MTC Week 4

Hey everyone!

Kumusta ka? This week was so good and so fast. Hah it seems like yesterday that I emailed you guys. But yeah this week was so awesome. I'll start with Thanksgiving. Ive got a good story for you to hear. So I woke up Thursday kind of missing the turkey Bowl and what not but excited to be able to hear from an Apostle. Before the devotional started I went to the bathroom right by where the General Authority that is speaking gets dropped off (we usually arent allowed to use that bathroom because of that but they let us use it this time). The bathroom had a super long line so I was waiting in it for a few minutes. When it was finally my turn to go to the bathroom, some guy that works for the MTC comes in and was like "everyone needs to get out right now" and I was pretty upset because he wouldnt let me pee and I really had to go. So I walked out of the bathroom to see Elder Holland just arriving, seriously 10 feet away from me. It was the COOLEST thing ever. I could just feel his spirit radiate around everyone, unfortunately I didnt get to shake his hand or anything though. It was so cool to hear his voice and see him in person. So then I went into the big auditorium where we all sit and wait to see who the speaker is, and I told all my district that it was Elder Holland. We all took guesses of who the speaker would be and I chose Elder Holland so I won that one haha. Anyways, he gave an awesome talk of course. He had 4 of his grandchildren each either bear their testimonies or do a musical performance and then he and his wife both talked about things they were grateful for. One thing he emphasized was how great it is to be born at the time in the World and he was saying how blessed we are to be living in this time. It was so awesome, and I would take listening to an Apostle of the Lord over the Turkey Bowl anyday haha. After that we had a nice temple walk, then we had Thanksgiving Lunch. It was really good we had Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin pie. But mom I do miss your rolls thats for sure! After that we had a little personal time so we went back to our residence and studied for a little and took a nap. haha I had to fit in my Thanksgiving nap. After that we had a service project. The service project was for the country of Mali in West Africa. We made 4,000 medical kits and 4,000 school kits for the people of the Ouelessebougou tribe. It was a lot of fun and It was awesome to be able to make those kits for the children that truly need it. Then we had a dinner that was just a sandwhich and chips, then a movie. We watched 17 Miracles and they gave us all kettle corn so that was sweet. So Thanksgiving was definitely the best day of the week. It sounds like yours went well too so thats good to hear.

        Now to Sunday. Yesterday was a sweet day too. I had sacrament, priesthood, and our district meeting and we studied in between all of those. Then we had our temple walk and as you already know I saw Kelli. Haha it was awesome to see her and be able to talk to her. Im glad she sent you those pictures of us. After that we ate then had a fireside. I dont remember the name of the guy that spoke but it was really good. The guy who spoke used to make those commercials for The Church about like love or family or stuff like that. So, during his talk he showed us many commercials that he made and used the themes behind those commercials to teach us how to be better missionaries. He gave a great talk and he was pretty funny. After that we watched Legacy and then wrapped up the day. So all in all it was an awesome day full of the Spirit.

       The language is coming along well. I feel much more comfortable in the lessons because I can convey simlpe messages to my investigators from memory. Oh I memorized The First vision in Hiligaynon on Wednesday so that was sweet. Hah its something like 60 or 70 words so it was hard but I finally got it. I wish I could say it to you guys haha. Also, I saw Ryan a bunch this week as always. He leaves early in the morning on december 4th, next tuesday. I cant believe he's already leaving! Im gonna miss him a ton and his companions too, we all get along really well.

       Oh about my haircut, yeah it ended up looking fine. The lady who gave me my haircut saw my Mission Viejo Basseball Shirt and was like "Are you from Mission Viejo?" I was yeah and said her son in law was from there. After talking for a little she told me that her son in the is the oldest Fuller boy haha so random. But yeah we talked for a little about that and she said she would say hi to the Fullers for me so that was sweet.

      Brother and Sister Taylor I just want to thank you guys so much for the Thanksgiving Card and the Oreos. That was so nice of you to send me that. The oreos seriously made my week it was so awesome so thank you! Also, thanks for the package family! The jacket seriously has saved my life and the ties are sweet. also, the oreos are so good as always! That's awesome to hear about Brittney and Avery. Elder Taylor told me about Brittney's call in the cafeteria on Friday i think. And Im so stoked to here where Sui's going, I cant wait to find that out!

      Thanks for the pictures of Sebastian those pictures are so cute. The missionaries going to Iloilo are still here waiting for their visas. I feel so bad for them haha this week is going to be ther 11th week. I get 30 minutes to email so all the time I have is to email you. I dont have any other time for other people. 

     Thats all I have to say today! I just want to say that God loves us so much. I know that without His help I would not be able to do this hard work. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to pray to Him all the time and receive help from Him whenever i need it. I know that He is watching over me and he his helping me so much as a missionary. Even though its only been 4 weeks, my testimony and my faith has grown so much. I love to the MTC and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to learn, study, and teach the Gospel everyday. Palangga taka! Have an awesome week!

Elder Anderson

Thanksgiving Week

So great to here from you again and Im so glad its PDay. This week was suuuper fast it seems like yesterday I was emailing you guys haha. But this last week was pretty good. So I have 2 teachers and our teachers are now our investigators so we switch off teaching them everyday so its fun. My companions and I taught 5 lessons this last week and some were good and some were difficult. I just hate not being able to share my feelings and incites with the investigators because i dont know how to say it in Hiligaynon. It is so difficult and I am trying so hard to learn the language but I am still struggling a ton. Like the investigators ask simple questions that would be so easy to answer in English but they are so hard to answer in Hiligaynon. So I am learning a lot about patience right now thats for sure. But our teachers always say "you guys are learning the language so fast, and you guys are going to be so prepared when you go out to the field." So thats comforting to hear.

         So yeah the other 2 hiligaynon districts were supposed to leave today. One of the districts was the district that Louie Rios was supposed to be in haha which is funnny. But yeah the Elders and Sister going to Iloilo for some reason didnt get their visas. The elders going to Bacolad had no problem though and theyre leaving at 4pm today. So I dont know that the Iloilo elders are going to do yet, they should find out sometime today what their plans are now. But this is the first time ever that the missionaries going to the Philippines have had problems with their visas so its really weird. But those districts are really cool, we are all good friends with them and when we first got here they helped us out a ton with the language. Also, the other Hiligaynon district that is going to Iloilo the same time I am is Elders Walmer, Lundgren, Bates, Nielsen, Disque, and some others that I can remember.

        Yesterday was another sweet sunday. I didnt have to give the talk in sacrament so that was good haha. Oh and dad I pulled Ryans shirt out for you haha it was funny. But last night we had a fireside with President McIff, he's in the MTC presidency, and he talked about Missionaries health and what we can do to improve our health on the mission and to not get sick on the mission, so that was interesting. Oh also he showed us this video about the Mormon Helping Hands in New York after Hurrican Sandy. It was a super cool video and they interviewed a dozen New Yorkers and they all said how much they loved our Church and the members of our Church because of the help that they gave them. You guys should go check it out. Then we watched a talk by Pres. Ucthdorf that he gave at the MTC a few years back. It was an awesome talk and he talked about his wife and the story behind her conversion and how we need to follow the promptings we get.

          This week should be a good week with Thanksgiving and all. Im super excited because we get to usher at the Thanksgiving devotional and an Apostle is coming to speak. My moneys on Holland. Our whole district is just praying that Holland will come, that would just be so awesome. But after that devotional we are going to be making educational and health kits to send across the world, so it should be a fun day. Oh and yeah were definitely gonna pig out. The food here is still good, hopefully it'll stay that way. I have a salad and an apple with about every meal. Elder Pulsipher and I just pound down the apples here, and when were done with dinner we grab 1 or 2 apples and stuff them in our jackets for later haha its awesome.

         Anyways Im getting a haircut today at 11:15 and Im kind of worried about that. Ive heard stories where the haircutters here dont care what style you want, they just give everyone the same buzzcut. So im not letting the haircutter touch my hair until she understand exactly what I want haha I hope all goes well and I dont end up looking bad. Also, yeah I got Rachelle and Taylor's dear elders, thanks for all the letters and support you guys are the best! We can only write letters on Monday so I apologize if it takes me awhile to write back.Thats awesome about Matt, thats so exciting. I wish I couldve gone through the temple with him but all of us will definitely go after the missions, thatll be sweet. And sui finally got his papers in, good for him! He still hasnt written, so sui if your seeing this I hope you feel guilty...haha jokes lang (just kidding). That would be so cool if Brother Douglas could send some pictures of the Philippines I would love that. Elder Taylor said he should be getting his travel plans tomorrow, so crazy! Im so jealous hah I wish i could just go to the Philippines right now.I did some tie trading this week haha it was sweet I got 2 new ties, and theyre sweet ties. Well, thats all I have to say. Can you remember to send me Spencers emails? That would be awesome! Dad you better not be lame and not play in the Turkey Bowl, even if that means you can walk the next day. You have to be there to represent me, score some TD's for me. Have a good week and a great Thanksgiving! Halong!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Elder Anderson and his Companions

Elder Pierce, Singley and Gille in their classroom

Second Letter

Dad sent me a letter from him this week so that was nice, thanks dad! Also, thanks for all the letters and the love and support, especially the package. The package was seriously a life saver, thank you so much for sending that, now I wont have to go to bed hungry every night so thank you.

Now onto this last week. I cant believe its already my p day again, this week went by so fast. We pretty much did the same thing everyday, study, class, gym, eat, study, class, go to bed. It was a fun week though. We taught 4 more lessons this week to our investigator so that was fun. Its crazy to see how fast my hiligaynon is picking up. I am able to teach simple lessons now with no notes or anything so its super fun, but its still really difficult. My teachers are awesome and they are so helpful and good at teaching the materials. We had a devotional on Tuesday where Elder Zwick of the seventy spoke to us. It was an awesome talk and its so cool that we have so many firesides and devotionals to go to and listen to general authorities. The MTC is an awesome place and Im loving it more and more everyday. The Spirit here is so strong and I love everything that I do here. I love how all we do is study the gospel all day, its seriously the best thing. This is the only time in my life that I wil be able to devote all my time and energy to studying the Gospel so I am putting 100% into all of my studies.

Also, this week it snowed. I would say we go 5-6 inches of snow on Friday I think and the MTC is still covered in snow. Its so cold its horrible. We went to the temple this morning at 6:20 and on the walk there we were all freezing. My ears and face were straight frozen, utah sucks...but I hope it gets warmer or this is going to be a long 7 weeks. Yesterday, Sunday, was awesome. I love Sundays here. In sacrament meeting I was chosen out of all the missionaries to give a talk, so that was fun. My topic was "Recognizing the Spirit"' and it only had to be 5 minutes so it was super easy. President Brady, a counselor in our Stake Presidency here, presided over our sacrament meeting and after the meeting I had the chance to talk to him. He came up and was like "Is your Stake President from home President Brennan" and I was like yeah, kind of confused. But he went on to tell me that he was the Mission President for the Carlsbad mission until 2010 ,so that was cool to talk to him. Later on Sunday we had a fireside with Brother Heaton. He taught us to keep the main thing the main thing. The main thing being the Missionary Purpose. He counseled us to not get distraced or to worryied about specifics of investigators, but to always remember Our Purpose as missionaries, so that was a good meeting.

Also, Im ballin it up in basketball out here everyday its pretty awesome. The holy ghost is definitely helping me drain my threes haha its fun. Everyone calls me A-game Anderson because of my basketball skills haha its awesome. But 50 minutes a day of exercise goes by way to fast. Also, on Pdays we cant go play basketball but we can go to the weight room and work out. They have dumbells and benches so I did that last week and Im going to do that today too. nothing like going to Gold's Gym though hah but a little working out is better than nothing.

Anyways, thats about all I have to say. I am so grateful for all of your guys love and support, I really feel it out here and it helps me get through the day. Im so grateful to be a missionary right now and I cannot wait to go to the Philippines. Theres two districts leaving this next Monday to go to Iloilo and Bacolad so seeing them leave gets me really excited. One of the districts is actually the one that Louie was supposed to be in haha crazy. But yeah I am so grateful to be in the MTC and to be able to learn everything that I am learning. I love the power of the Holy Ghost that I feel in here, its so great. I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week!

My companions and I in front of the temple. Yes, that is snow on the mountains. It's freezing here!

Elder Cannon and I. Elder Cannon is from Black Foot, Idaho and I seriously love him. He's the most humble kid I know and he's so funny. He has a little souther accent so its so funny to talk to him but he's seriously the man.

This is my district in front of the Provo Temple. We all get along really well! 

Palangga ka ko! (I love you)

Halong,

Elder Anderson

First Letter!

Kamusta! How is everyone? Well, I've survived 5 days so far and its been great. The first day, Wednesday, was super long and it was a pretty hard day, it seemed like it was never going to end. But then Thursday came and it eventually got better and now the MTC is a lot better. I'm loving the MTC more and more everyday. It was sweet I was walking in to the MTC after getting all my stuff on Wednesday and I see Elder Taylor walking through the hall right in front of me. I was stoked i ran up and gave him a hug it was awesome. His companions are hilarious he has this little short hispanic kid with glasses and he cracks me up. But i've seen elder taylor everyday in here its awesome. And we've taken a few pictures together and Ryan always has his camera and I dont so he usually takes the pictures so make sure you get his email cuz the pictures of us will probably be on his email. We've sat next to each other at dinner and we sat next to each other during a movie so we've had some quality time together.

Now onto my companions. So Im in a three some companionship and Elder Sargent (the kid from In n out) is one of my companions haha. how funny is that that we are now companions after meeting each other at In n out. He's from Tempe, Az and him and I get along suuuuper well haha we have the same sense of humor and everything its great. And my other companion is Elder Gille, he's from Tampa, FL. He's a gook kid too, super nice and easy going. All 3 of us are just perfect for each other and we get along super well so that is definitely a blessing here in the MTC. Also there are 9 Elders in my district (which is my class). Elders Singley, Sargent, Gille, Pierce, Cannon, Butler, Pulsipher, and Crosland, and I. We all have fun in our class and we all get along pretty well. Mostly everyone is from Utah or Idaho except for Elder Pulsipher he's from San Diego. But the funniest, most interesting kid in our district is definitely Elder Pierce. He is just one of a kind let me tell you that. He wears scrubs for his pajamas...haha yeah he's interesting but he's from Colorado Springs. My companions and I are trying to love him and get along with him better but its hard to do, he just has no sense of humor and he's very hard to get along with but we'll work it out. 

So yeah all we do here is study, learn, study, study study...I've taught 2 lessons in Hiligaynon already, its crazy how fast im learning my language. I already know how to pray and to bear my testimony along with how to say hello and introduce myself. But this language is not coming easy, I've been studying A TON. Our first lesson didnt go so well, I just bore a basic testimony. The second lesson was waayyy better and my companions and I were understanding what she was asking and we answered all her questions, taught her how to pray, and she prayed during the lesson. All in Hiligaynon! It was great! I cant believe I can already say the stuff I can say in Hiligaynon its awesome. So yeah we teach an investigator everyday so that'll be fun.

The food here is good, just like the Cannon Center. But I eat so much salad here, how surprising is that! Elder Sargent and I pound down the salad here its so good haha. sunday in the MTC was awesome. We had church, the a missionary conference (which was basically a general conference for missionaries), a district meeting, a fireside, and a movie. It was such a spiritual day it was so great. Then this morning we went to the temple at 6:20, hah yeah it was super early, but it was good to go to the temple. Also, tell Sui that I met Hermana Fusi, his cousin, in here. I started talking to her and I was like, do you have any family in california? then I found out that I knew her brother and she was related to the kilifis it was great. She wrote me this long letter giving me all this advice about the MTC and the language and stuff, it was super useful and super nice of her. she left today to go to guatemala. 

Well I have to go but I know this gospel is true. I'm so grateful to be in the MTC and I love learning and studying everyday. I am so grateful for the Atonement in me life and I cannot tell you how grateful I am that Christ has suffered for our sins. I know that if you trust in God you can do anything. Kabalo ako nga matuod ang ebanghelyo kag Libro ni Mormon. Kabalo ako nga importante ang pangamuyo. Kabalo ako nga kilala kita ni JesuCristo. Kabala ako nga palangga kita sang Diyos. Sa ngalan ni JesuCristo amen. 

Love you guys!

Also, my address is different, it's:

Elder Parker Douglas Anderson
MTC Mailbox #98
PHI-ILOL 1230
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

So, yeah... my departure date from the MTC is 12/30/12

Elder Anderson with Elder Ryan Taylor

Elder Anderson with his companions- Elder Sargent and Elder Gille

It's Only Just Begun...

Hello Friends and Family!

Elder Anderson is now in the MTC and we look forward to hearing from him soon! He enjoyed his last meal at In-N-Out before going in and was happy to see so many friends there!

Please feel free to send a letter or package to him. Here is his address:

Elder Parker Douglas Anderson

MTC Mailbox #98

PHI-ILOL 0101

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1793

Two whole years?? Does he know how long that is?