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