¡Adios CCM!

Exciting news...We got our flight plans today!! I´ll be leaving the CCM at 4 am Monday morning. I´m so excited!! My Spanish isn´t quite ready, but I sure am. There´s a bunch of Latinas in our casa going to the Guadalajara East Mission and then there´s one hermana from Guadalajara, so it´s been fun trying to talk to them and figure out what it´s like in real world Mexico. I´ll be sad to be leaving my district and companion, but at least some of us are in the same mission and will probably see eachother around. Crazy how close you get to someone when you´re with eachother litterally every second of every day for six weeks.

Soooo conference was AMAZING! Every single one of my questions were answered. What a unique opportunity it was to spend general conference here in the CCM where we got to focus every second of those two days on the messages and words of our Prophet and Apostles. When we weren´t watching conference we were dicussing our insights, reading the scriptures they mentioned, and studying past conference messages. While I missed the Easter Egg hunts, dinner, candy, and festivities, I could not have asked for a better way to spend Easter, focused on our Savior and what he did for us. 

My favorite talks included L. Tom Perry´s message on family, Elder Holland´s talk on the Atonement, and Elder Neil L. Andersen´s talk that mentioned missionary work. I feel like so much of conference was focused on family and it got me thinking of not only how grateful I am for my family, but how grateful I am for this opportunity I have to go out and teach families that they truly can be together forever. We live in a culture of temporary, but God´s plan, His message, His work and His glory, is one of eternity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is unique in that we have the eternal perspective of the restored gospel. I was so happy to hear the 3 temples announced to be built in Haiti, Thailand, and Ivory Coast.  Temples are how families become forever. Temples are vital to this work, to the building up of His kingdom. Never ever take the temple for granted. 

These past 6 weeks have been an amazing experience. I have felt the Spirit in a whole new way. I have learned so many new things and I cannot wait to continue this experience in Guadalajara. I´m happier than I´ve ever been, and I know this is exactly where I´m supossed to be.

Thank you for all your support and love! 

Mucho Amor,

Hermana Kirsten Anderson

P.S. The first picture is of Hermana Ashley Haws, Elder Truman Davidson and I. They were in my ward at BYU during Fall Semester.

And the second one is just the list of everyone leaving the CCM this next week....the CCM is basically going to be empty next week. 

That´s all.

Hola, April 2, 2015

¡Hola! So after a month here at the CCM, we have to keep things interesting somehow. This week, our topics of conversation and most thrilling moments included a key in a tree, a monster spider, and the sad ending to the life of a bird. Also, we went to the Mexico City temple visitor´s center today. That was pretty rad.

Story number one:

Elder Jarrett was throwing his key high into the air to see just how high he could throw it without dropping it. We were walking under one of the palm trees and Hermana Mortensen warned: "Don´t throw your key or it will get stuck in the tree". And that´s exactly what happened. We finally got it out after 30 minutes of throwing rocks into the tree. I then made an entire children´s book about the incident entitled, "The Key to Obedience". Pretty sure that book is worthy of publishing. And then the next day Elder Jarrett broke the key. We no longer trust him to keep the mailbox key.

Story number two:

We were getting ready for bed. I opened the door to put some stuff in the hallway closet and this massive spider crawled across my foot. I screamed, backed into the wall and thus accidentally turned off the lights. This set the other girls screaming, thinking we had a serial killer in our room. Once they understood it was just a spider, they all screamed louder and climbed on top of the chairs and bunk beds. Luckily, Hermana Hale was brave enough to hunt down the giant spider and kill it. That´s all.

Story number three:

The CCM is basically a bird sanctuary, and none of the birds are afraid of us. Unfortunately, this proved fatal for one friendly bird. We were walking and Hermana Hale suddenly screamed. I turned around to see the victim of Hermana Hale´s foot. One of the elders apparently buried it for us. 

As you can see from story two and three, Hermana Hale is a cold-hearted murderer. Just kidding. She´s honestly one of the sweetest people I´ve ever met. 

Last one:

Today we left the Happiest Prison on Earth to visit the TEMPLE! I cannot tell you how much I miss the temple. The Mexico City Temple is under renovation, so we were only able to go through the vistor´s center, but it was still amazing. They showed us this video on families and how the gospel and the temple blesses families...needless to say, I was a mess through the entire thing. AND THEN they made me and my companion stand in front of everyone and teach a short lesson on families...in Spanish. It´s really a good thing the gift of tongues is real. But honestly, I´m so grateful for the temple. It blesses not only our families here on Earth, but our ancestors who have passed on before, as well as those to come. Please, please, please do not take the temple for granted. 

While in the Visitor´s Center, we watched the Church´s Easter video. If you have not seen it, go watch it right now. I testify that He truly is here, He lives, and we must find Him. I´m so grateful for this Easter season and the opportunity we have to reflect on all that the Savior has done for us. He has overcome our sins and physical death. He knows us perfectly. He loves us unconditionally. We also have the amazing opportunity this Easter weekend to listen to CONFERENCE! We are so blessed to have a living prophet that is the literal mouthpiece of the Lord. As we prepare to listen to our living prophet and apostles, I would encourage all of you to write down a few questions you might have, pray to recognize and receive an answer, and then diligently watch and listen to the words of the prophet and apostles. I promise you will receive an answer. 

Have a wonderful week! 

Yours truly,

Hermana Kirsten Anderson

If you want...there´s the dearelder.com thing where you can send me letter things... and that would maybe make our mail time a little more exciting. The only person in our district that gets letters is Elder Tams...that one missionary we first met in the parking garage when you were dropping me off?  haha 

So here´s a picture of us in the post office to guilt trip you into sending us letters ;)

Halfway There...Living on a Prayer

Can you believe I´ve been out here for 3 weeks-- HALFWAY! 2 more P-days and I´m out in the real world Mexico!! That kind of really scares me because I´m not anywhere near fluent, but I´ve come so far since day 1 and I know the Lord will continue to help me as I work hard to do His will. 

Ready for a funny Spanish story? I was teaching a lesson and was trying to explain that living the commandments and following our Heavenly Father´s plan will help us have a better life. Now you must understand the word for ´better´ is mejor...the word for ´woman´ is mujer and for some reason I definitely get them mixed up sometimes. Sooooo I told this man that by living the commandments and following our Heavenly Father´s plan, he could become a woman. Yep, that was really funny and slightly awkward. 

Other events this week include: getting to watch ´Meet the Mormons´ for our Sunday night movie night, singing in the choir for our Tuesday night devotional, and having a fiesta today for Elder Begley cause it´s his birthday today! Meet the Mormons was really good and I´m pretty sure every missionary here shed at least one tear during the missionary-airport-drop-off scene. We sang A Child´s Prayer for choir this week and it was awesome! I love learning and singing songs in Spanish because even if I don´t know what every word means, the songs always invite such a strong Spirit. The Mexico Area President came and talked to us Tuesday night and it was awesome to hear from him. I can´t wait for General Conference! I just love hearing what God´s servants have to say and I´m always amazed at how the Spirit helps us to find personal messages in each talk that is given. God is aware of every single one of us, our struggles, our triumphs, our deepest sorrows, and greatest joys. I am so grateful to have a Father in Heaven that I can talk to at any point of the day in any situation. 

All in all, everything is still going well here at the CCM. The days keep going by faster and faster. I love my companion and my entire district. It´s not always easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever very easy. I know this is where I´m supposed to be, and as long as I´m where the Lord wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do, I know He will provide a way in all things (even learning Spanish). I love you all and I´m so grateful for you wonderful support and love!

Let us all press on in the work of the Lord.

With lots of love,

Hermana Kirsten Anderson

Hermana Kelsie Shuler and I (a friend from High School)

I've a feeling we're not in Utah anymore.

¡Hola mi familia y amigos!

I´ve reached that point where I can´t speak English or Spanish, which means my acting skills have gotten increasingly better. And I´m the happiest Spanglish speaking, constant word charade seeking, missionary ever. Time is such a strange thing here...I feel like I´ve been here my entire life and just arrived yesterday all the same. I love all my teachers and am so grateful for their incessant patience and constant love. We have 6 different teachers that we spend nearly all our time with. My favorite lesson from this past week had to be our "Stress Management" lesson. We got to run around outside and eat cookies off of desks without our hands and scream as loud as we wanted. I guess that´s what they have to do here to keep us sane ;) 

I also really enjoy our gym time everyday. Hermana Mortensen and I always do a CrossFit workout (that´s right Mom and Dad) and then our district plays some sort of sport together. In the past two weeks I´ve discovered I´m surprisingly okay at ping pong, really bad at beach volleyball, don´t stand a chance against the Latinos in futból, and will forever and always love basketball. I´ve also relearned the importance of sunscreen for white people like me. 

So every week we all have the amazing opportunity to do a service project. My district just so happened to be blessed with the assignment of welcoming all the new missionaries every Wednesday. I guess my missionary greeting skills from the Provo MTC are paying off. But honestly, it´s the highlight of my week. The Lord has prepared this generation to hasten His work and you can just see the light in their eyes as each new missionary begins this new adventure. We are truly as the Army of Helaman, and I feel so blessed to be a part of this great work.

Today we got to go on a grand adventure. We had to go to immigration something or other and got to drive 4 hours on a bus! I loved it! Really. We got to see so many different parts of Mexico City. It´s BEAUTIFUL. We even got to walk around for a while and had REAL Tacos for lunch. My favorite though was all the stares. 30 young Americans, walking around in suits and skirts, speaking Spanish...well Spanglish. While we waiting in different lines for stuff, we got to talk to a bunch of different people. My favorite was an Argentinian man I talked to who was moving here to play professional futból. He was so nice and super curious about our church! In my broken Spanish, I was a least able to tell him a little bit about what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is about. I really can´t wait to be out in the field teaching people like him everyday. 

I guess I´ll finish by sharing a Spiritual experience I had last night:

Last night we had TRC, which no one knows what it actually stands for, but in essence, it´s teaching real people, most of whom are recent converts. (And, no, it doesn´t stand for 'Teaching Recent Converts'...that would make too much sense. I asked.) Anyway, my companion and I taught the sweetest lady. We asked her what she wanted to learn about and she said faith. We gave a little lesson on faith and then I was prompted to share Mosiah 4:6 with her. As she read, you could feel the Spirit fill the room. She looked up with tears in her eyes as she said, "That is what I needed". While we may not always know the needs of every person, God does and as we follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost, He will allow us to be instruments in His hands and ultimately be answers to other´s prayers. I would also suggest you all go read Mosiah Chapter 4... it´s great. 

I love you all so much! 

Hermana Anderson

Good news, there´s CrossFit in Mexico!! I found this today on our trip to immigration. I may have even screamed, "wait! I need a picture of that for my parents!" Thanks to the awful traffic, we were going slow enough I was able to capture this gem. 

Week Uno

    

Week Uno

    This has been the absolute hardest, best, longest, most spiritual week of my life. It´s been a challenge to be immersed in a language I´ve never learned...but I´m learning quickly. And by immersed, I mean like, we´re totally immersed here. My teacher doesn´t speak English, nor do many of the sisters we live with, all our meetings including sacrament meeting are all in Spanish, and it´s the best thing ever. So you know how for the past 19 years of my life I´ve never been able to roll my ´r´s? Well, good news, as soon as we arrived in Mexico I turned to the girl next to me and said something and totally rolled my ´r´ and now I can roll my ´r´s. Gift of tongues I tell you. By the second day we were here, we were teaching an entire lesson in Spanish to our new investagador, Fransisco. While our Spanish was a struggle, and we couldn´t even express many of our thoughts or feelings, the Spirit was there, the Spirit taught, and that was one of the greatest eye openers for me. I will not be teaching or converting anyone here in Mexico, the Spirit will do that...I am simply the messenger, and what an incredible opportunity that is. 

     

      My companion is Hermana Tupouniua...yes, she´s Tongan, yes, I can finally say her name. Haha. She is from Taylorsville, Utah and is such an amazing person!! She was on drill team in high school, is going to the Guadalajara East Mission, has never learned Spanish, and we just have a lot in common. We get along so well and I feel so blessed to have her by my side for 5 more weeks!

      

      What an amazing place this is! Honestly it is sooo beautiful here and the spirit is so strong. I won´t even mention the gorgeous weather cause I don´t want to make anyone (a.k.a. Mom) too jealous or anything. Haha but there was one night we had the craziest rain storm. We were in our classroom toward the end of the day and it started raining pretty hard, and then there was some intense thunder and lightening, and then it started hailing, then the power went out. We had to run from our classroom to our casa and there were puddles up to our knees. Needless to say, we got a little wet. Other than the occasional rain storm to change things up, the days are mainly the same...study all day with breaks only to eat and sleep. It´s a good thing I really love my district cause we are together ALL THE TIME. There´s only one other companionship of hermanas in our district. We share a room with them and just have an absolute blast together. It´s amazing how the Lord is in the details of our lives. I know he put this specific district, this companion, these teachers, this place, this language, and this mission in my life for a reason. I miss you all, and while it´s hard to realize I won´t be seeing you for some time, I know this is where I´m supposed to be. I feel it every second of everyday.

      

      I love you all so much and I know without a doubt this is the true church. God knows us, He loves us, and He answers prayers. Day after day my life is filled with little miracles that could only be attributed to the power and mercy of God. Read your scriptures, say your prayers, and never forget your Father in Heaven loves you. 

Te amo, 

Hermana Anderson

I'm Alive

Hola!! Well, I´ve officially made it. Also, this espanol keyboard might kill me. I don't even know where to start. Today was such an adventure!! I sat next to the darlingest sister, Sister Monson, on the plane today. Driving to the CCM was insane!! I thought I was gonna die a few times. There were people walking between cars ON THE FREEWAY trying to sell stuff...like, how. It's so amazing though, the people the places. I loved just driving through the city and seeing what a different world it is down here. The CCM is a little safe haven in all this craziness. It's beautiful. Words cannot even describe. My P Day is on Thursday, but I won't have it tomorrow...so next week I will have pictures and more things to write. Here is me info to write me letters while I'm here!!  Your Missionary's mailing addres is: Hermana Kirsten Nicole Anderson April 13, 2015 4-A Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828 Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero 07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico The estimated departure date for your missionary is April 13, 2015. The use of the above address on all correspondence will greatly faciliate delivery to your missionary at the MTC. Please don't send packages. Love you sooooooooo much, Hermana Anderson

The Adventure begins...

Kirsten has enter the world as a missionary.

 Nothing sweeter than a Dad's love.

And she is off......