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

huaca, huaca

     Greetings loved ones! Wow thanks for sending pictures of the family
Halloween party-- it looks like you all had a lot of fun. I laughed out loud that you dressed up as duck dynasty! I´ve only seen that show a couple times but it´s hilarious. Ah makes me miss all you guys! I am so excited to read all the cousin´s letters! And Colton, sorry you got sick ha.

     Well we had a great and pretty interesting week this week! I want to tell you first what we did yesterday morning for P day. We had a P day personal so hermana Hernandez and I were just walking around our sector looking for something to do. It´s pretty cool cause in our sector we have a lot of old Incan ruins called huacas. I told hermana hernandez that I wanted a picture with one, so we went to a really big huaca that had guards and stuff outside the walls. We asked if we could go in a take a picture, and then this guy with a pony tail came out and offered us a private tour! He told us this huaca was called Mateo salado and it´s not even open to the public till mid November! We walked to the top of what he said was the temple, and he told us that that they´ve found where the people lived and had school. It was sweet! We talked to him about the book of mormon and he thought it was interesting, but then he told us he was atheist. We gave him a pamphlet of the resteration and are going to go back to give him a book of Mormon. It was really cool!

     Saturday was the day of Diego´s baptism, but I woke up Saturday morning with the stomach flu, so hermana Hernandez called some hermanas in the ward to come stay with me while she went with another hermana to Diego´s baptism. I felt bad that I missed his baptism, but I felt a little bit better in the night so we were able to go to my old sector to see the baptism of Ana Maria! She didn´t know I was gonna come so she was so surprised and started crying when she saw me. It was a special experience for me.

     Hermano Quesada (the investigator who´s 82) has a baptismal date for this Saturday. He passed his interview so he´s so excited! I am seeing lots of miracles here and learning a lot about the power of the priesthood. I´m also gaining a much stronger testimony of Joseph Smith. 

     We don´t celebrate Halloween here in Peru, but I think I´m okay with that this year. Hope you have a fun day Thursday!! I lov you guys so much!! Until next week!

Love, Hermana Anderson 

Pictures!  

With Diego and his aunt (yes his aunt) Meche who we´re also teaching

On top of the huaca

Miskita Quyaiki

     Greetings loved ones! We just got back from the Parque de las Leyendas, a big zoo that´s close to my old area. It was fun to do something different, and my zone is awesome. What I love is getting to know so many different people from different countries... Mexico, Peru, Salvador, Chile, Argentina... and everyone has different likes and hobbies. I¨ve learned how to fix cars, how to speak a little qechua, history, science, marine biology... It´s pretty cool all the experiences you get to have in the mission!

   

     This week was a good one for Hermana Hernandez and me, but we also passed through a couple rough days. Right now we have four investigators with baptismal dates! One of our investigators, named Diego, has a date for this Saturday. He IS 14 and is a cool kid with a strong testimony. He´s really turned his life around since he started hearing the lessons and wants to serve a mission someday! He´s a great example for me. Gustavo, Wilfredo and Rodrigo are the other three with baptismal dates. Gustavo is about 25 and really loved when we taught the Plan of Salvation. He told us that he really wants to have a family of us his own, and knows that it wouldn´t make sense to not be with our families forever! Wilfredo is 82 and his wife passed away about a month ago. He told us that he promised his wife that he´d be sealed in the temple to her, and he told us, ¨Hermanitas, I´m not going to leave this earth until I´ve fulfilled my promise.¨ He´s so cute! Rodrigo is 13 and has had a hard life. He leaves with his dad, cause his mom left them when he was really little. It made him grow up fast, he doesn´t act like he´s 13, more like he´s 20 years old. He said he´s a lot happier now that he has friends in the church who are good examples for him. 

     I am SO grateful that I grew up in the gospel! I realize everyday how much I took for granted having the gospel in our home! Even the little things, like how we always spend time as a family, how we eat together, just that we have unity as a family. We are teaching a family who has so many problems in their home, and I just keep thinking, if only they lived the gospel in their home they could avoid so many of these problems!! We don´t realize our blessings until we don´t have them! I love you guys and am so glad that we get to be together forever! Please be examples for everyone that you can. Share the gospel with your friends, even your friends that are members, cause they need to be reminded sometimes too. 

    Sorry if my letters don´t make a ton of sense ha. There´s so much that happens in the week and I just try to get the most important stuff in. I love you guys SO much!! Sounds like you all had a fun UEA weekend. Enjoy the fall weather! We are having a few days of sun which is awesome! Love you! Hasta luego!

Love, Hermana Anderson

Transfers!

     Olo! I have been here in my new area for about a week now-- my area is called Las Brisas in the zone Magdalena. We are close to something called el cercado de Lima... whatever that means! I love, love, love my area here! Most of the houses here are actual painted houses with gates, whereas in my other area everything was brick apartments. It´s a lot nicer here-- there are lots of parks, lots of greenery, plants, flowers... it´s super pretty! Sometimes I actually feel like I´m in California ha. My companion is Hermana Hernandez. She is from Salvador and is going home after this tranfsfer, so I´ll be getting a new companion at the next change. Hermana Hernandez is super nice and just loves life. She loves to laugh and have fun, and the people here just love her. She´s teaching me a lot how to just enjoy every minute of the mission! My zone is really cool too. In my other zone we were just four hermanas, but here we have five companionships of hermanas and four companionships of elders. It´s a lot bigger with lots more hermanas! Hermana Nunez and Hna Seclen are here in this zone-- they were with me in my other zone, Bello Horizonte,so it´s fun to see them and be with them again! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in La Legua, but I know I´m where the Lord wants me to be.

     Hermana Hernandez and I have had some awesome experiences this past week. I was reading in the bible for my study the other day and found a scripture that I really like found in Matthew 9 12-13. We´ve had some experiences that have made me think a lot about these verses. It says, 

    ¨They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 

     But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.¨

The other night we were walking in a park when we walked past a man, limping and pushing his own wheelchair along. We offered to take him where he needed to go, and when we asked where he lived, he told us he lived right there in the park. He said he was on his way to the house of a friend who sometimes gives him something warm to drink when he gets cold. We starting pushing him along and talked to him about our purpose as missionaries and the church. He told us his named was Walter. He said he really wanted to come to our church, so we left him with some pamphlets to read and 2 soles to buy some bread. About 30 seconds after leaving him we both felt like we needed to go back and talk to him some more. He was surprised but happy to see us again. We took him to a bakery and bought him some fresh bread, but I think what he appreciated more was just some company, someone to talk to. When we finally said goodbye, he thanked us and told us that he would never forget us. That experience with Walter was really special and I don´t think I will ever forget him either! 

     We had a baptism of a cute little boy with 9 years named Jose yesterday, and it was so great to see how happy he was! One of our investigators named Rodrigo was also there, and he told us that he liked it so much that he wanted to be baptized too! Rodrigo has 13 years and reminds me a lot of Colton. We went to talk to his dad later that day to ask for permision. At first his dad was a little hesitant, because he said first he wanted to see a change in his son, that he was ready to accept this new responsibility. We read with him in Moroni 10 about how it´s as we come unto Christ that we´re perfected in him. We told his dad that through baptism we come unto Christ and we can become better people than who we were. The spirit was really strong, and his dad agreed to let Rodrigo be baptized! His baptism will probably be in two or three weeks! 

     Here in the mission I have been able to see what Matthew 9 really means. I am seeing that Christ and his gospel are for everyone, everyone of us! No one is excluded from receiving these blessings. I love my mission and am learning so much! I am so grateful for everything the Lord is teaching me. I finished reading the Book of Mormon and I just love that book! I hope you´re still reading! I love you guys so much and hope everything´s good at home!! Pajarin cama! (qechua for see you later). 

Love, Hermana Anderson 

Pics

Yo y hermana Hernandez at transfers! 

baptism of Jose!!

We went to the beach today for P day in Miraflores. It´s an actual nice, pretty beach!!

New companion hermana Hernandez

Beach in Miraflores

Saying goodbye in Le Legua.  I just love these kids.  They just flocked to us every time they saw us.

Baptism of Jose