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