New Mexico, May 6, 2013 (8)

     Well hey! This past week has felt more like a month, just because it's all brand new and we do so much during the day. But I love it here!! Even though it's New Mexico it feels like I'm in a different country, obviously cause most of the people we talk to speak Spanish and are from Mexico. I've had a ton of cool and new experiences here already and met a lot of people. It reminds me of that show you like dad called Story Trek, or something like that. We are teaching several people right now who are pretty interesting ha. Well first of all we found this family named the Alguilars and the dad is from Peru! He's lived in the States for like twenty years now though, but his wife is Mexican and only speaks Spanish. I thought it was weird when we first got here that everyone spoke Chinese, and then when I found out it was Spanish I was kinda worried ha. It's getting easier to say what I want to say, but then when people talk to me I just look at them with a blank stare until my companions help me out haha. But anyways, we had a zone meeting on Friday morning and our zone leaders challenged us all to invite at least one person a day to be baptized. The meeting got us all pumped up, and that day we invited 3 different people to be baptized and they said yes. They don't have dates yet, but we're working on it! The Alguilars committed to baptism, they have three little boys named Kevin, Israel, and Joshua. They're an awesome family!

     Another of our investigators is named Luis. We have had some pretty interesting lessons with him. He is 19 and a referral from his parents who are members. In our first lesson with Luis he asked us all to read in Spanish to him, then the second lesson was the middle of the day and he had just rolled out of bed and told us had been drinking the night before. He told us he wants to be baptized and go on a mission, so we were sad and surprised when he told us he had been drinking. We taught him the Word of Wisdom that lesson, and then invited him to follow it. When we went back yesterday to teach him his neighbor told us that the cops had shown up at his house and arrested him! We have no idea why he got arrested, but he's in jail now and we can't reach him. So... that was an interesting experience! 

     We are also teaching this older lady named Lupita. Her husband passed away two years ago and she misses him a lot. She talked to us about him almost the whole time, and she barely has any teeth so she kinda talks funny. She's nice though, we also invited her to be baptized, but she's not sure yet. She says she just likes to hear about other religions, but not join them. We're gonna go visit her still though!

     The other day we tried a finding activity called the Liahona. Basically, you set an alarm for five or ten minutes, then any time you get to an intersection you go whatever direction the second hand on your watch is pointing. We ended up finding this guy named Rick who fought in Iraq. He had a LOT of interesting views about religion and said that he didn't think that any religion was perfect. We talked to him about the Church and gave him un Libro de Mormon, so hopefully he reads it. He was a super funny guy. 

     Well, I am loving it here in New Mexico so far! My companions are great and we work hard and play hard. I love seeing the Spirit work in people, and I love Spanish. I hope everyone at home is doing well!! Please email me, I love to here from you all! Love you!! :)

Con amor, Hermana Anderson    

 P.S. We had a trek activity for mutual this last week cause the kids in our branch are getting ready for Trek. I shared my experiences from Trek and told them how much I loved it. We had a bonfire in the Riveros backyard (Hno. Rivero is the ward mission leader), and by that I mean we got some free firewood, and had a fire right in the middle of their yard, cause it's all dirt. But, it was a really good spiritual experience and I think the kids are all pretty excited. We had sweet corn in a cup and roasted marshmallows for dessert. Ha I love New Mexico :)