Just another week in the life

What a week. Between organizing emergency transfers, planning for a Leadership training, divisions, Mother´s Day, and everything else, we´ve been busy busy.  I have to say, I´m so very grateful for revelation, for prayer and a Heavenly Father that helps and guides us with His infinite wisdom. There were lots of things to do this week, and maybe number-wise it wasn´t the best week we´ve ever had, but I was amazed to see that the Lord´s plan isn´t always what we think we want to do. On Tuesday, which happened to be Mother´s Day here in Mexico, Hna Vargas and I felt the need to visit some sisters and let them know that they are loved.  We made little Mother´s day cards with scriptures and quotes and delivered them to various sisters in the ward. One sister latter told us that when she got home from work late that night, she was feeling discouraged and stressed as a single mother with 2 little girls. When she saw our card, she cried and cried. We heard similar things from all the sisters. One less active member, that has more than a year without going to church, went to church this last week with her four little kids and told us that it was because through us she was able to feel the love of her Heavenly Father again and decided she wanted her kids to receive the blessings of the gospel. Sometimes these people just need to know they are loved. Love, the pure love of Christ, works miracles. 

We´re also starting to experience the wonderful rain season. I still believe the best time to knock doors is when it´s raining, the people usually feel bad and let us in. Haha. And it just wouldn´t be a mission if we didn´t have to face extreme weather every once in a while. My companion and I realized today that we have 3 months and 3 weeks together...and we´ve only got 3 months and 3 weeks left in the mission. Craziness. I´ve honestly come to love Hna Vargas so much and I feel so grateful for everyday I have here in the mission to keep learning and growing along with my companion. This next week we will be traveling with President and the Assistants to give some training sessions. It should be fun. Everyday´s just an adventure. 

Nos vemos,

Hermana Anderson

Here we were just writing away in the computer cafe, and then this happened... 

Here´s a pic of a family home evening with the Delgado/Rivera family and the other is the Amante family. July and Angelina are from Salvatierra, Araceli, Damian, and Cosme are from Prados Verdes

The Priesthood bretheren put together this awesome Mother´s Day activity in the ward. 

The Lord is hastening His work

Well, it was an absolute joy to see your beautiful faces and talk to you! Next time I see you will be in the airport...I can´t believe that. I still feel like I just got here, and I feel like I´ve got a whole lot more to do before I can even think about coming home. This last week was super motivating. Between leadership council, the family skype call, and our super mega ultra zone meeting, I´m ready to work. This work is SO amazing, and the Lord is hastening His work, now it´s just up to us to keep up. Yesterday we had our zone meeting with all the missionaries, ward councils, high council men, bishops, mission leaders, and future missionaries. We talked and set goals of how we are going to work together. Now there´s not just 4 missionaries here in Prados Verdes...there´s 124. The goal is 50 or more lessons a week and 20 investigators attending church every week. So will have our hands full for sure. But I´m super pumped. 

Also, yesterday was my companion´s birthday! In the morning before church, one of our investigator families invited us to breakfast. Mexicans are really weird cause they don´t eat waffles or french toast here. Instead it´s usually normal dinner-like food. So we all sat down to eat, and it was a red soup with pieces of meat in it. I wasn´t really sure what kind of meat it was, but I´ve learned it´s better not to ask until after. My companion on the other hand couldn´t wait. Luckily I was already half-way done when my companion asked. To our surprise, it was cow´s stomach...yum. It was a miracle that I finished it all. But the good news is that this family went to church with us after. It was their first time and they said they loved it. We also ate cake and I decorated the house a little to celebrate Hna. Vargas´ birthday. And today we kept the celebration going. We went to the center part of the city and did a little shopping, ate ice cream, and enjoyed our P-Day. We went to this cool market place called el mercado de los dulces. Wow. It´s nearly all hand-made traditional Mexican stuff. Dolls, clothes, shoes, candy, guitars and everything else you could possibly imagine. I couldn´t take any pics cause there´s a ton of people and if ya whip out your camera, it gets stolen, but just trust me, it´s super cool. 

Other than that, everything´s goin´ good. We´re just making the best of every second and trying to do what the Lord asks of us. 

Thanks for all your support and love, honestly, it makes a huge difference. I love you all and you´re always in my prayers.

Cuidense,

Hermana Anderson

Hna Vargas miraculously fixed our fan using an iron, a knife, tape, and an eye-lash curler. Don´t ask me how.

Here´s a pic of Hna Vargas and I rockin´ our matching outfits.  

Mango season! When we don´t eat cow´s stomach for breakfast, it´s almost always mangos :) 

Why isn't there a Kid's Day?

Remember when I was little and always asked ¨If there´s Father´s Day and Mother´s Day, why isn´t there a Kid´s Day?¨ Well here in Mexico, Kid´s Day is a thing, and so on Saturday everyone was walking around with there kids taking them to the park, the movies, buying them treats and everything for el día del niño. Nearly all our lessons that day were with old, lonely people that never leave their houses :) And so while I´m a little upset that I never got to enjoy kid´s day as a kid, I´m super excited for Mother´s Day this year! Last call home! 

But really, this last week was absolutely wonderful. 14 months in the mission and I feel like I´m finally figuring out how to be a missionary. We´ve been really focusing on helping our investigators to know how to pray and rocognize their answers. One of our investigators, Alicia, shared with us her incredible experience. Alicia prayed asking that if this really was the true church, the path she should follow, that her mom would be able to walk. Alicia´s mom has been sick for nearly six months. Her feet hurt and have become so swollen that she can´t walk, and the doctor´s can´t seem to find a solucion. Well, the other day, Aicia went to visit her mom, but when she got to the house, she wasn´t home--which is super strange considering she can´t walk, but when Aicia turned around, she saw her mom walking down the street. Alicia told us that she knows that that was her answer and that this church is true. We are now also teaching Alicia´s mom. 

I think one of the best feelings in the world is when someone tells you that you were an answer to their prayer. The Lord works in so many mysterious ways, and when we follow the promptings of the Spirit, it´s amazing to see how He uses us to complete His grand designs. It happened many times this week as we showed up to the homes of members, less actives, investigators, and even people we didn´t even know, and they answered the door with tears in their eyes, or sometimes complete shock as they recognized that the Lord had answered their prayers. One less active shared with us that the moment she said ¨Amen¨, we knocked. She had prayed to fell peace, to know that everything would be okay. She was worried because if she didn´t meet a required number of sells the next day, she was going to loose her job. We were able to share scriptures, pray with her, and we even felt impressed to promise her that she would meet her goal the next day. She came to church on Sunday and thanked us for being her ¨angels¨  and told us that sure enough, she had met her goal. There´s nothing quite like being on the Lord´s errand 24/7. 

I love this work so much. Every day my testimony grows stronger and stronger that this is truly the Church of Jesus Christ and we are doing His work.

Love you all so much!! 

Hermana Anderson

ignore the awful glare in my glasses, but here´s a photo with Hna Rita, Lucero, and the Elders!

At the Computer Cafe

I feel like I´m here in this computer cafe one day, and then before I know it, here I am again! I don´t understand how the time goes by so fast. This week we were busy getting things ready for transfers and such, but the good news is that Hna Vargas and I will be staying together for another transfer. I will officially have more time with Hna Vargas than any of my other companions. So I guess it´s a good thing we get along :) We´re really seeing a lot of progress in our area and in our investigators. We have many that are preparing for baptism in these upcoming months. We had 5 of our investigators that came to church this last week and all of them said they loved it! After church we went to visit Wendy and her family. One of her sisters asked us what we as missionaries get from our service. We explained that we don´t get money, or worldly praise, or any other material gain, but we get to see the joy that comes into other peoples lives as they accept Jesus Christ, and I believe that´s the greatest reward we could ever receive. She was clearly moved by our response and decided to stay and hear what we had to say. Wendy is part of a family of 15, and every lesson, a couple more always come in and decide to listen. We´re hoping to see them all begin to progress. 

I was super touched this last week when my companion and I quickly went to the church to drop off some things, and when we walked in, we found an 87 year old member cleaning the church by himself. Other families had also been assigned to clean, but when they didn´t show up, this brother did hesitate in getting to work. My companion and I decided that the appointments could wait a moment while we helped him finish up. While we cleaned, he shared with us stories of when the missionaries first started visiting him and his family, when he traveled more than 4 hours 3 times a week to work in the Mexico temple, and when his love for the gospel. I was amazed by his dedication and willingness to serve the Lord. I feel grateful for the opportunity I had to get to know a little better this faithful brother while serving the Lord.

I love this work so much. I don´t know how the Lord does it. The people he puts in our path are so prepared, and when we teach, I honestly sometimes don´t even know what I´m saying. I just open my mouth and somehow He always gives me the words to say. He knows the needs of these people, and I feel so blessed to be an instrument in His hands to be able to help these people come unto Him. 

Hasta luego,

Hermana Anderson

Bodas y Bautismos

Well, according to President Egginton, it´s kinda, almost, pretty-much official that I will be here in Prados Verdes until the end of my mission. Which means I´ll have spent half of my mission in this wonderful area!! There´s so much potential here and we are working with so many amazing people that are truly looking for the gospel in their lives. This last week, we were waiting for some members outside the church. As we waited, we starting talking to some of the people passing by. We started talking to one woman that told us her husband is a member of the church living in the United States, and she asked us to visit her and her son to learn more about the Church. We passed by to visit them, and they weren´t home, but we talked to a young woman that´s renting a room there and we found out that she´s a member of the church too! We invited her and the others to the wedding of our investigator and they all came! After the wedding we were able to visit all of them together and it was a wonderful experience! The mom and son both want to be baptized. 

Our investigator Alicia introduced us to her entire family this last week, her mom, dad, 8 siblings and all her nieces and nephews. And nearly all of them live in the same house. We had a family home evening...biggest family home evening of my life, and it was wonderful to see them learn about these simple truths together. 

The mission is a wonderful thing. You kinda learn a little bit of everything. How to talk with strangers, how to teach, how to clean clothes by hand, how to serve, how to love, and even how to plan weddings. We were running around all week getting everything ready for the big day. And it turned out perfect. Ruben and Tere were finally able to get married after 15 years together. And Ruben was so happy to be able to be baptized on Sunday. He was litterally glowing. And while he refused to smile in the pictures, I promise you, he was super super happy. He´s been attending church and paying his tithing for 2 years, just waiting for his wife to get divorced so they could get married. And in one year, they´ll be able to be sealed for time and all eternity along with their 3 children. So beautiful! I love the gospel so much!! 

Also, don´t know if you remember the story of the mansion in Salvatierra, but that member we found, Mari, introduced us to her friend Veronica that we were able to teach a couple times before I left, well I found out today that Veronica is going to be baptized on May 5. It just makes me so happy to see so many miracles that happen everyday. This is the work of the Lord. There´s no way we could do it without Him. I know this church is true, and I know that our Heavenly Father loves every one of us so much!

Les amo, 

Hermana Anderson

Baptism of Ruben April 17, 2016

Our new trio ;)

Thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome package!! 

Wedding of Ruben y Tere April 15, 2016

Baptism of Ruben April 17, 2016

A Baptism

So I just found out that one of my investigators from my first area, Moroleon, was baptized this last week. His name´s Victor and we found him and his family while walking in the street. It amazes me that more than a year later, and I´m still seeing unexpected fruits from my short time there. That´s something that I always think about as we go out everyday. We never know the impact that we are really going to have on the lives of these people. From something small like helping someone carry grocery bags in the street, to sharing the message of the Restauration with someone for the first time, we´re planting seeds wherever we go. Our Heavenly Father knows the entire plan, the time and place for every detail and every person, and we´re just here to help Him carry out His work and His glory. 

For example, when we went to teach the Mena-Reyes family this week, their daughter was there visiting. As we began to introduce ourselves, she told us that years earlier she had listed to the Elders and had even gone to church. Her parents had previously told us their concern that their daughter would be upset with their decision to listen to us, but it was a great surprise to all of us to see that they were united in their interest and desire to learn more. They even came to church together on Sunday. And Ruben that will be getting baptized this week, has been listening to the missionaries for more than 2 years! But it´s finally his time and I don´t think I´ve ever seen anyone so excited for their baptism. My companion and I are busy with wedding and baptism plans for this week! But it should be super fun. 

Well, all is well here in Morelia. I´m loving it more than ever and we´re just trying to give it our all these last few months that we have left. I know this is the work of the Lord. I see His hand in these little miracles everyday.

La iglesia es verdadera,

les amo,

Hermana Anderson

We went to the temple this week!

The Americans together again...

Hna Vargas and I

Leadership Counsel in Guadalajara with President and Hermana Egginton :)

Another stupendous week

I feel like every week in the mission my weekly emails get shorter and shorter...oops. But as always, it was another stupendous week in Morelia. One day we were walking down the street and the name of a man we met the other week came to my mind. I looked for his address in my agenda and sure enough, we were right in front of his house. We knocked on the door, and when he opened the door, you could tell he was struggling emotionally. We sat down and he expressed to us many of the problems he´s been going through. He told us that just minutes before, he had been praying to God to know the purpose of his life. We were able to share a message of the Plan of Salvation and a little later, the elders were able to help us out by giving him a Priesthood blessing. It was super powerful. And this weekend, he was there on Sunday to listen to the conference. I love how the Lord places us in the lives of the people that need us in the perfect moment. There´s so many people that have so many difficulties, but the gospel applies to all of us, no matter what we´re going through, and our Heavenly Father listens to our prayers. 

We´re going to have to post-pone Ruben´s baptism another week cause some legal papers they need to get married haven´t gotten here yet, but it´s all good, all in the Lord´s time. He had his baptismal interview this last week and was super nervous. He showed up to the interview reviewing flash cards he made haha, but he passed without any problem. I love all my investigators so much and it makes me so happy to see them progressing along this path to eternal life. We found a bunch of new investigators this week, and even though I don´t even know them super well, I love them all. For example, yesterday we decided to knock on doors and the first door we knocked on let us in (a true miracle right there) and after getting to know them a little, we shared a short message of the atonement and restoration of the gospel. By the end of the lesson I felt like I was in the home of some long lost friends. And while we were talking and eating some cookies with milk, it came to my mind that perhaps we are long lost friends, from the pre-earth life. I´m convinced I promised many of these people that I´d find them here on earth and share with them this gospel. 

Other events from the week include another 8 hour trip to Lazaro Cardenas, eating some delicious chocolate from a wonderful Easter Package sent from my lovely mother,  and listening to a wonderful conference that I hope you all got to see too! I seriously love our prophet so much and I´m so grateful that we have leaders to help lead and guide us. May we all keep our destination in mind, and make our decisions according to this eternal goal. 

Love you all,

Hermana Anderson

Selfie with Hna Vargas eating mini bananas :

Hna. Mones in Morelia

Hna Gonzalez in Lazaro