Monday, November 5, 2018
Hello Family and Friends!
Amazing week! So much happened, that I could hardly attempt to include it all. Here are 3 of the big points.
College Dinner - About a week and a half ago we got a text from a random number. After communicating for a while, the person (Daniel) invited us to dinner at his apartment! We agreed to go. We had no idea who this person was or why they wanted us to come. We show much, last Monday, and we are introduced to everyone there. There were 4 college students waiting for us! Daniel had met the missionaries a while back in February while doing a service project. While talking to them he said that he would be in contact and wanted them to come for dinner sometime. About 8 months later he realized that he wanted us to come still so he texted and invited us over! We were able to teach all 4 of the people there. One of them (Josh) who is a freshman at Harding is really interested. We have an appointment with him at the church tomorrow morning!
Harding Class - This last Saturday we were invited to Harding's campus to teach a class. The professor was offering a weekend class for most of Thursday and Friday night, and all day Saturday. The class was on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were able to meet with him in his office last Wednesday and he invited us to come and teach for a few hours that Saturday morning! We prepared for the class, but mostly in the form of short answers to some of the questions we expected to be asked. We were able to show up early and sit in on the first hour of the class given by the professor. It was really good! He was very factual, and actually portrayed a very positive and realistic view of our church and what we believe. After he finished, we presented a short lesson on the restoration, and then had the sister missionaries lead the class in a question and answer. It went so well! There was a pretty good amount of students there, as well as 4 of the Harding students and one member of our church that we invited to come sit in as well. All in all, we have at least 4 times set to meet with various students from the class. We are excited!
Now, it would be wrong of me to not attribute the success to Heavenly Father. Despite the extensive preparations we made, the Lord filled our mouths with exactly what we needed to say. My companion and I couldn't help but grin as we shared this glorious truth with those students. The spirit was so present, and was able to guide us in answering even the most complex and at times aggressive questions.
We took heart in the promise given to the Lord's servants in section 100 of the doctrine and covenants which says:
4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls.
5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;
6 For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.
Transfer News - Both Elder Webb and I will be staying in Searcy Arkansas for another 6 weeks! Woohoo! By the time this transfer ends, I will have spent 9 months in this area. I love it. But if you think it stops there, just wait! We are going to have another missionary be joining us! My companion and I will be training a new missionary! This is rare, because we are the Zone Leaders, however it was what the mission President felt impressed to do.
He is coming from the MTC and is waiting on a Visa to Bolivia. Until that comes through he will be serving with elder Webb and I. He is coming straight from the training center, so we will have the opportunity of training him as well! We are both very excited.
All in all, it was an amazing week. It had its ups and downs, but as we focus on the good and continually strive to be better, the Lord will bless us! I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who provides us with opportunities to grow and become more like our perfect example, even Jesus Christ.
Hope and pray all is well with you.
Sincerely,
Elder C.R. Anderson
P.S. We didn't really do much on Halloween to celebrate, but we had the best night possible. We ended up having teaching appointments all night with some of the Harding students that either didn't really have anything else to do, or were going to be with friends celebrating later that night!
