November 27, 2017 ~ Week 69

Hey mom, I want to apologize because this letter is going to be kind of short, but this week was pretty normal, and pretty good. 

Thursday was pretty normal, but our Thanksgiving dinner was incredible. We had mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, pumpkin and apple pie. It was incredible! As far as national holidays here, they have a couple, but they don't really do anything super special for them. For christmas they put up lights and stuff in early october, so it's been Christmas here for a while already. We sometimes eat with members. Like, once every couple of weeks. 

As far as our investigators, we have a couple young men we're teaching. Pedro is 15 and Daniel is 13, and they're both awesome! They both have baptismal dates for the 16th of December. Daniel has now been to church twice, so that's awesome! They're really cool, and I'm glad that we found them. 

The mission actually ran out of books of mormon, so we've been now handing out a few triple combinations that are in the house. Haha, we just tell people to not worry about the other two books for now, and that we'll explain them later, but we want to focus on the book of mormon for now! Haha, we actually found this super cool guy the other day. We gave him a book of mormon, and when we came back, he had read the whole introduction, and the testimony of Joseph Smith, and he wrote down a bunch of the questions he had. So that was cool!

Sounds like you guys are doing well back home, I can't wait to talk to you on Christmas! I'm doing great here! Sorry I don't really have much to say. The week was pretty normal!

Love you all!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

November 20, 2017 ~ Week 68

Hey Mom! I'm not really sure what happened, but two weeks ago I didn't get an email from you, but I think it was just taking a while to arrive in my inbox. Something with myldsmail. Because I sent the email to dad at like 6:00 my time... I'm not sure what happened. But this week I got two emails from you! Haha, I guess it just got backed up a week. I'll write more in my main email!



Hey Mom! This week was a good one. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened, but it was good. Right now we have 3 baptisms planned for December that are pretty much for-sure going to go through. We have a little girl named Yiret. She's the niece of a member, and her mom is a less-active that we're trying to help reactivate. We also have Fredy, and Dorka, who are the parents of a recently returned missionary. References are honestly so great. They already have a support system in the church. They already like the church. It's the best way to do missionary work. References! But they're really good, and they are all really excited to get baptized. The only problem with Fredy and Dorka, is that they live in the capital, and practically live there, so we can only meet with them once every two weeks. So the lessons are going pretty slowly. 

We also have a couple of contacts that are progressing, and others that we've had to drop. They just aren't willing to read the book of mormon. And if they won't do that, of course they aren't going to recieve an answer about the truthfulness of the church. The book of mormon is so true, and one of the saddest things ever is seeing people reject it and not even giving it the chance it deserves. Plus, the Lord could have made it just a theological textbook, with nothing more than lists of commandments and charts of belief, but he was kind enough to make it a REALLY interesting story! Like, the book is actually entertaining! Haha, I love the stories in the book of mormon, and the many examples of those who have defended and lived the gospel. Not to mention the doctrinal bombs that we can learn from frequent study of it. It really is my favorite book in the world.

Lol, we don't really do a whole lot on P-days. I mostly just read or catch up on sleep, but in a few weeks we'll be going to some caves, so that should be pretty cool! What am I eating? Good question. Ramen noodles, PB and J, quesadillas. Haha, exactly what you'd expect me to be eating. 

We are now in week 9 of training. So 4 weeks to go! It's been really good, and we're speaking almost exclusively spanish now, so that's good! I definitely think it helps speak 100% of the time. Things are going really well now! My comp is able to share more in lessons, and he's progressing a lot! 

Anyway, everything's great, and I'm glad to be here! I love the work, and I love the gospel! I hope you all have the best week ever, and the best thanksgiving ever too!

Love, Elder Anderson

November 13, 2017 ~ Week 67

Hey Dad! I actually quote you a lot with the "every problem has a solution and every solution takes time." haha, it's a very true priniciple! That's so great to hear about Hannah and McKay.

hey, I dont have a lot of time, but I wanted to let you know that I've been thinking a lot about my financial situation. And I've wondered if it might be wise to take a semester after I get back from the mission to work, and save up for school. I'm still not sure, but we'll have to talk a little about that on christmas. 

Anyway, have a great week! Love you dad!

November 6, 2017 ~ Week 66

Hey mom, to answer your question, I'm the district leader here in canastíca. It's pretty good, I like planning district meetings and stuff. This week was pretty normal. Some of our investigators have had some struggle progressing, but things are good! Things haven't progressed a whole lot with the new branch. We found a couple of possible places to meet, but we'll see what happens with them. 

This week we had the opportunity to watch a transmission with Elder Cook. He was in the Santiago mission. But it was a really cool experience to hear from him and to be inspired. He left us all with a blessing that we would be able to see the blessings of our missions, not just in ourselves but the blessings recieved by our families and friends too.

Mom, I love you so much, and I am very grateful for everything that you have done and do for me. I know I haven't always been the easist child in the world, but I know that you love me in spite of my imperfections. The more I think about it, the more I realize that being a parent (ESPECIALLY being a mom) is like missionary work. Because it's ALL service, and sometimes those you serve don't appreciate what you do, or maybe even are angry at you for helping them. But moms and missionaries serve anyway, because they love those that they serve. Another similarity (Although the mom version is way more extreme) is that there's never a break. It's a 24/7 deal. I say that it's even more so with moms because even in the night, you aren't always in the clear! Also, Moms are missionaries to their children. More than 90 percent of people here are converts and everyone has "Their missionaries" That they talk about that taught them and their families. But "My missionaries" Are my parents! I learned the gospel in the home, and I think that's the best place to learn it. In short. I love you mom, and I'm very grateful for your love and service to me and to others.

I hope you have the best week ever!

Love, Elder Anderson