Hey fam,

This week has been really wierd. Since it was American Thanksgiving pretty much things went from being pretty busy to super slow because no one wants to listen to us and everyone was getting ready for the partys and whatnot. Then after Thanksgiving everyone was wasted and just sleeping for forever so it was pretty wierd. hahaha For example we were out knocking in some complexes at 4 30 and people were like you woke me up and whatnot. Such a waste of time to sleep that long. hahahaha So yeah that was super cool!

But we still had a ton of fun. We went bowling and spent the day with alot of the members since we weren't aloud to go out and teach that day. I think hispanics know how to party the best hahaha we did a Kareokee thing and it was super fun and then the next day there was a wedding and it was so ridiculously fun! hahaha for instance the have some cool traditions they do at the weddings like when the bride and groom are dancing people come and pin money on them to dance with them and so they have dollar bills pinned all over the suit or the dress and then when someone else pins money you let them dance with them. I dont know if that makes sense but you only dance for like 10 to 15 seconds and then someone else switches with you after they pin on money. hahaha then they do this cool thing where the bride and groom stand on two seperate chairs and they have body guards holding their legs guys holding the groom and girls holding the bride, then they play this music and all the guys make a huge train and run around them and the guys try to knock the groom off the chair and the body guards have to hold him there hahahaha. Then after they knock him down the girls do the same ahhahaa it sounds intense because it is. Its super fun too hahahaha. I have videos so I will show you when I come home hahaha. Then they throw the groom up in the air and we threw this guy like 5 feet above us hahahaha like 10 times haahha. I LOVE THIS CULTURE. Maybe becca knows what I am talking about.

We had a really cool experience this week though. We had to stop at Walmart for something so we went in and after we finished I was like hey I need some cough drops since my throat was being dumb this week. So we start going over and I was like oh hey I wanna check out the books really quick so we go over and I saw the 4th book of the series of Eragon and I was like no way!!! Since I read the 3 before the mission and this one just came out. So I pick one of the 15 or so there and kinda look at it in my hands and then flip through the pages and I find this note in there. It was a note from a man that needed desperate help and just was asking for anyone to help him and give him a chance to get back on his feet since he lost his job and will lose his home this week. (Thats what the letter said.) Anyways it was just really cool because I know that we as missionaries and representatives for the Lord were definatly guided to find that note. We were walking out and I randomly thought to get coughdrops and then randomly decided to go over to the books hahaha they aren't even close by eachother. It was a cool experience so I am excited to see what happens with this guy. His name is Chris so if you wanna pray for him that would be cool. I haven't met him yet or talked to him but I gave it to the English elders since we teach the spanish people. Maybe while I am on exchanges with them this week I will be able to meet him. The Lord definatly directs us. Its super cool. I am seriously learning so much out here and having the most spiritual experiences ever. I think its so cool that God cares enough about us to let us experience them. But we just have to look for them and recognize them.

Love you all!

E. Anderson

Hey Family!

So this week has been a good week. A very very hot week but good. So
last Monday we were out working and we found this man and his wife
that we had talked to previously. Well we taught them and just let me
tell you that I have never talked to someone that knew the bible that
good. It was  incredible. He said he is a Jew but that he believes
Christ is the Savior. He said their religion kinda specifies on
focusing on going back to the original form of the bible. In eleven
years (he is young  by the way probs like in his mid 30s) he has
learned how to read and write and speak Hebrew and he knows the bible
so well. Anyways we shared the Book of Mormon with him and he said he
would read it. We invited our Stake Patriarch (who is in our ward) to
accompany us the the lesson so that will be a big help hopefully. We
also were able to talk to a bunch of other people and teach some new
people one of them being a lady who we had contacted while me and
Hermana Wilde were together but she went on Holidays to Bueno Aires
but she is back and we taught her and she came to church and she loved
it! We were really excited! It was tough because this family we had
been working with didnt come even though they said they would but this
other lady just said she would come by herself. Hermana John and I
were just waiting outside and at 9 no one was there so we just were
like well.......we did what we could. So we headed back inside and sat
down....so just after the sacrament she comes in!!! We were so
excited!!! She has such great faith in God so we are really excited
for her and are going to see her tommorow. Also this other reference
we got from another ward we contacted and she and her son were there
and we taught them and they were great we are going to go see
tommorow. I really hope we can get some people progressing here and
working towards baptism....it would be a blessing. This ward needs so
much help...we have just been trying and trying to get people to
church and progressing its just hard work here. So it was American
Thanksgiving this last weekend and as part of the celebration we chose
to cook Thanksgiving dinner! So who cooked it....yes  the Hermanas
because the dang elders never help us! hahah. But it was good. They
dont have turkey here so we cooked chicken and mashed potatoes and
salad and I cooked gravy!! I nailed it too! It was sooo dang good!
Thanks mom for teaching me so well. Also dad I would also like to say
thanks to you and Layne for teaching me how to wire houses.  In our
pench our light switch was busted so we went and bought a new one and
I changed all the wiring with a knife I might add. We didnt have a
screw driver...I was so proud. hahaha. But ya it was good to work hard
this week and see a lot of people but we have been changing the way we
have been working and been working more for quality as opposed to
cuantity. We are being blessed. We did divisions yesterday and I went
out with Hermana Dana. It was great. We had a lot of success. I love
teaching with her. Hopefully we can be comps some day before I leave
the mission. I feel so old in our pench I have over a year in the
mission now and then hermana Dana and John both have like 4 months and
then Hermana Ponce has 1 month and a little bit.....they all tell me I
am the pench mother....hahahahaha Its funny because Hermana Dana is 32
and I am 22 soo.....but we all get along so well so its a blessing. So
we are going to have transfers on the 20th and I am thinking I am
probably going. So we were talking and its kinda sucky that we arent
going to be all together for Christmas so we are celebrating the 18th
(christmas eve) and the 19th (P-day Christmas day) and we picked names
and stockings and everything. Its going to be great! I got Hermana
Johns name and Hermana Danas name for her stocking. We are going to do
some caroling for some of the people in our complex and try to think
of some other things to do. So it should be fun. Then on the real
Christmas I will have in my new area with my new comp. I am sad
beacuse I wanted to spend Christmas with the members here because I
know them and love them. But I will go where the Lord wants me and it
will be a great Christmas igual. Anyways I hope the fires get calmed
down that is crazy I am glad everyone is safe and that you got the
tree up and everything. Its so weird. Its so Hot here and they have
Christmas decorations up. Instead of coming home at night and rubbing
my cold red hands together to get warm or sit in front of the fire
place I come home and wash off my feet cause I am not sure if its dirt
or a tan on my feet and sit in front of the fan to cool down.....funny
how things change. hahah. But I love it I really do. I am looking
forward to my last Christmas in the mission and I know its going to be
incredible and I am going to try to make it so. So dont worry about me
here. I love you all so much and am grateful for all your support and
love and prayers! I couldnt do it without you!

Love you!
Hermana Anderson

Hey Family

Well this week I have decided to dedicate this letter to my one year mark in the mission that I hit on the 17th. A big day and so strange to think thats its been a year since I have come out.

How do you count a year of the mission. Do you count it by the days? Or do you count it by all the lives you´ve touched and the differences you´ve made.

I count it by the sunsets that light the sky on fire by the countless hours walking and feeling very tired. I´m going to make a list of whats whats made this year for me, the best year of my life so that all of you can see.

- Leaving home for the first time and living completely isolated from my family and friends but finding that you can find family and friends anywhere you go.
- Really learning how to study whether its the scriptures, language, or other people my mind has really been opened up.
- Learning how to be patient with the people, with my companions, with myself, and with God.
- Learning how to be humble...and continuing to be humbled everyday.
- Finding it really hard to adjust wearing a skirt every day and then finding that the days I go out without one on and feel like I am missing something.
- Arriving in a country where I had no clue what was going on and not being able to understand or communicate with anyone besides my companions and having to deal with it.
- Having to rely 100% on the spirit all the time and feeling the effects when I don´t.....
- Almost breaking my leg my first transfer coming down a mountain but after recieving a priesthood blessing being able to continue working....(to this day I really think I may have broken it or cracked it but that God healed me)
- Getting kissed by several Argentine men...enough said.
- Eating so much eggs oil and mayo that I wanted to barf and now finding that if some things dont have one of those main ingredients I am just not satisfied!! How disgusting.
- Getting fed so much by members that I seriously thought I was going to throw up. I think sometimes they forget that Hermanas cannot eat as much as elders.
- Playing games in the streets with my companions and having conversations that just seem to last all day....and finding sometimes that I have conversations with myself that last all day....I am not crazy I promise.
- Really learning when and how to lead and when and how to follow. There definately is a difference and a need for both for everyone.
- Learning how to listen and that God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.
- Learning and appreciating that crying is normal and sometimes needed.
- Kneeling down at my bed some nights with so much joy in my heart that I can even express in words to God how I feel...and other nights kneeling down and begging for help and for answers and feeling completely alone. Praying with your whole soul is an art it takes a life time to develop and keep it up....
- How to take care of myself.....physically, spiritually, mentally......
- Finding that sometimes we feel like no one is there to pick us up when we are down but the Savior is always there with open hands to help us up we just have to reach up and take his hand.
- Laughing and the most simple of things.....
- Seeing the beauty in the simple things I think I have really come to see nature in a different light here. It is one of the biggest manifestations of Gods love and power for us. Whether its the perfect form of a tiny flower. The beauty of an aged tree, or the resonance of a thunder clap that rings in your chest as you see the sky light up with lighting.
- The days that have passed for me feeling so hot walking that I seriously thought I was getting sucked dry from the sun and other times when no matter how many clothes you have on your still cold.....Extremes in many cases...
- Having a surgery by a hairy chested man with a gold chain around his neck and being so concerned about the fact that he had a face mask on and not a chest mask! 
- Being pampered by the elders after my surgery and really feeling like a princess.
- Wanting to kill the elders at times as well.....I am always having to remind myself....they´re only 19....
- Finding that if you have desire you really can overcome anything with the lord....whether its painful or not.
- Feeling the spirit so strong that you cry and watching other people feel the spirit so strong you cry. Also being so disappointed and frustrated that you cry. Basically a lot of crying.....but not all at once. ;)
- Walking in the street half asleep and somehow still arriving at the place we had planned to go....
- First dreams in Spanish.....and talking in my sleep in Spanish....(well thats what my companions say)
- Finally being able to understand and speak in Spanish whether its giving directions, teaching a lesson, or just talking to kids....it feels good to be able to commmunicate.
- Seeing and living in the culture
- Walking in the country and looking out at the orchards and the fields with trees and the mountains with the sun just right and feeling like you get just a glimpse of what heaven must be like...
- Seeing people dressed in the traditional Argentine clothing.
- The Vindimia and watching the girls crush grapes with their feet and seeing them paraded around with their dresses and being called princesses.
- Eating my first grape off the vine. 
- Being so sick and not being able to function....
- Meeting and being companions with some of my best friends no matter where they are from.
- Seeing kids play in the streets and remembering my childhood.
- Finding that Satan really doesn´t like missionaries and will do anything to prevent us from having success.
- Having doors and windows slammed in your face, and having people say such mean things to you that you want start crying but then you remember how Christ must have felt and you keep on going.
- Seeing the change spiritual and physical that comes over people when they accept the gospel and just being awed at the perfection of the plan of God.
- I love walkig down the streets and seeing everyone drinking mate and playing with their family.....
- I also think its funny when people see us coming and take off running the other way or quickly get into their house and close the door so they just dont have to talk to us. 
- The fact that a birthday here is as about important as Christmas and you can comit anyone to do anything if they have a birthday to go to ....even if it is their second cousins friends daughter that is turning one.....Yes its that big of a deal here.
- I think that the amount of holidays here is wonderful.....almost every week we have one so I am going to start implementing that into my life when I get home...
- I love that as we walk down the streets we smell a range of smells from delicious panaderia smells to asado to asequia......hahah I love it.
- The fact that the members basically become your family here and to leave them is so hard.
- Receiving any type of mail in the mission is basically like opening a birthday gift. Its the best!
- Being blessed to have a great mission president who always is there to give me counsel when I need it. Also to have a great Mission Presidents wife who is like our mom here in the mission....but they can never really replace my real parents.....never.
- Finding that I look tireder and older every day and finding that my face might get stuck like that forever!! hahaha.
- Having some of the most embarrassing experiences in the mission and some of the most amazing...They seem to balance each other out and they all make for great stories!
- Finding that I have given one year of my life to the lord and still feel like it is never going to be enough because even though I sacrificed that one year, he has given me more blessings and blessed my family with more that I could ever have asked for....

This is how I count 1 year in the mission, even though there is so much more. Sometimes words just can´t describe the feeling and to be able to tell someone what you have been doing for the last year in a letter just doesn´t do it justice.....but I have tried to express just some of the things that have been highlights to this last year in my mission. I know that the next 6 months will have even more blessings, trials, and incredible experiences that I just feel so humbled and blessed to be here.
So heres to the next 6 months!! May they be as fruitful and exciting as the last year has been!

Love you all!
Hermana Anderson

So whats up?

Cool. So this week I was sick at the beginning of the week and my comp E. Celis was sick at the end of the week and we are both fighting a stuffy nose and kinda sore throats. hahaha TOO AWESOME EH!? Anyways. thats pretty much the coolest thing that happened this week. JKS!! This past weekend. Friday, Saturday and Yesterday, Gladys Knight came to town and by town I mean ATLANTA!!! It was super cool! She is actually a member of the Church and was raised right here in Atlanta! So we had a fireside where she came and performed for members, non-members and whoever else wanted to come to the church to listen. Basically what it was is her and her choir sang songs and performed for us, and her husband and her bore their testimony about how they came to find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how they know it is the true church! So I went yesterday night with some of the people we are teaching and I am expecting to hear some of the hymns we sing but NO! We rocked out hard core in the chapel and gym to some southern baptist music! It was so sweet!!! They also told us that 53% of our hymns in the hymn book were actually written by other denominations. Cool fact eh? Anways it was really really cool and there were people standing clapping and waving and praising the Lord. After that experience I kinda thought I was black, but a quick glance to my hands told me otherwise.. I think I am on the inside anyways. hahah So it was really cool to hear her testimony about the restored gospel and overall I think it was a really great experience. They told everyone things about the Book of Mormon like how it is not an adversary to the Bible but rather a companion. It is simple and clear. It is another Testament of Jesus Christ. Read it. Its the only way to find out for yourself. Thats just one example of the things they said. It was really cool. So pretty much that was the coolest thing ever. Thats about it for my week here. Its getting colder and foggy. I love you all!! Keep being cool.

Elder Anderson

Hey!!

This week has been pretty sweet!! We had transfers on Wednesday and it was a little wierd not going to the meeting for transfers since E. Celis and I stayed together again which is awesome!! It was sad to see a really good friend go home and I guess it hit me that I will one day go home. This really doesn't last for forever. hahaha Other than that I really cant think of any new news that you would wanna hear. We are working with a investigator thats 14 and got permission from her mom to teach her and so we are excited to teach both her and the mom. They are friends of our recenct convert so thats awesome!! Oh! Something cool I just remembered. This week we went to a Quince.. pretty much its like a big 15th birthday party for the hispanic girls. Its kinda like the sweet 16 but I think it means more to the girls here. Cuz we went and they rented out this event hall and I thought I was at a wedding. hahaha lets just say they love their parties. It was cool to stay there for a bit and see how it went down. I almost participated in a catholic mass ceremony because I misunderstood the catholic priest hahahaha luckily a memeber told us what was actually happening so that was fun. hahahaha I am so glad I am a member of this church. Seriously if I wasn't I dunno what I would do. Thanks for the pictures! I loved them! Emma and Hyrum and getting huge! I didn't recognize them in one of the pictures and I was like freaking out. Dave still looks skinny and so does Tim. Pretty sure I will be not only the tallest but strongest brother when I get home. Todd still will have the biggest neck but what is he going to do with that in a wrestling match. Anyways I know you all love me and I cant wait to get home and see you all.

Love ya!

Elder Anderson

P.S. I am a little disapointed I never got any halloween candy from you all. I had to resort to tricking kids in the branch to share with me and then trade them back for the best candies they have. hahahaha

HEY Family!

Thanks for all the brithday wishes I felt so loved....So I will give you a little list of the things we did on my birthday just so you know how it went. 

I wake up every morning at about 6:25 and then say my prayers and go into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I am always the first one up in the pench so I always wake everyone else up. So I woke up on the day of my birthday but I seriously forgot it was my birthday I just wasnt thinking about it. So I am praying on my bed and all of a sudden our door flies open and I am like what the heck why are the other Hermanas awake?! Whats going on!? So then I get pounced! Hermana Thatcher jumps onto me on my bed which is the bottom bunk I might add. With a party hat and everything! I was like OH YA!!!!! ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Hahah I was so out of it! So they came in with a big sign that said Feliz Cumple Hermana Anderson!! Then our phone rang and it was the zone leaders and my district leader and they sang Happy Birthday to me which was really sweet of them. Then we all got up and just were talking and laughing and I went in to start making myself some breakfast and they kicked me out. They made me breakfast. Bananna pancakes mmmmmm so good. So we had that and then it was gift time. Hermana Thatcher and Dana bought me a yellow scarf.....I hope I can use it one day haha its so stinkin hot here. Then I opened the package from you guys and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it so much! I was laughing so hard because Lindsay the spanish you wrote on it makes absolutely no sense at all! seriously We were all like uhhhhhhhh hahahahaha. But its the thought that counts! I love you still. So the cards were all great I love the pillow case but I am not going to sleep on it I have it hanging up on our wall in my room along with all our pictures. So the candy I was so excited a bunch of my favorites thanks so much! I LOVED the CD's all the other Hermanas are going to make copies they are so jelous. I just was smiling so wide listening to all the music I could and I love it so thanks so much. It was perfect. Then we gpt dressed and I put on my birthday dress thanks mom haha. We had lunch with a member and that was nice just low key nothing special we had pasta and I think it made me sick.....anyways then we went out and worked that afternoon and right before we came back to the pench that night we stopped by this hot dog place we have been wanting to try forever and we ate there and it was good. We called the other Hermanas and they met us there. It was fun. So then as we were walking back to the pench and just right outside of it the Zone Leaders were sitting right outside on a bench! We were like what the heck! What are you doing here? So they shook our hands and just were saying they had to drop of reibursments to the other Hermanas to take to the offices and then Elder Obaldia pulls out a little wrapped gift and gives it to me and says Feliz Cumple Hermana disfruta. I was like ah man thanks! So that was really nice his birthday was the day after mine so we called him the next day and sang to him and I got him a big coke for his birthday cause thats what he loves. Anyways he had bought a little box of chocolates for me from this place thats really good. I havent eaten any yet though because starting the next day I got sick.....so all of Saturday and Sunday I have been in the pench just running in and out of the bathroom all day. I think I have lost some weight as I havent really been able to eat anything. Hermana Packer has me on a liquid diet and so hopefully I lost some weight hahahah. So ya the weekend was kinda sucky but ya. Hermana John has been sick to with me so its been kinda a terrible weekend but what can you do. My stomach is still a little tender today so I am trying to take it easy but we will see what happens. Anyways so my birthday was good. I really enjoyed it. Different for sure but everyone was really kind in trying to help make it a special day. 
So we got transfer calls and of course me and John are staying together again I have to finish training her in this new program we are doing. We are together for 2 transfers and then we split up. Hermana Thatcher is leaving and I am really sad to see her go. We have become really great friends and she has helped me through some hard times. She is going to San Juan to be with Hermana Wilde! I am so jeleous. She knows.. haha. She called Hermana Wilde to tell her when she would be there and I was able to talk to her so that was good. I really miss her a lot she said she really misses me too. This is her last transfer....so I wont see her again till I get home. So sad. I know the feeling scott was talking about. You get so close to people here and to leave its so hard sometimes. I just hate goodbyes its so hard especially because some of the people I never may see again. But thank goodness for the plan of salvation. Anyways this next week we are hoping for a lot of sucess and we are going to work hard. We have a ward part this week and that should be fun I will get some pics and try and send them to you. I love you all so much I miss you all. Loved all the costumes the kids are getting so big. I couldnt recognize emma or hyrum either they are soooo big!! I cant believe it!! Anyways until next week!!

LOVEYOU!
H. Anderson