Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you so much mom for always writing me faithfully, and for being so great! Know that talking to you guys yesterday was the highlight of my Christmas as well! It was so awesome to hear your voices and see your faces. I love you guys so much, and I´m so priveleged to have such an incredible family supporting me as I serve here. I´ll admit, I was a little trunky for a few hours after the phone call, but I´m good now! haha, it was REALLY fun to talk to Jarrett in Spanish! I´m definitely not fluent, but I would say that I´m conversational, which is honestly a miracle, considering the amount of Spanish I knew before my mission. It will be really cool to see on Mother´s day how much I will have improved. I hope the rest of your Christmas was good, and that you felt the joy of the celebration of the birth of the savior. He loves you, and so do I. A LOT! Have a wonderful week, and I´ll talk to you next year! Lol

Love, Elder Anderson

We talked with Tanner via Facebook Live on Christmas Day at 3:00 pm our time, 6:00 pm in the DR.  We were able to talk with him for and hour and a half.  Truly the highlight of our Christmas as we were able to hear his voice and see his face.  He is happy and working hard.  We couldn't ask for anything more and feel extremely blessed as a family. 

 

talking w/ Elder Anderson on Christmas Day 2016                                      He is holding an avocado. Yes, it's as big as his head!

                                                                     

Family Christmas picture 2016

Explosions, and more!

Well, this week was a crazy one! One thing about our companionship having callings in the branch is that I feel like we´re always doing stuff for the branch and with members and we don´t ever have a ton of time for contacting or for investigators or anything. That's okay though, because we are definitely kept busy with all of the other stuff.

Quick story, Saturday morning we had an activity at the church, and when we arrived people went inside, and everything was good. The light usually comes on at 7 o'clock, and when it arrived, there was a big explosion-y sound. Well, we went out, and the little concrete shed thing that houses the propane, and the electrical box was cracked down the side, and the roof was off, and there was smoke rising up. After some investigating through the day, and some people from the capital driving out to take a look at it, we concluded that there had been a leak of propane, and when the electricity arrived, it sparked the explosion. The problem was that the propane should have been housed somewhere separately, and not in such a non-ventilated space. The good news is, everything still works, and no one was hurt, but man was that a crazy start to my day!

Other than that, I am still just getting used to my assignment. I counted tithing on Sunday for the first time, which was super frustrating because the branch counselor did not want to go through steps to verify each slip with the amount in the envelope, but my Spanish has progressed enough that I can give boches when I need to (A boche is pretty much a stern talking to, Synonym of spitting fire), and we eventually got on the same page.

Haha, things are great though! I really do love this area, and the branch, and my comp, and my roommates! Life is good, and I can not wait for Sunday! Merry Christmas!!!

-Elder Anderson

Welcome to Neyba York

Hey everyone! This week has been nuts, but it´s been good. It´s always kind of tough to transition to a new area, new branch, new comp, new house, but this place is pretty awesome! The assignment as Branch Secretary kind of came as a surprise since I´m so new, but I think that I´m starting to get the hang of it. The toughest thing is that my comp explains everything that I need to do in Spanish and so I do it the best I can and pray that I understood everything as well as I thought I did! Oh, by the way, we had to transfer my membership to this branch so that I could receive a calling here, so yeah!

Neyba is awesome though! The members are great, and even though it´s super hot all the time, it´s a nice, chill pueblo. The highlight of my week though was the temple trip. And since we´re a part of the branch presidency, we got to go with the branch! The gua-gua ride was more than uncomfortable because it was filled to the brim, and after 4 and a half hours, it was nice to be back at the temple block. It was amazing to be able to sleep in one of the rooms there. Air conditioning, no mosquitoes, CARPET. Wow I miss carpet. Also, the temple was incredible as always. I got to be a witness for baptisms which was pretty cool!

 I really love the Light the World campaign that the church is doing. (Here, it´s IluminaElMundo) and The video gives me chills every time that I watch it. 

The new assignment is definitely a challenge, but I wouldn´t want anything less than a challenge! I think one of the hardest things will be feeling like I´m not doing as much missionary work because
I´m trying to help support a branch at the same time, but I know that this is where I´m supposed to be, and I´m going to magnify this calling the best that I can. 

That´s about it as far as my week goes though. Learning peoples names. Trying to speak Spanish. Everything´s all good! 

I´m so pumped for Christmas, and I can´t believe it´s only 2 weeks away! Every time I remember it´s December I just laugh, because there is no way it´s December in this heat. Haha, but that´s about it! Life rocks!

Love, Elder Anderson

A few pictures from San Juan:

¡Adios San Juan!

Dear Family, Friends, and family friends,

     So, transfers came in, and I had felt pretty secure about the probability of me staying in San Juan at least another transfer. Well, jokes on me! Real fast, let me educate you on the layout of the mission. There are 10 zones.  Five zones are in the capital, and they're all really close together. Then we have 5 zones in ´´the south´´. The Capital has La Sirena (a huge supermarket), wards and stakes, and American fast food. The south has a more cool climate, and it consists mostly of branches and districts. Well, I was kind of hoping to at least stay in the south, and I am! I'm being transferred to a little pueblo in the zone of Barahona that's called Neiba. My companion's name is Elder Torres from Guatemala, and he's the Branch President. Also, I've been called to be the Branch Secretary! I'd probably feel pretty chill about that calling except I'm still trying to learn the language so it'll be interesting!

Our Noche Blanca went well! It definitely wasn't as big as I expected it to be! The goal was 20 baptisms, and we had 5 total. 3 from my companion and I, and 2 from the hermanas in our zone. I was really happy to see our 3 though! One of them I've talked about before. Hironelis finally got married last week which was awesome! Except for the fact that her husband showed up drunk... I felt really bad about that. Then the next day, she was able to be baptized, and her husband showed up drunk to that as well. Then, the next day she was confirmed in church and her husband wasn't there. I am very proud of her though. She's been coming to church as an investigator for 2 years and finally she's a member!

We also had a girl named Katherine! She has some special needs, but she asked us a few weeks ago when she could get baptized and we got permission from President. Lessons were very simple, and we taught her about Jesus Christ, Baptism, and what commandments are. She's a very sweet girl, and I'm so happy I was able to teach her. We also baptized a girl named Rayza. She was a reference from her cousin and she's a very cool girl. We also had a member named Melanio baptize her, and he's awesome! His name is Melanio, and he teaches with us twice a week! 

Although it was a little sad to say goodbye to everyone here in San Juan, I'm very excited to see what my next area's like. It was a weird thought, but some of these people I may never see again in this life. Something that really touched me was when I said goodbye to this little old lady named Argentina. She's in a wheelchair and she was baptized about 6 or so months ago. I told her I was leaving, and she gave a little speech about how much the missionaries mean to her. She said she never had any brothers and that the Elders are her ´´Hermanitos´´ Then she looked at me and my comp and said ´´Ustedes son mi esperanza´´ with tears in her eyes. I didn't really feel as though I had done enough to be called someone's hope, but as I think about it. As missionaries, we are representatives of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only true hope any of us have. So even though I haven't done anything personally that gives someone hope. Christ has, and my job is to bring that hope to others. Our message is the light and the hope of Christ. 

Thank you for all your support! I love you all so much! Love,

Elder Anderson

Last Week of Training

Wow wow wow! Time's moving quick! I can't believe I'm almost done being trained! Livin la vida loca! Haha, but this week had its ups and downs. We're getting people ready for baptism and that's our main focus this week because the noche blanca is this Saturday. Anyway, so at the beginning of the week, we had like 7 baptisms that we were planning on having on the third, then one by one, they started to fall... One of Manuel's kids doesn't have a huge desire to be baptized with his brother and dad. Then on Sunday, half of the people with fechas didn't come to church. That's one of the hardest things here is that people just do not keep the commandment of the Sabbath Day. Sunday was a pretty rough day for my comp and I because we had such high expectations, but they didn't show up. 

We also ended up dropping two recent converts this week. One of them was probably the most frustrating lessons I've ever been in. He told us that he felt like his life was super hard and that he didn't feel like he was being blessed. We told him that the Lord wouldn't give certain blessings if he didn't go to church or pay his tithing, but he argued and we told him what he had to do. There was also another kid who hasn't been going, and each time, it's a new excuse. The thing is, our branch would be FILLED if all of the members in the area attented, but SO many people are inactive... 

So... because our investigators didn't come to church, we now only have 3 baptisms for Saturday. Which is great, and I'm so excited for those who are being baptized, but also super sad for the others. Also, super sad for me, or Elder Garcia, depending on who's transferred because most likely one of us won't be around to see the others baptized. But! The important thing is that they make that covenant eventually. 

My spiritual thought this week is my testimony... I want to let you guys know that the more I share about this gospel, the more I have faith in it. Faith is a principle of action, and the more I act, the more faith I have. But I truly believe in this work. I know that our Father in Heaven is there and that he loves us. I know because I've talked to him. I talk to him every night and every morning. I pour out all of my feelings and thoughts to him. His spirit has been with me here, and I've seen the difference his gospel has made in the lives of people here. I know the book of mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know these things are true, and I wish I could just make people believe. But then It wouldnt be faith. So I'm going to help as many people that are willing to come to gain that faith and knowledge for themselves. I love Christ, I love this gospel, and I love this work.

Love, Elder Anderson

Another letter we received this week in response to some questions I asked:

Thanks for the recipes and for the go ahead on the packages! I am now really excited to open them! So, to answer your questions:

1. My training's going really well. I think one of the toughest things has been realizing that I'm not very experienced and I need to rely on someone else. That was an internal battle for a while, because I'm used to being the one leading, and in charge, but I think I needed to learn some humility. As far as transfers, I feel like I'll probably be the one staying here in San Juan. Which, I'm a little nervous to show someone an area, but I'm sure it'll work out well. 

2. The apartment is great, and the other two Elders are awesome! We have a lot of fun! And! There's another trainee here, who came a transfer after me, so I'm not even the newest Elder in our house, or our district! (Our district is just us 4 in the house)

3. My comp hits 17 months in a few days, so he came in a year and a month before me. When I arrived, he'd been in the area for just a transfer, so he's now been here about 4 and a half months

4. It is a third world country, but I've been surprised by the technology. The majority of people here have cell phones (sometimes pretty nice ones too) even if their house is just a few rooms. There are definitely some poor areas here in San Juan, and it's pretty sad to see. The branch building is pretty small. Just a chapel, and a few rooms. It's like a minute from our house though, so that's super convenient!

5. Like I said, the branch is pretty small. And there are so many inactive members. The branch president's wife is like, 1st counselor in the primary presidency, but she's the only active member, so she has to do everything alone. On average, I'd say we only have like 50 people in the branch on Sundays. 

6. My favorite experience has been our baptisms, and finally seeing the fruits of our labors, or seeing Manuel quit smoking. (He's been smoking for 40 years, and now hasn't smoked in two weeks) Seeing lives change is incredible.

I just want to let you know that I hope your talk went great! I heard good things about it from Dad! I sent you a letter, but I have no idea when it'll get to you. Hopefully by your birthday! I love you mom, and I really can't wait to talk to you on Christmas! Oh, and things are good here!  Don't even worry because I know that I'm being obedient, and I know that's the key to happiness. Love, Elder Anderson

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey hey! How's it going? Hope this week was great for everyone! For me it was pretty similar to most weeks here. Just been working hard every day from sun up to sun down! Not much happened this week to be honest! We've been working hard with our investigators, and trying to get them ready for their baptismal fechas. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but I'll try to eat a lot of food on Thursday anyway! 

In other news, I went to Haiti today! There was a market going on in a place called Elias Piña, which is on the far west end of the country. So our zone went, then we walked to the border! I stuck my foot under the gate a bunch, so I've basically been to Haiti and back like, 7 times! haha

But anyway, that's about the extent of the news I have for you this week! By the way mom, I got my packages, and it's killing me right now to have to wait to open them! haha, patience is a virtue though! But I'm really excited to see what's inside!! Anyway, have a great week everyone! Love you!

-Elder Anderson

¿Cómo se dice Miracle?

Hey mom! It's been what feels like just a couple days and I'm already emailing again. The weeks pass by pretty quick! This week was as always... really great! Quick story... my comp and I were walking down our normal route to go visit some investigators and Elder Garcia said that he was thirsty, so we went a different way so that we could get some water from a colmado. Well, after that we kept walking, but on a different road than usual. We decided to contact a house there, and the lady there said her husband would be home at 6:00, so later, we came back, and it turns out that there were previous investigators about 6 months ago! They had scriptures, and hymnbooks, and at one point they even had a baptismal date. I think that maybe they weren't ready back then, but the Lord must feel as though they are prepared enough now to give them another opportunity for baptism. It's amazing to see the hand of God in this work.

Man, an experience not as fun happened while on intercambios with Elder Varela from my zone. Well, we were visiting a house in his area and at the end of the lesson, the lady was kind enough to offer us some food. I was pretty hungry, so I gladly accepted. Well, I wished that it had never been offered because I couldn't tell if it was a plate of rice, or a plate of ants! I smiled while eating from the part free of them, while trying to brush off as many as I could. I don't know how many ants I ingested that day, but I know that the number´s pretty high. The worst part is that I finished, and I was feeling like such a good servant of The Lord, being grateful for my ant infested food, and then I started to feel the ants I had brushed off coming back for vengeance, they were all over my arms, and down my back. I tried to get out of that house as soon as I could. I'm pretty sure I can still feel them crawling on my arms. Not fun.

Other than that, this week was fairly uneventful. I gave another talk in sacrament meeting, and I wasn't given a whole lot of notice, so I hope that someone got something out of my terrible, spur of the moment spanish discourse. 

Finally, for my spiritual thought, I'd like to focus on the power of prayer. But not necessarily our formal prayers that we say before meals, at church, or after we get up in the morning, and before we go to bed. I want to talk about the power of a prayer of the heart. Nephi said that ye must pray always, and not faint, that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.(2 Nephi 32:9) So I've taken that principle to heart this week. Every single time I feel an inkling of anger, or of discouragement, or antything, I say a prayer in my mind and in my heart. Not only has this helped me to feel the spirit always, but it helps me keep my mind focused on my calling, and on who it is that I'm serving. I testify that God will listen to us whenever, and that if you are ever in doubt, the Living God is never more than a prayer away.

I love you all, and I hope this week is great. I hope the U.S. is okay without me there. 

Love, Elder Anderson