Burn the Boats!

     Hola! It is amazing to me that we´re starting week three of this new transfer already! Hermana Rodriguez completes a year in the mission this Thursday, which is super weird because I´ve been with her basically since the beginning. Time is especially flying this transfer with all our exchanges we´re doing. This week I left on two exchanges and so didn´t see our sector for two days. On Tuesday I went to the other part of our ward with Hermana Brudnicki. Do you remember Walter, the man in the wheelchair that Hna Hernandez and I helped back in October? Well the hermanas found him and are teaching him now! He comes to church every Sunday and is progressing really well. He lives alone in the park in front of the church, so the bishop wants to learn about his situation first before he is baptized, but it sounds like he´ll be baptized in a couple weeks or so. Pretty cool! On Thursday I went to Pueblo Libre with Hna Loayza. She is from Trujillo and is super cute! I think it´s a pretty great blessing that we get the chance to meet so many different people in different sectors. It´s more responsibility yeah, but I love it! This week we´ll have two exchanges again, but this time Hna Rodriguez will be going and I´ll stay here. I´ll let you know how that goes next week!

     Two days ago on Saturday we had a ¨Noche Blanca¨ in our zone, which means we had a bunch of baptisms happening in the same night in our stake. Our ward didn´t have any baptisms, but we were able to bring a recent convert named Diego and his aunt Meche (she is investigator) to the noche blance. Six people were baptized that night and it was a great experience for Meche. She is really shy and we´ve been trying so hard to help her express her feelings about baptism, but she hasn´t accepted a baptismal date yet. She was really excited in the noche blanca and said that she wants to buy a dress to go to church in. She is reading the book of mormon and I know that the Lord will open her heart to baptism in his own time.

     We are also teaching an hermano named Angel, Angel de Jesus to be exact. Angel is 26 and will turn 27 on the 11 of March! Don´t worry, I´ve already mentioned like 50 times that that´s mom´s birthday. Angel has been progressing really well, and with a little help from Nilo accepted a baptismal date for the 11 of March! Justo on his birthday. He is having a little trouble with quiting smoking. We taught him about the power of prayer and suggested that he pray kneeling. He told us he considered that as a sign of weakness, but we testified that that would bring him more spiritual power. A few days later he told us that he had prayed kneeling in his shower... kinda weird but hey, it works! He loves coming to the church activities and asists every Sunday. He has a few friends who are members so that is helping a lot. We are working with him for the 11 of March for his baptism.

     This week in our district meeting Elder Fankhauser taught us about Hernan Cortez, the Spanish explorer who conquered Mexico. Cortez traveled from Spain to Mexico with his men in boats, and their last stop before reaching Mexico was a small island. He announced to his men that if they weren´t 100% committed to the cause that they should stay there on the island. A few men stayed, and with the rest of his men, Cortez traveled the rest of the way to Mexico. When they arrived on the shore of Mexico, the first command that he gave to his men was ¨burn the boats.¨ When the men started complaining and asking how they were supposed to return, Cortez said, ¨We will not return to Spain until we have conquered Mexico and we can return in their boats.¨ Here in the mission, the small island before Mexico was the MTC, or even New Mexico for me. I had the chance to stay behind, but I opted to come here the rest of the way. I burned the boats in the harbor and am here for just one reason - to serve! To bring others to Christ. The motto for Hna Rodriguez and I this week has been ¨Burn the Boats!¨ Leave everything behind and focus on the mission, because that´s what we´re here to do. I love the mission and even though it´s hard, I know it´s the best year and a half for my life. 

     I love you guys soooo much!! Thanks for writing and always giving me good advice. I´m so glad I get to be with you guys forever! Have a great week and keep reading the Book of Mormon together and individually. Chau chau!

Love, Hermana Anderson 

  PS Sorry I didn´t take any pictures this week, but just thought I´d send a pic of the coolest T shirt ever that I bought today!!