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