ok well im back. so yeah we just went and had a turkey lunch at the Seniors Center with Brother Stover and there are a couple other members that go there as well. anyways thing are going good here and i'll finish responding to your email and then i only have a couple things that i wrote down.
so the plans are for Christmas to call home and have a Christmas dinner out at President Clements house, he is the Elder Quorum President. Him and his wife are really nice people, well just like everyone else in the ward. so it will be good and i think that morning early morning we are going to go up to the Van Vleets house and hang out in the early morning, like Jonathon and his family.. i guess all of them go up there and have breakfast so it will be a good day, i just gotta keep busy and not have to much "alone" time cuz that is when i would start thinkin about home. So late last week we were talking with Mary-Ann on the phone and she told us that she wanted to be baptized! haha but in order for her to do that we have to be able to teach her and she keeps postponing our apts so it makes it kind of hard! ha but anyways so i think it was Saturday brother stover wanted a hair cut and so i borrowed some clippers from a member in the ward and gave him a hair cut and he went to church the next day and everyone was complimenting it and told me i did a good job so anyways today when we went to seniors luncheon a guy came up to me and asked if i was the one that cut Brother stovers hair and i said yeah and he asked me if i would do it! lol so i was like are you serious? and he said yeah so he just came over to Brother Stovers house and i gave him a hair cut! lol i didn't think it looked to well but he said thank you. Sara Westin had her baby last week i guess and we are gonna go over and see if there is anything we can do to help her out. Brian Peterson is still struggling with family problems so he hasn't been able to meet with us cuz every free minute he gets he goes down to Grand Junction to be with his family. like i said not too much has been going on, we have found that lots of people are out of town for the holiday.
well I'm excited for Friday so i can talk with all of you! :) thank you again for all the 12 days of Christmas gifts! :) and to everyone that follows my blog that sent me a Christmas card i thank you! it is so good to hear from everyone and to see pictures of y'all. i miss all of you so much and love you even more! thank you! and have a wonderful MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

love, Elder Randy Anderson

So yup Elder Hahne and i got the packages on monday and the pillow case doesn't fit my pillow completely cuz it is a huge pillow but i have it on there and i'll take pictures and send them to you. so yup im staying in Paonia for another transfer. i was so excited to hear we didn't get the call until like 10:30 last night and the suspense was killing me and everyone in the ward was telling me how they wish that i could stay and when i got the call and found out i was so so happy.So yeah things have been going pretty good i'll tell you abot a few thigns that i wrote down to talk about.

so you finally got rid of the cold weather huh? we did too for a little while haha but i think its in the mid 20's right now so it ain't bad.. it warmed up to like 43 over the weekend for one day and hten it cooled back down... i guess the mtns are gettin tons of snow but down in the valley we haven't had anymore since that big snow fall but it is still all over on the ground cuz it hasn't melted. i will forsure take pictures with the elf hats on and send them home haha tell dad thank you. people have been getting laughs from them.

so yeah i'll tell you about whats been going on lately, last week Elder Hahne and i got to help the Van Vleets set up there Christmas tree, it is a fake one so that sucks but it is huge i think it is like 8 or 9 ft tall haha and then we decorated it, i thoguht that was fun cuz i ain't at home to do our tree. but we have helped a few other people decorate and put up there trees also.

Saturday night Jonathon Van Vleet asked us if we would bring up the movie "Joseph Smith Prophet of the restoration" to his house so he could have some friends over and watch it, so we did and i was like who the heck does that as a 14 year old. i'll have to get pictures of him cuz he is only 14 but he is like 6' 3" he is such a great kid though. so we went up there saturday night. oh ond Friday we had the ward party and they watched the movie Joy to the World and i thought the party went really well.

my talk on sunday seemed to have went well everyone told me i did a good job i didn't look at my notes too much so i was able to look up at the people and everyone said it went well so i guess i'll take there word for it. i have always had the problem of talking to fast though, that is something i need to work on even when i am teaching. also later that day Jonathon was giving the lesson in young mens so he asked if i would come in and listen and help him out so i told him we would, he did a great job i think for doing it the first time.

later Sunday night brother Van Vleet (jonathons Grandpa,who we live with) came up to me while i was sitting there in the kitchen and asked how many conversions are you going to have by time you leave this area. and i was like umm well just one (Jenny Ross) and he said your forgetting one and i was like what? who? and he started to tear up and he said his Grandson and he went on to tell me that since i have come into the area he has started coming to church regularly and goes to seminary in the mornings and other things and he said that i have really helped Jonathon out and i didn't even think i had done anything. he mentioned how i probably have converted more people that i have no clue about, but it really touched me that he said that cuz i do really like Jonathon and i think he is a great kid and for him to say that definitely made my day! and i think of how people are always watching us and see what we're doing not only me as a missionary but everyone back home people recognize the things we do.

Tuesday we had a apt with Mary-Ann but she had to re-schedule to this friday so hopefully things go well there. last night we went over to the high school with the Van Vleets because the Paonia Elementary was having there Christmas concert and it was so cute to watch all of the little kids, they actually sang and dance and put on this whole show it was awesome i wish we could ahve done something like that in elementary. but the Van Vleets had 5 grandkids in it and then there were tons of other kids that i knew from church.

so yeah and then today we are going down to Montrose with the Delta elders to go bowling so it should be fun.

I hope this week continues to go well for you, thanks for everything that you have done. i cant wait to talk to you all :) miss you and love you!!

Love, Randy

How is everyone doing this week? i hope that the cold weather isn't too harsh on everyone but i got it down here too so i guess we can relate that way! ha this morning when i got up at 5 it was -3 degrees and when we left Paonia it was still -1 degree and all of last week it didn't get over freezing and then i think it was Monday it started snowing like crazy and then all day tuesday and so we got about 5" of snow here. so yeah winter has finally come to Colorado! :)
So yeah i'll give you a run down on what has been happening since last week when i emailed. That night we got to go to mutual and teach the young women about service and there were only 4 of them so i was like wow this is weird compared to our youth back home. But it went well i thought. Then on Thursday we went over and taugh Brian Peterson who is investigating the church and i guess he is having family troubles that i dont really need to mention, but he is going through a hard time and the lesson went really well and he is a very humble guy and knows he needs to change. Yesterday we got to go to Grand Junction for a Christmas Devotional with President Christison and i really enjoyed it, i got to give him and Sister Christison big hugs and they let me know that they love me and are proud of me. i always love to go to zone confrence because we get to learn more but also cuz we get to see tons of other missionaries and it is good to see old friends from previous areas. Oh Mary-Ann this lady that we tracted into last transfer, well we still haven't been able to meet with her but we talked to her and dropped of a confrence issue of the Ensign and she read through the whole thing twice in 1 week! i was like WHAT!? haha that is awesome! but she seems so solid if we could only sit down and teach her, but i guess she is really sick right now and thinks it might be the swineflu. So earlier today we went and help taught the seminary lesson that is why i got up so early, but it still amazes me at how big our youth is back home. There were only 4 kids there today and they dont ever have more than 9. i was like haha we had 5 periods a day with at least 12 in it. I dont know though, ha but this week has been a good one overall. Elder Hahne and i have been trying to teach more lessons to members and investigators lately so we dont have to go out and knock on doors in the cold haha :) ...
so yeah my talk only has to be 10 minutes this time not 20 so i'm sure it will go ok. at least i hope ha, but i could just stand up there and bare testimony for that long, although im not going to. Good luck with your lesson mom! once again thank you for all that you do. i hope that everything continues to go well for everyone. i miss you like crazy and love you! take care and keep in touch!

Love,
Elder Anderson

How is everything going for the family this week? things are going good for me here. we are in Delta right now emailing because we are gonna get a ride with the Delta elder's to montrose which is another 30 minutes away. we get to bowl for free down there so we are gonna go bowling today and have lunch down there with the other missionaries down that way, so i hope it will be fun. things are going good for me though, i have had a few ruff days but overall things are going well for me. what is new back home? so last week went really well i enjoyed my thanksgiving.. Wednesday afternoon we went to a seniors lunch with some elderly people in the ward, they have a community thing where a lot of the seniors from the area go and have lunch on monday wednesday and friday but on Wednesday they had a thanksgiving lunch so a member invited us. it was funny they had flowers that they give away (well as you come in you sign a paper and there is a number next your name and then they draw a number and i won the flowers) lol i thought it was pretty funny. but i was glad they invited us to go. On Thanksgiving day we came down here to Delta to play in a turkey bowl with some other missionaries and ward members, it was a blast i miss playing football so much! then we went back home and got changed and then went to dinner we went over a bit early to help with things the meal was really well. when we went around the table and said what we were thankful for i said for the love and support they show us missionaries to make us feel welcome and then for my family back home! then that night we went and played basketball with brother Van Vleet and his grand kids it was good to get some excercise haha. So i found out that we have to talk to sacrament again on the 13th of this month! haha i just spoke not even 6 weeks ago and here i am again talking in sacrament but its ok i guess. Our topic is the Greatest Christmas Gift. so yeah... haha pray for me.. we haven't had too much success this past week with things it has just kind of been a blah week, we are still getting out and doing things but not too much has happened. which is alright i guess i mean im sure we'll see something come up sooner than later. i cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner is honestly seems like less than a year ago we had Christmas. Bishop Bayles told us that he was grateful for us and for the great work we are doing in the ward, so i thought that was nice of him to give us a compliment. i haven't heard of anyone in this area that doesn't like me yet so lets hope it stays that way! haha.. but yeah not too much sorry if this email isn't exciting but things are going good. just trying to stay positive and make the most of the time i have. I am only in 3 Nephi also mom and im gonna finish it, you'll just have to read like 4 chapters a day or so. haha just keep trying and like you said its quality not quanity. we should read the Book of Mormon FOR Christmas not BEFORE if that makes since. but i am really excited to be able to call andtalk to everyone. The next transfer is December 17th and i think that i will stay here another transfer at least with Elder Hahne but im not sure and i guess i'll hvae to wait and see what the Lord wants. i love this area and the people here. well thank you for everything you do. i hope things get more exciting back home i miss you and love you all so very much! :) love you!love Elder ANderson