here in beautiful Huntington Beach so life is great.

I've learned to true meaning of running of faith and duct tape. To be honest half the time I don't know entirely what I'm doing. We're in an area that has struggled for the last year or so and when we got here we had zero investigators and 1 month later of knocking on every door and talking to every person we see we now have.....1 investigator. Sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense at all. You would think that working hard as we can all day every day would yield a lot more fruit but that's not always true. The Lord has a bigger picture to look at sometimes and it's okay that I don't understand 100%. Some day it'll make sense and that's all that matters.

Keep being great! I love all of you!

Love 

Elder Sanderson!

Dear family and friends,

There are some events that are to transpire soon of great significance. In 1 month and 7 days, I will be able to make 1, just one, phone call. That being said we are going to have a contest to see who I get to call. I will be accepting care packages from now until December 20th. Send them to the California Long Beach Mission Office. Please stuff it to the brim with expensive delicacies and premium cracker and cheese tins. Also please place your preferred phone number inside in case I select you. Good luck to all.

I'm just kidding everyone knows I'm going to choose my parents. 

This week was good. We had a really cool experience meeting someone. My companion and I were walking to a potential investigator's house. As we were walking we saw a guy sitting in his front yard looking pretty bummed. We walked to him and began to talk with him. After talking for a little while he mentioned that his father had died a number of years ago. We began to teach and testify about the Plan of Salvation and how we can see our loved ones again. Instantly his attitude changed. He began to open up even more saying that he used to go to church with his family but now he has nobody to go with so he doesn't go. He told us how he has a strong faith in Jesus Christ. He even opened up enough to be willing to say a prayer with us, and offer it himself. If my companion and I had not made a goal that we would talk to everyone we see we likely would never have gotten to know Richard and we never would have been able to make an impact on his life.

Being a missionary has taught me a lot of things about how to help people. There are so many ways that we can help the people around us. I love being a missionary. I love helping others to come unto Christ. I'm grateful for all the love, support, and prayers. I would encourage all of you to seek out opportunities to help other people.

I love all of you. You better being keeping it real. I'll know if you aren't

Elder Sanderson