Wednesday, June 22, 2011
FIRST LETTER FROM CAMBODIA!
First things first!! This keyboard sucks, so if there are any typos it’s not my fault. To start, my group almost got stuck in the LA airport for a bunch of reasons! Long story short, we got everything figured out and had the lady who gives the green light for the airplane to leave. She escorted us through security and all the way to our gate. They held the plane for us! People know missionaries everywhere! The guy at security was singing... I hope they call me on a mission, so I can get stuck in the airport... it was funny. We made it to Cambodia safe!!! Got to the mission home! My buddy Elder Elder is an AP so he got us from the airport! So sweet to see him again! My Trainer is another one of my friends Elder Conway! He is the man and helps me a lot with everything! In the Mission home we had a meeting and it was mentioned that this is a baptizing mission. Not a plant the seed mission. The mission goal for this year is 900 baptisms and they are almost half way to that goal right now. I love my mission! It’s so cool and unique! All the missionaries serving here are brothers! And there is a bunch of terms everyone uses. Like the trainers are called fathers and the greenies are called children, your first area is where you are born and when you go home from your mission they call it death. It’s so fun! So anyway I’ve been assigned to be born in Tak Khmau! It’s like an hour south of Phnom Penh and its crazy! It’s half city and have outskirts which they call the kytes. Twice a week we have to ride 2 and a half hours on our bikes to visit some members in the kytes my bike breaks everytime. I have gotten it fixed three times already! Good thing it’s dirt cheap! I got new pedals new chain new crank arms new sprockets new basket and a new bell. For a grand total of like 7 bucks!!! That’s like 100 bucks in America for all that stuff!! Getting your clothes customized is a huge thing for the missionaries here! A fully custom suit... 30 bucks. Jared... Nike's are like 8 bucks- tons of em... Anyway the typical house here is dirt floor wood and metal walls and the room is so small I can’t stand up straight in them and they have a table thing... it serves as the table, the bed and the chair all at once. These people have nothing and its crazy! My first few days I was in total culture shock! And at the end of the day when I would say my prayers I would just be like... what have I gotten myself into... Our house is pretty nice but still is NOTHING like home. I have to summarize my stories because I have to go to the market and get stuff and get back to the house. But in a nut shell, already I’ve seen tons of naked children, breastfeeding mothers, super drunken Cambodians, Rats, snakes, sick dogs. People cooking dogs! In fact the house across the street from us is a street vender for dogs. The other night in the middle of the night we were all woken up by someone pounding on the door of our house! My companion started talking to them and they yelled something back! My companion yells. They said our roof is on fire!!!! So we all jump up, grab water and get to the roof only to see it’s not our house, but it’s the dog meat house and the entire block. It was going up in flames! So we said a prayer then grabbed a chair and watched a bunch of Cambodians freak out and had a nice campout that night. They next day there were tons of people going through the rubble and at the end of the day when we came back... everything was gone! They had picked apart the entire block by hand in one day!!! People are so innovative here and use everything! Even a burnt down city block! There are still so many more stories! But that’s just one. This mission is so cool because we use the members a ton! The whole focus is to get a member with us to every lesson! That way the member is strengthened and they can help fellowship the new investigators! I am trying to get to know the members as fast as I can! In the lessons I do a lot of listening just trying to understand these people! Young people speak fast and old people speak lazy! Right now it’s near impossible! Elder Conway helps to involve me by telling them, my comp. will now bare his testimony about this. So I know right what to do... I’m learning! I’ve already come so far so I don’t feel down very much. Parents! I remember in our travels to other countries that when you use a debt or credit card they freeze it. Am I good to go to use my card here in Cambodia? Will you check on that this week and let me know! Thank you! I was going to attach some photos but I don’t have time... I’ll do it next week! I hope all of you are doing well. Family I love you and am sad I can’t be at home with you for all the fun! Talk to you next week!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
RYANS IN CAMBODIA!
Ryan has finally left the MTC in Provo! He got to call us at the airport before they left for L.A and it sounded like he was doing great! They had about 24 hours in the air to look forward to so my dad has been tracking his flight online, they finally made it to Cambodia last night around 8 p.m (utah time)! Ryan says he'll be able to send us photos in his next email so that should be something to be excited about for those who are followers of this blog!
Ryans addresss is no longer at the MTC so as soon as I get his Cambodian one i'll update the blog with that.
Friends and extended family can only write to Ryan via ground mail :( however, if you just have a little something you want to send to Elder Anderson just email it to me (megvalantine24@gmail.com) and i'll attach it to one of my letters. No problem.
here is Ry's most recent letter...
Last Email and last day in the MTC!
Two experiences I want to share from my last week at the MTC and the first is the last time we were able to teach our progressing investigator (remember it’s our teacher pretending) But we told him we had to go and that we were going somewhere else and that we would have other missionaries come. We left him with an awesome message about the plan of salvation and we could see how happy he was knowing all this and was excited to learn more. Later in class our teacher pulled out a picture of a Cambodian and his family and said "this is who you have been teaching". He told us he had been impersonating someone he taught as a missionary and converted. After he gave a very inspiring pep talk about how we need to switch from MTC to real life now. And that we really will have actually people with actual problems and there will be real miracles.
Our other teacher gave his last advice which I loved a lot! He said, “every night, after your prayer, and your head goes down on that pillow, make sure you will be able to know that your heavenly father was pleased with your efforts that day." He said you’ll be able to tell every night when you didn’t do all you could have that day. He also said, " You’re choosing your own destiny, you can’t blame God if you blow it." It was so sad to see them go yesterday after their last time teaching us. What else is sad is that I went to the temple this morning for the last time, for a long time. I didn’t want to leave, none of us did, and I think god knew that because we had the session before us run late. The session we were in was completely full! They had to bring in a few chairs. Just about everything happened that could have happened to keep us in the temple as long as possible this morning. Funny thing is, the past 11 weeks, there was hardly anyone at the temple when we go at 7 AM! So, I really do believe that God was giving us all one last tender mercy before we left to Cambodia and wouldn’t be able to return for a few years.
Well family.. One adventure closes and another begins! Let’s hope I don’t die! Talking to the teachers and some of the Cambodian Natives from Cambodia that are in the MTC I can immediately expect Flooding, Heat, No toilet paper, and to struggle with the language for a good 6 months. I’m kind of freaking out, but hey, I think everyone else is too. We are all in this together! I’m sorry it’s kind of short but I’m sure I’ll have plenty to talk about next week!
Thanks again for all your prayers and support! I feel very proud to be serving my friends, Family, and my Father in heaven.
Family ill talk to you hopefully between 6-8 tonight!
PS. I feel so freaked out going out in the world without my cell phone!
Love, Elder Anderson
Ryans addresss is no longer at the MTC so as soon as I get his Cambodian one i'll update the blog with that.
Friends and extended family can only write to Ryan via ground mail :( however, if you just have a little something you want to send to Elder Anderson just email it to me (megvalantine24@gmail.com) and i'll attach it to one of my letters. No problem.
here is Ry's most recent letter...
Last Email and last day in the MTC!
Two experiences I want to share from my last week at the MTC and the first is the last time we were able to teach our progressing investigator (remember it’s our teacher pretending) But we told him we had to go and that we were going somewhere else and that we would have other missionaries come. We left him with an awesome message about the plan of salvation and we could see how happy he was knowing all this and was excited to learn more. Later in class our teacher pulled out a picture of a Cambodian and his family and said "this is who you have been teaching". He told us he had been impersonating someone he taught as a missionary and converted. After he gave a very inspiring pep talk about how we need to switch from MTC to real life now. And that we really will have actually people with actual problems and there will be real miracles.
Our other teacher gave his last advice which I loved a lot! He said, “every night, after your prayer, and your head goes down on that pillow, make sure you will be able to know that your heavenly father was pleased with your efforts that day." He said you’ll be able to tell every night when you didn’t do all you could have that day. He also said, " You’re choosing your own destiny, you can’t blame God if you blow it." It was so sad to see them go yesterday after their last time teaching us. What else is sad is that I went to the temple this morning for the last time, for a long time. I didn’t want to leave, none of us did, and I think god knew that because we had the session before us run late. The session we were in was completely full! They had to bring in a few chairs. Just about everything happened that could have happened to keep us in the temple as long as possible this morning. Funny thing is, the past 11 weeks, there was hardly anyone at the temple when we go at 7 AM! So, I really do believe that God was giving us all one last tender mercy before we left to Cambodia and wouldn’t be able to return for a few years.
Well family.. One adventure closes and another begins! Let’s hope I don’t die! Talking to the teachers and some of the Cambodian Natives from Cambodia that are in the MTC I can immediately expect Flooding, Heat, No toilet paper, and to struggle with the language for a good 6 months. I’m kind of freaking out, but hey, I think everyone else is too. We are all in this together! I’m sorry it’s kind of short but I’m sure I’ll have plenty to talk about next week!
Thanks again for all your prayers and support! I feel very proud to be serving my friends, Family, and my Father in heaven.
Family ill talk to you hopefully between 6-8 tonight!
PS. I feel so freaked out going out in the world without my cell phone!
Love, Elder Anderson
Friday, June 3, 2011
Weeks 9 & 10!
Family!
May 31, 2011
Mom I loved those photos of my buds it was way fun to see what’s in store for me in the mission field. Dan Miner and I are emailing each other through our ldsmail so maybe if you could get my friends ldsmail accounts that would be sweet! Um, I have to wrap this up and get to dinner. speaking of which I haven’t really gained or lost any weight in the MTC. An Elder Named Elder Clark and I use our gym time to play Volleyball and pump some serious iron so I think I’m ok! Don’t worry. Oh, and my teachers, all 4 of them each lost an average of 40 pounds in Cambodia so I don’t even think that’s a question anymore. I’m going to be losing weight. Some missionaries lose even more! Last thing! It’s always been a challenge of mine to open up and not be so shy and reserved. And I’ve definitely gotten better over the past few months but still nowhere near where I need to be. So it the TRC this last weekend it was game time. We were about to knock on the door and my teacher stops me and says, “Anderson! I know you have something in that head of yours that this investigator needs to hear! I know you really want to help this person and if you don’t open your mouth you can’t do that! So open your mouth and don’t be content with letting your Companion say everything.” He then told my companion to not say so much and give me chances to speak. And in a 40 minute lesson, I taught 80% of it. And it felt good. My time is up! I must say goodbye until next week. I will have lots of exciting news about going to Cambodia.
This week I think we can say is another routine week. I look through my journal to get the highlights of the week so share home with you and there was only a few exciting things. Number one was we got to be host missionaries last Wed. for the new missionaries. I got to see my first day all over again but from the perspective of a 8 week veteran of the MTC. It was helpful for the English speakers when we told them we have been here for 8 weeks and you will still leave before we do. It was pouring rain the whole day which made it fun! Another thing is outside gym! finally the weather is good so we get to go out in the sun and play! Sand Volleyball is the best! Shoes off in the sand, in the sun, for 45 minutes. It’s like heaven to get out of the classroom. In the classroom however since we have three teachers now we have another progressing investigator we practice with. So we will teach him three times a week and try to get him to progress. Even though it’s one of our teachers it still feels way real! To the point where we even pray for him without thinking. I can’t believe we only have about ten more days of class before we are off to Cambodia. I can say ten because we don’t have class Sunday, Tuesday or Saturday. OH! I almost forgot. My buddy Elder Elder wrote me from Cambodia this week! HE told me that he didn’t get any of my mail. And that any time he would see anyone from my old District they would all ask about me. Has anyone heard from Anderson yet? ha THEY REMEMBER ME! he said they post the pictures of the new missionaries coming in the mission home and he saw mine! So he wrote me and told me how excited he was to be able to see me in June and that there were lots of others waiting with open arms to greet me! It was a major morale booster! My language is steady. I can pretty much carry on a decent conversation with anyone now. I have to talk my way around words still which is ok because Cambodian is all verbs and hardly any Nouns! for example. if you wanted to say Furniture, you would say desk shelf chair. Desk shelf chair really is how you would say furniture! It’s crazy! we are practicing teaching commandments, first lesson second lesson helping to resolve concerns! It’s crazy what we can do and we don’t even know it! I’m not sure what else
I can tell you and I can’t sit here and think because there is a big red timer on the screen that counts down and when it hits zero if your message isn’t sent, oh well, ya have to wait till next week! I don’t have a spiritual though prepared to share with you this week but next week I definitely will I love you all and love to hear about home. Tell me what’s going on!
Elder Ryan Anderson
Family and friends!
only 14 more days until I’m done with the MTC can you believe it’s been two months already! We are estimated to get our flight plans and exact departure info this Thursday! So next email I will give you more details because I’ll know more! I want to know about Aarons mission call ASAP! I’m way excited for the Boy! The weeks get less and less busy as we get closer to leaving. For example, our district has been invited to Host for the new missionaries for the Third week in a row. Which means we have to miss a class shift again. The teachers are totally confident in our language though, the other day one of our teachers was just talking giving us instruction and we were all following along giving comments back, when he stopped and said Elders, do you realize its week ten of your missions and I haven’t spoken a word of English all day and you’re understanding everything I say? Your all speaking Khmer right now and you weren’t even thinking about it. It was a huge wakeup call! Like holy cow! we really are just having a class in Cambodian as if it were totally normal. We all couldn’t help but smile and be happy for ourselves. We all got down and prayed as a District right then because we know we had help. As far as reading Cambodian, for all of those who have seen what it looks like, I think we are all on a 2nd grade reading level. I think I finally have the alphabet of 100 plus characters memorized to the point where I can read slowly. I don’t know all the words I read, specially not in the book of Mormon because they have some hard words in there! So slowly 15 minutes everyday I’m getting better. We had our Malaria instruction this last week. A doctor talked to us about listening to our mission Pres. and doing what he tells us to stay risk free. He told us to never think you can just "go native" and not take any precautions. He said pretty much all day everyday we are going to be applying and re-applying bug spray and sun screen! There was lots more said but I won’t mention it all. Don’t worry I don’t plan on "going native"!
Last Tues. we had Russell M. Nelson visit us and on Sunday we had Stephen B. Allen. It’s always way sweet to have an Apostle come and speak! Elder Nelson talked about a wide variety of things pertaining to missionary work. From how to make a good first impression to making sure you keep track of your contacts even after your mission. "You want them to remain so they can obtain!" Missionary work isn’t about baptisms. It’s about building the Kingdom of God. Not only is it good for missionaries to baptize, but to help your new members stay true and stay on the path to much higher ordinances. Like things in the temple. I can’t give an apostles words justice but that’s what he said to an effect. Of course he also talked on obedience, in fact, Sister Nelson gave an excellent quote, " Obedience brings blessing, Exact Obedience brings Miracles." Such a good way to look at it. But in Elder Nelson’s remarks he was talking about missionaries and the daily little things that might not be as big of a deal to be obedient about as some others, like how you present yourself. He said, "having character is better than being one." I thought this was so true!
Mom I loved those photos of my buds it was way fun to see what’s in store for me in the mission field. Dan Miner and I are emailing each other through our ldsmail so maybe if you could get my friends ldsmail accounts that would be sweet! Um, I have to wrap this up and get to dinner. speaking of which I haven’t really gained or lost any weight in the MTC. An Elder Named Elder Clark and I use our gym time to play Volleyball and pump some serious iron so I think I’m ok! Don’t worry. Oh, and my teachers, all 4 of them each lost an average of 40 pounds in Cambodia so I don’t even think that’s a question anymore. I’m going to be losing weight. Some missionaries lose even more! Last thing! It’s always been a challenge of mine to open up and not be so shy and reserved. And I’ve definitely gotten better over the past few months but still nowhere near where I need to be. So it the TRC this last weekend it was game time. We were about to knock on the door and my teacher stops me and says, “Anderson! I know you have something in that head of yours that this investigator needs to hear! I know you really want to help this person and if you don’t open your mouth you can’t do that! So open your mouth and don’t be content with letting your Companion say everything.” He then told my companion to not say so much and give me chances to speak. And in a 40 minute lesson, I taught 80% of it. And it felt good. My time is up! I must say goodbye until next week. I will have lots of exciting news about going to Cambodia.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
ACT in FAITH
Week 7
Dear family and friends, yet another week has gone by here in the MTC. Some of the highlights. The cafeteria is still under construction, so there is still only one menu item each meal each day and there is only ONE line for the entire MTC. So its wait wait wait in line then shovel the food as fast as you can to be on time to your next class! We found out during our service assignment that we will be the last people to live in our residence halls, which is building 14, before they shut it down for renovations. It’s about time if you ask me. They will be converting all the rooms into 6 elders a room instead of just 4. As if they weren’t small enough already. We had Elder Stanly G Ellis of the 70 speak to us and we had Richard L Heaton Some guy in some kind of presidency position in the MTC. Every week we have a progressing investigator and a new investigator to prepare to teach. Our progressing investigator is our teacher but he imitates a specific Cambodian that he had to teach and is very good! every week we have to go more simple, more simple, Cambodian adults only have a few years of school so most can’t read. That our investigator. I knew I had to teach very simple doctrine but I had no idea it would have to be more simple than what the kids are learning in primary in America. Our random investigator was a girl from California whose parents are Cambodian so she knows how to speak but not read! ( I’ve come to find out that Cambodian is so tough to learn how to read, that most people don’t even bother learning how to do it. ) So sure enough my comp. and I had a scripture we wanted to share but she couldn’t read. So we had to give it our best shot! it wasn’t pretty but we got the message across.
My thoughts this week have been about Faith. Last Sunday as I said before we had Elder Ellis of the 70 visit us. He spoke so simply and powerfully about faith! It was amazing and really opened my eyes up on the subject as I have applied it this last week. As we know Faith is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith is the Basis on which Missionaries and members of the Church of Jesus Christ Believe, gain testimony, promise blessings, and perform miracles. If we have faith that our heavenly father will answer someone’s prayer and we promise them he will. God will fulfill his end. Even if the lord has to do something himself!, he will keep his word. God will direct all of us, if we have faith. God will prepare the people of Cambodia and guide me to them if I have the faith. However, faith is a principle of ACTION! We all know the saying that says " when life gets hard to stand kneel." Most the time you can’t just stay on your knees! You must get up and start doing. Build yourself to have a greater amount of faith by doing. Have faith that as you get started he will see your efforts and desire to follow him and he WILL guide you. When it came down to crunch time to again leave on my mission it was a very rough time. I was feeling such strong emotions I have never felt before. It was so hard for me, all the way up until I took those steps back into the MTC, to actually go through with it. And right now looking back, imp so grateful that my heavenly father blessed me with the strength to take that walk of FAITH. My intent on sharing this experience is to not talk myself up but to bare testimony of a recent example in my life where I finally had to just get off my knees and go forward in faith. ACT in FAITH even when you are not sure and I promise that the lord will bless you with his guidance. I Love all of you and REALLY REALLY appreciate the love and support you have shown me in the last year and helping me become who I am today. Until next week, ( not our will, but his be done ) have faith.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
BEST letter by FAR!
Dear family and friends,
This week has been an over the hill week for me in the mtc and i guess this upcoming week will be the same as well. Ill tell about this upcoming week first and then ill tell about the week i just had. In the MTC there are some changes being made, my schedule that i had just gotten used to is now different. We have been told that missionary work is yet again evolving and that we would be the first to experience it. We were told that when missionaries get their calls they will be given materials to help them prepare much better for the MTC. In the MTC there is now absolutely no Missionary directed time anymore. We have outlined gospel lessons that are to be taught to us instead of us choosing what we do in class for the week, we still get to decide alot of what we get to do as far as language. Our companionshio study is with a teacher instead of on our own. One of the biggest changes is that in addition to the random stranger we teach a lesson to at the end of the week and practice our language, we are assigned a progressing investigator that we will then teach for the rest of the time in the mtc. So in Short, much more busy, very many more goals, 2x the amound of language to cram (even though we were already on double time with that), many more teaching practice opportunities and much better gospel lessons wich is my favorite part.
Now about the week i just had. This week i have been thinking alot about how i can feel like a better missionary. And almost every day i read something or something is said to help me answer that question i have in my mind. One of them being a talk from David Bednar that we watched as a class. These are some quotes from his talk i have taken to heart.
" Your mission was decided in the pre mortal existance, and is not only for two years but for your entire life."
"Return to your home, but do not leave the mission field."
"Every success in the work is a gift of God."
There were many more but those were my top. My other source that helped me to recieve an answer to my questions is a talk sent to me by my Best friend Andrew Fonda serving in Chile. Its called the fourth missionary. It talked about missionaries 1-4 and gets really detailed about them. The first one isnt so great, goes home. Second one stays and doesnt make a difference in himself or anyone else. The third makes a change in others but not himself. Its is the Fourth missionary obvioulsy that all missionaries sould be like. it says so much so again ill just share the parts that ive taken to heart very strongly.
"The greatest battles that anyone will ever have to fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart. That is the battleground between what you want and what the lord wants. THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS TO LOSE. If the lord wins the battle you both win, if you win the battle you both lose."
"The virtues of mercy, integrity, spirituality, humility, kindness, virtue, diligence, patience, and love become more than principles, they become attributes of his character. (talking about the 4th missionary)."
"Only in losing yourself, may you find yourself. Only by enriching others, may you be enriched. Only be giving may you recieve. Only in surrenduring you may become free."
Mom and Dad these last two are for you because i think they are exactly what you have been trying to teach me my entire life and i havent always been very receptive to listen.
" There are two ways of evolving, Deliberately and accidentally. You can decide who you want to become and work for it, or you can just go with the flow in life and become whatever it makes you......BUt whatever you become haphazardly, it will not be to your full potential."
"In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strenght, you give only that which he grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and your talents, you only return to him what he already has given you. If you pay tithing you only return to him a tenth of which he has already given you. Everything you have to give to the lord has its origin in him, EXCEPT ONE THING: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to him. It is the only gift you have to offer that he does not already have. And so when you give him yourself, you truly give him everything."
So, how do i become a better missionary? Its by not being a "missionary" at all. Its by becoming a servant. A servant of the lord who gives the only thing that which the lord does not already have, or given me and that is my full heart and mind. Now i know this will be impossible to do 24/7 but im feeling it wont hurt to try and do it as much as i can! Stop thiking about the things at home. The things i packed away in the attick. And focus on the whole purpose of life, because this is the only chance ill get to give it 100 percent. All of those other things can wait and they will still be there later. So, my goal, Focus on my purpose as a missionary to help other come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. Let Gods will, and not my will be done. Because when the Lord wins I win and i have complete faith in that. Family, ive only just begun my adventure as a servant of God and i know there will be hard times. But its my hope and prayer that i will always remember what i have shared witth you today and would ask for your prayers as well.
I feel the love and support of my entire family everyday and im so thankfull for every one of you because family is what life is about. Its my most prized possesion and im blessed to have one so great!
Elder Ryan D. Anderson
This week has been an over the hill week for me in the mtc and i guess this upcoming week will be the same as well. Ill tell about this upcoming week first and then ill tell about the week i just had. In the MTC there are some changes being made, my schedule that i had just gotten used to is now different. We have been told that missionary work is yet again evolving and that we would be the first to experience it. We were told that when missionaries get their calls they will be given materials to help them prepare much better for the MTC. In the MTC there is now absolutely no Missionary directed time anymore. We have outlined gospel lessons that are to be taught to us instead of us choosing what we do in class for the week, we still get to decide alot of what we get to do as far as language. Our companionshio study is with a teacher instead of on our own. One of the biggest changes is that in addition to the random stranger we teach a lesson to at the end of the week and practice our language, we are assigned a progressing investigator that we will then teach for the rest of the time in the mtc. So in Short, much more busy, very many more goals, 2x the amound of language to cram (even though we were already on double time with that), many more teaching practice opportunities and much better gospel lessons wich is my favorite part.
Now about the week i just had. This week i have been thinking alot about how i can feel like a better missionary. And almost every day i read something or something is said to help me answer that question i have in my mind. One of them being a talk from David Bednar that we watched as a class. These are some quotes from his talk i have taken to heart.
" Your mission was decided in the pre mortal existance, and is not only for two years but for your entire life."
"Return to your home, but do not leave the mission field."
"Every success in the work is a gift of God."
There were many more but those were my top. My other source that helped me to recieve an answer to my questions is a talk sent to me by my Best friend Andrew Fonda serving in Chile. Its called the fourth missionary. It talked about missionaries 1-4 and gets really detailed about them. The first one isnt so great, goes home. Second one stays and doesnt make a difference in himself or anyone else. The third makes a change in others but not himself. Its is the Fourth missionary obvioulsy that all missionaries sould be like. it says so much so again ill just share the parts that ive taken to heart very strongly.
"The greatest battles that anyone will ever have to fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart. That is the battleground between what you want and what the lord wants. THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS TO LOSE. If the lord wins the battle you both win, if you win the battle you both lose."
"The virtues of mercy, integrity, spirituality, humility, kindness, virtue, diligence, patience, and love become more than principles, they become attributes of his character. (talking about the 4th missionary)."
"Only in losing yourself, may you find yourself. Only by enriching others, may you be enriched. Only be giving may you recieve. Only in surrenduring you may become free."
Mom and Dad these last two are for you because i think they are exactly what you have been trying to teach me my entire life and i havent always been very receptive to listen.
" There are two ways of evolving, Deliberately and accidentally. You can decide who you want to become and work for it, or you can just go with the flow in life and become whatever it makes you......BUt whatever you become haphazardly, it will not be to your full potential."
"In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strenght, you give only that which he grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and your talents, you only return to him what he already has given you. If you pay tithing you only return to him a tenth of which he has already given you. Everything you have to give to the lord has its origin in him, EXCEPT ONE THING: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to him. It is the only gift you have to offer that he does not already have. And so when you give him yourself, you truly give him everything."
So, how do i become a better missionary? Its by not being a "missionary" at all. Its by becoming a servant. A servant of the lord who gives the only thing that which the lord does not already have, or given me and that is my full heart and mind. Now i know this will be impossible to do 24/7 but im feeling it wont hurt to try and do it as much as i can! Stop thiking about the things at home. The things i packed away in the attick. And focus on the whole purpose of life, because this is the only chance ill get to give it 100 percent. All of those other things can wait and they will still be there later. So, my goal, Focus on my purpose as a missionary to help other come unto christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. Let Gods will, and not my will be done. Because when the Lord wins I win and i have complete faith in that. Family, ive only just begun my adventure as a servant of God and i know there will be hard times. But its my hope and prayer that i will always remember what i have shared witth you today and would ask for your prayers as well.
I feel the love and support of my entire family everyday and im so thankfull for every one of you because family is what life is about. Its my most prized possesion and im blessed to have one so great!
Elder Ryan D. Anderson
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Departure Day Pictures
Here are some photos from the day we took Ry to the MTC
Getting set apart as a Missionary
one last chocolate milkshake before you go.
One last family photo
and we're off! bye Ry! we love you!!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Ryans First Letter!!!
"There are plenty of hard times where all i want to do is sleep or just quit but at the end of everyday i have this awesome feeling of accomplishment! one week of the MTC is down which is better than nothing! My companions Name is Elder Kuhn! he is an awesome guy and is really smart and knows how to study really well. He helps me everyday in companionship study to better understand the scriptures! usually i would be afraid to ask for help in fear of looking dumb, but i think he likes to share what he knows and always enjoys a nice simple review....
General Conference was amazing! i cant remember who said it right now but its in my notes, but it was the talk about the gold miner, how he was expecting to find gold nuggets and was really discouraged when it never happened, but when the old miner showed him how to get all the little flakes of gold it adds up to a great amount! By small and simple things is how things get done with the lord. Growing your testimony, getting answers to prayers, helping others come unto christ, and much more. In that same talk towards the end he said your life will have little meaning if it not one of service. So after that i know that im not just going to be handed this mission and im not going to be the best missionary overnight and that there is nothing else God would have me do right now than to serve a mission...
The language is tough but it will come, they ask us to do so much! in fact in my first interview it was said that they ask the Cambodian missionaries to do the impossible! And if a missionary has the spirirt and the help of the lord they can do the impossible!...
General Conference was amazing! i cant remember who said it right now but its in my notes, but it was the talk about the gold miner, how he was expecting to find gold nuggets and was really discouraged when it never happened, but when the old miner showed him how to get all the little flakes of gold it adds up to a great amount! By small and simple things is how things get done with the lord. Growing your testimony, getting answers to prayers, helping others come unto christ, and much more. In that same talk towards the end he said your life will have little meaning if it not one of service. So after that i know that im not just going to be handed this mission and im not going to be the best missionary overnight and that there is nothing else God would have me do right now than to serve a mission...
The language is tough but it will come, they ask us to do so much! in fact in my first interview it was said that they ask the Cambodian missionaries to do the impossible! And if a missionary has the spirirt and the help of the lord they can do the impossible!...
I am already anxious for next week where i get to share more with you! Love you Miss you!!!
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