Thankful Indeed

I have been tinning about HD all day today.  Missing him extra.  This afternoon I got this text :)

"We just had dinner with your wonderful son and his  companion. You would very proud of how he serves. Happy Thanksgiving!"

I am so proud to be his mom!!!!

Save for D

Please put these names somewhere I can find when I get home!

Stansbury, UT

Kyp Porter 

Chad Jarvis (Picket Lane Bishop)

Brock Griffith (WML)

Clint Knudsen (Ponderosa Bishop)

Kathy Webber

Jen Klenk

Jason Dent (Ponderosa WML)

Andy Oblad

Love you!

Monday transfer

*****Tara here: I was extra happy to get this email today because I got a text last night-from a memember of his ward that told me he was being transferred quickly and unexpectedly so he may not have time to email today and he didn't want me to worry :) so glad he emailed!! ****

Oi! Como vie minha familia?

So, I've been transferred to Bountiful! I found out yesterday and then left this morning haha! From the 2 hours I've been here, it seems like a pretty nice place. I was able to see the Wood family a few days ago and they said to tell you hi! They thought I was Krissy because they could remember another kid besides you and Ty lol but i said that wasn't me, but that I was your son. 

I'm really going to miss Stansbury! Those members and the people we worked with were awesome! But, a perk from going to BYU is that I can go visit them when I get home. Did you get a text from Sister Jen Klenk? They are the family that is going to get my suitcase whenever I leave to Brazil and said that they would take it to grandma because Brother Klenk works in West Valley. They are such a cool family and treated us like their own kids! I'm gonna miss them a lot, but like i said, will go see them when I get home!

Not much else going on lol just getting ready to start the day. But Bountiful seems pretty cool! There are 17 wards for me and my companion so that is going to be wild, but we will for sure be working quite a bit! We also have a car which is AWESOME! I won't get to drive, but I still get to ride around! I might actually start gaining weight for Brazil now (grandma Huhmann said that I'm "so thin" lol). 

I don't know if Bountiful will be my permanent place for the next transfer, but will be here at least for this week. I'll send you my address when I find out where I'm going next Monday. Until then, the Lord needs me here!

Tell Haylee that I'm always praying for her and that Heavenly Father is watching over her even more than usual because I'm a missionary and that's part of the blessings a family gets for having someone be on a mission! At least that's how it goes if you are an obedient missionary lol but I'm obedient so there's no worries there! 

I love you all so much and thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me the family that I have in my life! There is no one who I'd rather call family than all of you! Have a great Thanksgiving! And make sure to watch Christmas Vacation for me! 

Love you,

Elder Sanderson

:)

Hey momma and family!

Everything is going great out here! We are loving life and have been on a spiritual high since meeting with Elder Bednar on Friday!!! The entire 3.5 hours was Q and A! We learned so much from him and from the Spirit that was in the meeting with us! He was really funny because he could relax a little more in front of us, but you could feel the authority that he has from the back row (that's where we were)! I got to speak with him in a kinda one-on-one way because he called on me to make a comment. So cool! A few minutes before hand he had almost called on me, I know that because he seriously stared into my soul and it was crazy haha, even my companions noticed! The coolest thing we heard him say though was when he bore his testimony: he said, "With the Holy Apostolic Authority which I hold, I bear record of these things..." I know with all of my heart that that is true. I can't even describe the feeling in that room because of how strongly the Spirit was there. Every person froze, I tried to make myself move and I couldn't. It was awesome! 

We're getting ready for T-day! Have at least 3 dinners lined up so far with more on the way! I haven't gotten your package yet, but will keep an eye out for it! I don't have anything specific for treats besides sunflower seeds! That's what i really miss and can't afford haha! That's fine if you send presents whenever, I have no problem with that. Awesome to hear about Joe and his last class! Haven't heard from Chris, but i saw Sarah Cheney the other day at church! It was hilarious and she said she'd get me Chris' email!

Thanks for writing Sarah, haven't heard a word from her family! Haha so you're the favorite parent in my opinion =D I have heard from most of the fam except for Grandpa Terry, but I'm gonna write him next week! I promise I'll write this week and tell you all about Elder Bednar and the miracles I've seen! 

Love you!

Elder Sanderson

Monday Monday!

Hey family of mine!

I am doing great still! Can't even believe how fast this transfer is going! I've already been in Toole for like 4 weeks (this week)! The members are rockstars and take very good care of us! 

That is awesome that Haylee is doing such a good job at being a missionary! I would be more than happy to place a Book of Mormon for her! When I go to Brazil, I'll make sure to leave my stuff with the Klank family. They love us to death and would be more than happy to hold my stuff until grandma can go and get it! I really don't need much for Christmas haha but I will let you know! Sweaters would be cool =) but not too many obviously since we don't know when I'm leaving. Ties are always good for missionaries and so are stamps! Other than that, there really isn't much that we need!

We live in a house that the Church rents from some less actives that live next door to us! The family doesn't really interact with us, so it's just like we have our own house. We live with the Zone Leaders so there are 5 missionaries total in our house. It's really old and kind of ghetto haha but we make do with what we got! Last night was really weird. We were in the house and it was like 10:30 so we were about to go to bed. All of a sudden, there is a knock on the door and apparently some teenage(ish) girl was at the door asking if we could give her a ride to SLC because her grandma was in the hospital there. We told her that we weren't allowed to drive the cars after 10:30 and that she should ask the neighbors if they could help. It was kinda creepy so the house went into lock down after that. We locked all doors and windows and then shut all the lights off and posted ourselves next to doors and windows so that we could try and hear someone outside. We stayed up until about 11:30 and then went to bed. I slept with a baseball bat and everybody else slept with a knife or something haha. 

SUPER COOL NEWS!!!!!!!

Elder Bednar is coming to visit us on FRIDAY!!!!! We are so freaking excited that we can hardly contain ourselves! That will be the 3rd time that i've met an apostle! I seriously can't wait!!!! =D

Thank you also for the sports news! I love it! How's the NBA season going? Tell Larry and Roxy I said hi! Been thinking about them lately! Also, where exactly is Larry from in NC? It might be near my companion Elder Jacobs.

Love you all! 

Elder Sanderson

Ps I'll get pictures sent soon i promise! 

****Then I got several emails with pictures!  Yahoo!!! I have no explanations for any of these so your guess is as good as mine :) some of these are from the MTC.

I do know this is the Salt Lake Temple

No idea which temple this is...Utah friends??? 

Salt Lake Temple from a different angle

The Provo Temple

So gross!  

Until next time friends!! 

Finally an email from the field!

A little preface to this email from me-Tara -the mom :).     HD got an email Friday that the church needed one more bit of paperwork to send to the consulate. Our bishop called me -he was cc'd on the email and let me know. I emailed HD to tell him not to panic that I knew what was needed and sent the document today but he didn't read my email he read the email from the church and panicked and sent me a text!  Kind of fun to get a text from him, but so hard to have a phone number for him and not be able to communicate that way.  I responded to his text but just to let him know I had taken care of things.  Anywho his email is after he read my response to his text.

From HD:

Thank you!!! I just texted you haha (dont worry, my ZLs said it was okay). 

how are you guys!? I'm doing awesome! I love Tooele and we have 5 people on date for baptism right now! That's not a guarantee, but it's a good start! Halloween for us was pretty boring, we had Pday and then did weekly planning. I didn't email because we couldn't get a ride to the church -_- but thats how it is when you don't have a car! Our area is pretty big and just to get to the neighborhood where we are assigned we have to walk 3/4 of a mile! But it is so great to be out in the field! I'm learning more and more every single day and have even been teaching lessons in Portuguese! There is a foreign exchange student here who isn't a member and lives in Sao Paulo! It's awesome! 

My companions are really cool! One is from PA and the other from NC! So they put the East coast together! I also got your guys' package! Thank you! The jeans fit perfect and the gloves and stuff have already been used! 

Yes please to another sweater! See if you can find one for me that goes under a suit coat because that is the requirement with them! Also, if you are going to send Christmas stuff (i know it's super early) our mission president wants them sent to our mission home before thanksgiving because we will be having a mission-wide christmas devotional on Dec. 11! I know with my visa that is pretty random, but if the time comes up then you can send it (i'll let you guys decide). Please send the under armor too please! 

I am doing great! Like i said, I love it here! I have already seen so many miracles and I can feel the strength that heavenly father gives me every day! The Spirit runs through us like I've never seen before and it is amazing! I know that this is where I need to be and that I have been sent here to learn and to grow in preparation for Brazil! 

Love you all!

Elder Sanderson

PS I will write this week with some of those miracles!