Flight Plans!

Sziasztok!

So the exciting news!! I leave Salt Lake City, UT this Monday (March 30th) and go to New York City, wait 2 hours then take the longest flight ever to Vienna, Austria!!!! I’ll wait 2 more hours in Vienna then fly to Budapest, Hungary!!!! So cool!! I am so excited!!! I'll take pictures from the airport in Austria. Haha!

Now for an update on Terry. (Terry is the woman I met through the Referral Center shortly after I came to the MTC. I've been teaching her by phone.) She is so amazing. The missionaries still haven't gone to her house so she figured out a way to get to church on her own! And she's blind! She is going to take a public transportation bus that will help her and go to church herself! I mean, seriously, if she is able to follow through with this plan she's going to be my hero or something. She has so much faith and she has and is going through so much. She knows that the gospel is true because she has prayed a ton about it and she has felt the Spirit of God testify to her that it is true. So cool. I wish that I was able to talk to her some more, but that would be slightly complicated from Hungary. Haha. So she is doing great and she is much happier since she has started living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thrilled for her. I hope that the members are nice and loving in the branch that she'll attend.

I learned some pretty cool things in the scriptures this week. First was in Alma chapter 4. Alma is preaching to the members of the church about how they need to stop being prideful and humble themselves and he says something very interesting in verse 8. He said, "...and they began to persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and pleasure." And I realized that getting angry or frustrated when people don't agree with your opinion is pride. Oops! I've been guilty of that quite a bit! Right Trevor and Parker? Haha! So that was a neat insight. I'm committed to stop doing that and to just let stuff go. I realize that I'm probably wrong a lot more than I think. So try not to get into arguments with people. Actually just don't do it. It drives the Spirit away and that's not what you want. I wish I had realized that a while ago!

Another cool insight in the scriptures is in 1 Nephi 17. That is a really cool chapter by the way. Everyone knows that "I will go and do" scripture earlier in 1 Nephi, but I like verse 3 in chapter 17 better. It says, "...And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them..." Great huh?! That scripture is so comforting. I love it. If God commands something He's going to help you out so that you can do it and everything will be ok! Cool.

Also I just want to say to everyone—especially Matt A. and Trevor F.—DON'T BE SCARED TO SHARE THE GOSPEL! That is what I regret most! I was a little scaredy cat. If you can break down that fear and share the joy and blessings of living the Gospel you will be so blessed! This goes for everyone. Look up the word "fear" in the Doctrine and Covenants. It’s pretty cool. Fear is not of God. Just open your mouth to everyone and let them be happy!

Thanks for everything everyone! I love you all!

~Anderson Elder