Hey Family

So this week has been interesting and really funny actually. So this
week we went to the house of one of our menos activos and she is so
funny. Because she is always saying that she is in apostasy and that
her ¨husband¨ is in apostasy and that her neighbors are in apostasy.
She lives in really really reeeeeeally humble and bad conditions but
we love her so much. So we went to contact a reference from her and
that we headed over to the bishops house to take the daughter out to a
lesson we had and while we were waiting for her to get ready we were
just talking with them and telling them that we were just with this
menos activo. They looked at us and were like ohhh hermanas....be very
careful...don´t go into that house. Hermana Medina and I just kinda
laughed and were like why? We know the husband is a little strange and
she never lets us see him but like whats the problem....anyways he
proceeded to tell us that she is like dealing drugs and what not and
that there are just really bad things going on in the house. We looked
at eachother and then remembered that during the lesson as I was
sharing the scripture with her some young guy came to the door she
went out for a little bit and when she came back in she was putting
something into her pocket.....I was trying to focus on the spirit
obviously so I didn´t think any of it but after we came to the
realization that we were sharing scriptures in the middle of a DRUG
DEAL! we were laughing so hard but its really sad! We are so protected
by the lord and its so incredible because we just love everyone! We
truly feel that love that the Lord has for these people. We have been
seeing some miracles this week and also Satan is working really hard
at trying to discourage our inv. Our 2 inv. that are going to be
baptized this weekend are saying they don´t want to but now saying
that they just need more time. But we have a lesson with them tonight
so we are going to go and try to invite the spirit  really strong and
help them overcome their doubts.

We had stake conference yesterday and we had a member of the 70 one of
the counselors in the presidency of South America. Elder Foster. He is
from Rigby Idaho and spoke a lot on the family. I went and said hi
after and while talking with his wife she was like I think we are
related my maiden name is anderson  etc. So that was kinda cool. We
also were singing in the Stake Chior so that was fun. Anyways we have
lots to do this week and are doing companion exchanges this week with
some other Hermanas so I have to go and help them in their area. I am
excited cause the Hermana I am going to help is soooo funny and we are
just going to work and laugh all day! Theres nothing better!

Anyways thats all for this week!

Love you all!!

Hermana Anderson

Hey guys..

So this week was pretty fun. Alot of wierd things have happened this week. First of all there was an emergency transfer because our mission president needed my companion to go to another area to help out some elders so I got a new companion and he is from MEXICO! His name is E. Martinez and he is awesome. So this week we just worked like crazy and saw a ton of miracles. Lately we have been trying to follow the spirit a lot more and I have seen how when we actually look and listen it speaks to us. Also I have realized that 95% of the time it really is just thoughts that I have and I like how David A Bednar counciled us. He said too often we worry about wether its us or the spirit. If its something good just do it and dont worry about that. I have realized that I can recognize that it was the spirit after I have acted on that good impression. So we had a lot of examples like that this week where many of our appointments fell through and rather than being down we though well where does the Lord want us right now because this appointment fell through for a reason. Everytime we have found someone who needed us to come by and teach them. Its super cool! One lady we started to teach has a daughter who was in a lot of pain and super sore from something that happened earlier in the day and she was like practically crying and limping and so we followed our impression to give her a blessing and afterward she got up of the chair and walked without a limp or anything back to her room and the next day we went to her house and she came sprinting down the street to us to tell us that her mom wasn't there at that time. Crazy? I think not. We really have the authority to act in the name of the Savior! Its cool! Another cool thing was we had all of our plans fall through so we decided to visit one more person and when we parked the car we saw some random Mexicans, (They really are from mexico I am not stereotyping here) playing volleyball in the backyard of their trailer. hahaha they had made a homeade net and they were playing volleyball with a soccerball. So we walked over and there were probably 9 or 10 of them and they were all drinking beer and having a good time and they looked at us like "who are these guys." hahaha its like one of those awkward moments where noone really says anything and your all just looking at eachother and kinda wondering whats going on. hahaha so anyways we were like hey we are the missionaries and this is what we do..etc. and then we were like so can we play with you? hahaha They were playing 2 on 2 so it was perfect! At first they were like are you really going to play in your suits? There was no grass it was just dirt and yeah.. hahaha so we started playing and we totally beat them! hahaha it was so funny! hahaha they were like man we were the best players here and now we are humbled!! All of the other guys were like yelling at their friends, your not going to win, your playing against God hahaha it was so funny. hahaha so after they were like he you guys can come back and play with us again we do this everynight! hahaha We haven't gone back yet but we will probably see them again hahaha. Anyways that was my week. It was pretty funny and I had fun. I love you all! Keep being awesome!

E. Anderson

Hey y'all.
Did you like that southern accent? Anyways this week has been pretty
good. We have been really focusing on trying to re-activate people.
There are lots of people for whatever reason just dont want to come to
church and it can be really frustrating because they tell us they know
they should go and things like that.. Its really sad. Another sad
thing is one of the youth yesterday was like hey E. Anderson I wanna
talk to you so we went and talked and he just expressed how he doesn't
know if the church is really true and whatnot and it was sad because
this kid is 1 out of 2 active teachers and has been a member his whole
life. It made me sad because  we struggle with the youth programs and
then when they have problems like that its sad. We talked and he
seemed to be looking for more factual things that the church is true.
After talking for 45 min I realized that nothing I said was going to
change him, not that I was even telling him facts or anything but
really he needs to get that spiritual confirmation. As we talked he
told me he has never prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and
so I invited him to read it and do that. I was so frustrated after
because I want so bad to just help these people see the truth. I have
realized that our testimonies come from bearing them. Every time we
bear our testimony to someone it grows so much stronger. I really dont
believe its enough to bear it just on fast sunday. We dont have to go
up to our friends and say Hey I want to take this opportunity to bear
you my testimony but just as you talk you can bear testimony of simple
truths like man I know that everytime I pray I feel better. I know
when I read the book of mormon I feel happier. Bear testimony in
questions. Like do you think that tithing really works? I think it
does cuz everytime I have paid mine I always somehow have enough.
Anyways.. you get the point. Thats kinda what I have been thinking out
lately. We need to help our less actives come back!!! Whats the point
of getting new members if they go inactive ya know? ok another cool
thing this is an email I got from an elder who was in Mexico and
talked about when e. Bednar came and talked to them I am sorry I dont
write emails like this.. I wish I could..

The first thing he talked about was note taking. We just write down
what the speakers say. A false tradition. Thats the differnence
between the large plates and small plates of nephi. We need small
plates not large plates. A place to write our spirtiual experiences
and impressions. He also talked about that oh so famous game in the
church ¨Guess whats in my head¨. I know it as ´´fishing for an
answer´´. He explained how fishing for an answer, or in otherwords,
trying to get the student to say what youre thinking, destroys agency
and the spirit in a lesson. It was way cool how he described it all,
but for lack of detailed notes, and lack of time, Ill stick to the
basics.´ About 3 weeks ago, we were given 2 talks from Elder Bednar,
one is called something like Learning by Faith, and the other sincere
prayer or maybe prayer of faith. I dont really remember their names
that well. but the 2 talks are way awesome. And so the whole
conference was like a review of what we learned from those talks. The
guy lives Preach My Gospel. In the way that he taught, I could see
every major principle from Preach My Gospel. The whole
lesson/talk/discussion was a review of our commitment that we had been
given of those 2 talks. He called on missionarys to share what they
learned, and then he explained more and amplified what they said. Hes
a master at teaching.  One of the things that stuck out to me is a
prayer that he one day hopes to hear in church. In place of ¨Bless
those that arent here that they can come next week´ something more
like ´Father, there are many not here today. And everyone here knows
at least one person that should be here, help us to go get them. I
know its fast sunday and were all hungry, but before we go home, were
going to go visit these people. I know I dont have the authority to
commit the whole ward to do this, so if the bishop has a problem with
what Im saying, he can stop me in any moment. But If he doesnt stop
me, Im just gonna keep on going.´ There was a lot more to his prayer,
But I dont remember all of it. But he asked us ´Who has the faith to
make that prayer?´ And I gotta say, very few. But thats what a prayer
of faith is. When Nephi was bound in ropes by his brothers, he didnt
ask God to send angels to free him. He said ´give me strength, and ill
break these freaking ropes´ Well...more or less that what he said. I
seem to have forgotten the english translation. We pray, study and go
to the church and temple as as if were objects. That was pretty much
the theme of his talk. And its very true. ¨God, change this situation¨
´God, here im reading my scriptures, give me my blessings.´ ¨God, I
went to the temple today, where my magical package?¨ He explained how
it is that we are free agents and given power to act for ourselves,
and not to be acted upon. We also had a Q&A with him. It was pretty
cool. Sometimes he would call on his wife or one of the 70s that was
there to answer a question. but all the answers were way awesome. The
first question was about revelation and how to recognize the spirit.
He told us he doesnt why everyone about fusses about recognizing the
spirit. What we have to recognize is when the spirit leaves. When you
see a bad movie and then go home, you cant have much confidence in
your revelation. But if your living worthily and taking the sacrament,
then you have the promise to have the spirit with you always. Just
pray and act. Thats the formula. More than not youll never recognize
the revelation that comes into your lfie. You just make a decision,
and have that faith that God is behind you helping you to make that
decision. Doubt and fear are opposites of faith. D&C 80 says It
mattereth not where ye shall go, you cannot go amiss. Or something
like that He also said 2 things thatll stay with me. The guys blunt.
The first thing was actually a quote from one of the prophets, I dont
remember which. But it went something like this ´You foolish youth who
ask for faith. You have no idea what youre asking for.´ Bednar gave us
a huge warning on asking for more faith. You recieve no testimony
until after the trial of your faith. He said that if we ask for faith,
God well send us a trial that will make or break our faith He also
said that in all the world he sees mormon parents who cripple their
children. He said it in a way that would offend many, but with
missionarys, we love it when apostles talk like that. He told us that
the best thing that a convert can ever say to us is this ¨I dont need
you. You have a responsability to preach. Go do it. I have the
scriptures, the words of modern day prophets, and I have friends and a
bishop in the church that can help me. Go away.¨ And basically that is
oru purpose as missionarys. We have to help our investigators be self
suffiecent. Its the same responsability of parents. There are parents
who dont let their children act. ´Sit down and listen to me talk´ Is
the famous model of teaching in all the world. And it destroys agency.
Kids who hate family home evening and only go for the cookies and ice
cream afterwards. Hes says that a better model is to talk with them.
Let your kids/investigators ask questions. And if you dont know the
answer, how freaking awesome is that. What an opportunity to teach
them how to study and find out answers for themselves.  At the end of
this conference I came to a very real conclusion that I still dont
understand agency. Before the conference I had been thinking about a
few things. About victims and creators. Are we victims or creators of
our circumstances. And Im starting to realize what that really means.
Another interesting thing. He told us that he doesn’t know if hes ever
been discouraged. But he has felt overwhelmed. And that its neccesary.
The dangerous months for a missionary are the last 4. When the
missionary already thinks he knows what hes doing. For a Bishop, the
last year or 2. Same with stake presidents. And the dangerous year is
the last year for mission presidents. We should be the most
overwhelmed at the end than in the beggining. We have to always rely
on our creator. He, as an apostle, feels more and more overwhelmed the
more time that he has been an apostle.  All in all, it was a cool
experience. Has mastered the gospel. I cant find another way to
explain it. Hes beyond competent. Divenly guided. Hes an apostle, what
need I say more?
Anyways I love you all!!! Keep it real!
E. Anderson

Hey Family!

Well it was great to see you all and talk to you yesterday! This week
was a good one we found this really cool family when we were looking
for some less active families to teach and talked to them. The mom
told us that they recently gave up going to the evagelico church for
reasons of doctrine. So we were excited that she is looking for the
truth. She also said her husband has been studying the Bible a lot and
like to compare etc. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and commited her
to read it with her husband. We have an appoinment to go back on
Wednesday so we are excited about them. So we have lots to do this
week we are just trying to help our inv. get prepared for baptism we
have stake conference this weekend and then the next weekend a couple
baptisms so we are busy busy. I feel like the weeks are just flying
by. I feel just like in a routine everyday. Wake up shower, eat,
study, comp.study, language study, work, eat lunch, work again plan
and sleep. It´s going to be really weird not having that routine when
I come home. I am going to try really hard though to continue to live
as much like a missionary as I can because I know it will help me keep
a lot of the goals I have made here. I can´t believe how big all the
little kids are getting. I feel like they are so grown up now. Time
sure flies. We have a goal as a late to read Preach My Gospel in 40
days. Its such a great challenge I feel like I learn so much just
trying to read through things fast and get an overall general view of
what it teaches. I have done that with the Book of Mormon before too
and its really cool to see everything just connect. I love it. Anyways
this isn´t going to be a very long one as I just talked to you all
yesterday. Just know I love you all so much and hope you all have a
wonderful week!!

Love Always
Hermana Anderson

Hey family

Well its been a great week and a week of learning for me. I feel like
the lord has given me a lot of opportunities to learn in these last
few days. I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by. I feel like
I just started this transfer last week and we are already almost
ending it! Time in the mission is such a strange thing. I was able to
have some really cool experiences this week in my studies and also in
apply a lot of the things that the prophets taught us in conference. I
love that we are so blessed to learn from them and apply the things we
learn to our lives each individually. I have been going over my notes
and studying some of them and have gained great treasures of knowledge
just like the scriptures promise us we can receive. Its an amazing
thing when we use our faith and agency in the right way and the lord
blesses us. 
We had the great oppotunity to teach a few families this
week and we are really excited about them. We will be working with
them a lot more this week. We are teaching English in the church to
some of our investigators and others and we are having sucess with
that. Its been cool to see the Lord help us reach out to people in a
different way. I was able to bear my testimony often this week about
Jesus Christ and the importance of this gospel in my life. I was
sitting in a lesson listening to some investigators talk about their
lives etc. and as I testified about the things I have learned through
the gospel I couldn´t help but try to imagine my life without the
gospel.....I couldn´t do it. It has litterally become part of who I
am. What a great knowledge it is to know that God is our Heavenly
Father and that Jesus Christ died for each one of us so that we could
live again. I am so greatful for that knowledge especially in this
easter season when we remember him even more. I love being out here
and teaching people about this message and seeing this faces light up
and gain more hope and faith when they pray for the first time or bear
testimony to us. I am sure God feels the same way for each one of us.
This week I am going to be trying to make lots of changes again. I
just love changing and the mission is such a great place to do it. It
is the only way in progressing and becoming more like the savior and I
have so much to change. But I love you all and hope you all had a
wonderful Easter. Keep putting the Lord first and looking for his hand
in every moment.....you will find it.

Lots of Love.
Hermana Anderson

Hey guys!

So I bet your wondering why my subject said coolest week ever right? Well let me tell you.. I found a giant 3 leaf clover this week.. I talked to some people about my irish heritage.. It was St. Patricks Day last week..  how is that not cool? No but anyways things have been really interesting here lately.. I feel like down here where I am serving there is a ton of segregation still.. hahaha isnt that intense? All the time black people just look at me like I am a walking disease or just are super rude to us.. its so funny. hahahaha I dont know if its because I am white or because people just hate mormons here. hahaha the other day we were tracting and this lady was like hey do you want a beer? and I was like no mam we dont drink alcohal and it was so funny then she preceded to ask if I wanted to smoke dope with her.. hahaha lets just say some people are wierd.. hahaha then we ran into this group of black kids for the second time and they asked us a bunch of wierd questions... They were like well we heard you guys go around saying nice things and then they teach you completely different stuff at your church ahahahah I pretty much just looked at the kid and was like do you really buy that? Thats so ridiculous! hahaha it was funny. but yeah other than that we are just trying to find more hispanics.. hahaha Yesterday we had a cool dinner apointment where this guy told us all these crazy stories about him and showed us all his guns and he was telling us a story about when he was in Washington and then out of no where he was like quote" Satan appeared to me... twice.." I started laughing and he just looked at me like he wasnt kidding in the least bit so I was like are you serious?! hahaha and he looked at me and was like yeah. He did. he wanted me to take the lords name in vain and I told him to get behind me. I just fought through the urge to laugh and was I had a look on my face like oh my gosh what just happend.. hahaha it was so funny.. The wierdest thing is I think I believe him.. He is super funny and a super strong member.. I am just glad we have the priesthood authority to act in Gods name. There is some wierd stuff down here I am not going to lie.. Anyways I love you guys!! Keep praying for us!! We are loving it!

E. Anderson

HEY Family!!!

Well this week has been a good one getting into a schedule and trying to
get a good grove going with my new comp. We are working well together and I
can´t believe how different it is training a latin. Its definitely a very
different experience. We have had some good lessons this week and found
some good news. I have been trying to get a more organized study program
going on for myself and I feel like the Lord is helping me and showing me
how to be organized. I really love how the lord is blessing me. I think its
such a great experience being a trainer in the last months of the mission
because it helps you get more focused and get back to the basics. I love
that. I feel like its something we all lack sometimes. So I had some great
talks with Hermana Bedke this week and I am learning a ton and starting to
see how much the mission prepares you for life....I sometimes feel like
life before the mission was just a dream. That my real life is here in the
mission. So apparently there was an earthquake in Chile where my comp. is
from and it was like a 6.6ish and Hermana Bedke and Navarro felt it. We
were walking in the street so we didn´t feel anything. We have this one
investigator that is progressing really well and he wants to be baptized on
the 7th of April so we are trying to get him prepared for that. I am sooooo
excited for Conference this weekend. I seriously get more excited for
Conference than for any other thing in the mission. I cannot believe how
fast it has come again. I am making a goal and it is also a goal that we
have extended to many investigators and menos activos and conversos
recientes, to write down a list of questions or concerns etc. and take it
to conference and watch how the Lord answers our prayers through the
prophet and the apostles. I am excited to recieve more personal revelation.
I had to laugh to hear Scotts´s experience in Atlanta in the South where he
gets so much racisms and down here being of a different race or country
brings such a different reaction from the people. Some good reactions and
others not wanted. Mostly from men and young boys. I feel like a celebrity
some times down here and it just makes me laugh. So today for P-Day we
played in the church with the elders but we had to go find a ball at a
members house and so me and my comp. ran down there and there was like 3
dogs outside the house that almost bit my face off! She ran behind me
because she is deathly terrified of Dogs and I was just like seriously
Dogs!!! This is the third time in like a month I swear! Luckily nothing
happened because I stood my ground and the dog walked away finally but for
real its a miracle that I haven´t been bitten by now. But thats the perks
of being on the Lords team. He always has your back!

I love you all!
Hermana Anderson