Hello Everyone, This week has been really great. We are finding new investigators like crazy. We were a little nervous there for a bit but things have started to pick back up. I found out this morning that I will be Training next transfer. Elder Hansen will be leaving. We had a great time together, and I learned so much from him. I am truly blessed to be able to serve with him. I am a little nervous about training a missionary. It sounds like a big responsibility. All of our investigators are in the same spot. If we could just get them to come to church then they would be ready to be baptized. It is so hard to get into peoples heads and tell them how important church really is. Sometimes I wish I could just go and drag them out of bed. Church meetings time will change in November so it will hopefully help. Today, Elder Hansen and I took a yoga class from one of the members here in Peterstown. I don't think that I am going to be able to walk tomorrow. She had us bend, twist, and stretch in ways that I didn't think were possible. It was really fun though, we both had a really good time laughing at each other. This week is going to be very busy. I am going to be getting ready for my greenie and Elder Hansen will be getting ready to go. We are still going to be running around trying to see everyone that we can. Mission life is so busy. I got the video chips today. I haven't had the chance to watch all of them yet, but it sounds like you all are having a great time back home. Mom, I can't believe you got Aimee and Bryce to sit down and play a game with you. That is exciting!! Well time is limited and we have things to do so I am going to have to cut you short. I love you all. Thanks for all the support.

Hey Everyone, Well, I had my first mission accident (not a car accident). We went up to the Cascades again for a Zone P-day, and on the way back down we decided to run. That didn't turn out very well. I almost got to the bottom and I tripped and feel. I must have fallen on a sharp rock because I have a pretty big gash in my knee. I also have gravel burn on my arms and knees. It hurts pretty bad but I don't think that I need to go to the doctor. We are going to talk with a nurse that lives in our branch and see what she has to say. I hope I don't need stitches. Other then that everything is going very well here. We found three new investigators this week and they all seem very promising. Anita and Conrad are still going very strong. They haven't missed a Sunday yet. Tara is also doing very well, she unfortunetly works some Sunday's so she doesn't get to make it every Sunday. Nothing else has really changed. Elder Hansen said that would be great to have you send the videos to his family. Thank you for sending the package. We had a great time eating the popcorn. I love you all very much!!

Hello Everyone, It has been a while since I have been able to write. It has been hard to find some time to do e-mails. It seems like when our P-day comes around we don't have much time to do anything. Nothing has really changed here. We are still doing a lot of tracting. We are having a hard time finding new investigators. People just seem to be comfortable where they are at, but they just don't know what they are missing. This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. It was a great one!! Anita Bennett got up and bore her testimony and she has only been a member for a few weeks. It is amazing to see the joy and happiness that has come into her life. Conrad (Anita's husband) is also going to be a very strong member. He is very quite but he is listening to everything that is going on. We went over to their house Wednesday, and talked with them about reading scriptures and about General Confrence. It is amazing to see the changes that come into peoples lives. This is really random, but Anita made us a Jello Cake. It was amazing!! I think that it is my new favorite cake. Tara French is still going strong as well. We are teaching her husband and her son. She has been a great help with them. Hopefully we can get Gabe (her son) baptized at the end of September. Roho is still struggling with making any commitments. I really don't know what else we can do to help him. Keep him in your prayers. Today, Brother Ganoe and Brother Wickline took us on a hike. I think that it is called Allageny Trail. It was really cool because we hiked to the top of a mountain and there was a building there that sits up on a rock. I took pictures so I will send them home. It was great!! I love you all so much and appreciate all the prayers in my behalf. Thank you!!! Love, Elder Anderson

It sounds like everything is running smooth at home. That is great!! We got a baptism on Monday. Her name is Tara French. She is going to be a great new member in the Peterstown Branch. She was really excited and nervous to get baptized, but we talked her into it. ;) We had an amazing week this week. We have six people set for baptism and they all seem really excited and ready for it. We have been teaching the Gospel like crazy, and I learning so much. Dad, thanks for the milk money!! I thought that was great. Elder Hansen thinks that I am really weird for eating a bowl of graham crackers with milk. YUM YUM!!! Today we went hiking in the Cascades. It is so pretty. It feels like you are in the jungle. Everything is still really green here. Everyone says that the weather is really strange here as well. It has been raining none stop here. The storms are really strange because it can be sunny one second and the next it is poring buckets. We are still working really hard and the Lord is blessing us like you wouldn't believe. Thanks for all the prayers!!!! I love you all. Love, Elder Anderson
PS Do I have a treat for you!!! Elder Hansen and I have been recording a lot on the video camera. We are going to go to Walmart today and if I can find another chip I am going to buy it and send the old one home with all the new stuff. You are going to love it!!!

Hey Everyone, Everything is wonderful. Peterstown is excepting the Gospel. We looked at all of our investigators and we have over 50. It is keeping us really busy. It seems like some days we are going from one appointment to the other. I am not complaining though. Who would have thought that a little town like this would be so productive. We are still trying to squeze in some tracting here and there, and it seems like everytime we go tracting we find a new investigator. The Lord is really blessing us here. Thank you all so much for the many prayers. They help more then you know. We have a baptism coming up on Monday. It has been really exciting to teach Tara French and her son Gabe. They are both really excited about being baptized. Hopefully, after they are baptized, we can start teaching her husband Roho. We are also teaching a couple, Cory and Crystal. The were a follow up appointment and we have been teaching them ever since. They are reading the Book of Mormon together and have told us that they feel the Spirit as they read. Everytime we teach them they both have a smile on their face. The Gospel does make you happy, and they are living proof. Unfortunetly, there is a Baptist Preacher who lives up the road from them and won't stop leaving them alone. He is pretty upset that they are meeting with us. We have had a few run ins with this preacher. We were tracting on "his road" one day and he told us that we couldn't tract within a mile radius from his church. Then he followed us in his car to make sure that we didn't tract there anymore. That didn't stop us though. Nothing can stop the work from going forward. I think he is just a little afraid that we are going to bring the Spirit into some homes there and then people will begin to question him. That is his salary. We are still continuing forward. Spreading the word of God. Love, Elder Anderson

Hello Everyone, This week has been amazing. We have been staying really busy out here in Peterstown. We taught 24 lessons this week! That is great for this mission. Prayer has been a huge part of our success. The Lord has truly blessed us in our efforts. We have a baptism coming up. Her name is Tara French. She has been investigating the church for about 6 months, and she is ready for baptism and the Holy Ghost. We went over and talked with her earlier in the week, and she is really excited. She has a boy that is ten years old so we are going to see if we can get him baptized on the same day. We got home last night and got a call on our phone from one of our investigators. He said that him and his wife have been reading from the Book of Mormon and that they are really interseted. That is so exciting to see someone wanting to learn more without us pushing them. I gave my first talk on my mission on Sunday. It was great because there was only 14 people there. I didn't have anything prepared so I had to stand and teach by the Spirit. Scary!! I think that it went really well. After Sacrament, a lady from the branch came up to me and told me something really strange. She said that the whole time I was talking there was a women standing behind me. She tryed to describe this women but I did recognize her. I guess that I have a gaurdian angel. The people out here still amaze me sometimes. We taught a family and none of them knew how to read. I can't believe that there are people in America who can not read. How would you do anything? We have been staying really busy serving the Lord. I love you!! Love, Elder Anderson

Ian hasnt emailed lately but he has benn transfered and this is his new address RR 1 Box 357 Peterstown, WV 24963! In the letter he sent, he stated that he loves it there. This towns population is about 500. 25 members. and a whole lot of cows! Lives in a trailer. His new companion is Elder Hansen 5' 8" and Ian is 6' 3". That would be a sight to see, them walking down the street.

Ian always talks about the jumping spiders and we couldnt believe that he dared to go in this bushes!

Hello Everyone, This week we are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors. We had some great lessons with some investigators, and we even had two investigators at church this sunday. Adrienne is back on track for her baptismal date on July 5th. She is such a great person to teach. She is always so excited to learn more, and she has amazing questions. On Sunday, we had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and the women in the Relief Society were really good at answering some of her questions. She said that is really helped her out to have a visual aid, so we are going to try to teach her with more visuals. Mindy Carroll is still moving forward. We taught her the Law of Chastity this week. I don't know if she really understood what we were talking about. We need to start asking more questions to see if she is comprehending what we are telling her. She is really great to teach also. She is always really excited to hear from us. Two times ago, she brought her cousin to one of our lessons and she wants us to go and share the gospel with one of her aunts. It is amazing to see how the gospel changes peoples lives. We are still doing a lot of tracting. We have tryed to change things up just a little bit, like asking questions instead of just giving a memorized schpill. It hasn't worked so far but anything is possible with the Lord on your side. Elder Dahl and I are getting along great. I think that sometimes he thinks that I am just a little to goofy, but that is how I stay saine. For some reason I really like to just sing out every once in awhile. LOL. The Assistants have been living with us for the last week. Ever since they got here we have had no power in the back part of the apartment. Which unfortunetly is the kitchen. We have cords running all the way down the hall so that the fridge still works, the microwave is sitting on the floor in the hall, and the toaster is in the front room on the floor. It has been quite and adventure. We have a good time with it though. Everything in Charleston in going great. The work of the Lord is moving forward, and we aren't going to let anything stop us. I love the gospel. Love, Elder Anderson

Hello Everyone, This week has been another testimony builder. We have been doing a lot of walking and knocking on doors. We are struggling to even talking with people about the gospel. We are still trying really hard. On Friday, we had an amazing Zone Confrence. We are learning a new Lesson Planning idea. It is called the Know, Feel and Do. We take an investigator and a lesson and decide what we want that investigator to know, feel and do. It is working really great! I just wish we had more investigators to teach. Also we learned about extending baptismal dates on the second lesson. At first it seemed really early, but the more we have been extending commitments, the better the program seems to work. We actually have another lady set for baptism. Her name in Mindy Carroll. We found her while we were tracting up South Park Rd. She is about 25 years old, has two kids and lives with her aunt. She seems really excited to learn more about the gospel. She does smoke, but I know that if she puts her trust in the Lord that she will be able to quit. This transfer I have been spending a lot of time in the Bible. It is amazing to see how much symbolism is in the Old Testment. It seems like everything points to Christ and the Atonement. It has really helped me understand the gospel better. Some of it is really hard for me to understand but it has been amazing to see the power of prayer help me in my studies. My mission has been the hardest yet most rewarding experience I have had in my life. I have never learned so much about the gospel and about myself. I still have so much to learn and so much to grow, but with the Lord on my side I can do anything. The gospel is true! Love, Elder Anderson

Ian being the weirdo he is!

Ian studying hard!

Ian inside the WV capitol looking into a big dome!

Ian sent an additional e-mail he wanted added to the blog.
subject was "just for fun"
The first Epistle of the Elders to the dead Letter Writers:
CHAPTER ONE1. In the beginning was the mailbox and the mailbox was void of letters.2. And the missionaries said, Let the mailbox be filled and the box was not filled.3. And the missionaries beheld the continuing void and were not pleased.4. And lo, it was the first day of the week and there was no mail delivered, but this was good.5. But on the second day mail was delivered, yet the mailbox remained empty.6. Yea, even from the second day unto the seventh was the mail delivered.7. Even so the box retained its' void.8. And yea, great mists of darkness spread forth from the void and enshrouded the Missionaries. Yea and did bring much sadness to their otherwise cheery days.9. Even the long hours of fruitless tracting, being chased by the fowls of the air, and being pursued by the beast of the field were not as disheartening as the lack of sacred objects known as letters.10. Yet they persisted.
CHAPTER TWO1. And, lo, on the second day of the second week the mists still encircled the sacred mailbox.2. And on the third day, from within the depths of the void was a single postcard.3. And this postcard put forth a single ray of light which did pierce the darkness and did overcome the mists.4. And the Missionaries were well pleased and there was much rejoicing.5. But, alas, their joy was not to last. For the mailbeast had made a mistake and the postcard was for someone else.6. But if their joy was so exceedingly great over someone else's mail, how great would be their joy at partaking of their own mail.
CHAPTER THREE1. And we give unto you the parable of the Two Letter Writers.2. At the hour of noon a certain scribe sat down to write a letter.3. And the scribe did think of many things to write, but, he spent so much time thinking that he did not write.4. Nevertheless he felt good because he had great intentions.5. At that same hour a publican sat down and wrote a few words as he ate.6. Yet he felt guilty at not writing enough.7. And, lo, the 24 months passed and the Missionary returned home and passed by the scribes' house.8. Yea, he went even unto the house of the publican and did visit the publican.9. Verily a letter is like unto a prize in a Cheerios box; the which if a man knows it is in there he selleth all that he has that he may buy a case of Cheerios that he may obtain it.
CHAPTER FOUR1. Even more blessed than the Missionary receiving mail is a friend or relative writing letters.2. And if you should spend 5 minutes writing on letter how great shall be your joy.3. And if your joy be great with one letter, how great shall it be with many letters in the mailbox of a missionary.4. Else why do they build Post Offices if letters are written not at all; why then do they build Post Offices.5. Yea, though I speak with the tongue of men and angels, and write not letters, I am nothing.6. Letters never faileth; But if there be good thoughts they shall fail; whether there be unsent mail it shall vanish.7. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.8. Even as I have put away my childish things, ye must replace them with unchildish mail.9. And now abideth thoughts, intentions, mail; These three. But the greatest of these is mail.10. Yea, if thou lovest me, write me letters.
CHAPTER FIVE1. But some will say, a letter, a letter. We have already written a letter. We have no need to write anymore letters.2. Know ye not that there are more days than one. And more events than one in a day. Why think ye that these events need not to be reported.3. Yea, and ye need not worry that your letter will go unanswered. 4. But you should say, I will go and write the letter that a missionary requests. For I know he giveth no request except he be prepared to respond.5. And we give unto you the Parable of the self addressed envelopes.6. When the missionary departed into the far off land he gave a certain number of self-addressed stamped envelopes to his friends.7. Unto one he gave 5, unto another he gave 2, and unto the third he gave 1.8. And while he was gone he that was given the 5 envelopes wrote 5 letters then in his zeal wrote 5 letters more.9. The same with him that had 2 envelopes; he wrote 2 letters and then 2 letters more.10. He that was given the self addressed envelope became slothful and careless. And he lost the envelope, even that which he was given.11. When the missionary came home he went unto his friends. And he that had written 10 letters was warmly greeted. 12. The same with him that had written 4.13. But he that had written none at all was given nothing more than a Fishy-Whimp like handshake.
CHAPTER SIX1. And it has been said; Blessed are the letter writers for they shall receive mail in return.2. Blessed are they that keep in touch with a missionary for they shall know all that happens to him.3. Ye and your letters are the light of a missionaries' day.4. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.5. Neither do men write letters and put them in a desk but in an envelope that it giveth light unto all that are around the missionary.6. Let your letters so be read by missionaries that they may see your good works and show an increased love to you.7. And we give unto you the Parable of the Prodigal Letter Writer.8. A missionary had two friends while he was laboring in the field.9. One was faithful and wrote every week to the missionary.10. Meanwhile, the other friend spent his stamp money on riotous living and wrote no letters.11. But after 231/2 months he felt deep sorrow and did write a letter unto the missionary.12. Who when he received it did go and kill the fatted Macaroni and Cheese box and did feast and was merry.13. For it was meet that he should make merry for the letter writer which was lost was now found.
CHAPTER SEVEN1. Unto you is given some stationary, and some paper, and some envelopes, and some pens and pencils. 2. For the writing of the letters, for the cheering up of the missionary, for the improving of your English skills. 3. Till the missionary return home, till we all come to be together again in the bond of friendship.4. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose.5. A time to contemplate writing and a time to write.6. A time to put letters in the envelopes and a time to stamp the envelopes.7. A time to mail the letters and a time to start the whole process over again.8. Now we beseech you brethren concerning the coming home of our missionary and our gathering together to meet him.9. That you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by word nor by any letter from us that the return missionary is at hand.10. Let no one deceive you by any means for that day shall not come unless there first be an abundance of letters; and the man of mail be revealed, a true friend.
CHAPTER EIGHT1. And the missionary said unto his friend, Lovest thou me? 2. And the friend said, of course I love thee.3. He saith a second time, friend, Lovest thou me? and the friend said, Thou knowest that I love thee. He then said, Feed my mailbox.4. He then spake a third time saying, Lovest thou me? and the friend said, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest I love thee.5. Then the missionary said, Stuffest my mailbox. 6. And the vision is become unto all as the words of a letter which is sealed in the envelope that the men deliver to one who is not serving a mission saying, read this, I pray thee; and he saith I cannot for it is not mine.7. And the letter is delivered to him that is serving a mission saying, read this I pray thee; and he saith, why sure. 8. Therefore you should proceed to do a marvelous work among a missionary, even a marvelous work and a wonder by writing a letter.
CHAPTER NINE1. And the word of the Missionary came unto his friend saying, 2. Moreover, thou friend of mine, take thee one piece of paper and write it for a Missionary and for the House of the Mexico City North Mission, his companions; and then take an envelope and write upon it for a missionary and for the House of the Mexico City North Mission, his companions.3. And join them one to another into a letter and they shall become one in the hand of the mailman.4. For what doth it profit a man if he say he hath thought, but write no letter? Can thoughts save him?5. If a brother or sister have a birthday,6. And you say unto him, Happy Birthday, notwithstanding you give them not a cake with candles upon it. What doth it profit? 7. Even so, thoughts without letters are dead, being alone.8. But if we say we have no thoughts, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.9. Therefore, since ye have thoughts, write ye letters.
CHAPTER TEN1. And now we wish to tell you the story of the Anti-letter-writer.2. And there dwelt in the land at the time a certain Anti-letter-writer who went about convincing the people that there was no need to write letters.3. Indeed so persuasive were his arguments that many people did cease to write letters to Missionaries.4. Then a returned missionary did confront the Anti-letter-writer and didst dispute his arguments.5. Then it came to pass that the Anti-letter-writer did ask for a sign that letters should be sent, then would he believe.6. Then the returned missionary said, just as assuredly as letters are to be sent so wilt thou be struck down.7. And at that moment the Anti-letter-writer was run over by a mail truck and was dragged even unto the Post Office, where he was subsequently mailed to Zimbabwe.8. Now when the general public saw this they were pricked in their hearts and said, Men and brethren what shall we do?9. Then the Returned Missionary said. Repent, every one of you and write ten letters unto each Missionary that he may forgive thee of thy thoughtlessness.10. So now we leave you. Be of good cheer, and remember this last vision.11. For I saw the dead, small and great stand before the judgment bar, and another book was opened which was the book of letters; and the dead were judged by the letters (or lack thereof) that they had written to the Missionaries.12. So now we ask, What manner of men ought ye to be? Ye ought to be LETTER WRITERS !!!!!

Sorry to all about taking so long in post new e-mail, but I had issues getting into this blog.

Hello Everyone, Everything in Charleston is still pretty much the same. We are still doing a lot of walking and knocking on doors. It seems like everyone out here is comfortable with their lives and don't like change. Karley Cummings was baptized on Sunday! We were a little worried about her cuts on her face but the doctor said it would be ok if she was just dunked. She was really nervous at first and she started crying, but with her moms help we got her in the font. I had the amazing opportunity to confirm her a member of the church. It was a very humbling experience. I was shaking really bad. LOL We finally found Adrienne Moore again. She has been MIA for about two weeks. We were worried that she was antied, but she just had to run out of town for the week to help her brother in Mingo County. They don't have any phone service out there that is why we couldn't get a hold of her. We rescheduled her baptism date for July 5th. We are going to try to get a lot of members to come with us when we teach her. That way she feels comfortable at church on Sunday. It has been really slow this week for lessons. We have taught a wopping 6 lessons in the whole week. It is frustrating at times but we are not going to let that slow us down. We talked with the bishop this Sunday about setting up an excange program. We are going to have members scheduled to come with us on Thursday night. That will be really nice. We will hopfully take them to lessons but if we don't have any scheduled then we will go with them to their home teaching. That way we help out the mission efferts and the ward goals. I think that the ward home teaching percent is like 19%. We are going to try to help out the ward as much as possible. Our goal is to reactivate at least 5 members this transfer. It is going to be tough because some people are just really stubborn, but we will just try to go in there and relight the fire. Thank you all for the many prayers that are being said on my behalf. They are really helping. Thanks so much for the support a home. I love you all so much! Love, Elder Anderson

Hey Everyone, This week has been filled with a lot of finding activities. We have been going tracting and going through our former investigators. We have had little sucess but we are still going strong. On Thursday, we went tracting in Kanawha City. We talked with a lady for about thirty minutes. She had a lot of questions about our church. People out here still believe that Mormons are polygamists, we have horns, and magical underwear. It is so funny to hear all the things that people think of us. A lot of people are really stubburn and don't believe us when we tell them that that stuff isn't true. Nothing really exciting happen this week it was just really slow and a lot of walking. Transfers are on Wednesday and I am being put into a tripod in Charleston. Elder Johnson and Elder Dahl will be my new companions. It is going to be really interesting to see how this all works out. We are going to be packed into our apartment for six weeks. Elder Hofheins is going to Mannington to Greenybreak Elder Raveria. He should have a great time with that one. Other then that there is really nothing new here. Still working really hard. Yesterday, Elder Hofheins, Brother Barker (our ward mission leader) and I went and demolished a deck. The wood was so soggy and moldy and it was really hard to pull the boards up, but we finally got it done after two hours. I was really tired afterward. Then that night we went up the the Belchers and they have four young kids that are all ADD. I was giving piggyback rides with three kids on at once, throwing kids on the couch, and trying to play cars with the little kid while the rest were climbing all over me. I came home last night and hit my pillow and I was out. I was so tired! The baptism that we had planned for sunday didn't go through. Olivia is still in Missouri somewhere and we have no way of getting into contact with her. Hopfully she will come back soon and have a desire to get baptized as soon as possible. Everything is going great here in Charleston. Thanks so much for the support at home. I love you all so much. Love, Elder Anderson

This is Ian's lovely little house!

Finally he sents us pictures!

Hello Everyone, Sorry this week is going to be a really short letter. We had Zone P-day today and it ran longer then planned. This week has been really busy, as usual. It seems like we are always running to get to our next appointment. General Confrence was amazing!! I really loved Elder Holland's talk on the Atonement. It really helped me understand more fully what the Saviour endured for me. I am so glad that we don't have to walk this path alone. Luckily we have our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that love us and want us to succed. This Sunday, we had another amazing lesson with Adrienne. She is still searching for her answer, but I know that if she keeps praying and studing that God will give her an answer. It has been and amazing experience to see her excitment about the gospel, and she has already started appling the principles into her life. She is going to be an amazing member. We were on exchanges yesterday. Me and Elder Yount went tracting in the rain all day. It was really long and wet, but we did get some follow-up appointments. It is so much fun to be able to meet new people and discuss the gospel with them. Even if it is pouring and they won't let us in. For Zone P-day we went down to Gulley Bridge, which is the biggest arch bridge in the western hemishere. It was amazing!!! Unfortunatley, it snowed today and was super cold. We went hiking and found a great place to take pictures of the bridge. Then we went to a park and had sandwiches and a testimony meeting. It is always good to hear other peoples testimonies. Love, Elder Anderson

Hello Everyone, This week has been really busy, but it has been great. West Virginia is entering into spring and that means service. We have started doing yard work and we are still moving furniture. I love the opportunities we have to help people. It has really helped me learn to love all the people here in West Virginia. Also, we have been doing a lot of tracting this last week. We decided that instead of tracting Marmet we were going to go up on the north hill of Charleston. I have never seen more beautiful houses in my life. They were huge and well taken care of. The yards were perfect and green. It was something that you would have seen in a magazine of something. And the people up there are so nice. It is amazing to see the diffrence in people around here. In Marmet we get the door slammed on our face more then not and then on the north hill all the people have manners. We tought one lesson up there and he said that he wasn't interested but we planted some seeds. What a great experience. Audrey was confirmed a member on Sunday. It was so great to be able to stand in the circle and feel of the spirit. Audrey is going to be a great member for this ward. There is another resent convert named Aimee Cobb. She has taken Audrey under her wing and really has made her feel welcome in the ward. We are going over to have dinner with Aimee, Audrey, and the Zone Leaders tomorrow. We had an amazing lesson with Adrienne on Sunday. We discussed the Book of Mormon and read some chapters out of it. Elder Hofheins asked her if she would be baptized and she said that she would when she received her answer from God. Please put her in your prayers. She has a faith in God like I have never seen before. General Confrence is just around the corner. I have never been so excited for General Confrence in my life. We have the opportunity to watch two sessions over at one of our investigators house. I hope that she feels the spirit as the Apostles are speaking to us. We are so blessed to have a Prophet to lead and guide us in these latter days. Love, Elder Anderson

This e-mail was from March 24, I am just a little slow getting it in the blog.
Hey Everyone, This week has been great. We have had some amazing experiences and then some that are not so great. This Sunday, we finally got Audrey baptized!! She has had a baptizmal date since Nov 08, and we have had to just keep moving it back. The baptismal service was great. The spirit was so strong, and it was so good to see someone that I have been teaching be baptized. I asked her afterward how she felt and she looked at me with a great big smile and said that she felt happy. That was such and amazing moment. It is moments like that that keep me going. Also this week we had the oppotunity to attend Zone Confrence. What an uplifting meeting. In Zone Confrence we hear from President Thornock, Sister Thornock, the Assistants, and the Zone Leaders. They are all amazing people. I hope that someday I will have the knowledge that they have. This Zone Confrence was about being bold when extending baptismal dates. It was really great to hear about other peoples ideas. Also, this Zone Confrence, the President picked me to stand and give a five minute talk. Well, you know me, I just got up there and blubbered. I am such a baby when it comes to talking about the gospel and my family. I think that it went really well though. Yesterday, we went down to Marmet to talk with Nicky and see why she hadn't called us. She came to the door and told us that her husband didn't want her to take the lessons from us anymore. It was really sad to walk away from her like that. We are going to give her about a month to think about it and then we are going to stop by and see if she changed her mind. I hope that she will talk to her husband about it and his heart will be softned by the spirit. Keep her in your prayers. Everything is going great in the companionship. We are starting to become really good friends. It is really amazing to teach with Elder Hofheins. He knows so much about the gospel and about the Bible. I am learning so much from him. This week we decided to cover one of our walls in our apartment with Ensign covers. It may seem really stupid, but it was a great bonding opportunity. Spring is around the corner and everyone is outside cleaning up their yards. With Spring comes many service projects. This week we are doing service everyday. Even on our P-Day!!! It is really great to be able to throw on a pair of jeans and get down in the dirt. I also have never moved so much furniture in my life. It seems like almost every week we are either moving someone out of the ward or into it. It has been great to get to know so many people. I truly love the people here. Love, Elder Anderson

Hello Everyone, This week has been amazing. We are finally starting to has success with our investigators. Audrey (the 13 year old girl) is going to be baptized on March 22nd. She has been interviewed and is so excited to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. It has been really fun to sit down with her and talk to her about what is going to happen after she is baptized. It has been amazing to watch her testimony grow just in the last few weeks. Also, Olivia (the lady from Colorado) has a baptism date on April 19th, but we are trying to get her to move it up. She has already been through the dicussions and really remembers everything really well. We sat down with her yesterday and ran through a pre-baptism interview and she is ready. She is really excited to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She has been to every sunday meeting since we found her. She is going to be an amazing addition to this ward. We have two new investigators that we found this week. One is a little nine year old. Her name is Tyonna and she is so smart and funny. She came to church with Audrey last week and she was asking so many questions. We sat down with her last night and went over the first lesson and she is just so excited about the gospel. It has really helped my testimony watching the joy that the gospel brings into peoples lives. Our other new investigator we found while we were tracting in Marmet. Her name is Nicky, she is about 25, and she has a job and a car!!!! We taught her the first lesson and the spirit was so strong. We asked her to read Moroni 10 and to pray if it is true. I am so excited to see her tomorrow and hear about her experience. It has been amazing to see the difference in myself since I have been on a mission. I remember the first day teaching Audrey and feeling like I didn't know anything. But as I have learned the power of prayer and spent as much time as I can in books, I have seen a huge change in what I have learned. I am really excited to share what I have learned with my brothers and sisters. The gospel has brought so much happiness into my life and it would be selfish of me not to share it with everyone I meet. Love, Elder Anderson

Hello Everyone, Everything is going wonderful here in the great state of West Virginia. This week was a strong testimony builder. I have been able to spend a lot of time in the scriptures and in preach my gospel. I truly believe that they are inspired books. They have helped me through many trials and I know that they will always help me. It has also been a humbling week. I thought that I knew the doctrine before I came out but I have come to find out that I still have a lot to learn. This week we finally got the ok from the bishop to get Audrey baptized. He was struggling with the decision because her parents are less active members and he didn't want her to be baptized into inactivity. But we got her mom to come to church this week and I think that is what made the bishop change his mind. Also, we have a new baptismal date for Olivia. We sat down and talked to her on Thursday and she said that she wanted some time to study and become familiar with the doctrine before she is bapized. We know from the begining that she was a dry mormon. Everyone at church thought that she was a less active member. On Saturday, we had the great opportunity to go the the baptism of Aimee Cobb. She has been taking lessons from the Zone Leaders for two weeks and wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. It was really exciting to hear about her and the changes that she was making in her life. Also another dry mormon. This Sunday was also and amazing day. We had two of our investigators there and we had some of the less active people that we have been working with. We had the Peters and the Massey's. The Peters were only there because their kids had a discplinary hearing. Oh, also we had Alicia Juncosa there to. She was a less active member that we were assigned to find. It was a great experience to find her. She was so happy and shocked to see us. She told us the reason that she wasn't coming to church was because she didn't feel worthy. We told her that that was the best time to come to church. So she decided that she needed to start coming again. This week the weather has been amazing. Early in the week it was nice and cool and then by the end it is up to 75 degrees, and it is so hot! We had to move our room into another room in our apartment because the only window the AC Unit would fit in was in this other room. So we moved everything this morning. We are working really hard. It seems like we are always on the go. I really like it like that because it helps the time just fly by. It seems like just yesterday when I got here, but here I am going into my second transfer. I am really happy that I have another six weeks in charleston. I love you all and miss you lots. Love, Elder Anderson

Ian sent us a news letter and this is the only picture of him on it! Sorry it is not very good but Ian has not sent us any other pictures!

Hello Everyone, This week has been better. I have started praying for the people that I am serving rather then praying for myself, and it is really helping. I have really learned to love the people by doing that. Nothing new has really happen here. We are still working with the same investigators and trying to get them to make commitments. I am worried that that is going to always be a problem, but I will try my best to work my hardest. I have had many opportunities to serve here. Yesterday, we did our normal service, working at the Habitat for Humanity Re-store, and then later that night we went over to one of the members home and helped them empty a moving truck. There was a lot of furniture. Service is a great way to learn to love people. I am going to update you a little on our investigators. Audrey, the 13 year old girl, hasn't made it to church in three weeks. We have her baptism date set for March 8th, but we keep having to move it back because she doesn't come to church. She was a great investigator at first but she has stopped progressing. Elder Hofheins and I sat down last night and talked about what we are going to do with her. We decided that it is time for us to stop holding her hand and see what she does. If she doesn't make it to church this sunday, we are going to give her some time to think about what she wants to do. In other words, we are going to drop her. The Potvins are interesting. They seem really interested in the gospel one day and the next they are bashing everything we throw at them. Michael came out and told us on friday that he was at a fork in the road and one way leads to bible school to become a pastor and the other leads to join the lds church. We are hoping for the latter. We had a fireside on friday night that April Potvin came to and the bishop taught the lesson. He is an amazing man. I think that April really enjoyed it. Brenda Subrick still loves to praise her Jesus. I think that she really likes us to come over because we are the only people that will listen to her stories. We keep inviting her to church, but she is struggling with health issues and can't leave the house. So we just keep praying for her in hopes that her health will improve and she will be able to come to church. Violet Farmer is a funny old lady. She loves to tell us stories about her childhood and her working as a counselor at a high school. We go over there every Monday and read a few chapters out of the Book of Mormon. She has received all the lessons but will not come to church. So she is in our prayers also. Then we have all the less active members that we go see throughout the week. They are a funny group. I am going to take the video camera around this week and hopefully they will let me video tape them. Also, the bishop gave us a new job. We are in charge of finding all the members that nobody has seen in a while. It has been really frustrating because it takes time away from our investigators, but we have also had some really great experiences with it. We Talked with a lady from Cuba, her name is Alicia Juncosa (Huncosa) and she stopped coming to church because she felt the she was not worthy. We talked with her awhile and she is hopefully going to come to church this Sunday. Also, we met Kathryn Vance. She is in a nucing home, and has Cerebral Palsy. She obviously can't come to church so we arranged visitors for her. We met a man named Gary Burgess, who we have been looking for since I have been here. He told us that he was just diagnosed with lung cancer and was going through many treatments and was never feeling well enough to come to church. Come to find out, he went to high school with some of the members in our ward, so we set up some visits for him to. Everything is going great. Still working hard and doing my best. Keep me in your prayers and also pray for my investigators. I love you all so much. Love, Elder Anderson

February 17 2009

Hello Everyone, It is good to hear that everything is going good at home. West Virginia is good. We had a rough week this week. Our investigators are struggling to make commitments and it is starting to get to me. They love the gospel and its message, but they just don't want to change their lives. I guess I just don't understand where they are coming from. I have always had the blessing of the gospel in my life and know what it has done for me. I am just struggling at putting that into words that these people can understand. Yesterday we had an eventful day. The president has been going around and doing interviews with everyone in the mission, and there are a few people that are dealing with some stress issues. So we have the opportunity of having a tripod companionship for the next week. His name is Elder Linton, and he has been out on his mission for 22 months. He is a little different, but has been great to have in our lessons. Monday morning at 4:30am we got a call from Berry Carr (he is the crazy person). He said that there was a demon in his house and that we needed to go over and cast it out. I think that he was expecting a catholic exercisom or something. But we went over and talked to him about what may have invited the demon in and he told us that earlier in the year he was playing with a wigi board. We told him that that was his problem and that he needed to get rid of it and draw closer to christ. I think that he is going to make some major changes in his life after that. He was truly scared to death. Nothing else has really changed here. We are still working hard at the Lords work and loving it. I have learned to truly love the hour in the morning that I get to study the scriptures. It is amazing the things you get from the scriptures when you are studying to help someone else. Just yesterday I was reading in 3 Nephi and there was a verse that I read the I hope will really help Audrey. She is our 13 year old investigator. I don't know if I told you we got a new investigator last week. Her name is Alex and she is 20. It has been really interesting to watch her and her desire to change her life. She just found out that she was pregnant. We caught her at a perfect time because she wants to stop smoking for the baby. I hope your not mad Aimee but I have been using you as an example. I think that it is really helping her because she can see the blessings in a hard time. It is kind of weird teaching her because she is very flirtatous and she likes to wear little skimpy clothes. Elder Hofheins is struggling with that. lol. Other then that she is a great investigator. When are you guess going to send the recorder back? I have some pictures for you guys if you send it to me. It is really hard to not play with all the little kids. I miss kassidy and her crazy personality. I love you all so much. It will be good to hear from you when the recorder gets here. Love, Elder Anderson

February 10 2009

Hey Everyone, Everything in West Virginia is great. Working harder then ever. The weather has changed here and we have had some really great days. I finally pulled out one of my short sleeve shirts. I have had an interesting week. First off, we have been searching for a lady named Brenda Coppage for the last week and a half. Finally one of her neighbors came and told us that she has been in the hospital. So being good missionarys that we are we went to the hospital to see what was up. When we went to the front desk they started asking us questions like crazy. Well, we finally got permission to go and see her. We went to the top floor like we were told and when we got off the elevator there was a big metal door with a speaker next to it. We went and pushed the button and the door opened. As we opened the door we relized that we were walking in the psych ward. It was the weirdest experience I have ever been through. First, they took us in a room and went through all the procedures with us. Like no giving the patience anything, no touching them or letting them touch us, it was crazy. Once we got in the room with this women, she started freaking out saying that we came to get her out of there and that we weren't leaving without her. She told us about all the things that they were doing to her. WOW!!! We didn't know what to say. Finally, she calmed down and started acting normal. We talked with her for probably thirty minutes (it felt like forever). When we got up to leave she was still thinking that she was going with us, so a man hade to come in and hold her while we left. What a weird experience. I never want to be in the psych ward again. On Thursday we had the opportunity to do service. There was a lady that was a friend of one of our investigators that was moving and needed to get rid of some furniture. So we went over to her apartment to help. Well her apartment was on the third floor and the only way down was to take the furniture down the narrow stairs. She had so much furniture! Then she wanted to just put it out on the curb so the garbage people would take it. But Berry Carr (the skitsophrenic bipolar) needed furniture, so we took the furniture to his house and carried up to his forth floor apartment. My arms were dead after that. I don't know if I have told you about Yvonne yet so I will just tell you anyway. She is a lady that is paralyzed from the hips down and has been for her whole life. She lives with her two sons (who don't help her at all) two dogs, three cats, and i am sure there is some mice and cocroches running around also. Oh, and the smell in that house is so nasty, as you can imagine. Anyway, she has the strongest faith. She loves the gospel and loves us to come visit her and share a message. Well, yesterday we were eating dinner and I got this crazy idea in my head that we needed to go see Yvonne and take her some peanut butter, jam, and bread. When we got over there and gave her the stuff, she started to cry. After she was done crying she explained to us that just one hour ago she was talking with a friend and told her that she wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It may seem stupid and simple to you, but if you knew these people in West Virginia and how poor they are, you would understand how a peanut butter and jelly sandwich may be the answer to their prayers. It was an amazing moment. We got two new investigators this week. Alex and Seapu. Alex is twenty and is carrying Seapu's baby. Seapu is thirty four and was in prison for fifteen years for killing someone and just got out six months ago. I have come to realize how much a strong family has helped me in my life. It is amazing to see the families out here and the struggles that they have because they struggle with the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. Well, everything is going great. I sure would love some more popcorn mom. I think popcorn and roast on sunday are the two things that I crave the most. My pants are getting baggy and I need another hole on my belt. LOL Don't worry though, I am not starving. The people out here love to feed us. I have just been doing more push aways. Tell the girls to hurry and talk on the recorder. I don't care what you say I just want to hear your voices. I love you all so much. Thanks for the support!! Love, Elder Anderson

Ian's address is :
1517 Quarrier St. Apt 3
Charleston, WV 25311

Ian and his missionary president and wife

See you in Two Years!

Ian getting his badge! Elder Ian Robert Anderson

The family before we enter the MTC!

Onward ever Onward as we're call to serve the lord!

I would love to see the temple, I am going there someday!

Called to Serve! We were all so so excited!

The call was finally here!!! Charleston, West Virginia mission