Pittsburgh Mission Memoirs

In case I didn't make it clear in my last post, I'm now in a walking area in downtown (dawn-tawn as they say it here) Pittsburgh. I don't have a car, just my feet and the occasional bus. Lucky for me, I've got a pedometer which I can use to count how many steps I've been taking and roughly how far I've walked in the past week. Ready? 89,000 steps, which is about 42 miles. Yep! Forty two miles in a week! In the middle of the scorching heat, drowning in sweat and the humidity, drinking gallons of water just to stay hydrated - It's pretty much the best thing ever.

There are a lot of awesome people out here. A lot of sketchy people here too. Pittsburgh is a hub of diversity. In just one week we've met all kinds of people from all kinds of places - India, Guam, Thailand, France, Brazil, Mexico, Iran, Pakistan, Britain... All kinds of people. There are a lot more people who recognize us as Mormons too. Nearly every day someone comes up to us saying "Well, look what we have here! A couple of Elders!" We talk to them for a bit about how they know who we are, about what they believe, and before we can mention that we'd *love* to teach them, they hurry off. Oh well.

There's a lot of crime out here too. We've seen signs on churches or in yards saying "Keep summer fun! No guns!" A lot of the people we talk to have at least one relative or friend who has been killed in some violent way. Instead of saying "Have a good day" or "Take it easy" like people usually say, people warn us to "Be safe."

Before you read any further, realize that I don't tell you this to scare you or to make you fear for me. I'm perfectly safe. As long as I am obedient to the commandments of the Lord and the Mission President, and I use my head and stay as safe as possible, I will be protected. I am confident in and have faith in that. So don't any of you worry about me!

That having been said, we've already had one incident. We were in what seemed to be a nicer neighborhood. A bunch of kids were playing football and a couple of young adults were standing by watching. We go up and talk to them, and get into a lesson right then and there. They were really interested in the Book of Mormon and in Joseph Smith, so we start teaching them everything we can in the time that we have. As we're teaching, a car pulls up and a guy yells out the window to the guy we were teaching "If you disrespect me again, I'll end your life!" The guy we were teaching stood up and before I could even blink he had pulled out and armed his own handgun. Here's what went through my head at that moment:

*That's a gun. Hmm...*

For some reason, I felt absolutely no fear or anxiety or anything. The guy in the car drove away quickly, and we finished our lesson.  Elder Walker and I talked about it as we walked away - neither of us felt like we were in danger. We both felt completely safe, but we also felt that we needed to end the lesson quickly. As we turned the corner away from the neighborhood, we heard gunshots and the car sped off past us. Police officers drove past us shortly after. We don't know exactly what happened. All that we know is that we were definitely protected.

We've been teaching a lot of great people though. So many kind, warm-hearted souls. I'm so excited to be here. Not a day goes by that we don't find several people who are ready for the Gospel in the worst way.

One gentleman who we've been teaching, Cliff, is recovering from a severe stroke which paralyzed his right side. He's still completely coherent and is partially mobile, but he struggles to get around anywhere. He loves the gospel, though, and has such a strong testimony and belief and desire to follow all the things we ask him to. He has some paperwork to fill out and turn in, but as soon as he does, he'll be able to make it out to church, and then get baptized in no time!

There's also a sweet less-active member who we're teaching. Nearly all of her family is very active and all the kids served missions - Even she did! But for whatever reason she fell away. The missionaries have been teaching her the lessons and have had a lot of success getting her back. We were worried, because she was so close to the missionaries Elder Walker and I replaced, that things wouldn't go so well, but when we had our lesson this week, that fear quickly went away. We were laughing, telling stories, crying, testifying and everything in between, all in the same lesson. Her brother and his friend, both recently returned missionaries, were present and complimented both Elder Walker and I on how well the lesson went. That was certainly encouraging.

One last thing: This week at Zone Conference, we talked about how we can help everyone share the gospel and enjoy the blessings of missionary work. There is a super easy way for all of you to be a missionary right now! As soon as you get done reading this blog post, do these simple steps:

1. Say a quick prayer that what you are about to do will touch someones life.
2. Go to Mormon.org. Make a profile if you don't have one.
3. Look through the videos or articles. Feel the spirit.
4. Choose one or two or a dozen that you want to share with someone over the next few weeks.
5. Link those videos to your Facebook or Twitter or whatever.

See? It's that easy! Anyone can share the gospel. I know that this will help all of you not only share your testimonies with others, but increase your own testimony! I hope you enjoy sharing the gospel as much as I do!

Love,
Elder Alex Anderson

This has been the craziest week of my mission yet. I have to do a day-by-day play-by-play just to have it make any sense whatsoever.

Monday I spent my last day in Lebanon. It was incredible how many members we ran into as we were going about our day - one at the supermarket, one at the gas station, one on the street - the seemed to be coming out of nowhere to say goodbye one last time! We also managed to visit the Galloway's again and got them hopefully back on track for coming back out to church. Time will tell if that family stays strong.

Tuesday I drove back to Pittsburgh. Like I expected, I was transferred somewhere on the west side of the mission. We sat down in the transfer meeting in Pittsburgh, President Topham stood up and started assigning companionship's, and then he got to me:

"Elder Anderson will be serving in Washington with Elder Medina and Elder Clark."

Yep. It's a threesome.

Washington is right on the border of Pennsylvania. It's in the same district as areas in West Virgina and Ohio, so I can tick those off of states which I've visited. Elder Medina has been on his mission for 17 months, so he really knows his stuff. Elder Clark has been out for only 9 months, but still has a lot to teach me. In fact, I learned a ton from them already. The apartment is nice. Since they weren't really prepared for another missionary, I slept on the floor on a mat. Man, that brought back memories (you Space Center-ites know exactly what I'm talking about.)

The ward in Washington is fantastic too. We first visited the Ward Mission Leader, Brother Anderson (Elder Medina said "Brother Anderson, it's your son!"). He warmly welcomed me into the ward and got me up to speed on some of the things that go on in Washington. He himself is a convert of 8 years, but has a powerful testimony of the Church and an even greater love of Jesus. His baseball cap says "Jesus is my boss," and one of the things he told me right off - "You should never have pride for anything. All the glory should go to the father."

Wednesday I got 'initiated.' Apparently, in this district, when you first get here you get to box one of the elders with giant boxing gloves. I figured with gloves that big, it wouldn't hurt too much. Yep. I was wrong. It hurt. I'm sure a video of that will pop up here one of these days.

While we were walking down the street, a guy in an SUV pulled up and started talking to us. "How does somebody join your church?" he asked. We told him you have to start with faith in Christ, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and then endure to the end. He got caught up on the Holy Ghost though. "I've already been baptized by the Holy Spirit." he said, "I have that manifest to me by my works. I can speak in tongues." He then proceeded to spew out some nonsense which I'm sure if we asked him, he couldn't tell us what it even means. We kept talking to him for a bit, and then he got out of his car. "Lets say a prayer." 

He grabbed our hands, and then in his most booming, powerful, 'spirit-filled' voice pronounced upon us the Holy Ghost and called down miracles from heaven... Nothing happened. He seemed satisfied though, and walked back to his car saying "You'll be thanking me later." I was determined to get him to at least hear about the Book of Mormon or something so I called out and asked for his name He walked back to me and said "Young man, because you have stepped forward, I will give you even greater power." He placed his hand on my shoulder and his other hand on my chest and then started saying more stuff like "Lord, make this mans life change forever. His life will never be the same because of his desire to seek after you." He jumped in the car and drove off. Elder Medina turned to me and said "Do you feel any different?" I thought about it for a moment, and then said, "No." Needless to say, I'm so grateful for the Priesthood and the true authority. That experience only gave me a greater testimony of that.

Friday is the day we plan out the coming week. Elder Medina, Elder Clark and I were into it pretty well when the phone rings. Elder Medina looks at it. "It's the President." He answers. "Hello President Topham! How are you doing today? .... Oh, Elder Anderson? He's not here right now. He went for a morning swim. ... Okay, He's back now." He handed the phone to me. Here is exactly how the conversation went:

"Elder Anderson, did you wear sunscreen?"

"No, actually, I'm working on my tan."

"Oh, good. Well, I have some news for you."

"Okay, go ahead."

"You're being transferred."

I thought *Already? I was just starting to like this place!*, but said "........Okay."

"Alright, now I have some more news for you."

"Shoot."

"You're going to be training."

*You're kidding.*  ".....Alright."

"I have some more news for you."

"Okay, President. Hit me with your best shot."

"Because you're training, neither you nor your new companion know the area, so you'll be doubling in" (another term for white washing)

"Oh. Okay." *Uh............*

Another missionary had to return home for some personal reasons, but was just called to be a trainer. President Topham told me he was going to be picking me up the very next morning, giving me a crash course on training, and taking me to my new area. The whole time I was talking to him, my head was confused and nervous, but my heart was peaceful and calm - I knew this was the way things were supposed to be. The whole time I was in Washington, it felt like a very long exchange. I didn't even unpack all the way when I got the call, and as soon as it was over I just started packing everything up again!

So, Saturday, Brother Anderson came by with breakfast, left some parting words, and took my picture. Even though I only served in Washington for 4 days, I was still placed in their book of missionaries which they keep to remember their missionaries by. I didn't even mention any of the investigators or members who we taught, mainly because I don't have the time, but in those few short days, I continued to see miracles.

President Topham arrived right on time and we piled everything in the back of his car and started back for Pittsburgh. When he said crash course training, he meant it - Whereas normal trainers get an hour of training with the President and the Assistants, I got 30 minutes in the car driving down the road. Granted, it was 1-on-1 with the Mission President, which, hello, any missionary would die for. But it felt like hardly enough to prepare me for the next 12 weeks.

My trainee is name Elder Walker, from Bountiful Utah. He went to the U of U for a year before coming out, is really sharp, really confident,and really dedicated. He's got a lot to learn still, but he's already well on the way to being a great missionary. Also, they've got a baptism scheduled for two weeks from now, and have a bunch of really great investigators, with a ton of potential. Needless to say, I'm pretty much being spoiled here.

Oh, and I'd better mention, my area is called Morningside. It's in downtown Pittsburgh, and covers a pretty good area. It's a walking area, so we don't have a car, but I'm super excited about that - I've been wanting a walk area for the longest time.

Sunday was pretty interesting. Being fathers day, we had a lot of talks on just that - fathers. The first speaker who came up was a converted Pentecostal minister. If any of you know anything about Pentecostals, they love their Spirit, they love pulpit pounding, they love praising Jesus. And old habits die hard. This guy had Elder Walker and I bent over ourselves with laughter, it was so funny. The family right in front of us turned around and said "Welcome to the Pitt 1st ward." Yep, this should be fun.

We've got a lot of work ahead of us. This area is probably one of the more sketchy areas in the mission. The ward has had a run of less-than-super missionaries, but they loved the two which Elder Walker and I replaced, so we have some big shoes to fill. But both of us are dedicated to working hard and learning as much as we can. This will probably be one of my most memorable areas on my mission.

So, to recap, I went from Lebanon, to Harrisburg, to Pittsburgh, to Washington, to West Virginia and Ohio, and back to Pittsburgh. I served with Elder Blake, Elder Medina, Elder Clark, and Elder Walker. I was in Lebanon ward, Washington ward, and Pitt 1st ward. And all of that in one week. Yep. My life's pretty much been spun around, twisted, turned upside-down, blended, diced, shredded, and shaken, not stirred.

But, I finally ended up where I needed to be. I'm excited. This willbe fun.

The Church is true wherever you go. Christ lives, and the priesthood is real. Very real. Take care everyone!

Love,
Elder Anderson

PS. For those of you wanting to contact me via letter and/or stalk me on Google Maps, my address is:

Elder R. Alex Anderson
400 North Negley Av #306
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Send me a letter! 

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* ................. *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK* ............... "He isn't here."

That's the worst thing to say to a member who is coming out to help us teach lessons. That's what we're encouraged to do - we should have a member at every lesson possible. But it's time consuming for them, and they're nervous about meeting new people and teaching and everything else that comes with missionary work that the fact that they even come out with us is a miracle. But when the appointment you have planned doesn't actually happen, that's when things get frustrating.

"Well, Brother Gesullo... is there anybody you need to visit?"

"As a matter of fact..." He goes on to tell us that he is assigned to home teach the Galloway family, but hasn't even met them since they moved three months ago. Also, Elder Blake and I haven't even been over to their house and had a lesson with them since he got here, so it's been a long time since we met with them too. We've been really worried about them, and have tried to contact them and visit them - nothing has worked out. We decided though that we would try one more time.

It was raining - it always is raining in PA. We walk up to Maria and Darren's door. I ring it. We wait. I ring it again. We wait. I knock. We wait. We were in front of that door for a good four minutes before it finally opens and we're talking with Maria. She seems to be doing better than the last time we saw her. She doesn't look so depressed or upset, and all the kids were there. Darren was at work, but we had an excellent lesson and they were finally able to be introduced to Bro. Gesullo. Needless to say, the Lord was planning for this to happen.

We decided to try a new neighborhood to tract in - a rich one. Not just upper-class - Million dollar homes. Seriously, even in this housing market, these homes were amazing. I was skeptical that we would have any success, but still faithful that something good would come out of it.

As we walk up to the first door, we see the door open a crack and then close suddenly. We go up to it, ring the doorbell, knock, and then decide they're pretending to not be home - not worth our time. As we walk past the window, though - *KAKAKAKAKAKA PSHEW PSHEW BOOM BOOM BOOM* Some teenage kids had toy machine guns and were 'shooting' us as we walked past! We try to figure out what in the world is going on as they keep coming from all angles. Eventually, I get the joke, pull up my 'hand' gun (get it? A gun made out of a hand. Ha ha!), recall my 'combat training' (you Space Center-ites understand this), and shout out "BANG BANG BANG!" They booked it back in the house. They knew I meant business. We had a good laugh about that.

We were out on the street talking to people the next day. We start explaining the Book of Mormon to two guys downtown when a guy whistles after us. We turn around to see James Earl Jones hobbling over to us. Seriously, this guy looked, sounded, and acted exactly like James Earl Jones. We finally make it to him, and the first thing he says is "I know who you are! Gimmie a Book of Mormon!" Stunned, I pass it over to him. He takes it, and explains that his name is Sunny and he enjoys comparative religeon - learning about all faiths and beliefs. He's been dying to read the Book of Mormon, and anything else about our church too. He wasn't interested in us teaching him, unfortunately, but he did almost empty out my backpack. The only thing he didn't get was my Quad and Preach My Gospel. But I did give him:

-1 Book of Mormon
-1 Restoration pamphlet
-1 Plan of Salvation pamphlet
-1 Family Proclamation pamphlet
-1 Mormon.org card, and finally
-1 For the Strength of Youth pamphlet

Hopefully he gives us a call sometime to get baptized! ;)

Speaking of Comparative Religeon, I found another guy of an... interesting faith. We tracted into him and started talking about our beliefs. It turns out this guy is a Master Free Mason, 32nd class. That was super cool! We talked about all kinds of stuff, from temples, to missions, to Christ, to priesthood. We got him to take a Book of Mormon as well.

Things weren't all good though. This week was going to be my worst week yet as far as numbers go - very few lessons. Elder Blake and I stopped on Friday night and talked about it. We realized that, since transfers were coming up, we very well could have a change coming - either a Spanish speaking elder would come to the area and we would be a threesome, or one of us would be leaving. But if a new elder is coming, we wanted to have the area is tip-top shape for him. We decided that we needed to turn everything around in three days - Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

One more crazy person we taught - Zarah. We knocked on her door too, and she wanted a lesson right then and there. Both her and her mom, who called halfway through the lesson, told us that she was 'unbreakable', and 'wouldn't believe what you teach.' She took a lot of apologetic religion courses in high school, and thought she knew what we believed. As we taught our first lesson about the restoration, though, she softened. She took the Book of Mormon and promised to read our assigned chapter.
The next lesson was the very next day. We promised her that if she listened to our message, she would be able to tell us what she believed during the next lesson. So we came by again. Instead of going into us full throttle, she asked us questions - "What do you believe about life after death? Why are you on missions? What does your church believe about the Gift of Tongues?" Every question we answered made her realize - what we believe and what she believes are very similar. We just have the fullness. Hopefully something good comes from this.

Unfortunately, I won't get to find out.

The call came right after that lesson. Our district leader called and said that transfers were coming up, and there was going to be a change. "Elder Anderson, you are leaving Lebanon." "NO!" said Elder Blake. He took it much harder than I did. To me, it seemed right. I was sad - I love this area, and the people. But, I've been called to go elsewhere.

Of course, whenever a missionary gets transfered, the first thing they have to do is say goodbye. We went around everywhere, to all the people I would miss. The most heartwrenching goodbye was to Madeline, Wilfredo's wife and Maria's mom. I go up to her house - she was sitting on the porch.

"Hola, Hermana! Como estas"

"Hola. Bien."

"Tengo bien noticia y mal noticia"

"Bueno noticia" she corrected.

"Gracias. Bueno noticia: una nueve missionaro es ... uh .... coming ... a Lebanon quiene habla espaniol."

"Oh, bien!" she said.

"Y mal noticia: I'm leaving."

"You.... you leaving?"

"Si."

She stopped, thinking for a moment. Tears began. Once she found words, she started to talk to me again. "I'm goin to miss you. Elder, I love you."

"I love you too Madeline."
It was tender and touching, and taught me something wonderful. Even though I hardly ever spoke to her in her language - I don't know Spanish - and she doesn't know English well. But we still could communicate through the language of the Spirit. The Spirit and the Lord speaks to us in a way we can always understand, in a way we will always be able to learn from. It transcends all barriers, except hard hearts, and touches all who let it speak to them.

As of right now, I only know I am leaving. I'm going west, probably close to Pittsburgh. Just so you all know, remember a few months ago when I talked about something special the Mission President has for me to do? Well, this brings me one step closer to doing it. But it's still a little too soon to share with everyone.

One more thing to share before I finish this very long blog post - Those of you who know me well know that I am an actor. I was in a few plays in high school, one of them being Children of Eden. I love the very last song from that show:

"We cannot know what will occur. Just make the journey worth the taking - and pray we're better than we were in the beginning."

I can definitely say that I am a better person than I was before I came to Lebanon. I'm sad to leave it, but I'm excited for the future!

I hope everyone can say that they are better people than they were 18 weeks ago. I hope and pray that all of you have success in all that you do!

Love,
Elder Anderson

One more thing: If you are planning on sending me anything, be sure to send it to the mission office address over on the sidebar.

"One more door!"

Well, I can't say no to that. I always heard the miracles that happened to other missionaries when they pounded on that last door. I was ready to go home, not because I was tired, but because we had already given away the copies of the Book of Mormon we had on hand, and the closest ones were a mile away on foot. I was running out of pass-along cards which I might need to give out as we were walking back. But, Elder Blake said those magic words, and we had to do it.

I did the honors - *knock knock knock* We waited for a few seconds. The door slowly opened and a sleepy 19 year old girl came out. We introduced ourselves, and she stopped us short. "Thanks for what you guys do, but I'm not interested. I'm pretty hardcore in my religion."

"Oh?" I said. There was no WAY a 19 year old would be THAT hardcore in any religion (oh, wait...). I had to know what religion this was. "Which religion is that hardcore?"

"Uh...." She paused, unsure of what my response would be. "Wiccan"

"Oh. Cool." She wasn't creepy at all - she actually worked night shift as an EMT, and studies all religions so she could empathize with her dying patients. She'd already read the Book of Mormon, and thought it was weird. Bottom-line, she really wasn't interested. But at least I can say I've met a wiccan.

We went by to see Merv again. He was the gentleman who was having the keg party last week. Well, he was sitting outside when we came by, enjoying the warm day. As we talked to him, he told us about all of his neighbors, and how friendly he was with all of them. Two of them came by as we were talking - an older Catholic lady named Suzy, and a younger woman who we met last week named Mindy. She was actually one of the two that was there originally last week and was asking the good questions. She even told us this week "I couldn't read that book you gave me because I was working a lot, but that's no excuse." Well, as we talked about the Restoration, she had that same look in her eyes - that same longing, searching for the truth. Hopefully she'll come by again when we have our next appointment. We know one thing for sure - Merv can help us share the Gospel with a lot of people.

John. What a stud. He's been trying to quit smoking over and over again. He's been looking for a job for the past few months. He's been going up and down with his faith. Well, this week we had an exchange with our new district leader, Elder Broadbent. We went to visit John, and found him in a really bad state. He smoked a ton that day, he was questioning the Book of Mormon, he was even questioning the exsistence of God. Apparently, he visited his Baptist therapist that day, and she gave him a huge list of reasons why the Book of Mormon was false.

I was so thankful that Elder Broadbent was there. He was able to take that VERY bad situation and turn it around in no time. By the end of that lesson, John prayed again to know if the Book of Mormon was true, gained another witness, and took a huge step in the right direction with keeping the other commandments. As of right now, he's been off cigarettes for 2 days, got a job immediately after that lesson, and is building his testimony tremendously quickly.

Saturday, we went to see Wilfredo with Brother Hector Morales. Wilfredo wasn't around. Madeline was, though. She said he was about 30 miles away in Lancaster. We were a little disappointed, but decided to keep walking and see if we could find anybody else to teach right there on the street. Actually, there is a park near Wilfredo's home which we decided to stroll around in. Within a few minutes, we started talking to another Puerto Rican and taught him about the Restoration right then and there. As soon as that lesson was over and the guy walked off, we see Madeline and Wilfredo walking towards us! We had to get to our next appointment which was just down the street, but we left Hector there to talk to him.

We get back to the park to see if they are still there, and sure enough they are. What's more, the first thing Hector says to me is "What days in July can you baptize Wilfredo?" He's working toward July 14th.

Lots of amazing things have been happening, and I've learned a lot of amazing things too. Something which really hit me yesterday: We are told to follow the Savior. "Come follow me," he says. That path will lead us along his path. It will lead us through trials and struggles, through miracles, through great joy and pain. It will lead us past Gethsemane, it will lead us to Calvary. But eventually, it will lead us to the garden tomb, where all our sadness, all our trials and travails will be made up.

I hope everything goes well for everyone. Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement. Take care!

Love,
Elder Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim