Prompting

So this morning I felt prompted to come early and check our emails. We came and it turns out my companion (hna. Zapata) had received some bad news from her family. Her brother had been murdered. Luckily President was in a meeting in our chapel right next to our house and we were able to go visit with him after his meeting. Hna. Zapata took it all really well and was able to talk to her mom for a while. While President had a ton of things to do, he took the time to take us out to lunch and give Hna. Zapata the comfort and love she needed. I was so touched by his incredible love for us. And the timing of everything just seemed to work out. I don´t know, I´ve just realized today, more than ever, that the Lord has a plan. There´s no coincidences. It´s not a coincidence that we studied the Plan of Salvation in companionship study, that we checked our email this morning, or that President was near by. The love of God is so great. I would appreciate your prayers for my companion and her family. I just want you to know I´m so grateful for you and I loved talking to you on Christmas. You are all the best!

Les amo,

Hermana Anderson 

Christmas adventures

I don´t have a ton of time to write due to some crazy adventures with President today (including lunch at McDonald´s with him and his wife), but I´ll try to explain briefly my wonderful week. Christmas was absolutely fantastic!! I think I ate more food than I have ever eaten in my life. Everyone just wanted to feed the missionaries! We ate posole, pig head and feet, tortas ahogadas, egyptian food and an array of other things. My favorite was probably on Christmas Eve when we went to eat with a recent convert family. The moms of our two recent converts were there and we were able to share with them the Christmas initiative videos and talk a little bit about the Gospel. At the end of the night we were able to give them their own Books of Mormon as a Christmas gift. They both came to church on Sunday and said they were interested in learning more. Neither of them live in Guadalajara, but we´ll be sending the missionaries to their houses soon. 

We also have a whole family that we were able to teach Christmas Eve. It a family that has some less-active members, recent converts, and now investigators too. We watched the Christmas videos with them as well and did some fun Christmas activities and shared stories. The Spirit was so strong and while they didn´t have any Christmas presents, or much to buy a big Christmas dinner, they recognized the real meaning of Christmas and we could feel that there with them. And then they all came to Church yesterday :) Did I mention I just love Christmas and the mission? 

Well, I´ll try to attach some photos to show some of the other highlights of my week!

I love you all and thank you for your support, love and prayers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

con amor,

Hermana Anderson

With the Hermana Anderson and Elder Anderson

Cutting sugar cane to make Ponche (a Mexican Christmas drink)

Missionaries on Christmas Eve with the Contreras family

Christmas Eve with the comps

The Anderson family photo

Elder y Hna. Anderson--The Anderson family in Guadalajara

¡Feliz Navidad!

I cannot believe it´s Christmas this week!! It´s been an absolutely crazy and wonderful week all at the same time. We had our ward Christmas party, a Christmas district activity, and now this upcoming week is going to be filled with even more food and celebrations! We´ve  just been trying to spread lots of Christmas cheer all week long. I already love Guadalajara and all the people here. My favorite was when we went to one of the main malls here in Guadalajara with our district and a bunch of members to sing Christmas hymns and hand out the Christmas cards of ¨A Savior is born¨. Santa even came to help us out! I just love this time of year so much as we all join together in the celebration of our Savior Jesus Christ and His birth . And it´s been super fun to learn a little bit more of the Mexican Culture and how they celebrate Christmas. And the best part is that I can now understand all the words to the song ¨Feliz Navidad¨. 

Exciting news: I´m going to be in a trio...again! Hermana Kinikini´s companion had to go home today due to health problems and now she will be joining Hermana Zapata and I until she gets a new companion. Everyone always told me I´d probably never have an American companion, but Hna. Kinikini is #3! Haha What a unique mission I´ve had so far...a little over halfway with 10 companions and 5 areas. I´m just hoping the second half of my mission will at least be a little more stable...but wherever the Lord sends me is where I will go. 

This last week there were some instances where I felt like I´m definitely not prepared enough to fulfill my new assignment as sister training leader, but then I remembered the Lord qualifies those He calls, and He sure enough gave me the words to say and the strength to do all the I was asked to do. Being the only American STL, and with more than 15 new American sister missionaries, I received lots of calls from the new sisters when they felt frustrated or just weren´t able to communicate their feelings to their companions. It made me think back to my first three months in the mission field and helped me to see just how much the Lord has helped me grow and how much I have learned in such a small amount of time. The mission is incredible and helps a person grow in so many different ways. 

How grateful I am for this amazing opportunity to serve the Lord with all I am, and receive countless blessings in return. While I´m missing the snow, the Christmas gifts, family get togethers and such, there is no where else I would want to be during this spectacular time of year. I know this is where the Lord wants me. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and I hope you´ll take some time to remember the real meaning of Christmas.

Alégrate, ha nacido un Salvador

FELIZ NAVIDAD

Les amo,

Hermana Anderson 

Hna Kinikini and I chillin´ in the airport

It wouldn´t be Christmas Caroling if we didn´t have awesome Christmas hats 

Christmas in the City

And this week was another lovely round of TRANSFERS. After a long bus ride of 8 hours, I´m in Cruz del Sur, Guadalajara as a Sister Training Leader with Hermana Zapata. So I´ll officially be spending Christmas here in the city. I was sad to leave Salvatierra....we have at least 3 investigators that will be baptized in January, but I´m grateful I was able to be a small part in their conversion process. Our recent convert and her daughter (one of our investigators), Monica, fasted this last Sunday and saw miracles. Monica needs to get married with her partner in order to be baptized, but he wansn´t willing to get married. After fasting, he proposed to her without her saying anything and they´re going to get married this week! The best thing in the entire world is to here one of our investigators say that they received an answer to their prayers and it happened 5 times this week. Many of our investigators were able to read the Book of Mormon, pray, and receive this answer that this really is the true church. The work of the Lord is progressing so fast here in Mexico!

This last we had a fun activity with the Salvatierra ward. I taught the Relief Society Sisters how to make Christmas Sugar Cookies and then the Primary Kids decorated them all, and everyone helped us make more then 200 packets with pamphlets, cookies and the Christmas pass-along-cards. We later sang Christmas songs and handed out the packets at the market. Nearly every person we talked to gave us their address to visit them this month. It was interesting trying to make cookies without a recipe, but they turned out really good and the people seemed to enjoy them! Haha.

Also this last week on Sunday we were able to watch the dedication of the Tijuana temple and it was beautiful! I love seeing the work of the Lord moving forward throughout the world. Sunday I stayed in Prados Verdes with the Sister Training Leaders to travel Monday morning. We were able to visit Hna. Angelita... she was one of my investigators while I was in Prados and now is a member...and we were able to have a family home evening with the Rodriguez Family as well! It was so great to see them. I just love these people so much. 

Well, I´m sorry I don´t have a ton of time to write today, but I´ll be sure to fill you all in on my adventures here in Guadalajara the next week! 

Enjoy your White Christmas up north there! Thanks for all your prayers and love!!  

¡Feliz Navidad!,

Hermana Anderson

Pescadores de hombres

It´s starting to feel a little more like Christmas. With two Christmas packages this week, a little Christmas shopping, our tiny Christmas tree we finally put together, and a couple degrees cooler outside, I´m starting to get super excited for my Christmas in Mexico. Speaking of which, have you seen the new Christmas campain from the church? #AMAZING I loved hearing those kids bear testimony of our Savior. And the videos made me think a little more this week, what would my life be like if Christ hadn´t been born? I´m infinately grateful for the knowledge I have that I have a Savior that lives and loves me. If you haven´t seen the videos, you should definitely go watch them right now. And don´t be afraid to share them and Facebook or in other ways to help others remember the real meaning of Christmas too!

Well this week we were finally able to start teaching the daughter of our recent convert, Laura! Her daughter, Monica, came to the baptism a couple weeks ago, felt the Spirit and told us she was ready to see what we had to say. We taught about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, and all the blessings of the Gospel. She accepted everything and asked us when she could be baptized. She then asked us if she could fast this Fast Sunday! Haha the bishop was a little surprised when he received a fast offering from our investigator. Unfortunately, I´m 99% sure I´ll be leaving Salvatierra this week to be transfered to another area..which means I won´t be here for Monica´s baptism. But it´s okay. We all have a different part in the conversion process, and while I might not be able to see the fruits of Moni´s conversion, I was able to help plant the seed and see it start to grow. This work is marvelous.

Well today was fun! We went to Ballesteros as a district, hiked a little bit and tried to fish our lunch. Let me tell ya, the fishing wasn´t very successful, but we had a good time and took some cool pictures. We ended up buying some steak and enjoying that for lunch instead. I guess it´s a good thing we´re called to be fishers of men and not fishers of fish cause between the 8 of us, we were only able to catch a 3 inch long fish. Haha. I love Mexico with my whole heart. While I´m sad I can´t be enjoying snow and the temple square light this year, I´ve got all I need to be perfetctly happy. There´s nothing quite like spending Christmas serving others and sharing this wonderful message that The Savior is born, He lives and He loves every single one of us. 

Go out and spread some Christmas Cheer.

¡Les amo!   

Hermana Anderson

Zone Christmas Present Exchange

Our 3 in. fish

Best District ever

Goin' on a little walk

Our tiny Christmas Tree

Typical selfie of Hna Gonzales and I

with Hna Marcia Scott 

Typical selfie of Hna Tupounuia and I

Con Hna. Lala por su cumpleaños

Our neighbors and their awesome Christmas lights

Tracting and Tacos for Thanksgiving

I kinda can´t believe I´m halfway done with my mission...and it still doesn´t feel like November. But we had an enjoyable week this last week! I learned this week that this is really the work of the Lord and He guides us. Here´s one example from the week:

Hna Gonzales and I were walking down the street tracting addresses we had recieved from talking with people in the street. We both felt prompted to find ¨Maricela¨. We went to the street that Maricela had given us, and as we walked, Hermana Gonzales commented, ¨Wow, look at that mansion¨ I jokingly replied with ¨That´s probably the house of Maricela¨ We were then shocked to find that the number of the mansion corresponded with the number we had for Maricela. We knocked on the door, and from the fifth floor window someone yelled out asking who it was. We replied saying we were looking for Maricela. Confused the woman came out and asked what we wanted. We introduced ourselves as misisonaries from The Church of Jesus-Christ of... before I could even finish saying the name of the church she excitedly said she was coming down to let us in. We entered the mansion and after a few minutes of talking with this woman we found out that 1. Her name isn´t Maricela, nor was she the woman we were looking for and 2. She´s a member of the church. She had moved from California a few years before and had never attended the church here in Salvatierra. Thus her church records weren´t even in the ward´s member list and it´s a miracle that we were able to find her. She said she had been praying for us to show up because she wanted to start coming to church again and also because her boyfriend isn´t a member but she want´s him to learn about the church. Crazy stuff, huh? This sister had lived nearly her whole life in the United States and loves celebrating US holidays so she then invited us to eat tacos with her to celebrate Thanksgiving haha. Best day ever. 

This week we bought a mini Christmas tree :) And I got to spend a day in Tarimbaro for divisions with the STL. And nothing much else really happened...but I´m super excited that it´s almost December which means we can sing Christmas Hymns everywhere we go and there´s pretty Christmas lights all around. I´ll sure be missing some of our normal Christmas traditions, but it will be nice to be able to spend this time focusing on others and the real meaning of Christmas. 

I hope you´re all enjoying the cold up north there and I just want you to know it´s currently 75 degrees here in Salvatierra :)

Love you all! 

Feliz casi Navidad,

Hermana Anderson

Snow? Thanksgiving?

I still feel like it´s summer down here in Mexico...so I´m not quite sure what you´re all talking about with snow and Thanksgiving. Maybe we´ll have to buy some tacos or something to celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday, but other than that, no one here really knows what Thanksgiving is. My companion thought I was crazy when I first tried to explain Thanksgiving, and even more crazy when I tried explaining black Friday haha. Oh America and our crazy holidays and traditions. 

Well this last week went by sooooo fast. We were busy with trips to Morelia, meetings with Elder DeHoyes, and our baptism with Laura. I used to get stressed when there was so many things to do in such a short amount of time, but I´m learning that if we do everything we can do on our part, everything always works out and there´s absolutely no use in getting stressed about it. And honestly, everything went perfectly. Laura´s baptism was easily the highlight. She was able to bring her kids and grandkids and her mom was even able to come despite her health problems and everything. The Spirit was so strong during the baptism and one of Laura´s kids asked us to visit her this week to start teaching her. After the baptism we had an activity with the whole ward where we ate Pasole and enjoyed talking and being together. It was great to see so many members there supporting Laura and her family. It´s absolutely the best thing in the world to see someone change so drastically and enter the waters of baptism to make this sacred promise with the Lord. 

The other highlight of the week was that at one of our meetings with President Egginton and President DeHoyes, I saw my dearest Hermana Sutherland! We worked in the MTC together before the mission and spent a lot of time together in at BYU. We became super close friends and now she´s in the mission with me! We even were able to do the special musical number and sing ¨Be Still my Soul¨ together. She has about 2 weeks in the mission field now, and is still learning Spanish, so President had me sit by her and translate the meeting to her. It was a good just to see someone from home and to be able to talk to her. 

There´s very few things in the mission that I don´t like, but one of them is the fact that sometimes we have to decide to stop teaching someone. I realize it´s necessary, but it´s hard for me to stop teaching someone when I can see such great potential in them. So it´s always a decision I make carefully, and a decision I make with the Lord. Yesterday in the morning I was praying to know whether we should leave one of our investigators or not. Latter that evening, we received a message from a member that her friend wanted us to visit her. When we met this friend, we soon found out that it was the mom of this other investigator we were about to stop teaching. The mom shared with us some insights on their lives and perhaps some of the reasons our investigator wasn´t progressing. Needless to say, we´ve decided to keep teaching them both, and I´m excited to see them progress together. It´s just always interesting to me the different ways the Heavenly Father answers our prayers. 

Well, that´s all I really have for this week! Life is just flyin´ by and we just keep on working in the work of the Lord. I wish you all the happiest Thanksgiving! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kirsten Anderson