See the World Through Him

     Hello family and friends! I know I probably say the same thing every week, but this was another great week here in Escardo. Every week and every day actually I learn so much. There´s no way I can write everything that happens or all the impressions that come to mind, but I hope I can highlight at least a few of the great things that happen here.

     Well first of all Hna. Belt and I are loving our new sector and seeing lots of improvement in our new investigators. This week we went and visisted Juan, whose daughter Eliane was hit by a car and is now handicapped. When we stopped by their house to visit, Eliane was in the middle of her physical therapy, so the family showed us how they needed to massage her weak muscles as part of her therapy. They asked us if we wanted to learn so we said sure! We massaged the muscles in her face, neck, arms and legs, and it was crazy feeling her tiny little muscles. She´s recuperating pretty fast they said, but she still can´t do anything on her own. She´s completely dependent on her family. When Hna. Belt and I were giving Eliane her massages, her mom was in the next room cleaning. She asked us to sing some hymns, so we started singing in both English and Spanish. Any time Eliane wants to talk about God, she always crosses herself (her family´s Catholic so that´s the sign she knows to talk about Christ), and while we were singing she pointed to us, crossed herself, then pointed to a picture she has of Christ on the wall. Hna. Belt and I looked at each other and just smiled. It´s such an amazing feeling to wear Christ´s name and be representatives of Him. I know that if He were here we wouldn´t hesitate to help Eliane in any way He could. Eliane´s family just adores her and I think that will help her in her healing process. Eliane´s dad, Juan, came to church yesterday so now has 3 attendences and is ready for baptism! He has a date for the 26 July, so we are helping him strenthen his testimony to be ready for that day. 

     This week Hna. Belt and I also had our first exchange with two hermanas in our zone named Hna. Chaparro and Hna. Zavala. In the past I´ve had 7 or even 8 companionships under our care but this transfer we´ve got 5, so it´s nice to be able to have just one exchange in the week. Anyway, I went with Hna Chaparro to her sector and we had a super great day! Hna. Chaparro is from Logan so it was fun to have some things in common. We taught an investigator of theirs named Jenny-- Jenny is 17 and when she started reading the book of mormon she said she felt something in her heart telling her it was something good. She had a lot of questions about Joseph Smith, so we explained more about him and she said he must be a very special person to have seen God the Father and the Son. We invited Jenny to be baptized and she said yes without hesitating! I think when someone feels the spirit that strongly they just can feel that it´s right and it´s what Heavenly Father wants them to do. It was a great experience with Jenny and I´m grateful for all the opportunities I have to meet such amazing people! 

     On Sunday was our first Sunday as a brand new ward, and the turn out was awesome! We got a new ward mission leader that had served for almost 3 years in his old ward as mission leader, so he´s excited to work with us. Yesterday in church we were in the middle of giving the class when a young guy walked in, around 23-24 years old. He told us that he was an investigator, that he had just walked in and the members had told him to come in our class. Hna. Belt and I started talking to him, and he told us his name was Celso, that he was from Georgia, and that he wanted to be baptized. We said, Okay then! Ha Celso is so, so funny. He told us his family and his girlfriend are members, but he had just never felt like it was his time to be baptized. He had come to Lima to work and had met a member in his job--the member told him there was a church nearby so he came on Sunday and feels like it´s time to be baptized. He told us that he had a doubt though, something about the church that he had looked up on google but he could never figure out. He asked, ¨Why is it that all the Mormon churches have a basketball court? Do the guys in Utah really like basketball or something?¨ Haha he´s super funny and just has lots of ¨ganas¨ to learn about the gospel (he´s really excited?). Sorry again that I can´t speak in English sometimes ha.

     This week a thought popped into my head, I don´t know if I heard it in a song or if it just popped into my head, but the phrase is, ¨See the world through Him.¨ If we can see the world, everything that happens to us, all the hard times, heartaches, disappointments, everything, through the Savior and his sacrifice that he gave for us, everything can be made right. Everything will make sense if we try and see it through the Savior and the plan of salvation that God has for us. I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of his children and is just waiting to bless them. Sometimes we´ve got to wait til the fourth watch in the night, when it seems like the very last second, but the blessings come. 

     Thanks so much for your letters! I love you guys more than you know! Hope you have a great week and are enjoying summer. Until next week.

Con mucho amor, Hermana Anderson  

*Next project, Escardo 1!!

*with Hna. Chaparro and Jenny

*Pic with Celso on Sunday