Ich Bin So Gesegnet‏

This week was a really great one, taught a ton of really great lessons and made a ton of personal progress. I have really felt so blessed this week. Thus the title of this email  " I am so blessed " 

So, some of the blessings this week:

Yesterday, we were invited over to a members house for dinner after church. When we got there they had invited their mom over as well, she is not a member. It was a really good thing, but at the same time we hadn’t really prepped for a first lesson that day and it was a total surprise to me. I usually like to study for the upcoming lessons we have in a day during personal study and then talk about it with Elder Brown. So, we eat dinner and then it was time for the lesson. We watched the restoration video made by the church. The entire time we were watching it I was just like ohhhh Heavenly Father, this is your kid I’m about to teach , if you want her to come closer to you and learn more about the gospel , you are gonna have to help me out and put some words in my mouth. The video ended and Elder Brown just looked at me. I was like ahhhhhhhhh and then boom, I spat out the best first lesson I have ever given, it was in flawless German and words were just coming to my mouth. It was a miracle, I felt like I knew just what to say and which questions to ask. After a maybe 15 min lesson we talked about her relationship with God, she said that she has been searching for the true church all her life. Then she said, “I think I just found it”. We will be meeting with Frau Baumer again this week. 

Elder Anderson with some of his friends from the MTC.

Also note: This would not have happened if the members had not done their part. I can’t even stress to you guys how important member missionary work is. Katia was baptized because of it and we met this lady because of members helping out in the missionary work.  Thank you guys for your efforts that you have told me about back at home! You are awesome. 

Elder Ogden and Elder Anderson. 
 Went to High School together and 
Elder Ogden's dad has been Philip's business partner for many many years now. 

Also, a really cool experience that I had this week was the opportunity to drive down to Frankfurt with my GML "Ward Mission Leader" and go to the Temple. Man, that was needed. It is such a good feeling being able to go back after a 5 month dry period. I totally soaked that up. I did the session in German, didn’t use a translator device, and it worked out really well. This was really such a big blessing. After not being able to go through for 5 months, this was one of the most special times for me personally. 

Also a big blessing was the opportunity to go up to Essen for a zone conference this week.  Learned a ton and I got to see some of my best friends from the MTC! It was a combined Düsseldorf and Dortmund ZoCo. So I was a able to see Hawker (see him every week) and then Jensen and Brandner! Also saw Elder Ogden! …..

(This is where Elder Anderson’s e-mail suddenly ended and another picked up)

…..sorry, the keyboards here are weird. I keep trying to capitalize words and stuff but it makes me send an email. And so yeah, that’s why not much is capitalized.  (Don’t worry Elder Nik, your Mama’s trying her best to clean it up before putting it on the blog!)  Haha, but back to the letter. ...

So yeah, I really enjoyed seeing my friends from around the mission. 

I love you guys! Thanks for everything that you do. I gotta bounce. 

LIEBE SERVUS! 

ELDER ANDERSON 

Solingen, Solingen, Solingen

Elder Anderson makes reference to the phrase "Servus".  He explained it in an earlier letter, but as a reminder I've added the definition on the left.  I like that he's chosen it to be his "thing". - Mom

Servus Loved Ones, 

(Even though I am no longer in Bayern, I still use Servus, it’s sorta like my thing now) 

This week was a really good one! I’ve learned a ton and we made a ton of progress! I really am liking Solingen and all that it has to offer me! Solingen and the Düsseldorf Zone are just the coolest places !  I love my comp Elder Brown and this Ward is soo great! This week we made 9 member appointments! For Germany that is a ton. And it is really good for this ward, especially considering what it was like when I got here! Side note: When I got here the ward did not like missionaries very much because of some stuff that had been going on. But now it is going great. You get transferred places for a reason. And I think that was a big reason I was sent up here. Elder McGinn trained me really well on how to work well with the ward and have them like you. As of now, I would say that the ward likes us a lot! 

So every week we try to just pack our days with tons of member appointments. Last week we met with a ton of people and shared a small spiritual thought about the importance of member missionary work. We were at one appointment and we were like, after all that we have said, do you have anybody we can teach? And he was like, “Yup”. He hopped on World of Warcraft and talked to one of his buddies through the computer and asked if he wanted to meet with missionaries! He said yes and then next thing you know we are in Sebastian’s house givin’ the dude a lesson. 

Help the missionaries at home out!! Since being here I’ve seen how hard it is to be a missionary working with members. Don’t be that wallflower family that missionaries don’t go to for help. I challenge you guys to be the family that seeks out the missionaries and invites them over to dinner. Be the family that opens up the house for teaching opportunities. Be the family that the missionaries feel like they can always call. I promise you, you will make such a difference in those missionaries mission. I cannot even tell you how grateful I am to people that really help us out like that. Also, go to the Ward mission Leader and ask what you can do to help him out.  I am dead serious about this. Haha!

My German is coming along great. Just sent President Schwartz my first nür Deutsch letter. That means the entire thing was in German. Holy cow, can you believe it though, like I am learning another language! I think about that and it still blows my mind. I remember opening my call and seeing that I would be speaking German, and, not gonna lie, I was like, “ahhhhh crap”. But its coming along quite nicely!

The work is going great and seriously life is good!! I like living in the hood of our mission. Literally though we live in the very center of Solingen. Haha! It’s nothing really like the rolling Green hills of Erlagen, but I love it and it is where the Lord wanted me ! 

The spiritual message of the day, is  Mosiah Kapital 2 verse 17 und es sagt :

17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

Been sharing that a ton this week. Telling people in the ward that a great way to serve other people is sharing the gospel. And service is good!! So, be service oriented people and share that gospel! 

I gotta go partake in some P day festivities now, but just know that I love you guys so much! And I am so grateful for all that you guys do for me!! 

Servus with Love, 

Elder Nikora Philip Anderson

Menschen Kinder - This Week

Hey loved ones, 

Wow this has been one of those weeks. I am absolutley loving life. But you know those weeks or days where you just gotta stop and say, "Really??? Like, for reals, why!?" That was this week at some points. I am loving Solingen and my comp Elder Brown, such a cool kid, he loves politics too. Me Brown, Hawker, McGinn and some others are planning a trip to New Zealand in a couple of years. It'll happen.  

MONTAG!! So, last monday we went up to Dusseldorf, looked around and chilled with the zone. Dusseldorf zone is the most populated zone in the mission. Just one continual group of cities. I like it. Nürnberg was so pretty and well kept. You might compare it to Salt Lake but bigger so sorta maybe a Boston just clean and pretty. And then Dusseldorf is just boom gigantic, Got Köln and Düsseldorf lookin sorta like a New York. Just huge and bumpin. The two biggest cities in the mish both a 20 min train ride away. Pretty cool! 

DEINSTAG. First termin of the day we met with this guy named Bernd. Way cool, super less active. We go there to take German lessons cause he is a German proffessor. He also knows 16 languages. The guy is brilliant. But yeah that was way cool. He sorta has a strong dislike for the gospel so he won't let us share a message. But its good that we are able to meet with him! After that we had a couple more appointments. They were far away, so we are walking out there and then it just starts pouring rain! Aghhh and then the termins "appointments" fell out and we were just soaked. So we were like, "lets do go byes". We did that for 5 hours and got into 1 house. Met with Marcel, told us we could come back so that was cool. We shared Nephi 2:25 with him and told him, "Be thou happy." 

Random rant section.. OMGüte . So the German is actually coming along really well. I can teach and ask questions and converse with people. But man. Learning a language and living that language litterally everday and having to talk to people all day every day in that language. Easily one of the hardest things of my life. It is gonna be so good for me. But there are just some times where I'm just like mensch. Why cant I be serving in California or something! But really, its building character and it really is streching me which is good! Starting to have dreams and think in German, so its coming! Its so cool that Tahei, Teina and I are all gonna learn a language! That will be cool to have family testimony sessions and throw down some mad Deutsch, Ukrainian and Ceubano. So yeah langauge, tough. But so wonderfully good for me ! 

MITTWOCHE_ Did some more go byes . Met with this like 100 year old guy named Bro Olbert or BROLBS for short. Im learning to like old people out here. They are the nicest people to us! Haha. He was alive for WW2, except he doesn't really talk and we asked him to open with a prayer and it took him a good 15 min, cause he would start and say "unser geliebter himmlischer vater" and then he would forget that he was praying and then doze off and then remember he was praying and start over. It was pretty funny. We left to go to some appointments. It started raining really hard again. And then guess what. They all fell out. And then no one answered phones so we just did doors for ever! Yay, haha!  

DONNERSTAG- Had a cool DDM with the district. I love District meeting. We litterally have the coolest district in the entire mission. We have been told that by many people. And its true. Love them. After the meeting we always go out to lunch together! So that was good. Then after that, guess what?!! Our appointments for the next 5 hours cancelled. Yup, and then it rained and we got soaked. Exactly what we needed. Then our fridge broke and my ice cream melted. Damit. Its ok "damit" in German means " so that " so " ich habe das buch mormon gelesen damit ich  die geist spuren kann" means i read the book of mormon so that i can feel the spirit. So that was pretty rough, but all is good cause then we went to a members house and they gave us a referral and said we could teach in their house! Then our investigator Andreas texted us and said he spent his sick week reading the entire Book of Mormon and he said he knows it's true and he wants to be baptized! Cooool! 

FREITAG!! Met with some way cool members. First was a less active named Stan the man. And his son Chicken George. He is pretty funny. Love him . Tried to sell us a Hitlers youth knife. Haha. After that we met with Uwe und Nadja. Way cool and really excited about the work. They wanna come and do a street preach with us!! After that we had our weekley coordination meeting with the other Solingen Elders. We ate pizza and talked about how we could help strenghthen the Lords church out here! Good time.

SAMSTAG`!`! Had the Gemeinde Sommer Fest, or ward summer party. It rained and it was cold but we had fun.  Got to know the ward a little better. 

Then yesterday we went to church and chilled, then went to a families for dinner, then made some brownies!! Good day! 

If I have learned anything this week it is patience and the need to laugh at stuff! 

All in all a good week!! 

Love you guys,

Elder Anderson 

The Promised Land

Elder Anderson and Elder McGinn with Katia and her Uncle's family.
 Katia is the first person Elder Anderson challenged to  baptism and accepted.

Dear Loved Ones,

Oh my goodness, I cant even tell you how much I love what has happened this transfer! I moved up to Solingen, no problems there. Also, I got my packages from the office when I went through Frankfurt! Thank you so much for the stuff, it was awesome ! But oh my goodness....

We left Frankfurt and I rode the train up to Düsseldorf with Hawker and Muller! I met my new comp at the Hauptbahnhof in Düsseldorf (which is a huge city, even bigger than Frankfurt). So, met Elder Brown at the train station! I love that kid. He is so cool and he has a lot of the same interest as I do! Love the kid!! The area is awesome too. The Solingen apartment is so great, right in the middle of the city. We walk outside and we are in the middle of the City shopping Centre! 

Elder Varney and Elder Anderson.
Their girlfriends were room mates at BYU!

I also love my Zone. Right now we are all emailing as a zone in Düsseldorf, then we are going out to have fun!!! I just really love this place! 

First day in church was really fun. I gave a testimony to introduce myself. My German is really picking up! It is crazy the progress I have made in just one week!  

Sorry there isn't much to say this week.  Just really getting settled in. But know that I love the area and the people in it and my comp is a champ! 

We have a few investigators that we have met with! Its pretty great, the work out here is gonna be great! 

I love you guys!! Talk to ya next week! 

LOVE Elder Anderson

Servus Bayern‏

So this week has really been a fantastic week. Miracles galore. And guess what? I am no longer a Golden. I am just a regular missionary. The new Goldens leave the MTC tomorrow morning. I have learned so much this transfer and I love my comp and mission dad Elder McGinn. We have seen so much success and the Lord has really blessed us here. Wow, I have been in the field for 3 months now. Erlangen feels like a home away from home now. 

So, I'm just gonna take ya through some of the really cool things that happened this week. 

This week me and Elder Haskel were on a split. And we had some down time, and we decided to go and do some Fuß contacting. Fuß contacting is when you go and walk the Fuß and try and talk to people and share the gospel. Every city has a Fuß. And a Fuß is just a long road where there are tons of shops. But no cars are allowed. Just walking... on your feet. Hence the reason it is called a Fuß. Fuß means foot. Haha. But yeah, we went Fuß contacting, we weren't seeing much success, so we decided to go into Schloss Garten. That means castle garden. Its the main park in Erlangen. We walked through and found two teenage girls sitting down, we started talking to them. We were able to teach them a little about our church and we taught them that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them. Then we gave them both a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation booklet. We call that dropping BoMs. So we dropped a couple of BoMs on them. But to make it even better, they asked if we could meet up again and teach them even more! So they are gonna be taught some lessons!

Next cool thing was Sport Day on Friday. We have had a really cool experience every week holding a little bit of a sporting activity every Friday at 14:00! This week was good because we had our normal buddies come along. Their names are Dennis and Tom. These kids are the coolest guys in the world. I love them so much. They are just a couple of 16 year old kids that we met at a Basketball court a few months ago. Over time we have continually gotten closer to them. Just great kids. We bore testimony about the church a while ago. They thought we were crazy, haha! So we have just been working on being friends with them. Great kids. Hopefully they will accept the gospel at some point in the future. 

So we were going through the former investigator book and decided to go and visit some of the people! We went by to see a man named Issac. He was really open and let us teach him a fantastic lesson. We asked him why he hadn't seen the missionaries for a while, he said he didn't know! He loved our church and then one day they just stopped coming. So Sad!! So we got another legit Investigator! He loved us so much he said that he loves to share and so he asked if he could give us a pumpkin! Haha, Great guy. Issac is a homie!  

Next cool thing was DDM. Im not sure what DDM stands for. But it means district meeting. we had a great District meeting and I gave a Thema or lesson on the importance of knowledge. So that was cool. But what made it really cool was after DDM we went to Vapianos, a pizza place, as a District. I love our District and the friends that I have made here! It was sorta bitter sweet because it was the last time a lot of us will be together! 

So church this week, it was really cool . Every week we have a couple of people that speak English. And so someone has to translate for them. Guess what??? I translated this week for them. I had to get a microphone and translate what the Germans were saying into English, it was a really fun experience! 

After Church, we had a lesson with Katia! Guess what? We taught her about faith in Jesus Christ and all that good stuff. And then I felt prompted to ask and invite her to be baptized. So, it was so scary, but finally I just spat it out and was like "Katia, will you show your faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized a member of our church by someone holding the proper priesthood authority?"  And guess what?!! She said yes! She is going to be baptized on September 28th! Aghhh, I am so happy! Katia is an amazing girl and it has been so great getting to know her! Aghh I got a commitment in my Golden Cycle, in the oh so tough Deutschland! Me and McGinn are just stoked! 

Ohhh yeah just one last thing. Guess what? I'm bouncing on up to Solingen! I got the call so I'm being transferred up there on Mittwoche "Wednesday". Cool thing about this though. Remember my Best Friend from the MTC, Elder Hawker? He is in Köln! So we are in the same district! Also, remember Elder Muller from the MTC, my comp? Guess where he got assigned?! Solingen same city as me! So this is gonna be a crazy fun transfer! I am so grateful for all that I have learned down here in Erlangen. I love the ward and the people in it. This has been a great home for the last 3 months! But Servus Erlangen, Servus Bayern. Time to move on to Solingen. "I'll go where you want me to go Lord". Even if it's hard cause it just got super successful and we got a baptismal date as soon as I am leaving! Happens though and I know that Elder McGinn will take care of this area. I was so lucky to have that guy train me. He is awesome, has such a strong testimony and I love him like a brother! 

Servus , I love you guys! 

Elder Anderson