Jena ist Schön‏

Cant really see much in the background. But its a super good view over the city! 

"Jena is beautiful"

Servus!

Our first full week in Jena is done. We survived it! And we survived it really really well.

So I’ll just start off with our P-day last week. A big bunch of the Zone came to Jena and we Played Football. It was great and the ground was super wet and we got super muddy! But great times. It was really good seeing my buddy Elder Muller again!

Elder Kenley with some free Coconuts that we got off of the street!
 Haha, Love Elder Kenley. He is great. 

One of the perks of serving in a Uni area is all of the JAE (YSA) people and all of the activities that go along with it. We got to go to Institute and FHE last week, and it was a blast. I really like working with and being around people in this age range! It makes everything so much fun. We have a bunch of solid JAEs here and they are so willing to help us out with the work. Super thankful to be here.

Another fun thing that we do is a free English class every week. This last week we had two JAE girls named Leila and Nina show up. We just play games with them and Gustavo, a recent convert. English was learned.

View out of our apartment building, right into the middle of the university campus! 

So, coming into a new area, we had to find some new investigators. And find them we did! After spending a bit of time going out and just hitting doors, we found 5 new investigators! We are so stoked with that and we have a ton of stuff going for us just after the 1st week. Thank you for the prayers and keep them coming!

One of the Investigators that we found was named Hannah. We have already met with her twice and she is making really solid progress. It was so great finding her. It was Elder Kenley's first day doing doors and we decided to say a real quick prayer before knocking on some doors.

We were feeling really good. And after just 5 doors, we run into Hannah! Prayers really work! Heavenly Father is there and he is always listening!

Man, Elder Kenley is a champ. I love him and he is doing a great job. He is adjusting well and this week he found an investigator all by himself! He knocked on the door and he did all the talking. It was awesome. He is really on top of his game!

Well, that was the week. It was a great one. I’ve begun to read the Book of Mormon again from the front. I’ll finish around the time I’m done with the mission. Great Book.

I gotta get heading, but I love you guys! Thank you so much for everything.

Bis nächstes mal.

Elder Nikora Philip Anderson

Meine Dritte Whitewash!‏

Elder Kenley, Elder Hawker, Me and Elder Ball 

"My Third Whitewash!"

Servus,

Wow, time is flying by. Here I am now writing you from Jena. 350 km from where I was writing you guys last week. I’m really loving it here and stoked on the fact that I came into the mission on a Whitewash and I will be ending it on a Whitewash. A ton has happened this last week, so stay with me as I go through some of my week.

Well, at the beginning of the week, I had some final goodbyes in Wiesbaden. I love that place. We will be going back there for sure to see some people when you come to pick me up. Man, I got so close to that ward and that area. It felt so weird to leave, but I know that God wants me where I am now.

The day came and on Wednesday we packed up our stuff and I headed to Frankfurt to have a Trainers meeting after which we got to go and sleep in the Mission Hotel (see you there in a bit, haha). The next day we woke up and we got to go and meet with Präsident Stoddard. Really great guy. There he paired us up with our Golden.  I was paired with... drum roll........ Elder Kenley. He is from Alaska and his favorite color is blue.

He is an awesome kid and I am really excited to work with him my last two transfers. We are gonna get some good work done here.

After the pairing meeting we made our way to Bahnhof to meet, mix and mingle with everyone for a couple of hours. It was great getting to see everyone there. There were a ton of people from the Family Friedrichsdorf there and I had a ton of great goodbyes. I seriously loved the zone. Great memories there.

So yeah. the ride up to Jena lasted about 3 hours in total. Got there. went to our apartment (which is beautiful and in the middle of the city) and set up camp.

We have a TV in our apartment. No worries. Church DVDs only!

These last couple of days have been spent finding and getting to know the city. Jena is a super cool city with a huge Uni.

Our first day at church was a blast. There were 13 people there. A smaller branch, but we will get some more people coming in no time!

Man, keep us in your prayers. We need it. We are happy and we know that the work will progress, we could just use a little aid from on high! Haha!

My 21st Birthday celebration. Ate some Mac and Cheese. Yumm!
(We knew going in to open a new area meant there would be
 no food in the apartment so we sent him a food package for his birthday.
 Cereal, Mac and Cheese, Cake mix and Frosting and cake decorations
so he could make a birthday cake…)

Also, thank you sooooooo much for the birthday package. I got that this Thursday. Thank you for always thinking about me and being so supportive. I love you guys so much. Also, I’m so happy that you guys got the plane tickets and everything worked out! Do we want to work out what we will be doing during our stay, or will we just go with it?

Thank you for everything!  I love you.

Elder Nikora Anderson

   

Überaschung!‏

"Surprise!"

Servus Euch, 

Members from good ole´ Weezy.  
(I chose to put this pic up top cause I think it's so awesome!)

Well change was in the air, I could feel it! I have had an amazing run here in Wiesbaden. Almost 8 months later and here I am. I feel good, sad, but good. I am really happy that you guys will be here to pick me up because I told Wiesbaden I would be back in 3 months! This was and is such an amazing ward and area. I bore my Ciao Testimony yesterday in Wiesbaden. My eyes may have been a little watery. What I shared with them I will now share with you... After my time here in Wiesbaden, I am thoroughly convinced that it is not necessarily the things that you do or see in life that will make you who you are and leave the biggest impact. But rather it is the relationships that you develop, the people that you love and create a bond with. That is what life is all about. Loving other people. Accepting them for who they are and just being a good person and building relationships and friendships. I’m gonna miss it here, Wiesbaden has had a ton of great memories. 

 This pic describes the crew perfectly! 

Also, man, I love the Family Friedrichsdorf. We had a super solid Zone Training this past week. We focused it on "Becoming the message and just being yourself." It was great. I really have loved the time that I’ve had to work with all of the missionaries out here. They were all such great examples. The Family Friedrichsdorf is simply put, Amazing! We had such an interesting dynamic out here and there really was such a strong relationship with one another. Great great people. The attached picture of the Zone describes it perfectly. We had a lesson from Elder Ball and Elder Renn, they rolled in dressed as robots. They talked about not being a robot. I loved it, haha. 

Well Shoot. I guess now I can tell you what is happening to me my last 12 weeks! So I will be heading up to Jena (right next to Erfurt) and I will be training again! I’m really excited to go out of the mission leaving all that I’ve got to a Golden. We are gonna go hard! There is a huge University in Jena... And so my Golden and I will be opening up the Jena Uni Elders area. We get to go and work it on the University. (think back 9 months, opening up a Uni area training. Sound familiar? haha) 

Well I am really excited to go and work it up in Jena. I’m gonna go really hard these last 3 months and I am going to really enjoy it. Sometimes change is a little hard, but it keeps you on your toes. Keep me and my future Golden in your prayers. 

I’m super stoked to go and start from scratch and open up in Jena, haha. I was thinking, this is the 3rd time that this has happened on my mission. Elder McGinn and I opened up Erlangen. Elder Brande and I opened up Aachen Uni and now Elder _______ and I get to open up Jena Uni. 

Somebody up top wants me to learn something here! 

But really though, I was thinking about that, this is such good prep for me wanting to go into Entrepreneurship. I am learning how to walk into uncharted waters and make something of it. I’m learning how to start something from scratch. Its really cool. I’m learning how to deal with certain stresses and so forth. Seriously, really excited for the opportunity to go up there and do this. We are gonna Work hard and Play hard! 

Thank you for everything! I love you guys and I am so stoked that you guys will be here to pick me up! We will hear us later. Till next time (in Jena)…

I love you. 

Elder Nikora Anderson 

The Schappats and Sister Müller.
(Sister Muller, dressed in white, and her family hosted Elder Nik and Elder Noorda in their home for Christmas)

Sister Laukel, Sweetest lady. 

Sister Rink, the RS Pres. 

My Homie Karsten 

Bro Gil 

Franz family 

LOVES

Hey, Thank you all for your amazing emails this week! I love you all. 

Dad! Awesome job with Beacon, you are doing amazing things there. And Mamma, you are the best mom in the universe. I hope you know that! Thank you for caring so much. 

I don’t have much time this week. But it was a good start to the new year! I am really loving life. 

Say your prayers on my behalf this week. I find out on Friday if I get to stay in Wiesbaden or not. I have been here almost 8 months so I could possibly be going to one last area! I’m ready for whatever the Lord wants. But I still would love to stay here in Wiesbaden zuhause "home".

I took out a section of Elder Nik's letter here where he just talked about the particulars of school and housing for when he gets home.  Where trying to make sure he has a place to live close to school when he gets home.

It is so great, the freinds that I have made on the mission. So many good people.

Also, I turn 21 in less than 2 weeks. Crazyyyyy! 

Well, I gotta get heading. But I love you guys! 

Elder Nikora Anderson 

PS. Attached pics are from a snowball fight with the Friedrichsdorf Sisters. It was snowing way hard and our little Toyota wasn’t handling it that well, so we stopped in their city to say hey! 

NEXT week you guys will get a nice long email from me!! I love you all!!