Monday, June 23, 2014

The contacts?

Something that happened this week that we have not seen in a really REALLY long time is that we received eight references today from the members... that was a pretty freakin sick moment. Because in this area I have a bit of time and almost the whole time that I have been here we do not receive support from the members,  but this week I feel like me and my comp were really able to connect with the spirit and be able to put the lesson that we were sharing with each member into their lives and they really felt that we care for them and I believe that is what really changed this week. Because as we show more love for the people and for the hard things that they are going through they are going to think that if we pay attention to them and that their preoccupations are our preoccupations then they are going to give us their friends that need that same blessing in their lives and I'm not just meaning two missionaries listening to some problems but really showing them how they can find peace through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So yeah... That was one cool thing that happened this week. 

And another thing that happened would have to be... When we contacted this lady who sells bread in her bread store. Because the first time that we contacted her she was not really interested and didn't want to come visit our church nor did she want to even own a copy of the Book of Mormon. But over the last 3 weeks we have been passing with her and getting to know her little by little and we didn't even try to talk to her about the gospel. We would just pass by and talk about how her sales were going and how many kids she had and all that jazz and one of the coolest things happened this week. So we pass with her just like any other day and we talk with her about the sales again and all of the sudden she just asks us... So. Where exactly is your church ? Because I would like to go and see what really is taught there and ya know... Just to get to know. And at that moment my comp took the opportunity to pull out a Book of Mormon and when she saw the Book of Mormon this time her eyes light up and she was so happy to take it into her hands and start to read it. So...  Until right now she still does not want us to come by to share a message but at least she has a Book of Mormon and is accepting little by little. So that was  just a  cool little experience or miracle that me and my comp saw this week. 

Another really cool experience that I was able to participate in this week would probably have to be when I did divisions with another elder in my area. And we were really going to focus on the contacting in the streets that day. And so we were going pretty good contacting and getting rejected (ya know the usual) but we were walking down a street and I just got that good feeling like... Hey yo bro I'm gunna bees talkin to ya. And so i saw this man and knew that I was going to contact him. So I started the contact and decided to take the Book of Mormon route in this contact and it just so happened that right where I contacted this man there was a group of people off to the side of the road (and you know like all good contacts in  Mexico you just so happened to start the contact right in the middle of the road) and when a car came we had to move off to the side of the road and we just so happened to come right into the group of the other people on the side of the road . And when we got over there I just was like "HEY HAVE YOU GUYS HEARD ABOUT THIS BOOK?" And clearly que no they had not. So I was like "come join in and listen a little bit about what the Book of Mormon is. " and so that changed my one person contact into a 4 person contact and right when they started to listen a guy just so happened to leave his house and we just so happened to be right out side of his door. So I just thought to myself ya know why not. And said to this bro. " hey come on over here and listen to a little bit of this" and that turned my 4 person contact to a 5 person contact. And you would think it stopped right there right? But HECK NO. And when I started to teach how Jesus was baptized in a specific way to put the example for us and we have to follow his example that is when the guy who came out of his house had his wife and little 10 year old girl come out looking and wondering what in the world is going on right now.  Having two white boys in the ghetto of Mexico and a crowd of people standing around listening to a message about the Savior.....now thats not normal:D:D:D  so when I finished my message that had started out as a simple one man contact but transformed to a 7 person contact. And I would love to say that everyone accepted us but.... Only like 4 accepted so.... which i would call a miracle in the streets of Mexico:D:D it was pretty awesome to see the spirit work inside of these people living in a non peaceful world........good time if you be askin me:D:D  almost like the story that we learned in fhe over and over and over and over again......mom:D:D:D

The baptism of this week.  i don't have much to say but... it was a great experience and that we were able to help this lady over come her difficulties and they are one step close to becoming an eternal family. we are now just focusing on the dad because he is the only one who has not be baptized......... yet.

and that is it for this week :D:D:D

Monday, June 16, 2014

Run n Gun...Right?

i have been sick for a long time and i am starting to improve. sickness and not being able to eat make for a pretty tired missionary but i have only eliminated exercise and not any of the work so i am not very behind.  you don't want to be sick as a missionary:D:D:D 

it hasn't been long since i was standing in front of the  hospital when a man put a gun to my head because i wouldn't give him any money. and my life was spared and we know missionaries are protected when they are doing what they are suppose to be doing and this last week goes to show the importance of me and my comp being at the meeting instead of at home at our apartment cuz the lord blesses those missionaries who are obedient:D:D

So this week me and my comp left for our meeting on Thursday and we left all fine and dandy and we went and prepared our selves for the next week. But the thing is when we were coming back from the church, right in front of our house there were a whole lot of police. and we were wondering what in the world was going on. and when we got in front of our house we saw what had happened. because there was a girl about 20 years old in front of our house and two guys came up to here and told her that she needed to give them her gold necklace and when she told them no they pulled out a gun and shot her 3 times through the ****. and while we were passing i'm assuming it had happened pretty recently because they had already gotten the body away but the ****** of ***** and all the blood was enough for me. but in that moment i didn't take a picture (believe me i wanted to) but i didn't want the police to think that i was part of it. and so i finally got a picture after everyone had gone and they had put a cross where she had died. so.... does that mean i should just stop dressin so darn classy? hahah yeah thats neva happenin. :D:D: but yeah here is my small story for this week :D:D i will write a lot more the next week :D:D but this was my adventure for this week :D:D so yeah right out side our house. in the picture you can see the wall of our house. 

We spent our p-day buying fruit so we can start our diet. the spots on the floor are not dirt, it's getto life.

        one of the elders in my district posing for the world cup that everyone is crazy about here

 These elders in my district don't want to do the diet so they were happy to get the treats from your package:D:D:D

Monday, June 9, 2014

This week had a good bye to my old companion and hello to a Wyoming boy.  it has been one of the best weeks of my entire mission:D:D:D this picture is of a lady who we have become good friends with and she lets us help her cook our lunch. my companions endurance for putting in a full days work and trying to be friendly to people he didn't know slowly started to improve near the end of our time together. he had a hard time understanding how important it was to show that the gospel makes us happy. people were always asking us why is elder anderson happy and your companion is not. smiling is one of the first steps of being a good missionary and it is hard to teach someone that:D:D:D but he is smiling in this picture and that is why this is such an important picture:D:D:D

Yes mom you can have a picture of me and my new companion!!:D:D i know you want it so you can find out who he is and stalk his parents sooooooo HERE WE ARE!  good luck mom:D:D:D

this is one of our favorite investigators kids:D:D we love her as much as she loves us:D:D

this is my new comp on the upper fence of our church:D:D free english classes from two americans:D

This trampoline picture is for my trampoline crazy family. some of the ward members brought this in to let everyone play on it after a baptism, i was going to show them all my tricks but the ceiling was a little low for someone over 6 feet but the "little" people had a blast. they love a good time:D:D:D

look close at this picture and you will see what fast food place is here too:D:D first guess doesn't count.

birthday with the elders

although it looks all fun i must admit that being sick makes it hard to have the energy to keep up the work:D:D eating less feels better. i have had to quit exercising so i can save my energy for the rest of the day:D:D for pday i exercised and didnt have anything left except to rest. i know there are elders are sicker than me so i cant complain but it makes everything harder but still good. i was made district leader and thats good because it causes me to rely on the lord even more as we are told our numbers as a district arent good enough. it use to be that as a senior comp my numbers werent good enough and now i get to carry the weight of the district not doing good enough. this is really hard for me but i know the lord is carrying me through this as not many positive things are said to us and so i need to be the positive change our district needs. i almost think i am not the same person because of it.  so i am going to have to fast and pray i will be able to get some confidence back.  my comp told me he can tell i have faith in god but not in myself.  he is right and i know what has caused it and i know who can heal that as i was a super confident over achiever before i got her and i knew nothing could stop me and i need to get back to that. good thing i have faith:D:D cuz when you arent liked cuz you are an american it stinks. but the lord heals hearts and that is what i can trust in. thanks for all your prayers:D:D