Our Story

For anyone who wanted "too much information" on how Tyler and Sundy Anderson came to be:

A year ago I went to Washington DC for an internship. I loved my time there--I was a ward missionary in an inner city ward with a lot of converts from Nigeria and other parts of Africa, so I was thrilled! I had decided to take the advice of so many to not worry about getting married. While in DC I a took the graduate studies test and started applying to graduate school for a Master's degree in Family Life and Community Education. By the time I left DC for my last semester back at BYU, I had two fellow interns from Utah wanting something a little stronger than mere friendship. It was so strange to have two fellows after me, as generally I could never even get one :)

Tyler stepped into the picture on the first day of the semester back at BYU. I went to my first class with dread, as I was finally taking my last music history class (one that I had dropped three times in previous years of school). To distract myself of the awaited doom of 20th century music history (zzzzz) I started chatting outside the classroom with a girl who'd just returned from mission about how she would survive coming back to reality and college. I told her about my experiences coming back from South Africa. Little known to me, Tyler was also waiting for this class and was watching me as I chatted away. Later he told me that I had smiled at him at this time, but my first recollection of him was actually inside the class. I was standing in the front and he came in through the back doors with a big smile on his face. I smiled back and thought "Wow, I didn't know that boys still smile like that anymore."

Tyler is a planner, and from that day (7 Jan 2008) until our first date (17 Jan 2008) he figured out all the right ways to get my attention and heart. He introduced himself the next class period by asking me if my name was Cindy and if I had served in South Africa. After clarifying my name for him and asking if I knew him from somewhere, he told me no, and to not worry--he was NOT stalking me :)

He got me to sit by him by asking if I was "too good for the second row." Up until that point I sat in the front row. I moved back beside him. He later asked me how I felt about musical numbers at firesides. Thinking it was a bit strange of a question, I responded with "I think they are a good idea and really invite the Spirit." He stumbled a bit and said he'd asked the wrong question-what he really wanted to know was if I liked singing at firesides myself. Ohhhh. At that moment I realized what he was after--my level of interest and of course, my phone number. He'd never even heard me sing, but wanted to know if I would sing while he played the piano at a fireside for his home stake 30 minutes south of Provo. He exchanged numbers and the next day he called to ask if I wanted to go to a concert with him the following day.

I wanted to go. But I also had a previous engagement with all my high school girl friends. We had planned a birthday party to celebrate all of our birthdays and were swore to go. When I called one friend to tell her I wouldn't be able to make it, she said, "Don't tell me you're not coming unless you're going on a date with your future husband." I decided to tell Tyler about that conversation after the concert. He later told me that that was when he knew he wanted to marry me.

I wasn't sold completely yet, but I had a pretty strong feeling that this was going somewhere good. After singing for his fireside, he asked what my dating situation was like. I told him I normally didn't date a whole lot, but that the following weekend I had two dates with the two interns from DC. He said, "Well, I know you have three boys vying for your attention now, but can I beat the other two to the punch and take you out on Thursday?" I was thrilled. He planned a wonderful date where we got Pizza, went to a Sundance film festival showing of the play "A Raisin in the Sun", and spent 45 minutes talking about Africa when it felt like only a few moments. I was sold. We just connected.

By the time Valentine's Day rolled around we had gone out about 5 times and decided to officially start dating exclusively. On 28 March, he asked me "If I moved to St. Louis, would you come with me?" I said yes. That was the night of our first kiss, outside the Provo Temple, and that was the night the Spirit confirmed that this was the man I was going to married. I didn't think our engagement would happen so soon, but 5 days later, he took me to the Manti Temple grounds, got down on one knee with a ring and asked me to marry him.

So, it's been not quite 9 months since we met, and we've been married for almost 3 1/2 months. Crazy, I know. Tyler and I both graduated in April with music degrees--his in piano and pre-medicine and mine in family science and voice. We took social services jobs in Portland, Oregon and moved here in August. He's applying to medical school for either neurosurgery or geriatrics. I got accepted to all three of the grad programs I applied to, but declined for the time. I work at a family resource center providing food, clothing, information, language classes, and mental and health care for under served, impoverished populations (mostly immigrants). Tyler is a medical case coordinator for a non-profit clinic that treats low-income/homeless individuals with drug and alcohol addictions. He'll probably join the Navy--they'll pay for medical school if he serves as a doctor for them for the same amount of time as they pay for his schooling.

I'm happy. I just got called as a ward organist and as a Mia Maid advisor. I have a lot of dreams tucked in my back pockets as Tyler and I start our life together. There have been some hard moments mixed into the wonderland of marriage, but we are a good match for each other. Ty is extremely smart, patient, kind, and helpful. He's more on the reserved side, but carries his own in conversations with anyone. He cooks more than I do. He grew up on a cattle farm and is the oldest of six kids--the youngest is 6. This is his first time being away from his family (most of which live within a 5 mile radius of each other, including both sets of grandparents) except for his mission to Chile. He reads like a maniac, finishing about a book a week--mostly biographies and theory books.

Our dream is to do a lot of humanitarian aid, especially in Malawi, once he's established as a doctor. We'll see where the road takes us.

Oregon Sunshine

I recognize that I've been pretty vague about what I'm doing up in Oregon, so here's the low-down: Tyler didn't get into medical school for this year, so we took jobs in the Portland, OR area and moved on the 9th of August. It's been wonderful and challenging to be up here. We stayed with my aunt and uncle until we finally got approved for an apartment (we didn't have enough rental history), but have finally moved into a wonderful ward in the Hillsboro OR stake. I've been called as a ward organist and to serve on the enrichment committee. Tyler is the ward choir pianist and was informed that he would be called to scouting very shortly. We've had the missionaries over for dinner and have been praying for missionary opportunities--I've had several really great ones so far. I went to a retreat for my service as an AmeriCorps member at the beginning of this month. 60 other members were there and I quickly discovered that I was a true minority because I was married and not living with a boy or girlfriend. They were all wonderful people with big hearts who want to serve the low-income population of the state. Probably 20% of them were vegetarians and everyone carried their coffee cups around like an extra appendage. The blessings of living the gospel are so concrete and tangible in my life when juxtaposed with the common American lifestyle I see my peers and coworkers living--it's just different. We continue on. Tyler works for a non-profit clinic in downtown Portland that treats low-income drug and alcohol addicts as a medical case worker. He works with a man whose liver is so hardened and swollen that it's just a matter of time before he dies. But he doesn't want to be addicted to alcohol when that happens, so he's fighting to the end. I am doing outreach and volunteer recruitment at a family resource center, focusing on getting families health care and other needs met like food, clothing, dental care, and social services. I wish I spoke Spanish. I also wish I was allowed to share the gospel. A lady came in to the center and asked if we had any books. I asked her what she liked to read, She said, "Anything good." If there is anything virtuous, lovely , or of good report or praiseworthy.... Since I'm getting federal funding I cannot proselytize. Maybe I'll get a member to donate Book of Mormons to the center. The sun has been shining the entire time we've been up here...until yesterday. A cold front moved in and that's probably the end of the sunshine until April. I guess that's the price we pay for our green forest. There's a lush park down the road called "Noble Woods." There's a stream that runs through the whole thing with bridges to cross. We run there in the mornings and meet creatures like bunnies and squirrels in the quiet misty morning. Tyler (T, as I call him) painted a wall a lovely butterscotch orange to match my African decor. It's starting to feel like home.

Needs

Everyone has needs. I believe that everyone has more than one. And the people that seem like they have it all together do not have it all together. They have needs, too--a lot of them, probably. I work at a center to meet people's needs--families, children, drop-out teenagers, the disabled, the mentally ill, the immigrants, the homeless, the ethnic, the Caucasian, the bitter, the hopeful.

Five ladies I work with got into a fight about frozen turkeys and where to put the beans on the shelf. It wasn't about turkeys or beans. It was about insecurities and hidden hurts. Bishop David H. Burton said "Oft times those we think deserve our love the least need it the most." Doing that fills our own need 'buckets'.