This week was horrible but great all at the same time! Oh the mish

So this week was horrible because of the correlation with the mission leader. The mission leader is an interesting person and can be difficult to work with. And he never listens to us and just always tells us what to do and we are already doing what he thinks we don’t do. And this week we had a lot to talk to him about. And he got mad. And the next day we stopped by just to apologize to smooth things over. But he was sick and had derrame cerebral punto de derrame. Which I think is a small stroke which my companion says you can get when you are super angry. Which I don’t know if that is true or not. So basically we felt like the most horrible people in the world because we caused our mission leader to have a stroke. Not sure if that is true or he just happened to be sick, because he wasn’t mad. And his family is a little bit more dramatic so we had a ton of fear about that as well that the family was going to gossip about us. But on Friday we found out everything was all good. It’s not that we say anything bad to him or that we yelled or anything we just tried to explain that we needed help in some areas. But all was well. This happened on Wednesday. and the next day on Thursday my companion had an interview with the president to get permission to visit her family. Here’s the story:

Her parents are divorced and her dad remarried. He is living in Chicago and has three kids with his new wife. His three kids had no idea he had another wife and other kids. So the half brothers of Hna Lopez didn’t know Hna Lopez and her brothers existed. But an accident happened with her dad and he decided to tell his kids in America the truth. This happened in January of last year. Now her dad is coming to Guatemala next week and wants Hna Lopez to meet the family. So he is coming to Xela next week and my companion got permission to visit them. And we don’t have changes! YAY!!!  So that means next p-day in XELA! Puchis I’m excited! Xela is awesome. And I’m so excited for my companion to meet her family. So this rocked. But then after this we found out about the mission leader so Thursday was a day of mixed feelings. But on Saturday everything smoothed over. And I knew it would. 

Yesterday we had the confirmation of Sonia, which was awesome. But we missed the sacrament because we went and got her and she was still making tortillas but she came and is now a member and I’m so happy about it. Her blessing was really beautiful. This sacrament meeting was super different. Nobody talked we just had a lot of things to do. Like one young woman received her medallion for young women’s, then the confirmation. And after that Foley’s brother Mikey received his mission call which he opened in sacrament meeting. His parents bore their testimony and then he did, and then he opened the call. He is going to Bolivia and is going to the ccm (MTC) in Colombia. Super excited for him. All of their kids will serve a mission. They are an awesome family. This sacrament meeting was awesome and I know I will only ever experience one like that here. But it was great. 

This week we had a lesson with the familia Deleon, super awesome intelligent family. They know the church is true. But they want to get baptized in a year. And we found out this week their parents are pastors, which kind of stinks. It’s a family of siblings that are living here in huehue to study and on the weekends go home. One of them said in his religion it’s a sin to dance and play soccer, basically it’s a sin to have fun, which sucks. He says he knows it’s a sin but he dances and plays soccer anyways. So have been looking for scriptures that says dance and other stuff is good when used right.

On Saturday we went to the relief society conference, it was in Spanish.  I can understand if I focus super super hard. But let me tell ya its super sad to listen to the prophet in Spanish. I hope that for general conference I will be able to listen to some of it in English. I can’t really think of anything else. Loving my mission. Learning so much every day. I love it so much. This church is true. And let me tell  ya Heavenly Father answers prayers and is always listening. I love this gospel. I love my mission. I love the crazy country of Guatemala. But this week I have been missing carpet. Weird right?  But seriously - miss carpet. 

Thanks for your love and support. Miss you all so stinking much. But yesterday was my feliz cumple mes. 4 months in the mission. What in the world!? Sorry my letter is all over the place. Love you 

Hna Anderson

 

 

We had a baptism yesterday. It was such a huge miracle and so amazing

Yesterday was awesome. We baptized Sonia the little chica (girl) in the tortilla place. This baptism seemed absolutely impossible. And I have been praying and praying and praying for a miracle for her. She is so special and so amazing. But that is not how people treat her. She has a crappy home situation and everyone treats her like she isn’t worth anything. But on Thursday or Friday I don’t remember we were talking to her about her baptism for the 28th and how she was feeling about it.  And she said, could I be baptized this Sunday. So after that it was a mad dash to get everything ready for her. We had to get her interviewed and everything. Her coworkers all were telling her she doesn’t know what she is doing and blah blah blah. And on Saturday we had the interview and she didn’t show up and I was freaking out and praying like crazy but eventually she showed up and everything went well. Afterwards we went and talked with our mission leader, who is very difficult to work with and he basically said he didn’t want this baptism to happen because she isn’t the strongest because of her work. But I just got this moment where I testified about the Savior and about Heavenly Father and how Sonia is a precious daughter of God and how she needs the gospel.  And it humbled him real fast. But on Sunday Sonia was super late to the baptism which stressed me out but worked out fine because the Latin culture is just super late for everything. But the baptism was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong. I just felt an overwhelming love for Sonia and I know Heavenly Father has a great purpose for her and this is why getting her to the waters of baptism was so hard. But nothing was so wonderful. And I also read a conference talk in the Liahona that said when you save a girl you save a generation. And I hope and pray with all my heart that this is true with Sonia. Such an amazing day yesterday.

Also yesterday we visited Hna Adela because her daughter was in the hospital for a little bit. They all have some nasty colds. And Hna Adela is super sick so we just helped out with the house a little bit. But it was a perfect opportunity to talk with Emanuel. We have been teaching him but he hasn’t been keeping with his commitments. But we had such a good lesson and I know he felt the spirit so strong. And I know that when he makes the decision to pray he will know this church is true.

This week I am also super grateful for the priesthood and pepto bismol. Wednesday in the middle of the day I got super sick. I thought it was my last day of life. Ok that is a little extreme but puchis (shoot) I was not doing too well. It all started with the runs, like the worst in my life. Then after that I had some crazy stomach pains worse in my life. They would start then stop then start then stop. I felt like someone was twisting and punching my stomach. It was horrible. But the bishop and Froley came and gave me a blessing. And then Froley went searching huehue for pepto. Let me tell ya thank goodness for the priesthood and for pepto.

It’s almost time for cambios (companion transfers). I’m freaking out and I hate talking about it. I don’t want a new companion yet. I want to cry thinking about changes. I want at least one more transfer with Hna Lopez. Yes we have our moments where we don’t get a long, but we are with each other 24/7 and have a language and cultural barrier. But I flipping love her and we have too much left to do. So I will have to see what happens. Next pday I will know what happens.

The weather here is getting cooler but it’s not cold but people here act like it’s the middle of December in Utah its so funny. They always are saying how cold it is. I write and read my email at internet locations.  A lot of people don’t have internet or computers so there are a ton of internet cafe type places and super cheap. My ward has 120 attending every week. We have a lot of menos actives (less active) and the attendance has been a lot lower in September because there are a lot of events in September.  We have a super nice church building. 

I got my boots and I looooooooooove the pink boots so much! They are so cute, comfy and just awesome, so thanks so much! I love you all so much and miss you. Hope all is well.

Hna Anderson

 

I’m 100% Sure My Life Isn’t Real

So I don’t know why I didn’t tell you guys this earlier. But one day me and my companion were watching “The District” (LDS missionaries in an unscripted documentary) and the missionaries had a huge activity to find new investigators.  So I told my companion, “let’s do something like that”. So we planned a fair for our ward and invited all the wards in our stake.  I was kind of annoyed because everyone threw my ideas out the window and then because of the language barrier I couldn’t help a whole lot, only help my companion buy stuff.  But the fair was on Friday and it was so GREAT!   The game we were in charge of was like a photo booth. We took pics of the investigators, and then we would have a reason to visit them to give them the pictures. We had a sweet background night under the stars.  We bought a ton of cool hats and scarf’s.  I made mustaches and we had sunglasses.  It was so awesome!  And we were really popular. There was also a dance. The members said it was the best activity they had. We entered the dance because I wanted to see what it was like. It was SO HARD not to dance.  And all of the people were like, what are the missionaries doing in here?  My companion had a Book of Mormon and was putting it in between persons that were dancing.  It was so funny.  But Froley, our loco friend, helped us bring all of our stuff because he has a car.  We totally played a prank on him and said that we had emergency exchanges and that our stuff was in a suitcase and then I brought my empty suitcase down.  He totally believed us until he moved the suitcase that was light and without stuff.  But after that he needed gas and my companion was joking with him you are taking forever and blah - blah.   Froley is so dramatic and so he left the gas station without putting gas in his car. Well he gave us a ride back home and guess what happened? We ran out of gas. But thankfully we were close to a gas station and pushed the car. And for a little bit I had to drive but it was a stick shift so I was freaking out!!! But it was so fun!  I just want to come back and party with these people after my mission.

The other day we were at lunch and of course we were eating chicken, like basically every day.  My companion said, “do you want your bone?” And I said, “what, no”? So she took it and ate the bone!!!!  Aaaah what?!  It was the cartilage part of the bone apparently you can eat it.  But there is no way in the world I will be doing that. Apparently it’s good for your body and your joints. So strange. 

Yesterday was the Independence Day in Guatemala. So boring at least here in HueHue. But because of the celebration, none of our investigators could come to church. But because of that we were able to wake up at 6:30.  It was such a better Sunday because I had a half hour more sleep. We had a lesson with one of our investigators whose sister passed away. We taught him about the plan of salvation. The spirit was so strong! I think he will be baptized.  And just to be able to tell him his sister is ok and you can live with her forever was the best ever. The spirit was so strong. It was so amazing. We are also working a lot with the son of Hermana Adela.  Our goal is to baptize him soon so he can baptize is sister in October. It’s going to take some work but I think it’s possible.

I’m loving my mission, it’s so great, but words don’t explain how hard it is. But I’m hanging in there and trying to love every minute of it. I forgot to write a whole list out of things to say so that’s the highlights of the week. We also had a lot to do for the fair on Friday so that took some time. But I miss you guys.  Love you and can’t wait to hear from you next week. Love you so much!

Hna Anderson

Oh. My. HECK!

I want to die!!!! I just wrote the biggest fattest email and was about ready to send it when my computer freaked out and I lost the whole thing!!!! PUCHA!!!! (Shoot)

First of all:
1. My package with the green boots came. THANKS!
2. I can’t believe you all bought smart phones. Especially since it was Jordan’s idea. mr.idontneedasmartphoneandneverwill
3. It looks like you guys got a water filter as well, but after living in Guatemala don’t really think its necessary in the states haha
4. Mom your ring is gorgeous!
5. Thanks for your love and support!

So first off. I’m pretty sure my life isn’t real. It is pretty crazy down here. Sundays are the HARDEST day of the week for me. I miss you guys so much more on this day and after church things are just rough because I am ridiculously tired every Sunday. SO TIRED! We have church at 8 and we have to leave at 7 to get our investigators. We had six come to church yesterday. Emanuel was a miracle, we have invited him every week but he always says no. But we had the primary program and he has two sisters in the primary. So he came for his sisters which rocked. Two of the 4 of families came. And Tomasa, oh Tomasa, she just needs to make a decision about baptism already. And Sonia, one of the lady's that works making tortillas. We have a baptism date for her but her mom didn’t give permission. So we gotta figure that out. And her mom doesn’t live in our area. And Sonia lied and didn’t give us the correct phone number. We also have a goal for Jamey for the end of this month. The family de leon haven’t received their answer yet if the church is true and yesterday we had a lesson with them about how to feel the spirit with Froley. Froley has been a huge help with us and this family. And he says hi. Yesterday there was a baptism of an 8 year old. And I was told about one and a half hours before the baptism that I had to speak. It went pretty good. But I was freaking out.

This week I had the funniest language barrier. My companion had deodorant on her shirt and the way to get it off easy is with black tights. I couldn’t remember the word for tights so I acted it out. She thought I was talking about a razor. So I go into our room and she is shaving her shirt. Funniest moment ever. I almost died of laughter and brought her black tights to clean it off. I love my companion, we have our moments but she is great.

There was an earthquake this week. It was so tiny I didn’t even realize it was an earthquake. I saw a car shaking but I just thought it was someone jamming out.

I had the strangest lunch on Martes (members restaurant). Not the food, just what happened. We had lunch with a member and I felt so bad for her. Her husband is a truck. All of her kids are inactivate but one. And all the kids that have kids have dumped them in her house. One of the little boys was not happy and was having a tantrum and what does she do? Pulls a whip out and whips him so hard. So what does he do? Cries harder of course. So if a kid is crying his eyes out, what is the most logical thing to do? Oh, that’s right whip him two more times. Of course he is screaming, then at this time she picks him up and starts giving him the love he wanted the whole time. Sometimes this country is freaking crazy. Actually most of the time. But I’m loving it! I’m 99.9% my life isn’t real right now because sometimes it just doesn’t seem real.

Today we went paintballing. Probably one of my new favorite activates. We went with our zone. We got permission because our zone had the highest baptisms in the mission. 19 in the month of August. I freaking loved it. I didn’t want to do it at first but after the first time I couldn’t get enough of it. We played capture the flag. So many of the elders got ridiculous amounts of ant bites. Thankfully I didn’t, which surprised me like crazy. It was so flipping fun!

Anyways, since I had to type this again I’m running out of time and there are people I need to respond back to. But I love you! Talk to you next week!

Love, Hna Anderson
P.S. this church is true. And our Savior is our Redeemer.

Guess what? Another Rat story.

First of all I went to Xela this week. We had the 6 (actually 8) week meeting. It was so great! Hna McGill was on the same bus as me which totally rocked. Love that girl. After the long bus ride we finally arrived in Xela and went and ate at Wendy’s. Let me tell ya it was absolutely delish. Then we had the meeting with the president. Learned a lot. We had a good time there. The trainers went and talked with the AP's and the new missionaries talked with President Baptista. He told us out of all the groups here in the Xela mission we are one of the most special. And that he feels that most of us will be great leaders in the mission. And that he wasn’t just saying that to make us feel good either. And that he expects a lot out of us. And for all of us to be ready to train after this change is over. So that was crazy. So now I am more determined to be better and be obedient as I possibly can be. Afterwards we went to the mission office and my packages weren’t there (they said they usually don’t have problems with the packages.

Now to the rat story. So on Wednesday. I think. We were talking to Hna Tati (tati is probably my favorite member and she was a missionary so she is a great help to us) about a member in our ward in her house. And we were having a discussion with one of our investigators when in the corner of my eye I saw something moving. I looked over and there was a huge rat! We were all freaking out and grabbed the brooms. Killing rats is not my thing so they gave me a tiny broom to guard where there is no glass in the window that’s in the living room. The window doesn’t go to the outside it goes to other parts of the house. Anyways. Hna Lopez and Tati were chasing the rat around the living room jumping from couch to couch. They tried to kill it. And all of a sudden they started screaming. And I had no idea what was going on. Next thing I knew the rat was flying and me. Flew out of the window and landed on my legs. I wanted to die. I took the longest shower of my life and scrubbed my body clean. Nasty nasty nasty. Then we chased the rat again in the house. We thought we killed it but it turns out later that wasn’t the truth and her husband ended up killing it after chasing it all over the house. Lots of blood apparently.

This week we also helped this poor family move to a better house. But it was disgusting because they are hoarders. And basically everything they have is junk or literally garbage. Seriously they brought a bag of trash. So me and my comp got permission to go to their new house. We wanted to help them throw away crap but it was ridiculously overwhelming because they just have a ridiculous about of crap. But their house is better, I just hate that they are filling it with crap.

Yesterday I had the most awkward lesson of my life. There is a member named Froley. He is crazy. He is kind of a returned missionary. He is 25 so we use him a lot for visits. But he gave us a referral and we taught her yesterday with Froley. They were flirting it up and being all touchy. I wanted to die. It was so awkward. And when I am in awkward situations I start laughing, so the whole time I was trying not to laugh and gag at the same time and listen to the spirit. It was really difficult. She is 17 years olds so Froley is being a ped and he is totally playing her.  Anyways.. It was awkward. The men here are also really open about what they think about me so he also admitted he thinks I’m cute so during this lesson he was staring at me and flirting with the investigator. So so so weird.

Anyways that’s all I can think of. I love you all so much and thanks for the emails. This letter was kind of boring. But my life is crazy and every day I have moments where I’m not so sure this is real. But hey it’s great. Love you, Hna Anderson