So I wasn’t going to write but a lot of things have happen

So right now I feel suuuuuuper stressed because tomorrow Guatemala is going to protest and when there are protests it’s impossible to go to Xela so I have to go there tonight! We have soooooo many things to do and so little time. I’m not even all the way packed yet! Yikes, but I will only have my big blue suitcase and the little one. The gray one is broken and I decided to give away basically all my stuff anyways because ppl here need the things waaaaaaaaaay more than I do. 

But other than the stress of today this week was probably one of the greatest weeks of my mission! It was so full of miracles. And it makes me not want to go home even more! But as mom said in the email she sent me that my spirit is strong and I could do this forever but my body cannot. But the biggest miracle was Yeison got baptized! It was crazy how everything happened! We so felt like he was ready to be baptized but this last week we weren’t able to see him at all! But on Friday this week we had a visit with him. The spirit was SO STRONG! You could have cut it. He has always wanted to get baptized but he was scared of what his mom would say because she is super catholic and didn’t want him to get baptized. So my companion invited him to ask him to pray and ask God to reaffirm his feelings and to give him the answer that he needs. So he got down and prayed and I seriously have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. And we asked him how he felt and he said he got his answer and he felt happy. And the spirit told me and my companion that we needed to ask him to be baptized for the next day. And he accepted but later he said it would be better Sunday morning. Afterwards the fear of his mom starting sinking in and he decided the next week would be better. We couldn’t believe what was happening and we felt he needed to be baptized on Sunday. He had his interview on Saturday and leaving the interview he said, well my baptism is going to be tomorrow. So we filled up the baptism font and got everything going. He talked to his mom and she got mad but told him he could do what he wanted. The baptism was at 7am before church at 8am. We were so worried that the ward wasn’t going to support us and him, but a ton of ppl showed up. It was miracle after miracle. Seriously words cannot describe how wonderful it was. I feel so blessed that I was able to be a part of it. Yeison is such a great kid and I KNOW he will help many ppl come unto Christ and that he will be a great leader someday. Now we only need the wards help since he doesn’t have much support from his family. But seriously best thing ever! 

My companion is going to have changes too. She will be a new sister leader. I totally knew it. But I’m going to miss Hna Jose sooooo stinking much. I love that girl. I have learned and grown so much during the time we had together. We had our rough patches like every companion. But I love her guts.

Truth be told I DO NOT WANT TO GO HOME AT ALL!!!! But I just got to accept it. I’m going to miss this country and the ppl that I have learned to love here. I’m leaving my heart here too. I’m so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me on a mission. It has been so hard but so incredible. I don’t understand a lot of things that happened on the mission, but I do know it has helped me grown so close to my Savior and that is the most important thing. I will never doubt that this is the true church and I will never leave it. Doesn’t matter if the times get tough. I will see you all soon. So I will tell you more about the week when I get home. See you in 3 days. Thanks for all the love and the support for the last 18 months. Even though how I WISH they weren’t coming to an end ;(. But anyways... see you soon

Hna Anderson 

I feel so super overwhelmed

Truth be told..... I DON’T WANT TO GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m excited to see you all and all that jazz. But I’m going to miss this crazy country and all the wonderful people I met. Being able to get up every day to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. To learn more about the atonement of Christ and the effect it has in lives of others. I will never doubt that the church is true! I can say now that the best convert I have is myself. The atonement has changed my life forever and I have such a great relationship with my Savior, better than it ever has been before. 

This week has been a good week. We have more ppl to teach and more investigators that are progressing and some that want to be baptized, but that will be the work of the other missionaries that come. But we are still hoping that Yeison will be baptized this Saturday. We will see what happens! 

Today I went and said goodbye to the ppl in the Viña. I got to see my converts. Rony has gotten huge! He is so tall! And my Maryliza, I missed that girl so much. When I saw her she said why did you leave me. It broke my heart. And it breaks my heart that I’m leaving leaving. I don’t want to go. It’s such a mix of feelings. 

But I’m probably not going to write a letter next week. Maybe some photos or something. But just some heads up. I’m going to be weird. Not just weird but super weird. This that are going to be weird for me.

·         walking in the house without sandals on

·         showering without sandals

·         putting the toilet paper in the toilet

·         talking in English

·         not talking to everyone about the gospel

·         not eating tortillas with the meals

·         basically everything that is normal for you guys

This I will not miss... eating tamales made of rice and chicken and rice. But seriously I want to cry my eyes out thinking about going home. But thanks to all for your love and support! It has meant so much to me! I will see you all soon

Love,

Hna Anderson 

Pictures of my last area

The weather is bipolar like me!

Well the weather here is nuts.. But hey at least there isn’t any snow! But one minute I’m dying of heat then the next minute its cold! It’s crazy. And that’s how I am. One minute I’m so stoked to be going home and the next minute I don’t ever want to leave. But I guess it doesn’t matter how I feel. I have to go home anyways. Two weeks folks. Its nuts I can’t believe it. 

Well this week was a great week! I stopped putting importance on what the dumb members say and focused on the work. We had such a good week and it was so needed! We are teaching a kid named Yeison (Jason). and he is so great and so positive. He went to church with us again yesterday and yesterday we taught him. The spirit was soooooo strong and so great! We are hoping he will get baptized the 22nd. We asked him why he likes to go to church with us and he was like, your church is so much different from all the other churches and I feel like it could be the true church. It was awesome! 

Also this week we went to find an investigator we haven’t seen for a while but she wasn’t home, only her kids. Her oldest kid is eight years old. There are three of them, a son and two daughters and they do everything for themselves. They make their own food, wash their own clothes and its hand washing the clothes.  In order to get the water they have to fetch it from a well, so we helped them fetch water. It was pretty fun. But on Sunday we stopped by and visited them and their mom was home. And it was so funny during the lesson there was a cow that was grazing the field and it went and ate their soap to wash the clothes. It made me feel like oh my goodness I’m going to miss this place. You’re in the middle of teaching and a cow eats your soap. When will that ever happen in the states? never!! 

But anyways that’s about it for the week! Thanks for all your love and support! 

Hna Anderson 

Boo

So this week was a pretty good week. I was feeling a little discouraged and on Thursday until we had interviews with president. That man is a mind reader! He told me everything I needed to hear. EVERYTHING! It’s like I just said a few words to him and he knew exactly what I needed to hear. Truth be told this area is super hard because of the members are very gossipy and make up a lot of rumors and it has been frustrating to deal with. But it’s fine because I only have three weeks left to deal with them. And it’s been helping me learn a lot and trust in the Lord. He knows our hearts and he knows the work my companion and I are doing. But seriously I was so amazed by my interview with the president. He is the best. 

So Halloween was a really fun day! Halloween really doesn’t exist here but it was a good day. There is a convert that took us to where her family lives. Her uncle one day was taking water out of his well and found a huge tooth in it. Turns out there were fossils of mammoths there. So we went to go see the remains and as well visit her family. We went with our bishop and his wife, but the family of the convert Hna Aura wasn’t home, so we went to explore the grounds a little bit. Then later we met her uncle. Every other Friday we eat with the bishop and his family, but because it was late we went to eat at a restaurant and we happened to run into the brother of Aura who was eating at the same restaurant, which was pretty sweet because we went to go visit him. But the ground where the mammoth was at was gorgeous! Also they sell the best cheese there. They call it mammoth cheese and its super famous here because its soooooo good!! 

Later that day we did a favor to help the bishops wife make tamales. Can I tell you, I never want to eat another tamale again in my life, they are disgusting. But afterwards we went and visited some more. The lights went out that day and a couple that are less active and lives together where going to get married on Friday. We got permission to go to their wedding. But when we got to the church building (that isn’t in our area) they weren’t there and the bishop of that ward told us they weren’t going to get married until 7:30 and the last bus to get back to our area is at 7pm so we had to go back which was kind of a bummer. That night there wasn’t much to do because our neighborhood threw a huge party. That night my companion and I made cookies in the microwave that turned out pretty good. It was a good day. 

The 1st of Nov is the day of the dead and hardly anyone is in their houses. But we had almuerzo with a sister named Evelyn. We are teaching her mom and her mom invited us to come and eat and she make cuchitos. I usually don’t like chuchitos but these were soooooooooooo good! And during this week we met the cutest old man. And on Saturday we ran into him and his son.  His daughter in law dyed his hair what was supposed to be black. But it didn’t turn out good so it ended being blue. Greatest ever. We took a pic with him. 

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting. I got up and bore my testimony and kind of gave the members a good one. I wanted to say more but the spirit was like noooo…Hna Anderson that’s not ok. But another member got up and machete the crap out of the ward. The ward planned a temple trip on the day of the dead and nobody went but him and some other ppl. He was like what are you guys doing in the cemetery? What is a bunch of flowers going to do for your dead? The best thing you can do is go to the temple on the day of the dead. Giving them flowers isn’t going to save them. But going to the temple will. It was sweet! I loved his testimony. That’s about it folks. Sorry for my rants about random stuff. My companion and I are working the best we can and we are always trying to help the other not feel discouraged. We will see what this week has in store for us. 

Thank you all for your love and support! Love you all 

Hna Anderson 

One month left!

This week was a weird week and a long one. So my ankle feels a lot better. It’s not all the way better, but it doesn’t get in the way of the work anymore, so I’m happy about that. I got a blessing on Tuesday because truth be told, I was scared they were going to send me home if the ankle didn’t get better. But in my blessing they said that I will finish my mission and that I have many more ppl to help. So that was great. But the health problems didn’t start there. I have been so sick to my stomach. I’m pretty dang sure I have parasites this time. So what does that mean? More poop samples! AWESOME... hahaha not. 

So yesterday was a pretty good day. We got a lot done!!! An investigator finally came to church yesterday! I actually met him last year.  His ex-girlfriend is a member and was going to church with her in the other stake in Hue Hue, but he wasn’t able to get baptized because his mom is super catholic. But now he is 18 so he doesn’t need permission anymore. But all the members think he is a member because he already knows so much about the church and he came to church in a tie and white shirt. So that was pretty awesome. 

Also yesterday we visited a kid that Hna Jose and her companion before me baptized. Guys... he is such a spiritual giant and he is nine years old. I was shocked by how much he knew and his great testimony. His mom is a member. She just went in-active for a few years but now all of them go to church. He got baptized in July and has almost finished the book of Mormon. 

So here in Guatemala they have a HUGE birthday party for their kids when they turn one. It’s a joke. And our ward mission leaders granddaughter turned one so they had a huge birthday party and our ward mission leader invited us to the birthday party. We only went afterwards because it was a crazy big party and we felt so uncomfortable being there. But the day before the party we went to see if we could help and they were making tamales. Let me tell you tamales are disgusting. When they are made of potato they are better but when they are made of rice I hate them. But everyone loves them here. But they make the tamales over big fires they are good with rice. And they were throwing their garbage in the fire and the ashes were entering the rice. And part of the garbage was used toilet paper. My companion and I were dying because of how gross that was. But we didn’t eat the tamales thank goodness! 

Well my companion and I are trying to try our best and work hard despite all the difficulties that have been going on. But I know Heavenly Father has been helping us move forward. That about all! Hope all is well with you guys. Have an amazing week! 

Hna Anderson 

que chafa!!!!

I’m not going to lie…this week was the pitts. Last Sunday my companion and I decided to fast to have more success in our area. And we were so ready to work. But Satan totally was a dummy and got in the way. My companion got sick on Sunday night so we had to enter in a little early because she had a really bad fever. Last week we wrote earlier so my companion would be able to go and rest and then we didn’t leave the house at all. Then on Tuesday when she was feeling better I randomly got sick to my stomach and we weren’t able to leave the house in the morning, because I needed the bathroom every two seconds. Then our new Hermana Leaders called us and told us that we now have to enter the house at 6pm if we don’t have a priesthood holder over the age of 18 to do appointments with us. All the sisters in Hue Hue now have that rule until president says we can stay out longer. And truth be told our ward doesn’t help out too much, so that’s kind of hard to find someone to visit with us. But Wednesday night my bad ankle started hurting me at night time and I thought the pain would go away quickly, but it hasn’t. It’s still there. We left and visited as much as we could and as much as my ankle would allow me. But I don’t know why it’s hurting me. I have been using a band and everything. But it’s not getting better. It’s not swollen anymore but it just hurts. So we will see what happens.  It’s just frustrating because I just want to work as hard as I can these last few weeks I have left. But doesn’t matter what happens I’m finishing my mission when my time is up. If the pain doesn’t stop I will go and get crutches and leave and visit using them. So please just pray that my ankle will get better! 

The good thing about this week is my companion and I bonded more.  We are also teaching a small family. They aren’t married. The thing is the husband drinks and his wife wants us to help him. And he was doing so good and told us he was going to go to church on Sunday. He went the whole week without drinking and drank Saturday night which was a bummer. But hopefully we will be able to help them out. 

Oh this morning was kind of fun. We went and did service for a sister that has Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s. She is so adorable. I love that woman so much. We are helping her clean out one for her rooms that has a bunch of stuff in it. But it was good to be able to help her out. Huntington’s is the saddest thing ever. It breaks my heart to see her get so frustrated sometimes with her health. Sometimes she isn’t able to take steps. But she keeps on fighting. 

But that’s about it folks. Sorry my letter was kind of complainy but it just wasn’t the best week in the world. But hopefully this week will be better. Love you all! 

Hna Anderson 

We just finished a transfer which means....

I’m not my last transfer! I can’t believe I only have six more weeks left! It’s nuts to think about! I don’t have changes and my companion doesn’t either. Which I’m not happy about but I’m not unhappy about it either. She has her character, sometimes we get along sometimes we don’t. But it’s fine and she is a really good missionary. She can teach so well and can tell ppl things so directly. So that is good! 

So this Saturday we had 2 baptisms. It was Roxana and Cecila. Finally they got baptized. I was so happy for them because you could tell that they were happy and that they have felt a change in their lives.

But at the same time, the baptism was such a mess because the brother-in-law of Roxana, who baptized them, is a controlling nut job! He has been manipulating the baptism date for such a long time. The reason why he manipulated it was so he could get his Priesthood rights back. So Roxana and Cecila would have to wait until they did. Basically he planned the whole baptism without including us, and was such a butt face. But thankfully, we will never have to work with him again. 

But just another quick story, so the other day we went to visit a member and her mom. And they gave us this pumpkin stuff. The thing is pumpkin here is green and it looked like dog diarrhea and it wasn’t that good. But it kind of made my stomach bad and the next day I had a little bit of diarrhea. We went to visit a recent convert that lives far away. To get to where she lives is 30 mins on bus. Well basically all of Hue Hue didn’t have water this last week and I needed the bathroom!! And she didn’t have any water. But I couldn’t stand it any longer and her bathroom was just behind a curtain outside. So after using the bathroom we had to go fetch water. It was so embarrassing. 

But that’s about it folks! I don’t really have too much to say anymore. I have reflecting on my mission a lot. It has been such a wonderful experience. I know I’m a better person because of it. And I have realized how close I have gotten to our Savior. Which I’m so glad I have been able to understand his atonement. Its real and its powerful! But have a wonderful week love you all.

Hna Anderson 

General Conference and a dead person

So this week we went to our district meeting and when we were on the bus going there we were at a bus stop and there was a dead guy. I’m pretty sure he got murdered. There was like a pool of blood. It was kind of freaky and nobody did anything about it! They just walked past him and gave him a look of pity and nothing more. It was nuts! But don’t worry I’m fine. Don’t freak out by this. 

General Conference rocked! On Saturday I watched it in English and on Sunday in Spanish. In the morning on Saturday we couldn’t get the image to work so we only listened to it. But in the afternoon we watched it. It was really great. I learned a lot. One of the seventies was the talk I needed! It was a huge machete but it helped me a lot. It went by waaaaaaaay too fast! But I enjoyed it. Sunday afternoon I was so grateful for Elder Bednar’s talk because our investigators that are going to get baptized this week were there and I think it helped them out a lot. So we hope everything goes well for their baptism. Also Sunday night we had a noche de hogar (FHE) with a sister and her family. Her mom isn’t a member and it turned out really great. So that was fun! 

Today I went and visited some ppl in the Viña. It was sooo good to see them! I wasn’t able to find Dorita my first convert because she moved houses and I didn’t have time to figure out where she was living. But how I miss the Viña! Also we had a zone activity. And an elder made food from Honduras for us. It was really good. 

But truth be told. I don’t really have anything to say anymore. So I will send pictures. But hope you all have a great week! Love you lots

Hna Anderson 

16 months down – 2 more to go

Well today I have 16 months on the mission. I totally forgot when our district leader sent us a message saying happy 16 months. I can’t believe how fast time goes! I really don’t feel like I have 16 months and I don’t really feel like I only have 2 months left but whatever. I will enjoy every minute of it. 

So this week was all about the temple, it was such a spiritually uplifting week. On Wednesday we had a multi-zone conference. It was so awesome. President Smith is so spiritual. I love listening to him. He talked about new goals that he has for the mission. He taught us that we need to focus on the end point which is our investigators.  Go to the temple because our purpose as missionaries is to invite ppl to come unto Christ but they can’t fully come unto him if they don’t go to the temple. They talked about a ton of awesome stuff. I was so spiritually uplifted and thought to myself why wasn’t President Smith my president when I started the mission. He will be such a great mission president for this mission and is. But I know he will help out the mission a lot. When I listen to him I feel like I’m listening to one of the 70’s or an apostle. He is great. 

On Friday we went to the temple!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me tell you it was the best and sooooo needed! We got a private bus for the whole zone which was so much better. Even though there where a ton of annoying gringos in my zone that wouldn’t shut up during the car ride. I went to the temple with some questions and got some answers. But one thing I wasn’t even thinking about and Heavenly Father gave me was peace about finishing my mission and He let me know that maybe my mission as a full time missionary is ending but when I get home a whole new mission is waiting for me. Which made me feel a lot better and a lot more at peace which was so great. 

Toto news- Yeni got married!! yay!!!! I’m so happy about that. It sounds like it was stressful planning it out but it all worked out ok. 

Yesterday was a good day at church I enjoyed it a lot. Especially Relief Society where a sister shared such a good lesson. It was fantastic and it was about the temple and missionary work, which was great. Also my companion and I went to the Women’s Conference. If you haven’t seen it go and watch it right now! It was so amazing and I felt like it was focusing on the temple. We are so unbelievably blessed to have temples. Especially because it helps us become closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. 

So this week we went and visited a recent convert. She is kind of nuts and kind of stresses me out because she is always stressing out. But we asked her what we could help her with and she was like fold my baby’s clothes. So I folded all of them and then I went into her baby’s room and she was like my baby’s closet is a mess.  Can you organize and fold all the clothes for me? Can I just tell you I HATE folding baby clothes? They are just so tiny and it’s so hard. But it kind of made me laugh because we helped fold baby clothes last week and I thought to myself I never want to fold them again and then this happened hahaha. Oops. 

Yesterday we made real Mexican tacos with a family. Can I just say they were the best tacos I have ever had in my life!!! while we were cooking though there was a ton of huge ants and the sister saw them and was like… oh there’s ants, find a few more and we will cook them up. Let me tell you I thought that was hilarious. In place of freaking out she was like yeah let’s eat them! Oh Guatemala. 

But anyways. Can I just say how much I love the temple? Let us never take them for granted. I know they truly are the house of the Lord and is the only way we can know and better understand the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ. 

But have a wonderful week and a wonderful general conference! I’m so excited for conference!!! woohoo!!!! Love you all 

Hermana Anderson 

Trying to get things going around here

So this week was really interesting... but something really sucky happened this morning.  I was washing my clothes and we don’t have a pila so I was washing them in the kitchen sink and I finished and hung them all up to dry when the clothes line fell and basically of my clothes were covered in dirt.  It was the worst. I was ticked. 

Another side note I asked my companion how to say barbwire in Spanish and it is ‘alambre de peas’ but it sounds like pooa** it made me laugh so hard. It’s like swearing without swearing. hahaha 

Also can’t believe I got my flight plans. I don’t really understand it. But I guess I’m going home pretty soon its nuts! 

So this week was supposed to be the baptism of Chris. And it turns out that president made a new rule that we aren’t allowed to go back to our old areas for baptisms. Chris wanted an elder to baptize him and wanted me there. But both of us weren’t able to come. It made him so sad and so deceived that he decided not to get baptized. That was very disappointing. After all the work we did with him. I couldn’t believe. I still don’t believe it. And now he doesn’t know if he wants anything with the church anymore which was pretty disappointing. I don’t know what to think about this. But we gotta keep on moving on. 

But I found a scripture in Acts:14:22 that is one of my favorites:

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. 

I love it because it shows us that we need tribulations in order to return to live with our Heavenly Father and I know what happened to Chris is just another tribulation he needs to go through. I know when he gets baptized it will be a real conversion. And I know he will be such a great leader in this church. 

This week I got a cold which is kind of a bummer. I’m so sick of colds. But I’m almost better thank goodness. Everything is going good here. We are trying our best to find more investigators to teach because we don’t have a lot right now. This area is a little different and I haven’t quite figured it out yet. So we will see what we can do. 

So we had a baptism for this coming Saturday with Roxana and Cecilia but they love changing the dates. Now they are going to get baptized in October so her little daughter can get her blessing on the same day they get confirmed. So hopefully they will get baptized in October! 

With every week I’m kind of running out of things to say. It’s been pretty hot here. And it rains at night but not a lot thank goodness. But anyways love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Hna Anderson 

Happy Independence Day

Well today is the Independence Day in Guatemala its pretty boring well at least for us and they raised the bus prices but happy Independence Day!!!!! 

Well things are going pretty good here. My companion is unlike any of my other companions. But she cracks me up so much! She is very sarcastic but it’s hilarious. Sometimes I just burst into laughter for what she says. It’s pretty great. 

This week not a lot of things happened. We WALKED a ton! We come into the house pretty dang tired. 

But right now we are teaching Roxanna and Cecila, they are mom and daughter. All of the sons of Roxanna have gotten baptized. But Roxanna hasn’t made her decision yet. It has been so hard to find her but we ran into her in the street and she told us that she is for sure getting baptized this month, she just doesn’t know what day. So hopefully we will be having a baptism this Saturday. So we are pretty excited about that. 

On Thursday we had our zone meeting. And our zone is huge!!!!! So we had to go to a church building like an hour or hour and a half away. It made me so car sick but it was beautiful. I don’t know why I didn’t take a picture but the next time I will. There are 24 ppl in my zone. I made them the Oreo treats which was pretty fun. 

This week was weird because basically every single day the lights went out so we had to come in early and then for the parties on the weekend president decided we needed to come in early Saturday and Sunday night. We came in at 6pm. It felt like a sin. But we went to bed really early which rocked. 

Last Sunday we helped a little lady wash her clothes which she had to fill up her pila with well water and yesterday we went back and visited her. Her family is adorable. She has three little kids and they are the only kids I have ever met that aren’t badly behaved. They are such little helpers for their mom. It’s adorable. 

Also in my ward there are a TON of fake blondes. A ton. It’s hilarious because on Sunday they all stare at my hair. It cracks me up. And my companion kept saying things like look how jealous they are staring at your hair. It’s kind of funny. 

Well clearly I don’t have much to say because I feel like I’m trying to make things interesting that aren’t but hey whatever.  I will try to be more interesting next week. But thanks for your love and support! Have a wonderful week! 

Hna Anderson 

!!!! HUEHUE HUEHUE HUEHUE !!!!

I’m back in HueHue and I’m so happy to be back!!!! I always wanted to finish my mission in HueHue and I wanted to die in an area where we didn’t share the area and that’s what Heavenly Father gave me and I’m soooo excited. My new companion is Hermana Jose. She is from Mexico close to the border of Guatemala. She is an odd duck but is great. I get along with her really well. She isn’t a nut job like a lot of the other sisters. I have heard a lot of good things about her. So I’m excited to work with her. She works differently than my other companions but I know I have a lot to learn from her. 

Saying goodbye to Toto was pretty hard. I didn’t cry as much as I thought I would. I cried the hardest when I said goodbye to Yeni and Chris. But it all worked out ok. I know Hna Yriarte will be such a good little trainer. I hope I will be able to go back to Toto for the baptism of Chris. When we entered the house after saying goodbye to everyone a sister from the ward called us and visited us. It was such an amazing experience. We didn’t even visit her all that much. But she gave me a huge gift. It was a skirt, shirt, a bag, and bracelets. But more than that I couldn’t believe the love she had for me. She told me that she didn’t get to know me that well but that I and my companion are part of her family and that she will forever be grateful for us. And just a ton of things. I can’t believe all the love I receive from the ppl here. I will miss Toto but I’m excited for my new area here in HueHue. 

Tuesday was the day of changes. I got to the terminal and they told me my area but the dumb AP’s didn’t know who my companion was so I had to figure that out myself. I got to see some ppl I haven’t seen in a while. Then we said our goodbyes loaded the suitcases on the bus and off we went to HueHue.

We have a cute little apartment above the bishop’s house. It reminds me a lot of the house that I had in Xela. Here in the ward I actually know some ppl from when I was first in HueHue. But after lunch we went and visited a sister and I didn’t know this but it was the mom of Tati…a member that helped me out a TON in La Viña and Tati was at her mom’s house so I was able to see her and it was great. She is preggers and her son has grown so much. I got to know a lot of members this week. The members here like to help out a lot so that has been pretty great. 

Our ward mission leader is nuts but a good guy. He has been the ward mission leader for 25 years so I guess he knows what he is doing. He kind of sells the gospel. He uses a lot of selling methods in teaching methods. It was really weird visiting with him. But one thing that does ROCK here is that every Sunday the bishop and the mission leaders take turns helping us bring investigators and converts and less actives to church. The have a huge van and we go pick everyone up. The bus was pretty full this Sunday and that rocked. 

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and they made me share my testimony which I didn’t expect. Maybe it’s because I met the 1st counselor last year when I was in the Viña. He is a weird dude. But anyways our church building is tiny and adorable. I love it but there are more members in this ward than in Toto. 

Right now we are teaching a mom and a daughter whose names are Roxanna and Cecilia. The sons of Roxanna got baptized already but she hasn’t made her decision yet. She told us that she was thinking about the 17th of September or maybe a little sooner so hopefully they will get baptized. They are members just dry. Also we are teaching a young man that I actually met too last year in the Viña. He went to the other ward that we shared the building with. He wasn’t able to get baptized because is mom is a CRAZY. We met her the other day and she is so brainwashed by the Catholic Church. She told us that Jesus got baptized when he was older because there wasn’t anyone to baptize him when he was a child. But anyways Jason the young man is now 18 so he can get baptized if he wants too. But we gotta teach him away from his house. 

Well I feel like a lot happened this week but I feel like at the same time I don’t have a lot to say. But I’m really sad, well not sad but I can’t believe that I got my plan telling me when I’m going home and the info they need in order to send me home. I can’t believe how fast time goes by! I don’t want to go home at all. Maybe I will extend my mission for 2 years. How great that would be. But anyways. Have a wonderful week! Love you all! 

New Pictures

Hna Anderson 

I’m going to be a grandma!!!!!

My daughter is going to train. So that means I have changes! They called Thursday night and told Hna Yriarte that she is going to train. So we were almost sure that I would have changes and yesterday it was confirmed. I’m all packed and nervous to see where I’m going. It has been such a wonderful experience being with Hna Yriarte. She is one of the best missionaries here on the mission and it was such a privilege to serve with her. I’m going to miss her so much. But I know she is going to be such a great little trainer, better than I could have ever been. She has made so much progress since I have been with her and she is such a powerful little missionary. I will miss her like crazy! 

So here is what happened when we found out Hna Yriarte was going to train. On Wednesday the elders called us and asked us if we had three beds. And then at lunch told us that we are going to need three beds because we were going to be in a trio. Then they didn’t tell us anything else. So we were freaking out about it all day long. So my companion can impersonate one of the APS voice to a T. 

So we called the elders as a prank. My companion called saying she was the AP and that they needed to call us and tell us what is going on. But they saw through our little prank. But that night this same A.P. called. We freaked out because we thought he was going to tell us off for the prank but it just turned out he was calling to tell us that Hna Yriarte is going to train. So that was funny. 

On Thursday we had an awesome experience. All the ppl in the morning that we went to visit weren’t home. And we walked past a public pila. Which are places were ppl can wash their clothes if they don’t have a pila in their house. And I had a feeling that we should go and help them if we could wash their clothes. I told Hna Yriarte that and we went and asked the ladies that were washing their clothes if we could help and they started to laugh and didn’t believe that we could wash.  One of them finally let us wash their clothes and because of our service a ton of ppl starting asking us what are we doing here and if we could visit them. 

So we got a ton of new investigators this day.  It was awesome. 

And Saturday we had dinner with the Puac family. It was so awesome to be with them. I love them so much. The next day all of them came to church and it was so great to see them all at church! 

More than writing about this week I just want to write about how great my time was here in Toto. I’m not going to lie I didn’t ever want to go to Toto and I never thought I was going to go there. But Heavenly Father gave me a little surprise and sent me here. It has been such a blessing to be here. I have had so much personal growth and I have learned so much. I’m so grateful I was able to have the baptism of Yeni. She is a real convert and loves the church. As well I am so happy I was able to be part of the progression of Chris. It was such an amazing experience to train Hna Yriarte there too. She has taught me so much. Yes, it was kind of rough at first but it has been such a blessing to be here and I will miss Toto sooooo much! But I know Heavenly Father has something else in store for me now. But I will let you all know where I will be going in the next week’s letter. Love you all. Have a great week 

Hna Anderson 

I feel like the weeks are flying by!!

So this week was really great!!! Especially lesson wise. But on Wednesday we had a lesson with Chris and the elders. The elders wanted to see what is going on with Chris and for Hna Yriarte and me it was such a wonderful lesson. It’s because Chris can be so unbelievably negative. But all of our patience has paid off. The elders thought Chris was being super negative and that the lesson was horrible but it was so great! On Friday Hna Yriarte and I were doing weekly planning and an idea came to the both of us to have a lesson with Chris in the church in the baptism room and ask him if he is willing to take a huge act of faith and be baptized tomorrow. But weren’t so sure about all of it. But we invited him and his brother and another member. It was one of the best lessons I have ever had on my mission. We did something that is called Christ the reason. And it’s something to read and always brings the spirit so strong. The spirit was so unbelievably strong and Chris told us I still have my doubts but I feel like this is the path I need to take and that Heavenly Father is calling me here. I would love to be part of this gospel and I know my testimony is starting to form and it will get stronger and stronger with time. He said he knows the date he needs to get baptized is the 19th of September. But it was so incredible!!! FINALLY after 2 years Chris has received his answer that he has been waiting for. And it was so amazing to be part of that!!!!! 

But we almost weren’t able to have this amazing lesson for the fault of Juan. And man does he love to fight about doctrine. On Friday we had a lesson with him and we decided to do lesson 2 or plan of salvation. It was three hours long of pure frustration for me! We taught him in the house of Chinita and she was there with us as well as her daughter which rocked. They helped out a ton. But when the scriptures are so clear Juan loves to interpret them wrong! Man, I get so so so so so so so frustrated with him. But he came to church on Sunday. He came at 10:40 and we went to the other sacrament meeting. But he told us he wasn’t going to come but he promised us that he was going to come and at the end he came. And afterwards we went to the other wards gospel principals class and it was HORRIBLE!!!!! It was about the fall of Adam and Eve and the teacher didn’t know anything. We read a scripture in Moses when Heavenly Father is saying to Jesus that it isn’t good that man should be alone. And it says only begotten son and Juan thought it was referring to Adam and pointed that out. The teacher was like well Jesus wasn’t born yet so Adam was His only son on the earth so that way it says that. And I was like WHAT?!?!?! Did you just say that and I had to explain it? And it was just a mess. As well we meet a guy outside of church and he wants to know more about the church but he was kind of drunk and he came to church but he lives in other sister’s area. I wasn’t really listening all that well but I was sitting there and all of a sudden he said a really bad word. I died of laughter because I couldn’t believe everything that happened. 

But when we went to church at our time it was really great because Violeta came and she liked it. And when we were trying to find a tuk, members found us and gave us a ride which rocked! And as well the new temple presidency came and spoke to us. It was so awesome. And one of them has the great accent he talks like a real Latino! But we were waiting for someone else to come to church and while we were waiting a dog entered and I tried to scare it away and it turned around and tried to bite me. So I punched it in the face with my bag. That was kind of fun hahaha. Also after church with Juan a special needs man scared me to death. He came out of nowhere and hooked onto my arm and wouldn’t let me go. So Sunday morning was interesting. 

On Thursday I had to take a Spanish test. It was the worst. They are doing research to see how our Spanish is. It was 57 questions and pure speaking it took two hours I hated it. And I hate listening to my voice and I feel like my accent is horrible. But whatever. 

Saturday was the b-day of the Anderson, the son of Yeni. and they had a huge b-day party for him. We made three cakes. There was a piñata and everything. It was fun. And we are starting the plans to get Yeni married which is exciting!!! 

Also yesterday we had an awesome lesson with the family Perez. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and they really liked the idea of it and thought it was great. Also we went and visited the family Puac or Chris and his family because his brother Steve was there and next Sunday we will know about changes. So it was kind of like, well if one of us goes we will see you later. Because Steve works in the capital and comes every other week. 

But the thing that made this week so AMAZING was Friday night the lesson that we had with Chris. I might not be here for his baptism, but I am so grateful that I was here to see the great change he has made and the amazing progress. And it made me think, maybe some things about the church doesn’t make logical sense, but anyone, anywhere, whoever you are if you ask with a true heart and with faith like Moroni promises you will be able to know if the church is true. Because it is. It’s the only true church and it is amazing to be part of it! 

Love you guys. Thanks for your love and support! I will let you know next week if I have changes. It’s possible. But who knows in this mission! Hahaha 

Love, 

Hna Anderson! 

So this week was a pretty good week!

Monday we had FHE in the house of Hna Mary like usual but this time Violeta and her daughter came which rocked. Yeni came as well, it was really fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 

On Tuesday we had a district meeting and it was an elders b-day and I really like celebrating other´s ppls b-days more than mine so I made him a cake but I have gotten so sick of the boring old chocolate cake, so I made it into an Oreo cake with chocolate peanut butter frosting. It turned out pretty good. After the meeting we had divisions. Hna Yriarte went to Momos and I stayed here and Hna Estrada came here. Hna Estrada is great. She was the last companion of Hna Lopez and we are in the same group. It was fun. We talked a lot but it kind of stunk because all of our visits fell through that day. The only one that didn’t fall was the one where we were supposed to make Mexican food and Hna Yriarte was in Momos but it worked out ok! 

Then Hna Yriarte came back on Wednesday. I missed her a lot and it was good to have her back. But divisions are so tiring! So we were dying the whole day long but we got a little goofy from being tired. On Wednesday we had an activity with a family in the ward with Hna Chinita. Hna Chinita is one of my favorite ppl on this planet.  She is so tiny and adorable and just a love. Her husband is inactive so we are trying to gain his confidence to help him come back so we made Mexican food. It was fun to be with them. I feel a lot at home there. We met a little old lady that uses the bathroom at Hna Chinita because her daughter is abusive to her and doesn’t allow her to use the bathroom, so whenever she needs to use the bathroom she comes to Chinita’s house. She is tiny and adorable. I want to adopt her. Chinita and her husband Edy are so funny. This month they had their anniversary and he was like yup she violated me 27 years ago, so I had no other choice and had to marry her. I think it’s funnier in Spanish.. 

  

So on Thursday we went with Nancy who the elders and the sisters have been teaching forever.  She has almost gotten baptized so many times. But this woman is so prepared! But her life is so complicated. We decided it would be better to get to know her a little better instead of always teaching her. So we had a nail party. She paints nails so cutely. But for this activity we got to know her little sister better who we haven’t really talked to at all that much but I knew she almost got baptized. But her little sister asked us if we could come on Friday to visit her. We went and visited her and she wants to get baptized so so so so so bad! She loves the church but her mom won’t give her permission. She is like I’m holding on for the day that I can get baptized.  I know it’s what I need to do and I know the church is true it was awesome! But so sad that she doesn’t have permission. 

Friday was a frustrating day. We finally visited with Jeremia’s, the guy that comes to church that is the cancer patient and is in love with Hna Yriarte. We thought for sure he would accept a baptismal date, but he is kind of crazy and it was so hard to teach him. I was dying because he never looked at me the whole time only my companion and we were in the house of a member. The things he would say were so crazy but so funny and there was a moment where Hna Yriarte couldn’t handle it anymore and we busted up laughing. He has the capacity of a 12 year old and what he told us isn’t that funny in English but he told us that ocean cheese is salt and it was hilarious. But he also thinks his brother is a prophet which was interesting. But we will see what happens with him. 

After that we had a lesson with Juan. Man it was so frustrating. He only wanted to Bible bash, but we totally proved him wrong, which I know I shouldn’t have gotten all riled up but it made me mad and he needed to know the truth. He still wants us to visit him. If he converts he will be such a strong convert because it is such a fight with him. 

  

But on Saturday it rocked because the elders had a baptism and Chris and Violeta came. And violeta really really liked it! And afterwards we went and talked to her about it. And she said she is almost to the point to be baptized. We put a date for the 29th of this month hopefully she will accept! She is soooo prepared!!!! 

Sunday the brother of Emily, an old investigator that we aren’t really teaching anymore came to church which also rocked. He seems pretty positive. Also we had a good lesson with Chris and he still wants to get baptized, but man he is the most complicated investigator in the world, but we are trying our best with him. 

Also we had an awesome lesson with the Perez family and I know they are going to accept the gospel. Hno Perez has a ton of faith and he shared a ton of life experiences with us. 

Also I made a skirt out of corte. And the whole world yesterday loved my skirt. The whole world pointed at my skirt and gave me a thumbs up. So maybe I should just wear corte every day to help the ppl accept me. Also on Saturday I found I had lice again. But don’t worry they are gone now. Awesome right?! 

Well this gospel is the best! And I’m loving every day that I have left. Thank you for all your love and support. You guys are amazing! 

Love you 

Hna Anderson! 

Another week of fun and adventure

Well folks another week has gone by and this week was pretty good! We have been running all over the place this week. On Tuesday we had planned to have an activity in the house of a member and she called us Tuesday and told us that she wasn’t going to be home. We freaked out because supposedly one of the AP’s and the ZL were going to come to this activity. So we went to the sister´s house to talk to her mom and she told us she could do the activity at 6pm, which was fine but then Chris ruined it all. We went with Chris and he was just super negative and talked a lot and has taken some steps backwards and now isn’t sure about getting baptized.  It was really frustrating so we got waaay behind for him. So we ended up doing the activity in Violeta´s house. We made Mexican enchiladas and it all worked out fine. Her daughters were there, but it just kind of sucked we weren’t able to do in the members house and the AP didn’t end up coming thank goodness!

But Violeta is progressing a lot. She hasn’t accepted a specific date but she came to church on Sunday which rocked!! And she really liked it. She only stayed for the first two hours because her daughter was sick and had to go back home.

On Wednesday we visited with our super evangelic dude. He was pretty calm but then we had another visit with him on Friday and we got on the topic of prophets again and he just can’t get his head around it that only the LDS church has a prophet. He thinks that all churches can have prophets and we have explained to him like five thousand times about autoridad (authority) -- sorry I don’t remember how to spell it in English. But he still wants to learn more and came to church again on Sunday and hasn’t been baptized yet which helps our cause. But it was really weird because on Sunday we came with him and Violeta and me sat on a bench and he decided he didn’t want to sit there and went more up front. And he was sitting alone so I went and sat next to him to help him with questions he might have or whatever. He had a question for me and sat soooooooooo close to me. So slowly and little by little I scooted over to have my space. And my companion was behind us laughing her head off.

We have a new investigator named Francisco and he is adorable. He has a pet squirrel.  He is also teaching us how to speak k´iche…it’s awesome. He is a good teacher!

This week we also had an awesome lesson with the Perez family. Well only with Estella, but we brought a sister with us and it was just a great lesson. So hopefully they will accept as well.

Yesterday we just walked and walked and walked looking for ppl to teach. In the mission manual and it PMG has the biggest lie in the world it says Sundays and Saturdays are the best teaching days. LIE!!!! Nobody is in their house. So we contacted a lot of ppl and as well we were looking for someone and we asked a little old lady and then we asked her if we could visit her someday and she doesn’t hear well but told us to come in. We met her daughter and they are so nice. The daughter invited us to her birthday lunch on the 30th of this month. So that will be fun. Sometimes I just can’t believe the ppl here. They just accept us so easily. I don’t know if it’s just because we are missionaries or this is how the ppl are. We met this lady for like ten minutes and then she was like please come to my birthday party. It’s great! Also her son has her same bday.

But everything is going great. I love my companion.  She is adorable. We have a ton of fun times together. She is a doll and has progressed a ton! And will be such a great little missionary. I love her and I love you guys!!! Thanks for your love and support. Sorry my letters are always all over the place. But you guys gotta deal with it hahaha. Anyways have a great week!!!

Hna Anderson

I don’t want to go home…I just love my mission so much...

So this week was interesting there was a lot of great things and really weird things. We will start with Sunday. Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and Saturday we went to Yeni’s house and invited her to share her testimony. And she agreed to do it. She came to church a little late but she shared her testimony and it was amazing!!! I just get chills thinking about. I just wanted to cry. The spirit was so unbelievably strong. I wanted to cry. She has had a real conversion. Yeni told us about herself before she met the missionaries and she used to be an angry person.  Her husband has seen such a big change in her as well. It’s amazing. And I’m so grateful I was allowed to be part of her conversion and to know her it was amazing. But also during the fast and testimony meeting one of our investigators that has come to church two times and we have never taught him got up. We were terrified. This guy is a little off. We didn’t even know he was at church when we saw him get up. He is a cancer patient so he only talked about that and said kind of a bad word. It was kind of funny. His name is Jeremias and he is in love with my companion. After church was out he asked my companion to marry him.

Also at church we had an investigator whose name is Juan. Juan contacted us on Tuesday and said he always sees us and wants to know more about our church and has the desire to know what church is true and on Friday we taught him. We taught him lesson one and he had a bunch of weird evangelicals ideas and we showed him a ton of scriptures in the Bible. He liked what we taught and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he liked the idea of it. It was funny because he had a meeting with his pastor after us and he hides his Book of Mormon in his sweater and a little while later we saw him and his pastor. It cracked me up. But he came to church on Sunday only for the first hour. It will be interesting to see what happens with him.

Also this week we found Edvin again. He disappeared because he stopped working at his job and we ran into him the other day. He has been reading the Book of Mormon while we weren’t visiting him. And he knows the next step is baptism. But he never comes to church. He promised he would this Sunday but he didn’t come, which stinks because he is so prepared!!!!

Also we had an amazing lesson with Violeta this week. She is a woman of so much faith! It’s incredible!!! She has the greatest testimony of prayer and what faith can do. And she knows Heavenly Father will answer her prayers if the church is true. She told us a ton of amazing stories. She is so prepared as well. She just hasn’t come to church yet. We called her Sunday morning to verify and she told us that she was sick. But we have a lesson with her tonight. Hopefully it all goes well.

The Perez family is progressing a lot as well. They are the cutest little family. They invited us to dinner the other day and we ate fish. But here they don’t degut the fish. It has its tail head everything. It actually didn’t taste too bad it just grossed me out that there was a fish tail on my plate. But I really really hope they accept baptism too. They are adorable. Yesterday we went with them and shared the Because of Him video. They really liked it.

But the weirdest thing that happened was with the brother in law of Brenda. The really funny family where we tried on Corte. So we taught Brenda and one of her sisters and her mom lesson one. And they accepted it really well even though they are crazy evangelists. Well her brother in law is a crazy nut job of an evangelist. He told us that he read the pamphlet we left and then he said he has studied a lot about our church, which he was confusing us with Jehovah Witnesses. Then he started on about how he has seen God. But first he told us that before he did a deal with the devil and that he was a druggy. And that he started a fire that was his fault and three ppl died and that he burned a child and the mom of the child was a witch and that the witch cursed him. And that he got really sick and skinny, but had a huge stomach. So he went to a wizards place and that the wizard told him about his life and that in his stomach he had dirt from a cemetery, five fingers and a brain. And that he threw up only the dirt and he couldn’t afford the wizard anymore so his mom took him to a woman pastor that prayed for him and healed him and he had a vision and he met God.  He didn’t see him but heard his voice and that God told him he needs to teach the gospel and whole bunch of other crap. But when he was talking he confused himself and he doesn’t know anything. I wanted to take my Bible out and show him how it really is but I knew we would only fight. So we just left after his long rant. I’m pretty sure he is still on drugs.

But that experience just made me so unbelievably grateful for the gospel and the truth that we do have! And that we are the only living gospel that has the authority from God. We are so blessed to know the truth!!! and I’m so blessed to be sharing the truth. I love it so much. and I don’t want to go home. I do want to see everyone again. But I just love the mission so much...

Oh…also Saturday we had a stake activity…it was a cultural afternoon. I don’t quite understand why we had to be there but it was fun to see all the dances. The elders also did a very interesting dance. But it was a great week all in all! As always thanks for your love and support! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Hna Anderson