Ben's Mission Blog

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Greatest Story

Elder Anderson shared the most amazing thing in one of his latest e-mails from Longview -

"Elder Russel M. Nelson of the Quorom of the Twelve came to Longview, Washington. Can you believe that? He came to just Longview, nowhere else, just for a stake conference. HAHA it made the missionaries laugh because there is really not much in Longview! But I guess the saints are here and that is better than anything else.

Well he sat down with just us missionaries from the west side of the mission, 80 of us, and talked to us for an hour and 15 minutes. He had some good things to say. I would like to share with you one of those things.

As missionaries we are overwhelmed at times and he asked us how we felt. We told him some of our frustrations. He then told us that this is how life is sometimes. It is hard and sometimes feels like there is no hope. He then told us a story about Gideon.

Gideon was a man back in the Old Testament who was told to go and defeat an army of nearly 150,000. That is a lot of people. He didn't have that many soldiers but he knew he had the Lord on his side. Well, the Lord said, "I want you to have less men." He told him this many times until Gideon only had around 300 men left. 300 men left to destroy 150,000 people! Sounds like impossible. But guess what? They win and none of them even get killed. The odds were 500:1. It was crazy. Then Elder Nelson told us something else.

There are 14 million Latter- day Saints right now and 7 billion people. If you do the math it ends up being 500:1. Even though we are terribly out-numbered we are going to win because we have the Lord on our side. Just always realize that He is with us. And even if the odds are 500:1 with the Lord's help they are possible. And think of it. The Lord doesn't always work in plain and simple things. He chose a 90 year old lady to bear a son named Issac. He called a virgin to bear us the Son of God. He lead the Jews out of Egypt on dry ground. He called a 14 year old boy as a prophet who couldn't even write a letter. He works in miracles. He is a God of miracles. Always remember that.

When times are hard and odds are bad remember your are a child of God and he is a God of miracles. I know that to be true and that he will answer your prayers.

With love and care to all,

Sincerely,

Elder Ben Anderson"

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Elder A Loves Longview

Sorry for so long without posting about Elder Anderson.

He is still in Longview with his companion, Elder Joslin, from St. George. He lives with a wonderful family that is kind enough to let us know that he is doing well. The Christmas call was wonderful. We video Skyped for more than an hour and it was awesome. Elder Anderson has a strong testimony of the divinity of Jesus Christ. He has a deep love for our Savior and lives each day for Him.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Phone call - any questions?

We hope to be Skyping with Elder Anderson at 4 PM Mountain time on Christmas Day! If you want us to ask him any questions for you, comment NOW!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Longview here he comes, oops, I mean he's already there!

Elder Anderson's parents got an e-mail this week and one of the questions they had on their minds was, will Elder Anderson be transferred this week? Well, he had ALREADY been transferred! The domino effect was in play as one missionary went home, Ben's companion had to take his place, and then Ben got moved to Longview, Washington! He has a new companion, Elder Joslin from St. George, and seems very excited to be in Longview.

His address is 3506 Pennsylvania St., Longview, WA 98632.

The mom of this residence called Ben's parents the next night after we got this word and told us about the area. It is about 1 hour from Portland, Oregon and a little over 1 hour to the ocean, so it's damp and chilly there now. The Henthornes (the missionaries' hosts) own a heating and air company, B & M Heating. They work with the Young Adults in their stake so the missionaries get to spend every FHE with the young adults. Longview, which is on the Columbia River, is an industrial area where there are corporations that specialize in paper products and things created from wood. Weyerhauser is a large company there.

The missionaries spend time in Longview and two nights a week they travel out to the Caslamet Branch. The members love the missionaries so Elder Anderson gets a home-cooked meal each night. For those who are interested in sending Ben a gift card, they have Walmart, Target, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and Panda Express close by. According to Elder Anderson, "gift cards are a missionary's best friend!"

Sister Henthorne was really happy the first night that Ben was there. Her battery went dead and the two missionaries were right out there helping her with jumper cables. Without Coats! So she told them to get inside. This weekend the missionaries will help this family decorate their home for Christmas.

During the phone call, the missionaries showed up! We could hear Elder Anderson in the background and felt very odd listening. We did talk briefly with Elder Anderson's companion, who seems like a fun guy, but got off the phone soon. (Ben sounded GOOD!, but we did NOT talk to him directly. That would have been too wrong...)

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Kennewick

Elder Anderson is now in Kennewick, Washington, the headquarters of his mission. Here are some excerpts from his latest e-mail.

"I am here at the library today but don't have much time. So many new things in the new part of the Tri-cities. Its so much fun. I now cover two wards and they are really really cool. I am loving them so much already. I am serving in the Hansen Park ward and the Rancho Reota ward. The zone leaders use to have Rancho and they just changed this transfer. So in a way i got doubled in again with the Rancho ward. But elder Torgeson has been in the Hansen park ward for 3 months now so he knows the area pretty well.

1. Sorry i don't know my address yet to be honest. [send all letters to the address in the header of this blog] But i've been in the office every day for the last week. Its in my area or at least a mile out of it. So if you could just not worry and send it there it will take the same amount of time. I will get that to you asap.

2. We have a our own little apartment really... in the basment of a members house. There names are the Perry family. They are really nice but very very strict. ...We have our own kitchen and everything downstairs and its away from all of their stuff so we enjoy it.

3. Its really nice. I'm actualy in a new chapel. Its so neat. Its like the one back home but a few years newer. We have all mapel doors it looks so nice. And to be honest we are in a very rich part of town so we have some nice members and they are dressed up more so we enjoy it a little more. "

4. My companion is Elder Tyler Torgeson

5. He's from Palmdale California

6. He hits his year mark in two days so Oct 27th. He was suppose to come out when i was but then i moved mine forward as you remember.

7. On PDay we were told earlier in the week that today was the temple so we got up at 5 and went to the temple till about 9. Now its just normal p-day things but i still have to shop for alot of things and get everything taken care of for the new area. I HATE UNPACKING.

8. I got the Halloween box. I got the burger king card as well. I will use that today for sure. thanks mom!! :D

9. The rules are changing a little bit here. We are able to get on the computer and look at church websites whenever we want. Missionaries in other missions are using facbook to help the work. We have texting now i can't beleive that one still. And we might be able to have old ipods that don't have internet access for music. So i am pretty excited. That means i could send for that when it comes time."

Elder Anderson LOVES hearing from you! He only has 10 1/2 months left, so you'd better hurry and send him a letter!