Seventh Letter

Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:11:39 -0600Subject: Busy weekFrom: sara.anderson@myldsmail.netTo: homeecdiva@hotmail.com

It's very sad to hear about the Moore family but I am so glad Sister Dial was able to tell me in person and was there to give me a big hug. So,thank her again for me please.

So last week in our district (3 companionships) we had 94 (46 were ours!) lessons! And in our mission we had 81 baptisms! So last week was a great week for our mission!

I forgot to tell you last week but when Sister Reyes and I went to do zone finding we just went tracting at an apt. complex and a lady slammed a door in our face! Yeah, it was hiliarous. We walked away and died laughing. I know the only reason why this is funny is b/c it has only happened once so I am so grateful to be in this mission where I don't have to go tracting everyday and get doors slammed in my face everyday.

Do you know Pres. Wixum*spelling* he was the mission pres over the DC south mission. Well, he is one of our ward mission leaders and is awesome!!! He truly loves missionary work and you can tell! He wife is just as amazing! They type the "progress record" for their ward. It's awesome! Yesterday we had a stake correlation meeting. There were about....12 (including us) people there. It was really cool. So it's fun working at a stake level but hard to keep track of who goes to what ward. haha.

I had my first "companion moment" on Sunday. Sister Wang was not next to me and was out in the hallway. I felt so alone and so vunerable. And that's when I relized I have finally gotten use to having someone with me 24/7/

Sunday was a crazy day! We were at church from 9 am to 9pm. We went to 3 sacrament meetings, 1 sunday school, 2 firesides, a lesson, half of RS, and a missionary meeting that day. So we were tired. We even ate lunch and dinner at the church. Ok, so there is this super old chinese lady in the chinese ward. She is like 85+, like 4 foot 7, wears glasses, shuffles everywere she goes and is just old. Well, I walked past her on sunday and she goes "Ni Hao" so I said "hi" and when I look at her she is wearing a necklace....a thick silver chain necklace with a big silver bulldog w/ spiked collar "pendant" on it. It was so funny. This old asian was wearing bling! It took all I had not to laugh. I really wanted to take a picture but my camera was in the car. It made my day seeing that.

One of the firesides was with Elder Perkins, I think, he is in the 1st quorum of the 70. Well he is over China. And some fun facts. He THINKS that china will open in 20-30 years. There are 42 full time missionaries from Mainland China. ( we have 2/42 here in the SLC mission!) There is even a mission pres in China but they do...who knows what, but they don't have missionaries but they look over like the Branches in China. It was a great fireside. And I wore my little headphones for them to translate for me b/c they spoke Mandarian in the fireside.

OH! I went on exchange for the first time! I was with a sister who is from Tonga. This is only her third transfer. She is awesome! She covers the Dials area so when our lesson cancelled we stopped by and visited the Dials. It was fun to see them! Did Abby get the picture that Megan sent her?

The 8 am session was closed to the public today so we did initiatories. It was really cool. I liked doing it. Pres. Monson and the Apostles were in a meeting so that's why. 4 of our Elders saw the first presidency when they were at the temple! Lucky them! I am so excited for conference! For 2 of the sessions we get to sit in the very front on the side that the prophet and Apostles walk in! It's gonna be great!

While I am thinking about it can you ask Katie and Kelsey if they have gotten any letters from me? I don't know if it's just they don't have time to write back or they did not recieve them. So if you could ask them, that would be great! Thanks.

During Zone finding yesterday we (sister Reyes and I ) got 1 referral, 3 return apts, and a person on date( for April and that was our first time meeting him) . All in an hour and a half. Wow this is an amazing mission!

There is a girl, Amy, who met with Sister Wang and the exchange sister and Sister Wang asked if she wanted to get ready for a baptism and that we would prepare her, teach her, and all that, and she said yes! So another person on date! So for April 11th we have 3 people getting baptized, Si Yun, You Jie, and Amy. All Chinese girls.

I mentioned G.G. a few e-mails ago but we taught her again last week and then took her to Temple Square a few days ago. Well we commited her to baptism and she accepted! She is amazing! She said that she wants nothing more then to get baptized! She was so sincere about it! OH Jordana reports to the field today!!!! And we are going to T.S. with Amy today so I am hoping I will see her there!!!

I think I am getting transfered. There is a new sister that is coming in that her 2nd language is Chinese so I am thinking that Sister Wang will train her.

Mom, to answer your question, no one has bought our groceries. BUT 5 days ago a old man bought me and three other sisters lunch! and 2 days ago another old man bought me and 3 other sisters lunch! And yes we all said thank you like 50 times each! haha.

So I think Sister Dial told you the story but just in case I will too. I was waiting for Sister Wang to change so I prayed to know who I should put on the prayer roll. Tyler Moore was one of those people I put down, this was like 2 hours before I found out about Sister Moore. Prayer is an amazing thing.

Well, I am out of time. Thank you for all the letters and the package!!! I know you pray for me everyday, thank you. I love you all!!! Love, Sister Anderson

Only in the SLC mission do you know all the homeless people outside of T.S.

Emily Fetzer's Baptism/Sixth Letter

Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:44:48 -0700Subject: I think people forget that missionaries can't be hugged.....From: sara.anderson@myldsmail.netTo: homeecdiva@hotmail.com
I'm serious, like old men feel the need to hug sisters. hahaha. It's always funny and a tad awkward,. haha.

So Emily Fetzer's (Ying Yue) baptism went great!!!! Bro. Fetzer learned the baptismal prayer in Chinese for her! And he used her American name which, at the time, her family didn't know her American name. So when she got baptized everyone found out her name. It was cool. Sister Fetzer took pictures at the baptism and so I gave her your e-mail so I hope she e-mailed you some. Well after dinner we went to dinner at the Fetzer house and when Sister Wang and I walked in a Down Syndrome boy was in the hall and stopped us and he asked Sister Wang what her name was and talked to her for about 45 seconds. Then he gets to me and goes what's your name? So I said "Sister Anderson." He then just looks at me straight in the eyes for a good 5 seconds then just gives me this huge bear hug! haha. I had no clue what to do....he would not let go. hahaha. Sister Wang didn't know what to do either so finally Brother Fetzer walks over and goes, "Ok, that's enough." But then he (Bro. Fetzer) grabbed Sis. Wang and gave us a hug. See what I mean....ppl just feel the need to hug missionaries.

On like Thursday I hard commited my first "random person." His name was Jesse and he was taking a smoking break and so we talked to him and I hard commited him. He said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon and think about baptism and try preparing for it. He does not live in our area so we had to give him to some of the Elders in our Zone. So I really don't know how it is all going to work out. But I hope it works out. The awesome thing was that we prayed that we would be able to find someone to talk to that we could hard commit and that they would accept.

A few days ago Sister Wang and I were walking by the conference center going to Temple Square to teach a lesson. Well a dad and his 2 sons ( ages around 1 and 3) were walking towards us. Well the dad and the youngest walked past us and the three year old stops in front of me and looks at me and goes " missionary, where are you going" I just thought it was so cute that he called me missionary. Like at that young of an age he knew who I was. So cute. I talked to him for about 2 min but I guess I was boring cuz he walked off. hahaha.

Before I forget....no mom I did not get your package and no dad and Abby I did not get yours yet. I am going to the mission home tomorrow though for new missionary training so I can check the mail.

I'm worried about Dan Dan and Si Yun's baptism. We can't do it on the 28th because the Area Seventy that is over China is having a fireside after the Chinese ward so we are not able to do the baptism. So that shook Dan Dan up a bit and said she is not sure she will be able to do it. Si Yun is more willing to try and work things out but she goes to school and works so it's hard to find a day that works. We would just do it next week but that's conference weekend so that will not work.....

Awesome thing in our mission....we had 7 people on date last week.( just in our zone) This week 27. Epic. One week, 20 people! How amazing.

I am going on exchange next Monday. That should be interesting. I will get to teach English the whole day! At the same time I am nervous b/c I have only taught...4 lessons maybe 5 lessons the whole time in English. But it will be nice to learn how other sisters teach.

Emma, Caily, and Kara will be at conference!!! So I will get to see them! I think the Dial family told one of the sisters to say Hi to me from them. But the sister could not remember their name so I'm assuming it was them. Oh, and no, I don't have to pay for laundry just because I live at a member's home. But I am thinking I am going to get transfered so I might pay then. But I will let you konw.

Ends up Dan Dan and Si yun live in the South Utah mission........only like a block into their mission. So for the past 4 weeks we have been leaving our mission, on accident, 1-2 times a week. hahaha.

Oh so if it's possible I kind of want to be an EFY counselor for like a week when I get home. The way transfers work out I think I am getting home mid July and not the very beginning of August.

Jordana is coming to TS the Wednesday before conference!!!!! SO I should be able to see her conference weekend!! I am soooooo excited!!!

Thank you so much for all you and the family does. I love all the letters and e-mails that I get! Thanks for the prayers!! Love you all! love, Sara---that was for you Abby. hmm, that's weird. Love, Sister Anderson. hahah.

Only in the SLC mission do you go to Temple Square so much to watch the Joseph Smith movie and the Testaments that you start to quote the movie for fun in the car...yeah, I started doing that yesterday.

Fifth Letter

Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:19:56 -0600Subject: Crazy busy!From: sara.anderson@myldsmail.netTo: homeecdiva@hotmail.com
Wow life is busy! We had over 40 lessons this past week! We are starting to meet with members so I can teach them so I can practice my teaching skills in English. haha.

We have Ying You's baptism this Saturday! Its very exciting!!! She is the most amazing 14 year old I have ever met. She understands so much! I don't know if I told you but she has only been in America for a little over a month! I'm excited for the baptism. There are going to be lots of people there b/c the family has 17 kids!!! 15 of them will be there!!! 9 of those 17 are adopted!!!! All from Asia. Awesome! The dad, Brother Fetzer, knows Pres. Monson really well. Why you ask....he dated his daughter for TWO YEARS! So....that's Ann Monson Dibb....In the YW general presidency.

This past Sunday I only went to 3 wards!! It's was amazing! I loved only have to go to 3, it was so relaxing! Never thought I would be saying that.

Our car got recalled. hahaahahaha. So we had to go to the Toyota dealership to have them fix it. They washed our car too! So that was great!

So on Sunday we went to a ward to see Maricels confirmation. While there we met a girl named Amber. She has been going through alot and so agreed to have us come over that night. We hard commited her and she accepted. She is getting baptized on April 18th! So we are going to meet with her 3 times a week for the next month. We are going to do the stop smoking program with her tomorrow!!!!!!! I am so excited to do that with her you have no idea! I am finally starting to get the concept of loving other people that you are serving. Just with like 40 min we were there with her I wanted to cry b/c she was so unhappy. But so excited at the same time b/c I know that thought the Church and Jesus Christ and us helping her with support that she can get through the hard times and be a better, independent woman! I am just beyond excited to help her. Same with an investigator that we have that is Asian. She does not believe in God and that is just so sad. But we have been meeting with her and when we pray with her and teach her she says she feels good and peaceful so we explain that, that is the spirit but she has a hard time accepting that. Hopefully things will work out with her!

Yesterday, at stake conference a guy came up to me and handed me a piece of paper with his name and # on it and goes "call me." I think he saw that confused look on my face so he goes...I have a referral for you. haha. Well, stake correlation ended early, so we were able to talk to him. Ends up he served his mission in RVA!!!! He served in Bon Air! He knows Katie Bailey! So he called her and I told him to tell Katie to call Evan but I dont know if that happened because I said it in passing. haha. But his name is Nate....Bowen I believe... So, yeah, small world.

Tammy's baptism went great. I ended up not giving a talk but doing a "special musical #" How did that happen! I can't sing. hahaah. So sister Wang, Blackwelder, and I sung a song. I don't remember what song it was but it was pretty good. Poor Tammy had to get baptized 3 times. Her dad used the wrong hand the first time, second time he said the wrong words, and he got it on the third!

We have been to two R.S. Birthday dinners. Did you do one in Gayton mom? One of them looked like it was a wedding reception!!! It was so pretty! The other one was a fashion show. "Fashion through time" It was cool. Well what we were able to see of it.

I am going to English class tonight. haha. So that should be fun. It's for all the chinese people wanting to learn English!

I don't know if I told you but I go to UofU like all the time. Lots of chinese people go there so we have lots of lessons around there. The institute building is really big. I went to a talent show in the institute building, we did a intermission "commercial" thing about missionary work asking for referals so thats why we were there and where able to stay for part of it. It was really fun to see.

Oh! Can you ask abby to send me some efy music! I can listen to EFY on P-day!

So funny story. We went to the wrong house for our dinner appt. and were there for 40 min before the other ppl called us as asked us where we were. We even both told the lady "thanks for having us over for dinner" and " do you need help with anything" and she never said anything. And when we said thanks for having us over for dinner she even said your welcome. Some people....haha. But it was funny and it all worked out and we were able to move our meeting so we were able to stay at the real people's house for an hour. It was great!


The work is going great! We have lots of people we are teaching and can't complain. I am tired once it gets to like 7 pm but I guess that's a good sign b/c that means I'm working. haha.

OH I am "learning" how to say a prayer in chinese. AKA I am memorizing the opening, thankful for this day, please help us to have the spirit with us, and closing. So sooner or later I will start giving the opening prayer in lessons. haha.

Can you tell everyone who has written me sorry if I have not gotten back to them yet? It's just very hard to find time to write. I will try and get a picture to you soon. Sister Fetzer (Ying You's mom- the girl getting baptized this weekend) said she is going to take a picture of Sister Wang and I and send it to you. So hopefully we remember to do that soon. Thanks for all the letters you send me! Tell Sis. Bleyl Thanks for the name tag. It's super cute!

Only in the SLC mission will ward members fight over you to have you over for dinner. haha. Its kind of awesome.

Well thanks again for everything! I love all the letters! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. Did you send my e-mails to Beth's parents and to Stacey? Tell the family "HI!" Love, Sister Anderson

Fourth Letter

Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:08:06 -0700Subject: Tell everyone!From: sara.anderson@myldsmail.netTo: homeecdiva@hotmail.com
Ok so I get to go to all sessions of general conference and I stay by the reflection pool between sessions. Which means if anyone goes to conference I can see them between sessions!!!! So make sure kels and katie know please! And just everyone!!! So if Pres Winn keeps the same rule that means I get to see Abby in Oct if she goes to conference. (which I know she will) haha.

We had new missionary training on Tuesday, it was interesting b/c we all had been out for 12 days at that point. But it was sooo good to see my old district!!!

Random story but I would like to tell you. So I was at a dinner apt on...saturday and I was cutting a roll and sis wang said be carful. I said oh its a better knife I will be fine. Right at that moment the better knife slipped and it cut me!!! Right between my middle finger and index finger! It hurt so bad! I was all bleeding at the dinner table. It was kind of funny.

People on date:

March
14-Tami- I am giving a talk on baptism.
20-Ying Yue. I have taught her lots and she is the one where I asked her to be baptized. She has only been in America for a month.
28- Dan Dan. You Jia, and Shu wen. They are all amazing girls!

April 24ish. Wendy. I dont know her chinese name. But she is so amazing!!! She loves for us to come over a teach! She is just an amazing woman!!

So the work is going. We had alot of lessons fall through the past few days but we found other ppl we could visit. Yesterday we did a Zone find with the Spanish elders so I went on exchanges with Sister Reyes. She speaks Spanish. haha. So still after 2 whole weeks I have only had ONE lesson in where we taught the whole lesson in English! haha. Oh!!! I did my very first door aproach yesterday with Sister Reyes! It's was kind of exciting but I was nervous at the same time. I know you are laughing right now because I have been on a mission for 2 weeks and still have never done a door aproach. It's just we don't have to go tracting!

Pres Monson's son conducted a baptism I went to on Monday. They look just alike but his son has hair. haha. Oh and some sisters in our mission went to a church sacrament meeting and in walks Pres. Monson!!!! He gave each of them a blessing!!!! How cool is that!! He blessed them that what they were praying for would happen!!! amazing!!!

Last week, fast Sunday, We went to 5 wards and bore our testimony in all of them....I was so tired after that. hahah. But we had lessons after that, dinner appt. and then Maricels baptism!!! It went really well. Before hand it didn't b/c her dad called out "sick" Maricel has postponed her baptism for 3 months to let her dad get ready to baptize her so we kind of had a hard time believing him...So we thought if we "threatened" that the ward mission leader would do it he would be like "ok I would do it" but it was so sad b/c he was soooo excited when we suggested that. He was like "yeah let him do it. " That would be great! So, the ward mission leader did it. But it was a great baptism and she was sooo happy!!!!

I don't remember if I told you but I am in the Millcreek zone. I cover the Olympus, MT Olympus north, and Mt. Olympus stakes. So, like I said that's 23 stakes.

Another thing I forgot to tell you, I am over the Russian program too. So later this week we will be teaching a Russian family!

Mom never feed missionaries lasagna! I have had that like 5 times!!!

Did you konw the original KFC is in Utah? B/c it is and we went to it on Monday (b/c missionaries get a discount).

I love that I am in the SLC misssion.... I just love being able to go to Temple Square with investigators and being able to watch the Testaments and the Restoration. So cool. I told Sister Wang that we need to start commiting people to baptism when we are in front of a statue of Jesus. They pretty much have to say yes. Haha.

So sorry to everyone that I e-mail and can't get back to. It's hard to e-mail everyone back.

Oh an FYI. I get mail every Monday. So I got your package on Monday!!! Thanks.

And Heather...well Sam. haha. Thank you sooo much for the pictures and note! I loved, loved, loved them! Oh and b/c I can't be with you now to help out with the pregnancy I put your name on the prayer roll when I go to the temple. It's the only thing I can do for you to help out.

The work is good, I don't have to much to report b/c we pretty much just teach everyone who is on date, or are in trainings, or meetings, or zone finds, or zone plannings.

Oh we did have a wonderful FHE on Saturday! 38 people came! 10 were missionaries, and Pres. Sonne and Sis. Sonne came too!! We had investigators, new members, a stake pres. and his wife, and less active members there. We had everyone! It was amazing! We watched On The Way Home and talked about families. Just wonderful!!

Only in the SLC mission would it be fine to see my family 3 times while I am on my mission. haah. General Conference time we can see family if they come to conference. So come to conference, Abby.

Well, love you all and thanks for everything!!
-Sister Anderson

MTC District Pictures/3rd letter

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:40:07 -0700Subject: I did it!From: sara.anderson@myldsmail.netTo: homeecdiva@hotmail.com
I did it!!! I hard commited a girl to baptism and she accepted ( her name is Ying Yue (13)!!! I was soooo nervous b/c it was my first time doing it so I like butchered the lesson. hahaa. but sister wang said I did fine. haha. But it was soooo exciting!!! So this weekend we have Maricels baptism.) I am saying the opening prayer) Next week, Houg Houg aka Tammy(17). Cool story about her. She took the lessons with her mom last year and her mom got baptized in Aug. but tammy was not ready so she didn't get baptized so on Tuesday we get a call saying, hey sisters can you teach Tammy again she is ready to get baptized!!!!! AWESOME! Then she said, "Oh and I want it before my birthday." So I asked when is your birthday and its on the 18th of this month! So we are having it on the 14th! Then there is GG. She is from Hawaii, same story as Tammy but her dad joined a few months ago and we got a call last week, like on Friday saying she wanted to hear the lessons!! We are teaching Jami (17). Her mom just joined a few months ago also and we got a call from her saying she is ready for the lessons again too. She has been giong to church since she was 7 (b/c her dad was a member) but never joined because she does not "agree" with the 3 kingdoms....and Joseph Smith. She never flat out said what is was about him but there is something she does not agree with. So we had like a 30 mim pep talk challenged her to sincerely pray to know about Joseph Smith and we would come back in a week and a half (that's the only time she was free). So it was good to talk to her. We are teaching a girl names You Jia ( 18) and she had so many amazing questions!!! Its great! She is my favorite to teach just b/c of her questions. Some of them were " Why did God only create one Savior if the pain was so bad why not create more?" This is a great one. "If J.C. helps us more than Heavenly Father, then why do we need Heavenly Father." Like what 18 year old thinks of those questions? But I love it! Then there is Dan Dan (17) I have not met with her b/c when we came to teach her she was not home b/c her keys got locked in her car. But we are going back like tomorrow. We are going to commit Dan Dan and You Jia to baptism next time we visit. Scary thing about this mission....soft commitments are not allowed. Only Hard. So it's scary when you do it.

So we did a zone finding on Tuesday. It's when the whole zone focuses on one area for like 2 hours. So Sis. Wang and I got like 10 old teaching records and went out to see if they were willing to meet with the missionaries again. We found a golden investigator!!!! So when the Elders met with her yesterday they hard commited her and she accepted!!! So exciting! We found another mom that was willing to hear from them and a meeting time for another girl. So it was cool to be able to help the elders out!!!

Wednesday was Zone Conference that's why I didnt e-mail. So sorry. Today we went to the temple it was great like always. I love the SLC temple. Don't worry I will always be a DC temple girl! haah. Zone conference was really good. I loved hearing from Pres. Sonne.

Wow, I can't believe I almost forgot, my haircut!!! The girl that did it was amazing!! So nice. And I like my hair, for the most part. It takes like 1 min to wash so that's sure nice. Ready to hear how "long" it is....Its like an inch or so under my chin....so yeah its above my shouders. She cut a good 5-6 inches. Sister Sonne loves my hair though so that's good!

To answer your question about how many wards I cover, 23. So it's crazy! Not a huge fan of having that many wards b/c it's like impossible to get to know all the bishops, RS pres, Stake pres, and Ward mission leaders. And our mission pres likes to keep missionaries in an area only for 1-2 transfers. So he likes to keep us on our toes and not get too comfortable in an area.

Oh, so I now know why I was sent to SLC and why it was now. Did you see a trend in the age of ppl I am teaching. They are all between the ages on 13-18. I don't know. Maybe I can just relate to them or something. We shall see. And the reason why I was sent to SLC....so I don't have to go tracting. Everything is referral work. Its amazing. I love it!! The people here are amazing! Well except one ward who flat out said no to feeding us when we asked them to feed our district for some meeting we had. There are 14 of us. She said we ask to much of their ward.....each stake gets a months so its only every 3 months a stake gets to feed us. So each ward only gets a week. And some wards don't even get that. Therefore we are not asking too much....we never ask them for anything. Other then referrals. Sister Wang and I were not to happy. Like it's the fact we asked the RS pres. to just get like 3 ladies to have lunch for us. Everyone else loves to just because missionaries are sure a rare thing here. but not her...ok I will be done complaining.

Sundays...This Sunday we went to 2 sacrament meetings, a YW lesson (which we taught part of it), and a stake conference. It was such a busy day!!! Then we had lessons, dinner, and more lessons! My talk went pretty good. It was supposed to be like 15 min....it was like 8 oops. haha. But I wote it all by myself and in like 20 min....haha.

The teaching is going great. I am starting to learn a bit of chinese. I can say like 4 things. Mainly parts of my testimony. That's what I am working on.l Well, I have to write Pres Sonne so I better go. Sorry I cannot write more. I hope I answered everyone's questions. Love you all! Love, Sister Anderson

Only in the SLC mission do you have to hard commit someone to baptism everyday!

p.s. can you make sure evan does not delete my pictures from my laptop? Just put them on a flash drive please.