Ich Habe Soo Viel Gewachsen‏

I have grown so much 

The Lord has a plan for all of us. He hears our prayers and he knows just how to help us grow. I am really gaining a testimony that the Lord knows perfectly what we need to be able to grow and accomplish things that he wants done. 

The Lord knew what I needed and what would help me grow into the missionary that he wants me to be. I am seriously so blessed to serve with Elder Ruff. This Transfer (or 2 if I am lucky) will really set my mission on a higher path. He has been out longer than most people and so he has that perspective and experience. He has also held high leadership positions so he just knows his stuff. He has counseled with President Schwartz on multiple occasions. And then to top that all off he is known as one of the hardest workers in the mission. But he works smart and effective. He isn’t one of those guys that just goes and does doors for hours just to stay busy. He knows that doors are ineffective and yield almost no results. So he takes me through the area book, looks at numbers from previous Elders and says “ok this type of contacting or work is effective in this area and yields more baptisms or less active member re activations." He just works really smart.  It was funny, cause people all over the mission know him as just working insanely hard, thinking outside the box and just getting stuff done. Everyone was like, "Oh man, Elder Anderson, you are going to die, good luck."

At first I wasn’t as used to how hard he goes, and I was like, “oh man.. this will be tough”. But I prayed about it and I was able to humble myself and just really open up. I told myself that I was going to keep up with him no matter how hard it was. I did that, and I have learned so so so  much. Like it has just been two weeks but I am just feeling so on top of my missionary game! It is a huge blessing to work with Elder Ruff. I have grown an incredible amount over just these first 2 weeks together. After 4 more weeks and possibly another transfer I will be fine tuned on just being a machine and workin’ it hard. Also another really great blessing. We get along great and we are already great friends . He is super fun. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to work with him and just learn and grow. I know that that is one of the reasons the Lord put us in a companionship. He saw that I had room to grow and become better, even when personally I was feeling complacent and good about how I was doing. The lord was like, “Mmmm, nope you can do better. I want you to be better and become a better missionary.” So he put us together. To help me become that missionary. 

So this week, as far as numbers and everything goes, was a little bit lower. But that is Ok because this week we have just been working hard to get a firm foundation set for missionary work in Solingen. Its sorta like getting a train going. It is a gigantic task and it is going to take tremendous power to get it moving. Right now we are just fanning the flames and shoveling that coal. But as the train starts to move it will begin to pick up momentum and it will get faster and faster and pretty soon it will become an unstoppable force. It’s coming. We just need to keep on pushing forward! 

So I decided that each week I will include a contacting story. This week we had a blank time and we had already planned and called everyone we could so we were like ok, lets go out and just follow the spirit and contact people that we feel we should. So about 2 hours later we are in the middle of no where. Like literally in a forest. I was like, “Let’s walk up this hill see what’s up there and Ruff was like, “mmm, ok.” So we walk up this muddy hill in our suits and ties and come up to this path in the middle of nowhere. It was a hard walk and so we are out of breath. I was wondering why I felt like we should go up there when we saw this girl. Note, this is in the middle of Narnia. And I was like, aghhh well ok. So I walk up to her and she is all freaked out at first. She is like what are 2 guys in suits doing coming out of a forest and trying to talk to me. Haha. It was pretty funny. Just said hi and started a conversation and told her that we are missionaries from our church and gave her the pitch . Then she was like, “ohhh, I’ve met with you guys before!!” And then she told us about meeting with missionaries before and all that good stuff! We asked if she wanted to meet again and she said nope. Bummer. But I thought it was cool. I feel that we were lead to her to try and give her another chance at accepting the gospel. Heavenly Father loves his children so much. When they use free agency and decide not to accept it right then Heavenly Father will create more opportunities for them to accept the gospel! 

I love you guys! Thank you for the support from home! It really helps. Also thanks for the packages and letters and emails. You guys are the best of the best. I love you! I am happy and the work is going great! 

The Church is true. 

Servus 

LOVE Elder Anderson 

Ich Bin Sehr Glücklich!‏

(I am really happy!)  

I am so happy right now. This last week was good, life is going great and this transfer looks like it is going to be absolutely amazing. 

Said good bye to Elder Brown this week, we had a good last couple of days together. He threw up at one of his last appointments all over their Patio. Haha, it was great, I got some pics. 

He left and I hung out with Elders Muller, Swan, and Craft until it was time to go and pick up Ruff from Düsseldorf. 

Elder Ruff and Elder Anderson
New Companions

Went and met up with Elder Ruff later in the day and it was just super fun right from the get go! Elder Ruff is awesome. We are getting along great and he is teaching me so much. Elder Ruff is from Herriman, UT. He is one grade older than me and he went to Itineris (its a really smart kid school). He is an awesome missionary and it is such a great opportunity for me to work with someone with as much experience as he has. I am learning a ton! Elder Ruff is known in the mission as the Member Missionary work master. He is definitely living up to the legend. He is teaching me stuff and showing me things that are literally changing my mission. It’s like the productivity of my mission is just going to expand and expand! Like I can’t even explain how great the opportunity to work with Elder Ruff is. I am growing a ton and just enjoying life. He has perfect German and is teaching me a ton  there too! He is just a super hands on get it done sort of guy. Its just been 4 days, but we are already making a great friendship. Life is good. 

So this week we had Pfahl Konferenz or Stake Conference. It was really good and we got to go to Düssldorf for a lot of the day. All the missionaries from the stake or zone were there. I love little Missionary reunions! Super great to see everyone. Elder Hawker says, “hi” btw. 

So cool story, we are at Pfahl Konferenz and this 20 year old guy comes over to Elder Ruff and I and tells us that he was a member of the church. But because of some choices he decided to take his name of the records and just leave the church completely, sort of just disowning it. He was on the computer a week ago and was just surfing the web, when a video with a segment from Uchdorfs "come back" talk from General Conference popped up. Curious, he opened the video. Long story short he saw it, cried, and really felt the spirit. He found us and he said I want to come back, I want to be re-baptized and join the church. But first I need you guys to teach me. It was such an awesome moment, the spirit was so strong. We are so blessed that this opportunity came up and we are so excited to work with him. 

It’s crazy how many blessings you receive on your mission. I think a ton of it comes because we are out here for 18 to 24 months just trying to bless the lives of others. 

Nik busted out his shoe playing basketball.

I was just thinking the other day about how much I have changed, all of it being for the better. I am the same ol´ Nik. But just a different Nik with a changed heart. I see things differently and I really am seeing what is important in life. Family. I am going to be a better husband and father one day because of this. I am going to have a stronger family. This whole 2 years is really making me focus on that one thing. Families can be together forever. 

I love you guys thank you for everything that you guys do for me. I love you and I pray for you guys every day. You are awesome! 

I’m going to Köln to hang out with Elder Hawker today, so I gotta go ! I love you guys 

Liebe Servus! 

Elder Anderson

Alles Nue, Tschüß Brown, Servus Ruff‏

Servus meine geliebte leiben! 

(what’s up my beloved loved ones) 

Elder Brown and Elder Anderson at the Temple

Well the Transfer calls have been made! Elder Brown has been transferred out. I had a fantastic 6 weeks with him and I really learned so much from this kid. He is a great guy and he has a fantastic mission ahead of him. He really is such a good friend of mine! He is going to serve down in Langen in the Hiedelburg zone! Not Erlangen though. Langen is the smallest area in our mission and it is like 30 min outside of downtown Frankfurt. He is gonna rock it down there . 

So my new comp, haha it was actually a really big surprise to a ton of people in the mission. But I am so excited to work with this kid! His name is Elder Ruff. This is why it was a big surprise. He is the son of our current AP, Elder Jardine. (that means that he was trained by him, so its like saying McGinn is my dad) So being the son of our current AP he is already a mission legend.  But on top of that he has been a Zone leader the last little while, a really  great Zone Leader at that. And everyone was guessing that he would become the new AP. But nope, he just got released as a ZL and moved up to Solingen of all places  to work with Elder Anderson a 4th cycler. Hahaha I really am so excited to work with Elder Ruff. Everyone loves him and says he is a stellar missionary, one of the best in the mission.  I am going to learn so much from this kid. This upcoming cycle will be absolutely fantastic! So excited! I will go and pick him up from either Köln or Düsseldorf this Thursday. 

Other than the Transfer calls nothing super interesting has happened this week. Its been a slower week, but things this coming week look like they are going to pick back up again! 

We set a baptismal date last week with a great guy named Sebastian. We went back to teach him this week and he wasn’t home and didn’t answer his phone. And we still can’t get a hold of him! Dang it!! But it’s ok we will keep praying for him, he is a great guy and he knows that with faith and effort on his part he can and will continue to progress! 

Sorry that this letter is a little shorter, but I planned a Zone P-day Party, and I need to bounce and get to that!! 

I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for everything you guys do for me! 

Servus !! 

Love Elder Anderson  

That Deutschland Mission Grind‏

This Saturday marks 6 weeks in Solingen, can you believe it? This transfer is already over and we will be having conference calls this Saturday to see who goes where! Aghhhh, I love this last week of transfers, everyone is just so excited to see what happens to their lives in such a big mission. You could be bumpin’ up in Wesel and then be shot down to Regensburg over 600 km away! Exciting times. 

My comp, Elder Brown, will probably get transferred away since he has been in Solingen for over 6 months or 5 transfers. And also cause he is Golden Busting me into a new city. The cards just lined up that way will almost guarantee Elder Brown leaving. So that means I will probs get a new comp. Aghh, exciting! You can just feel the energy in the air. I will miss Elder Brown though if he leaves. I love that kid! 

So this week was a pretty great week . Let me take you through a little bit of it. 

Tuesday, unfortunately a member called us pretty distressed. His father had just passed away at a family dinner. And he wanted us to Pray for them. Brother Hansen will be missed and he was a really great guy and always down to help us out. It made me really start thinking about you guys and how much I love you and how happy I am because of this gospel we can all be together forever. You guys really are everything to me and with out you all I would be nothing. This was really a slap back to reality. Made me really focus on what is important in life this week. Made me so thankful for all of you in  my life! Love you! 

Ok back to the happy! This week we went and taught a member referral named Sebastian. Super cool guy and really into video games and computers. He said he wanted to start taking lessons cause he wanted to get nearer to god and he felt that he had a void in his life he needed to fill! So we were really excited to start teaching him. In fact we were so excited that we asked him to be baptized on November 16. He accepted and we are now working with him to prepare him to enter into that font on the 16th! 

Brother Gudgeon with Elder Anderson.
What are the odds of
 running into each other in Germany?!

This week we had a street preach in Aachen. It’s a really cool city pretty far south from us. A street preach is where missionaries in a city set up an info table on the fuß and missionaries come from all around come to talk to people and try and bring them to the table and all that good stuff. While there, guess who I met?!! Brother Gudgeon from the Mount ward in New Zealand! Can you say small world!? Craazzy! So it was cool seeing that guy in the middle of nowhere in Germany! Good times. 

Also at the street preach I went on splits with Elders Hawker and Muller! Contacted tons of people with both of them and dropped tons of BoMs. The story of the day though, Elder Muller and I were walking on the fuß and I felt like we should go to the park and talk to people there. After walking around for like 10 min I felt prompted to go and sit next to this guy on a bench! Went sat and he started talking to us! We talked about family history programs that our church offers and then gave the dude the first lesson! So crazy. So the moral of the story, keep the spirit with you and you will be able to work miracles. He didn’t really fit the stereo type for my kind of contacting. I usually am hitting that 14-25 year old range when it comes to contacting. This guy was in his 50s. But I just felt to sit next to him and listen to this weird little urge in my chest. I listened and it worked out! He said that earlier that day he prayed to God to send him messengers or a sign of hope because there are some things in his life he is struggling with. I loved this experience. Right after that Elder Muller and I found a quite place and prayed and said thank you to Heavenly Father for the amazing opportunity that we had just had. Pray for Heinrich. He doesn’t live in my area, but I hope he progresses. 

General conference this week was so cool. It really is such an amazing thing when you stay awake for all of it. Haha! But really there were so many amazing messages and it was really inspiring for me. I loved all the talks where they spoke of missionary work, that stuff really helps us missionaries out in ward councils. President Monson’s talk about his wife got me a little teary eyed. It was cute and made you realize those guys really have feelings and they are people too. Same thing with Holland’s talk. Just made them seem really personable to me. Such an awesome session. We watch the last one this Sunday. Oh man, watching them film through Salt Lake and stuff and thinking about what I was doing last time conference was showing made me pretty homesick. I love you guys! Haha. 

Aghh, Teina and Tahei are there?! I love you guys, you will be amazing missionaries. Love you so much, and I know that you will carry the Anderson name well! 

I love you guys, thanks for everything you guys have done and continually do for me.

Servus! 

Elder Anderson