Chapter 30: An Unremarkable Week

I should probably clarify that this week was really good, I just lost my keyboard (I found it today) partway through the week which made it rather difficult to make remarks for most of the week. Because I didn't write as much as normal, make many remarks, that made this "an unremarkable week"

1/19/2021

Today was a great day. We’ve been really trying to focus on doing everything that we can to reach out to new people lately, and so we’ve spent a lot of time trying to incorporate finding into every other activity we do. We have a lot of studies we try to do throughout the day, and I spent most of my time listening to what I was studying instead of reading so that my hands and eyes would be free for the other tasks I was doing. I spent all that time drawing and prepping for a painting, the drawing has been going really well and should be done tomorrow. The painting is also progressing a lot. Some of what I wanted to do was complex enough that I couldn’t imagine it, and so we asked our District Leader who was on splits with Elder Bott to help us with a photo. We wrapped him in a tarp so that he wouldn’t get wet, and then I poured a pitcher of water in front of his face, obscuring his right eye, while Elder Gomez sat two inches away taking as many photos as he could. The shots turned out really well, but what we were doing definitely looked a little weird. I wonder when everyone’s going to get sick of my antics.

1/20/2021

Today was a really good day. We got to have ward correlation with our ward mission leader, and he payed us all a really nice compliment, saying that he was really excited about missionary work in this ward right now, because he believed us to be the best missionaries that they had ever had. Our ward has been progressing a lot under our care.

1/21/2021

Today I got to go on divisions with Elder Humes, and it was a lot of fun! Elder Humes has been our District Leader for about two weeks, so it was really fun to get to spend some one on one time with him and get to know him. I was very impressed by everything that he would talk about, Elder Humes is a very smart guy, and it was a lot of fun to study with him because he was so intelligent. We had a District Counsel today, and my favorite part was the roleplays that we did. We all roleplayed various aspects of teaching the message of the Restoration (to members and nonmembers), and it helped me realize that my teaching style had grown a lot. I used to give a sermon and hope that people got it all by the end, but now my lessons are entirely question driven. Because of the studying that I had done, it no longer felt like my lessons had to be confined to the given format or they wouldn’t work, but rather I could tie in individual topics and principles to the answers to questions I would ask. These lessons were no longer something that others would have to work to make relevant to their lives, I would tie it together for them. When we were roleplaying the people who were sitting next to us must have been confused about where I was taking the message of the Restoration, because I overheard them say, “Is he still teaching the Restoration?” I’m glad that my teaching has changed to make it easier to understand, relevant to people’s needs, so that we’re able to meet them where they’re at. We also got to have a super cool lesson with the Bynum family tonight, where we practiced having them teach us. Brother Bynum had prepared a message about recognizing Christ, and started with physical attributes which we discussed from artistic renditions, and then gradually moved to the more spiritual attributes of Christ. That was an awesome lesson.

Super Summary:

We had interviews with President, he was very interested in our Ward Mission Plan and the incredible growth our ward has been making, it has been exceptional.

We had a package misdelivered to our house this week, it contained women's clothes which we got to give away as a gift. It taught us a powerful lesson about how Heavenly Father is mindful of our needs.

We taught an above average number of lessons, including one to the entire quorum of Elders about our Ward Mission Plan. Our emphasis on this plan and goals for it as a ward are why we've been finding so much success. Our Members are being missionaries!

We also just had a Bob Ross painting activity as a district. It was my first time ever using oil paints, and was done in about a half hour. If my art teacher from high school sees this I fully expect to be ridiculed for the rest of my life for it.

The scripture that I first saw when I opened my scriptures today was our mission scripture from Manaus. It's found in D&C 20:37 and reads: And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church.

There's a lot of great scriptures that we can memorize, and so why focus on this one, one that's seemingly so lackluster in terms of moving spiritual truths? I memorized this because when you disect it, it is plain and easy to see the powerful truths that it contains, that sometimes we're tempted to write off as just a "checklist for baptism". Baptism is the gate, and the first thing that we see is how necessary it is to humble ourselves. Baptism isn't an attractive, well painted, iron gate that seems to stetch high over our heads, it's a worn, wooden frame, that would seem to come only to our eye level. Baptism is an entrance that requires us to stoop down, bend our neck, and trust that this well worn entrance is the one that we need to take. It may seem illogical to think that something so demanding and seemingly unimpressive would be so critical to our salvation, but the truth is, that God works through small and simple means. That straight and narrow path that baptism sets us on may feel difficult to follow, and that's because it was meant to be that way. 

Baptism is meant to change us, it is to help us see past the limits of our expectations and into the eternal grandeur of God's way.

I testify that if we are humble enough to look beyond what we see, with an eye of faith, we will find eternal life through the waters of baptism.

Chapter 29: Mission Tour From Elder Wong

Here are a few videos that Elder Anderson helped to make on Facebook this week.

(Phineas and Ferb theme song) Training

Inspirational Videos

The Power of Prayer

Scripture Study

1/12/2021

Today was very busy, we made a parody version of “Phineas and Ferb” for missionary work, and it was probably our most successful video yet, we heard an incredible number of compliments back on this episode as everyone really liked the format, it was a very engaging way of concisely stating some finding techniques. True to the “Phineas and Ferb” format we even had a fight scene between our “secret agent” and “mad scientist”. I worry for the mental health of our missionaries sometimes, and I think that this played a big role in helping some people to destress to as we made missionary work a light, fun topic, rather than just making everyone feel like work mules.

1/13/2021

Today was another very busy day. We ended up teaching a lot of lessons and were busy for our whole day. We got to do a scripture study with a widow in our ward for a long time which was very nice. We also had a meeting for our whole mission this morning, and it was a very Spiritual experience. There are always good trainings on different aspects of missionary work, but the messages today were especially powerful and motivating. Our zone leaders asked us to roleplay with them, and they decided to call us “Brother and SIster Gomez”, and referred to me as “Sister Gomez” multiple times. This is a usual practice for our zone, but I still wasn’t enthusiastic about it.

1/14/2021

Today was a little bit stressful, but it was definitely my fault. We had a lot of projects to do (our hype videos, a Sunday devotional for the Zone, and Facebook post for tomorrow (those were in order of most time-consuming to least time-consuming)) and they all fell into needing to be done within the same two day block. We’re really only used to having the occasional Facebook post to do, so this many projects was a little stressful, but we got through everything that we needed to today, which was good. I also helped a widow set up her phone tonight, and set up everything perfectly, except that I forgot to tell her that her new PIN was “0000” and so she was locked out of her phone for a very long time until a ward member who she had emailed from her computer gave me a call and relayed the situation. I guess I’m not such great tech support after all.

1/15/2021

Today we spent most of our time working on our Facebook live. It turned out pretty good so we’re very excited to tell our ward about the opportunity that they all have to listen in on another devotional style video. We talked about utilizing scriptures and how we can learn to recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives. It ended up being pretty quick, and we were pretty happy with how it turned out. We also pulled together a small miracle today. There were some missionaries in our District who were in a lot of pain because they were having digestion issues. Well, using my extensive knowledge of how to use a blender we managed to whip up 410% of the daily recommended fiber intake and split it up into four smoothies for the companionship to drink today and tomorrow. We went from not having any supplies for that to the Lord providing for these missionaries who were struggling, and getting to witness the way He watches over us was a huge testimony builder.

1/16/2021

I forgot my phone in the car last night, so I couldn’t write in my journal, however, this was a great blessing to me. I got to go to bed at 9:30 which was amazing, we’re supposed to go to bed at 10:30 each night at the latest, but by the time I get through everything I need to it’s often 10:45. I really enjoyed not having any responsibilities for a night and getting to go to bed at a good time for once.

1/17/2021

Today we had ward council and got to pass out 30 copies of the Ward Mission Plan to families. We were very excited to get so many copies to so many families. We also had multiple lessons today, and even got to teach Sunday School about what makes us the hope of Christianity. Then, on our Sunday night devotional we got to hear from Elder Wong (Yes, Elder Wong, not Elder Gong), a member of our area presidency, and he gave a very moving message.

Today for a spiritual thought I wanted to share verse 11 of 1st Corinthians 2: For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

A lot of us have expectations to know God by means of proof unto us, and have constructed a box as to what we believe our proof of God has to fit into: We have to be able to see Him, we'll know that Christ has resurrected when we feel the prints of the nails in His feet and hands and by the wound in His side, but we're told here that we can't know God in that way. If you wanted to measure the temperature outside you would use a thermometer, and if you want proof of God's existence you need to use another tool that He's given you: Your heart. We all come to know God by the whisperings of the Spirit to our mind and hearts. Make no mistake, though, in thinking that these promptings are foolish imaginations, that they're made up. They are real, and I bear my witness that they are. Each of us can feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost, for Christ's arms are open to all.

Chapter 28: Jokes

 1/5/2021

Today was a great day. We spent a lot of time working on Facebook finding efforts, and it was a really cool opportunity to meet a lot of new people. We tried messaging everyone that we could, and even got a couple of responses which was very nice. Our whole District is pretty excited about these new tracting methods, and we have high hopes that they’ll help us to start finding those who are being prepared to hear the Gospel message faster.

1/6/2021

Today was a really good day. We got to spend a lot of our time working on things to post on Facebook, and so I got a good ways through another section of a drawing. Hopefully by the end of the week it’ll be done and I’ll have another mission drawing that I can put up on Facebook. Today was also our first District call with our new District. We got to meet Elder Humes and Hollingsworth, and they’re both very nice Elders. Elder Humes was actually one of the first generation of Missionaries in Monument 2. Elder Humes and Morse opened up this area together, and then when he left Morse and I continued to work here together for another transfer before Morse left. Now Gomez and I are here, the second generation of missionaries in Monument 2. It’s very cool to have our District councils, because Humes recognizes a lot of the names of people that we talk about.

1/7/2021

Elder Gomez had $30 of McDonalds gift cards, and so today he decided he was going to use them all up on us and the Redlands Elders. We walked into the McDonalds on the side of Walmart, and Gomez asked for a total of sixteen hamburgers. I don’t think that they were used to dealing with that quantity of food since they weren’t a main chain location, just a little side shop, but they still did a great job with our order. In the drive back I got one of the best ab workouts I’ve ever had, because of how hard I was laughing. Elder Gomez has one joke that he really likes to use. Yesterday when we were talking to the Sisters, he said, “Sisters, do you want to hear a joke?” and when they agreed I jumped in with, “butterfly” (the punchline for the joke). He got mad in a very funny way. Afterwards he looked up a second joke on Facebook. He hadn’t used it before, but it was simple enough that when he said it I guessed the punchline again, and again he got really mad in a way that was way funnier than the joke was. Today Elder Gomez asked the Redlands Elders if they wanted to hear a joke, they agreed and he said, “What does a... wait, how-” and I jumped in again, “it logs in” (the punchline), and Elder Gomez again started yelling “UGH ANDERSON WHY?!” to which all of us in the car lost it, we were crying we were laughing so hard. Elder Bott then said, “wait, I didn’t hear the punchline, tell the joke” and after Elder Gomez had made death threats if any of us opened our mouths and ruined the joke, he said, “how does a tree log into the internet-Wait! Dangit!” (The complete joke is “how does a tree connect to the internet? It ‘logs’ in!”), he had ruined the joke himself and again, that was so much funnier than the actual punchline. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time, every time Gomez tries to tell a joke it’s the funniest thing ever.

1/8/2021

Today was a great day. Elder Gomez also had a Chick-Fil-A gift card that he wanted to use up, so today we went out for fast food part two. When we were getting our food we got a call from the Redlands Elders saying that they needed to be at the church at 1:30, which was only twenty minutes away. The church was fifteen minutes away, but we had to go out of our way to pick up the Redlands Elders and to pick up our supplies for the day from our house (we were coming back from service and so we didn’t have everything that we would need for the day). We told the Redlands Elders we would be at their house in two minutes. I started a timer and gave Elder gomez incremental updates. Those updates became very useful because they helped Elder Gomez to know how much he needed to speed in the last ten seconds of the two minute time period. We pulled up right at two minutes. Then we rushed to our house and back to the church to make it to the church in the remaining five minutes that we had. Again, we pulled up right on time. I wish I had been filming, that would have made for a great racing scene.

1/9/2021

Today was a really good day. We had a lot of lessons, and one of them ended up going for about an hour. The hour long lesson was really good, we were studying the vision of the Tree of Life with Sister Thompson, and we went a lot slower than I have in a really long time, and we ended up getting so much more out of it as a result. There were so many incredible symbols that started jumping out at us immediately, and I was really grateful that we got to study with her. We also rewrote the “Phineas and Ferb” theme song today to fit in with missionary work for another hype video, and Elder Bott singing that song quickly became one of my favorite things ever, it was so funny to hear him scream those awesome lyrics.

1/10/2021

I’m not sure if we hit a new record or not today, we had six lessons which I think was our old record, but still pretty impressive. We were very busy today, we had church which was a welcome surprise, and got permission from our mission President to do lessons in person as long as they’re under 15 minutes. We’re still thinking the majority of our lessons are probably going to be over Zoom and not actually in-person lessons, just because it’s so much easier to try to work this way than physically going to our lessons. At first it was kind of difficult to keep attention, but now we’re doing a great job of it, and families are starting to get really interactive, which is amazing. Today was also the day it began: We began pushing out our Ward Mission Plan to the Ward. We taught the primary kids about it first, and then started talking about it in our personal lessons. The lessons were very powerful, and we knew that this plan was going to have a lasting impact on the Ward, and that it was one that Heavenly Father approved of wholeheartedly, as He accompanied our message with power. We’re excited to see what everyone does to use it.

Today for a Spiritual thought I wanted to share a section of a verse. The whole verse is really good, but I wanted to focus on just the beginning of it. In Helaman 3:35 we read: Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation. This verse comes from when the people of God's church were exceedingly righteous. They didn't let temptations enter into their hearts for a really long time, and because of it they were richly blessed. Among the greatest of the blessings they receive was that of the Spiritual strength they found. This was a people who understood conversion, and their conversion to Christ had three steps: They fasted and prayed, they humbled themselves, and grew their faith; Each of these steps build off the last, indeed it is impossible to truly pray without humbling ourselves, and how can we humble ourselves without exercising our faith in God? It is my testimony that as we seek to do these things we will become further converted to the Lord, even unto the filling of our souls with true joy and consolation.

Chapter 27: Starting The New Year With Christ

The ward mission plan that Elders Anderson and Gomez helped the Monument Ward to create.

Elder Anderson's district

Sorry that there are a few days missing, this ended up being a very busy week, we were working every night until it was pretty late and I didn't leave enough time for my journaling.

12/28/2020

Today was a really good Pday! It snowed a lot today, so we spent a lot of time driving at 10mph. When we went to Walmart today Elder Gomez got a bottle of steak sauce, and then as I loaded our groceries into the car the bottle must have fallen through a hole in the bag. The bottle hit the hard concrete and broke, leaving steak sauce all over my shoe. We went back to get another bottle, because we needed that steak sauce. We got to talk to our families today, and even got to do some lessons with the members of our ward which was a lot of fun. I was amazed at how smart some of our ward members are, whenever I talk to them I’m amazed at just how much they know, and I frequently feel like I’ve been taught instead of teaching a lesson to them. I guess that’s why they’re supposed to be called “discussions” instead of “lessons”.

1/1/2020

Today we had a combined District Council. We got to sit down with a lot of other missionaries, and I think this is the most friendly one that I’ve had in a long time. This was the first time in a long time that I really felt like I was in a room where everyone was my friend and knew everyone pretty well. Our Zone has been together for a long enough time that we’re all starting to know each other pretty well, and getting to be the Hype Specialists and work with others has only added to that ability. It was a lot of fun to sit down, especially with our District today, because this felt like our triumphant return. I have a very vivid new memory of Collins asking me what I was going to do to apply something that we had received and being surprised because I could feel his trust and the trust of my district that they wanted to hear what I was going to do. That was a cool moment that showed me how close we had all gotten as members of our District.

1/2/2020

Today we gave a short training on hyping up our members, and it went really well! We also had the coolest experience with Facebook tracting today. Collins and I had been talking about being faith filled missionaries, and how that includes working with hope. Preach My Gospel defines hope as being “confident, optimistic, enthusiastic, and patient” and I realized that my work hasn’t been very hopeful lately, so tonight I tried to hit all four of those points, and it made a big difference. I started talking to a woman in Spanish who had been practicing the language and mentioned that one time she attended a church service given in Spanish. I asked her if she understood a lot since teaching the Gospel in Portuguese was so different than conversational Portuguese. She confessed that she hadn’t understood much. I then told her that Elder Gomez is a Spanish expert, and that I understand biblical Spanish pretty well, although I struggle with speaking, which is her strong suit. We asked her if she would be interested in doing a study with Elder Gomez and I and she said that she was, so tomorrow we’re going to do something small and see what she thinks of it.

1/3/2020

And so the great story comes to an end: Collins, my old comp, my beloved District Leader, is getting emergency transferred out of our District tomorrow. This is it, it’s the end. We made our Ward Mission Plan official today, our Ward is getting very excited to work with us, in an incredible change of events we also have dinners planned every day through the 27th now, thanks to Sister Thompson. I don’t even know what to do with my cooking abilities if we have dinner every night. This is one of the first times in my mission this has happened. What a welcome surprise.

For a Spiritual thought today I wanted to share a powerful message from Revelations 3:19.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

To be zealous is to be earnest and sincere. It's not easy to accept correction when it comes to us, but it's important to remember the consequences of both ways that we can respond to correction. If we give in to the natural man and defend ourselves we'll gratify ourselves, we'll further cement our ways into our minds. If we listen to the counsel that's given us that comes from a place of love, if we humble ourselves, we're promised there will be no end to our progression and that the Savior stands with open arms to receive us.