Blood and "Cribs"

Hey Mom!

Too late to tell me not to send my winter boots, they're pretty much home now. We actually didn't get any snow this week, and the forecast is all in the 50s and 60s this week, so it doesn't look like we'll be getting any more anytime soon. The members here fed us a good Easter dinner yesterday, and PacSun was having the Blue Dot Sale (Dallas walks up to PacSun, sees "Blue Dot Sale" on the window, *Tiger-sized fist pumps into the store*) for Easter weekend, so I was able to get an awesome deal on a cool sweatshirt! Since we live in Morton now, the mall in Bloomington isn't as accessible, so the Lord was definitely taking care of us with the sale! #PrayForBlueDot 

It was another amazing week of teaching--we had two lessons with Shannon (who is a 13-year-old investigator from a part-member family), and she's keeping all of her commitments and coming to church! Even with all of her sports, she's still making time to meet and to put church and mutual first, which is pretty awesome! Hope had another lesson with us this week, and it was another killer lesson on the Plan of Salvation, and now she's got another appointment set up for Saturday right before Conference! 

Jerry has made some really good progress this week--he came to the Meet the Mormons movie night our ward had on Tuesday (which was my first time seeing the movie, and I thought it was pretty awesome), and he watched the live stream of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's performance of the Messiah this weekend as well. He still has the struggle of coming to church, hopefully he'll be able to overcome the fears he has of change here in the next week or so!

So here's a pretty good story for the week: we were having dinner with a member in the ward, and got talking about some of the gang activity here in the Peoria area. Now, it's funny that this topic came up, because we've had a few people ask about my forehead this week, and another guy talk to us for 30 minutes about how we as missionaries should be able to carry guns to protect ourselves (LOL sir, the Lord's protection and my pocketknife will be enough, I'm pretty sure). Anyways, we get on the subject of gang violence and places to avoid after dark, and this member says, "The gangs here are pretty much like the 'Cribs' in L.A." He meant the "Crips," but his son would not let him live it down, and made jokes about the "Cribs" the rest of the night, haha!

We helped the Peoria Zone Leaders close up an apartment in Monmouth, and you know what that means: bring out the couch moving crew! I didn't get a picture with the couch, but snagged one in the recliner, which was a close second in my opinion. Also, when we were driving on the freeway to take everything to storage, we drove right next to the Sunday Night Football truck, which tells me that the sports world of ESPN and NBC are still watching out for me for when I get off my mission.

Thanks for the email Mom, I'm glad you were able to have a good Spring Break and spend time with all those guys! Hope that you have a great week, can't wait to talk to you guys next week, and hope that you all enjoy Conference!

Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson

#CatchMeOnNBC #HighlightReel

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

The ABCs of MLC

Hey Mom!

Looks like you had a fun trip to Moab, although you're right: I didn't feel bad missing the bike riding or camping. And that's brutal that you took Landon through IKEA...I went there for the first time on my mission when I was in the YSA Ward (a couple of the members took us to dinner there), and I can see how you can be in there for hours.

To explain the acronym for you, MLC stands for Mission Leadership Council--it's where the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, Assistants, and Tech Elders get together and receive training and council together regarding different topics. For MLCs, the zone leaders are usually in charge of coming up with a few positives and a few struggles their zone has been seeing over the past month (since MLCs occur the first Friday of each month), and you present on that for about five minutes.

Our zone had a training meeting this week, and Elder Bennett and I had a good training on working with the bishop to make missionary work more effective. We also repeated a demonstration from last zone conference where we had a missionary from each companionship go out in the hall and write down the monthly goals that they set (after taking away their iPads to make sure they couldn't cheat), to see if they knew what their goals were. It was really rough last month (which was the purpose of the activity, because we were training on goal-setting and planning), but the missionaries did much better this transfer remembering their goals.

We never did hear back from Bri in Normal, but we had two lessons with Shannon this week, and were able to put her on date for baptism on April 16th, so that's super exciting! We also had an awesome lesson with a potential investigator named Hope (one of the best lessons that Elder Bennett and I have both had on our missions), but unfortunately, she told us that she wants to study on her own for the time being, rather than continuing with the missionary discussions.

The zone has been on fire this last week, though! It's not about the numbers by any means, but the key indicators that are reported weekly have been higher than they've been in the zone in probably close to eight or nine months. There are lots of companionships that have people on date, and missionaries are starting to work more with members, it's been pretty awesome hearing about the different miracles that are going on!

Elder Bennett and I have had a couple of pretty fun preparation days the last couple of weeks--last week, we went Frisbee golfing, and the course was in the middle of a forest, so it was freakin' hard, but still pretty fun! This week, one of the members of our ward had us over, and he has a pottery wheel and a kiln, so we made bowls at his house with some help, and that was pretty cool!

This month is going to go by crazy fast--we've got General Conference, stake conference, a Mission Tour, transfers, hopefully a baptism, and hopefully a temple trip here in the next five weeks! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you guys!

Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson

#ExpectMiracles

Big Plans in the Place of Pumpkins

Elder Bennett and I got to Morton on Tuesday night, and it is awesome to be here! Fun fact about Morton for you: it is the pumpkin capital of the world--supposedly 80% of all of the world's pumpkins pass through Morton at some point. As a result, most of the restaurants here (including fast-food restaurants) feature pumpkin-flavored desserts (shakes, pies, cookies, breads, etc.). 

Anyways, the Morton Ward is awesome! The bishop and ward mission leader are both really enthusiastic about the work, and that fire has spread to a lot of the members, who are inviting friends to activities, to meet with the missionaries, etc. Although we weren't able to teach any investigators this week, we spend a lot of time getting to know some of the members, and we set up a couple of lessons for this next week. We're hoping to start teaching Shannon this week, and she's probably the most solid of anyone in our teaching pool. I'm really excited for this transfer though, because I think by combining our efforts and the members' efforts, we're going to see a lot of miracles happen!

We had MLC at the mission home this week, and there was a lot of good training on working with the bishops and ward members. Elder Bennett and I have zone training on Friday, so we'll get to train our missionaries on working with members as well, so I'm excited about that.

Besides that, I don't have a lot to report on this week. We'll be searching out some service opportunities during the week, so hopefully it doesn't take as much time and effort to find service as it has in the last two areas, because it's been a joke. But however long it takes, I'm feeling really good about being here in Morton, Elder Bennett and I are going to get a lot of good things done!

Love you Mom, I hope that you and the boys get feeling better soon. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do for you guys! You're always in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Dallas Anderson

#DontGetTrunkie

Thinning the Herd...And Heading to Morton!

 The big news for the week is transfer news: Elder Bennett and I are staying together (WOOO!!), but we are being moved to Morton, IL. It's super exciting, because they just got a new bishop who is really fired up to do missionary work, and Elder Bennett has served in Morton before, so he already knows a bunch of the people in the ward, so that will be a good start. Unfortunately, since we won't be at ISU anymore, it will put a damper on the hashtag efforts, but we'll see what we can do in Morton! I'm sad to be leaving Normal, but and excited to start a new adventure in a new area!

For service this week, we got to relive both my dream and nightmare as a little kid: We went to Home Sweet Home Ministries and were in charge of sorting through stuffed animals (like ten 100 pound boxes of them). We had to look at them and determine whether they were in good enough condition to sell, or if they were a collector's item, otherwise we threw them away. The dream was that there were hundreds and hundreds of stuffed animals (for those of you who don't know, I have a personal herd of stuffed animals at home), the bad news is that we had to throw 80% of them away...I did snag the best prize of the day though, I call my new homie Banona-Mon. A cool side note of working at HSHM is that a couple weeks ago, they gave all of the missionaries a gift basket with a $5 gift card to their thrift store because of the service that we've offered. We went there today, and I walked out with a pair of dress shoes and a purple Jordan shirt for free because of the gift card!

We got the opportunity to teach a couple of member families that we haven't been able to meet with before, so that was really good! We also met with a couple of different less-active members during the week. No exciting news for investigators for this week, but hopefully we'll have some good ones to report on next week in Morton!

So I've yet to keep y'all informed on my Fit For the Kingdom for the transfer--I ended the transfer with over 400 points, which is the best that I've done before! I'm really excited for the upcoming transfer, because our apartment clubhouse has a gym that we can work out at in the mornings, so exercise is going to be great!

That's pretty much all that I've got for the week, thanks for all the love and support! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you guys!

Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson
#MovingToMorton

Gosh, Janet!

What's up to all you fans out there!?

We're hot off the charts with the drop last week, hope y'all enjoyed that! Just to let everyone know, I probably will use the word "finna" in my homecoming talk (probably both intentionally and unintentionally), because you can take me outta the hood, but you can't take the hood outta me, you know what I'm sayin'?

Good stories from this week: First, I got approval for my idea of proselyting through hashtags, so if you start seeing a trend on social media involving the missionaries, you know who got that going! We hope to start implementing it here on campus within the next week, getting the members to kick it off first. It will be interesting to see if we can get things rolling, but I'm excited!

We went on exchanges twice this week, and had good experiences with both of them! I got to work with Elder Ashcraft in the Spanish program (no "como se dice stories this time) and Elder Neve. We were able to find a bunch of potential investigators on exchanges, and on the one with Elder Neve, I don't think I've met as many crazy people in one day in my entire life...We met the most drunk person I've ever seen in my life, he was soooo out of it; we met a man that told us that he was in the Army, got blown up and thrown into a tree 45 feet away, and his scalp was barely on his head, but he got fixed up and played in the NFL the next six seasons. He also told us that he was 3rd in the world for weight-lifting, his best efforts were a 617 pound bench press, a 1500 pound squat, and a 3000 pound deadlift...Freakin' yeah right sir. We had a member look it up for us, and the world record deadlift is just over 1000 pounds. Haha, he was out of his mind too. 

We also got the biggest door slam of my mission thus far, to be honest I'm surprised that the door is still on its hinges. And we also went to one of our investigator's homes and he and his girlfriend were cussing each other out and talking about cheating with their ex's, keep in mind that all of this was one day during the same exchange. If that wasn't good enough, we went to a building that had four apartments in it, and 3 of them were blasting music; it was as if they were trying to out-do each other, it was hilarious! And if you don't know, it's tough to preach the gospel in a hallway when 2 Chainz is blaring in the apartment next door.

The title of the email comes from our dinner on Tuesday this week. We always have dinner right before MCM with the Albrechtsens (Brother Albrechtsen is the ward mission leader). We're having dinner, and there's a member from another ward eating dinner with us, and he was asked if he had any plans that night after dinner. He responded, "I have to go home teach Janet," but it sounded like, "I have to go home teach, da***t." HAHAHA, everyone at the table thought he said the latter, it was so funny! After that, we started making jokes about it, such as "Gosh Janet!"

Love you all! Thanks for all that you do, and for the emails and packages! Love you tons!

Love,

Elder Dallas Anderson

#HashtagsOnHashtags

Dandy vs Drake (The Rap Wars)

So it's finally arrived! The hot new track is dropping today, and no track is complete without official album artwork. Finna hope you enjoy it, more fun email ideas coming at ya soon!

Album Artwork (if you don't get it, look up Drake's album)

Started... [Dandy on the track]

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, after 16 months, I be here.

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, now the long-awaited track is here.

Startin' off this drop with somethin' clean,

MJ, 'Bron, and D-Rose, they all wanna join my team,

Cause we ballin' e'ry Preparation Day,

They call me Mr. Clutch because winning is my way.

And you know I'm always finna lookin' swag,

My man Macklemore be jealous with my skills at poppin' tags.

Now we finna move another couch, yeah here we go,

Mornin' workouts payin' off, you see these guns ain't just for show, cause we

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, FFTK points all up in here.

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, see my rhymin' skills are striking fear.

Supa Hot Fiya's where I'm at,

They told me, "You white boy, you don't stand a chance at rap."

I'm just brushin' off the haters as I go,

The language of the streets is just somethin' that I know.

And we're stackin' cans and boxes each Tuesday,

Service at the food pantry, we stockin' food for days.

Yeah we're workin' hard like my boi Patrick Kane,

Story stays the same through the freezing and the rain, 'cause we

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, after finding service, now we're here.

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, now I'm steppin' up my game in here.

You'd think we're serving in the 80s with our phones... (Yeah, it's rough)

B.o.B. and Kanye, they got nothin' on my zone.

The YSA peoples are our crew; 

Elder Bennett's hard at work, teaching kids at ISU.

Exchange in Woodridge with the Assistants,

Elder Cluff and Elder Adams in the clutch with their two cents.

President's vision's gonna take us to the top,

Baptizin' left and right, yeah we never gonna stop! Cause we

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, now we findin' lots of people here.

Started from the bottom, now we here.

Started from the bottom, you'll have to wait 'til the next track gets here.

[Last name: Ever. First name: Greatest.]

*Drops mic* *Leaves stage with one arm raised*

==============

So I'm calling my man Brockbank out to step up to the mic! I want to hear him spit a rhyme or two, so I challenge him to a rap battle! Gimme the best you got Brockbank, I've got another challenge in store for you in the upcoming weeks, because I'm still not taking a loss in the #HeismanPose2k15 contest. Yeah, I'm still not bitter.

Anyways, I love you all and hope that life is treating you swell in the 801, or wherever life has taken you! Hope to hear from you all soon!

Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers, if you could pray that we'll be able to find people to teach this week, that would be much appreciated, thanks!

Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson

#LastNameEverFirstNameGreatest

#ButImNotARapper