Thanksgiving Day!

Editor's note:  This was a handwritten letter which I typed up.  Any grammar/spelling issues should be taken up with the author...not the messenger.

Dear Family                                                                                       November 22, 2012

I’m not exactly sure if I’m allowed to be writing a letter home right now, but it’s Thanksgiving and our schedule is fairly open so I’m taking this chance to do so.  However, I’m really tired so ignore the poor English.  (There’s a point where every missionary forgets English, but doesn’t know the mission language yet.  I’m getting there)       

            This morning I woke up at 6:00am to get ready.  Sister L and I went outside the building 19m (where the devotional was to be held) at 7:00am.    There we met elders from our district.  We ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast then got in line to get good seats for devo…which didn’t start until 10:00am.  We just got in the hall in 10m.   While we waited, we studied Chinese and just talked. (pause, that awkward moment when one elder was telling his dream last night.  He dreamt that I was dying of cancer and the doctor was on his way to save me, but he (the elder) had to waltz with me so I wouldn’t die before the doctor came…mega weird)

            After a while of waiting, my district sang some hymns.  Another district stood up and started singing “Called To Serve”.  We stood and joined them.   For the next half hour we just stood and sang a bunch of hymns.  Oh, I forgot to mention, there is an elder in my district who is really discouraged about his Chinese and stuff.  Yesterday we bought him a journal and we all wrote notes to him in it.  We also got him some sweets.  Sister L and I took it home to write in it.  After we finished, I wrapped the journal in a couple pieces of paper and the sweets up in the BYU Bookstore bag.  I cut out strips of paper to make a bow.  I also stuck some stickers on the gifts.  We gave it to Elder Broeder while we waited for the devotional.  It was a good moment for him.

            Around 9:30 we all piled into the auditorium.  At 9:55 Elder Holland showed up and took his seat on the stand.  Before he spoke he told us that he and Sister Holland were our adoptive parents for the day.  He cried a bit when he told us how much he loves us.  It was a tender moment.  Then his grandson played the piano, a grandson/granddaughter both bore their testimonies, and his other granddaughter sang a song.  It was amazing.  Before he spoke, his wife spoke.  She had some amazing things to say.  She spoke mostly about the Book of Mormon.  It is the truest book and she was so excited to share it with everyone.  We should be the same way.

            When Elder Holland spoke, I was so excited.  Honestly, I don’t ever remember much of what he said, but I do remember how I felt.  Elder Holland is truly a man of God.  The Spirit testified that so strongly to me.  He talked a little bit (very powerfully) about how grateful we are (should be) to live in the last days.  If you think about the whole history of time, there are more people/times without the Gospel as there are people/times with the Gospel.  We have a great work to do to bring this truth to everyone we can.  I encourage you all to read the Book of Mormon.  Pray for opportunities to give one away.  The Lord will direct you to the people who are seeking the Gospel J

            After the devotional we had some time before lunch (aka Turkey Dinner) at 12:30pm.  The elders in my district (plus Elders’ Hopper and Price) and Sister L and I walked to the temple (ps, Elder Heatton’s mom sent him a counter things to click to count his happy thoughts…he’s changed it to count how many times I snort…64 in the past 36 hours)   While at the temple,  I sang hymns with Elder Monson and Gibson.  Then we went to lunch.  We had all the typical Thanksgiving foods, but it was not nearly as good as what we eat at home.  After lunch, we picked up sack meals for dinner to eat at 5:00pm.  We immediately went to this meeting about service.  It was good, but I was really tired.  Then we did a service project.  I put together school kits.  When it was over we had time to relax.  I ate dinner with my roommates.  Then I took a 10 minute nap.  Then we went to a special Thanksgiving program.  (they split us into two groups to do the service project and the program…we switched)  The program was hilarious and SO Thanksgiving!  We laughed a lot and also had a good spiritual time too.  After the goofy stuff, two elders shared their conversion stories.  They were really touching.  We finished by watching a film of pictures of Christ to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a song about Christ (which I can’t remember)  I felt the spirit so strongly.  The church is true  I was so touched by the fact that Christ died for ME.  Selfish.  Prideful.  Judgmental.  Me.  I don’t know how I could have deserved such a sacrifice.  I am so humbled by the thought that He gave His whole life…and in such a painful way… for me.

            All I could think of was how happy I am to be on a mission to tell others of this testimony I have.  During the prayer right after the film, my tears came on much stronger.  Immediately following the prayer, I (and Sister L) ran to the bathroom.  On our way, President Brown (the MTC mission pres) stopped me to see if I was okay.  All I could say was “I’m just so happy to be on a mission.”  When I got back to the auditorium, we had a half hour until our next meeting there.  President Brown went to the pulpit as people were filtering in and said, “ I was very touched today by a sister I saw running out of the room with tears of joy in her eyes for the chance to serve a mission.  I hope all of you feel the same way.  To that sister, and you know how you are, come talk to me after the next meeting.  I want to get to know you.”  The next meeting turned out not to be a meeting at all.  They gave us all popcorn and we watched 17 Miracles.  By the end of the film we were all in tears.  Once again I was so amazed by what people sacrifice for this church.  I now I’m in the right place right now.  The Lord wants me on a mission and I hope I can live up to His expectations. 

            After the film I went to talk to President Brown.  He shook my hand and told me that I’m at the right place and he really appreciates my willingness to serve.  He told me that he is grateful to have me there and he was so touched by my love for the Lord.  I just told him how blessed and humble I feel for the Lord’s sacrifice.  Then hu asked where Sister L and I are from and where we are headed.  That’s my whole day.  I honestly can’t put how I feel into words. 

            All I can say is that I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.  Stay solid in the Gospel of Christ.  It is such a blessing.

Love,

Sister Anderson

(chinese characters)

ps. Can you photo copy this letter and send it to me to put in my journal?  Thanks.

I love you all J

November 20, 2012

November 20, 2012

Let me tell ya, The church is TRUE! The gift of tongues is VERY real and the gift of interperetation of tongues is too. I'm amazed about how much I'm learning and so quickly. Although i still struggle plenty and i have to work hard, the Lord had blessed me and I am very grateful.

Our investigator, Lin Jie Mei, is now our teacher, Sister Morey. We aren't teaching Lin any more. Now we are teaching He Jie Mei and Pan Di Xiong. We had our first lessons with both of them yesterday. Our lesson with He Jie mei went really well. I'm not so sure about the lesson with Pan Di xiong. I'm not sure how I can help him--especially with limited Chinese. After we met with him i felt really inadequate, but last night i dreamth that we need to teach him about Christ and that Christ took on all the sins AND pains of the world. We're meeting with him again next monday.

Another cool thing. As a district, we pondered some questions that investigators may ask about the first lesson. Then we answered them. I came up with the questions "Why hasn't God reached out to the people of Asia before this dispensation?" This is the answer I came up with. Ezekial 34:6,11-13 and Alma 26:37. It's not an answer, but it's a step in the right direction.

I really am learning so much about the gospel and about Chinese. I wish i had time to share all of my experiences, but it would take far too long :( I'm keeping a fairly thorough journal though (I think).

Based on talks and discussions we've had recently, I have decided to start focusing on this: I can learn to put off the natural/selfish man by turning outward and toward Christ so that I literally can become a new person in Him. This means service and constantly trying to live my life as closely to His as possible. I feel really good about this.

For my service project yesterday we cleaned sinks in the bathrooms in our building.

Okay my roommates and I have the best time together. I live with Sister Ganowski, Sister Burrows, and of course Sister Latimer. We pretty much laugh for a solid 20 minutes every night and it's AWESOME! Speaking of everynight. Being in the mtc is exhausting, but powerful. Everynight i go to bed thinking "There's no way i can do this again tomorrow." Then i wake up in the morning thinking "There's no way I can do this again today." Yet everyday, I find the strength to press on. (:

Okay I want to tell you about the Elders in my district.

Elder Monson-- He has red hair. He's not related to the prophet. He LOVES music. He plays the trombone.

Elder Gibson-- He's brilliant. He knows the scriptures SO WELL. He was homeschooled so he graduated high school when he was sixteen.

Elder Broeder-- He is the oldest of the elders. He has such a strong testimony and he always makes everyone feel awesome about themselves.

Elder Senkins-- He's from Latvia. He's learning Chinese based off of English, which is His second language, so I can imagine how overwhelmed he might feel.

Elder Keime-- He's from Florida. He always has the best comments. Plus, he LOVES his sisters. It's precious.

Elder Heaton-- He always makes fun of me. His Chinese is really good. He's really tall and when he plays 4-square he hops around like a monkey so we call him houzi. (which is monday in chinese).

Every gym time I play 4-square with Elder Heaton and Elder Monson + a handful of other elders. It's the best. When i first started, i was okay but they would all go easy on my. If anyone ever got me out with a dirty play, Elders Heaton and Monson would take it upon themselves to get vengence. After a week though, I've gotten much better and some of the elders see me as a force to be reckoned with. It's true. I'm the 4-square champion of the world.

I have no way of sending pictures from the MTC. It's tragic. So i may not send anything until the end of January. We'll see what I can do. Also, I can't call home on Christmas. Sorry :(

Sacrament meeting is crazy here. Every week we have to prepare a 5 minute talk in chinese on an assigned topic. And we are called up randomly to speak (two missionaries per week). It's SO stressful! Except I wont be called until the older generation of missionaries leaves the mtc.

I'm making all kinds of new friends here. The MTC really is the best. Everyone is so happy all the time and just thrilled to be doing the work of the Lord.

Today I went to the temple to do initiatories with Sister L. After I changed, I noticed Grandma Anderson getting a drink of water. I called out to her, but she didn't hear me. By the time I realized I should just walk over, she was walking out so I couldn't  chase her down. Sad day :(

She also sent me a bunch of pictures yesterday. It was a big tender mercy! Thanks (:

Okay I have minutes left and I've finished almost everything on my list. I'm sending a letter home too.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in two days. It'll be so weird not to be home. We are going to hear from a handful of apostles though. They feel bad that we're not at home so they visit us. Lol. It's a nice gift. According to my roommate (who is related to Elder Holland), Elder Holland is supposed to come on Thursday. SO GREAT!

Okay that's all for now. I'm going to send a letter and find a way to do pictures too. The Church is true! I am so happy here and I love you all my heart (:

Love always,

Sister Anderson

Ps. Brothers. I'm serious, write to me (:

November 27, 2012

I'm obsessed with all of you of course.

 

I got my package on Sunday-- WHICH WAS THE HAPPIEST DAY EVER! It was so big and people kept asking who it was from or what it was. It was the talk of the mtc (: Just kidding. (ps. my roommate sister burrows and i always say just kidding in a high pitched voice. and i still make weird faces/noises. i haven't matured yet... obv).

 

Two things that would be awesome to get at some point though would be more little footie socks (nylon) i don't have enough for the whole week. :(

Also-- Oh's. I talk about them all the time and people are starting to wonder if this actually exists. Or if i'm crazy... or both (:

I also found out that the person driving the red truck that flipped and almost killed me was in Elder Monson's ward. Small world, huh?

 

I'm sending hand written letters to the siblings to respond to the letters I got on Sunday (or maybe it was Saturday). Getting a letter from everyone in the family was literally the happiest thing ever. I was so glad to read them all. I can't wait to respond! Also, I loved the pictures you sent in the package. I showed my whole district and bragged about everyone. The missionaries out here all agree that Shandi is BEAUTIFUL and Sam is MEGA HANDSOME! The moral of the story is that they will have beautiful chizzled babies. (: Lol

 

Ps. who won dancing with the stars. But more importantly, who won the football game on Thanksgiving. Lol. Actually none of that is important. I'll tell you who wins the game of life though... that would be the mormons (:

I am so glad to hear about dad's time in New York. I'm really glad to know that you jumped on the chance to go serve. We've watched some footage of the helping hands stuff and it looks like a terribly sad sight. I wish I was there lending a hand. There is an elder in my zone who is going to New York on his mission. When he found out about hurricane sandy (from the mtc) he felt the need to leave the mtc as soon as possible to get out there and serve the people. It took a while to process, but he's leaving the mtc next monday to head out there. He's very happy about this. He will be a great missionary.

 

One of my favorite parts about the mtc is gym time (which I've mentioned because I'm the four square champion of the world). I mean of course I like all the parts of being out here, but gym is great because I get to kind of be fun and goofy for 50 minutes each day. Usually I play four square, but on Saturday I changed things up a bit. Elder Vomocil (going to Korea) told me that I should play volleyball. I said I would only if he would play four square. The deal was struck. I am the world's most terrible volleyball player. So let it be written so let it be done. Please note: about halfway through gym, I made a connection between volleyballs and large falling birds. That's pretty much when I lost it. Needless to say, the other elder's won't let me play volleyball anymore. I'll go back to my throne now.

 

Something else that is kind of awesome at the mtc is laundry time on P-day. The laundry room is huge and everyone is just sitting all over the floor writing letters and such. It's really such a great time to write letters and bond and make tons of new friends. We always talk to the Korean elders because we have our classes in the same building as them (plus our whole schedule is the same) so we've become such good friends with them all. I figured Sam would be proud. (:

 

I'm sorry I don't get to call home on Christmas, but maybe they'll let me email. It would just be impractical for everyone (all 2200) of us at the mtc to use the phone.

 

Tell Grandma that I can see pictures on MyLDS mail. My branch presidency consists of President Baker, Teng, and Frischnecht.

 

I love getting dearelders too. That's the real best part of the day. I've told you all about the Elders in my district. There is one Elder, (elder monson) that hasn't gotten a dearelder from his family (or anyone) in like over a week. He always jokes around that his family doesn't know he's on a mission. It would be stellar if you (mom) would write him one. Tell him that you heard that he was on a mission and that no one knew he was there so that i told you and you decided to write. lol. he would get such a kick out of that. His name is Christian Monson. You're the best (:

 

 

Okay, I just have a few minutes left. Thank you all so much for all your prayers on my behalf. You can let the wardies know that I'm doing great. I couldn't be happier right now. This is where I'm supposed to be. Although the language comes slowly on some days, I'm impressed to look back and see how much progress I've made.

 

I just want to leave you all with my testimony. I have never felt a stronger desire to share this knowledge than at this time in my life. I know without any doubt that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I am so humbled to think of His sacrifice on my behalf. I know that through Him, all wrongs can be made write again. All sadness can become happiness. All painful things can be healed. I know that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are BOTH truly the word of God. We are so blessed to live in a time that we have the fulness of the Gospel on the earth. When I think of all the people that don't have the Gospel, either because it was a time of apostasy or because they didn't hear about it before they died even though it was here, I am so grateful. What did I do before this life to deserve to be so blessed. I am so grateful that my Loving Heavenly Father gave me such a fantastic family who loves the Gospel and supports me so muc on my mission. I know that I am in the right place right now. I know that the gift of tongues is real. I know that Heavenly Father watches over His people. He has not forgotten you. Not at all. I wish I could say more because my heart is so full of love and a desire to share my testimony, but I have a time limit and I have to get to choir practice.

 

I love you all immensily. Thank you for the pillow case (:

Cool story--our districts scripture to memorize this week is Alma 37:37 (which Amy wrote on the pillow). I picked that before I even got the package. How great is that?!

I love you all (:

 

Love,

Sister Micaela Anderson

First Week!

Okay i'm literally being counted down for how much time i have to write so there might be a million grammar/spelling errors. i don't care though. all that matters is that i get the words out! eek!

 

i saw elder erickson in the cafeteria the other day and also on monday morning. it was so weird not to call him by his first name. i think he's doing well though (:

 

my roommates are all from utah--except my compantion who is Sister Latimer (JUST LIKE I SAID IT WOULD BE). My other roommates are sister burrows and ganowski. they are going to tai chung. we have the best time and laugh a lot (because they are all crazy and such a hoot). sister burrows told me today that she knows bentley from the bachelorette. lol. apparently he's actually a really good guy and super active in the church and they told him that they were going to make him be the bad guy on the show. weird. i officially don't hate him anymore.

 

in the mtc, you practice teaching investigators. (of course everyone knows that they are just hired to act so you can get practice, but it's still awesome and you end up loving them just as much as regular investigators.)

our investigator is Lin Jie Mei (sister Lin). She has a 23 year old son with brain problems and she has cancer. her husband also died recently from cancer and she lives with her older sister. its actually a terribly sad story. we've met with her three times and she seems really interested in coming closer to christ (which is what my purpose is--to bring people closer to him). Our first lesson with her was a little hard. we taught her that God loves her and that she is a child of God. we also told her a little about the book of mormon and invited her to start reading it. By the second lesson, she had read the introduction. she asked us about joseph smith. we taught her briefly about the restoration and also that through Christ's atonement, she can be with her husband again. i bore my testimony to her that i know her husband loves her and that he is waiting to see her again. i testified that i know that through christ's atonement, she can indeed see him again. it was a really powerful moment that brought tears to our eyes. the spirit was incredible strong so we took that opportunity to explain that the feeling she felt of peace and comfort was the spirit and that she can feel that again when she prays to know if joseph smith is a prophet and if she can see her husband again. the third lesson was much harder. we went in with the intention to begin teaching her about the plan of salvation, but she brought up stuff that lead to a discussion of the apostacy. the problem here is that all of these lessons happen in Chinese so we really didn't have the vocabulary to teach her about the apostacy. after a long difficult discussion (because of the language), Sister L and i just bore our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and that it will bless her life. since she didn't pray to know if joseph smith was a prophet, i challenged her to do that again. we will see her again on wednesday, so i'll follow up on that invitation then. for our wednesday lesson, we've decided to back things up and help her feel the spirit so that she can come unto christ that way. We've come up with two questions that she seeks help with (that we are currently praying about) that we will discuss with her and look for the answers in the scriptures. we hope to help her receive revelation through the scriptures and prayer. i anticipate that this lesson will go well because Sister L and i have been praying a lot about it and we've refocused on her needs rather than just telling her more pieces to the puzzle. it's amazing how this works.

 

i'm loving the mtc. the spirit is so strong here and everyone is so happy all the time. my district/class has a great time. although we sometimes get distracted, we do work hard and invite the spirit into our class discussions. Sister L and i are the only sisters in our class of eight (we are all going to tai pei). during class last night, Brother Anderson (our teacher) spoke english for the first time (yes we've been here almost a week and this is the first time we've heard him speak english). Instead of having a lesson on Chinese, we spend half the class discussing what ways we can focus more on the investigator and inviting them to come unto christ (which is our purpose). It was an amazing class and inspired the new approach to teaching Lin Jie Mei that i mentioned above.

 

yesterday (and every monday that i will be in the mtc) we had (will have) to do a service project. For the sisters in my zone (all chinese speaking) and the sisters going to cambodia, we work together on our project. We each have to clean the bathrooms in our building. That's three floors of bathrooms. This meant that yesterday i cleaned 24 toilets. I hate cleaning toilets, but i was surprised as to how much i enjoyed it. First, i could speak english (lol) and second, we were serving. It really is such a blessing to be able to serve people.

 

My chinese is coming extremely well. i can now pray (better than i could before), bear a longer/fuller testimony, and use a lot of the vocabulary that we used in our first three lessons. It's still pretty hard, but i've been noticing how much the lord is blessing me for my diligence. Sister L and i only use chinese in class and outside of class we use a pretty decent mixture. The elders in our district always ask us for help on grammar, how to say things, and pronunciation. we are all growing together. At this point thought, i'll be in the mtc until Jan 22. Even though my chinese is good, my other option would be 3 weeks of english and 3 weeks of chinese--that would just be way too overwhelming so i opted to stay here.

lastly i want to share a spiritual thought:

 

When Nephi and his brothers went to get the plates of brass, they tried twice to no avail. Nephi's solution to this was to try again and keep the commandments. It's amazing how the lord helps you when you are obedient. The Lord asks us to do hard things (like learn Chinese) and the times that we are most obedient will be the times that we are the most successful (:

 

Time's up!

I love you all.

Love,

Sister Anderson

aka Caela Bean

She is the good care of the MTC!

I received a text from Micaela's good friend, Sarah Kron, who dropped her off at the Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, November 7,  2012 at 12:45pm.   This is what she wrote to me...

"Two wonderful elders were waiting there at dock #10 to get her bags for her and she jumped out of the car, smiling her whole way in!  So she definitely did better than the poor young elder in the in front of us, crying into his equally crying parents' arms.  But I could hardly even stop Micae for a quick  hug before she ran off with those elders and off into the MTC!   She was a little anxious right as we were leaving for the MTC but as soon as pulled in and saw all the other missionaries unloading, she was BEYOND excited and ready to go already!!  We even ran into an elder when we were taking pictures right before she went in who is entering the MTC today also and is going to the other mission in Taiwan!! So she already feels right at home :)  She sends her love and rest assured she is going to be the best missionary ever!!

Thank you Sarah for that message and taking such good care of her...

She's off!

Welcome all who want to follow Sister Anderson for the next 18 months...enjoying all the highs, lows, and nitty gritty details of serving a mission in Taiwan Taipei.  
                     
We did it!  We left her at the airport and watched her walk away without a look back.   The morning started a bit more frantic than that though.  I slept in (until 7:15am) and jumped up to finish sewing the skirt she wanted to wear today.  So while she threw on some clothes she didn't intend to take on her mission, I madly stitched away while riding to the polling place near our home.  We avoided the hour plus wait by skirting the line to the  paper ballots, where we exercised our American right, and were out in 10 minutes.  We picked up Grandma and Grandpa Teel, as well as Braeden and Garrett, and off to eat at Bob Evans.  

And THEN to the airport, where we took a few last minute pictures and hugged good-bye.  There is no question this is the right thing for her to do, but it has tugged at my heart-strings all day long as a look around and see so many reminders around the house.  I firmly believe 18 months will fly by...it's just today that has slowed to a snails pace.

As days go by, I'll post emails sent and will note any of my own added commentary.

~Editor (Becky Anderson)