Week 4 and 5: Apostles, Piano Guys and Flight Plans....

Member of our branch presidency.

Week 4: 

This week has 

been awesome!! Just did the normal stuff again. Study, eat,  sleep. Then repeat. It's awesome though, because your with a bunch of great elders and sisters that just absolutely love the gospel. Oh and we Skyped members in Italy to teach and share a message with them! It was so cool, we taught this guy whose son was a professional chef. His Italian was insane!! It was so fast! Great guy... The highlight of this week had to of been Tuesday nights devotional it was absolutely astounding. I cannot even begin to describe how great it was. We had the awesome opportunity to see Elder Jeffery R. Holland speak live. Like in person. Crazy right? The spirit that an apostle of the Lord brings is incredible. One of the many things he talked about was how important the Book of Mormon is. There is not a more important book that we could read. The spirit and strength that it can bring to your everyday life is indescribable. I challenge everyone to read the Book of Mormon daily. Do not neglect this gift God has given us. The Book of Mormon has helped me out in so many ways and I know it can do the same for all of you!!

    

Thank you for all the love and support everyone has shown me. Love you all!!!

Eating those delicious nuts Grandma sent me.

            

  

P-Day with the Comps

         

                                                           Yeah, we still got it.......

Week 5:

It’s Christmas guys! This week was a good one!! The Piano Guys came and played some sweet music for us! Then they all shard their testimonies and they have such strong testimonies, so cool to hear. Then for the most exciting part of the week!! We got our flight plans!! We are finally off to Italy! We leave Tuesday morning bright and early!!  The time has finally come!! So stoked to go out and serve the people of Italy. Thank you for all of the emails, letters, and packages this week!! 

Getting all festive.

I want to wish everyone of you a Merry Christmas! Lets try and be a little more Christlike this year. During Christ’s life, He was constantly serving others. When most people turn in, our Savior turns out, and always will. This Christmas season lets make an effort to be more like our Savior. Loose yourselves in the service of others! There is not a better feeling then that, I can promise you that. I am so grateful for what Christ has done for not only me, but every single one of us. It truly is amazing. Love every single one of you guys! 

                                My teachers here at the MTC. I love these guys!

Ups, Downs and a Suit Coat; Served with a Side of Cream Cheese.....

My Zone

This week was filled with some ups and some downs. We 
had an awesome Anziano go home this week because of 
severe anxiety. I have so much respect for him. He is an 
awesome person and a spiritual giant. He will be missed, 
I pray for him everyday.  This week was also filled with 

some of the strongest spiritual moments I have ever had 
at the MTC. I know how real prayer is and how powerful
it can be. It is a direct line from us to our 
Heavenly Father. I also know that He has given us prayer, 
so we can use it in everything we do. I also know that 
He will always answer our prayers. It is honestly so cool 
that we have that opportunity to talk with our Heavenly 
Father at any time of the day or for any reason 
He will listen to us.

A Tie Exchange With a Great Elder...

Thursday: 

Today was a little hard. We had a guy from our district who was in our room go home today because of severe anxiety he had been dealing with. Our whole room was very close and it was hard to see him go. He was an awesome guy with a great spirit.

Friday: 

Just some more of the usual. Learning, studying and all the stuff in between. Then Anziano Albright showed us all how to break an apple with two fingers and his forehead. It was probably one of the funniest, coolest things I've ever seen! He is an awesome guy, with a great laugh!! Never fail to smile around him!!

Anziano Albright

Saturday:

Today was pretty good. Just another normal day at the MTC. Learning new stuff everyday and its great!! Today I learned how I can work on being patient. Everyone in my zone is awesome and have such great spirits. 

Sunday: 

So today was fast Sunday and I wasn't as hungry as I usually am. It was pretty nice. And then  dinner came and we went full out!! Then we watched the Christmas Devotional and it was awesome!!! It talked about how we all love the Christmas spirit and how that the Light of Christ is pretty much the same thing but better. Then I got to say goodbye to on of my good friends Elder Warner before he left before to Brazil and was able to give him a blessing. He is gonna be an awesome missionary and I can't wait to see the things he does!!

Elder Jake Warner serving in Brazil. See you in two, Brother.

Monday:

Today was another normal day... When we went to teach the investigator though we accidentally brought in the english version of the restoration pamphlet so that was a little awkward haha. We all had a good laugh. 

Tuesday:

This morning started out rough haha. My companion accidently put his bagel with cream cheese on my suit coat. But hey sometimes your suit coat just needs a little cream cheese ya know? Then later that night we had an awesome devotional by Craig C. Christiansen. He was an awesome speaker!! He talked about how important Joseph Smith was to our church.

Anziano Allen, My Companion

Wednesday:

Wow today was awesome. Today I probably had the most spiritual experience I have had so far at the MTC. We were having this lesson and the teacher asked us all to share our testimonies on Christ. At that exact moment everyone in the whole room just knew that the spirit was there. Oh and get this. Throughout this whole experience I had one of my prayers answered. It was something had been praying about for awhile and then BAM!!! the Lord answered it for me. And it was one of the most clear answers I have ever received. It was such an awesome experience.

Anyways tell everyone I love them and that I pray for them every night!! Love you guys!! 

Week Two At The MTC...

So the MTC this week has been way cool. I have never been so spiritually motivated haha. But I can't wait to get out into Italy. Though I'm nervous about the language...

Friday  was P-day and it was stellar. We slept in till like 7:00 and it felt like I slept till noon. Then we went to the temple and did a session. I got some emailing done then we played some basket ball.  Later that night we set up Christmas in our room and it was a blast! Then we  got our whole zone to do a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. We all counted down from 30 and just went crazy when we turned the lights on. It was so awesome! Then we got in trouble for being to rowdy, but it got us all in the Christmas spirit!!

Provo MTC Temple


Decorating the Tree

Saturday morning I woke up with a massive head ache and it never really went away. We needed to talk to our zone about some problems we've been having and then some dude got mad at me for some reason. He later apologized and now we are buds.

Today was a good day.........

Sunday was interesting. We started off the day right with a solid prayer in Italian. Then we went to some meetings. Every time they ask if someone can play the piano; nobody ever raises there hand. So after one of the guys in our room told us he hasn't played in like 5 years, he literally sat down and played like Mozart. It was hilarious and we all cracked up laughing. We then spent 4 hours on some deep doctrine which was pretty fun. After, we went to a devotional and everyone was super mad for some reason; like I'm talking about 'explode and beat someone up kind of mad'. (I think we were all exhausted.) Then, it just kind of made me and everyone in my room crack up laughing again.        

Monday morning I looked outside and saw that it was snowing. I don't think I've ever been that happy in the morning haha. Then as the day went on I realized I wasn't going to be able to ski and I got a little sad. I think Heavenly Father knew I was having a hard time with that, so he decided to let the snow stick to the cement and I was able to some-what ski. It was fun! We ended the day with a ton more studying and learning.

Snow!

Tuesday was a good one. We had a good devotional tonight. We talked about using the Holy Ghost to teach people. It was great and the spirit was really strong. When we got back to our room we had this cheese ball throwing competition and it got lit!!! It was legit.

Wednesday we taught 3 lessons in Italian and it was super hard. I thought I knew a decent amount, ha ha it turns out I do not. But its okay because its only the second week and we still have a month left to learn. Then we played some basketball.  Anziano Allen and me had to teach a couple of kids a thing or two about basketball. Then I got a package full of healthy snacks from the family (which is so amazing because I have to eat the same thing everyday because they don’t have a lot of healthy options here) so it was nice to switch things up a bit. 

Overall I’m doing great, I love it down here. It makes me even more stoked to go to Italy. I’ve never prayed more in my life, to be honest haha. There is no way I could do this without the Spirit, that’s for sure.  Just the fact that I am learning and studying for like 12 hours a day and run on 6 1/2 hours of sleep on a good night (maybe that’s just because I wake up like a billion times a night) and being away from home.  There is no way I could do it without Him.  

Thank you all for your support and prayers! I really feel it!

     

                Love you all!

                             Anziano Andersen

This first week here has been so awesome! I don't think I have ever felt the spirit more in my life than when I'm here. Its crazy awesome!! My companion is a stud! He has such a strong spirit! And everyone in my zone is just so cool!! They are all spiritual giants!! They teach me new stuff everyday!! It was really great to see Jake again. We've seen each other a couple of times. We are in the same building just a different floor. So here is what happened this week....

Elder Warner and ElderAndersen

   

My Zone (Minus 2 Missionaries)

Wednesday:

Whoah, today was crazy!! They got right into it!! As soon as you walk into the class room they don't speak any English! I can’t wait to start learning Italian. My companion, Anziano Allen is a solid guy!! He even agreed to wake up early and work out with me!!! Crazy right?! Such a stud. The spirit here is super strong, and everyone is so eager to learn its great!!

My Awesome Roommates. I love these guys!

Thursday:

I didn't really think today could get crazier than yesterday, but it did. We woke up and got ready for the day and headed to our class room. Then we were instructed to study, and then we were taught a great lesson on how to love our investigators. It was really great! Well after that our teacher walks in and tells us we will be teaching our first lesson in Italian tomorrow. Haha I have never studied so hard in my life up until then. Later we had a branch meeting. In the meeting we talked about how we need to all make sure we demonstrate exact obedience. It was a great meeting. After that they said they were giving out callings. I thought I didn't have to worry because I'm new. Well I ended up getting called to be a Zone Leader.... I don't think I have ever felt more unqualified for a job, but I know the Lord will help me and I can't wait to serve all the people in my district. They are all awesome missionaries!!

Friday:

Today was a little different, we got a letter yesterday saying we needed to head to the consulate in SLC to get some papers signed. They told us to meet us at the travel office at 6:20  but they didn't even show up till like 7:00. The train ride was nice though, we were able to catch up on some studying and I took a 20 minute power nap. Then after that we struggled through some Italiano. Its coming, slowly but surly.

Italian Consulate

     
Saturday:

This morning we started out with a solid workout. I was able to get my companion and another guy to wake up early and work out. It felt Great!! Then we had Italiano classes. At lunch we started laughing about something, I'm not quite sure what, but the whole rest of the day as soon as someone started laughing we all just broke out laughing and couldn't stop. We would laugh for literally no reason. I love these guys! Later that night we had our first lesson in Italiano, and it was a total mess!!! That's okay, because it's only the fourth day right? Later we did some interviews and prepped for our meetings tomorrow.

Sunday: 

Sunday started out rough. We got like zero sleep the night before because we literally couldn't stop laughing all night. We started out with some leadership meetings in the morning and talked about how we could help people in our zone. All the Anziani in our zone are solid. They all have such strong testimonies, I learn so much from these guys!! Then tonight we ended it with a talk from Elder Bednar about losing ourselves in the service. It was so awesome. I can't wait to get out to Italia and get lost in the work. Then at the end of the day I was given the opportunity to give my companion a blessing. He's such a great guy and a hard worker.

Monday was pretty normal. Besides the fact that we had to teach 
someone we had no idea we were teaching- In italiano! It we pretty good considering the fact that we didn't plan!! We spent the rest of the day studying the language. 

Tuesday:

Today was a another good day. We finally got a good nights rest, but we were still tired. As a missionary you just kind of get used to it. When we were all doing our studying we started joking around with each other and couldn't stop laughing again for like 2 hours straight. I don't think I have ever laughed as hard or as long in my life. To end the night we had a devotional. I was super excited to go but then I got there and they started playing some soft hymns and next thing I know its over. I felt really bad, but  the lack of sleep caught up with to me!! I'll just have to pay twice as much attention to the next one.

Wednesday:

Today was legit!! We got to keep teaching our same investigator. Then we went and checked the mail and I think it made everyones day!! Then we played a bunch of other guys in basketball. Let me tell ya, I thought I took recreational sports pretty serious. But everyone out here will do whatever it takes not to lose. It's so crazy haha.

Thanks Julie!

Thursday:

We started out today with something awesome, a talk by Niel L. Andersen. He talked about how we need to not be entitled to things and how just the air we are breathing is a blessing. It was awesome. Then we had a Thanks Giving lunch... Which, if I'm being honest, was terrible. It kinda made me miss home, but all the cooks worked for us on Thanksgiving, which was so nice of them. It meant a lot. Then we had a closing devotional which was good as well.  Then we made a ton of meals for the homeless, it was really cool. We didn't get to see them, but knowing that we were helping out people who didn't have food was an awesome feeling.

Thanksgiving MTC Style

Also Thanksgiving MTC Style (Deseret News)

The first week of the MTC was crazy to say the least. I don't think I have ever learned so much in such a short amount of time, I truly am blessed to have this opportunity to come serve the Lord and the people of Italy. I just want to say thank you again for all the people that helped me get here. I really couldn't have done it without every single one of you. My whole district is so legit. They're all just spiritual giants, I sometimes feel under qualified to be here, but I know l'm where I am supposed to be and where the Lord wants me.

                           Love ya guys!!

                                   Anziano Andersen

MTC Miracles

P.S. Thank you for the package and the letter this week. I was so stoked to receive them. You guys have no idea, thank you!!