Kevin . . . Getaufed!‏

Kevin . . . Baptized!

Man this last week was a great one. My first Christmas in Germany, Skyping with you guys, and getting Kevin in the font! 

Christmas here was pretty good, I had a lot of fun experiences that helped me overcome my momentary periods of home sickness! So here in Germany, they have 3 days of " Weihnacht" or Christmas. The first one is called "Heilige Abend". Its on the 24th. The 24th is like their official Christmas when they open up presents and get together as a family . For Heilige Abend we were with the family Pauly. (I just used German grammar) He is our Bishop and he is an awesome guy with a big heart. He invites anyone in the ward that is single or would be spending Heilige Abend alone over to his house so that they can have dinner with him and his little family. While we were there we ate rabbit. They got a rabbit, killed it and skinned it  all in the kitchen. Tasted good. Poor Bunny. 

The next day of Weihnacht the 25th we spent time at the family Wüstehube's home. They are really cool they made us a Turkey wrapped in bacon. It was pretty delish. It was at their house that I got to Skype you guys! So we went up stairs and since it was Christmas we got to watch a movie! Yay. We watched Wreck it Ralph. Its a pretty funny movie. I highly recommend it. 

On the 26. the last day of Weihnachtszeit, We went over to the Bentons for a really big dinner. They are an older couple in our ward, super funny . I’ll have stories about them for days. 

Another thing that made Christmas so fun, was every night the other Solingen Elders slept over at our apartment.  We played some Monopoly (which I, of course, won), ate nachos and just chilled together! 

Thank you guys so much for the packages and thank you to everyone that wrote me a letter . They really made my Christmas amazing! The ties and the candy and everything was just perfect. Thank you, thank you! I love you all! 

Oh man, Skyping . That was really really good. Thank you guys for being there and being awesome. That seriously made my entire life. I love you guys. I’m so glad that everything is going good for you guys. Hey random thought.  I think there is a certain sister missionary in the Chile Santiago Mission that would probably like the video of my testimony auf Deutsch ... wink wink. So yeah, you guys should send it to her! Haha!  But seriously, I loved that Skype session so much. Thank you guys, I love you! 

So Kevin!! Kevin was Baptized on Saturday! Super amazing experience.  Everything went as planned and he was baptized! The service for him was really cool too. Elder Ruff Baptized him and I gave a talk! (My German is good enough to gives talks now, yay!) And then Bischop Pauly confirmed him a member of the Church and all the Solingen missionaries were invited to participate in that. It was really cool, Elder Muller said it, but who would have guessed that we would come from being MTC companions to being in the same city, then to both of us standing in the circle of someone being given the gift of the Holy Ghost! Super cool experience. I loved it! 

So Sunday was a pretty cool day too! The missionaries had a monopoly on church this week, meaning that Priesthood, Relief Society and Sunday School were all meshed into a single 2 hour block where we taught them how to do member missionary work. And then after that, in Sacrament meeting we all gave talks! (I gave 2 talks in 2 days) I really don’t mind speaking in public. . . In English. But German, that really kinda scares me! Haha but I said a prayer and everything worked out ! 

Ohhh another exciting thing, this week we have transfer calls! I really don’t know what is going to happen in terms of leaving and going. I am pretty sure though that I will be getting another companion next week! Exciting times! Time flies, this transfer is already done! 

So spiritual thought of the week is brought to you by Moroni 7:31-32. Kevin told us that his next step in life is missionary service. He read the following scripture and it inspired him and he made the decision that he is going to work on going on a mission.

 "31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfill and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.

 32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that the residue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men."

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! 

Servus, 

Elder Anderson 

Frohe Weihnacht‏

Elder Ogden, Elder Anderson & Elder Muller

Merry Christmas!! I love you guys! Thank you so much for everything! I am so excited to Skype you guys in a couple of days! 

Companions.  Ruff and Anderson

This email will be a little shorter cause I’m gonna Skype you guys in just a couple of days and I will tell you everything then! 

Dad: I wrote down the Skype address! I will be calling and adding you guys at about 15:00 my time so like 7 am your time I believe! Sorry it’s a little early, but be there a little bit early! 

This week was a good week! Kevin is getting baptized on Saturday!! Yay! This last week has been filled with a ton of planning for that awesome day! 

Ruff and Anderson with Lil Domingo.  A member from Spain living
in Germany.  Elder Anderson really likes him.

Thank you guys all for the packages and the emails and the pics. We are actually going to meet the senior missionaries after emailing to go and get my packages from them! 

Giving Elder Muller a Haarschnitt!

But seriously, thank you so much! 

It sounds like you guys are having so much fun with Ataahua there! Give her a Servus from me! 

Till Christmas! 

I love you guys! 

- Elder Nikora Philip Anderson 

Ich habe diese Woche viel gelernt!‏

"I learned a lot this week" 

Another week down in Solingen! Hey loved ones, this week was really good and I just learned a lot.

So this week we had an appointment with our investigator Nancy! We were planning on the whole time with her taking about an hour and a half. But in the end it ended up taking our entire day! We had to ride a train and bus for about 1 hour and then we get to her house and she wasn’t there! So we were calling her, trying to get a hold of her and then once we finally had, she was like, “oh I’m like an hour away on the other side of the city!” Yay! Haha, but it was all OK. 3 hours after the appointment was supposed to be, we finally met up with her at the city mall! We had a really good discussion and she is doing a little bit better now. She is still going through a rough time right now, but I believe that things are really headed in the right direction with her. 

Contacting story of the week: We were doing doors and a less active member goes by. We had doored probably 20 doors. I was sorta getting tired of having the door slammed in my face over and over! So luckily, we knock on this door and this African lady comes out and she was just really friendly. It didn’t go anywhere right away, but she was really friendly and you come to appreciate the smallest acts of kindness out here! So yeah, like it hasn’t gone anywhere as of yet, but the lady was way nice and she seemed really receptive. She was in a rush to get to work, so she didn’t have much time to talk to us right then, but we are going back and hopefully things work out! 

Kevin is still doing great and he is still on track to be baptized next week! Augh, I am so excited. Kevin is a stud, and it’s been really great getting to teach him! 

Also this week we had our ward Christmas party! It was way fun and Santa came and gave gifts to all the little kids and the missionaries! So yay I got a really big bag of candy from Santa. Haha!

Another great week down! 

Love, Elder Anderson 

This is Stan the Man, I’ve been working really closely with this guy for a long time. He was less active but he has started coming to church and we are helping him work towards going through the temple. He is a spaz and I love the guy. He is like my crazy German Grandpa! He came up to me at our Christmas party and just handed me a hat and was like, “Wear it, I need a pic with ‘meine homie!"  

An Sich Durch Den Arbeits‏

Some of the Old Dusseldorf zone. 

Elder Nelson. He was brand 

new when I came up

 to Solingen, so I called 

him Baby Nelson , the name has stuck! 

"Moving along through the work" 

Servus Loved Ones! 

Well this was another one of those Solingen Solid weeks. I am continually growing and learning tons out here. 

This week we had a Zone Training. It was a fun one. I always love it when the missionaries all get together. It’s great to be able to see friends and just have a little fun! We learned a ton about Vision and how important it is to have vision in this work! It’s really true in any aspect of life if you wanna be successful! 

Elder Muller - huge burger! 

Church Yesterday was way cool, we had a baby blessing in the ward and so it was the first time in a long time that we have had non members at church! We got to go around and talk to people and what not, it was a solid day! 

Kevin is still on track to be baptized on the 28th! He is actually coming to chill with us today, we are going up to a castle with him. I love Kevin and he is making so much progress and he is already just such a solid guy! You can see the light of Christ already shining through him! 

We are having a few problems with our other Investigator Nancy. Please pray for her. She is still way solid, but we found out this week that she is dealing with some really serious things. So yeah, just pray for her that all will work out and that she can continue on the right path! 

I am Loving Solingen and our ward. It has been a really big growing experience for me here. But life is great! 

Hey I found out that I will be able to Skype you all on Christmas, at about 7 or 8 in the morning your time! So just be ready for that! 

Man, it is slow out here right now. But i am learning a ton from it! 

James 1:19-20 -

"This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

Sometimes ya wanna blow your cool, and sometimes you just want things to really start working and moving forward! But you just gotta keep it cool and keep moving forward! 

I love you guys! 

Bis nachste woche! 

Love Elder Anderson!