Let Downs

Hello fam,

Happy happy bday mom!!!!!! You the greatest. Everyone that thinks they have an amazing mom..............you’re probably right, just wanted to say that mine is great too jaja.

This Sunday, we were really excited to see Leo at church, but sadly, he didn't come, and now his baptismal date has fallen. We tried calling him to see what happened, but he didn’t answer us, so that was sad. We later received a call from a sister who’s been helping us teach Leo, and she told us that she had seen a few pics of Leo with some friends participating in some of his old habits. That made us even more sad. He had told us that he had relapsed, but we still aren't sure if he's been telling us the truth about his addictions. But, we know he has a testimony of the church, he just needs to get away from his friends. We’re not giving up on him.

Anyway, Juan Jose, a very interesting man who doesn’t know how to read, has been listening to the Book of Mormon on his computer. He’s come to church about 3 times, and we’re really hoping that he gets baptized within the next week or so.

A few days back, we taught a sweet lady named Gabriela. The lesson went very well, and at the end, she offered the prayer and asked Heavenly Father if what we shared with her was true. She was able to feel in her heart that Joseph Smith was called by God. After the lesson, she agreed to come to church, and Sunday, we went to her house to accompany her to the chapel. She seemed to have a great experience. We’re gonna see what happens with this sweet sister.

Hope you’re all doing well. I love this gospel so much, and if any of you are having doubts or have questions, feel free to send me an email! I’d love to try and help you come closer to Christ.

Que tengan una buena semana!

Elder Anderson

Fotos- you can buy cereal in really big quantities here, exchanges with Elder Becerra from Salta Argentina, Boca.....lo mas grande

Leo, Jose, and Miracles

Super quick,

Love y’all. Had a great week, besides the fact that my comp got a little sick.

We had a little miracle with Leo, and I guess he was able to declare himself without having to go to jail for 7 years. He's slowly losing his habit of smoking, and as far as we can tell, he's reading the Book of Mormon everyday. He wasn't able to attend church this last Sunday due to some medication that he’s been taking for his destroyed leg that’s still healing. It’s all super complicated, but we received permission from our mission president to baptize him once he stops smoking for at least a week.

This last Sunday we had a bit of an interesting situation in the ward Sunday school class. The class got a little out of hand with a few members freaking out about the difference between priesthood power and authority. It got to the point that like 4 people left the class super fired up, and it was super sad. It made me super sad, so I just wanted to write to y’all and ask that if you could all do your best to be understanding and patient with others at all times, because you never really know when there it someone new getting to know the church, and due to your loss of temper, they don't feel the spirit. The spirit of contention doesn't come from anyone else besides the advisory.

On a happier note, I feel like I’m speaking a lot better, and I can really feel the Spirit directing my thoughts and words. I recently finished the Book of Mormon for the second time in Spanish, and I was truly moved once again by the last few chapters. I can honestly say that I’ve been able to receive personal revelation almost every time that I read. Read the Book of Mormon to receive guidance in your lives!!!! Stop waiting.

Love you all,

Elder Anderson

Fotos- we made chocolate chip pancakes, we use a train rail to work out....so hard core, my beautiful family

Sorry

Sorrrrryyyyyyy about last week!!!!

Didn’t have time to write y’all. Crazy stuff has been going down out here in Pascual Segura. I’ll do my best to try and summarize all that's been going down.

Leo, one of our great people that we’re teaching, has really been having some hard times. His background is pretty dark, so many of the people in his life are low key evil/workers of darkness that just want to use him and stuff. And this week, his “friends” came over and picked him up and ended up mugging him and robbing his phone. That same day, we had called him to set an appointment, and his friends answered the phone and said some pretty weird stuff, which made me worried. We went by his house and his mom was a wreck because she didn’t know where he was. Leo didn’t show up until 7 in the morning the next day. We stopped by to see if he was there, and his mom answered the door with a look of shock and began to explain to us that she and Leo had recently offered a prayer asking God to send the missionaries to their house, and within 5 minutes we arrived..........wow. Anyway, he then explained to us what had been going down, and that he really need to straighten his life out. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and set goals with him so that he can stop smoking and drinking. In the space of 3 days he went from 15 cigarillos to 2, and was really progressing toward his date of baptism. He then explained to us that he couldn't leave the house because the police were looking for him because he had stolen a cellphone one month ago. I ‘bout slapped the man. Come on maaaaaaaan. Anyway, he now has to leave the country for a few days, and we’re not totally sure what’s gonna happen, but we’re confident that it’s all gonna turn out in the end. We’re communicating with our president to make sure we do it all right. Leo really does want to change his life, he’s just gotta come clean with what he’s done in the past.

Other than that, we’ve been seeing lots of little miracles all the time through our efforts of contacting in the street. My comp Elder Swiderski and I have been really grinding and pushing ourselves to talk with every single person that crosses our path, and a lot of times people straight up just ignore us, even when we’re walking side by side with them and asking them simple questions like, “Hi hows your day?” or “Hey can I help you with your bags?” Lots of people are super closed in and don’t want anything to do with us, so we always make sure to tell everyone that God loves them, and that we as missionaries are always willing to help strengthen families and help people come closer to Christ.

Hope this letter was a bit larger, sorry for being lazy haha. Have a wonderful week and please pray for Leo so that he can be strengthened during his time out of the country to not smoke or drink.

Love you all, have a great week.

Elder Anderson