Can't Stop, Won't Stop

Hey Mom!

It was another really great week for us here, highlighted by a couple of good lessons with Shannon! We were able to teach her several of the commandments on Wednesday, and the Plan of Salvation on Sunday, and her progress is coming right along! Hope set up a lesson with us this week on Wednesday, so we're way excited for that! I guess to answer your question about what makes lessons effective, it's a lot about how simple and short you can get across--less is definitely more. It's also a lot about how well you and your companion switch back and forth, the types and timing of your questions to investigators, how and how often you get the members involved in the teaching, all the little details like that. What are some of the things you've seen in the missionaries that makes them seem more/less effective?

To add some excitement to our week, Elder Bennett and I went on splits this week with members (that's not the exciting part, FYI). Brother LeCheminant and I were stopping by some less-active members in East Peoria, when all of the sudden, the tornado sirens start going off. Now the weather had been pretty bad for the hour previous, there was a lot of lightning in the area, but the winds starting getting really bad, and since we were just down the street from a less-active/part-member's house, we decided to ask if we could take shelter there, which they were very welcoming (Tip for future missionaries: A less-active/part-member family's house is not a bad place to be for an hour and a half when you're waiting out a storm.). Long story short, a couple of tornadoes touched down in Peoria, only a few miles from where we were! It's all good though, we keep working even in the midst of the twisters. #CantStopWontStop

If that story isn't good enough for you, later this week, we had just finished talking to one of our potential investigators named Bailey. We were coming down the driveway, and Elder Bennett went behind the truck to back me up. Out of nowhere, a rock comes flying from across the road and hits me in the forehead! Just kidding, what actually happened is that Elder Bennett started to say something to me, so I turned to look at him while stepping into the truck. On the way in, I slammed my head on the door, causing a pretty nasty cut to the forehead. After driving to the nearest gas station to get it all cleaned up, I determined that it wasn't bad enough to go get stitches, although I might get some scarring action in the future. It's pretty gnarly, and I've got some swelling about the size of a quarter around the cut, but I feel fine. Battle scars ain't keeping me from doin' the work. I ain't even phased. #CantStopWontStop

That's about it for this week! It was a couple of game changing events this week that kept me on my toes, but you know we always come out on top! #CantStopWontStop Let me know if I can do anything for you guys, thanks for all you do!

Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson

#CantStopWontStop #ThatDontPhaseMe

P.S. Can't tell if Helaman's Warrior, or Elder Anderson. #EarnYourStripes #BattleScars