Hello!

Monday, January 29, 2018

I have been a missionary for 6 months! Unbelievable!

Time has flown by, I'm sure all of you feel the same. It has been fun to see all the changes at home and here in Arkansas. We had the privilege of hearing from Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf this last weekend, and Elder Holland described it perfectly, "Sometimes we are so close to history we don't realize we are making it."

History is indeed being made, in my life and all around the world. Time continues marching on wether we like it or not, so what are we going to do with the time God has given us? Time has such a value and we must consciously make an effort to use it wisely. Dad touched on this subject a little in the email he sent me today. He said:

"The Lord requires much more of his followers than just keeping the commandments.  When we're not doing and acting in ways consistent with his desire for us--doing things that help us grow, benefit our families or communities, or serving in some way, then we're not measuring up.  Occasional 'me time' is fine, but we can't just not be doing anything wrong, we must be doing what is right."

What wise words from a man I look up to and respect so much. We cannot be passive followers of Jesus Christ, waiting for him to use us to fulfill righteous purposes. Rather, we must actively choose to work in faith and persue righteous endeavors.

The visit from the two apostles was a really special experience though that I will remember for a long time. I had an opportunity to help in the translation of the program into Spanish. Translating the words of someone that I look up to was very scary but rewarding. The entire time I had a prayer in my heart that I would be able to share in Spanish, the words and messages that he was sharing in English.

Apart from this the week was another normal week of hard work! We got to go get tacos with Edgar who is a new member of the church. After a long day of biking and with more biking laying ahead, tacos were the best.

I look forward to with excitement the birth of a new baby girl into our family! I have a prayer in my heart always for Cameron and Shirley and their soon to be Adelia. God bless them in their endeavors as new parents.

I am so happy to be here serving these people. As Elder Uchtdorf said, "it is not where or in what we serve, rather it is of more importance HOW we serve."

Love you all and wish you a good week filled with joy!

Elder Colton R. Anderson

P.S. I've gained 25 pounds

Hello Everybody!

Monday, January 22, 2018

Howdy!

WE GOT SNOW IN ARKANSAS

It felt like we woke up to a second Christmas. I walked out the door and felt as if I was in Colorado again. The snow here is different though and definitely not enjoyable. And biking in it is definitely not enjoyable as well. We did lots of good work though and were able to find success in our efforts.

Again we have some more great news! Our stake in Little Rock is going to be visited by two apostles: Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Eyring. We are going to have multiple meetings with them, the first will be a meeting with just the missionaries. The second big meeting will be at the stake center (the building we meet at) and that will be with all the members of the church in the area. The scary thing is that my companion and I are going to be translating for them. They are having us translate for Apostles... woah! It will be super cool though and Im honored to help in any way I can.

Life has been great though. We are continuing to work hard and try and perfect ourselves. I know that if I put my trust in Christ he will turn me into the man I need to be and help me work on my weaknesses.

So thats super exciting and we are going to have a really exciting and fun week. This last week we were able to go finding in an appartment complex next to the highway and that went really well. We got to meet with 5 men who all live in an appartment together. All of their families live in mexico while they work here to send money to their families.

And with that I have run out of interesting things to tell you! I am really happy though and can see myself growing, in more ways than one. I have already gained 25 pounds! IN addition to that I have seen myslef become a more devoted desciple of Jesus Christ!

As all of you know, my brother and his amazing wife are about to be parents! Woah, my brother is going to be a dad! Super excited for all of them as well as the rest of the family! Go team Anderson!

Love you all!

Elder C. R. Anderson

Photos:

Waffle house grits! They have their own waffle house salsa (casa de waffles)

Wall outside the oldest drug store west of the Mississippi river, it was built in 1880! Good stuff!

It's the day of the South!

Monday, January 15, 2018

Howdy y'all!

So Arkansas is awesome! Well mainly the people... but Arkansas is pretty alright too! The South is such an amazing place. Many people gave a voice of warning it seemed when they knew I was going here. They would remind me that it is the bible belt and that no one will want to listen to what we have to say. I would argue the opposite. I am so blessed to be serving in a place where the belief in God is strong and that so many of his children are seeking for the truth. The opportunity I have to help them come closer to their God makes me so grateful. It is truly the day of the South!

On Tuesday we were able to travel a little bit north to Sherwood. One of the members lives up there and we were visiting them to have dinner and to talk about missionary work. It was a super awesome visit and it was cool to see another part of the city!

On Wednesday we had leadership training with President Hansen. All the leadership in the mission meets together and we discuss the progress and goals we have as a mission. It was a very spiritual meeting and I learned a lot! Just always reminds me that there's so much more that I can do and be better about.

On Friday we got to see the funeral  broadcast of President Thomas S. Monson. That was so cool! I think it was an amazing service and that we all have so much to learn from his life and example. After that we somehow made our way into the marine recruiting office. We had a really awesome gospel conversation and we taught them about the gospel while they taught us about the Marines! Actually a really cool experience. I took a test they gave and got a 92! I guess I'm good enough to be a marine?

Saturday and Sunday were both a lot of biking as we tried to visit as many people as we could!

So that was my week. We got the news about transfers and it looks like I'll be staying another 6 weeks in little rock! After this I will most likely move on to a different area. I am going to be sad to leave this city! It's such a great place. I will also be with elder Merrill again so that's sweet too! He's a good missionary that wants to work hard.

Until next week! Love ya!

Elder Anderson

Wild Week!

Monday, January 8, 2018

Hello fam!

This week has been all over the place and definitely very eventful. I'll run through some of the crazy things that went down!

Tuesday - We ended up doing some unplanned service! Someone in our apartment complex always goes grocery shopping and then roll the cart from Kroger to the apartments. So my companion and I rolled all of them back! We each had a train of 5 or so carts! Took a while but Kroger was happy.

Friday - we got the car back and there were some troubles with the car the same day we got it back. So that was rough but it definitely put a smile on our faces. Were just glad we are safe and the car is ok. We also got to do some service and help a lady move, that was a good thing.

Saturday - we had Elder Brinkerhoff with us this day because we are doing things where elders will go with other companionship for a day or so. It's so we can see how other companionship work and interact with people. Well we were all biking to go see a member, when we came across a really big hill. We all started going really fast down the sidewalk of the street and got some really good speed. I looked up and saw there was a tree in the sidewalk. I had barely enough time to swerve around it. Elder Merrill also made it around it, but Elder Brinkerhoff was not so fortunate. From what we saw he and his bike did some really good flips and didn't have a very soft landing. So we had a broken elder on the sidewalk. We were able to give him a blessing right away while we waited for some other elders to come pick us up to go to the emergency room. We spent the rest of the afternoon and night with him in the ER. When he crashed he broke his collar bone really bad and got pretty scraped up. Good thing he was wearing a helmet because about two pieces of glass both around 2 inches long had impaled the helmet and almost gone through! We were so happy he was not more injured than what happened. He is doing good now and is just taking it easy.

There's a bunch of other stuff that happened but I can't recall all of it right now. But something cool happened, and it's that I was able to see God's hand in all of it. It is amazing the direction and love we receive even when we may not be asking for it. I know God has a plan for me, and a plan for you. Thank you for helping me find mine!

Love you all and have an amazing week!

Elder Anderson

Saw the green mountain sign and it made me think of my Colorado home!

Hello Family!

Monday, January 1, 2018

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Who is excited for what 2018 will bring?! I sure am. I am so excited that I will be able to devote and give this entire year and serve my Savior. I know that this is the greatest gift I can give is this time in my life.

My New Years Eve probably wasn't as exciting as all of yours though! My night was spent for a few hours at a party thrown by one of the branch members, where a lot of the members of are church were there. Then after that we went back to the apartment, we got to bed early around 10 and I think that is one of the greatest gifts I have given to myself to start off the year right! I can see myself becoming just like you dad! A little less sleep and a little more back pain every morning. Haha But if in the end I turn out as cool as dad, I don't think I would complain. He's the coolest guy I know.

In terms of what we did last week, it was all over the place! Last week felt crazy long!

Last Wednesday we had an interesting encounter. We got in a car crash... but the best part is that we weren't even in the car and everyone is all ok. Just scraped up the side and dented our car. A man ran into it while he was parking in a parking lot. So I have had the wonderful opportunity to fill out paperwork, talk to insurance people, and visit read shops all week! If this is what growing up means than I don't want to do it!

The car is lent to us by the mission so that we can drive to the church, which is about 10 or more miles from where we stay. Other than that we are on bikes, but now because the car is in the shop we will be on bikes for the whole time! That means we have to bike over 20 miles every time we go to the church! And we usually end up going about 5 to 6 times every week for various things. Should be interesting! Especially with this cold.

It was a frigid 11 degrees outside this morning. It said 11 degrees, but the weather app said it feels like 2... that's accurate I'd say! But I have lots of warm coats so I stay nice and toasty. Everyone in our area that are missionaries bought Nerf guns with the various Christmas gift cards or money we had received! We ended up having a Nerf battle at the church today which was definitely a blast! Good stuff!

Love this and I'm having a good time! My new years resolutions are definitely pending but I'm praying about how I can be a better missionary and person this year! I challenge all of you to do the same. Get God involved and ask him what He wants from you in 2018.

Elder Colton Anderson

No good pictures this week, but this car made me laugh. You should do this to your car mom!