December 24th Letter

Christmas is a wonderful time. People really are a little more open about talking about the Savior, which is really nice. People seem to be a lot more charitable around this time, which is kind of saying something especially for an area quite like this. I am happy to know that I am bringing the same knowledge to others that makes me so happy. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers I really do appreciate it. I can assure you that the gospel is going boldly and nobly to all! I love being a missionary! Merry Christmas! :)

December 17th Letter

I miss you guys a LOT! I love being a missionary! I am almost 3 weeks in the field and I’m already in love with it.I get to help people every day! And I’m learning so much! I’ve been able to teach quite a bit and am getting better as I progress.  At times, it does get hard, but the things I expected to be hard aren't really all that difficult. It’s more of the thoughts of just being away for so long from everyone. I miss everyone very much. I can’t explain how grateful I am that I can be together with my family forever. Thank you everyone for all that you have done for me, I really do appreciate it.

Anyway, my companion is great and we get along very well. He is from Logan, Utah.

Oh, as far as Christmas goes if you send something I can’t guarantee you it will get here before or even by Christmas day. I hear it takes packages forever to get here. Anyway, my Christmas wish list is for everyone to have a wonderful, happy Christmas filled with love and joy.

I hope you guys have a great Christmas. We should be busy on that day; a Lot of the members have invited us over that day. I can’t wait to talk to you and really tell you more. Well I have to go, have a great day and I will talk to the family on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. :)

December 10th Letter

Hey everyone,

I’m doing good! I’m loving everyday out here. I love being able to help people out a lot more every day. I am so very grateful for everyone’s prayers and am praying for you guys all the time. I get help someone in so many others ways everyday! I love that!!! I'm still getting the hang of teaching but according to my companion, I’m doing rather well. Australia has a lot of atheists and I mean a LOT. But the work is still progressing rapidly and just about always have someone to teach. We even have 2 committed baptisms (one is kind of a maybe because she’s visiting from china and is scared of the government finding out but she really has expressed that she want to get baptized). I love the ward members. They're really kind and they are feeding us constantly.

It’s pretty weird and doesn’t quite feel like Christmas without the cold; actually, it’s been quite hot lately. But I still love it.

Well I want to tell you more but unfortunately I only have a limited amount of time on here and I’m slow at typing as it is. I hate sending letters through mail by the way. It just seems so unreliable and it really doesn’t help that I’m on the other side of the globe.

Love,

Elder Anderson

December 3 Letter

Hey everyone!  How are things?  How is everyone?  How was Thanksgiving?  If I forgot to let you know what area I’m serving in, the town is called Frankston.  Everything is going really well and I’m having a blast.  Still getting use to the differences like driving on the other side of the road and such but it’s going great.  I love my new ward and they seem really to like me.  I bore my testimony in sacrament and that went well.  I’m having a lot of fun teaching and doing service.  Street contacting and tracting aren't too bad.  Everyone’s pretty chill over here.  I'm not having too much of a hard time with the accent but apparently mine is pretty thick to them.  I haven’t seen any kangaroos or anything like that yet but maybe later.  What would you like to know?  There’s a lot more immigrants over here than I expected like Chinese, Tongan, New Zealand... etc.  Met with my Bishop yesterday he’s pretty cool.  He is defiantly the youngest I’ve ever seen, he’s like at the most 40 years old.  Elder Davis is great, I’m defiantly learning a lot from him, and he’s a great trainer.  The food is pretty good, haven’t really tried anything too different yet but I will.  I am defiantly running a lot more, every morning.  I’ve been feeling the spirit every day and meeting a lot of new people.  I love my mission president he’s really cool and his wife is so nice.  It does get really hot by the way; the first day we went tracting it got up to like 110 in Fahrenheit.  I am still trying to figure out Celsius and such.  But don’t worry I’m staying hydrated and got sunscreen.  I miss you guys so much.  Anyway, if you want to send me something just send it to my mission home office.  My address is:

     Elder Phillip Jonathan Anderson

     Australia Melbourne Mission

     76 Cathies Lane

     Wantirna South VIC 3152

     Australia.

Oh and if it’s not a Christmas gift then you need to write on it "Not For Christmas" because they are keeping all the packages and we're all going to open them on Christmas day.  Are you guys excited for Christmas by the way?  I bet the kids are.  Anyway, I’ve got to go.  Stay safe and take care!  I love you all!

Got here safe! :)

November 28, 2012
Good day from Frankston Australia! Just letting you guys know I got here safe yesterday morning-ish. I’m sorry I didn’t email yesterday, orientation went longer than expected so my mission president apologizes for that and they're letting me email you this now. I’ve already fallen in love with the area and have an awesome trainer. His name is Elder Davis and he’s from Logan, Utah. We just went tracting and met a Lot of really nice people. By the way it is VERY true about how most houses and places in Australia don’t have air-conditioners. The temperature right now is 38 Celsius which is about around 105 Fahrenheit, so it is HOT and it also humid too. But don’t worry I’ve been drinking a lot and putting on sunscreen. I hope all is well over there and that everyone’s doing good. I don’t have much time on here right now because we have a meeting very soon but I my P-day is on Monday and I’ll email you guys about it a lot more then. I love you all so much! Have a wonderful day!

Last email from the MTC

Hey everyone, just want to thank very much for you letters. So I leave for Melbourne November 26th, this coming Monday. I checked with the travel office and they confirmed that they received my Visa SO I’m Really going! :) Apparently I have been dubbed the travel leader for the missionaries that are going to Melbourne that day which pretty much just means I’m going to making sure two other Elders in my district and two sisters (of whom I have yet to meet) get from Salt Lake to Melbourne in one piece. So that will be fun. And apparently it’s estimated that it will be like a seventeen hour plane ride and I’ll also be losing a day a well… But yeah. Anyway I have had a blast here in the MTC and learned So much. I can’t wait to get out in the field and help bring others unto Christ. I mean I’ve learned a lot through the maaaaaaany role playing we've done but just know that it’ll be a real investigator will make so much more amazing. So I probably won’t know my official first address until I get there so if you want to send me something when I get there just send it to my mission home which the address for that can be found in my missionary packet I left behind. I’ve been praying for you guys and miss and love you Lots! I’m sorry if this seems short but they really give us barley ANY time to email here and I’m slow at typing as it is. I'm happy to hear that he have a new family member. Please send pictures of him soon. AH!!! I Can’t Wait to Really Preach the Gospel! Well I've really got to go but I Love you all, thank you so much for your support. I'll try and let you guys know if anything changes. I LOVE YOU!!!!

                                                                                                                      -Elder Anderson

Mosiah 27:36

First Email from Elder Anderson

Hey everyone! The MTC is awesome. My district and companion are awesome. My companion is Elder Decker and he is from New Mexico. He is awesome, half of my district is going to Melbourne, and the other half is going to Auckland New Zealand including my companion. Today is my P-Day, which is Thursday. Hope everything is going great at home. The food is pretty good. I leave November 26th. We already have a legit nonmember investigator in the TRC! Classes are amazing and our teachers are fantastic. I am feeling the spirit every day. I miss you all they only give me thirty minutes of computer time per P-day so if you want to email me do it by dearelder.com. That way I can read what you want to say and I can just reply in those 30 minutes. I appreciate all of your letters. I am having a blast at here, and learning so much. My district cracks me up there really is never a dull moment and we are pretty much always doing something. How are all you? How are the kids doing? We do a lot of role-playing with our teachers acting like investigators. Even though it isn't real thing, you can definitely feel the spirit as we testify of the truthfulness of the gospel. One of our investigators named Eric has been very interesting to teach. He is a nonmember (for real) and has a lot of issues with the authority of God. It is really hard sometimes and Elder Decker gets really frustrated with it. But he realizes it is all worth it. We got to hear from Elder Foster in the seventy, which was AMAZING! He taught us about the Law of Consecration and showed a very powerful video about John Tanner and his great devotion and faith to the Lord. Sundays are awesome here. We get to go to the Provo Temple today! We will probably be going to an endowment session. The mountains out here are beautiful. I really am going to be going from Utah Snow to Australian Summer. Thank you for advising me to pack warm when I was here! Don't really have too much time to upload photo so I will try to do that out in the field. I love the Lord, and I know that he answers our prayers. Yesterday as we studied the Book of Mormon as a district, we received revelation for our investigator. This happened to two of the companionships in the district. It was so powerful to see how the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that if we treasure up its teaching we can become the best people, we have potential to become. I have already found that the more you throw yourself into serving the Lord like this, the more your truly are blessed. The first few days were very humbling but the Lord has assured me that I can do this with His help. Although I still have a lot to learn, I can't wait to get out in the field. Love you all lots!

-Elder Anderson