We Talk of Christ

My companion is feeling better now, so that's good news! We got out this week, and were able to work hard to make up for the time that we missed. 

This week, we got a call from the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency, and she was wondering if we could come and give the lessons to her granddaughter. So we went to start the lessons, and she was the most prepared person I have ever taught! Her name is Michelle, and her Grandma is the only member of her family, but she's been coming to church since she was 5 years olds, and she just turned 8 last month. So we had the first lesson, and it wasn't even really a lesson. It was literally us asking questions and her giving really great answers! It was awesome, and she's super smart! We put a baptismal date for July 1st with her, and our goal is to end up teaching her mom. 

Teaching her, along with all of my experiences here, has made me really grateful for the blessing of growing up in the church. It really is an incredible thing to be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ from a young age. It reminds me of a scripture that we memorized as a family.

 2 Nephi 25:26 

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

It's so important to teach children about this stuff. It can change and shape lives. The gospel is so good! 

Anyway, that was my week. We're probably going to have to drop Mercedes and Carina. They aren't progressing, and they won't read in the Book of Mormon, even though we've left that invitation for them like 3 times in a row. 

Hope you are all doing great! I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

Una Semana Aburrida

It was so great to see the pictures of the baptism! Those pictures absolutely melted my heart! Tell Sophia that I am so proud of and so happy for her! Also, thanks for the dabbing picture! Haha, I'm so glad that everything worked out as far as the river level and the weather!

Well, as far as my week goes, it was actually pretty boring. My comp got sick halfway through the week. So my days consisted of reading, and cleaning the house and stuff. I honestly think that that is one of my callings in the mission. Cleaning the mission houses. They end up getting so dirty, and somebody has to clean them. So that's what I do.

Anyway. Sorry for such a short, boring letter. My comp is getting better now, so I'll definitely have more to write about next week! I hope that you all have an incredible week. I love you all so much!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

Just Can't Quit Coffee

Hey Mom! This week had its ups and its downs. I'll start with the main down:

We have two investigators: Mercedes and Carina. Mercedes is in her 60s and Carina is her daughter and is in her 30s. Now, they've both been progressing pretty well recently. They've been coming to church, they've started to read the book of mormon. We went through the first 3 lessons with them just fine, and they both said that they belive it's true. Then we got to the Word of Wisdom. Now, they knew about it beforehand, because they were introduced to the church by a member friend, but when we got to the part about coffee. Mercedes basically told us that she wouldn't give it up. We were kind of surprised by her adamancy in not quitting. She told us that she simply didn't think it was necessary to quit. We asked her if she believed in the book of mormon and Joseph Smith. She said yes, but didn't think coffee is wrong. We asked her if she thought coffee is bad for her. She said yes, but doesn't want to quit. In the end, I think that it just comes down to her desire to do it. She believes it's true, but just doesn't want to act on it. Please keep Mercedes in your prayers. We'll keep trying with her.

One of the highlights of the week was last Monday. We had a family home evening with the Salazar family, and it went really well! It was a great experience for all, and there was a part where we talked about family prayer, and President Nuckols was talking, and turned to me and said: "Elder Anderson, did your family have any traditions for family prayer?" Well, I immediately thought of the prayer bell. I told them that we had that bell, and every night, I'd here it ring so that we could gather and pray, and that everytime I hear a loud bell, I think of praying with the family. It was a good memory to remember :)

The rest of the week went well! We had lots of good experiences, and I'm so glad to be here in El Café. Even if someone just won't quit their café. I love you all, and I hope you have the best week ever!

--

Con Amor, Elder Anderson

El Café - Semana Dos

Hey Mom! This week was a great one! Let me tell you why: We started off the week by getting our apoyo (Our money) and going to a grocery store called bravo.  And let me tell you, that place is a paradise. I'm talking about a clean, organized, store. With space to walk! It was incredible! And things were a LOT less expensive there too.

As far as the work, things are going great! We are still teaching the Salazar family, and they're progressing really well. In fact, tonight we have a family home evening with them in President Nuckol's house. So that'll be good! We also have 2 investigators: Carina, and her mom Mercedes that are progressing well. They have a baptismal date for the 1st of July! Then we have this guy named Benjamin that we are teaching. He's a great guy, but he has a wife who lives in the US that doesn't want him to get baptized. So we're working with him and trying to figure out the best way to help him in his situation. 

We also found A LOT of new investigators this week! My comp and I set a goal to get 12 news, and we ended up getting 15! We met one family who one of the ladies says that she was baptized into the church a long time ago. We'll have to see if that's true though, because right after saying that she asked if we believed in the new testament, and if there were any differences between mormons and catholics... haha, we also got a reference from a 14 year old member. We went to talk with his friend and we ended up teaching the friend's sister, him, and his 2 other friends too. They all seemed really interested, and they all had really good questions, so we'll see what happens with them! 

Today for Pday, we went to an underground cave with a pool of water. It was pretty sweet. I'll send pictures. 

As a spiritual thought for the week. I want to share one of the scriptures I've recently memorized in spanish. I find that it helps a lot to be able to say scriptures in spanish from memory, because I've known a lot of them in English, but if you try to translate in your head, it doesn't work out exactly like you want it to. But the scripture is in Mathew 11:28-30

28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I find it really interesting that we aren't giving our yoke to Christ, and saying: "Okay, thanks for taking that for me. Appreciate it. See ya later!" What we are doing is taking on Christ's yoke. He's not doing all of the work, because he can't force us to keep the commandments. He can't force us to use the atonement. He can't force us to repent. He's helping us to be able to push, to be able to work. But we have the promise that if we let him, if we decide to push alongside him. It will be easy. It will be light. Not because it isn't a hard load to carry, but because we have the strongest pusher helping us along. 

I know that that is true. I know that God loves us. I know that we can make it. We just have to live the gospel and let Christ lead us. That's all there is to it. I know the church is true, and I know that this work is important. I love you all, and I hope that you have the best week ever!

El Café- Semana Uno

My first week in my 3rd area went really well! My companion is Elder Larkin from Las Vegas and he's a super good guy, and I have the honor of being his last companion in the mission before he goes home in August. The area is VERY different from Neyba. There are so many people crammed into a very small space and you'll see what I mean from the picture I'll send. Also, I'm REALLY close to the ocean. Which means that I have a sweet view from the roof of my apartment AND it's super humid! It's like, pretty uncomfortably humid all the time, which is tough, but whatever, there are worse things. haha

We have a few really good investigators here in our area. We are teaching this absolutely AWESOME family. The Salazar family. They have 5 kids, but there are also a few uncles and people that we always teach when we're sharing with them. I taught the family my first night here, and I just fell in love with this family. They're pretty poor, but they're just so happy, and so kind. They have a little 7 year old who is super cute, and they have another little girl in a wheelchair who is so polite, and always smiling. I am so excited to teach this family, and to see them progress and be baptized.

Also! It is so strange to be in a ward again after attending small branches for 10 months. It is a nice change though to be in a place where there's a bishopric, teachers that teach. Elders quorums that home teach. I don't know, it's kind of a relief! Also, the bishop and his family are so great. They have the missionaries come to their house every sunday and have a feast! We had chicken wings, roast beef, potatoes, pasta, salad. I felt like I was back home! And they do it EVERY SUNDAY! Oh, and the bishop's daughter-in-law asked me where I was from, and I said "Utah" and she said "what part?" and I was surprised because usually people don't ask that here, but I said "It's west of Salt Lake, it's called Tooele County" And she said in perfect English: "Oh, I served there! In West Valley!" Haha, it was so weird to hear that! And her husband said he had a mission companion from Stansbury Park. Rob Christensen or something. Pretty cool! 

Anyway, I think I'll really like this area. It's different, but it's good. I'll let you guys know how my second week goes here! I love you all, and I hope you guys have a great start to your summer!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

Transfers...

Hey Mom! So, to answer your questions... I'm leaving Neyba! We got calls on Saturday night, and I'm actually the only one from my district leaving. I'm finally going to the capital though! I'm going to an area called "El Café" (kind of ironic because I'm a missionary serving in an area named the coffee) Haha, but I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go meet my new comp: Elder Larkin. He's from Las Vegas, so I'm sure it'll be fun! It'll be a little sad leaving Neyba, but I'm excited for a new adventure, and I'm also excited for big grocery stores and maybe fast food!

As far as this week goes, it went pretty well! I had 4 two hour long gua gua rides for Zone Conference, and for District Conference on Sunday. I'm really excited for my gua gua ride to the capital to be the last one I'll have for a while. Other than that, I just kept preparing the investigators that we have for baptism, we now have 10 baptismal dates, and although it would be nice to be able to witness the more of the fruits of my labors while I'm here, I'm ready to go plant some more seeds in my next area.

Anyway, that's honestly about it! It was so nice to be able to talk to you guys on Sunday. I'll admit that I was pretty trunky on Monday, and also on Tuesday, but that's to be exprcted! I got right back to work after that though. I'm so happy for Jarrett and Nikki, and I was way more happy on Tuesday because my bro was getting married than I was sad because I wasn't there. 

Well! That's about it for this week! I'll let you guys know next week how my next area and my comp are. See ya!

--

Love, Elder Anderson

P.S. The photos are of me and some investigators, and also, the one peso coins I've been saving up for my entire mission. I tried to spend them today, and they're worth so little that nobody wants them. I finally convinced some dude to sell me a gatorade for them. Haha, it's funny how worthless they are. The majority of the time, they don't even give one peso coins as change, they'll just give you a little candy or a mint or something instead...

Mother's Day 2017

Mom!!! I don't really know how, but I'm pretty sure that during all of the excitement yesterday, I neglected to tell you happy mother's day. So... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! I hope your day was incredible and that you were told a million times how great of a mother you are, and that you never forget that fact. You are the best mom in the world! :) 

It was absolutely incredible to talk with you guys yesterday, and it's crazy to think that the next time I talk to you guys, it'll be Christmas again! Really crazy stuff! I know that I've said this a lot, but I really am so grateful to have such an amazing family full of people who love me, support me, and help me through everything. Haha, like I told mom yesterday though: "It sucks so bad that I have such an awesome family!" Because I miss you guys so much! 

This week was a good one, we have a lot of people that are progressing really well, which is really great, but also too bad, that we're having so much success right now that I'm just about to leave Neyba. I just pray that a really good missionary comes to Neyba to replace me. Someone's gotta come and help Givelord, Millord, Lionny, Yinairy, Mariely, Jeisy, and all of my converts here!

On Saturday, Selenni got baptized. It was a really good service and it was cool to watch her take that step in her life. She's got a lot of friends now who are really interested in the church, so that'll be great if she can help them out and have a whole group of good strong youth in the branch here.

I'll let you guys know next week where I'm headed next! I'm excited to go, but I think I'm also going to miss Neyba. There are some really great people here. I hope that I've made an impact here, and that I've had an influence in helping to bring people closer to Jesus Christ. 

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

--

Love, Elder Anderson

Ps. Thanks for the pictures! The first one is the jugs of water we have, and this week I made a goal to drink an entire jug straight from the jug.

The other one is a picture of some crazy little girls that I met in Duvergé at a member's house

The last one is a picture of my comp with the branch budget, haha

Our most recent family picture:  Mother's Day 2017