Legendäre Woche‏

"Wanna see some Michael Jackson dance moves?" Our hike in Jena with Farooq and Leila! 

"Legendary Week"

Hiking with the crew.

What a week. Oh my goodness, what a week.

Servus Euch,

This week was just one of those weeks that I will never ever forget. I don’t think I have smiled and laughed as much as I have this last week as I have in any other week these past two years. Legendary week.

So, I don’t think I have time to include all of the itsy bitsy details, but I’ll do the best that I can. Then you can just ask me about it in 17 days. < That felt really good to type. Haha.

But, back to the best week ever. I am really so blessed to be finishing the mission here in Jena with my boy Kenley.

Elder Kenley and I climbing giant trees on our hike. This was taken from Elder Kenley's tree. 

So on Monday, we decided to take a week off of chilling with other missionaries and we went on a hike with our buddies Leila and Farooq. And that was so much fun. We climbed trees soaked up the sun and had some good life (gospel) talks!! Later that day we were able to get Farooq and Leila to both come to FHE! Great day with our Jena homies.

English class with Farooq.

The dinner/game party that Elder Kenley and I threw! 

Then Dienstag. We had some German class with Gustavo. He is a really kind and helpful guy. We go and he teaches Elder Kenley German.

Later that day we went and had English class. It was Leila’s last week there because she is moving up to Dortmund. So we had a good time saying goodbye and speaking English! And it was cool, she sang Elder Kenley and I a song at the end as a goodbye!

So Wednesday! Great day as well. We tried to play match maker here in good ole Jena. We invited Eleen and Ian, 2 of our YSAs to a dinner hosted by us! It ended up being half of the Ward that showed up. It was way fun. And it was good because Farooq was able to watch the Restoration with us and Ian helped us teach him! It went great!!

Our boy Farooq talking to some girls in the park. Hahahahaha.

So yeah! Life is good. Through out the rest of the week we saw even more and more success and we were able to meet with Farooq every single day!!

We also got to go and do this way cool service project. We went and helped this guy that bought an old warehouse. We cleaned it out and moved things around. He is turning it into a club. So that will be pretty tight!!

And wow! I am out of time, I best be heading on out. I love you guys and I’ll be seeing you really soon. Makes me happy :)

I love you all! Thank you for your emails.

Elder Nikora Anderson

Halbzeit!‏

"Half time!"

Wow. well, I am now half way through this transfer. Crazy. Time is flying on by.

We had a really great week here in Jena. We were able to teach quite a few lessons and our friend Farooq is back from Hamburg so we were able to teach him a few times!

So Farooq. He is from Pakistan and is originally a Muslim. But he really likes us and our religion. He came to church this week and then our branch Präsident invited us and Farooq over for dinner. It was really great.

I think you guys will be able to meet Farooq when we go around the mission. Great guy.

Also this week, I was on a split with Elder Robinett from Wiemar. I love that kid. Didn’t know him before my last 12 weeks in the mission. But he is a way sick kid and a great friend. On our split we taught Farooq and then went out with Gustavo to meet some of his buddies. They had an American football and we threw that around and got to know them some more!

Elder Kenley did a great job this week too! We had a surprise visit from some investigators at institute and he jumped right in at welcoming them and helping them to feel comfortable and answering questions! He is a great last comp!

Hmmmm, other things . I’m excited to see you guys soon! You have no idea.

I’m so proud of you guys and the things that you are doing! Dad, business and working out! Go get it! You are looking great! Momma! You are just still killing it at staying in shape and keeping the fam fam running. We would be nothing with out you! And kowhai!! You are a champ. Keep on doing amazing things!

I don’t have pics this week! Sorry! But I’ll get them to you next week!

(and no, its not because I didn’t get a haircut yet ;) hehe).

Love you guys so much! have a great week!

Elder Anderson

Menschenkinder. Die Zeit !‏

Servus! 

We had a really great week here in Jena. Things are rolling forward and we are just having a really good time. I am so thankful for the time that I’ve gotten to serve thus far in Jena. Such a cool city and branch. 

The weather here is really starting to warm up. I love it so much. It is so beautiful just riding bikes through the city and seeing all that there is to see! We have been using our bikes a ton lately, and its really nice, we see lots of the city that we normally wouldn’t be able to see! 

So some highlights from this week:

We got invited by Gustavo this last Friday to go to a little bonfire in the park and roast some marshmallows and steaks. It was really fun, there were a ton of non members there and we got to talk a ton about what we do as missionaries and why we were wearing shirts and ties at 7 pm. Gustavo is a new member he was baptized back in December. He is the guy in the picture wearing the hat and the apron and what not. I cant wait for you guys to meet him when we are in Jena. He is such a great guy. 

We also saw some more success going door to door yesterday. We hit the very first door and found a new person. Her name is Sonika and she is from India. We explained what the Book of Mormon means to us and we were able to make a return appointment for tonight! Pray that it goes well! 

Lots of great things are happening here! Love the mission. It is a really good time. Keep the prayers coming! I need them. Haha. 

I love you all so much!! Thank you for all that you do!!

Love, 

Elder Anderson! 

Jena. Wunder sind heir‏

"Jena. Miracles are here"

Servus Familie und Freunde,

What a week. You might be noticing that this week’s emails are coming in a little bit later than usual this time. That’s because we just got back from a service project. One of our members said that they would contact the city offices to see if there was any service that we could do for them. We were notified a couple of days ago that there was an opportunity for us to go to a Sprache Schule " Language School " for little kids and move some stuff around for them.

We met our member Ralph (who is the coolest) and drove on over to the school. After which we spent our morning and early afternoon just helping them move all of their desks and cabinets upstairs. It was a really great work out. I got a little sweaty. And since we just came from there, I am sitting here typing you a letter in my sweat clothes. yum. Haha.

It was great, we moved all the stuff upstairs and then they made us some lunch and what not. It was so sweet of them!

Towards the end they wanted us to see if we could move a giant safe upstairs. Oh my goodness. That was crazy. It was a safe about 4 feet high and it weighed what felt like 1,000,000 pounds. So, imagine 7 guys just grunting and screaming trying to get this safe up 2 sets of stairs. Hahahaha.

Good times.

We also met a bunch of really cool people there today. There was a big group of kids about our age that showed up to help as well. So we got in touch with some of them. We shall see what happens. They were really good people!

Through out the rest of the week we saw a ton of other miracles. We have seen a ton of success with our English class. We have been able to continually have new people show up to that. And since it is in the church, we are able to easily talk about the church and the gospel with out making them feel uncomfortable.

This last week our good friend, Farooq, became an investigator and we found him by inviting him to English class! Super cool, right? He is from Pakistan and is really interested with what we believe in. Pray for him. He is a really good man.

Also during this week, we were able to meet with our buddy Gustavo! It was his birthday. So we thought we would take him out to get some nice Mexican food (he is from Colombia). We got there and the place was all full and you needed reservations. Then we tried 3 other restaurants and all of them had the exact same story! Aghhhhh. So, good thing Gustavo is a trooper because after walking around for an hour trying to find a place to accommodate us, we ended up getting him some McDonald's! Hahahahahah, Happy Birthday.

Wow great week. We haven’t had people show up to church yet, but we sure are trying! Keep us in the prayers. Elder Kenley is doing great and we are having a grand time here in good ole Jena! We should go to Alaska some day. He has a bunch of pics and it looks beautiful!

I just wanted to share real quick something that I have learned the last little bit. And that is that god is there and he is always aware of you and will help you when you need it. And sometimes he teaches you things through ways you were not expecting to be taught. But these last few weeks in Jena have really shown me that god loves me and that as we pray to him he will listen. When looking for answers, we need to keep our eyes, hearts and souls open. Because we wont always get the answer in the places we looking for them.

Well, shoot, I gotta get heading!  But I love you guys so much! Hopefully it gets warm before I get home .. You know how I like my warm. :) haha

Love you,

Elder Nikora Anderson

Ps. 5 weeks and 4 days. But who is counting ! ;)