July 8, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                     7/08/2013

Thanks for your letter mom,  I was glad to hear that you had a fun time in Lake Powell. That's a bummer that Jeff messed up his arm, hopefully he didn't whine about it too much ;) Usually I would be bummed by the fact that I couldn't go to the square and eat but I must brag and say that the Mexican food down here is so so so much better. The members spoiled us with copious amounts of Chile Reyenos and Barbacoa tacos!

This week we made some wonderful progress with our investigators Robert and Jennifer. They love the church and already have great friendships with the ward members. Robert even woke up early to come and help with the ward's 4th of July breakfast. haha I thought only good ol' Rupert did those. He loved it and cooked almost all the pancakes. He used to work at P.F. Changs so I guess he can cook. I don't remember if I said it in my last email but they are not married and need to do so to be baptized. They are willing to get married but not right now. They want a huge party and celebration and don't have the funds to do that so they want to wait a little bit until they can do that. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and how our small decisions that we make in this life really will bring about eternal consequences. We read 2 Nephi 2:27 with them, it talks about how we are free to choose freedom and happiness in this life or captivity and sadness. We then asked them what they wanted to choose right now. They were still a little apprehensive so we committed them to pray and ask the lord to help them overcome their doubts. The next morning Robert calls me and gives me the great news that they are going to get married! They are so awesome! Money has been a real struggle for them so now buying the marriage license is the next step. Robert repairs windshields for a living and so he gets paid depending on how many people need a repair that day. Since they called us he has had crazy amounts of customers and ever became the manager at the business. The best part is that he realizes that these blessing are coming because they chose to follow the commandments.

Daisy is doing good and progressing. She accepted to be baptized this coming Sunday so please keep her in your prayers. She is just scared so we are praying for a miracle.

I had an interview with President Maluenda. I love the man and he is going to be perfect for the Great Texas McAllen Mission. He must of read the last letter I sent you because all the advice he gave me was "enjoy your mission, don't suffer it" and "fill yourself with faith." I'm really looking forward to working with him. I miss President Trayner but its cool to see how different people have different ways to bring to pass the gathering of Israel. Hope all is well :)

con amor,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission 

July 1, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                      July 1, 2013

Thanks for the letter haha I am glad that Megan likes her poncho. I wasn't too sure if was going to fit but I am glad everything worked out. And about the suit coat story, haha that one would be best to tell after the mission ;) but it didn't involve dogs, just some bullies haha.

This week really helped me understand what Peter was saying when he wrote to Christ's followers, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold" (1 Peter 1:7). As you know Elder Killpack and I have been really struggling to fulfill our purpose here as missionaries in Edinburg West. This lack of success has really been a great trial of Elder Sanderson's faith. It's always so discouraging to work and do all that you can to help people and yet fail to see any fruit from your labors. This discouragement led to frustration...sometimes quiet and other times not so much.  We began to lose faith in ourselves and then soon we lost faith that the Lord even cared. A horrible thing since our whole message is centered around the love that our Heavenly Father has for each and every one of his children. But last Monday, as I was interviewing one of the Zone Leader's investigators, this young woman told me of her amazing and miraculous conversion story. It sparked a small flame of hope that there was someone like this young woman in our area, someone who was eagerly awaiting to hear the Gospel message. After the interview I went into the handicap bathroom at the church, kneeled down, and began to plead with my Father in Heaven for him to pour out miracles upon our area, then I waited. Nothing came, no warmth from the spirit, no confirmation, no anything. It just didn't seem fair. I walked out of that bathroom with that small flame of hope almost at a smolder. haha I don't think I have ever been this down. Days passed and nothing was going our way. No one even answered their door or even if we contacted them on the street they would immediately state their disinterest and send us on our way. Every Wednesday the whole zone meets at the church to do what we call "coordination." Its when we meet with the leaders of the ward to coordinate our missionary efforts. Anyways a lot of our plans fell through so we decided to go to the church and since mutual was that night maybe we could get some referrals. We walked in and I started to talk to some of the members that I hadn't met yet. As I was talking to this woman, our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Sanchez, grabs my arm and introduces me to this young woman named Gladis who just was walking down the street and felt inspired to stop at the church. We quickly set up a room to teach her. She is so prepared and accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of this month. The next day we decided to go to this area that we had never been before. Its the ghetto of the city and so it was really sketchy. But as we were walking down the street a man pulled up and asked us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, we answered no and explained that we were Christians. He got excited and said, "Really? I'm Christian too! You should come over right now and teach my family." haha well we couldn't refuse that offer so we followed him to his house just down the street. His name is Roberto and his girlfriend is Jennifer. They are an awesome family that has also been super prepared. In fact Robert came across the Bible videos that the church has been producing. He watched them all and all the movies and Mormon messages on the mormonchannel.com. How neat is that!?! They accepted a baptismal date for the 28th of July as well. They all loved church so much!  In gospel principles class Roberto stands up to introduce himself and said that he couldn't wait to get baptized (always a good sign). This past week has made me eternally grateful for those small "trials of faith" which are far more precious than any monetary substitute. We were humbled and more aware of our faults. We sought to improve ourselves and then when we had learned what the Lord has intended us to learn, He poured out blessings upon our area.

This past Friday President and Sister Trayner flew home and so now our new President is here. I haven't met the Maluenda's yet but I should in the coming weeks. So excited for this new president and the success the Great TMM will have under his direction.

con carino,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission

June 24, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                          6/24/2013

Another slow week here in Edinburg West haha but we had a lot of fun. We are still working with Daisy and she is progressing but is the greatest test of patience ever haha. I don't know if that is a rude thing to say or not. We had a few more lessons with her and the whole time she wouldn't ever look at us. The whole time she would play with her phone or look up at the ceiling or glare off into space. I seriously was going to lose my mind haha. She just won't open up to anyone or let anyone help her. Its sad because I know she has a testimony of this church, she is just afraid and won't let us help her. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Elder Killpack and his "greenie" boldness. After Daisy's 6 yr old sister Dakota just finished pleading with her sister to be baptized and be sealed to them, Daisy just sat there, yawned a few times and then played with her watch. haha then Elder Killpack freaked out. He stood up and said in a legit authoritative voice, "Daisy! Are you so soul-less that you won't even listen to the heartfelt cry of your little sister? Daisy we are trying to help you! Why? Because with the knowledge that you possess and the witnesses of the spirit you have received...if you were to die right now, you would go straight to Hell. You have rejected Christ repeatedly and that is why we are so concerned and so pushy, because we know the consequences of your decisions. You might not care, but we do, so why don't you just show a little more respect for those who are trying to help you from throwing your life away!" haha it was so awesome! He absolutely just threw down with her. Everyone in the room was just staring at him and then everyone's focus shifted to Daisy, who like always...just sat there. If her parents were not going to be sealed in a few weeks I probably would have just given up there. We gave her a few chapters to read in the Book of Mormon and her parents said they would help her with that. We need a miracle with her.

Other than that we are not really working with anyone. This is by far the least successful part of my mission. Its frustrating but I know the Lord is trying to teach Elder Sanderson something haha I just haven't figured it out yet. We are still obedient and working hard so I know blessings will come our way. We live in times of miracles. Last night's broadcast really opened my mind to how miraculous this work can be. Not too sure about the whole internet and Facebook thing...should be interesting how it all works out. President said it would be unlikely that we will receive any technology such as iPads or something like that because of the harm that people would do to missionaries knowing that they carry this expensive equipment with them. This new age of missionary work looks exciting. hopefully it awakened the members in how teaching the gospel is mandatory and not just a "if I have time" sort of commitment. Too long have we just playfully said "Every member a missionary" and never truly applied it. One message I got last night is that if we as members do not do our missionary work here, I feel as that so many wonderful and faithful latter-day saints will be turned away at the gates of heaven for their lack of involvement in this work. Its time to get serious about keeping true to our commitment of standing as a representatives of Jesus Christ at all times. This is a work of saving souls, not only of our dear friends' and neighbors'...but our own as well. I hope we might all follow the mandate of the Savior and preach the gospel.

love,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission

p.s. Happy Birthday Mom! Te amo mucho :) 

June 17, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                    June 17, 2013

Rough week here in Edinburgh West. The work is slow but miracles abound here so our spirits are still high :) This week we found a cool family called the Scott family. Its weird because they are from Brazil and speak pure Portuguese so the last name Scott doesn't really fit. Anyways the mom (Sandra) was taught by missionaries in Brazil before and knows a lot about the church. They just moved here 2 weeks ago.  The struggle with them is that even though Spanish and Portuguese are similar, its hard to communicate with them. So the first lesson with them was rough but all 3 of them accepted baptismal dates for the 14th of July. The crazy cool thing is before we went back for the 2nd lesson Elder Killpack and I prayed fervently for the ability to understand them and teach them in a manner that would be meaningful to them. Anyways we sit down with them and after the opening prayer it was as if they were speaking English to us. It was nuts! We could understand them perfectly and when we spoke back to them they understood as well. So grateful for the gift of tongues. We have a YSA branch here so we are going to bring by a return missionary from Brazil to continue helping us out.

Another young woman we are working with is named Daisy. Her family are recent converts to the church that just moved into our area last week. They are the Garcia family and they are preparing to be sealed in the temple next month. Legit! The only problem is that for some reason the missionaries that taught the family never baptized the 16 yr old daughter Daisy. She has been actively going to church with her parents the past year just for some reason has never been baptized. We went over there to find out what we can do to help her get baptized before her family goes to the temple so that she can go with them. We taught the Plan of Salvation with an emphasis on Eternal Families. The spirit was so strong but for some reason Daisy just sat there with her arms folded and really wouldn't let us teach her. We tried being nice then Elder Killpack got pretty bold and told her that without baptism she cannot be with her family after this life, there is no other way. We then committed her to be baptized by her dad this Sunday and she just stared at us in silence for like 8 minutes. Finally the dad broke the silence and just starts pleading about how bad they want this for her. The mom was sobbing and everybody started to cry but Daisy just shut off and wouldn't talk to us. Really sad story but we have the faith that Heavenly Father will touch her heart.

Other than that things are going pretty slow. I know its a new area but the work is not moving forward as fast as I would've hoped. Elder Killpack is being a trooper though and keeps us fired up. haha we like to call it his "greenie fire". So grateful for him and his desires. A quote we have kind of adopted as a motto of ours is "Its hard to beat a man that never gives up " - Babe Ruth. Hope all is well at home :) Love you all

con amor,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission

Pictures!

The Robles Family

Francisca (Mom), Stephanie (Older Daughter), Emily (Younger Daughter), and Rudolfo.

Our recent convert, Mellisa, made us these pillowcases.

Random but cool! Haha

Southgate Elders (Bosselman y Boawden)

Rio Bravo Elders (Wilding y Yo)

Me and a Tarantula we found.

Us and the Robles Family after we destroyed that pinata you sent me.

Us and our legit mustaches.

Good 'ol Laredo. 

David and Jainie (our recent convert) and us at their wedding. 

Elder Wilding...well being himself. 

June 10, 2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                  6/10/2013

Thanks for your letters! Loved the pictures of Stacie's graduation haha Mr. Bailey still looks the same. Dad. it was awesome to hear about the community helping out that family with their roof. The church could use a little more publicity like that. I think when members do that it really clears up a lot of confusion of who we are and what we represent.

In my new area, Edinburgh West things are rough but that just means there is a lot of work to do. My new greenie is Elder Jacob Killpack from Hyrum, Utah. I think that is pretty close to Logan. Anyways he is a little goofy but an awesome missionary. He and I are going to work miracles here. Our area is awesome and has a lot of potential. Its really big though and so its hard to cover it all on the bikes. Since the area hasn't had missionaries for a while we are basically starting from scratch. Its a lot of fun and even though this week was rough we are starting to get some momentum and should be baptizing soon :)  They added another area to my district called Edinbourgh North which was exciting. Always super nice to have Elders in your district. Their names are Elder Jolly and Elder Rodriguez. They are boss missionaries and are a real blessing. Elder Jolly is from Washington and Elder Rodriguez is from Arizona. I also have a companionship of sisters in the Edinburgh Central area. Their names are Sister Judd and Sister Church. Sister Judd is from Washington and Sister Church is from Georgia. Sister Church is here waiting for her visa to go to Argentina so we don't know how long she will be with us. The District isn't doing too well, but we have the missionaries for the job so I am excited to be here.

Sorry the library that we email in has a 40 min limit so I will have to keep it short until we find a new place to go. Love you all :)

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission