Hello, fair people of wherever you are reading this. Greetings from the sunny Lebanon, Pa. It actually has been very nice these past couple of days, with little rain or snow, lots of sun, and temperatures in the mid 40s most of the time. Not too bad!

First things first, our investigator with the closest baptism date: Angelica. She really is progressing well, and we are almost certain that she will be ready and prepared for her baptism on the 3rd of March. If all goes well, she'll be my first, official baptism. Naturally, Elder Nelson will be doing the actual baptism, because she knows him better, but it will be great to be present for that.

Victor is also progressing, but is still struggling to truly understand what repentance and baptism mean. He's a really funny guy who loves to make a joke and have a party. Vic has made so many changes in his life and is trying to keep most of the commandments. He just thinks that he can break a commandment every now and then and still be alright.Hopefully we can help him understand that when we are baptized, we promise to not break any of the commandments ever again, and to immediately and fully repent if we do break a commandment. He's getting there though.

The Galloway's are doing excellently. They're the ones with the three young girls. They recently bought a new home and are in the process of moving in. Maria is going to be setting some very strict but very spiritual ground rules which will make that home an excellent environment for Maria, Darren, and their three kids. I'm really excited to see how much they grow living in a more spiritual environment. Elder Nelson and I have already offered to dedicate the home, and will look forward to doing that when they get settled. The girls are progressing well towards baptism. We are really looking forward to that. I honestly have to say, that family is an excellent example to me of how a righteous family should be run. Maria is constantly trying to teach her children correct principles and sets a great example for them. Her rules, while they may be strict in some cases, really do help to invite the spirit and make their home a good environment. Like I said, I really look forward to what the Lord has in store for this family.

We got in contact with Jamie again. Before, we were having difficulties setting an appointment, but we actually were able to just run into him. He really is trying to question and understand the Gospel and the Church. Yesterday we went over and answered some of his questions. And when I say questions, I mean deep, mysteries of the universe kind of questions. He's been doing his research and has a lot of interest to learn more and gain more knowledge. Elder Nelson and i and answered his question the best we could, and always tried to tie our answers back to the atonement, the Book of Mormon, and prayer. He is still really excited about the Gospel and about our church, and, while we didn't talk about it specifically when we visited him last, he seems to still be excited to be baptized. His date is March 10th.

Then there's John. He's really working hard to quit smoking, and is doing... Well, not so good. He's smoking about 30 a day. We'll be visiting him later today though, and seeing if he's smoking less. Considering how far he's come, he'll easily be able to stop smoking. It'll just take a little effort.

Unfortunately, I have had to change my vision of missionary work just a little. I now realize how there will be many dropped appointments, many missed phone calls, and many disappointments. However, I am striving to obey all the rules with exactness, and to work as hard as I can for as long as I can. Like I said last week, Elder Nelson has been great. He always tries to keep us busy and working from the moment we leave our apartment to the moment we return. Our biggest challenge right now is finding new investigators. Hopefully during these next few weeks we'll be able to find more people to teach.

One fun experience I had: Last week for P-Day, we went out to Hershey and got to see Chocolate world. Honestly, it wasn't as cool as I expected, but they have a massive gift shop. If anyone has any chocolate or whatever that they want, I might be able to hook you up!

There was another funny thing that happened. We were tracting down this one street, and a young woman answered the door. We started to share our message, and she seemed to be interested to just listen when we were interrupted by a man who came up behind us: her father. Fortunately, he wasn't overly concerned about us talking to his daughter. He was more interested in what we had to say about priesthood authority. The best part about this guy was his accent: probably the most interesting Spenglish I've ever heard in my life. Here's a portion of our conversation:

Us: We believe that we need to have proper priesthood authority to be baptized.

Him: So yous saying that my bautizism wasn't right?

Us: Yes, that's right.

Him: Hmm... We'll, yous gotta tell the papa about dis!

Us: ...Uh, the pope?

Him: Yes! Yous gotta let everyone know about dis!

Us: Well, we kinda already let the pope know...

He's a great guy. We look forward to teaching him at some point. His work schedule is so ridiculous that it's hard to find a time, though. His daughter is interested in hearing our message, though. We'll be visiting with her later today.

That's one thing that I have to say about Lebanon. Everyone out here is Christian, and very, very converted. They all believe in Jesus, they all believe in the atonement. The biggest hurdle we have to get over is helping people realize that the gospel was lost and has been restored, and that we have priesthood authority on the earth again. Oh, and the fact that Mormonism isn't a cult. (Don't worry, only one woman argued with us about that)

To those of you who have been writing to me, I've loved getting your letters. As always, I love getting and reading letters. If you don't know what to write me, don't sweat it. Just write me whatever you feel like. I always answer every letter I get.
The Church is true. We're working hard down here in Lebanon. Cool things are happening.

Love,
Elder Anderson