500 days and I am a new person

Hello Friends and family,

Thank you for all of your support.

  So I thought I would write one last email, just sharing what I have learned on my mission! Wow, I am writing this email from the plane so my thoughts are still scattered. How does someone put their mission into a nice bullet list or even a well-crafted paragraph?

       A mission is built out of the people and the memories. It is so hard to share your mission with anyone because of how much you experience. You learn so much. It comes from the disagreements with your companions, the missed trains after running to try and catch it, and it comes from the confusing questions from your investigators you don't know how to answer. It's in the sweet sound of the birds singing on the walk to church. It's the warm meal ready when you arrive at a member's home after finding in the cold. It's the miracle when your friend accepts to be baptized. It's in the prayers for the people you work with. It's in the planning train times and orchestrating joint teachers. 

       Your mission begins with your willingness to follow the Lord and ends with your eternal desire to grow closer to Him. My mission will always be in the tears, the smiles, and the laughs. It's in the running to appointments, and jumping for joy,  and simply listening to a friend.

       You can't put your mission into one word or even one sentence, but the thought that has been running through my head for the past week, is that I now understand the importance of missionary work. 

       Honestly, I was scared out of my mind to serve a mission and I had no idea what it meant to be a missionary. And I honestly didn't know if people could change, if all of this even mattered. I just knew that the Lord had prompted me to prepare to serve a mission, and so I went. But I can now say without a doubt in my mind that I was supposed to come. The Lord planned it and the Lord orchestrated it. I know that people CAN change because I watched them change. I watched myself change. 

     A mission is hard. When they say it's blood, sweat, and tears they aren't joking. It's the blood when your feet blister and hands crack in the cold. It's the sweat from being out all day trying to find the elect in hopes that after all the slammed doors, someone will see the light of Christ in your message. It's the tears when someone doesn't want to meet anymore and it's the tears when your best friend gets into the waters of baptism. 

      But it's more importantly the blood of our Savior in Gethsemane who gives us the strength to keep going. It's the sweat He dripped as He carried His own cross so we don't have to. And it's the tears we shed in humble gratitude for it all!! 

       My faith in the Savior and my Father in Heaven has grown to be a firm, independent faith. I know more about myself. I know what I need to do to keep a strong testimony. I understand better what He wants from me, and when I get stuck, I know how to ask Him for help! I encourage you all to take a step forward, come closer to Christ and your Father in Heaven. How will you do that? I don't know. Ask the Lord. He knows you best. He will help you in your righteous desires! 

      I am forever grateful for the step He helped me make to come out here and for His help in coming home and for every step He helped me walk in between! 

He is my Savior, He is your Savior! 

His grace is sufficient! 

Er lebt! 

Er liebt uns alle! 

Alles Liebe
Sister Cassandra Anderson 
Alpenländische Mission

6 Juli 2016- 16 Dezember 2017

I'll be Home For Christmas 🎶🎄

Hello Friends,

First:  This Sunday I am having a welcome home party. It will be after church at 1-ish (my mom knows better than me). You are all invited!! No need to RSVP; just come over at any time. I would love to see you!! 

On Tuesday we went to the Chocolate Festival in Tübingen!! So fun. I can tell you all about it on Sunday! 

Wednesday - Pforzheim one last time! We went out to Pforzheim to visit some members and it was so sweet. The missionaries haven't visited them very often so it was fun to just talk and listen to them, and get to know them better. I felt so bad that we couldn’t stay out their longer. I hope next transfer they can go again! I love the members there, so sweet such faith because they all have to travel so far to go to church! It’s amazing!! 

Thursday – Interviews. I got to talk to President Brown for a little while one on one. It was so fun and a little weird knowing in a week I will be sitting down with him again for the last time as a missionary!! Crazy, now only a few days away!! 

Reimond! 

He came up to me and talked to me at our Ausstellung and I gave him a Book of Mormon. We have met with him twice now: once to explain the Book of Mormon, and once again to talk more about faith. He has started reading in the Book of Mormon and he came to the Christmas Concert on Sunday (which by the way was amazing! The music was so good and all the missionaries in our zone even did a musical number!) He met a member who came yesterday spur of the moment as a joint teach! Bonus of joint teaches is they can explain things in a different way than we can because they have a better grasp on the language! #natives I love the way the lesson ended. We all gave our testimony and I think he could feel the Spirit and the singleness of the truthfulness of our testimony!

Florian

We met with him on Friday and again joint-teach blessings. He wasn't understanding the importance of the Priesthood and our amazing recent RM friend explained it in German so that he could better understand!!  I feel like he better understands what we are trying to teach him and I hope he will pray this week with an open heart!! 

Ausstellung

We have a new Christmas Ausstellung!! We had a board with the question "How can you be a light to the world?" It was so fun and we had candy and sticky notes and the whips district was there including the Stephensens!!! Sooo fun!!!

I am so excited to see you all!!! Bis Gleich!! Ich habe euch lieb!! 

Pictures:

The Esslingen Weihnachtsmarkt
Lilli and I 
Sister Hunter playing piano on a Bahn
Our distrikt!
St. Nicholas!!
A super tall Pyramid 
Us looking at the pyramids :)
Our Ausstellung
 
Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

 

All I want for Christmas is to LIGHT THE WORLD!

This week was filled with little miracles and fun adventures.

Ausstellung:

    We have a Christmas Street Display and we decided to mix it up and do it later in the day, and we got 21 Potentials!! It was fun. We showed the Christmas video and I stayed by the stand to watch the stuff, and people were coming up to me and asking questions; it was awesome!! I was able to get the phone number of one and we have an appointment for sometime on Thursday! 

Michel:

    He speaks French, I didn't know how much Potential he had and it was hard to get an appointment so we were close to dropping him, but this week he asked if we could meet. We arranged for a missionary who used to serve in this mission who is from France to Skype in. The Elders came so we could meet at his house and it turned out to be an amazing lesson. He understood what was being said when it was in French and he could ask his questions!! I could feel the Spirit so strong when Jöel bore his testimony even if I couldn't understand. 

Funny Moments: 

     At first Jöel took over and was answering all of his questions and Sister Woolsey and I were both wondering if it would be a one man show, haha. It sounded pretty, but then we started teaching and we would explain something and then Jöel would translate, sometimes though Michel would have a question and then instead of translating everything Jöel would just answer and then after Michel would turn to the person speaking and say "Weiter" (continue) and at one point, we were all so lost including the Elders that we just start laughing and Elder Peterson says "Wo sind wir?" (Where are we?), teaching in a foreign language! 

Sharing the Light the World with Members:

     We had a couple of appointments this week with member families and were able to share the Light the World Initiative and invite them to do the calendar and invite a friend to do it with them, being a light to others!! It has been really fun!!

Adventskranz:

     On Thursday we had a Relief Society Activity where we made Advent wreaths and I made one for Jeanne!! We had real tree limbs we cut down and tied to wreaths!! It was fun. There were cookies, tea, and Christmas music!! So fun!!

Florian:

     We met Florian by the University a few weeks ago. He had time so we taught him the first lesson. We have met with him twice since then and taught him the Plan of Salvation. We really want him to come to church but he goes home on the weekends. He read last week!! We gave him the option of 2 chapters and he read one!!! He is already religious and asks great questions!! 

Miyuko: 

     Miyuko came with us last Tuesday to the Ludwigsburg Weihnachtsmarkt and we taught her a lesson beforehand!! She came to church again on Sunday!! We are so excited!! We wanted to go with her to the Chocolate Festival in Tübingen today but sadly she can't make it! She said she prayed, she hasn't gotten an answer yet, but she is still hopeful! She started reading the Book of Mormon – the witnesses and introduction! She is excited to learn more about Jesus Christ's life this week when we meet. She has gotten pretty busy with work and school. Please pray that she will continue to read, come to church, and meet with us! 

Tausch:

      We had exchanges and I went to the Stuttgart International Sisters with Sister Gunderson – so fun because it is both of our last transfers!! We talked about plans for home, MyPlan, packing, and the stress of it all, haha. We went to a member’s and the member was so cool!! Totally excited to do missionary work, already had someone in mind that she wants to give a Book of Mormon too and invite to an activity!! Really fun!!

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Pictures: 

It finally snowed!!! I love it!!

Us and the Elders

Family Schaals

Family Gillins

Ludwigsburg Christmas market!!

And the Laughter Continues!

Heellloooo friends. This week was great!!  

There is more to an Opera House...

Last week a very nice member of our ward gave us a tour of the Opera House where he works (he is an organist and voice coach or something like that). He told us about how old the Opera House is and they are trying to update it without ruining the structure, but they are running out of space. We got to see back stage, on stage, the King’s Seat, and all the behind the scenes. We saw the costumes, the shoes, the changing rooms, the back drops, and props! We even heard people practicing as we were going around! It was really cool to see the huge paintings and to see where the orchestra practices, and the huge doors!!! 

So fun! Now I want to go see an opera!

Thanksgiving in English...

By the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! We were invited by an American family in our ward, and it was so fun to get to know the family better and to get to know the Elders better. The food was so good and we had leftovers!!! Playing with the kids was so much fun!!! We shared a spiritual thought about Jesus Christ and being thankful for Him and all that He has done for us!! I am so grateful for Him and His love for us and the fact that He died so that we can one day be made perfect. What an amazing blessing!!

Do you remember last week with Miyuko? Well...

We met her on Tuesday with an RM who just got back from Japan (she is from Japan) to translate for us. He bore his testimony in Japanese, and the Spirit was so strong. We spoke about baptism and how it is a promise to God and then we explained who God is and encouraged her to say a pray to get to know Him! It was a powerful lesson. She said after the baptism she felt moved! A member invited her to Church yesterday and she came and then we are meeting with her today and going to the Weihnachtsmarkt with her!! She is so amazing!! Please pray for her!! 

Funny story on Sunday

We went dooring while we had a little time before our member appointment. And the second door we klingeled had a very familiar voice. We do our whole spiel in German then he asks if we speak English so we do it in English. He says no, not interested, but Sister Woolsey says “Is this Neil?” He says, “Yes who is this?” It ends up being this American guy we met while streeting. We had helped him move out of his old house and we didn't know where they would be living before he and his family eventually moved back to the States, but we found them! Coincidence? I think not! We were able to go up and talk to them and answer some of their questions about our faith. It was definitely divinely inspired!! 

Little old ladies are the best...

After randomly finding Neil and his family, we went to a member appointment right next door. And the Elders came and so did Jeanne! So fun!! She didn't eat with us (that is pretty common with the other women here) and so we were talking and laughing, and then someone suggested to toss grapes in the air and try and catch it their mouth. We were all catching or dropping grapes and then she came in and we stopped and we sang songs (we can't sing but it was really fun trying). And then my companion, on suggestion of the Elders, asked our little old lady member if she could catch a grape in her mouth. She said she definitely couldn't but the Mädels, meaning us sisters and Jeanne, probably could. Before I knew it we were all throwing grapes all over the apartment trying to catch them in our mouths! It was so funny as she just watched us and laughed!! 

Last night we had an appointment with our bishop and his family for FHE and the Elders were there so of course it was fun. Haha!! We had an amazing taco salad and played a four corners game! It was really fun. It is always good when the missionaries can build better relationships with the members!! 

I am thoroughly enjoying my time and loving every minute. It is strange to think I only have a few more of these to write, but I won't dwell on that or that fact that one of my bags is partially packed and already ways 25lbs. Haha. There is always an adventure auf mission!

As you all prepare for Christmas, please remember the reason for the Season!!! He is the reason we all have to celebrate and rejoice! 

Pictures:  

Pictures with Sister Leyensätter (the little old lady)

Opera house pictures

Some Spanish Cheese (we also ate French pie!) 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission