"Ordinary Miracle"

“Hello Hello Hellooooooooo.” Movie quote, guess it and I’ll give ten pesos lol.

Yo yo yoooooo! You will not guess what happened this week! Liliana, the sister of Mirta that was baptized last week, had a change of heart, and is going to be baptized this coming Saturday! What a miracle! Her sister, her neighbor Gladys, and us.....woah English......whatever....we were praying for her, and boom, the fear that she had felt went away. The hand of the Lord! What a blessing! What a miracle! They were so happy, they gave us scarves, so that was pretty legit.

We had a super cool lesson last night in the house of the branch president. This super smart kid named Falcondo was hanging out with the son of the president, and he had a few questions about the church that were pretty profound. So we asked him if he wanted to learn more about our church, and like 2 hours later, we had a new investigator. He’s super super Catholic, but we blew his mind with some scriptures from the Bible, and the importance of the Book of Mormon, and he was pretty intrigued. We’re excited to see what’s gonna happen.

One of the scriptures that we shared with Falcondo was Mark 10:39 which talks about how we should be baptized in the same way Jesus was baptized. Super simple stuff that gets skipped over. He was like......whaaaaaaaat, and we were like yaaaaaaaaaaa.

I sure am loving this whole mission thing. My comp has been teaching me a lot of great stuff, and I feel more and more capable of speaking with the people. For example, there were some young pibes playing guitar in the park, and I went over with my comp and we started talking about guitar and stuff. It was one of the first times that i was able to really say everything that I wanted in a way that didn’t make me look like a total gringo. My comp has been telling me that everyday I sound more and more like an Argentine. Learning a new language has been a very humbling experience, and I’ve still got a long way to go, but I know that when we put our trust in the Lord, and do all we can, He will always help us with any trial that we might be facing. Sounds cheesy, but I know it’s true.

Love you guys, hope you all have a wonderful week! Also shout out to my Mom..........isn’t she just so wonderful?!

Elder Anderson

Fotos; Mirta with her CTR ring lol, Mirta and Liliana and the scarves they gave us, the 3 pibes we talked with in the park (we totally played a few songs with them jeje), and me and Elder Tartaglia with our super cool, super cheap rings lol

ISAAC DID WHAT??!!

Okay, what the crap! My little brother was broadcasted all over the world, and nobody told me! Thanks a lot guys!

Nah, I’m playing, but holy cow, that’s nuts. Way to be, Isaac!

Got a few things to say this week.

Mirta got baptized and the service was wonderful. Her sister Liliana didn’t feel ready/has fear of losing contact with family members who have problems with the church. She offered a prayer with us and asked God if she should be baptized, and man, the spirit was think as fog. After the prayer, she told us that she received an answer that she needed to be baptized, but was too scared to lose her family. It was similar with her sister Mirta, but rather than giving in to the fear of man, she pushed forward with faith, and accepted to be baptized the following Saturday. It was interesting to see the difference of countenance between the both of them. Mirta, who acted in faith, now is a member of the Church, and has never been happier, and then Liliana, who decided to not act on the answer she had been given. It would be a super tough thing to have to choose something over your family, and I don’t pretend that it would be easy for me, but I can tell you that when we act in faith, the Lord will always strengthen us.

We were eating lunch with this same member of the branch that I sang with in the bapismal service, Andres, and he and his family let me play their violin! It was so awesome to play a little bit, it had been forever. Super great, they loved it, and I was so happy.

We were teaching a family of Catholics, and the first thing the grandma said to us was “Imma be Catholic till I die!!!!” and we were like, “Well you’re in luck hermana, because there’s life after death!” lol super funny, at least we thought so.

Finally got to do some service! We started cleaning up the backyard of an elderly lady’s house and holy death.............smelled like a fish factory back der! We’re going back this next week but man, I swer´ Imma die, finna bring a mask lol.

Well, love you guys, hope y’all had a great Easter!

Elder Anderson

Fotos- Baptism of Mirta, Easters.......jaja, me every morning of the mission

Striving to be Selfless

Hello everyone, hope you’re all doing well. This week was super great. We were working like rabid kittens. Ya thats right, uncageable, rabid kittens!!!! Jaja, sorry, just trying to entertain myself. What I mean to say is that we were talking with a lot of people, and teaching the sweet news of the gospel with everyone we could.

Remember that talent show thing? Well it got postponed because there was a death in the family of a member, I think that makes sense. Anyway, a bunch of members came together to comfort the family, but man, the passing of a loved one is always super sad and hard. Lucky for us, God has given us His plan, His plan of happiness. He’s promised us that if we obey His commandments and follow the example of His son Jesus Christ, we can live with our loved ones again. What a promise!!!!

Mirta and Lidiana will have their baptismal interviews this week to see if they’re ready to enter the waters! Hope it all goes well. They’re the cutest old ladies ever, jaja.

We were invited to the birthday party of a member’s husband on Friday. The man’s name is Santos, super sweet guy, but the homie was pretty much drunk the whole time, so we were just chilling with all the members on the other side of the room lol. I later found out that Santos, who isn’t a member, requested that all the members of the church in Media Agua to be there, because he likes the way he feels when he’s around them. Granted, he probably wasn’t feeling all that much after 12 glasses of wine lol, but it’s the thought that counts. I ended up singing happy birthday to him in English because I felt like it’s what my dad would have done. Shout out to my old man!!!! He was so happy after, jaja.

On a more serious note, I’ve recently discovered just how selfish of a person I am. There were countless times this last week when I was just thinking about me. My money, my food, my clothes, my my my my my my goodness!!!! Anyway, I’ve been trying to change that, and I’d like to apologize to my family, and everybody else if there was a time when I was selfish in any way. You can send me some hate mail if you want. ;)

I’m loving it here in Media Agua. The work is progressing, and my testimony is too. Make sure y’all are spending your time doing things that really matter. There are a lot of distractions in today’s world. Make sure you’re giving time to the Lord.

Thanks for your prayers, have a great week!!!!

Elder Anderson

Fotos: Downtown Media Agua, MAS CARNE!, my face:), Lomo-pizza!!!!!

Sickness n Stuff

Hola hola,

Hope y’all liked Conference, I sure did. I listened to it in Spanish, so I understood most of it jaja. Loved all that I understood. While we were watching the Saturday afternoon session, I remembered that my brother Hayden would be singing in the choir from BYU. When he showed up on the screen, I screamed, “Ayyyyy ESTA MI HERMANAO!!!! MIREN MIREN!” All the members were super excited! So great! Way to go Hayden, you’re a legend.

Bueno, last week right after I wrote, I started feeling pretty crappy. I wasn’t drinking a lot of water, and my head was killing me. We were in the city part of San Juan for p-day, and that’s like 2 hours from our area. When we were on the bus driving back, I thought I was gonna put my lunch all over the lady in front of me (sorry for the image lol but it’s true). After what felt like forever, we made it back to our area, and I started feeling better. The next day was my first sick day of my mission. We stayed in the apartment almost all day because I still wasn’t feeling all that great. I felt bad about it, but its what was needed. The next day I was locked n’ loaded and ready for preachin’. I’m doing great now, just gotta keep drinking water.

My comp and I will be singing in the talent show activity of the branch, and we’re gonna kill it. My comp is so funny, and I’ve been helping him out a little bit with his singing (only because he asked me, I wasn’t like bruh you suck jaja). He’s actually really good.

We’re teaching these two sisters Mirta and Lidiana, and they’re progressing very well. Should have a baptism by next week.

Hope all of you are doing well!

Fotos- Baptism of Micaela, the faunt, miembros of Media Agua, a toad I found outside the church

Elder Anderson

Una Semana, Un Bautismo!

Hey Hey Hey,

Aight so this area is so awesome. The miembros are so loving, and they’re helping us a lot with the work. Media Agua reminds me a lot of Soda Springs, Idaho. It’s pretty small, and everyone knows everyone, it’s so great.

We had a baptism last Friday, her name is Micaela, she’s 20 years old, and has 2 kids. She’s had it rough in her life, but she’s super great and wants to learn everything.

Our apartment is a house, and it’s the best. Lots of space, super great.

My comp, Elder Tartaglia, is such a goof and I love him so much. He’s from Buenos Aires Argentina, and man he’s so good at teaching, it’s amazing. I’m learning a lot from him. He plays the guitar like a baller, so happy to be with him.

The members threw me a little party when I got to Media Agua. And man, I ate a pretty solid amount of empanadas, they just wont stop feeding me lol, I don’t want to be fat!!!!!

Something cool that we did this week: there’s this guy named Raul and he’s got super bad depression, and he hadn’t left his house in 5 years, no kidding. And we totally got him out of the house. And his mom, who’s a sweet old lady, was balling pero mal. It was super crazy.

Bueno, I’m super happy here in Media Agua, learning a lot.

Thanks for the prayers. Remember, it’s the little things that bring to pass great miracles.

Elder Anderson