Hermana Anderson in Peru: The Embodiment of Freedom

Greetings loved ones! Sorry we weren´t able to write yesterday, we had to change our P day to today because we´re going to a museum that´s not open on Mondays. Hermana Belt and I have had another great week here in Escardo 1. Hna Belt and I are getting along great and I feel like it´s a great blessing to be able to serve with her. This week was busy and full of meetings and trainings.

On Tuesday we had our meeting ¨consejo de la mision,¨ which is like mission counsil with all the zone leaders, assistants, President y Hna. Borg, and the STLs. I know I´ve mentioned before that it´s my favorite meeting, and this one didn´t let me down. We were talking about what our mission needs to start progressing, because we´re having success but President feels like we´re not reaching our full capacity. We were talking about things like baptismal dates falling, people not coming to church, investigators not keeping their commitments, etc. I was reminded of all my years of softball, how in the game there are physical errors, and there are mental errors. Physical errors are the things that we can´t control, like a bad hop, the wind, the sun- but mental errors are the things we can control (knowing where to go before the play in every situation). I applied these errors to the mission. We can´t control for example the accions of other people, they have their agency and these are only physical errors in the game. What we can control are the mental things-- our attitude, our obedience, the way we serve others with humility and love. I made the comment of the analogy I made in the meeting and President Borg, along with all the elders who have played baseball, agreed that it was the same :)

On Wednesday Hermana Belt and I, along with the zone leaders, taught the zone what we had discussed in the mission counsel and we set goals as a zone. Something I´m learning in the mission is how to set real goals. Goals are the desire of our hearts, and if we put a roof on our goals we´re only putting a roof on our desires! We still need to be realistic, but we shouldn´t limit ourselves on what we´re capable of.

On Friday for the 4th of July, we went over to the chapel and celebrated with a tres leches cake, investigators, missionaries, and members. I taught everyone how to play octopus, which is a game I used to play with Blue crush back in the day. Everyone loved it and it was way fun! Afterwards we taught about how we were celebrating freedom, but not just for the United States, but for the freedom that the gospel of Jesus Christ gives each one of us. I read in Jesus the Christ that ¨the gospel of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of freedom,¨ that it´s what frees us from temptations, trials, and death. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, through Him that freed us. It was a great activity and it was great for the investigators as well.

Celso: Celso came to our activity on the 4th of July (he´s actually the one who brought the cake). Celso´s family is from Peru, so that´s how he decided to come here to work. He works in the airport for a Peruvian airline I think. This week we also taught him the plan of salvation and he´s excited to be sealed to his family, who are all members except his dad. Celso gave to me and Hermana Belt a piggy bank and colored pencils as a 4th of July present. He´s a crack up, but really wants to learn more and take that step to baptism.

Joseph: Joseph is a new investigator that Hermana Belt and I found yesterday! He was a contact of the elders in the neighboring sector, and we went over to visit him and his mom yesterday. Joseph´s mom is Catholic, but Joseph says he doesn´t believe much of what his mom believes. He had lots of questions and we were excited to give him a Book of mormon. Joseph´s eyes lit up and I loved seeing him flip through the pages and look at the pictures at the front. I never get tired of teaching about the book of mormon or the restoration-- I love seeing the light of understanding in people´s eyes as they hear the truth. Joseph also said that He didn´t understand why God would let so many hard things happen, especially to people who are doing everything right and are praying for help. That´s the million dollar question. We bore our testimonies that God does hear prayers and will answer in his own time. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ everything can and will be made right. Our heavenly Father has a plan for us and loves us SO much. We´re going to go back on Saturday to teach Joseph and I can´t wait!

Juan Vicuña: The family Vicuña was pretty busy this week with Eliane´s therapy, so we didn´t get to see them until Sunday. Also, they´re now putting Eliane´s case on TV since the taxi driver who hit her 6 months ago just drove off and they feel that´s unjust. On Sunday we were able to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and Juan said he wants to take the step to baptism but around the end of August. He´s so concerned about Eliane right now it´s hard to find time to just sit down one on one with him, but we can´t blame him for all that´s happening with his daughter. We need to find a way to help him know that it was unjust what happened, but that Christ paid for all that as well with Atonement. I love the Vicuña family so much and I just want them to have the light and hope of the gospel in their lives. Poco a poco.

Ok well that´s it for this week. Dad, I can´t remember when you´re leaving, but have fun in Guam! Well I don´t know if fun is the right word, but you know what I mean :) It sounds like you´re all having a great summer. Have another great week! I love you soooo much!

Love, Hermana Anderson