January 29, 2018 ~ Week 78

Hey Mom! 

This week went well! I finally got a baptism in my area! A couple of hours ago actually. That's why I'm writing so late. Dorka just got baptized. She's the mother of a recently returned missionary and she's absolutely golden except for the fact that she lives and works in the capital and she hardly ever has time to meet with us, but we were finally able to schedule the time for an interview and a baptism on a P-day! It was a great service though and it was really touching to see Freddy baptize his mom, and afterwards they just hugged and she said "Thank you, thank you so much" It was cool. She also gave an incredible testimony, so that's super awesome!

We don't usually spend a lot of time on reactivation because I haven't seen very much success with it at all. I've tried a few times, but for some reason it's harder to get members to come back than to get non-members to get baptized sometimes...

Sadly, neither Daniel nor his sister came to church this week. I don't know why, but we're going to go visit them to find out. 

Also, we just got transfers and I'm staying in Canastica for another transfer, and my comp is leaving. Kind of strange, but good. We still don't know who my new comp will be, but apparently I'll find out tonight. 

That's cool that you guys got to go listen to Elder Christofferson. I love his talks and it's cool because he speaks spanish, so he translates his own conference talks sometimes.

That's cool that Dad gets to work so closely to the Young Men and especially McKay!

I love you guys so much, and I'm so grateful for your example of hard work and devotion. Thank you!

I hope you have the best week ever.

Thank you for sharing your experience with me dad. I hope that your testimony helps him to be able to act and to make a decision that will absolutely change his life. I'm so grateful for a family who encouraged me to go on a mission and I'm so grateful for the blessing that it has been and that it will be for me. I have been blessed in ways that I absolutely could not have foreseen, and I think that obeying any commandment is like that. That's what faith is. It's not a business transaction where we know everything that's included in the deal. It's an act of love on both sides, and God will always give us so much for the small amount that we can offer him. 

--

Love, Elder Anderson

January 22, 2018 ~ Week 77

This week we once again had 5 people come to church, so that was awesome! The problem is, we postponed Daniel´s baptism because honestly, this mission is a big baptizing mission, but sometimes I feel like that's a bad thing. Because we baptize a lot, but the retention rate is so small. So I've made it my goal to only baptize people that are very prepared and not just baptizing someone because they´re willing to be baptized. So for Daniel, we told him that if he came to church 3 times on his own, then we would baptize him. Because he's been coming to church for a little over a month, but we have always gone to pick him up in the morning. So we figured he needed to learn some self-sufficiency and needed to be able to go on his own, but he didn't end up coming. 

The funny thing is that as we've taught Daniel, his older sister has been in a lot of the lessons since the beginning. The problem we always had with her though, is that she was content listening and participating in lessons, but when we would invite her to read and pray, she wouldn't. Then, we got her to read a little in the Book of Mormon, but she still refused to pray for some reason. So we were always wondering about why she wouldn't pray and we kept teaching Daniel, and then suddenly everything changed, and she decided that she would pray, and that she would come to church with us, so she even showed up to church without us coming to pick her up, so now she's progressing more than her brother! The goal now is to baptize them both once they're ready so that they can have support from each other.

But things here really are good. I'm happy in spite of the difficulties. Sometimes I feel pretty lonely, but sadness is temporary, and I really am happy most of the time. I love you guys, and I'm so grateful for your prayers and your love, and the trust that I have in you. 

I hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Anderson

January 15, 2018 - Week 76

Hey Mom! I hope your week was great! Mine was! We had 5 investigators in church yesterday, which is the most we've ever had here in Canastica! Honestly, the trick is just to get 3x the amount of people that you want to come to promise that they'll come. So in the morning, we go and 10 of them either aren't awake, aren't home, or aren't willing to come, but we got five!!! So that's good. The bad news is that we're going to have to postpone Daniel's baptism a little more because we think that he needs to be able to come to church on his own a few times to show that he has the desire to, and that he'll be able to when we're not here anymore. 

We were able to watch the last part of President Monson's Funeral. We didn't see the whole thing because they were broadcasting it to the stake center, but the gua gua that goes from our house to there took an hour to pass by even though they usually pass by at least every 15 minutes. So that was too bad. I'm super excited about the broadcast tomorrow with President Nelson!

But yeah, this week was pretty normal. We found some new investigators. We've had to drop some others that weren't progressing. I'm trying to work really hard in these next couple weeks so that the next Elder that replaces me has a lot of people progressing here. I'll probably be going on to my next area in two weeks. Things are great though! Life is good, and I'm happy! One of my favorite quotes from President Monson is that the future is as bright as our faith. That is so true. The world can fall down around us "and we know it will in the last days" But we can have peace that only the gospel offers. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

January 8, 2018 ~ Week 75

Hey Mom! I got my package!!!! Thank you so much for sending it! I loved the letters from everyone and all of the goodies you sent. You guys know all my favorite things!!! Yeah, I guess I'm one of the older missionaries now. The sisters that came in at the same time as me are now leaving in 3 weeks. Crazy stuff! 

Yeah, we'll be able to watch the funeral, so that'll be good. We're all making guesses as to who Pres. Nelson is going to choose as his counselors. 

The council thing was pretty cool. Nothing super crazy. Hopefully it'll get better with more practice.

This week was normal. Daniel's getting baptized on the 20th. His sister refuses to pray about the book of mormon though, and we can't figure out why. 

Sorry I've been really bad at writing recently. I'm going to make an effort to send pictures and write better letters from now on! I love you guys and I hope you have the best week ever! 

--

Love, Elder Anderson

Bienvenidos a 2018

Hey! Happy New Year!!! I can't believe I just spent an entire calendar year away from home. Crazy stuff! 

Last night we had to be inside by 6:00, because obviously there was a lot of alcohol, a lot of loud music, and a lot of crazy people . And today the party continues. Haha, it actually never stops.

Church yesterday was just an hour long, and the members here went to someone's house to all eat together. We couldn't go, but we were brought food!

Things here are really good! Daniel and his sister came to church, and he's progressing again. Hopefully he'll get baptized this month. 

Things with my comp are going well. We're getting along just fine! And in the house we have Elder Ortiz from Mexico, and Elder Sitter from Wyoming.

I haven't gotten the packages yet, but hopefully I'll get them soon! I'll let you know as soon as they come.

I love you all, and I'm so grateful for my wonderful family and friends that motivate me to serve and to reach my potential. Thank you for your examples.

I hope you have a great week, and a prosperous 2018!

--

Love, Elder Anderson