si ou vle pancakes?

                                                                                                            January 22, 2018

Hello!!!!

What is up!?

Man, I know this is becoming a habit in saying this, but I am stoked! we are really ripping it up out here! 

First off, this week we blew the scales, in the mission we have what’s is average expectancy of success, meaning that the mission expects us to have at least 10 news a week, etc., well this week we dropped kicked that scale in the ditch and made our own, with having 11 people in church before the sacrament started (which there was only 9 members there when church started)  and having 18 people by the time church ended, and the thing is a lot of these people have good potential for baptism so this week the goal is to turn all of these into dates for baptism.  now with that being said, 10 of these 18 people are Hattians, my teaching skills in creole are good, I am speaking about 65 percent creole right now, still got a little way to go. 

In these past weeks in the mission we have been talking about goals, this upcoming week we are planning on setting a whole new ranking of goals for the sector, basically if we thought we were working hard we are taking it up a little and are going to work even harder, every night this week we got into just dead beat tired, so much that I even took a nap on p day, and I never take naps, 

So, the house we live in here is super dope, with what little time I have at night we have been kicking in a little bible study with pancakes, honestly, we have eaten pancakes like 4 times this week, turns out I can make a pretty good pancake, 

This week we need to put another baptism date with a couple who their son got baptized about 3 weeks ago before I got here, they are for sure going to get baptized we just need to put a date with them!!!

I know that the lord has blessed us so much here, being able to learn creole, and being able to get into the lessons that we have had, yesterday as I was sitting in sacraments meeting thinking about the things that we can do better to have more success and fulfill our purpose even more I started to think about why we invite people to church and why we really go, to be honest many times through the week we live our lives as normal people and then on Sundays put on the shirt and tie and go talk about things in the church and really just halfway do our stuff and our callings, I for sure have learned lots about how to be a better disciple of Christ here on the mission, we really need to put all The effort we have into the gospel, that includes daily changes in our lives, and being sure we are prepared when we go to church, 

I love you all and hope that you are doing great! miss yam like crazy!

Elder Anderson

tout bagay afom? mue se hatian

                                                                                                            January 15, 2018

Dear Fam!

Well I know you all know that the title of my email is not in Spanish,,,,,,,,,,,,,, it’s in creole, if there was anything I could really say about this sector is that phrase, haha because I speak just about as much croele during the day as I do Spanish, 

This sector is beast, to tell you the truth I love it here, it’s for sure I different part of the mission, but the people are dope, this past week was full of working hard and trying to get to know stuff, we honestly got a lot done this past week and found some good people to teach, we know have 2 feches for the 27th, with a married couple that there son got baptized a week ago, the dude just needs to quit smoking, he has dropped his smoking habits from like 10 15 a day to about 3. so, this week he goes with the ward on a weeklong campout and so he will have to quite its cold turkey this week. which is what he plans on. they are super great people.

One of the cool things about this sector is I live with my bud elder Callister, I was his dl back in san Antonio, 

This week my bag finally died, so today I got another one, the bag I came into the mission with is super big so I quit using it a while back and have been using one a dude gave me a while back until it died. 

As well as I did have to buy some new shoes to do service in and play football cause my one broke through on the front.

All is good here just working hard! this week we are trying to reactivate a bunch of people as well as they have many children that aren’t baptized. we will see how it goes.

Elder Anderson

New Sector, New Comp, New Goals, New Excitement!

                                                                                                            January 8, 2018

Sup fam!

Chilling here in my new sector Villa Sur, En Chiaravalle!!! haha this is my sixth sector in the mission, holy cow, needless to say I have a crap ton of sectors for my time in the mission! I am here with elder tuna, from Chile! he has like 5 months in the mission. I am his first comp outside of his trainer. I am district leader of a district of me my comp and 2 other elders, haha wow super small. from what I know right now my sector is very humble, with about a 50 percent population of Hattians...... haha I guess it was revelation I got about 2 weeks ago, because about 2 weeks ago I started going ham on my language studies and learning creole, what I lacked in Peña flor was Hattians to talk to, now I can really just go crazy with practicing!!!!!

Needless to say, I am stoked about my new sector, when I got to see the elder who was leaving the sector he got super emotional about the sector, he really worked hard to get it where it’s at, I hope that me and my comp can now take it to the next level, I am super excited to work my butt off here, as well as I live with one of my best friends elder Callister, I was his district leader in san Antonio and got to know him there.

So, this last week in my sector we baptized Estevan, it was great!!!! he honestly was one of the best people I have ever met, and it was really obvious during the lessons with him that the spirit was the teacher, we really didn’t do anything in particular.

As I was leaving the sector it occurred to me the role I played in the lives of everyone, first my converts, as I said goodbye to each one of them I could see that they were a little worried and didn’t want me to go. the one that really meant a lot to me was Estaban’s, as we were saying goodbye our eyes got all watery and everything, I know there will be great things in store for the dude, as well as for sure going to keep in contact with him. also there was a family that really I never talked to,,,, never ate lunch with them, they were just another family in the ward, but as I was they had me give them my info, and they really expressed the difference I made, pondering on my mission my up and downs the things I want to complete, really hearing that from the ward and all the people really got to me that I made a difference, and that is all that matters.

As far as everything else goes all is good, still doing workouts morning and night, I am planning on buying some more weights now that I changed comps we had to divide the set we had. 

Love you all!

Elder Anderson

Just Because!

                                                                                                            January 2, 2018

Sup fam!

To be honest right now I am super jacked and excited for this next year to come, yesterday was p day and spent some time and sat down to write some goals, and tell you all what I got a lot of work to do to complete these goals, but I am excited for the challenge, in reality I am my own obstacle in these goals, it’s just a matter of putting aside more time working harder and putting my desires more in line with the lords.

So first off, the baptism didn’t happen this week, we had to move it to this weekend because he got stuck working on Sunday, but this is actually a blessing due to this he will change things up at work so that he doesn’t have to work Sundays again, so all will be good. as well as we put another baptism date with his little sister, if things go well she will be in the water in 2 weeks. 

So, for new year’s we ended up eating dinner at my good old friend elder Salvador’s house, we ate there with 6 other elders, including elder fuller, it was a super fun night to be with my buds, and then the next day we just cleaned the house and helped elder Clark pack his backs because he leaves tomorrow.

Really not a whole lot more to say. right now, even though things are super hard I couldn’t be happier, I know that great things are coming.

Love you all! Elder Anderson

Navidad en Chile!

                                                                                                            December 26, 2017

Hey everyone,

Well even though yesterday was Monday and I did get to skype the family, president is still having us email the family today as well, 

This past weekend ended up being super great, all went well and even though it was the hottest weekend so far it was super calm.

Friday, we had our mission Christmas party, it was great! tons of fun, we had skits that we did as well as I had made a video that was shown in it, and we got to listen to the church Christmas devotional, we had a gift exchange and we also got tons of letters from people all over the world. thank you to all that participated in that, really was such a special moment when we were all reading those cards and we could feel the spirit so strong. 

Saturday night we had the ward Christmas party, and tell you what it was a blast! lots of people their great stuff was happening and we even had an ice-cream machine,

Sunday night we ate dinner with a family and opened a few gifts from them, it really amazing at how much a lot of the members treat the missionaries, some could care less about them but others such as this family care tons about us as missionaries, they see the importance not only in the work but as well as in the missionaries, they see things in us that we really can’t see. I am so great full for people like them.

Monday, we ended up having a super great laid-back day, we played some ping pong in the church with some other elders, and later that day skyped with the family.

Christ being the perfect example dedicated his life to the will and plan of the father, this Christmas season the church focused on helping the members dedicate themselves more to the work and plan of the father, through service, I hope that you all took the chances to serve as many opportunities as you could. and I hope you keep doing that! even if it is in just little ways, one story that has helped me do so was from when I was younger my dad would always look to take a grocery store cart from someone who was putting the cart away as we were going in, one of those small acts of service my dad found a credit card in the bottom of the cart and returned it to the owner, just one of the right place in the right time kind of things, but he saved that lady from a huge headache of losing something so important, many time in my sector people and doing such things like loading up there truck in many situations pushing a car that had broken down off the road.

I invite all of you as the new year is coming up to make a goal to follow those spiritual promptings that invite you to serve, and help people in as many ways as you possible can. in doing so we will all become closer to Christ.

I love you all and hope you had a very merry Christmas and a super happy new year!

Elder Anderson

Working towards a White Christmas!

                                                                                                            December 18, 2017

Family,

My words in the email can’t express my excitement for the mission work right now, haha especially after I spent all day today editing a Christmas video for Hermana Woodward I just want to get out and work!

Right now, I have a baptismal date with Estevan for the 30th, we are thinking about moving it to the 23, he has everything he needs and is ready, we are going to visit him tomorrow to see what he thinks, 

This past week was not normal, I spent tons of time in the church building, between planning for stake activities cleaning the church and getting ready for Hattian weddings I have been super busy, to boil it all down there was a Hattian that lived in my  sector a while back that moved to the sector of the Hermana’s and he finally go the papers to get married a while back, this past Friday we had the reception and Saturday the baptism, we did lots of prep working helping make it so everything goes good, the wedding at the end was super nice, and the part of the baptism was a little un organized but was great as well. as I showed up to the baptism the Herman’s told me I had to baptism the guy and my mission leader would baptize his wife, haha so I looked for some white pants in the office, found some and then baptized, as I didn’t have any change of clothes I went home a little wet! haha and as I had all my clothes sitting in the bathroom some of the little children had stolen my shoes while I was baptizing, I got all changed then realized my shoes were gone! a few of the members helped me locate my shoes after about 5 minutes of looking. the kids were using them as airplanes.

Other than that, this past week has just been working, lots of heat and contacting, the people aren’t that responsive right now but we are working in many different ways and the Christmas program for this year helps us a lot! we found a family this past week that we are going to visit tomorrow.

I love you all thanks for your support!

merry Christmas!

Elder Anderson

Dreaming of a White Christmas!!!

                                                                                                            December 11, 2017

Sup fam?

Nothing great week in the oven, the elders here in Peña flor are starting to blend in with the Hattians, and I am trying to decide that the smell of cooking meat in the streets is from us cooking or from the people actually cooking meat. haha anyways, nothing like a good dip in the old baptismal fount to cool us off!

This past week we had another baptism, this baptism was for a pioneer baptism in 2 ways, one because she is the first person in her whole family who has been baptized. and she was a product of our new reference system, as I have explained a while back we are the firsts outside of the united states to have a system like this, one of those references I had gotten was Claudia, a 16 year old girl that had been attending church in another sector for some time, as of 2 weeks ago we had a date with her for the 16th but then changed it for the 8th, so this last Friday she got baptized then Sunday confirmed,

Also, this week we kept the contacting going but not a whole ton of results came out of it. we did get a few more people that might have some good potential but nothing too promising. we also moved our baptism date with Estevan for the 30th and also put another date with his little sister for the 30th as well. my hopes are for at the end of this month they will have almost their whole family baptized,

Other than that, not a whole ton has happened, I have been in the office a whole lot today just because Hermana Woodward has me doing some video editing for the Christmas party movie. 

I love you all and thanks for everything you do for me!

Elder Anderson

Sorry looks like I won’t send pics this week, this computer here doesn’t work that great.

P Day with Herman Woodward

                                                                                                                   December 4, 2017

hello everyone!

today will be a little short and crazy, haha to first explain, today was a great people but crazy, we ended up having to go on the other side of Chile, the side closest to Argentina to a hospital, my comp needed to do a few examines,(not going to go into detail why) but it took about 3 hours from my house to the hospital, Hermana Woodward met us there, we spent the whole day in these hospitals working the system trying to get everything done in one day so we didn’t have to come back another day, today for sure was an English day, my comp speaks English so Hermana Woodward just talked to us in English all day, we talked about everything, it was really great to get an inside on the life of president, what he thinks of the mission and life perspective, after talking with Hermana Woodward I realize how much they are really just trying to run the mission exactly how the lord wants it. and really, I get to see the results, this mission truly is being run by the lord. after all the hospital stuff she took us out to eat at McDonalds, first time in my mission eating McDonalds, it was super great! then after that we ended up going with her to pick up her kids from school, it was cool to get to know one of her kids a little bit more. these kids truly sacrifice a lot of us as missionaries as well.

as far as work is going, haha I am loving it! don’t get me wrong last week was a rough week but me and my comp are working, and working, and it is super great, I get along so well with my comp, we became super great friends super-fast, I see a lot of me in him,(haha he is the same height weight and shoe size as me) as well as he teaches the same way as me and loves walking fast, so that’s a super great thing! 

this week we took the fecha with Claudia and put it for the 8th, this Friday, haha first time I have made a fecha even close!  Claudia really is ready for baptism and really has a really bright future, 

with Estevan he has a fecha for the 16th, he is trying to get his life a little bit in order, he has a kid that is going through lots of surgeries and stuff. his son has 2 years old and he has 27.

we are working with a girl named Loura, this week we want to put a fecha meta with her for the 23, she has attended church a ton just not in the past month. 

my classes of English are getting super hard to teach, especially because I am now teaching them alone! hopefully this new Hermana from the states who just started her mission can help me a bit. teaching English is super hard! but about 30 people come to my class. Hermana Woodward was super impressed with this class and is going to start sending me materials so I can teach a little better.

this Christmas we are really focusing on the light the world project, I only got one more Christmas left in the mission, let’s make the best out of it. 

I really appreciate all the love and prays I get from you all. for sure see them in my life. I can see the lord doing his thing in my life every day. and not even in small ways. today we got into some examines that the next opening would have been the 19th of this month, we prayed and the next thing you know a lady come out and says. you know, I feel like I should let you guys get an appointment today, so she moved a few things around to get us in. 

this morning I prayed for a few special chances to help some people, and those chances came to me, I didn’t have to look for them, we got to talk to a security guard about his life, how he just had a kid and in the testing church. he just finished the book of Mormon and wants to know more, sadly he doesn’t even live in my mission, but we found out that there are missionaries visiting him.

I really love the mission, and Christmas, and working on Christmas as a missionary, haha its super-hot outside but nothing like a little sweaty face to get the people to sit down in the shade for a minute and listen to the Lords message,

love you all.

Elder Anderson

Saturday's in the water

                                                                                                                                November 27^, 2017

Hey Everyone,

this past week was a beastly week, haha did really show much in our numbers but honestly we did a lot of good, to start off as of last Monday we did not have a baptismal date with

anyone, on Tuesday we went to visit gravy whom we had previously had a date with for the 25th, we walked into that lesson only having plans to read a chapter of the book of Mormon with her, after reading we got onto the topic of how the holy ghost responds to us, in end she told us about her getting her answer and that she wanted to be baptized this weekend, she put her own baptismal date. I could truly see that she was repented of her past and converted to the gospel. 

 

Wednesday, I thought my first big English class, remember about the Fairia thing? about 30 people showed up to the class, to be honest it is hard to teach ingles, for many reasons, but with practice I am getting good.

we after the baptism on Saturday we had a lesson with Claudia and 16-year-old girl that I talked about last week, she has a date to be baptized on the 16th,

we did have changes I am still her in peñaflor but now with elder Gonzales from Argentina. he has almost the same amount of time as me. I am super excited to see the work we are going to do this change.

love you all keep up the great work!

 

Elder Andy and Blonde Hair

November 20, 2017

Hello family!

What’s up yall?  Here in the mission everything is super chill, haha or should I say hot? haha the sun continues to be super-hot! including it has died my hair blond, today as I was getting my hair cut the lady that was cutting my hair said that it probably won’t ever go back to brown, well I guess we finally have a person in the family that has blond hair, at this point it’s just at the front of my hair and the lower sides, but it is spreading! within the next few months I expect to be blond.

This week with the sector was a pretty difficult week to tell ya the truth, we kept working and looking for people but never ever showed up, we followed the council of president but still nothing, until Saturday, Saturday we did an activity in the fairia, which is basically where everyone sells stuff on the side of the streets like crazy, fruits ect,,, anyways, we ended up putting a stand up there as a district, we offered free juice as well as contacted people and got over 50 people signed up for my English classes, we contacted over 200 people, and gave away 40 liters of juice, it was very effective, after that activity we passed by a reference that Talagante my old sector gave us, is was a 16 year old girl that had been attending church in the Talagante ward for the past month! as well as our retentions kids ages 12 and 27 want to be baptized and Gavy the investigator as of a long time is finally getting her head on straight about getting an answer about baptism, 

Really the lord is blessing us here, I can see that, I don’t really have a whole lot more to say, I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

 Elder Anderson