Week 5

So I'm finally in California! It's been almost two weeks since I had a day to email so a lot has happened. We got up on Monday July 10th at about 3:00 AM and rode a bus to the airport and then made our way to Bakersfield, CA. When we landed we were greeted by our Mission President and spent time with him and his wife and told us about our mission here in Bakersfield. The next day we got our companions and went out to our areas. My companion is Elder Whiteley and he's a cool guy. I think the mission president found the only guy older than me in the mission and had him train me haha so together we're pretty sure we're the oldest companionship. He's been out for 17 months and he says he loves to train new elders. So after I found out who my companion would be I found out my area. That brings us to where I am now haha I'm serving in the North Edwards area!! My area covers North Edwards, Boron, and Desert Lakes. Look it up on google earth you'll get a good laugh. I'm out in the desert! In my area there is one gas station (in Boron), zero stop lights, three restaurants, and it's 80 miles from Bakersfield. Can someone look up the populations of those towns and send them to me because I've been curious all week. It's a pretty big change being out here. I wont have as much time to email as I did in the MTC so if anyone wants to send me their address or a letter please do and you might be lucky enough to get a letter. My address is:

12686 Claymine Rd. Apt#11

North Edwards, CA 93523

I don't know whats been more dry this week, the desert or our mail box haha but understandably considering no one has known where I've been.

So I'm told that the work here is going well (I don't have anything to compare it to) so I'm happy about that. We've picked up some new investigators this week and so I'm excited and a bit nervous to start teaching lessons but the good news is that I'll get better. I think the thing I've struggled the most with this week is just what a normal day looks like and what I feel is standard. That way I can really shoot to do my best and accomplish the things I'm here to do. One thing I like is that at the end of every day my companion says "it was a good day Elder" haha so I'm taking his word for it for now.

Yesterday was Sunday and I have to say meeting the ward was definitely a help. The ward here does a pretty good job of feeding us dinner and I'm really grateful for that because we don't really have a lot a time to make really good meals, and it gives us a great opportunity to get to know and build relationships with the ward members here.

A quote that I saw this week that stuck out to me was "what you are will show in what you do". It stuck out to me this week because I've been trying to figure out what kind of missionary I want to be and how I want to teach. For one of the lessons we taught last night we asked a ward member to come with us. He is a return missionary and I think he's around my age. As we were talking with the girl we were teaching he was able to relate the gospel to her life really well and teach her gospel principles simply and powerfully. I realized that I want to teach in that way. I want to be able to explain to anyone simply how the gospel can help them because I know that it is for everyone. I want to be a mouthpiece here on Earth to tell people and help them feel that Heavenly Father loves them. So in order for me to be that I need to do it.

Finally I want to talk about the consequences of our actions. When we hear that we usually think of negative consequences to our actions but I want to talk about it a little differently. You cant avoid the consequences of righteousness. As we make righteous decisions, act on them, and choose to live and align our lives with the teachings of the gospel the consequences are blessings. And who doesn't want more blessings?! I've seen this in my life so vividly as I feel that I've been blessed with so much I realize that it is at the times when I am doing the things I know I should.

I hope everyone has a great week and I'm sorry ahead of time if I don't respond to personal emails because I'm really pressed for time. I love hearing about how everyone's lives are going and I laugh at so much of the things people send me, I really appreciate it. I'll do my best to respond next week as well! And like I said earlier feel free to send letters! Thank you so much for your prayers as well!

Love,

Elder Anderson