Monday, December 30, 2013

Whats rumblin or crumblin?

Hahah this week was a boss n sauce:D:D Hahaha yay for christmas with no familia right?? hahaha nah it wasn't that bad:D:D:D We just made our time useful like studying and doing things that we needed to do:D:D:D 

But to quickly just explain a little bit about our christmas... we woke up and we heard all the bells of santa just leaving the roof of our house and all the mice were singing "It's a Small World" and we  just knew that if we left out beds in that moment that santa was going to take all of our presents and replace it with coal so we stayed in our beds and just waited out those sickeningly long 10 minutes until santa left out roof. and when he left we came out of our beds being carried by all of the happy little singing mice..... hahah yeah right.. it was more like we became rebels and slept in just past 6:20am and gave ourselves sufficient time to prepare to do some exercise and then we ate breakfast, showered, talked for a bit, and then we just barely got around to being able to open up the presents that we had there:D:D Hahah, and that was a pretty good time i'm not going to lie:D:D But after we opened those up we did some more p 90 x and then could think of nothing to do in our house ( because we have to stay in our house because of all of the drunk people in the street.) so we decided to do some practices and i read about 3 chapters in the book of mormon looking up and learned every word that i didn't know as i went. and then... we ran to eat (at the members house i skyped from on Christmas Eve) and as we were coming back from eating we were walking in the road and we walked through one of the street parties that were going on, they had bigger basses than i have ever seen or heard in my life. you won't believe what song came on right as we were passing by, yeah...you guessed it. it was electronic trap:D:D:D Hahaha so right as we passed the basses that were bigger than me, the drop hit and honestly shook the houses around us and the doors on the cars and... yeah that was pretty sick:D:D:D (almost died) hahah not really we lived:D:D:D  And then we came back from eating and did another session of p 90 x and then i read some more in the book of mormon and learned some more in the fountain of eternal knowledge that i need to know here in mexico.:D:D  and... yeah that is about it... hahah needless to say it was a very very very good day;D :D:D:D And then yeah... we just worked and worked for the rest of the week.

One of our investigators believes he is a werewolf:D:D And yeah.. i don't know if i can say much more, but it is always interesting to talk to him as he is always explaining that we probably should not come over to his house when it is close to a full moon because he always wakes up in the night and feels his mouth and nose pushing out and becoming more like a snout and his feet growing and yeah.... but he is progressing really really well. He has been searching for a church for about 2 years now and he came to church this last week and loved every bit of it and i even had the opportunity to talk to him and answer one of his questions that he had during one of the classes so.. yay for understanding and being able to respond to a question! 

You know that guy that i talked to you about how he just came to church and he was not baptized? Yeah so we baptized him this week and that was a great experience to be able to do. especially when the water heater is not working, i tell the guy that the water may be a bit cold right before we enter;D;D Hahaha yeah... needless to say he was a little shocked when it was freakin freezing:D:D Hahaha but i just told him to bend his knees and I would rip him out of the water as fast as i could:D:D:D So i did the ordinance and pulled him out as fast as i could and well... he was gasping a lil bit, but he was really happy in the way that he felt and I was glad for the opportunity to do the ordinance right this time.:D:D:D so that was a great experience to be able to do that with a friend:D:D:D

and hahah something funny that happened this week:D:D so right before christmas i had not cut my hair in about a month and so right after we taught this lady who knows how to cut hair we asked her if she had time to cut our hair right now. :D:D and so as it comes to my turn to cut my hair the only thing i tell her is that i just want it shorter so i look more like a missionary:D:D hahah and with those instructions she just went to town and after she got done i was very pleased with it. it was definitely very different than any hair cut i have had before:D:D:D:D so we left and right when we left her house my comp turned to me and said, "she gave you a VERY mexican looking hair cut." So.. right now i am rollin in mexico trying to convert people with a hair style that is very close to theirs:D:D Hahah now all i need to do is grow out a mexi stache:D:D 

Today is my p-day and I had the best day I have had in the four months of being here.:D  My companion and I spent our entire p-day making, baking and frosting cakes with our Bishop.  I took cooking for many years at Lone Peak and always volunteered to do the dishes if the girls in my class would do the cooking.:D:D  I can see I gave up the best part of the kitchen.  But I am making up for all the lost years of cooking at Lone Peak here in Mexico.  I never thought I would consider myself a "baker" but I am truly a natural.:D:D These New Years cakes is how our bishop helps support his family while he goes to school.  I loved having the chance to help him help his family, even though my family wondered why I hadnt emailed all day:D:D:D

This Saturday we get to travel an hour and a half to attend a sealing at the Mexico City Temple.  I am hoping that by some small miracle I will get to see Keaton De jong and Ali Ball. :D:D:D So far Heaven has smiled upon me many times here in Mexico and I am hoping for a major miracle to see my old pals.:D

well.. this week was really good and... i can only look forward for this upcoming week to try and make it better than the last:D:D:DD God speed and good luck:D:D:D Les amo mucho:D:D

This picture is being posted without Grays permission.  He was given this poster for Christmas from his district leader and doesn't want anyone to think he isn't focused.  Please don't say anything to Gray about me posting this, but it was just too funny not to share! (The prophet's picture is on the other side:D)

Monday, December 23, 2013

CHRISTMAS! :D

Hahahaha this week was an adventure in and of itself. Well... at least i believe it was... 

(Because still i really can't understand what in the world is going on. :D)

So to start out pretty much this week was a flop when it comes to literally all your appointments falling in a day and those people that you do visit are to afraid to introduce us to the man at the end of the street because "He is a Catholic". So that pretty much how our days were flowin. Practically walking all day and contacting people in the street just searching for new investigators. And finally when Saturday came rollin around we just were not so sure how well this day was going to go because looking back at our past success in the week (hahaha yeah thats a joke because we really didn't have any ;D) but as i had just found this name of where this less active lady lived we thought that we would just give her a visit and see why she has not come to church in a while. And as we show up the lady looked so grateful that we had come by. when we asked if her and her husband had time to hear a message she told us that her husband had a lot of work to do so they didn't have time to hear a message. but the hermana told us that there was a less active that is really sick and that she would like a blessing. So she went with us to this house of the less active that i have never met in my 3 months here in this area. AND COME TO FIND OUT! she isn't home... but i had just learned this last sunday that only about 1/8 of the members of our Ward actually go to church so i knew that there were a ton of less actives here, i just don't know where they live. So i asked the lady if she knew where anymore less actives lived. And that's when the lady just went off pointing and showing us house after house after house that had less actives and that is not even all. She ran into 2 people that she knew in the street. And she introduced us, got us an appointment, bore her testimony about all the blessings that she has received and how she wants the same for them and their families and that's why she was presenting us. So... pretty much with that lady in that hour we found about 10 families that are less active and, on top of that, the 2 investigators that she set us up with. So after that time in the day we just continued to work and now it's like 8:30 and we needed one more lesson. So we headed over to a family that is close by our house and... they were not home..... but we found a guy that was selling bread in the street so we started to talk with that lovely child of God and come to find out that he has actually been searching for a church that just "feels right".  And he told us that he was interested in hearing a message from us right now (what a coincidence ((however in the flipping world you can spell that Word :D))). So we taught the lesson that we needed and got another investigator. And now we are feeling pretty good with our work that day. But as we were heading back to the house I remembered that I didn't have milk for the next day. So I quickly swung by a store to buy milk and... They were out.. Crap... So I remembered Elder Hernández talking about a store in a street that we never walked on before. So we quickly ran to the store I bought my milk and right when we were about to walk away a man just came up to us and asked us if we are in some sort of spanish program here in mexico (because, given, 2 white boys in Mexico kinda stands out if ya know what I mean). Hahaha nah... we told him that we are missionaries and we then asked him how long does he want to be with his family and kids. And that's when he explained to us that he would like to be with his family for as long as God will allow him to be. And he continued with how he is really frightened of dying because after this life there is just nothing. So we explained to him that our message is to help people come closer to Christ and how he can have his family forever. Hahaha and then he asked us,"So when can you guys come over?" So... that was quite the adventure and kind of a Best 2 Years movie experience because in that moment i just wanted to get food.  It turned out to be that we got a new investigator because of my indigestion :D:D Hahah it's inspiration. Nah... more like indigestion :D But yeah.. we ended that day with like 10 new less active families and 4 possible new investigators :D

Oh yeah... and my comp was santa at the Ward Christmas party:D:D

and during church an old investigator came to church and said he was ready to be baptized! so we made sure that everything was all good and he is getting baptized next Sunday :D

And yupp... that's just about it ladies and gents. not too much, but just enough. 

Hasta Luego:D:D

Monday, December 16, 2013

Bendiciones con tiempo?
(Blessings with time?)

Well.... this week was unbelievable fantastic:D:D:D To start i just want to say that the one thing that i learned from Elder Hernandez is that hell does not last for ever:D:D Yupp... that is all i learned from him in 3 months:D:D But my next comp is freakin sick! His name is Elder Lee and he is an American:D:D I have never worked harder and never been more satisfied with my days of work:D:D (Given i still don't do much) :D I am learning all the things that i should have in the first 3 months of my mission.

But first i just want to write about the baptism of Laticia:D:D Hahaha man we really had to work hard for her to overcome her fear that the Jehovah Witnesses have given her. Because firstly we swung by to her house to finish teaching her what she was still needing to know and reminded her that she had her interview in 2 days. And when we were passing by her candy stand the next day she told us that she was going to be leaving tomorrow way early and not going to return until next tuesday. Hahaha we felt like she was not telling the truth so we asked where she was going and thats when she told us that she really didn't need to go anywhere. She told us that she did want to be baptized but her sister and some Jehovah Witnesses are feeding her pure fear of her decision to be baptized. We just told her that if she still felt good about it she should continue on with her decision. And that she should not be doing this decisions for anyone but herself and for her own good and if she felt like it was the right thing for her to do:D:D And so after that we peaced out. And now passing the time of her interview and coming to the day of her baptism. Hahaah this day was by far one of the most interesting days here in mexico. So we had to wake up early to walk to the church to clean and start the boilers. But as we were walking to the church we always pass this section of where there is no room to walk on the sidewalk so we always walk in the very side of the road. And this time right before we got back to the spot where we could walk on the side walk again a combi flew by and the mirror nicked my shoulder. (and the mirrors of the combis are only about 4 to 5 inches away from the combi itself). and right after it had passed i looked to see what in the world had just happened as I had never been hit by a moving vehicle before. (cuz that was a little bit interesting to be almost hit by a combi if ya know what i'm sayin:D:D) I decided to look and see if he had hit me on purpose or if it was an accident.  After checking out the situation and seeing he had enough room to have not hit me... :D the good old fart (well he probably was a young whippersnapper):D He had about 10 feet that he could have gone even 1 foot more in the other direction and he could have passed us just fine (well... me:D:D) but ya know..... i guess that satan just was trying to make sure that Laticia wasn't going to be baptized.  Being hit by a combi wasnt going to stop us.  After that little joy of an experience, we arrived at the church and after much difficulty got the boilers running and cleaned the baptismal font and then we started our journey to the house of Laticia. When we arrived we started to knock and knock and...... waited... we couldn't understand why she wouldn't be here when she wanted nothing more than to make this agreement with her father in Heaven yesterday.... and so... right as we were about to leave she came walking around the corner.:D:D hahaha so we asked her how she was and she told us that she was doing ok..... so we asked her why she isn't doing really well.... and she told us that she just got done visiting with those Jehovah Witnesses and she always feels down after talking with them.... and when we heard that we were like... pues... fetch... she is probably going to tell us that she does not want to do her baptism still... but then we asked her.... so... are you still ready for your baptism that is like... right now? (it wasn't exactly like that:D:D) and she told us heck yea. Hahaha so we let her grab her stuff and we headed to the church and baptized that lovely old lady:D:D:D

The next thing that i want to write about is the day that i was talking with another elder of the fact that i have never given a blessing before. And we were just chatting up a storm when we were waiting for our comps to come out of a meeting. and he was just telling me that it is not as bad and with practice it will come and that i should not worry:D:D hahaha and really when he said that with practice it would come i don't know if he knew that this practice would come today right after that moment of talking with him:D:D:D So me and my comp just headed to the food and after we were almost done talking the mom of the family asked if we could give her a blessing. So clearly we did. And right after that the daughter came up to us and asked if she could have a blessing as well. (given she is not a member) and so in this moment my comp turned to me and said your turn.. a la fetch.... i couldn't tell him that i had never done one before in my mission so i just took a deep breath and used the power of the spirit and gave a blessing with all my heart. and after that the brother came and asked if he could have a blessing so my comp gave him one. AND again after that the hermana that is not a member asked if i would give a blessing to her dogs... (um.. is that even allowed???) So we told them that we cant bless the dogs with the laying on a hands so we just blessed the dogs with a prayer. and when i was in the middle of this prayer the lady pipes up and tells me the dogs names were more than just "the dogs of this hermana". So after that blessing of the dogs the sister who is not a member runs over to her neighbor and says that there are two elders giving free blessings (because apparently others charge for blessings?) but then we continued to give like 6 more blessings and after that i felt like i had gotten in my practice that the elder had told me earlier that day. and when we had left the house i explained to my comp that i did not know how to do a blessing before that... he looked at me and said.. well... ya learned quickly then:D:D hahaha yeah that was a fun experience..:D:D

But that is what happened this week... not to many things but... the important thing is that Laticia got to have her baptism and that was the highlight of my week:D:D That and changing companions:D:D:D So... adiós hasta la siguiente semana :D:D

Monday, December 9, 2013

Continually Going

Fech man.. this week has been a blast from the past right? Hahah probably not but.. ya know its been swelly enough. :D 

To start I just wanted to write about an experience that I thought was pretty funny:D:D So we have this appointment with this hermana that we had put a cita with her just the day before (and don't you find it funny when you talk with the people the night before and then when you go to their house the next day they some how always had something "come up" like "i needed to visit my family" kind of crap or "sorry i forgot":D:D:D) and so while we are arriving at her house we hear some freaking sick music that was just blastin right? and so we knocked and knocked and knocked  and I saw someone through that crack of the door look at me and then run back into the house hahaha so that is just normal right? so what we decided to do next is just pure genius:D:D:D I turned to my companion and told him that we need to call the hermana right now because i just saw her look at me and then turn back into the house:D:D:D So clearly we whipped out our phone and gave that lady a phone call:D:D:D And as the phone was ringing we heard someone turn down the sick beats that were blastin in their house and someone answered the phone (it just so happened to be our investigator that I saw in the door crack:D:D:D) And so we just quickly asked the hermana that we were passing by her house and that if it was all ok if we passed by to share our next lesson. :D:D And her response was priceless. "oh hermanos i'm sorry I actually not home right now but can you pass by tuesday?" hahah clearly hermana yes we can pass by tuesday:D:D And after we hung up we heard someone turn back up the music to its original state and that is when we decided that apparently that we just need to pack up and head out:D:D:D but i just  thought that this experience was quite funny that some people just have the worst excuses in the history of "my dog ate my homework:D:D:D" 

The next pretty sick experience that I was able to be apart of was awesome:D:D:D So we went to the house of one of our other investigadores and in this lesson we were presenting her the Book of Mormon. And so the order that we were going to go in was my comp was going to start out and finish up the last part of our lección anterior and then i was going to pick up from there and explain about why we have the Book of Mormon and the blessings that come from the reading meditating and asking our father in heaven if it is true right? Well needless to say that the beginning went freakin smooth and right before it came to my part I was kind of flipping bricks because i needed to talk not only in one tense but needed to switch tenses and how i spoke (which needless to say is kinda hard... well.. for this white kid. ) but then i was just like what the heck. Im just gunna speak and who cares right? (well not the kind of who cares like i didn't want to try because i want nothing more than for the messages to come across smooth and sound good and all that jazz right?) And so as I started i just talked and explained what i knew right? And it was freakin sick all the words and insanely hard things that I alway just have problems with outside of the lecciones just started to flow. I don't know what it was honestly. and i was just about to enter the next section of what i was going to talk about with the book of mormon and I just had a feeling that I should share my testimony so clearly i did. And fech son of a mother I have not felt that spirit that strong since we invited one of our other investigadores to baptize herself.  And after that I just felt like it honestly didn't matter what i said or how i said it because they all ready have been feeling what we are trying to explain and that is how it should be the Spirit doing all the hard lifting and you just guiding it. 

And to end I just want to include one experience that was.... well.... needless to say... freakin scary. So we continually visit one of the members here. And one of the nights that we were their we were just sitting there talking and i just so happened to understand the words "evil spirit" "children" and "in our house" so i just put all those together and asked you have evil spirit children in your house. and um... well. they told me that it happens quite often when they will just hear laughing of little kids in their house and things will be moved around and how they have seen some of the kids hiding underneath some of the beds and all that joyful stuff right? Well... we all know how i am just probably one of the most manly men out their when it comes to scary movies and things like that right? (the most sarcastic sentence ever) I am probably one of the biggest wimps ever when it comes to scary movies. So when i heard this that kind of flipped my bricks of wanting to be in that house:D:D And so the next night the family was just headed out to do something and my comp needed to use the bathroom really bad so the family just told us that they are going to head out but we can still enter and use the bathroom so clearly with my comp about to explode we ran in and i sat my self on one of the chairs as he ran to the bathroom. And the whole time while he was in the bathroom I was learning of how all the experiences with scary after life children were probably true. With the complete silence and the just perfect amount of darkness with all the other factors of the house adding to that. And since many of your know how I am with scary movies with the lights on you can only imagine how I was feeling in this moment where I was not watching a scary paranormal movie I was freakin sitting in one. :D And yeah that was a fun experience as well:D:D:D 

And thats alls I gots:D:D:D Have a great week ladies and gents:D:D:D

PHOTO OF THE WEEK...Monday, December 9, 2013

P L A C E D 

Yeah... so... that is alls. just a foto because it just happened to be there:D:D Hands n all. hahah not:D:D

Monday, December 2, 2013

Livin well or barely livin :D:D:D

So... this week was.... good. :D Full of spiritual experiences and all that jazz. 

We are teaching this lady that I had contacted in the street. Remember her? yeah well she is havin a rough time right now because some Jahova witnesses alway go and visit her after we have just finished teaching her. And the lady right now is really confused because she loves the church and the members are really kind to her when she came to church with us. But when the Testigos come by to teach she tells us that all they do is bag about how if she continues to follow this path that she is condeming herself to hell. (Shesh... thats a little harsh right?) and right now our investigator does not know what to do. Because she feels great and like she can do better than and strive for the celestial kingdom when we talk with her but when the other lady comes and visits she just destroys her and tries to make us sound like we are from hell. But after she was done telling me and my comp all this I just had a feeling that I should tell her that she honestly has the power to decide for herself. And so I just decided to tell her exactly that (with the joke of the spanish that I know you can only imagine out it came out;D;D). I explained to her that no one can make her believe in any religion. It is one of the wonderful gifts that through that plan of Jesucristo that we honestly have the power of albedrío. And as well as she does not have to just hope that she can find out what is right for her. Just like we taught her in the first lección with us that along with her albedrío that she can communicate with her Padre Celestial directamente. And whatever she feels is right for her we are going to respect that. so.... as of this moment she is still strong with her baptismal date of the 14th. And I always find it funny when we are passing a bus of testigos de Jeova and that they are always to angry at us. Because we are only 2 boys that only have 18 to 21 years and we are able to convert more people than the whole bus of them put together. So.. I don't know if that already speaks of something that this church is true or are they wearing blind folds? :D:D  so.... yeah life is flowin swell. .:D:D:D

As well as another experience we were just teaching a family how to speak english and just having a good time in general right? And when we were wrapping up I just had a feeling that I should take a moment and share a scripture with the mom. I almost doubted the feeling but every time that i have doubted that feeling it has alway come back to bite me in the butt. So I just thought to myself that I was going to go for it right? And so I just picked a scripture that I had read that morning and shared it with her and explained why I really enjoyed it. Its not like this moment was anything hugely spiritual.  It is just another example of how it does not matter if it is you or the spirit prompting you to do something if it is right it does not matter what is the source you or God. :D

Oh.. and we are teaching this family that the father is having a hard time walking because he has 2 wounds on his legs that refuse to heal. The doctors want to cut off his legs but he refuses. While we have been teaching him and it has really made me realize all that I have good in my life with all that is in his life right now and he is still able to stay... well somewhat positive:D:D  While we teach the family I am always humbled and grateful for the time that we are giving to share the gospel with them. :D (Its difficult to try and progress them because he literally cannot sit up otherwise he starts to bleed out of his wounds again. So i don't know how we are going to pass that small difficulty :D:D)

Hahah and I do want to write about one small funny thing that I have gotten to experience a couple of times over the last 2 weeks:D:D So our bishop knows how to speak a little English and he has started to call me to practice more and more of his English:D:D And every time that this happens I am dead asleep and it is usually around 11.30pm when the bishop calls and he just wants to well... chat:D:D And i am not going to complain :D:D Because i am always looking for ways that i can speak that much more english:D:D But usually he just wants to share the latest scripture that he has found or some of the homework that he has for college or a spiritual experience::D:D So.. Needless to say that i never know when the bishop is going to call:D:D haha well... that was this week:D:D

I know some of you have mentioned I should only write about spiritual things but I do want you to know there were very spiritual sides to the adventures I shared. I shared them so you would know that I was being watched over and being kept safe by a higher power than my own.  When you serve a mission in Mexico City you must be in tune with the spirit at all times or you may never return home:D:D

Doctrine and Covenants 89. Learn it, love it, live it.   :D:D:D So..

peace

Elder Anderson

Monday, November 25, 2013

Teachin' n preachin'

This week was better than the last few that have been flowin:D 

The great part of my week started on wednesday. We had intercambios and  I was with Elder Evans in my area. We had quite a bit to do because we just had an old investigator attend church this last sunday and so me and Elder Evans were going to go and visit her and put a date for her to be baptize. But ya know always things don't go as planned right?:D and so.... we arrived at her house and.... she wasn't home... fetch... :D but its alls good. :D so after that we headed over to another new investigator that we were meeting for the first time. :D this was quite the experience because before she didn't want to hear from us at all but she had given us the permission to teach her daughter. And over the last 2 weeks she has seen such a change in the life of her daughter that she was wondering what we were teaching. So... she set up a time with us and we taught her and invited her to be baptized and right now things are flowing swelly with that family. (right now the dad still does not want to talk with us but.... its only a matter of time. Ya know?:D) and after that lesson we had just enough time to run over to yet another investigator that earlier in the month I felt like we should talk to him and so... I just walked up and tried my best to converse with this manhomie (which... to say the least was rough. :D:D:D) But right now he loves what we are teaching him and all I have to say is it is practically like magic when I am talking with someone in a lesson or when they need help with something because I don't know if they are using easier words than the rest of the world of if I am just striking it easy with being able to understand them:D:D Nah its just a fact that the gift of tongues is real and with out it I could not teach at all. Pues.. After our lesson with freddie. We had just enough time to teach one more lesson and honestly I had really enjoyed that day because it was a day that I was not afraid to open my mouth and have what I say be laughed at. ya know the usual. :D:D 

But the next day was just as good :D I know right what is this gambling? Two good days never come in a row. Well... at least not here:D:D But I just want to write about one experience. So we had gotten this reference and we went and visited her and usually you have to talk to people and slowly let them start to trust you for them to tell you what they need to hear.. well.. I just want to say that we barley had enough time to introduce ourselves before she just laid it on us. Man she told us exactly what had happened in her life and... I don't want to say much but she has been through a lot. So we started to teach her about the Gospel of Jesucristo and while we were about 3/4ths of the way done her daughter walked in as well as her husband. (And usually we invite people to be baptized the first lesson ((unless we feel like it would be better to wait one more lesson))) and I was thinking to myself... How and I suppose to invite the father and the daughter to baptism when they have not even heard of our whole shpeel. And in that moment I just got the feeling that it honestly does not matter if they have heard the whole thing or not the spirit in the room in this moment is the same right now as it has been the hole lesson. So I just knew that it honestly did not matter if they have heard the whole lesson or not because they could just feel all that we have taught in one moment. And so with that I put all my fear that they just would not accept our invitation and just went for it. And honestly it is one of the most beautiful experiences when you invite someone to baptism. Because this is going to sound weird but... they really can not say no. It is not the words I use or my fancy way of persuading them to say yes but it is honestly just the power ( I can't think of any other word that i can describe it but pure... power. ) that is in the room. And as well as when I need to teach something or commit someone to baptism or... anything before I start to teach i don't think about what I am going to say or anything. because if I start to think about what I am going to say I just get myself confused with all the conjugations and their needs and tying... well... everything. so I honestly just don't think of anything and just listen to my comp with what he is saying and after he wraps up his part I just... talk. And i don't know how to explain it. The words just come. I mean if people don't believe in the Holy Ghost and the gift of tongues I can see how this sounds crazy but honestly words that I have never used before just come to my mind and I am not going to doubt that thought and I just... Go with the flow if ya know what i mean:D:D:D  and so after that they all said yes to the invitation to be baptized so me and my comp were pretty stoked. and while we were leaving their house we alway pass this lady in the street that is vending stuff. And i had the feeling that I should talk to her like... 3 weeks ago but I was to afraid to talk to her because I didn't know very much spanish. (given things still have not changed I still don't know very much spanish but I just don't care anymore I just speak:D:D:D) and so while we were walking by her again I just had the feeling that I should talk to her again and sheesh when you get that feeling of the spirit you just can not deny it. And so I just stopped and started to talk with her. We told her that we were missionaries and that we would love to share a message with her. And she said that she would love that and that she has wanted to talk with us for about 2 weeks now (fetch ladies and gents when she said that, It really hit me that I was about 2 weeks late on talking with this lady in the street.) and to come to find out that her mom had just been ran over by a camion about 1 month ago. And that she has just been looking for something to make her feel more happy. So with that we talked with her a little bit more and set an appointment for the next day. So this day was quite the experience as well:D:D:D

and just real quick update on the lady who sells stuff in the street. We recently have put a fecha with her to be baptized this 14 of diciembre. as well as we should have a baptism this saturday of a girl named estefani if we are able to get her and her boyfriend married this week she will be baptized this saturday. as well as we found another reference and we are planning on putting a fecha with him this week and as well as Rosa we are hoping that we can put a fecha with her for either the 7th or the 14th as well. and the family that we are teaching right now(with the husband and the daughter who walked in) if things flow well we will be able to baptize them the 21st. And as well the mother of Jonathan Delgado because she ends her schooling in like 7 days and we are going to put a fecha for her probably for the end of this month. So.. these are just the hopefuls I know we are able to baptize them all if we just can step up the work a bit more. Ya know? because right now 18 lessons a week just isn't cutting it for me. Even when 6 of those are when I teach by my self with another Elder in my area during intercambios. But... needless to say.... nowhere to go but up from here eh? (yeah... i know i used eh. they use it a whole junk load here in mexico eh?)

and the photo that is with this letter is of nothing special but... the fact of after 3 hours of studying and preparing for the day this is what it comes down to :D:D A paper with a few escrituras:D:D:D 

but things are going better and better I would just like to end with the fact of that 

if you are ever prompted by the spirit to do something you should freakin do it!!! Cuz you don't know what blessings it may bring in your life. I have learned that it does not matter if it is your thought or if it a thought that was put in your mind by the spirit because if you are living your live correctly your thoughts and the thoughts that the spirit will put in your mind are similar. I love this gospel and the opportunities to learn and experiences conversions in other peoples lives is amazing!!!! You just don't get to experience these kind of miracles in any other point in life and.... I would just like to end with answering something. Honestly if you are looking for something to read every week that is going to be life changing spiritually I would read someone else's blog because right now.... shesh I will right about the experiences that I go through when I am able to understand them:D:D:D That is why I wrote about all the gun shots and puddles of blood and all that jazz because I was not able to understand what was going on in the lessons. But I do want to write more about the lessons in the future so in time with the more spanish that i learn i will write more spiritual experiences yo :D:D But... 

The church is true and the book in blue. See ya next week. (well... write ya next week. :D:D:D)

Monday, November 18, 2013

School teacher?

This week was insane.. honestly insane. :D 

To start I went on cambios with Elder Evans and he had told a school that he would help them out and teach english. And so while we were walking to the school I was thinking that we would just be helping out another teacher that is already being paid to teach english. Wellp... as you can probably guess... they didnt have a teacher already to teach english and when we arrived we asked the teacher what we needed to do and she said. "i dont know you are the teachers" hahaha so.... needless to say that we taught and taught and taught for like 3 hours. class and class and class. It was quite fun all of the kids kept asking me to teach them swear words in english... Hahahaha. And one moment while me and elder evans had our backs to some students apparently one of them swore at the other and they literally started a full out brawl in the front of the class. Fists were flying and all sorts of other joyness if ya know what ima sayin:D:D

And just another funny story. :D Berkeley you might not want to post this on the internet but... I met this guy while my comp was using the bathroom and we just got talking about the united states and I had asked him if he had ever visited the usa. and he had told he of course but he doesnt have any papers. and so I asked him how he was able to get in with out papers. and he continued to explain to me in great detail that there are 2 places where you are just able to walk in. One in arizona and the other in texas. I had a good laugh about how he explained that it was so easy and then I got his information and setup an appointment with him for the next week to teach him... yeah not to interesting of a story but.. still a joy:D:D:D

and I just wanted to write about a freakin crazy spiritual experience this week. I know it is probably just normal for other missionaries but.. here it is:D:D We were going to put a baptisimal date with one of our investigators after we finished teaching the second part of the restauración. And when it came to my part to explain about the first vision I struggled through how to explain how he got into the grove of trees but when I got to the actual vision part things just flowed and after i had finished the appearance of God and Jesucristo the spirit was the thickest I have ever felt in my life I was about to go grab a stick from out side and make a little ice cream snack out of it and save it for a snack for later:D:D (hahah a food joke because there isnt much;D;D) and after that with explaining the authoridad and all the others things that i needed to say next just.... happened... I dont even know what to say... Its times like those that you just sit there and think.. dang.... that was crazy... and the hermana excepted the date to be baptized this next week and we are trying to fit in another one for 2 weeks and another for 3 so... if things flow smoothly we should be helping a few more people enter the beginning to receive eternal life:D:D

and these photos with this email are some that my bud Jacob took. I know there is one of me... awkward... but really he is sitting right next to me and is making sure that I send these photos back home:D:D Honestly i think that this broham has a lot of photographical talent :D (menos la foto de yo) and the others are of my other bud Jehovani who is a freakin boss at futbol. We just went to one of his games and watched him:D:D:D

but this week was good a lot a constructive time and learning experiences:D 

Hasta luego:D:D 

PHOTO OF THE WEEK...Monday, November 18, 2013

Yeah... I took jumpergram with me to mexico. 

#utahgram (kindof..) #jumpoftheday ;D;D;D

Baptisimal Cleaners. 

Monday, November 11, 2013

The weeks keep rollin like the salt keeps cookin?

This week.... man what do I even want to say bout this week.... Needless to say it was a heck of a lot less entertaining than the last... well... My whole time in mexico. :D This week was actually quite relaxing:D:D Not to much happened and I got to be the senior companion while my comp went and taught with other people.

First this week I learned the lesson (yet again) that a mission kinda sucks... Honestly. My relation with my comp is flowin swelly but the only thing is that now he has found a new way to make me feel like I am still worth nothing. Because people here like to ask questions that are insane. Like who was my second brother twice removed that liked to eat chocolate cake in the pre-earth life? And then when I respond that I have not a clue my comp always enjoys to tell me that I have been a member my whole life and I dont know this? Yeah as well as if something does not flow smoothly in a lesson apparently it is always something to do with my lacking in obedience. But other than feeling like I can respond to any question that I am asked with out being mocked.... Things are flowin GREAT:D:D:D

But like I said this week was a bit slow... :D (I wouldnt mind if more weeks were like this) The only thing that happened that was interesting was me and this other white boy that just got here had intercambios and we got lost in mexico city (in my area) for about 40 minutes:D So it wasnt that long of a time of being lost and it was quite an adventure:D:D As well as during that time with the other Elder we were chased by a drugged lady down the street so... This week no guns, blood, or shattered windows. Only a drugged lady who wanted to chase to american boys. 

But one thing that was awesome about this week was the fact that I got to do intercambios con the other Elder from utah:D:D (Im not going to say his name because I am going to save my mom an hour of searching where he lives and what kind of rice he likes to eat ever 17th of november:D:D) ((Love ya mom:D:D:D)) And that day we taught 5 lessons and receive 3 new investigators:D So that gave me hope that I have come far enough to teach lessons and receive investigators (Given 5 lessons is still lacking of the 8 we are suppose to teach) ((But you always need to improve in something right:D:D:D))

The thing that I really have learned this week was the fact that during my whole life I never really gave sufficient thanks to my mother and sister who are always there for me and have always been there for me. Thanks mom for everything that you have done and I dont know how I could thank you more for everything (given I am in mexico and the only thing I can do is type home every week...) And Berkeley as well thanks for everything there is only one person in this world that would be creepy enough to dress up as me for Halloween (that was a sarcastic comment). But really Berkeley thanks for everything and cant wait until we can make our next betos run or attend our next concert.:D:D:D

The nice thing about learning a language and doing missionary work is you really have no time to be full of your self because if  you do anything to not have the spirit with you, There is not a chance that you can speak with even a tiny bit of clarity. This is another thing that I have learned while being here in mexico. obedience (#garydunn) . Because with out this obedience I dont know how I could speak or teach people and have them learn from what I am sayin. And I am just going to apply this into the rest of my life. Because in all things if we are not obedient how can we expect to receive the blessings or help that we need from our Padre Celestial if we are not doing what he has already asked us to do. 

and in this email there are some photos of our apartment (right now we have a ton of fruit because this man just gave us about 60 pesos of fruit) So life is hard but good:D:D:D and one photo that was a mess up of the photo of the week:D:D Because my comp was having a hard time with the rack focus:D (Sheesh those little guatemalans I thought everyone already knew about rack focusing and using the natural light to make your photos pop more;D;D;D;D) Love my comp.... well... Yeah:D:D:D:D 

PHOTO OF THE WEEK...Monday, November 11, 2013

This weeks photo I just had to make it a photo of my chapstick... Because this good ol friend has been through it all with me so far in this mission... 7th of august to 11 of november... Please can we have a moment of silence for my good ol friend?

S I L E N C E 

adios buddy... See ya in the next life..... :D:D:D:D

until next week m´ friends:D:D

Monday, November 4, 2013

Combi

Sheesh... You would think that this mission just could not get any better!!!! (Like that is for sure serious) This last week was the bomb! I could not have had a more fun week in my life!!! Ya know how I was havin problems with my companion? Yeah well... After 7 weeks of serving that little mexican... Oops.. I mean that little Guatemalan one day he just changed and things just started flowin. So I guess that this is proof that if you serve your companion or anyone in general that is could just possible take like... 7 weeks for that service to sink in and possibly change them:D:D But other than the fact that me and my companion are flowin swelly. Some really crazy things have happened this week. Both spiritual as well as more exciting crazy stories... Well I don't know if they are exciting or just ordinary... So... yeah:D:D 

This week was amazing week spiritually for me. I really don't know what to say about the experiences that I have had this past week. Because anything I say will not do the feelings and the power that were in those lessons. But all I have to say is that with every lesson that I teach and every principle that we teach it really strengthens my testimony that this message that we are teaching has so much power and truth behind it. Each time and everything new that I learn really helps me apply and see how if we are able to continually increase our faith and will follow what we are told and what we know we should do deep down then there is nothing that we cant do in our lives and there is no reason why we cant have joy here as well as after this life. :D So.. I really wish I could just speak face to face to everyone about the spiritual experiences because they are so huge and so much fun and an honor to be able to experience them. The people here just have so much faith and honestly have taught me so much about just being happy with your family and outside of that not much else matters:D 

So to start... My companion needed to go to the dentist for his tooth. and when we arrived there my companion needed some anesthetic. And ya know that is regular every time you go to the dentist you need some sort of pain killer right? Well... My dad is a dentist and my whole life I have known this stuff to be as "tingly gell" no one ever told me that this so called "tingly gell" was a needle of medication the size of freakin.... (plug in your own descriptive word). Ya know what Im sayin??? Sheesh!!! Well... Yeah I thought I would just inform the world that this so called "tingly gell" or anesthetic is a freakin huge needle. Yeah.. Nothing more special about the dentist:D:D 

Oh hahaha and so me and my companion were walking to our next appointment and every tuesday there are this huge markets that take up the whole street and they sell everything! (I have still yet to find a pair of raybands) And just a small side note.. I have some pretty good friends in these markets they are always informing me when the next movie has just come out and what kind of glasses they are going to pick up next week and haha yeah needless to say I got some friends in these markets of the streets (which may be black-markets but ya know who knows:D the stuff is cheap and new:D) And I don't even buy anything from them:D but as we were walking through the markets to our next appointment, my companion was ahead of me and all of the sudden this guy just literally comes out of no where and asks me if I speak spanish or english . I respond to him that I speak a little bit of both. And then he continued to ask me who was the creator of the earth. Psh, I'm thinkin to myself that's an easy one. And when I  give him the answer that is was Jesucrist antes este vida, he did not like that answer at all and then he grabs me by my shirt and pulls me really really close to his face (a lot closer than I would have wanted to be to this man) and then starts speaking all the english he knew. Which was that I was a stupid american and some words that I will not repeat because they were not very nice or up lifting. :D So during all this I thought that I was going to be punched by this man but I just admitted to him that yes I guess that I am stupid (hoping that it would satisfy his anger) and after I had said that he let me go and told me that I knew nothing and just walked away. :D Haha and after that moment I learned a valuable lesson. 

The only people that are impossible to teach are those who are unwilling to learn. 

Yeah pretty obvious i know but if you think about it the only way someone is unteachable is someone who is not willing to learn:D 

As well as during the day of the dead me and my companion are headed back to our house and we see this group of friends carrying this boy down the road towards the main road in which we were walking on. And as they arrived in the middle of the road they waited until one of the huge busses was about 15 feet away and they literally dropped this boy on his back right in the way of this bus! (These buses don't stop for like... anything.) So i thought that this man was goin ta freakin die ya know? But don't worry between the skreeching of the brakes of the bus and his barley having enough time to get to his feet and literally dive out of the way he did live:D So.. I don't know if this is some game that is really popular down here in mexico or... no se all I know is that I would rather not participate in this game.. if ya know what i mean:D 

And another story of how me and my companion were coming home from our weekly district leader meeting and we have to take a combi (which is like a van type of vehicle:D) and as we are about 15 minutes before we are going to get off at our stop this little motor cycle cuts off our combi and of course the driver of the combie had to pull over and say some words of encouragement to this man as well as some words of rejoice that he was able to shoot that gap in time:D hahaha heck no they were just a cussin a ways and sayin words that I have never heard before:D and this is where the story gets good:D As we are driving away I look back at the man and he bends down and picks up a rock and chucks is at the combi and shatters the back window. Haha it was so freakin exciting. Because one that I was covered head to toe with glass as well as I was the one that was hit by the rock when it came through the window:D (Ok maybe the rock did hurt and was not very cool to get hit by and maybe I got some cuts from the glass but other than that it was awesome!!!:D) Yeah... So.. That is my combi story:D:D 

And as well as this week I learned how to make pizza, pan dulce, and pastries. :D It was just a freakin blast from the past:D Yeah... there are some pictures that show how it was:D So... Im only gunna say that I just may change my career to bread and pastry maker because I have never had so much fun doing something:D Well... Maybe making videos and taking pictures is a bit more fun but... Hmm.. Who knows:D 

So this is a brief over view of what happened this week:D I am loving it here. I love this mission because all I have to do is go to peoples homes and help them receive more joy. :D And with every word that I learn in spanish the more fun and the more I am able to help people realize that honestly all they need is to complete a few laws of God and things will flow so much more smoothly:D 

Pues... Hasta luego. Y buena suerte esta semana:D:D  

PHOTO OF THE WEEK...Monday, November 4, 2013

F-f-f-f-f-foto de la semana cuatis

Yeah ya know it. I missed last week for the photo of the week so... Here is this weeks:D:D 

The kid in the pictures is name Jacob, so this weeks photo of the week is clearly named!!!!

C A G E D 

Yupp you could have easily got the name caged out of knowing that his name is Jacob:D Cuz I did:D:D 

Paz y Gozo 

Hasta siguiente semana. Buena suerte y espero que le gusta la foto:D:D

Monday, October 28, 2013

#lifeisswelly #petecano:D

Sorry if this letter is short but... I was just typing for the last ever and it crashed so.... Yeah.... 

In the other letter I had written about my companion and how I am trying my best to serve him and it just is not working, but I guess it is best that the computer crashed because I don't want people to think that I just a complainer. :D:D But I do just want to say that I am trying my best and that I have learned so much spanish is the last week and life is... Gettin there:D:D I love this gospel and I am teaching way more:D:D:D

Um... so pretty much me and my companion were walking home from the church and we saw this drop of blood, like the kind you see while someone has their hands cupped over their nose:D So like regular human individuals we decided to continue and follow this trail of adventure:D:D And you won't believe what we found:D:D We saw this puddle of blood about a 1 foot circle that looked like someone had taken their hands away from their nose. But don't you worry ladies and gents, the trail of blood does not end there:D The trail of blood continued to head down the side walk and go around this corner:D:D SO.... Clearly.. Me and my companion crossed the street and didn't continue to follow this adventure just waiting to happen...HAHAHA NOT A CHANCE!!! Of course we continued to follow this trail of blood:D:D So as we came around the corner I beheld probably one of the largest puddles of blood I have ever seen in my life:D:D I was about to ask my companion if I could borrow his cell phone so I could call Peter Pan and tell him to go find the Lost Boys (Hahah I thought that was a good one... Haha right? Find the LOST BOYS? Hahahaaa..... yeah... umm.... cough.. :D) And to have peter pan tell them that they need to bring their swimming suits because ladys and gents we have a pool here that is just awaiting to be used:D:D No, but really, it was a huge amount of blood... I am just going to think that someone spilled their carton of grape juice and.. yeah:D:D

AH!!! And I have another story about guns and gun shots (I don't know why I always have a story about guns n stuff but... yeah here it is:D:D) SO me and my companion were walking to an appointment to an investigator and we needed to go down this other road and right as we turned this corner the guy just started to unload rounds into the dog that was sitting there... and I am not just saying like he unloaded one round into the dog, I am meaning he was unloading everything he had. And while he was just unloading he was screaming his guts out, and as far as I could tell he was not in the right mind. And so in the moment I was quite scared because 1-this man was just unloading into this dog and 2-I wasn't sure what he was going to do next.  So me and my companion just quickly and calmly... well... Kinda calmly:D chose a different route:D:D And that is my gun story for this week:D:D:D 

I got the opportunity to speak in church this week:D:D Hahah it was actually really funny. Like 10 minutes before church started the 1st counselor came up to me and said... Elder Anderson you are speakin on Missionary Work today in church. And my first response was just a laugh:D: Hahaha because I don't know that much spanish to go up and just speak with out any preparation:D:D And... Um.. Needless to say that my small laugh did not sit well with the 1st counselor. He just said... No. You are speaking elder anderson. This is not a joke.. So... needless to say after that I realized that this wasn't a joke and I found a couple of scriptures and thought of a experience that I could share.. I honestly was not scared at all:D I don't remember what I said, but people really did enjoy my talk. Maybe they enjoyed it because every scripture that I choose or experience that I shared was about how to help people have hope and learn about the blessings that they are able to receive if they follow things or do certain things:D while on the other hand my companion likes to just iron the negative into people. :D So.. that was my experience with having to give a talk in church:D My talk was almost 12 minutes and it really put into perspective of how much I have learned while I have been here. Needless to say, It really helped me receive a boost that I needed:D:D:D

Hahaha and I would just like to end this letter with how people, members, elders, and investigators are asking me all the time why I am always smiling. And I always tell them that this isn't my time. I am here to serve the Lord and if I am not feelin 100 percent that day I am still going to make sure that I change that before I leave our house, because I am not here to mope around and be mad, because if I am mad I may miss a opportunity to get a new investigator:D:D

So... This is my letter for this week:D:D I had almost 2 more paragraphs for this week.... but they were deleted when the computer crashed:D:D But.. Just remember missionary work is for everyone. If only people will live the principles of the Book of Mormon and the commandments of this gospel that is missionary work in and of itself:D:D

#lifeisswelly. :D #petecano:D