Good-Bye February

February has flown by! And can you believe it...one year in the mission just like that. This past year has been the best, hardest, longest, fastest, most rewarding year of my life. And I can´t wait to keep learning more and to keep working even harder for the next 6 months. The mission is just something so special that I´ll never forget nor regret. I know that the Lord called me to serve here in Mexico, here in Morelia for a reason. There´s people here that have touched my life, that have changed my heart, and that´ve helped me understand a little bit better the love our Savior and Heavenly Father have for us. 

This last week we visited a family, the Calderon family, that has passed through every trial you could think of. She´s single, full time working mother with three kids surviving on the little they have... and someone broke in this last week taking everything they owned. The mom is sick but can´t pay for the treatment to get better. The oldest 18 year old son has a drug addiction and new born baby to take care of. The list goes on and my heart broke as I listened to their story. I wanted to take away their pain and all their problems but I couldn´t. The only thing I could do was testify of a loving Father that listens to our prayers, a Savior that has felt every pain and a hope that it will all be okay. At the end of the lesson, the mother sobbed as she offered the most heart-felt sincere prayer that I have ever heard. As I embraced that woman and her 14 year old daughter, I felt an overwhelming love for them, a love so pure that it could only be from Him on high. 

I came on the mission to help others, but I´ve found that in turn they have helped me to learn, to grow, to develop Christ-like attributes, and to truly become the person that God knows I can become. I feel incredibly grateful to be here. I know it´s where I need to be.

Well this next week should be a good one as we head to Guadalajara (again) for Leadership council and then 8 hours to Lazaro Cardenas for some special assignments. I´m excited cause that´s where the beach is :) But really, I love this work with my whole heart and I also love all of you! Thanks for your prayers and support. Keep up the good work.

Te amo,

Hermana Anderson

We got bored in the office one day and made flower crowns...

My companion that looks like a flying squirrel with her poncho 

When you mix american, mexican, and dominican food together....

The elders even decided to participate in our flower fiesta

Almost-one year mark

Well to celebrate my almost-one.year-mark we got to come to Guadalajara (again) to sign visas. I spent the whole morning with Hna Tupounuia and Hna Mortensen in the city center of Guadalajara. Of course we couldn´t help but tour around a little and obviously we had to eat tacos to celebrate the occasion. And the rest of the week was absolutely wonderful as well. The work is quickly hastening in Prados Verdes. 

We´ve been working with one part-member family that is really progressing together. The mom and son are members of many years, but the spouse and other sons haven´t been willing to listen to the missionaries until now. One of the sons has been in jail for a long time, but we´ve been teaching his wife who has faithfully attended church and completed her commitments. She was about to get baptized, but decided it would be better to wait for her husband to get out of jail. They weren´t sure how long he´d be there, in fact they were expecting many years more, but after many promised blessings, fasting and prayer, he got out this week. We didn´t know he had been released, but one morning while working close-by, we felt prompted to pass by. We found him and his wife there waiting for us. They had no way to call us or anything, but the wife had prayed asking for us to pass by and poof, there we were. While in jail, this hermano had an alma the younger experiences. He had read the entire Book of Mormon, cross-referencing it with the Bible, and I´m pretty sure he knows more about the Book of Mormon than most members! He truly has a desire to change. He was also shocked to hear that we´re also teaching his dad. 20 years with his wife as a member of the church and he has never wanted anything to do with the church. I don´t know how it happened, but the Lord has softened his heart and he too is changing little by little. We´ll see how they progress over these next couple weeks, but I think together as a family they will really be supporting and helping one other in these changes. 

We´ve been working a ton with the members and it´s making all the difference. With the members it makes it so that there´s not only two or four missionaries in a ward, but there´s one or two-hundred. There´s days where we don´t even walk in the street. It´s just one appointment after the other in the houses of members with their friends and neighbors. There´s so much work to do and I feel like sometimes there´s just so little time. I´m trying to make everyday count cause I´m starting to recognize that these days are limited and these experiences are priceless. I love this gospel and I love seeing the way it changes peoples lives.

Let us all press on,

Hermana Anderson

Miguel´s baptism with his son Miguel Angel (recent convert) that baptized him

Divisions with Hna Mortensen and Hna Aleman

My beloved Prados Verdes

Guadalajara! Hna Mortensen, Hna Tupounuia, Hna. Largarda

Some cool lookin' cathedral in Guadalajara

Cuando hay amor

Valentine´s day was barely mentioned here in Morelia due to all the excitement of the Pope. But there were a few creative people that decided to mix the two together by selling giant stuffed hearts with the Pope´s face on it and stuff like that. We had to go to Guadalajara this last week to sign my comapnion´s visa, and it wasn´t the easiest thing in the world trying to travel with the Pope in Mexico, but we made it. Today nearly all the main roads are closed, there´s a million parked cars and no people. Everyone parked as close as they could and walked the rest to find a spot to camp and wait for the Pope. Craziness. But don´t worry, the work of the Lord continues. We even had one of our new investigators attend church with us yesterday. He´s absolutely golden. His name´s Carlos. And tonight we´ll be having a Family Home Evening with him and some of our recent converts. It should be fun. Today for P-day we played some basketball and soccer with the youth. You´d think after a year in Mexico I would have gotten at least a little better at soccer, but the reality is, I´m still not very good. But there´s still 6 months to pick up some skills from these kids. 

Well, there´s not much more to tell ya. Everything´s going super well and I´m just trying to enjoy every minute. I feel so privileged to be able to be here, to be able to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ. I love these people so much. Even if not everyone wants to accept our message, we´re all children of God and He is helping me to see His children through His eyes. While this valentine´s day I didn´t receive any flowers or heart shaped chocolates, I was able to share the greatest message of love there is. ¨For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son...¨ 

Les amo tanto,

Hermana Anderson

Preparing for the Pope...

Well, Morelia´s going crazy in preperation for Pope Francis. And our area happens to be in the center of Morelia. More than a million people will be coming here this week, all the stores will be closing, all transportation will be prohibited, and honestly I feel like we´re preparing for a natural disaster. We´re stocked up on water, rice, beans, gas, and oreos...and we won´t be able to leave the house for 3 days. haha it should be an interesting week. But the work of the Lord is quickly progressing! We had some amazing lessons and many miracles this week. For example, we have a less active member named Ramon and we are teaching his two daughters that are 20 and 22 years old. Ramon has quickly progressed as he is also helping his daughters to learn and apply the gospel. This Sunday he payed tithing for the first time in his life, and he was able to talk to his boss to make sure he never has to work on Sunday again. We saw many miracles this Sunday as we fasted for many of our investigators and less actives. We weren´t able to contact one of our investigators the entire week and we were worried he wouldn´t come to church and that we wouldn´t be able to set up his baptismal interview, but as we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, just when we were ready to give up hope, he walked in the door. He had lost his cell phone, and hadn´t been able to find our number. But yeah, his baptism will be this next week.  Another young investigator named Carlos was worried about a friend that he hadn´t heard from for 2 weeks. We said a prayer with him and invited him to say a personal prayer afterwards and the next day he told us that when he finished his prayer, his phone rang and there was a message from his friend. I love seeing the hand of the Lord working in the lives of every single one of this people. From the small to big things the Lord is conscience of everyone of His children.

We also went to Guadalajara this last week for the Leadership Council. We had to leave at 4:30 in the morning to get there on time, but it´s all good. There´s always more blessings when there´s a little bit of sacrifice. 

I feel so blessed to be able to spend every moment of every day spreading this wonderful message of the Gospel. I testify that this is the work of the Lord. 

I love you all so much,

Hermana Anderson

                              sabel, Chava, y Coco

Karla, Alex y Santi--last Sunday in Cruz del Sur

Andrea y Vianey

              The best ice cream I´ve ever eaten in my life

                            Cesar, Yessica y Xochitl

               Foto con Hermana Rita y su familia

                       Nefi y Bania Torrescano y su familia

                              Hermana Sonia Uscanga

here I go...again

Another round of transfers and you´ll never guess what...I got transfered again. Haha I really can´t manage to stay for very long in one area, but the good news is that I´m back in one of my previous areas, Prados Verdes!! (Guess it´s cause they ran out of new areas to send me to haha) This week President called me into his office to extend the assignment of Sister Training Leader of the Sister Training Leaders... I was surprised and felt far from ready to take on such a busy assignment, but the Spirit confirmed to me that it was the will of the Lord, so I accepted. And thus, here I am. Once again in Prados Verdes, with my lovely companion, Hermana Vargas. And it´s amazing becuase I can see some of the fruits of our labors from more than 8 months ago. For example, tonight I will be able to see one of my recent converts, Antonio, get set apart as a missionary to serve a mission in Veracruz. And of the less active members I was teaching is currently on his mission in Slatio. One of my converts, Angelita, just received a calling in the Primary and is actively participating in the ward. What joy it brings to my heart to see these people progressing in the Gospel, moving towards our eternal goal of exaltation. 

As always, it was sad to leave my previous area. In my short amount of time there, I grew to love the people of Guadalajara with all my heart. But I´ll be returning to Guadalajara in a couple days for a leadership counsel and special meeting with President, and I´m sure I´ll be returning frequently for however long I serve in this position. I´m so grateful for revelation, for the mission, for church leaders that give us dirrection. I feel the Lord is helping me to become better, to reach my potencial by giving me the oportunity to serve Him, by stretching me to my limits and showing me what I can really do with His strength and help. This is a marvelous work. This is His work.

Thank you for your love and support always. 

Les amo muchisisisisisimo,

Hermana Anderson