Feliz Navidad

     Hey there! FELIZ NAVIDAD!! This isn´t going to be a very long letter cause I want to tell you about this week in person when I talk to you on Wednesday!! This week was a good one! Maria was baptized and confirmed and her whole family came. They are all Catholic, so it was interesting, but neat. I will tell you more about it when we talk. Also remind me to tell you about our mission Christmas party that we had on friday. I´ll send some pictures of the happenings of this week. Love you guys so much and can´t wait to talk to you all!! See you soon!

     Just wanted to share a thought I had this morning actually in my personal study... Joseph Smith, along with some of the early saints, formed Zion´s camp in 1834 in order to go from Kirtland to Missouri to help the saints that were facing persecution there. By all appearances the camp appeared a failure, but the Lord revealed in DyC 105 his reasons for the camp. The prophet Joseph said, we were never meant to go and fight in Missouri. The point was that the Lord wanted to see if the men were worthy, obedient and faithful priesthood holders. A bunch of men from Zion´s camp ended up becoming leaders in the church in later years. I applied Zion´s camp to the mission. At times we feel like we´re not accomplishing a lot, but the Lord´s purposes are different than ours. The mission is to try us, to see if we´ll be faithful to the commandments, and to prepare us to become leaders in the future. 

Hope that made sense! Love you guys so much!! Have a wonderful Christmas eve and I´ll see you soon! Chau! 

Love, Hermana Anderson

Mission Christmas party

Mission Christmas party

Maria's baptism

Great Week!

     Buenos Dias! This week was super great for us here in ¨the breezes.¨ Our mission motto lately has been ¨creer in milagros,¨ which means believe in miracles. In our training meeting with Elder Waddell he said that he liked our motto, but that maybe just as important in believing in miracles is ¨crear milagros,¨ or create miracles! This week as a zone we decided to put this into practice. As a zone President gave us the goal of 13 baptisms in the month of December. We also took on the goal of 15 baptismal invitations this week per companionship. We reached the goal and even went beyond! This week Hna Aguero and I had lots of cool experiences with invitations.

     First, we were able to put a date with Gustavo! He kept putting off a date because he said he wanted to be baptized next year in order to start the year off right. He finally accepted for Saturday the 4th of January! He is so ready and I´m so excited for him!! 

     Do you remember Hno. Quesada? Our investigator who is 82? We´ve just been waiting on his son to have an interview with the bishop to be able to baptize his dad, and yesterday he finally had his interview! At church yesterday his son, Aldo, came up to us and asked us what day his dad could be baptized! They accepted the 28th of December! Aldo also told us that he has a 16 year old niece that he would like to baptized as well. Apparently she was hearing the missions before and wanted to be baptized, but wanted her uncle Aldo to be able to baptize her. In one week we went from having one person with a baptismal date to 3, maybe even 4!! I know that faith, obedience and diligence create miracles, because these things invite the spirit, and the spirit is what creates miracles.

     We had our ward Christmas activity this weekend and it went great! We had a talent show, so our whole zone came to perform a talent for the ward. Our Christmas party with the whole mission is this Friday, and there we are going to have a ¨bottle band.¨ We are going to play Jingle Bells and Rudolph in empty coke bottles. We performed for our ward this weekend to practice and it sounded really cool! It was pretty funny and the ward loved it. We also sang some Christmas songs in English, so that was fun. Our ward is amazing!!! We have so much support from the members. At the activity one of our new investigators named Angel came and the members just flocked to him. At the party I was talking to Angel telling him about the mission and how we put everything aside for a year and a half or two years to serve the Lord. He said, ¨Wow, that must be really hard.¨ But then he thought for a minute and told me, ¨But the path of Christ isn´t easy is it?¨ What he said reminded me that even though the mission can be hard and even frustrating, we are walking the path of Christ. It was never easy for him, so why would it be easy for us! I´m glad for that little reminder from Angel.

     Welp I´m super excited to talk to you guys Christmas Day!!! I can´t wait!! I hope everything´s going well at home. I love you and miss you all. See you soon!!

Love, Hermana Anderson 

pics 

ward christmas party

last week with Elder Waddell!

Tender mercies of the Lord

     Greetings loved ones! It is so good to hear from you all!! I am SO excited that Courtney got accepted to UVU!! That makes me so happy! What did you guys end up doing for Colton´s B day? Anything fun?

     Well I got to be honest-- this week was full of ups and downs and had some really stressful points. I was basically worried about 2 things. 1) The baptism of Maria Fernanda and 2) President Borg emailed us all and told us that we would be getting a training from Elder Waddell of the Seventy! What´s more is that we had to prepare a 5 minute lesson on the importance of prayer in conversion to teach in front of everyone including Elder Waddell! So I was a little worried about finding time to prepare a little message about prayer. The night before the training the asistants called us and told me that Elder Waddell had chosen a few people to come in early for personal interviews, and I had been picked for an interview!! I was supposed to come with a doctrinal question in mind to ask him. So of course that night I was just laying in bed thinking about a million questions I could ask a general authority. My interview with him was so awesome!! He answered a lot of questions I had without me even asking them. He also served in Spain so his accent made me really happy haha. Here are just a few things that he mentioned in the training:

• knowing without acting is condemnation. Knowing and acting on what we know is exaltacion.
• Operative Relevance: When something has enough significance in our lives that it operates the way we act. For example the first vision: Does it have enough importance in our lives that we let it influence the way we act?
• There is no mission culture. There is only the Lord´s culture, because this is His mission and I was invited to come. The rules are not an option.
• There are ends and medios (I can´t think of the word in English! Help hah!) in the mission. Our end is that all of our converts enter the temple and are sealed.

There are so many things that he said but I don´t have time today to write everything. I learned a lot and we´ve been trying to apply everything this last week and this week. 

     Maria was going to be baptized Saturday but her mom called us Friday night and said she was sick. We went with an hermano to give her a blessing, and left the rest in the Lord´s hands. She is feeling a little better so with any luck will be baptized this Saturday!! I know there´s a reason we needed to wait, even though I may not understand why.

     Welp sorry I´m short on time, but I love you all and am SOO excited to talk to you CHRISTMAS DAY!! Where will Christmas be this year for you guys? You are allowed to call us for 5 minutes before in order to confirm when we´re gonna talk (can´t talk in English baha). I´ll give you my number and stuff next week!! Love you guys sooo much!! Sorry I don´t have much time this week. Love you! Talk to you next week!

Love, Hermana Anderson

San Cristobal

Hippy Farms and Adventures of the Sort

    Hola familia! First of all, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS Colton!! I can´t believe you´re turning 14 today! I hope you do something crazy cool and fun. Maybe watch Nacho Libre or go to that trampoline place in Kaysville, I don´t remember what it´s called ha. I love you bud!! Keep practicing spanish so that we can talk when I get back!

     

     Well yesterday we had the funnest P day I´ve had in a while. Each month we get a P day where we can leave the mission, and yesterday we drove an hour to Chancay and played baseball and football americano on the beach! We found another zone in our mission there too by coincidence and ate lunch with them. We also explored some caves and visited a ¨hippy farm¨ where a community of people live who grow their own food, don´t use technology... it was pretty interesting. We took a tour of their hare krisha temple and had to take off our shoes to walk around, but it was cool!

     This week we´ve had a great week with our investigators. Remember I told you about Maria Fernanda? The little girl who is 9 and her parents are less active? Well her mom told us that she wants Maria to be baptized THIS saturday, so we had to talk to the bishop and at first he was a little hesitant. Apparently a few things have passed between him and Maria´s dad, so there´s a little contention there. He said that it was ok for Maria to be baptized, but we have to wait for Sunday for Maria´s confirmation. That´s what normally happens, but Maria´s parents wanted it to be this saturday, the same day as her baptism. I think it´s because her parents, especially her dad, don´t want to attend church. We want the confidence of the bishop but we want to help Maria´s family too, so it´s been a little bit stressful this week. If all goes well Maria will be baptized this week by Elder Chatwin in our zone and confirmed on Sunday. Keep your fingers crossed! But more importantly, pray!!

     We had a lesson with Gustavo this week and read with him in Enos. We were talking about repentance when he looked at us and said that it was really hard for him to talk and read about repentance. So... we set up an interview with him and Elder Tuesta, our district leader. I don´t know if it was more the spirit telling me that Gustavo needed more help, or just that I didn´t know what else to do! After, Elder Tuesta told us that yes, Gustavo will need some more time and preparation, but he´s confident that in January he will be baptized. I felt so relieved! Now we know how to best help Gustavo prepare for baptism. Sometimes people need more time, but it´s all according to God´s timing. I´m learning so much more how to follow the spirit and rely on God´s will.

 

     Welp I think that´s it for this week! It looks like you guys had a fun Thanksgiving! It´s weird, it doesn´t feel like December at all cause it´s now pretty hot these days. Enjoy the snow! I love you guys SOOO much!! Thanks for always writing. This last week I read the talk in the September Ensign called something like, ¨The Grace of Christ is sufficient.¨ It is amazing and you should read it when you can. Love and miss you guys!! chau!

Love, Hermana Anderson

Chancay Peru

Chancay

Beach in Chancay

Hippy farm in Chancay

Hippy farm

Vos sos lo maximo

     Hola familia! We had transfers this last week on Tuesday and my I received my new hijita! She is Hermana Aguero from ARGENTINA!! She is from the provincia of San Luis, which is like 12 hours from Buenos Aires but in the mission Mendoza where Courtney is! Don´t worry, I´ve probably brought up the fact with her that my dad served in Buenos Aires, that multiple friends of mine have served or are serving in Argentina like 100 times already. She was only in the MTC here for 2 weeks, so still has her really strong Argentine accent. And she speaks in ¨vos¨ which really got me confused at first ha. I´ve been thinking about dad this whole week cause I´ve been dying to tell you! She says pucha all the time, and che, and a whole bunch of words that I´m trying to learn. What happened is that we were sitting at the reunion for transfers and all the newbies were sitting up on the stage. President Borg always presents the new missionaries, and he told us that two of the hermanas were from Argentina. I was like one of them has got to be mine! Ha and when Hermana Aguero´s picture showed up on the screen I was ¨re feliz¨! She´s super cute and wants to work hard, so I think we´re gonna have a fun, successful three months together. She doesn´t speak a lick of English, but wants to learn, so that´s good ha.

     Basically I´ve just been waiting all week to tell you guys that. I was sad to see Hermana herndandez, buzan and seclen leave, but this is a new phase of my mission that I´m excited to start! Being a trainer is a lot different than I thought. I didn´t expect all this responsibility! Before when we were in a lesson and I didn´t know what to say I could just look at my companion and she would take over, but now when my companion looks at me with a blank stare I have to be in charge! Even when Hermana Aguero is talking about her family or her town she looks at me to see if she´s saying everything okay. Like she really is a little kid and I¨m her mom! It´s a new responsibilty, but I love it and all the things I´m already learning. 

      Right now we have three investigators preparing for baptism... Hermano Quesada, Gustavo, and Maria Fernanda. Maria Fernanda is new, well kinda. Her parents are menos activo so haven´t been super supportive in Maria Fernanda´s baptism. She is 9 and so can be baptized, but just hasn´t had a lot of support from her parents. Her baptism is programmed for the 14 of December, so we´ll see what happens! We´re going to go with our district leaders next week to teach her. She has fear of the water in the baptismal font, so we thought it would be good if she met the elders to get more confidence in them. She´s super cute and I´m excited for her!

     We are having a hard time finding gustavo cause he just started a new job. He hasn´t come to church the last 2 weeks, but we´re not letting that stop us. We´ve been staying in contact with him through text messages and phone calls, and one night we gave him the assignment to read Enos 1. He told us that in the moment he received our text he just happened to have the book of mormon in his hands. It was cool to see the spirit working through us! Gustavo is super ready for baptism, we just need to find him! I know that everything will work out if we´re obedient and keep working hard!

     It´s not possible to write everything that happens here in the mission. SO many things happen everyday! But just know that I am loving it here! The weather is starting to warm up and the cucarachas and coming out. The other night we had to kill a couple in our room, but we´re just thankful it was only a couple! I love you guys so much and miss you! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Eat lots for me! Tell the family I say hello and love them all. Have a great week. Chau!

Love, Hermana Anderson

With mi hija at cambios!

Hna aguero eating her first mango ever

Typical dinner - fish, rice and salad

The park in front of our house

Temple trip, training and transfer

     Hola familia! This past week felt a lot longer than just seven days. We´ve been running around like crazy trying to get everything put together for Hermana Hernandez. I think I´ve been to the mission office more times this week than I ever have in my mission! I´ve also had about 5 different companions this week, because Hermana Hernandez has been going to her other sectors to say goodbye to people. It´´s been fun to be with some different people and see some different teaching styles It´s also been good because last night I found out I will be TRAINING this cambio!! Yep, I´m gonna have a hija! There are 7 hermanas coming in this transfer and 4 of them are coming to our zone, Magdalena. There are also 20 elders coming in and I think 2 of them are coming to our zone. Our mission is growing like crazy and we are all pretty young time wise. I am nervous to train for the first time but also excited! It will be the chance to put into practice everything I´ve learned and to be really obedient. I won´t know til tomorrow if my companion is from the states or any details like that. Nerve wracking, exciting... a new adventure!

     Tuesday when we went to the temple I had a pretty cool experience. I got some personal revelation that I needed and some added strength for this next cambio. The temple is just amazing and beautiful and I love it. After our session we were walking around the temple taking pictures when a man walked up to us and introduced himself as the temple president! He was just taking a nightly stroll around the temple, listening to the scriptures on his iPod in his little exercise clothes. We talked to him a bit and he thanked us for serving a mission here in Lima. It was pretty cool!

     On Saturday our thirteen year old investigator Rodrigo was baptized! He is a cute little kid and reminds me of Colton. I think that all the boys here with Colton´s age just remind me of him ha. But his baptism went great and it was great to have the support of the members. We are teaching Rodrigo´s dad also. Their relationship will be strengthened so much more with the teachings of the gospel. I am learning a lot about family here... how much I love my family, how I want my future family to be... I can see the difference first hand here in a gospel centered home and a home that doesn´t have the church. I´ve realized also that I took our home for granted! I hope you guys are doing things as a family and that you realize how blessed we are!!

     I love you guys and love hearing from you. You always cheer me up and give me an added boost. Love and miss you guys!! Keep writing.

Con amor, Hermana Anderson

Rodrigo's baptism

There can be miracles when you believe

   Ollo! Well this has been another greet week for us here in Las Brisas. I am having fun and learning a lot here.

     On Tuesday we did a service project at an orphanage and helped clean the gardens there. We raked up bushes and weeds and chopped down trees with machetes. It was actually pretty fun! The little kids were in their classes so we didn't get to play with them. They did come out for a second though so we got to see them. It was sad, but I'm glad that at least we could do something to help!

     On Wednesday in our district meeting we had a cool activity that we did as a zone. We split up into different companions.. I was with an Hermana Suqui... and we went out into the streets of Lima with two books of Mormon with the challenge to place them both, give two baptismal invitations, and return with someone with a baptismal date! Hna. Suqui and I were in a market, so we headed to a random fruit stand and talked with the people working there. They were husband and wife, so we gave them a book of Mormon, talked to them about their beliefs, and they told us that they were really interested. We invited them to baptism right then and there, and they both accepted fechas!! The thing is that they don't live in our area, but that's still cool for the elders that work in the area ha. I know that the Lord is preparing people everywhere, and we just have to have the faith to look for them! There are miracles in the mission field.

     We also had a great lesson with Gustavo this week. We had planned to talk to him about fe, and when we got to his house he told us that his friend had given him the "Finding Faith in Christ" video, and that faith had been something on his mind lately. The spirit knows what these people need to hear! Gustavo told us that he has no doubt in his mind that he wants to be Mormon. He just needs to pass his interview now and can be baptized. He has a really strong testimony and is willing to follow Christ.

     We have surprise interviews with President Borg tomorrow as a zone. After that we're going to the TEMPLE!! I am SO excited for the temple! I will take lots of pictures, cause with any luck we'll have some sun. 

     I'm glad to hear that Court's finally gonna get her patriarchal blessing! I know it will really help you. I love you guys so much and miss ya! Hope you're doing fun things as a family.Thanks for always writing. Cuidese!!

Love, Hermana Anderson

 pics: working in the orphanage. Yo con hermana Nunez and Hna Wolfgramm

 all the YW and YM in our stake danced tradicional dances in a big activity. This is our ward!

This is right outside our apartment. Just to show that the sun does exist here!

This is Halloween, Halloween...

     Saludos a todos! Wow it´s so good to hear from you all! Sounds like Halloween was a little different this year, but that´s okay, so was mine ha. For Halloween we bought a bunch of American candy and ¨dressed up¨ in our room by wearing P day clothes during our weekly planning. We made popcorn with M&Ms too. It was fun! Hermana Hernandez thought it was so funny that I love Halloween so much. We saw a couple little kids walking around with their pumpkins, but not many. A few of the members also brought us candy cause they knew how much I love Halloween. It was a pretty fun day!

     This week was a good one for us! There is a recent convert family in our ward who lives on our same street, so we visit them a lot. This last Tuesday we had a family home evening with them and President and Hermana Borg came to visit! Apparently they´re good friends with this family, named the family Correa. My companion was really nervous, but it all turned out really great! The reason they came is because one of the sons in the family is super duper shy and never wants to leave his room for anything. His parents are worried cause all he does is sit in his room and play video games all day every day. President Borg talked about the second coming, and also about patriarchal blessings. The whole family now is preparing to get their patriarchal blessings. Has Court gotten her blessing yet?? If not you should try to get it within the next 3 weeks! President and Hermana Borg really emphasize their importance and how they help us prepare for the second coming. It was weird to have president Borg in our area, but it was a great lesson with the family Correa!

     We had two baptisms programmed for this Saturday, but Hermano Quesada wants to wait until all his family can come from another district. We are trying to have his baptism this Saturday entonces. And Gustavo told us that he broke up with his girlfriend recently so he is having a hard time and wants to take things slow. We are helping him see that the gospel can help him in every aspect of his life. Something that I learned from the Book of Mormon this week is in 1 Nephi 17. Laman and Lemuel were complaining because they didn´t understand that what the Lord had in plan for them was better than anything they had in Jerusalem. We need to have faith that the Lord will always lead us to something better if we keep his commandments. Don´t look behind you! keep moving forward! 

     My companion will be going home at the end of this transfer so I´ve been trying to learn my area really well. It´s a lot bigger than my other area and we all know that I´m so good at directions ha. I´ve got two more weeks to learn my area, so wish me luck! I love you guys soooo much!! Miss you! have a great week! 

Love, hermana Anderson

pics

Halloween party with popcorn and M&Ms

outside the door of a random house ha

Halloween candy we bought at the store for our Halloween party

huaca, huaca

     Greetings loved ones! Wow thanks for sending pictures of the family
Halloween party-- it looks like you all had a lot of fun. I laughed out loud that you dressed up as duck dynasty! I´ve only seen that show a couple times but it´s hilarious. Ah makes me miss all you guys! I am so excited to read all the cousin´s letters! And Colton, sorry you got sick ha.

     Well we had a great and pretty interesting week this week! I want to tell you first what we did yesterday morning for P day. We had a P day personal so hermana Hernandez and I were just walking around our sector looking for something to do. It´s pretty cool cause in our sector we have a lot of old Incan ruins called huacas. I told hermana hernandez that I wanted a picture with one, so we went to a really big huaca that had guards and stuff outside the walls. We asked if we could go in a take a picture, and then this guy with a pony tail came out and offered us a private tour! He told us this huaca was called Mateo salado and it´s not even open to the public till mid November! We walked to the top of what he said was the temple, and he told us that that they´ve found where the people lived and had school. It was sweet! We talked to him about the book of mormon and he thought it was interesting, but then he told us he was atheist. We gave him a pamphlet of the resteration and are going to go back to give him a book of Mormon. It was really cool!

     Saturday was the day of Diego´s baptism, but I woke up Saturday morning with the stomach flu, so hermana Hernandez called some hermanas in the ward to come stay with me while she went with another hermana to Diego´s baptism. I felt bad that I missed his baptism, but I felt a little bit better in the night so we were able to go to my old sector to see the baptism of Ana Maria! She didn´t know I was gonna come so she was so surprised and started crying when she saw me. It was a special experience for me.

     Hermano Quesada (the investigator who´s 82) has a baptismal date for this Saturday. He passed his interview so he´s so excited! I am seeing lots of miracles here and learning a lot about the power of the priesthood. I´m also gaining a much stronger testimony of Joseph Smith. 

     We don´t celebrate Halloween here in Peru, but I think I´m okay with that this year. Hope you have a fun day Thursday!! I lov you guys so much!! Until next week!

Love, Hermana Anderson 

Pictures!  

With Diego and his aunt (yes his aunt) Meche who we´re also teaching

On top of the huaca

Miskita Quyaiki

     Greetings loved ones! We just got back from the Parque de las Leyendas, a big zoo that´s close to my old area. It was fun to do something different, and my zone is awesome. What I love is getting to know so many different people from different countries... Mexico, Peru, Salvador, Chile, Argentina... and everyone has different likes and hobbies. I¨ve learned how to fix cars, how to speak a little qechua, history, science, marine biology... It´s pretty cool all the experiences you get to have in the mission!

   

     This week was a good one for Hermana Hernandez and me, but we also passed through a couple rough days. Right now we have four investigators with baptismal dates! One of our investigators, named Diego, has a date for this Saturday. He IS 14 and is a cool kid with a strong testimony. He´s really turned his life around since he started hearing the lessons and wants to serve a mission someday! He´s a great example for me. Gustavo, Wilfredo and Rodrigo are the other three with baptismal dates. Gustavo is about 25 and really loved when we taught the Plan of Salvation. He told us that he really wants to have a family of us his own, and knows that it wouldn´t make sense to not be with our families forever! Wilfredo is 82 and his wife passed away about a month ago. He told us that he promised his wife that he´d be sealed in the temple to her, and he told us, ¨Hermanitas, I´m not going to leave this earth until I´ve fulfilled my promise.¨ He´s so cute! Rodrigo is 13 and has had a hard life. He leaves with his dad, cause his mom left them when he was really little. It made him grow up fast, he doesn´t act like he´s 13, more like he´s 20 years old. He said he´s a lot happier now that he has friends in the church who are good examples for him. 

     I am SO grateful that I grew up in the gospel! I realize everyday how much I took for granted having the gospel in our home! Even the little things, like how we always spend time as a family, how we eat together, just that we have unity as a family. We are teaching a family who has so many problems in their home, and I just keep thinking, if only they lived the gospel in their home they could avoid so many of these problems!! We don´t realize our blessings until we don´t have them! I love you guys and am so glad that we get to be together forever! Please be examples for everyone that you can. Share the gospel with your friends, even your friends that are members, cause they need to be reminded sometimes too. 

    Sorry if my letters don´t make a ton of sense ha. There´s so much that happens in the week and I just try to get the most important stuff in. I love you guys SO much!! Sounds like you all had a fun UEA weekend. Enjoy the fall weather! We are having a few days of sun which is awesome! Love you! Hasta luego!

Love, Hermana Anderson

Transfers!

     Olo! I have been here in my new area for about a week now-- my area is called Las Brisas in the zone Magdalena. We are close to something called el cercado de Lima... whatever that means! I love, love, love my area here! Most of the houses here are actual painted houses with gates, whereas in my other area everything was brick apartments. It´s a lot nicer here-- there are lots of parks, lots of greenery, plants, flowers... it´s super pretty! Sometimes I actually feel like I´m in California ha. My companion is Hermana Hernandez. She is from Salvador and is going home after this tranfsfer, so I´ll be getting a new companion at the next change. Hermana Hernandez is super nice and just loves life. She loves to laugh and have fun, and the people here just love her. She´s teaching me a lot how to just enjoy every minute of the mission! My zone is really cool too. In my other zone we were just four hermanas, but here we have five companionships of hermanas and four companionships of elders. It´s a lot bigger with lots more hermanas! Hermana Nunez and Hna Seclen are here in this zone-- they were with me in my other zone, Bello Horizonte,so it´s fun to see them and be with them again! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in La Legua, but I know I´m where the Lord wants me to be.

     Hermana Hernandez and I have had some awesome experiences this past week. I was reading in the bible for my study the other day and found a scripture that I really like found in Matthew 9 12-13. We´ve had some experiences that have made me think a lot about these verses. It says, 

    ¨They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 

     But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.¨

The other night we were walking in a park when we walked past a man, limping and pushing his own wheelchair along. We offered to take him where he needed to go, and when we asked where he lived, he told us he lived right there in the park. He said he was on his way to the house of a friend who sometimes gives him something warm to drink when he gets cold. We starting pushing him along and talked to him about our purpose as missionaries and the church. He told us his named was Walter. He said he really wanted to come to our church, so we left him with some pamphlets to read and 2 soles to buy some bread. About 30 seconds after leaving him we both felt like we needed to go back and talk to him some more. He was surprised but happy to see us again. We took him to a bakery and bought him some fresh bread, but I think what he appreciated more was just some company, someone to talk to. When we finally said goodbye, he thanked us and told us that he would never forget us. That experience with Walter was really special and I don´t think I will ever forget him either! 

     We had a baptism of a cute little boy with 9 years named Jose yesterday, and it was so great to see how happy he was! One of our investigators named Rodrigo was also there, and he told us that he liked it so much that he wanted to be baptized too! Rodrigo has 13 years and reminds me a lot of Colton. We went to talk to his dad later that day to ask for permision. At first his dad was a little hesitant, because he said first he wanted to see a change in his son, that he was ready to accept this new responsibility. We read with him in Moroni 10 about how it´s as we come unto Christ that we´re perfected in him. We told his dad that through baptism we come unto Christ and we can become better people than who we were. The spirit was really strong, and his dad agreed to let Rodrigo be baptized! His baptism will probably be in two or three weeks! 

     Here in the mission I have been able to see what Matthew 9 really means. I am seeing that Christ and his gospel are for everyone, everyone of us! No one is excluded from receiving these blessings. I love my mission and am learning so much! I am so grateful for everything the Lord is teaching me. I finished reading the Book of Mormon and I just love that book! I hope you´re still reading! I love you guys so much and hope everything´s good at home!! Pajarin cama! (qechua for see you later). 

Love, Hermana Anderson 

Pics

Yo y hermana Hernandez at transfers! 

baptism of Jose!!

We went to the beach today for P day in Miraflores. It´s an actual nice, pretty beach!!

New companion hermana Hernandez

Beach in Miraflores

Saying goodbye in Le Legua.  I just love these kids.  They just flocked to us every time they saw us.

Baptism of Jose

La Legua Peru, Oct 7, 2013 (30)

     Hola familia! Well to start things out... I have transfers this week!! We found out Saturday night and I did not see a change coming at all! I was surprised and a little sad, but I am also excited to know a new area. It will be weird to have a new ward, new zone, new leaders, new companion... but something I´m learning a lot here is that we can never grow in a comfort zone. We have to be tried and tested, because when we are comfortable or complacent, we cannot grow to our full potencial! I am pretty bummed that I only got to be with Hermana Callister for one change, but she just keeps saying that it was too good to be true. I learned a lot from her and I know we will always be good friends. She is going to BYU after the mission, along with like half my mission ha, so I know we will still see each other after. Today I will have to say goodbye to all my friends here in my ward, and I know it will be hard, but I know that they will be in good hands. I love the people here so much that I can´t even explain why, it´s just crazy how fast we come to leave these people we´re teaching and the people we serve with. I won´t know until tomorrow where I´m going or who I´ll be with, it will definitely be an adventure! Everyone keeps saying that I will be with someone younger than me for about a change or two, and then I will train after that! Whatever happens, I know that the Lord is in this work and he will help me complete any call he gives me.

     Well this week we had a few service projects that were pretty fun. We are pretty good friends with one menos activo that has just started to get reinvolved with the church. Her name is Celia, I think I´ve written about her before. She works in a pharmacy and the other day we went and helped her clean all the shelves and stuff in her store. She is great and always has good advice for us. I will miss her! We also cleaned up a field with artificial grass (turf?) after a championship soccer game, because the mom of one of our investigators works there. We spent almost an hour cleaning up confetti out of the fake grass. It reminded me a bit of my softball days! Service is pretty rare here so I love even the small acts of service that we get to do. 

     It will be hard to leave behind all the people here that I´ve been teaching for so long. I think that I will get to come back for their baptisms, so I´m excited for that! We had to push back the date for Ana Maria, and when she found out she was still going to be baptized, she picked me up off my feet in a bear hug and spun me around!! This lady is like 50 something and she picked me up off my feet she was so happy! Hopefully I will get to come back for her baptism.

     I feel like I could write about what I liked about conference for pages and pages! It was so great! I had so many questions answered, and I just felt like the Lord knew what I needed to hear. I especially liked Elder Holland´s talk and President Monson´s talk. The point of our trials is that we can become better than what we were before. Trials are not a flaw in God´s plan, but an indispensible part of the plan. I am so excited for the Liahona to come out next week so I can read all the talks! We also had 6 investigators come to conference and a few more menos activos, so that was also awesome!

     Welp I love you guys and hope you´re doing well! Sounds like Colton had a good football season this year, and I loved seeing pictures of Court at homecoming. You are beautiful baby sis! Keep practicing Spanish Colton! I love you guys so so so much!! Cuidese todos!!

Con amor, Hna. Anderson

Pics. There was a parade in our area that we stalked so we could take pictures. One of our investigators was in the parade and we were on our way to teach her, so she yelled at us, I won´t be able to make it to the lesson today! It was pretty funny ha. 

2nd picture is with two menos activos that I taught. The abuelita is named Teofila, and the girl is named Ana. She sang Adele´s Rolling in the Deep for me in english. I love them!!

Hola!

     Hello! I can´t believe it´s been another week, time is flying! We´ve seen more progress in our area this week, so it´s been great here. This week we put baptismal dates with three of our investigators, and they´re all wonderful people! We are going to do everything we can to get them to conference this weekend, because we know it will be a great experience for them. I hope that Court had a great birthday! I still can´t believe that she is eighteen. And happy birthday this week dad!! Ojala que su dia sea lo maximo!!

     So this week we now have three people with baptismal dates! Alicia is someone that we´ve been teaching ever since I got here, so at least four months or so. Everytime before when we invited her to baptism she said that it was too cold and that she wanted to wait til summer ha. She is about 60 or so, and she´s been to multiple baptisms in the church so she knows that the water is always freezing. We had a lesson with her the other night and brought a member. We invited her to baptism again and she accepted the date of October 19!! She still likes her coffee so that is a challenge, but we invited her to really pray if it´s something to keep her from baptism. We´re praying for her and are excited for her!!

     One of our other investigators with a date is named Ana Maria. She has had a hard life. I think I wrote about her the other week... she had been living in the street for the past few months and just recently moved into a friend´s house. She told us that she is not happy and wants to change her life. We gave her a book of mormon and taught her about how Christ came to the Americas, and she was just in heaven! It was great to see her so happy. She´s been sick the past couple days so we haven´t been able to teach her, but we are visiting everyday to try and see her. She has a friend that´s a member which really helps. We are also going to bring her to conference this weekend.

    Our other investigator with a date is named Isabel. She has a daughter with 14 years named Carla. Carla has some disablities, so Isabel always has to be at home with her. Plus her son was in a moto accident and has been bed ridden for almost 6 months. She said that her husband doesn´t support her and it´s been hard for her at home taking care of the kids and the house and everything. She said that she feels so much more hope when we come to teach her. We taught her the plan of salvation and the spirit was so strong! Isabel already has a strong testimony and is a great example to me. I´ve realized here all of the blessings I have at home and all the things that I took for granted. We are so blessed in the states!!!

     We´ve been working with our other investigators that we found last week but for now only a few are progressing. People move at different paces, but it´s amazing to see how the spirit works in people. We have a few different families that we´re teaching, but we are hoping to have more support from families in the ward to come visit them with us. As a zone and as a mission we are starting a new program called the work of salvation to get more members involved in the work. All of the stake presidents and bishops are getting a lot of training with president borg in how to animate members in the work. We can work so much efficiently when we have members! We are already improving, but we´re excited to see what more we can do!

     There´s a girl named Mireya who has 13 years in our area that is just amazing! She was baptized two years ago, but there wasn´t the hand off between the missionaries and the ward like there should be, so she went menos activo pretty quick. She´s the only member in her family, so it´s hard for her to walk to church by herself. We´ve been working with her and teaching her, and she has really taken the iniciate to reactivate. She´s invited her mom and her sister to listen to the missionary lessons, she now comes with us to church every week, and last week she went to do baptisms in the temple!! She is the cutest girl and she is such a great example to me! I learn SO much from the people here. 

     Well, that´s about it for this week. Oh! Our bishop´s wife told us that she´s going to Salt Lake this week, so I gave her dad´s number and the house number to call!! She only speaks Spanish, so I told her to call dad´s phone first ha. She will be landing Tuesday in the afternoon, so will probably call Tuesday night. Her name is Patricia and is super sweet and nice! I don´t know if she´ll have time, but maybe you can meet up for lunch or something? Just a thought! 

     Welp I love you all!!!! Hope you all have a great week! Get feeling better all of you! I love hearing from you all and look forward to your letters. I am in Mormon in el Libro de mormon and love everytime I get to read. Se que el libro de mormon es verdadero. Se que Cristo vive y que el es nuestro salvador y redentor. Es solamente por medio de el que podemos regresar a vivir con nuestro Padre Celestial. Love you!!

Con amor, Hna. Anderson

I found a Pinkberry here! It´s still the best hun cal fro yo!!

Hna Callister and I playing on the train tracks in our area

One more picture of villa, the neighborhood that makes up the biggest part of our area

Hola todos!

     First of all, FELIZ CUMPLEANOS Courtney!! 18 years!! I can´t even believe it. I hope you have an amazing day baby sis!! I love you so much!

     Welp familia, I can´t believe that another week has come and gone. This week was really great for us! This week we were looking and working like crazy, and we found 14 new investigators!! 14!! Hna. Callister said that she´s never had that many nuevos in a week in all of her mission. We´ve been pretty excited! I feel like we´ve got more animos now to work. I don´t know how to say animos in English, but it´s the only way to describe how I feel ha.

     

     Part of the reason we´ve been working with more animos is because we have a new ward mission leader. His name is Juan Carlos, and he is actually the son in law of our pensionista (land lord). At first I was worried that we had a new ward mission leader, because our first meeting with him he asked us exactly what was his calling. BUT, he´s really taken the iniciative to learn and to help us in the work. He wants to meet all of our investigators which is GREAT! That´s exactly what a ward mission leader should do. We had a couple awesome lessons with him yesterday with two different families. We finally found the parents of the familia Castilla and shared with them the proclamation to the world. The seemed to really like how we focus on families, and the dad really liked that we believe that God has a plan for us here. He said that it makes sense then that we´re here with families to help us progress and learn. He works for the police, so I told them that my dad works for the police too. He thought that was really cool ha. Juan Carlos also came with us to teach another new family. We met these two ladies in the street last week, because they called us over and started speaking to us in English! They speak English pretty well and wanted us to teach them. We visited them yesterday and shared the Book of Mormon with them. They were sohoho surprised when they heard that Christ came here to the Americas! It was actually kinda funny ha. We had a great lesson with them and the spirit was so strong when we testified of Christ. They both told us that they felt like God didn´t hear their prayers, but we assured them that he hears everyone´s prayers, because we´re all his children. It was a great lesson and I´m excited to teach them again.

     

     On Wednesday we started teaching an English class! We´ve been trying to organize a class ever since Hna. Callister got here, and we finally had it. About a dozen people came and we taught them the basics, like how to introduce yourself. A family of investigators came that we had never met before, so now we have another new family to teach!! We´re going to teach them at their house, but we haven´t been able to find them yet. We´ll keep looking this week! 

     This week we also had exchanges with our hermanas trainers. I went to San Miguel for the day with an Hna. Asay. She is from Provo and has two months left in her mission. We had a lot of fun together and I learned a lot from her! I stayed the night in San Miguel and in the morning we went to Miraflores because Hna Asay had an appointment with the skin doctor. Miraflores is the richest part of Peru, and it was supa supa weird!! I felt like I was in the states and I felt so out of place ha. It was nice to see a nicer part, but also weird.

     I hope you know that I love my mission and am learning a lot. There are hard days, but most of all I am happy here and love the people here. Yesterday when we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, I was a little bummed cause no one could come with us in the morning. Then I looked behind me, and three of our investigators showed up just in time! I´ve seen miracles here and am learning that the Lord´s time is different than our time. We just have to trust in him, and we will see miracles and blessings. I love you all so much!! Have a great week!! 

Con amor, Hna. Anderson

P.S. Photo is from the window of a restaurant in our area. Chevere!

Another week!

     Hola familia y amigos! Sorry that I didn´t write yesterday, we took a bus for about 2 hours down south to a beach called Mala for P day and I didn´t have time to write. We played volleyball on the beach and I actually got a little sunburnt, which is weird cause there wasn´t any sun ha. It´s still pretty chilly here most days but last week we had a few days of sun so that was nice. I think it´s gonna start warming up here pretty quick! I´m ready for spring!

     This week we had interviews with President Borg. Presidente Borg and Hermana Borg son lo maximo! That´s the phrase that everybody uses here to say that something is awesome ha. But really, I feel like they´re my family here! In my interview I told President Borg that I was a little bit frustrated that we haven´t seen the fruits of our labors as far as baptisms go. He said that as long as we´re working hard, we´re obedient, and we´re teaching with the spirit, then we´re having success. That made me feel a lot better. The mission is hard to explain because, I have to admit, it´s super hard, but it´s the greatest thing ever! There are some hard days, but all of those are just forgotten when we have a great lesson and I can feel the spirit and know that we´re helping someone come unto Christ. Even though we aren´t having baptisms right now, I know we´re helping people here in our ward. Baptisms will come as we just keep working! 

     Something else about this week is that on Sunday we had stake conference and watched a broadcast from Salt Lake. I´m pretty sure it was stake conference for all the stakes in Peru. We got to hear from Elder Bednar and Elder Scott. It was really great! Elder Bednar talked about repentance and how Christ is the great doctor. The guilt that we feel when we sin can be replaced with happiness and joy when we repent and use the Atonement. Christ can heal our spiritual wounds. Elder Scott talked about how woman is the most beautiful of all of God´s creations. I was a little surprised at first when he started talking about that topic, but then I realized that it was super great for all the women here to hear! Lots of the women we teach are single moms and don´t realize their self worth. I´m so grateful that Elder Scott talked about our self worth as women. I also love every time he talks about his wife Jeanine, it´s so cute! I just want every husband to talk about his wife like he does. Every women deserves that!

     I think that one of the biggest things I´m learning in the mission is how God must feel when we don´t keep his commandments. I find myself getting disappointed when our investigators don´t keep their commitments, and I can only imagine how our Heavenly Father must feel! I don´t know, it just must be really hard for Him to see when someone doesn´t want to hear about his gospel, or hear about what his son did for them. I appreciate so much now growing up with the gospel and don´t think I realized the importance of it in my life. I can see the difference in people´s lives when they don´t have it, and it´s really sad to be honest! I know I´m here to bring the happiness and light of Christ´s gospel in people´s lives. 

     Hna. Callister and I are still getting along great! We have a lot in common and are learning a lot from each other. Colton, your email made me laugh ha. I´m glad you are liking your Spanish class! Keep practicing with dad! And I´m sorry you lost in football. All you can do is just keep getting better right? I´m SO happy to hear that you´re all still reading the book of mormon. Ustedes son lo maximo! Thanks for all the updates about home. Glad to hear you´re all doing well. I love you all so much!!! Talk to you next week. Cuidense!

Con amor, Hna. Anderson

P.S. I can´t believe I´ve got 6 months in the mission. Crazy!! Pictures are of us in Mala on the beach.

Time is flying!

     Saludos a todos! I can't believe another week has come and gone. We had some pretty great lessons with some pretty great people this week. I feel like we're finally finding some new investigators and gaining some new ground with the ones we have. I'm learning a TON from Hna. Callister. We are just having a blast together! We get lots of people calling at us with lots of different names, but what can you do...

     Well the beginning of this week was honestly pretty slow. I felt like a bunch of our appointments were falling through and nobody was at home. We just kept going to our backup plans and praying for inspiration to know where we should go. We had a lesson with an hermana who told us that her daughter was in the hospital because she had to have some kind of operation, and she was praying for help in the hospital. She told us that she prayed that God would send her someone to help her in this time, and then we showed up less than a week later! She said that she thinks we're the answer to her prayers. We had a great lesson with her and invited her to come to church, but she said she needs permission of her husband first. We are going to try and teach him too. 

     We also had a lesson this week with a family that we found last week named the Familia Castilla. The mom is a member but hasn't asisted church in years. We went to their house to visit them but only their three daughters were home, named Avigail, Milagros and Eleana. The oldest daughter, Avigail, told us that she is a Jehova's witness, but that she has some questions about our church. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and are going to go back later this week! These three girls are sooo cute and I feel like they're my sisters already! I'm excited to teach them as a family.

     A couple days ago we received a reference from a member named Hna. Celia. The reference's name is Ana Maria. We taught her a couple nights ago and she told us that she's been living in the street for the past couple months, without friends and without work. Now she's working for Hna. Celia, cooking and selling hamburgers. When we were teaching her, she told us, I don't know if God really knows me... I'm just a normal person working at a cart. I felt so much love for her and just wanted to give her a big hug and tell her that everything will be okay. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and testified that God does know her and loves her. We are going to teach her in the house of Hna. Celia tomorrow. Sometimes people are humbled so that they are more prepared to hear the gospel. I know that the gospel can help every single person, and that's why I'm here in the mission, is to help people like Ana Maria. 

     We are still working hard and trying to be better teachers everyday. I feel like I'm learning so much every single day!! I love being with Hna. Callister and love my area. I love you all so much and hope that everything's good at home. Keep reading the Book of Mormon! Good luck with school and work and everything. Oh, and here is my address if you want to write me a real letter:

Sister Jaden Anderson

Peru Lima Central Mission

Av. Jorge Basadre 592, Oficina 604 B

Edificio Torre Azul

San Isidro, Lima 27

PERU

Our room

My new companion Hna Callister from California

Cooking french toast

Well hey!

     Hey there! Welp theres been a lot of changes around here to tell you about! First of all, you are not going to believe this, but my companion is another gringa!! Her name is Hna. Callister and she is from California!! Ha we both cannot believe it still. We have basically been floating on cloud 9 this whole week that were together... thats an expression right? Hna. Callister was studying at BYU Provo for three years before her mission. She was studying business, did ballroom dancing, and ran cross country for BYU. Dont worry, weve already started going running in the morning! She also went on a study abroad to Europe so we talk about our experiences there a lot. Shes awesome! So there are four sister missionaries in our ward including us. In the other companionship is Hna. De Las Nieves and her new companion Hna. Brudnicki, who is from Wisconsin. So last transfer I was the only gringa here, but now there are three of us! We are loving life! Hna. Callister has 10 months in the mission so her Spanish is pretty good. Were still learning a lot together and just laugh when people cant understand us, or when we cant understand them ha. The new hermana Hna. Brudnicki is having a hard time with the language, but I think its good that were here to help her. This transfer we had so many hermanas from the states come in. Its amazing how many sister missionaries are coming! Our mission is really young cause theres so many more people coming than going. Its exciting!

     I was a little worried that our investigators and everyone would take a little time to get used to Hna Callister, but theyve all just opened right up for her! Shes so great with people so theyve just basically spilled out their whole life story to her. I feel like I know more about our investigators and their needs in one week with Hna Callister than the three months Ive been here! Shes really taught me the importance of teaching people, not lessons. Shes got some great ideas for our area, so Im excited to see what we can do together!

     Last night we were teaching Mireya, a member who is about 13 years old, and she told us that her mom really liked coming to church and that she wanted to keep coming. We were like, thats great, she should keep coming to renew her baptismal covenants with the Santa Cena and everything, and Mireya was so confused. She was like, but my moms not a member. Hna Callister and I just looked at each other and we both had this huge grin! Hna Rodriguez and I thought this whole time that her mom was a member! Que barbaridad! So now we have another investigator who is progressing and wants to keep coming to church! Ha it was great. We were pretty excited to find that out.

     Another experience we had was a few days ago. Hna Callister felt like we should knock this random door, so we knocked and found a family whos mom has been inactive for a good number of years. We had no idea she was living there! Her name is Marriot and she has a husband and four hijas who we are going to teach! A new familia! It was a moment when we were really just 100% led by the Spirit! Its pretty cool to realize that we have the guide of the Spirit.

     Well this week has been a great one and I am loving the work here. I love my new companion and Im excited to see the progress in our area this transfer! Were still working with Soledad and are trying to find Miguel again, because weve been having trouble finding him lately. BUT, we are going to keep looking! Good luck with school! I hope everythings going great at home. I cant tell you how happy it makes me to hear that youre reading the Book of Mormon together! Seriously, thats so great! I love that youre learning together. Thanks for being such good examples for me. I hope that BYU has better luck (for lack of a better word) in the upcoming games. Sounds like Coltons team is doing great too! Welp I love you all so much! Thanks sooo much for writing! Cuidense!!

Carinos, Hna Anderson

La Legua Peru, Aug 26, 2013 (24)

     Hola familia! Wow I have so many things to write about this week! Tuesday we got to go to the temple and it was amazing. It was a nice sunny day and we got there early so we just walked around and enjoyed the sunshine for a while. I could really tell a difference just walking around the temple between everything going on outside... the temple is awesome and really is a special place. It was great to get a spiritual boost to be able to keep working hard for the rest of the week.

     On Wednesday we had a visit from Elder Quentin L. Cook! He flew in from Cusco for a devotional with our mission and it was amaaazing! We got there early so we had front row seats! We were all super anxious and excited for him to come, and then when he walked in the room the Spirit just flooded in. We all got to walk up and shake his hand. It was really cool! Elder C. Scott Growe, our seventy, also came and he talked first a lot about reactivating menos activos. I was kinda surprised at first at how much he talked about them, but he told us that if we want more baptisms we should work in reactivation. Elder Cook talked a lot about that too. He shared the scripture in DyC 31 verse 3 I think, where the Lord says that through his missionaries he will establish his church. Elder Cook talked about how establishing the church means having strong members, not just more members. And it´s so true! There are a lot of menos activos in our ward that we´re working with. Elder Cook also promised us with an apostolic blessing that our families would be taken care of. He said that we are doing more good here for our familes than we could be doing for them at home. He said we are blessing the lives of everybody we love. I thought that was pretty awesome! I learned a lot from hearing from Elder Cook and I know that he´s a servant of the Lord. 

     Tomorrow is cambios and I´ll be getting a new companion! I have loved so much my time with Hna. Rodriguez and have learned so much from her. I know that we´ll always be good friends! I´m excited to meet my new companion and to start a new adventure here. If things go as planned Soledad and Miguel will be baptized this cambio, and I know we can find more people who are ready to accept the gospel! 

     Welp, I love you guys so so much!! It´s so good to hear from you all and it sounds like you´re doing well. I love to hear that you´re all starting to read the Book of Mormon and mark it up! At the bottom of each page write how many times it mentions Christ. You can also mark how many times he directly says something in another color and mark it at the bottom of the page. My testimony of the libro de mormon grows everytime I read it. I know it´s true. Love you guys! Until next week!

Con amor, Hna. Anderson

Hna Anderson and Hna Rodriguez with stake president and his family