Missionary work is hard. I don´t think I have ever been pushed to my limits like I have this last week. physically mentaly and spiritually. I have really had to re-evaluate myself this last week and get a new focus. So much has happened this last week and it seems like I have been here much longer that a week and a half. The days seems so long like a week and then all of a sudden Monday is here again and I find myself trying to find the words to explain to you all that I have felt, seen, and experienced in this last week. Its tough.

Well lets see you remember the woman Elia I wrote about last week? Well we are going to have to drop her because things are just not working. She isn´t keeping her commitments and everytime we see her its just a big cry fest where either me or Hna. Pelton end up getting our faces, hair, legs, arms, etc. stroked by her. Its pretty funny we really have to try and keep straight faces during the lessons and then end up laughing after we leave. We did however find some news this week and we have been really trying to turn the ward around and gain the memebers trust. Its working they are really responding well to us. We had some lunch apt. with some members and we eat pasta and bread that is like a staple here. Everytime I eat I feel like I am going to barf after because I eat so much its terrible! But thats ok. So this week I think I may have been a little de-hydrated I felt like I was going to pass out while tracting in the intense heat!! But I re-hydrated and was ready to go again. Yesterday a miracle occured. We went to see this recently baptized member named Maruca and her roomate Ana. Ana had been taught before but felt really pressured so she didn´t want to get baptized. So we would just go visit with her and her mom got taken to the hospital cause she isn´t doing good and so last week Maruca asked us to go and help her feel better so we went a shared a message about the atonement and I was able to share my testimony about prayer and the comfort I have recieved from the atonement through that. Then we left. Then yesterday we stopped by to teach her and she is just like Hermanas I want to be baptized! We were like what?! How sweet is that!!! So we taught her the first lesson and we set her Fetcha for the 19th of Feb. we have a bit to go with the commandments she needs to stop smoking etc. But I really feel good about her. Then We got a new bishop on Sunday and that was good and the Stake Pres. stood up and was like you will get blessings if you feed the missionaries so now we have lunch apt. every day this week! haha. Pretty funny. This Hna. Named Hna. Fabris came up to us and was like do you need sugar? Hna. Pelton was like sure? Then she pulls out this bag of sugar and we are like what the heck and she opens it up and there are two huge peaches inside! haha. She just smiles gives it to us and says see you! haha. I love the people in our ward. So our old bishops daughters birthday was yesterday so Hna. Pelton and I made her some Brownies.....as best we could. And stopped by their house. She was having a party so we gave her the brownies and a card and had some cake. Holy cow it was soooo good. Dulce de leche and cream and peaches and cake ahhhhh......delish! Then we got a pic with her and had to get back to the pench cause it was getting dark and we were in a red area. It was so sweet I think it was Friday we were finished everything and had like 10 min. So we went to the park and they had this puppet show thing on for all the kids and so we sat by the fountain and watched that but behind us on this gazebo thing there were these people doing the Argentine Tango! It was really cool and this guy comes up to Hna. Pelton and I and is like chicas want to dance? We are like no. Hahaha. He was kinda creepy so there ya go. I also almost got besoed by another man this week. ( Thats kissed on the cheeks) But we beso every woman we see here pretty much.....its just lovely. haha. I have really come to apprecaite the simpleness here in Argentina the simpleness of life. Its funny I don´t remember if I told you last week but they have siesta here from like 1 till like 4 where everything is closed and everyone sleeps so we come home eat and do our studies and then go back out. Its so funny. There are so many things that I have seen from the culture here that I totally want to bring back.

So here in the Mendoza mission there are 5 curses. 
1. Falling in a Seykia
2. Getting bit by a dog
3. Getting besoed by men
4. Not making it to the bathroom
5. Getting pooped on by a bird

Luckily I have not been cursed yet. Almost though those men I tell ya! haha. I really wish I could tell you more about whats its like here its just so tough. One thing I love though is the Spanish. Its not like a mexican Spanish where they talk really fast they speak like Italians with passion and feeling but in Spanish. I love it! haha. So when I come home......don´t think I am weird. We had zone conference this week and that was cool to see all the zone and get taught by Prez. and his wife. We learned lots and it gave me that boost I needed. We had a safety meeting about earthquakes cause this area is a place where they experience a lot. So that was kinda funny. One of the things we were told to do was if we were in bed to stay there cover our face with our pillow and stay there.....I am thinking in my head at this point I wonder if they thought about the possibility of suffication.....nope. haha. I am really seeing the lords hand in the work here. I feel like he has put Hna. Pelton and I in this area to change it and to really help the ward be strengthened. the old bishops wife last night said to us. You too are angels. I trust you completely! We were like SWEET!!! So she gave us some names! That is one thing that missionaries need more than anything so please if missionaries every ask you for a reference please help them out! Don´t be afraid! By not giving them a reference you are inhibiting someones possibilty at salvation!! Haha. I know that sounds harsh but really its true. I love you all and hope your doing well!

Te Amo!

Hna. Anderson

I don´t even know where to begin here. From the begining.

So I left the MTC excited and really nervous for this new adventure. I was up around 530 because another Hermana left and we were saying goodbye to her and then we just finished last minute packing ect. So we got to the airport and litterally just caught our flight there was a huge line up and everything for security so that took some time. Being the travel leader I was stressed cause I didn´t want to miss the flight and have everything messed up. But we were blessed. So we flew into Atln. Goergia and it was so weird landing there and knowing that Scott was there too! I went to get some food and I remember seeing people and just thinking Scott is going to be teaching these people! I got really excited for him. Then I called all of you! It was so good to hear all your voices and know your all doing good. We were able to give a man a pass along card in the airport cause he asked for a Book of Mormon for his friend but we only had spanish so we gave him a card and told him to call the number. So the plane ride wow......lets just say the longest flight of my life but it was seriously so sweet cause we had like 25 elder/sisters on the flight all flying into Buenos Aires and it was just really cool to see! I remember this man when we flew into Georgia was like oh good missionaries on our flight we are going to be safe. I kinda laughed inside because I was like oh ya!!! So the flight to Argentina. It was about 10 hrs. a Red eye flight did I get much sleep? NO haha but thats okay I got a few hours. Before I slept though we had some really really rough turbulance and we were looking out our window and we saw these huge thunder heads and tons of lightning! It was so sweet! Then the sunrise! WOW! It was huge and red and sooooo bright! I loved it! So ya I looked and felt disgusting after that flight but was that all? Oh no haha. So we landed in Buenos Aires and I remember thinking Oh my word I am in Argentina!!! I looked around at the people and just got this sense of love already for the culture and the people. So all of us missionaries filed through the gates with our bagagge and everything and there was like 3 mission pres. there! Cause there were missionaries from like 4 or 5 missions in our flight. So that was a cool sight. We were met by a guide who took us to this little bus and we borded that (more like a van) and we drove about an hour to a smaller airport. Lets just say it was HOT!!! And humid. Coming from Winter in Provo to Summer in Argentina.....yaaaa. My body has been adjusting ok though. So then this guide takes some of the other elders to their flight and leaves my group there for like.....3 hours yep. We had no clue what was going on or anything so we just ate some stuff an talked to some people. Hna. Crapse and I got into a conv. with this boy (I can´t remember his name right now) and we talked for like an hour in spanish and english. He knows some English. So that was cool. He asked for our e-mails..hahaha. So I gave him our mission address and asked for his and I am going to give his address to someone so they can refer it on and send the missionaries over sneaky I know. hahah. So then we get in line to get tickets with our guide that finally came back and that took about 45 min and come to find out they didn´t have all our tickets bought mine was and 2 others so he rebooked us on a later flight....ya...So then we waited about another hour and got on the flight to Mendoza That flight was good I fell asleep on that flight for about 30 or 40 min and woke up and we were almost there. Landing and getting all our stuff was once again part of the routine by this point and we were all just exhausted. Pres. Lindahl His wife and the Assistants were there to meet us. And yes from the pic I look pretty sick I know hahaha. I seriously was so tired and yet was still going. 36hrs. Ay ay ay. So we drove to pres. house and it was about 730 by now the day later and we ate lasanga salad bread fruit and ice cream and this cake thing. It was really good! Then they took us to the mission office and Hna. Crapse and I slept there all by ourselves. hahaha. I remember driving up and being like okaaaay. There are bars all over the church and mission office but we were totally safe. The assistants gave us a cell phone in case we needed anything. The first night was good I finally got to sleep and woke up and got ready for another day. We did a bunch of orientation stuff and Pres. interviewed each one of us. It was good to talk to him and he is very protective of the Hna´s so don´t worry mom! We finally got to meet our trainers. My trainer is Hermana Pelton! She is from Seattle Washington and has been here about 9 months. She seriously is exactly like me so much so that is freaks us both out hahaha. She is great though I love her. So we ate burgers (argentine style so different but good) Then all the newbies and their trainers we out into the street to contact! ya....I was freaked out!! Its called ALB Abrir la Boca open your mouth. So I was scared but Hna. Pelton pushed me to do it and helped me a lot. So that was really good. We came back and then we got into a taxi and drove to the bus station. Lets just say that is is sooooo hot here. AHH. especially compared to provo. So we waited in this sticky hot bus station where dogs come in and run around and little boys come and try to sell you things and they are just so dang cute. Anyways we get on this double leveled bus and drive 4 hours to my area. 
SAN RAFAEL!! It is beautiful here. We are at the bus station get off and have to walk to our pench. (Pension is spanish for our apt.) So me with my 3 pieces and my tracting bag that weighs like 30 pounds because of all my books drag our luggage about 8 blocks to our pench. This is through busy streets as well and heat. Just picture me sweat pouring off my face my muscles feeling like they were going to rip and struggling to not look like a total gringo. Epic fail. hahaha. it was good though. We finally made it and came up to our pench. Oh on a side note Hna. Crapse and her trainer live with us too. Just a different area. So thats kinda cool we are still living together. So we come into our pench and kinda just take a deep breath and start unpacking and then we go out to get some ice cream with the elders. A place called Gridos. SOOOO good! Bed time that night was interesting. I have a hard time sleeping already and all this stress and time change etc. really is messing me up haha. But its good. that night I slept a bit and the next day we went out to work and finished unpacking. The rest of this week has been a rush of work and heat and tiredness and faith etc. We had the sweetest experience though we went and knocked into this woman named Elia and she is Catholic and she let us in and we start talking to her and she just starts crying and I don´t really know what she is saying so Hna. Pelton is mostly talking to her and she looks at me to bare my testimony a few times which was really cool. But I was so blessed to see her and understand her body language and listen to the spirit and know how to react with my body language and she was so cute she is starting at me for like the whole lesson and then she reaches our and grabs my nose like you would a little kid. So smile and laugh and we just continue. Hna. Pelton committed her to read the book of Mormon and guess what! We got a fetcha!!!! Thats a baptismal date. Ya! out of the first lesson! I was so amazing the spirit was there and after she gives us a hug and kisses our foreheads. Everyone here kisses eachothers cheeks its called Bosa. So we do it with the women obviously and not the men. So we were done teaching her and left and Hna. Pelton is like Hermana do you understand what just happened in there! That was so amazing! I said ya I know I felt the spirit. So then she proceeds to tell me this woman was like telling her about all this crap that happened to her and that she got robbed and beat up and her daughter is in prison etc. And she said I am more and more convinced everyday that the Mormon church is true! I was like YA!!!!!! Then she said she has been praying this whole week for God and we knocked her door and she was like I know you came from god. You are so pure you are so innocent. I see it I feel it! So I am really excited about her! We have had tons of people that we teach and they are just like no I am catholic and some are interested but we just have to talk to everyone. Its incredible.... Spanish is tough and its coming slow. Hna. Pelton is awesome and very patient with me and she helps give me tips she used so that is good. The more I open my mouth the more the Spanish comes so I just HAVE to have faith that God will fill my mouth... So at the moment we have 4 fetchas for February! we are stoked! The missionary work here is so tought but so amazing too. We walk all day in the heat. We have Siesta here in Mendoza from 1 till like 5 so we come home eat lunch and do study time and then go out at like 4. Its killer hot here seriously! We went to meet the bishop (obispo) and his family but he wasn´t there so we just met his wife and kids. We walked about 20 mins to get to his house out in the country it was long and hot! hahaha. I am going to have some strong legs when I get home! So we have zone conference this week and Hna. Pelton and I have some great goals and plans this week so we are excited! Oh on church on Sunday we had 3 new investigators there and we both went to bare our testimony. I was freaked out! But I bore my testimony and just said what I could in Spanish it was really cool. 
Its hard to say in e-mails all that happens because there is just soooo much and you really can´t explain it all. Oh here is some more stuff we went to a catholic church today just inside to look. Very cool. And we do our laundry by hand here......yep! haha. So we do it all by hand in the sink in our pench. So......ya...... 
I can´t think of anything else but I took some pics and will upload them here. ENJOY!!!! 
Te Quiero! 
Hna. Anderson

P.S. I just remembered! As I was unpacking I found a cockraoch in my bag!!! YEP! SO SICK!!!!!!! Also I have fallen in love with Spanish Music.....yes its happened and I never thought it would but I seriously love it so much so after the mish....yep! Also sorry no pics this week the comp is messed I will put some on next!

Hey Family!

Well this week has been really crazy!  but anyways. I have a couple of really funny experiences so just yesterday we were on our way to a Dinner Apt. and we were driving down the road and there was this guy on the side walk waving a sign that says Jesus Loves You! haha it was so random and hilarious and we noticed his hat said the same thing so we rolled down the window and he was like Hallejiah! haha it was so hilarious I dunno Iam started to see how crazy stuff is down here in the south. Lindsay will understand. Also there was this huge billboard by our Apartment that said The Wise Men knew you can too! and then it was like He is Coming again! May 21 2011 hahaha so aparently the 2nd coming is on May 21 so be ready. But it has been up for like 8 weeks and they just took it down yesterday! haha We had exchanges this week and so I went with Elder Morris another Elder in our district. (we have 6 elders in our district but im only living with my companion and 2 others. The other companionship is in a place called Smyrna where I went for exchanges) and we had about 8 apointment on Saturday and so we started off the day and all but one apt fell through! It was terrible but we got to tract a ton but seriously it was so wierd. I had an old lady freak out at us because we cant teach her by herself for our safety we always have to have a man present so she was like theres no place in the Bible that is says you cant teach without a man! Do you think Jesus stood outside peoples doors and was like I cant come in! This went on for quite some time and we tried to explain that its out of safety and respect for her as weel because some women feel uncomfortable and her response was quote "What do you think Iam going to do, Rape you!?" Elder Morris and I just look at eachother and almost started laughing hahaha! Anyways we got a return apt with her with a member from the ward so we can go in. haha. Down here everything is so funny like you knock on a door and the hispanics look through the blinds and sometimes think we are the police so they dont answer or you look right at them but then everything goes silient in the house even though we just looked at them and they dont answer it. Its really sad but hilarious at the same time. More of the white people that speak english that we tract sometimes open the door and instantly say, "Oh no thanks I read my bible and pray everyday!" its so funny!  Yesterday we were going to see a guy named carlos we wanted to teach again and this guy stops us and we told him alot about what we do and hes like that so sweet and explained he was in jail before and read the bible alot in there and then we were like well can we have a prayer with you and hes like sure of course so were like whats your name? and hes like oh thats not important your probably busy I'll just let you go. haha so were like well we wanna pray with you and hes like you pray for me and I'll pray for you! haha then he was like can y'all listen to music and whatnot so we were like some and he offers us the brand new phillips mp3 player that we are pretty sure he stole cuz it hadn't even been opened and we were kinda in the ghetto. I just love the people down here. Its so fun! We explained we aren't aloud to take things from people but it was super nice of him and went on our way to teach the guy named Carlos. So we knock at his door and his little sister answers and is like hes not here hes working so were like ok and his brother walked by and was like hold on so we finished talking to the girl and she closed the door so we went to unlock our bikes to head back and Carlos comes out and were like what? He explained his family didn't want us to come in but that he wants to talk to us! I knew he was really interested when we first taught him so we have a apt with him and it was awesome! Im really excited for it! anyways thats my week! I love it here im still trying to understand what people are saying and things but its coming! I love the work! I love you all!

Love Elder Anderson

Hey family!

Well Iam in Atlanta Georgia and Iam loving it so far. It is so different than the MTC in everyway. The language actually isn't making me depressed or anything its wierd. I just listen as my companion and the native speakers jabber away in the lessons and then when I get looked at I bear my testimony and share what little I can say on what I think they are talking about but I have definatly seen the gift of tongues I can for the most part understand the jist of what they are talking about. Its hard though because the Elders I am living with dont really speak spanish that much only really when teaching or tracting so its hard to learn but gives me alot of responsiblity to learn on my own. They told me of a promise a General Authority made that if you read the BOM side by side with any language you will be fluent pretty much by the time you finish it. Regardless of its truth I was really excited and I put all my faith in that and so I have been doing that alot but they said my pronunciation and reading in spanish is way better than theirs were when they came out so it gives me hope. I am actually not that bad I can get my point across pretty decent and my goal is to be able to talk decent by the end of this transfer! Can you believe its already halfway through January!? crazy! So my first days were mostly arriving in the mission home and whatnot but thats not even excited cuz it was all just little orientations but I love my mission president and his wife. My interview with him he said alot of the spanish Elders struggle with obedience and so that kinda made me a little bit like ok I need to be that example and do everything I can to be exactly obedient. But my trainer is awesome his name is Elder Carpenter and I live with the distrcit leader and his companion as well Elders Jones and Wood so its fun! My p-day is on monday but because there was a holiday yesterday the library was closed so I was unable to write. We are in a biking area so that should be fun but the humidity here is wierd like its chilly but its not cold I dunno I understand more of what you would say how it chillls more to the bone, but really its not that bad. I love it here though today we had district meeting and so we traveled to this place where I dont even know but it reminded me so much of England it was in a more wealthy part but there is fog and so many trees and brick houses and just beautiful churches and houses. The spanish isn't at all like that at least no in our area. Iam serving in Marietta right now and so far we have been to 3 trailer parks and a couple apartment complexes and I understand now what people say that when your on your mission going into somewhere like that is nothing but if you weren't a missionary there is no way ever I would go there because of fear I would be shot hahaha but I love it I love just going into a trailer and teaching the little I can say and just being apart of the work. I had a Dinner apointment the other day and we ate beans rice and tortillas. ahhah classic here but it was actually really good. So Elder Carpentor and I went tracting the other day and we knocked on about 40 doors and most weren't interested but for spanish people they always just take your passalong card or dont answer the door so its not any doors slamming--at least not yet. I hope it never comes to that either but no we went in and taught a Gautemalen and it was really good and then the next door a young kid probalby 18 or so invited us in and his name is carlos he spoke both English and Spanish and so we taught Spanglish so half and half and anyways he was like ya I pray to feel better and he seemed really interested and told us we made him feel happy again and he said he would read the pamphlet we gave him and we have a return apt with him on Saturday so I am really excited! who knows what will happen there. other than that thats about everything that has happened so far so I love ya and ill talk to ya next week!

Love Elder Anderson

Sorry that last e-mail got all messed up and sent. So anyways I got my travel plans and I am so excited!! This week was hard but good. On Friday I am sad to say that I almost had a nervous breakdown. Not even kidding. We had so much going on that day and the next week that my mind literally just snapped. I just sat in the class right before planning and stared at the bored. I couldn't think in Spanish and I couldn't think in English. I was so discouraged and frustrated that I couldn't be in control of my mind. AHHH so frustrating. So then we went back to the appartment and I knelt down for prayer that night and just poured my heart out to Heavenly Father. I told him there was no way I could have another day with this kind of frustration etc. I told him that I knew it was satan trying to get me down especially this last week especially with everything that has been happening in the last few weeks. Then I just prayed for protection to be around me and my mind that I would be able to focus and be able to feel his hand guiding me and help me do what I need to get done. I went to sleep that night, and when I woke up in the morning I was extremely calm.....it was seriously like watching a hurricane and then the eye of the storm. Friday was like my hurricane and then Saturday was just so calm....my comp. and the sister in my district were like woah....you seem really really calm today. I was just at complete peace with God and everything. I really needed that and it was perfect way to end a stressful week. Look for those kinds of blessings in your like God gives them to us more than we think. Especially when we pray for specific things. The Lord truly loves His missionaries and I have seen that more in this past week than ever before. This week is going to be hectic and crazy because we are prepping for leaving and we have lots of meetings lots of teaching appointments and we will have lots of goodbyes. I am pretty sure I am the worst person at goodbyes. I hate it. But my teacher told me something way cool that helped me a lot. She said "The real trajedy isn't goodbyes its sin" Its so true. If we are doing the best we can and are trying to follow God then we don't have to worry about goodbyes because we have all eternity! Spanish is coming along slowly still. I have grown a little more this week. It is frustrating but I am at the point now where I just trust that God will bless me if I do everything I can to work hard. So I try... I am really excited to go to Argentina!!  I think we will be staying at the MTC there or something and then move on the Mendoza soon after. Its going to be a looooooon journey but I am excited for this new chapter. So we had the sweetest lesson in Relief society about how our lives are like books and each day is a new page. We are starting a new chapter in our lives and we need to make sure that we make those close to us look like heroes in our books and just lots of diff. things I really enjoyed it. The speaker served in Argentina with her husband for something so we went and talked to her after and it was awesome. Then inn Sacrament Meeting we were challenged to read Heb. 11. Look for those examples of faith in your life. So I encourage you to try it its really cool!

Sister Anderson

 

Hey, so this week I have no time to write because it took forever for my email to load and it docked me 7 minutes, so I'll try to type fast.  That's sweet that you all had an awesome Christmas and everything went well. I have a cool experience to tell you this week.  Actually it happened last night.  So my companion Elder Dunford and the other zone leader elder Johnson had to go do some zone leader stuff, so it put me and Elder Santos into a companionship for a few hours.  We didn't have anyone to teach, so our teacher was like- ok you can teach me instead.  So anyway, it was wierd because instead of portraying an investigator she was herself and we had to find her needs.  So we said a prayer to start and I couldn't even start.  I didn't know what to talk about or anything, so we just were like : how's your day? Good? Sweet! Ok.  Where do you go to school?  You know that basic stuff and then we were just like uh.... so that was for like 3 minutes of straight silence and I was just kinda frustrated because I was really trying to have the spirit tell me what to say or do, but I was just like whatever.  I'll share a scripture and then end the discussion.  So I was like : ok, faith.  It's a basic principle and whatever, so I went to go to Alma 32 because I've read it about a dozen times while being here and it was what came to my mind, but as I was going to it , it was like I couldn't even think at all.  I was like wait - what?  So anyway, I was like ok.  Ether 12:6, that's on faith and then I was like - oh ya, the other SM is Ether 12:27.  So I share those two scriptures and was like ok- so what do these scriptures say to you and so forth.  And she was like, we need to show our weakness and whatever, and then Elder Santos started talking about humility and I share my thoughts and then were like uh.......cuz she wasn't really talking.  She would say  like 4 words and I could tell she was trying to hide something.  Anyway, she timed us out because we were confused at where to go with the lesson and she was like - ok- you both received revelation.  And I thought she was just saying that because I was frustrated because things weren't looking good to me.  But she explained that even though we might not think things are going well, the spirit can say different things than what is coming out of our mouths.  She explained that she had been struggling and didn't want to ask the Lord what she needed to do because she didn't want to have to do it.  So she was like - no- I won't pray and when we taught her she said the Lord was speaking through us to say be humble and have faith.  She said that she felt like the Lord was chastising her and was like ok- so you don't want to humble yourself.  I'll find a way to tell you.  HaHa.  I thought it was sweet and I loved it! It totally helped me realize even though I think things aren't going the right way, they can be.  Don't ever focus on your needs or your own knowledge but just testify and share the doctrine and that is all you need to do and the spirit will direct you to what to say, even though sometimes it is like: what am I talking about right now?  Ha Ha . Anyways, so that was my cool story.
I leave on Tuesday morning early and I should get to call home sometime between 7:30 and 8:30, because my flight leaves at 8:30.  So I'll call in between then.    I'm excited to hear from you and hopefully I get to talk to Hyrum and the kids.  Anyway, I gotta run, so I'll talk to you then!
Elder Anderson

 

This week has been one of the worst weeks! Oh my goodness! But I have learned so much as well. Funny how that seems to be how the Lord works sometimes. Well lets see let me tell you a little about whats been going on. My favorite teacher left on Saturday cause she graduated so that sucked big time cause I became great friends with her and love her a lot! Also I leave in 2 weeks and feel like I know no Spanish! Even though I do know some...:) Also one of my favorite elders in the district that is like a brother to me is going home tommorrow. So I have been dealing with all this plus everything else!!! Let me tell you there were days that I was just completely wanting to be done!! So that was really hard. But I did get to go to the temple on Friday with my Scotty and Rawley cause they take all the foreign missionaries there to give them that opportunity! They talked to us on the way there about the pioneers and some of the experiences there so that was so awesome. I learned some amazing things!!!! Also the temple was awesome as always and I was able to learn some more really cool things....I get to go to the temple today and I am way stoked. It really helps me in my week and strengthens me just like the scriptures say. I am able to teach more in Espanol now and I am really trying hard to speak it all the time. Its so hard to discipline myself because I get frustrated and just want to say it in English! Ahhhhh! Its coming....

  

I cannot believe that I have only 2 weeks left until I go to Argentina....Lets just say I have felt many emotions about this. I love the MTC yet am ready to move on. Also I am terrified because its Argentina and I feel like I don't know enough Spanish or enough about the gospel. But the Lord qualifies those who he calls so I just need to have faith that he will do great things for me! Fast sunday was amazing! I have grown to really love fasting and have felt the power in it! Fasting for 24 hours is not hard so for everyone who is reading this, if the Savior went through the Atonement for you and suffered for hours on end for all things you can certainly go without food for 24hrs. You just have to have a want it enough. I was able to read some of Jesus the Christ while I was fasting....HOLY COW! Jame E. Talmage is incredibly inteligent! That book is amazing and has so much in it! I am so blessed to be able to have access to it in the missionary library! Thanks for the letter Todd I would like to see pics of your mustache I am sure its sick! haha. Tell all the nieces and nephews that I love them. And all the family.

 

We taught our investigator Fransisco last night and that was good. It so hard to teach though when you don't have the spirit and many times I will go into a lesson thinking I know what I want to saw, that is so prideful. We are not the teachers! We preach the word and the spirit teaches. Don't get me wrong 90% of success comes from preparation but if you don't have the spirit then even that doesn't matter. We watched the District 2 episode 3 on sunday and let me tell you! The spirit was so strong and I was seriously on cloud 9 cause I was sooooo pumped to get out into the field and teach!!! I cannot wait! It was something that I really needed as it has been really hard these last few days.

 

2 more weeks!!!! Oh my word!!! I cannot wait!!!!! I love you all so much and can feel the support and love as you pray for me. I know Scott does too. One thing I have learned a ton about this week is......the power of a prayer, and finding answers in the scriptures! Read and pray everyday and it will change your life! I know it will because it has changed mine! Try the Lord and he will never disappoint you!

 

Te Quiero Mucho!!!

 

Hermana Anderson

Hey family! ya we had Elder Nelson come for christmas so it was sweet! he actually returned the next day and talked to us again during priesthood! my companion is elder dunford by the way. Elder santos is just a elder in my district that I have been helping! so this week has been good. The language is coming and im slowly progressing. My mtc experience has been more about me growing than I think me learning the language its been amazing! the gospel is seriously so so amazing and so simple. Today me becca na rawley were able to go to salt lake to go to the temple because we are international it was awesome! we also went to see the cristus and also the conference center! it was really nice to go in and remember just being there a couple months previous! so crazy thing on wednesday my district was helping in welcoming the new elders so basically taking them off the sidewalk from there familys and jupming right into the work and i got to help an elder from bow island that i met in the cardston temple like 10 weeks ago and actually baptised him for his family name! such a small world! he will be serving in sweden his name is elder woodruff! so that was really nice! ya mom we got the dear elderfood you sent and it was sweet! we seriously have so much candy here its ridiculous so i dont need any more during my stay here at the mtc. haha I leave here in about 11 days i fly out the 11th of january so i think ill get to call then. Its going to be wierd.  I dont have any really good stories like i did last week but just that the when we go through trials it is never for the lord to see if we can do somthing just like abraham didn't need to sacrifice issac for the lord to show the lord he was capable of doing it. Abraham needed to know he was capable and willing to follow our saviour and heavenly father. likewise in our our trials and hardships in life its for our benefit to grow and show the lord that we are learning about ourself. The trials here that I face are all about me learning what Iam capable of. The lord knows what I am capable of but he is helping me realize that everyday. There is so much power in the gospel and all of the simple commandment that it is just amazing. I want to challenge everyone todd tim hil mom dad steve heather lindsay to really try and share the gospel this week. Its hard but its so amazing and we constantly have opportunitys its so much easier to do it through asking questions. like what do you belive in jesus christ or whatever.. oh really thats so awesome we belive that he is our saviour too. why is that important to you to know that he has suffered individually for you? how can you repay him. The key to teaching is asking questions and teaching the basic docterine. God is our loving heavleny father. why is that important to know you have a heavenly father who loves you? its all about the investigator teaching themselves. when they understand the docterine it will change them. Like the quote true docterin understoood changes behaviour faster than the study of behaviour changes behaviour. its so true. honestly why are we scared to share the gospel. if you truly express love and sincerity why would they not be impacted that you care about them. or that youwant them to have a better life. everyone who has served missions i know its probalby hard to teach without having the mantle but why stop? seriously i really challenge you all to really try to help someone come closer to chirst because that is our purpose as a missionary and its so important because by doing so it is helping our heavenly father fulfill his purpose. moses 1 39. i dont want to ever have to look at someone hereafter and have then ask me. why didnt you tell me. you knew. why? because we were scared? big deal get over it. its like 2 min and do you not think the lord will help you? do you think he will just abandon you when you are trying to fulfill your purpose and thus allowing him to fulfill his? ya. exactly. the church is true. and they know it too. they just forgot it. in preach my gospel it says when you testify and the holy ghost touches them the gospel will have that "familiar ring" to them. i dont want you to try to cnovert anyone but build abpon the things they already know to be true. dont ever try to take away what they have but give them more. do it. I dare you. ps. theres a kid here that looks exactly like ralphy from the christmas story. I got pics. ya. its wierd. anyways. times up and i gotta write letters and do the laundry. I love you

Elder Anderson

Faliz Navidad!!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know I did. It was so different to have a Christmas here and be immersed in the gospel! Guess who we had!!! Elder Nelson!!! I love him! It was so good! He and his wife spoke Christmas day afternoon and that even they acted out the Christmas Carol and then he spoke after that. Then the next day Sister Nelson spoke to us in Relief Society and Elder Nelson spoke to the Priesthood! It was so good Sheri Dew was at our Relief Society as well! She didn't speak but was just here for support! It was such an amazing weekend! I was able to go give them both a hug again and told Sister Nelson I am from Cardston and it was awesome so she gave me a big hug and I told them that I met them in the Book Store at conference. Then Sheri Dew grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes and said...."Go save some souls!" I was like woah! So that was pretty sweet! This week has been good and tough. I got your packages and all the letters thanks a million! It really helped me not to be homesick as it was a little taste of home. Thanks for the bracelet mom! I sent some letters home and I wrote one for Coralee Williams. Heather could you give it to her. She sent me a package! So nice of her. Also thank Jamie and Trisha for the coco bean cupcakes! I did share with everyone don't worry! I am starting to get a VERY basic hold on the language. Its starting to come! I am being blessed. My teacher is leaving this Saturday cause she is done working here so we will be getting a new one and I am going to miss her a lot! I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left!!! I saw Scott Christmas day and gave him his gift....We had on Sunday and the speaker was asking us all questions like if you blah blah blah stand up...Then he said if you have a sibling here right now stand and point to them. So me and Scott stand and point to each other from accross the gym and the mission President here points at us both and smiles cause he sees our red hair. There are other people here with siblings so its cool. We aren't the only ones....

 

It sounds like you had a great christmas! I am glad. I wouldn't mind some pictures :) haha. 

Mucho Amor!

Hermana Anderson

Merry Christmas! I got your package with the ties and the sweet pen! It was so awesome and you should have seen the look on all the other elders faces.. The chirstmas season is so amazing and really being here has really taught me the docterine about christmas. You hear everyyear that Chirstmas is centered on Christ and how we are supposed to give more than we recieve and I always thought I knew that but every chirstmas day im not going to lie I was stoked for the presents! This year I have had the complete opposite I honestly dont want anything more than to make the member of my district happier. I was telling you about Elder Santos he is a phillipino and is 5 foot and yesterday when I opened my ties his eyes were like saucer plates! He has had this love for ties here because he came out with some pretty cheap ones and people have traded some really nice ones to him and one day he was like "do you think there is a specific tie for each of us?" like almost like there is the one design that just catches our attention so much we would trade anything for it. haha but ya so the black and white paisley you sent me. that was his. he came back in forth in my rooom 5 or 6 times just to hold it in his hands and he just seriously cant get over it. we are doing a chirstmas exchange and my comp elder dunford got his name. anyways we decided we were switiching because I am giving elder santos that tie. He was having a really rough day today and just wouldn't talk and just waas really down. I authorized the exchange so my comp and his comp went together and it works good cuz there both ZLs and so i took elder santos. we walked back to our dorms and he was just quite so i asked him what was up and i dont really know what happened but he ended up telling me that the two worst times he feels like he is pessimistec was his birthday and then today being so close to cchirstmas. I had no idea why because those are times where im stoked for presents hahah probably bad though cuz thats terribly selfish. anyways we got back to our dorm and i took the tie out and told him i wanted him to wear it. He said no that he couldn't but after my clever persuasiveness in telling him i really wanted him to wear it he finally accepted. even just letting him hold it changed his attidude to happiness. the way he loves it and knowing I have something that can make someone so happy they just dont know what to say makes me so good that I can give it to them. I thought about how the gospel is the exact same way but the investigator just doesn't know yet that that "tie" or gift is exactly the one they are looking for. on our way back to our classroom he stopped me and said hey can we stop by the bookstore? I was like ok sure so we went in and he went to the end of the line and I was like what are you going to get and he was like candy hahah I was sweet so anyways he grabbed 4 Kit kat extra crunchy or something I was like wow you must like those and he was like ya there one of  my favorites. haha I just laughed inside thinking to myself how he is so happy now he is wearing my tie that he deserves a treat hahaha I was wrong. apon returning to the classroom he carefully took out each bar and walked along each of the elders in my district not including myself or him and placed his favorite chocolate bar on the end of the desk. I just thought how amazing that was. that because I was able to give him something he returned that to others. That is what the Christmas spirit is. not focusing on yourself at all. He actually tried to give me one of his favorite ties that I like because I only let him wear mine. I have about 22 ties here and he only has like 7 it was really a good experience. I told him I couldn't except even though it was one of my favorite ties but that I wanted him to keep it for another week wear it and think about it more. (his tie) one thing also that I forgot to say that was hilarious. as we were walking down the hall to exit our dorm building he held my tie in his hands as it was tied around his neck and just smiled and said quote " I feel like iam carrying precious cargo"hahaha it made me laugh so hard. hes such a funny kid. I just have really learned that sometimes we have things that is exactly what other people need. Are we going to be selfish and keep it for ourselves or share it with others. The gospel is the same way. Everyone at home that has served missions knows the joy and experience to share the gospel. Why have we stopped? just because we dont wear the nametag anymore doesn't mean we cant be a representative of Jesus Chirst. I know dad does a awesome job of trying to give away the dvds or things at christmas so keep it up. You really have no idea what something could mean to someone. Tonight I will give that new tie to Elder Santos to keep forever. I told him today as we were walking our of our building. I dont want to see you sad anyymore today ok? dont take that tie off until you are ready to go to bed. hahah its so amazing to see the change come over someone, even if it is just a tie. That was my awesome experience today! I am so excited for tomorrow for Christmas. I dont know who is comming or if the prophet is coming. Again ive learned the true focus of Christmas and the fact that Jesus Chirst had that ulitmate gift that we needed. He didn't have to perform the atonement. he was perfect and could have lifved with Heavenly father but because he loved us he did that so that we could have that "tie" that we have been looking for or that is perfect for us. That is is everything that we have ever wanted. Spanish is coming good its very difficult for me but so amazing at the same time i have learned so much and its seriously so sweet! I think thats all I wanted to say. Merry Christmas family! Good luck on the wedding!!

Elder Anderson