Hola!

Hola familia! This week was a really good one for us! We met some new people and had some really powerful lessons. Also, tomorrow we´re going to the temple and I´m so, so, so excited!!

Primero, Thursday we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with Rosalinda in the house of a family that lives across the street from us. We´ve felt a little lost with Rosalinda because we don´t know exactly what it is that´s keeping her from baptism. In this noche de hogar she really opened up with the family and explained that her best friend was Mormon, but she passed away. She said that her friend was really important to her and she feels closer to her when she hears of the church. We watched the video of the Restoration and the Spirit filled the room when we watched the First vision. She said after that she could really feel it too! Rosalinda also came to our ward talent show that we had Friday night, but when Sunday morning came around, she didn´t show up at church. We are still working on how to help her come to church, but it will happen in the Lord´s time.

Our talent show Friday was a blast and lots of people came, but at first there were only a few members! Time is a little different here ha. At first the people who were supposed to do their talents didn´t come, so we started telling jokes, like stand up comedy. I only know a few jokes in Spanish and I ran out of all of them, so I started quoting Dane Cook haha. Don´t worry, it was clean missionary style! The people were laughing, so I think it went well ha. The night was fun and a few of our investigators came, so it was worth all the planning.

About two or three weeks ago we met a 16 year old boy named Miguel in the street, and he was really interested so we gave him a Book of Mormon. We went to his house later in the week and the next week, but no one ever answered. Yesterday we were by his house and we decided to knock some doors. We were about to knock a door when Miguel came out of his house across the street! He told us that he read 3 Nephi 11 and really liked it! He invited us in so that we could teach him more, and he was asking a lot of questions and was really interested. We started talking about baptism and he asked, ¨What do I need to do to be baptized?¨ We set a baptismal date for the 7 of September with him, and he accepted. I know that God is preparing people here who are ready for baptism, we just have to find them! 

One of the biggest things I´m learning here is patience, and that our time is different than the Lord´s time. Lots of times we don´t realize that we´ve already been blessed, because we´re impatient and we can´t see our blessings right away. I´m so grateful for everything I´m learning here. I´m learning to be thankful for every little thing and to be patient. It´s hard sometimes, but blessings come in the Lord´s time, not when we want them to.

Welp I love you guys and hope you´re all doing well! Say hello to the whole family for me. Keep reading the Book of Mormon, cause it´s amazing! Love you guys! Chaufa!

Hna. Anderson

Hna Anderson and Hna Rodriguez

Talent show

Hola familia!

Hola familia! This morning for Pday we went on a tour of the Palacio gobierno of Peru. It was pretty cool! I felt like I was in London again, because there was a cathedral and more white people than I've seen in a long time ha. The palacio is in the plaza de armas, which I think is the most touristy place in Peru, besides Machu Pichu of course. I'll send some pics!

This last week we had a multizone conference with President and Hermana Borg. They're both fantastic! Hna Borg talked to us about our patriarchal blessings, and how they can be an extra guide and strength for us. Hna Borg gave us an assignment I guess you could say to read our blessing and go through and mark specific things, like our talents and specific warnings. I took a picture of the paper she gave us so that you can all do it to! I'm excited to go through and read my blessing more carefully. My patriarchal blessing has given me comfort and strength so many times in the mission!

I want to share our experience about last Fast Sunday because I didn't have the chance last week. We were fasting so that we could have more people come to church on Sunday, and last week we had more people come to church than we have in a long time! I know that there is a real power behind fasting, and that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

The other day Hna Rodriguez and I were walking in the street and we saw an older lady carrying a table, so we went over to help her. When we got to her house we met another older lady named Mercedes, who said we could come back later in the week to teach her. Later in the week when we went to visit her we also met her granddaughter Rosa and her brother Eduardo. Rosa is about 15 and Eduardo 12. We gave them both a Libro de Mormon and Edaurdo went straight into his room and starting reading it! If anything I learned that service is always a good thing, and that it brings blessings!

Hermana Rodriguez and I are working hard to help our investigators to baptism, and even though we can't see the fruits of our labors right now, I know that if we're obedient and faithful then Heavenly Father will bless us. We've just gotta keep working! Even though there are some hard days, I love the mission and I'm learning a lot, especially to be patient! I think I'm learning some things that I couldn't learn at home. Thank you all for your support and encouragement! I LOVE to hear from you all! I love you guys SO much and hope you're all doing well. Cuidense!

Love, Hermana Anderson

Zone bbq

Plaza de armas

Plaza de armas

Hola!

Hola! We´re writing a little later in the day today because we were playing volleyball together with the zone and didn´t have time to write earlier. We played a game called jailbreak that I used to play with my friends in high school all the time. It was soo fun to play again! We also had a barbaque and cooked meat on the grill. It was super good and fun!

So this week was a pretty good one! We are still working with Soledad and teaching her for her baptism the 24th of this month. She hasn´t come to church yet for lots of different reasons, so that´s something that could hold her back. We are going to work this whole week with her to make sure she can come to church this next Sunday. Soledad lives across the street from Abdul, remember the little ten year old that was baptized my first day here? Soledad told us that the taxi of Abdul´s dad was completely wrecked and that all the windows were smashed. His dad was kicked out of his room and he took Abdul and his brother with him. Hna Rodriguez and I thought that they had left for good and that we were never gonna see Abdul again! But we were walking in another part of our sector and ended up in the street of Abdul´s cousin, where we found him and his dad. When we knocked on the door Abdul opened the door and was standing there in his little footy pajamas and said I knew it, like he knew we´d find him. It was really a miracle. God works in mysterious ways!

We met a woman named Karen this last week (she was a reference) and she´s really interested in the Book of Mormon and has family that are members. I´m excited to keep teaching her!

I ate soup with a chicken foot two times this last week. The second time I tried the meat on the foot, but it wasn´t very good ha. I´ve also eaten cow lung, but I didn´t realize what I was eating. It wasn´t too bad though!

Hna Nunez y Hna De Las Nieves moved out of our room into their new room this week. I felt like they were moving away for good! I´m not super excited for transfers, because I´m pretty sure Hna Rodriguez and Hna Nunez are going to change, because they´ll have both been here for 6 months. I feel like I´ve become best friends with the hermanas here and it will be hard to change! I´m so grateful that I got to be here with them!

Well that´s it for this week. I love you all sooo much! Thanks for all your letters! Keep writing and take care. I know that there´s nothing better I could be doing with my life right now. I love being a missionary! Chau!

Hna. Anderson

La Legua Peru, July 29, 2013 (20)

Hola! Como estan? Last week for P day we ate Chilean hot dogs and played futbol with Hermana Seclen´s zone. It was super fun! I love getting together with other missionaries. Today for P day we went shopping at a big mall and bought enough groceries to last us for another two cambios probably. Not very exciting ha, but we bought gelato which made me happy!

Well this week was pretty good for Hna Rodriguez y yo. I´ve been thinking a lot about what makes a successful missionary. We had lessons this week where I felt the spirit so strong, and I just knew that what I was teaching was true. There was just no doubt in my mind! I felt Heavenly Father´s love for me so many times this week and could just feel that his Spirit was with us. But then yesterday at church we only had one investigator come to church. We were pretty discouraged yesterday, because now we have to postpone Rosa´s baptism again. We realized though that if Rosa doesn´t come to church on her own of her own free will, she´s not going to come regularly after her baptism. We want to have baptisms of people who are going to be faithful members of the church! We´ve been a little discouraged because we don´t know how to help people keep their commitments. We´ve been studying Preach My Gospel a lot and are still learning how to apply the principles that it teaches. I have to keep reminding myself that Hna. Rodriguez and I are still young in the mission. We are still learning how to use our time efficiently, especially with working with the members. I also learned that people still have their agency, and we can´t force them to change! If we´re being obedient and teaching with the Spirit, then we´re doing our part as missionaries. We have to trust that the Spirit will touch our investigators in his own time. The Lord´s time is different than ours! So, even though this week was a little bit discouraging, we´re not discouraged! I know that the Lord is in the work and that he didn´t send us here to fail. We´ve just got to keep working and learning. I´m so grateful for everything I´m learning and that my own testimony is growing.

I forgot to tell you dad, I saw Hermana Buzan at transfers last week! We talked for a bit and she´s super nice! Did you guys start reading the Book of Mormon looking for when it mentions Christ? I love reading the Book of Mormon as a missionary! It truly testifies of Christ, and I feel like it talks about missionaries a ton. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that through Joseph Smith God restored his true church on the earth. I love my mission! I love you all and hope you´re doing well. Thanks for all your letters! How is McCall doing?? Could you forward me her emails? What is her email? Love you guys! I learned some Quechua this week... ewaya! (means Adios) 

Con amor, Hermana Anderson

La Legua Peru, July 22, 2013 (19)

Buenos Dias! Como estan todos? The work here in Peru has been pretty good this week! Last week for Pday we went to a museum about the history of Peru and there was even an earthquake simulation! It was pretty cool ha. Today we´re heading to Larcomar, the big mall that we went to a couple weeks ago. We´re going to play futbol with Hermana Seclen´s zone, so I´m excited!

Ok, so it´s time to tell you about the loco bandera. That literally means crazy flag in Spanish. The loco bandera is a loco that lives here in Carmen de la legua (there are more than one ha). Word on the street between missionaries is that the loco bandera is a loco that´s been around forever. He claims that he´s immortal and that he owns a bunch of land that he wants to give to the church. He wants to talk to the gringo missionaries because he thinks that they have all the power in the church... so whenever he sees me he starts following us and really wants to talk to me, but it freaks me out! The other day after church he was outside our apartment talking to the door, waiting for us to come out. We had to call the son of our pensionista to come make him leave, but before he came the loco bandera had left. We are being super extra careful, so don´t worry! I just thought it was a funny story to share ha.

We had transfers on Tuesday and they were great! President Borg challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon in two months, going through and marking all the time it mentions Christ. I´ve only been reading about a week now, but i can already tell that the Book of Mormon truly testifies of Christ! It´s amazing how many times he´s mentioned. It´s made me realize even more that it´s not our words that the people need to believe in! All we need to do is teach in a way that makes people want to read the Book of Mormon, because it´s the words that are written that people need to believe. I love reading the Book of Mormon as a missionary, I feel like I´m reading it for the first time! I´ve found things that I´ve never found before, it´s pretty cool. I challenge you guys to read the Book of Mormon this way too! Go through and mark all the times it mentions Christ or any of his names. I promise that you can find new things in the Book of Mormon that you´ve never found before.

Well that´s about it for this week. Hermana Rodriguez and I are loving that we get to be together for another transfer! We feel like we have the basics down and now need to work on technics. It´s just like in sports right? First the basics, then technics. Have a great week everyone! I love you all! Thank you for the letters and support! Cuidense!

Hna Anderson

La Legua Peru, July 15, 2013 (18)

     Hola familia! Tomorrow we have cambios, which means that I just finished my first full cambio in the mission. Crazy! Hna. Rodriguez and I are both staying here, and we are excited to be together again. This last week we set baptismal dates with two of our investigators. We set a date with Rosa for the 27th, but she didn't come to church yesterday so we might have to postpone her baptism a week. Tambien we set a date with Antony, the 14 year old that we just met a couple weeks ago. But we found out that he is going to be out of town for about a week, so probably now his baptism won't be until August. We are also still teaching Emily, but when we taught her the Ley de Castidad she told us that she doesn't believe in marriage. A belief in marriage is kind of important if you're going to keep the law of chastity! I was thinking that the reason we know that marriage is so important and that it strengthens the family is from modern revelations from the prophets and apostles. But the only way for someone to believe in the words of the modern day prophets and apostles is if they have a testimony of the Libro de Mormon, because all of our beliefs rely on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! Entonces, we are working with ella so that she can have a stronger testimony del Libro de Mormon. I know that this church is the true restored church, and that the Book of Mormon is true. Se que los profetas son llamados por Dios, y si nosotros escuchamos sus palabras, vamos a ser bendecidas.

     Yesterday we were in a little store when a woman came up to me and asked me to speak some English. Hna. Bennett told me something funny that she always tells people when they ask for some English: I have a baby unicorn stuck in my belly button. So, when this hermana asked me to speak English that's what I told her. Then she said back to me, "Que linda habla," which means basically how beautiful you speak. Haha! Hna. Rodriguez started laughing, because I told her what that means. Also, yesterday there was a procession in the street for the Virgen Mary. All afternoon they were walking around the streets with incense burning and a band playing. Our area is pretty small, so pretty much everywhere we were we could hear the band playing and it was hard to teach a lesson. What can you do ha.

Thanks Spencer and Eric.  This shirt is a hoot!

Peruvian museum

School parade

Parade

Peruvian kids at the parade in traditional clothing

La Legua Peru, July 8, 2013 (17)

     Buenos Dias! We are in Lima today, I´m not sure exactly where, but we were supposed to go to a place called Canta. We heard that Canta was up in the mountains and there was fishing, horses, lots of open fields... basically lots of summer stuff, but then we found out this morning that it was three hours away and that it was too expensive to travel. So instead we are here in Lima just cruising around and seeing what there is to see. I was excited to go to Canta and have a change of scenery, but maybe we can go next cambio. Cambios are next Tuesday so I probably won´t email til Tuesday. I´m pretty sure Hna Rodriguez and I will be together at least one more cambio, which I´m super happy about! We get along really well and I think we teach well together too.

     Sounds like the 4th of July was fun for you guys! We hear fireworks most every night outside our room, so I just pretended that it was for the 4th. I feel so patriotic here! It´s so true that you don´t realize what you have til you don´t have it anymore. I am learning to love the ways of Peru though. It´s a lot different, but I love it. I officially ate papa la huancaína the other day and me encanta! It´s kind of like nacho cheese on a baked potato. Oh, and THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE!!! Sarah is super nice and I loved seeing the video of you!! It was a fun surprise. It´s great to have peanut butter and oreos! Haha and mom, tell Spence and Erik thanks for all the stuff. It was kind of hard to explain to the hermanas why they sent me the most random stuff, but it made my day. And I love the clothes you sent!! You read my mind about the scarf, I forgot to tell you to send it. It´s still pretty cold here, I had to buy some gloves the other day too. I think that Callao is a little colder because there´s factories nearby so there´s smog in the air, plus humidity from the ocean. It doesn´t exactly rain here, but it kind of mists, especially in the morning. People call it ¨llovisnando.¨ It´s like you´re continually being sprayed in the face with a water bottle ha.

     Hna Rodriguez and I have been going through our ward directory and looking up inactive members. Lots of them have moved, but it´s actually a great way to find new people to teach, because we can talk to the new people that live there. And when we do find the inactive members they usually have kids or other family members that are not members for us to teach. We were with an inactive member yesterday actually, and as I was saying the opening prayer she was whispering and repeating all the words after I said them. Haha it was pretty funny. We found two new investigators this week! Antony is 14 and his grandparents are members, so we taught him in their house. For being only 14 he has a strong desire to come closer to Christ, and he really liked hearing about the Book of Mormon. Soledad is our other new investigator. We found her in a tienda when we were buying cookies ha. She is abou 24 and said that she´s been looking for the right church but has never been able to find it. She really liked hearing about the Book of Mormon too. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that the spirit really bears testimony to people that it´s true if they have a real desire to know. The spirit is so important in the work! I almost think it´s a blessing that I´m teaching in another language, because I can tell when I´m trying to say something that I want to say, versus something that the spirit prompts me to say. I stumble over my words and don´t make any sense when it´s something that I want to say, but when I am teaching with the Spirit I can talk just fine. 

     We were with the other hermanas the other day and with Titi, remember the member in the wheelchair? We were walking down the street and some guys yelled at me out of the car as they were driving by, ¨How are you baby?!¨ It happens a lot so I´m used to stuff like that, but then Titi said something back to them. Then he told us that he thought they were talking to him, since he´s like a baby in a stroller. Haha it was funny!

     Well that´s it for this week. I hope everything´s good at home. Sounds like you´re having a great summer! I love you guys so so much!! Cuidense!