July 11, 2011

So I wanted to ask you some advise...Dad and I are Ma and Pa's for our Trek and I was wondering if you had some ideas for one of my devotionals...it's on trials and hardships and how to get through them. Any thoughts or scriptures? Thanks

Well something I've learned that Its only through the Atonement that we are able be cleaned and to feel the happiness that Our heavenly father has in store for us. When I go through trials on the mission I just get down on my knees and pray till I am happier and I just work harder cause it's through Service that we will find our selves (Matt 16:25) that's one of my favorites. And another one alma 26:27 is also really good. and One of my favorite quotes" God never told us it would be easy he only said it would be worth" So yeah I hope I helped you out in some way.

How were your firework shows? Did you get to go to a bbq?

Oh the forth of July was so much funnnnn. We went to the Prongers and had a BBq It was really good. Then we went on a hike to some Indian art stuff. And I took some pictures. we also caught a snake which was way sweet and It bit me on the finger, but it was only a little garden snake no bigee. So after our hike we went back to the house and they live up in the mountains and in the middle of know where. So we had a water balloon launcher and we made a target to hit. It was really fun. They are an awesome family. There court date got pushed 30 days, so that was not fun news. But they cont. to push through and keep there faith in Christ. Then that night we had to be in by 6 so we hung out with some other missionaries. then we went up on our roof and watched the firework show, it was awesome and it made me think of home and other stuff. But I know I'm where I'm suppose to be:)

How's your investigators?
Korik and Penny.

Penny is doing awesome she reads everything. She read all the D&C and pearl of great price already and she just passed her interview yesterday, so she is on for the 23rd of July. We are so excited for her and the huge change that she has made in her life. There are 2 ways to find the most happiness in life and that is going to the temple and helping someone to get on the path to the temple. I love it. We had a really spiritual lesson with Penny and President Morris he is in the Presidency of the mission. I love him. He taught us why some people pray with there hands together with there fingers pointing up. Its a really cool story. We were like all crying and so happy at the same time. Good stuff.

Korik is doing really well. Were going to have to move is date to August though cause he has a lot of questions and he wants to really understand the gospel before he joins, but he is awesome and we cont. to meet with him 2 times a week. Were just taking it a little slower now.
WE have gotten a couple new investigators but there not yet Progressing.

Are you working on any re-actives?

Yes we had a really cool lesson with this alcoholic Randy. We came over one time when he was a little drunk and taught him the Importance of following Christ and I shared 1 Nephi 3:7 with him and right when I finished that Scripture he got up and poured all his Rum down the drain and said that he was going to follow Christ and get on the path that God has for him. It was really exciting and awesome. I love that guy.

Is your zone working harder and being obedient?

Our Zone is doing really good. Everyone at this moment has a Baptism date so that is super good. I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable being a ZL, but it is still pretty stressful at some points. Like sometimes I just wish I was smarter and knew the doctrine more. But that's life so I guess I'll just cont. to work hard. Oh we also got to do some Ward council training. So I got to teach all the leadership in some of the wards on how to be better member missionaries. It was pretty neat. I could only imagine Dad seating down and listening to some missionaries talk to him and give him help hah so it was fun. I love working in the Stake Councils cause I get to know what actually goes on in the leadership of the church. Its pretty fun.

How do you like your new Pres and his wife? Have you seen them a lot?

I have not yet met them cause we are up in Prescott which is a 1 1/2 hr drive. But we get to meet him tomorrow at interviews.

Are you going to baptize Sam and Hope?

YESSSS on the 13th of JULY I'm so pumped and excited for them. I seriously can't wait to see them and baptize them.

How far are you from Peoria?

Its like a 2 hr drive down to the heat. The weather here is so nice. It reminds me of Home.

Where are the photos? I want to see your new digs, comp, area, etc

Sorry they are coming soon haha.

Thank you some much for everything I love you so much !

Elder Anderson

August 29, 2011

Well this week as been pretty sweet except my Companion Elder Juchau has been sick almost every morning so we don't get out to work till like 12. It drives me crazy. I lose my mind when I stay in to long. I think it is my ADD. But I just love to work cause it keeps my mind focused on the work and not home, so I think that he is going to get transferred down to the valley (Phoenix) on the 6th when transfers come. I can't believe I've been here for 3 months already. Time just flies by like crazy.

How is the progress with Chuck and Korick? Any other new investigators?

Chuck is doing alright. He fell and cracked his head open. So we haven't been able to meet with him for a while. I really do hope everything goes well. He is an awesome guy. His Mom is crazy though she is 93 years old and I swear that she is losing her mind. But we love her. Hopefully we will be able to teach chuck this week. We are in the valley for 3 days this week which is pretty crazy. Just a ton of meetings, that's the only downside on being a zone leader, we have so many meetings. I learn a lot though at those meetings.

KORIK is doing awesome. He is going to be baptized on the 3rd of September. He wants me to Baptize him too, so I'm so excited to do that. I love preforming Baptisms. I can't wait for his baptism and he is going to be such an awesome member. He already invited a friend to church and he brought him with him. He's doing Missionary work already. I love that guy.

We got a new Investigator she just showed up to church on Sunday and now were going to be teaching her soon, I hope. So that was really neat and I've been praying hard for a new solid investigator cause once Korik gets baptized we won't really have any solid investigators. So that was neat, the power of prayer is real.

How are your missionaries doing? Do you have any troubles?

Our missionaries are doing great. One of them had to go home due to medical problems, so we have been in a 3 sum all week. Elder Jeffs is with us and he is a Spanish missionary. But other then that our missionaries are AWESOME!!

Do you think you will get transferred?

No i don't think I'm getting transferred. but my companion I'm pretty sure that he is. He's been here for 10 months.

Have you made good friends with any of the ward families?

Yeah I love the members up here. I Love Doyle family and a couple others that I'm pretty close to.

Do they ever take you golfing?

NO not yet. But I WILL.

Did you get your package? YES I got it thank you so much. I love the pants. 

Do you need anything?

Can i get a Quad scriptures. Cause I brought my Seminary ones.

And if its not to much can i Get a leather back note book. like the folder type ones that lawyers have!

Thank you so much for everything. I love you!
Elder Trent

August 22, 2011

I wrote this to Trent:
"Today was Lance and Austin Sosa's Farewell and David Bentz and Jeff Johnson's Homecoming.
I think the last time I cried so much at church was your farewell!
Jeff Grigg got his Patriarchal Blessing...have you heard from him lately? Jeff leaves for Southern Virginia College this week, he's playing bball and then planning on a mission in the Spring."
That is crazy that lance and Austin are off. There going to have a great time, that's way exciting. So did lance Cry? and how was his farewell? I bet the church building was packed!

"Your zone conf hike sounded amazing! You did a great job!!!
Where are the photos?"
I'll send you the photo's soon and yes it was so much fun and Spiritual which is the best. I loved it! That's pretty funny that you are talking to elder Giles Mom he is a great missionary and hard worker I love that guy. Were def. hanging out after the mission. He lives in Oregon but we can make it work hah.

"I love all your photos, who was the cute Mom and daughter that you Baptized?"
We didn't actually baptize her in our ward, I got to teach her twice and do the baptism Interview. The mom's name is Shana and the daughter Sierra they are so awesome!
The scorpions and spiders don't bite.
Yeah they bite but were missionaries the lord is looking out after us, no I'm kidding were really careful about it and stay safe. The spiders are awesome here. I just hope to catch a snake soon! they have a lot of cool snakes in Arizona. I want to kill a rattler and eat it as well. Wild life status.

"Is your beard getting thicker ?"
Yeah I have to legit shave everyday. I can grow a sweet Mustache and I am once I get home, It's going to be awesome! I grow a pretty good goatee as well.

What's with the brown pants? Can you really wear those?
Those are my vintage brown pants they are awesome but i usually only wear them on pday. But yeah I'm allowed to wear those bad boys.

"So how was your week?"
This week has been really good. We had a huge Zone Conference, where president talked about the new rule of trust and it went really well. Our missionaries in the Prescott Zone are really obedient and Hard workers, I'm greatful for that cause we don't have to worry about all the disobedience. So for Zone conference our new president reminds me of Dad kinda. He brought up like this trust box and once you leave the trust box then you start to lose some privileges and you get moved to a smaller box and if you cont. then you get moved to a plane hah It was pretty funny. He is an awesome President.

How are the investigators doing?
Well we're struggling with finding new investigators but we did set a baptism date with this older Man Chuck. He is 69 year old. I've always want to convert a senior citizen so I'm pretty excited about that. But he fell the other day and split his head open so we backed up a little bit on teaching him. So hopefully everything will get better soon.
Korik is doing great we had a lesson with him last night and He is AWESOME and so ready for baptism. I love just having solid investigators there so great. And he came to all 3 hours of church, our young men are really kicking in now. Good stuff.

Are the cigs still buried?
Yes they are. I love doing things like that its so much fun.

What's your ward mission leader like?
Our WML are really old so they don't do a lot of work, so it's tough, I really wish they would call a younger and more out going guy cause that's what we need.

Does your ward still feed you a lot?..
YES we get lunch and dinner almost everyday but I still ran out of money. I swear I run out every month oh well. But yeah are ward feeds us like crazy cause Juchau is diabetic.

Are you writing any girls?
I'm writing a couple girls, but writing is a very slow process. So some girls take a really long time to write back. And I need to catch up on my writing cause were only allowed to write on Pday so it makes it hard. No Chelsey never wrote back but I'm over it.

Well that's cool that Chad is playing football tell him to stay with it for all 4 years. I really wish i did that but I loved surfing too much. And Chad isn't really a surfer. So tell him to stay with it. What Position is he playing?

Well thank you so much for everything and I'm excited for the package. I love you!
Elder Trent

August 15, 2011

So this week went really good. The weather here reminds me a lot like home. I swear it is like the same.
Our zone meeting was so awesome. Seriously it was the coolest thing ever. I can't believe we actually thought of it. Anyways this is the lay out of the zone meeting.

So at the base of the mountain we had a talk on attitude and how it is important that we keep a good attitude on our missions and towards others. Then we started the hike up Thumb Butte. It was sweet. Then half way up we had a talk on Urgency and elder Kelley said that one. He did a really good job. Kelley is crazy and a really good missionary he knows how to work hard. Then we cont. up the mountain. towards the top we had an other talk on Diligence, then we cont and had another talk on humility elder Nuttall gave that one he is the most humble missionary out here and he is super smart. Then near the top we had another talk on trials and the spirit was just so strong the whole way up. Oh something I forget to add all the missionaries had to pick a rock at the bottom and carry it with them. So when we got to the top some of the missionaries went to the very top and I took a little rock climbing, so we broke the rules but I had to go to the very top, you know me... All or nothing. Anyways so after we went to the very top. Elder Juchau talked about the rocks that we all carried up and how those are our trials and burdens. Then we made a Shrine like a rock tower with them all and it showed our hard work and not to give up cause the end results are beautiful. Then I gave a talk on Our PRESCOTT ZONE PURPOSE it is so sweet. We have like our own little rap that we say now. So I just pumped up the missionaries to serve harder and love everyone. Then I gave a talk about how to have a better attitude and have FUN with the work. Cause if your not having fun your going to get depressed. So have fun and BAPTIZE. It was pretty sweet. Then we had a testimony meeting, it was so spiritual. The spirit was so strong coming from these great missionaries. Seriously it brought tears to my eyes. Then we all went off and studied and prayed at the top. I received an answer to my prayers as I studied and prayed up there. The spirit was just so strong. And I know why I'm out here. After that we hiked down and took pictures. It was AWESOME!

We went on a lot of exchanges this week. We're now going out with every missionary in the zone. So that's fun, we get know our missionaries a little better. They are 24 hr exchanges. I got to go out with the new missionary in our Zone Elder Estes. He is awesome. I love that guy we got along very well and I helped him out a lot cause I struggled at the beginning and now he is going through the same thing. So that was nice to help him out.

I also got to go out with Elder Pugsley in Paulden, we taught a really good lesson that day as well with Jacob Ford their investigator we got him to put all his cigs and chew in a brown bag and wrote Coffin on it. Then we buried it in his back yard. It was awesome.

Brother Beavers Baptism went really awesome. He is just going to be such a good member. After the baptism he gave a 30 min testimony and talked about how he is going to build up church. He's Awesome.

This morning we got to play racquet ball it was way fun, so tell Dad I'm going to beat him when i get home hah.

I love you,

Elder Trent Anderson

August 8, 2011

So this week has been really good. I have learned a lot from our new mission president. We have a couple different rules now. OUR MUSIC RULE CHANGED. Were allowed to listen to anything spiritual and uplifting. So that's pretty sweet. We made a member burn us efy 2011 and I love it. Best CD ever. wow that's weird that I'm all exctied over efy and church music. My life has changed a lot. Oh well I love it. Anyways we also got rid of a couple other rules and Our mission president just wants us to have more trust in him. I really hope the missionaries take it the same way the Zone leaders took this news. Cause its not in effect for the rest of the mission till the 17th. So we get to listen to all the good music before every one less. So that's pretty sweet. So President Taylor is a whole lot different then Pres. Beck. Like opposites cause President Taylor is all about the trust and he is very emotional and loving. Which I really like about him.

So this week has just been pretty crazy. As zone leaders we go to a ton of meetings and they take up so much time. By the way i just signed a rock that is going to be going into the phoenix north temple. So I'll have a little piece of the temple. So I'm way happy about that. I can't wait to come back and go through that temple. Your welcome to come with me I guess haha.

So there's been some cool spiritual experiences that have happened this week. As we plan out our day we like to open the windows of Heaven and set a time and place where we will be and we know that the lord will prepare some one there. But the key is we must stay obedient and worthy to receive the blessings. So we had a time picked out and a place and I knew that we were going to find a family to teach. So we got to that place and we said a prayer, then we walked out and there was a black guy and his family that just pulled up during our prayer and we talked to him and it turns out he was being taught down in the valley. When he moved up here he lost tract of the church and we found him through faith and obedience. It was just a great testimony builder and I'm so happy for that moment.

Our new missionaries are awesome. I love the missionaries here. I went on exchanges with Elder Giles one of our new missionaries in the area and we just had so much in common. He also has a pretty cute sister that he told me I could write. Anyways we had some really good and spiritual lessons that day. We met with Albert Black and the spirit was there for sure he even pointed it out. He just needs to read the Book Of Mormon and I know that he will be baptized. Soon! 

I got the chance to do another Baptism Interview. I got to Interview brother Beavers and he is like legendary. He's been taking the lessons for 6 years and now is going to be baptized on the 13th. I'm so happy for him.  He told me to show Dad this  www.gbsi-step.com its the new building tech. He's a really nice guy and has a patent on that company. We had a really good time during the interview and he is so ready for baptism. 

Korik is doing really well.  He is still set for the 3rd of September to be baptized.
I seriously can't wait for him to receive the blessing of baptism. It's going to help him out so much. I just love this gospel so much. 

We have ZONE MEETING this weds. And were hiking Thumb Butte it's a sweet mountain you can look it up online, it is going to be so awesome. At the top were going to do like what we use to do at June lake on Sunday where we split apart and write a letter and testimony, but its going to be to your companion. I'm way excited.

Anyways life is good as a missionary. The members here are so awesome. The Doyles are taking us to bowling and chillies they feed us so well. I love that family. 

I love you so much and thank you for everything.

Elder Trenton