Hello Dad,
Sounds like you all had a great 4th of July. Things were a bit different here. They still celebrated Independence Day on Sunday, so we missed all of the good times, and it didn't help that it was a fast Sunday. Oh well.
Things have been going good for us in Clarksburg. We are teaching a few more people. This week we taught a man in Grafton, his name is Donald Edison. We took a member with us, her name is Sister Poe, she is from the Philippines (? spelling). It was a great lesson! He said that he was interested in coming to know if it is true. I have been praying really hard for him. I know that if he reads and prays with a sincere heart and real intent, then the Lord will answer his prayer. We left him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read the first two chapters.
Also this week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Moreang. He is doing really great for only being out for two weeks. I think that he misses home. He is staying focused on the work and loves it. We tracted into a young girl named Tiffany and now they are teaching her!
The Ward Members are so great here. They are all really excited about the work and are always willing to help. We went and ate and the Gladwells on the 4th of July, and they noticed that the shoes that Elder Moreang was wearing were falling apart. She called us this morning and we secretly took him to JCPenny and she bought him new shoes, some short sleeve shirts, and some new ties. The people out here so love. She offered to get us something but Elder Houser, Elder Hegland, and myself are getting ready to come home. There is no reason to get new things. Plus, I just got new pants.
We have had some fun adventures this week. There are some members that have a huge rope swing the swings out over the road. We got to go and swing on that. It was so high. I thought that the rope was going to break with all of my weight. It was really fun though. Then later we were working next to a lake so we went over and got pictures of the dam. West Virginia is so beautiful!! I love it here.
We have still been doing a lot of tracting lately. Something very interesting has happened the last two weeks. I think that the Lord is pushing us into talking to people about Family History. It all started with Sister Haws giving us some Family History Pamphlets, then the next day I was reading in "Preach My Gospel" and noticed that in the "Finding" Section that the biggest portion is how to use Family History in finding people to teach. I got a really strong impression that that is what we needed to try. So, we followed the promptings and there are a lot of people that are interested in it. So now we are looking at how we can introduce people to Family History on the door step, and at the same time share the gospel with them. We have come up with the idea to teach them about the spirit world and the importance of Family History to bring the gospel to those who will be taught there. Then this morning I was reading in the June Ensign and there is an article about Family History in there, and as I read it I got the same strong feelings. This is definetly something that the Lord wants us to do. I have been carrying around my Pedigree Chart and the pictures of Vera Strong and of Mom's Mom. People really open up when you share them stories about these people. It has been really exciting!!
The work is going so good!! I love it so much and continue to love it more each day. The Gospel is true!!!
I love you very much. Thanks for everything.
Love
Elder Anderson