A weird week

This was a crazy fast week in Palmira. Things have been going good, and there were some ups and downs this week. 

This branch is crazy. there are like 400 baptized people, but under 20 people that are active. It´s nuts. Elder Lybbert and I have to bless the sacrament every week because they don´t have any priesthood holders. (there are like 2 old guys that pass the sacrament. ) I also play the piano during sacrament meeting (opening and closing, cause I break the bread in between) the average age here I would say is around 75 years old, no joke. in about 10 or 15 years there won´t be a palmira branch. unless....

Yeah the people here are really set on their own religion. We did Abrir la boca (street contacting) a TON this week. But none of them went anywhere. And our investigator, hernan, dropped us because he doens´t want to get married. so we decided to turn our focus on menos activo in the coming weeks. 

Here´s a cool story. So it was like 7:30 and every single plan we had fell thru. like nothing to do. We were way far from the pench and we just were dead tired. So we start walkin and this family pulls up next to us in the car and offered a ride. normally we shouldn´t accept, but they appeared really nice. They drove us back to palmira centro where the pench is and then we got their name, and we´re gonna try to visit them on Wednesday!! it was pretty cool how that worked out. even if it doens´t work out, it was still a tender mercy.

For Thanksgiving we had our feast on Sunday for lunch. We had milanesa, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, carrots, bread, and coke. It was awesome. There wasn´t any pumpkin pie at the store haha. We also have started our christmas plans haha. it´s coming in hot, holy crap.

Yeah so what the work is hard.... if anyone is being taught it´s me... i´m learning super quickly the life of a humble missionary... getting rejected with every single person (except members. they  are awesome.) sucks sometimes but at the end of the day they have their agency. Eventually we´ll find someone ready but we feel for now we need to help the ward as a whole get more youth back coming to church. We will see how this plan works out this week!!!

I think that´s all. I didn´t take any photos this week, but I will next time.

con amor,

Elder Anderson

Palmira

So we're here. In Palmira, San Martin, Mendoza. Elder Anderson and Elder Lybbert. The legends. Jk we´re not legends but we´re working really hard and we´re getting some good time in the day and good numbers in the week. This week has flown by and it´s going pretty great. Elder Lybbert reported to the MTC 6 weeks before I did so we´re a little new. He had a latin trainer so our Spanish is pretty good and we´re doing pretty good together.

A litte rundown of Elder Lybbert. he´s from Tacoma, Washington. He´s 19 and studied a year at BYU before heading out on  the mish. He was in Mendoza (the zone) for a transfer so I knew him. He was in plumerillo, one of the most dangerous areas in the mish so he´s pretty fearless in San Martin. He´s really cool and has the desire to work. He´s good at singing and he did swimming in high school.

So Tuesday we had a mission wide conference. I saw all my friends from the MTC and was super pumped. We´re all here now. Anyway the mission wide conference was by Elder Texiera and Elder Soares in the seventy so they had some good advice for us.

San Martin is definitely a different zone. There are only 12 missionaries in the zone. The zone leaders, me and Lybbert, Elder Carroll and his son (he´s training) two other normal missionaries, Hermanas, and a matrimony of proselyting misionaries. Our district is me, Lybbert, and the hermanas, Lybbert is the DL. So it´s pretty tranquilo and things are going good.

We´ve got an investigator named Hernan. He had been getting lessons from the missionaries for months and never went to church. so we warned him that if he doesn´t come to church were gonna stop teaching him, and he came!!! One thing to know is that his kids are WILD. we were teaching him and his daughter legit bit me on the knee. and the son peed inside. (its a one room house, dirt floor.) so they came to church and the kid pooped his pants so they had to leave. (hes like 4) Oh well. it still counts as an investigator attending church. We´re gonna teach him tonight.

I´ve got some pictures to send if this computer would load we will see.

Anyway things are going good and time´s flying!!! have a good week yall and keep the spirit!!!!! #kony2012 lol nevermind.

 

Love, Elder Anderson

 

comp goals lol

 

p day eve fiesta

the baño of the new pench

the computer I am using

Training = Done (por fin) & transfer news

Hola mis amigos y familia. This week was pretty crazy as we wrapped up another transfer. I´ll just come right out and say what happened. (drumroll please)

I am getting transferred to a new zone and area!!!! This zone is called San Martin. It is still in the city of Mendoza but not as close to centro as Cementista B was. My area is called Palmira. Elder Leytton served there a year and a half ago so he knows a lot about it. I think that San Martin is pretty much the same as far as how dangerous it is, but there are Hermanas (sisters) in our Zone so I think it´s a little safer than Mendoza (the zone) My companion is an Elder called Elder Lybbert. He was in my zone in Mendoza my first 6 weeks, so I know him a little. The thing that´s cool is that he entered the MTC the first week in June... So he has 6 weeks on me. (He was in the middle of his training when I arrived). He´s from Utah I think, and had a latino trainer so our spanish should be good. He´s been in Palmira for 6 weeks. I´m pretty excited to have some "greeny fire" as elder Leytton called it and "gringo charm" with Elder lybbert. So far I´ve only heard good things about him, but I´ll share more next week.

Transfers will take place tomorrow. We have a mission-wide devotional at the Mendoza stake center, so I´ve got to pack my bags today, and bring them to the stake center tomorrow morning, and then we will head to Palmira. The devotional is with elder Suarez (i think of the seventy). So ill be able to see my friends from the MTC there.

Things have been super crazy yesterday and today. Elder Lafleur and Leytton are together now because they head home tomorrow. They had to pack last night, and report to the offices this morning for some last minute stuff. We stayed at their pench last night after Leytton packed his stuff at ours, and called a taxi get to their pench. They left this morning, and Lafleur and Leytton did a super crappy job at packing, because they left a TON of stuff at the pench. Our phone died, and once it was charged again we had a ton of calls. Lafleur forgot his "going home letter" which is huge, his emergency money (he needs to give that back) and a bunch of other stuff. So me and Elder Healey (Lafleurs comp) have all his stuff in our backpacks and we´re gonna meet them at the stake center after I write this letter. Then we gotta head to my pench, pack my stuff, call a taxi, go to the other pench. Oh, and Elder Healey got transfered too, so he´s packing. Then tomorrow we´ll call another taxi in the morning to take us and our stuff to the stake center. So it´s been super crazy but exciting nonetheless. Whew.

This week was full of Elder Leytton and I visiting his conversos in various parts of Mendoza. We visited quite a bit. on saturday, we got a call from Elder Baesler (my mom on the mish). He was zone leader with elder leytton in guaymallen and got news that one of their investigators was finally getting baptized. So the baptism was supposed to start at 8 at night but we were super late, and they were actually waiting for us. When we got off the collectivo we RAN. Elder Leytton and Baesler ran like i have never seen. Elder Baesler´s comp, elder kreling, isn´t in very good shape so him and i had to stop every so often. We showed up and literally 2 minutes later she got baptized.

I also had another intercambio with Elder Conover, this time in Cementista. It was pretty good, and we worked hard.

I´m looking forward to working and getting some investigators this week. I get the feeling Elder Lybbert and I are gonna work hard. He´s gonna be the district leader I heard too, but i´ll let you know more about him next week.

Anyway yeah. Trainings done, I feel ready, and it´s time to go work!!!!! I gotta go give Elder Lafleur his stuff and then pack my bags and I´ll be off on another adventure, hopefully this one involves immersing people in water for the remision of sins!!!

Love, Elder Anderson

Beto, Deacons Quorum Pres.

 

bowling last week.

me and my boy Juampy (Juan) he´s in the ward and is cool. 

I bought this lighter the other day.

from left.. Javier Bustos, Seba Bustos, and Franco. and me.



a map of the mission. you can see mendoza and san martin.

training almost done

Hola everyone, I hope you had a great week!! This week was pretty slow again but good things are coming.

We had stake conference Saturday and Sunday. The second counselor in the stake presidency started bajando la caña (dropping the cane, or getting after people) because they weren´t attending the temple as often as they could. He said that they have 2 temples really close and they really have no excuse to not be going every so often. That got me thinking, because the two closest are in Cordoba, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile, both of which would take forever to get to. At home we have 2 temples closer than the people have chapels here. So a way to be grateful for this is by going to the house of the lord doing family history. Just a thought.

This week is Elder Leytton´s last week. It´s been pretty slow and he´s pretty pumped to go home still. He´s got a lot of stuff to do to leave the mission. Today we´re gonna go to guaymallen (where he was zone leader) and visit some of his conversos (hopefully an asado too). Transfers will be this Sunday, and I will be sure to let you all know how it all goes down because to be completely honest, I have no idea what happens or where to go or what, but it´ll all be good.

This week my nickname, Ders, has started blowing up. Everyone in my district calls me Ders and it´s started spreading to my zone. I don´t really mind, it´s actually kinda funny. And every time I cook something for Elder Leytton, Lafleur, and Healey, it automatically gets the name "Ders ____" . For example, we had Ders Burgers and Ders Dogs the other day. One time I tried to make pizza, and it was disgusting, so we can´t talk about Ders Pizza because it´s so bad. But yeah, I´m pretty sure Ders will be my name for the rest of the mish, haha.

There was a giant spider in our pench the other day. It was HUGE. But we killed it before the eggs hatched. lol there were no eggs but it was huge and I have a picture to send.

Anyway I´ve learned quite a bit from my trainer, Elder Leytton. He had a lot of responsibility on his mission, he was district leader for a while and zone leader for 6 months before I was his comp. He´s just burned out. I´ve learned a ton of Spanish, (i can always understand and respond now) and I´ve also learned things to know on the mission. this next transfer I´ll put them into play, and with the strength of the Lord, I know I´ll be fine. I know sometimes I get frustrated with Elder Leytton but looking at the positives doesn´t make it so bad.

I think that´s it. i´ll let you all know what happens with transfers, I think that Sunday they will call, and by Wednesday I´ll be settled in a new area. Anyway, have a good week, go to the temple, and be safe. You´re all in my prayers.

Love, Elder Anderson



Ders Burgers and Ders Dogs.

 

the package said barfy.

Me and my DL Elder Ribiero. (from Brasil)

the gutter full of water. It rained a lot early on this week but now it´s pretty hot.

This is the spider, and that´s a normal sized chair. It was a wolf spider haha and if you zoom in you can see his eyes.

 

está noviembre

I hope everyone has had a good week, this week was actually pretty packed for me, and it was awesome.

Tuesday we had lunch with the Fmla Cari. Hermana Cari asked us if we could come back to give the house a blessing that night, so we came back that night and explained to us why. There had been an evil spirit in her house, messing with her daughter, the lights and slamming doors in the night. We told her we would return and do the blessing the next day. I was kinda scared to go back, so during the night I didn´t sleep that well. We showed up the next day, and she asked me to give the blessing, and I felt like I should do it in English. So I did. Nothing really weird or creepy happened, but once I finished, the spirit was back, and any signs of an evil spirit were gone. So that´s new.

After that, we had interviews with Presidente Goates and consejo with Hermana Goates (when we weren´t being interviewed.) Presidente Goates told me he chose Elder Leytton to be my companion for 2 reasons 1. for him to help my start my mission and 2. for me to help him finish his mission. So I´ve been motivating him more and more these days and it´s been better. I told him about my interview and he agreed, so we´ve been working a little bit better than before.

On Friday we had intercambios, or exchanges. I spent the day with Elder Conover, the missionary in my district that is even newer than me. We worked quite a bit, and it felt really great. I even cooked him some milanesa when we got back to their pench. His spanish still needs a lot of work, so I had to help him quite a bit. We knocked on this door and the woman said "soy un testigo de Jehova" and elder conover said "no, no somos testigos de Jehova" which was a very bad thing to say in that moment and I had to bail him out by talking to the woman. It felt pretty good being the more experienced missionary, and it boosted my confidence quite a bit helping him out. Then on Saturday, intercambios ended, so I went back to Municipal.

Just a funny little story. Yesterday at fast and testimony meeting this woman was bearing her testimony (she is very old) and the power went out. All the lights, heaters, and the microphone stopped working. She just kept on talking like nothing happened, I don´t think she even noticed. After like 5 minutes the power came back on and she finished like nothing happened. I thought that was kinda funny.

Our plan of action is actually working. We had a noche de hogar (family night) with one family and the kid brought a friend, and we´re gonna go back and teach him more (i think) ! so we have a new investigator, and it´s pretty awesome!

Sadly, I will probably be leaving my area. Elder Leytton told me in his interview with Pres. Goates that they are planning on letting the other missionaries in the ward take care of our area. Nothing is for sure yet, but chances are I could be packin my bags on the 15th of November, when transfers end.

Have a good week, the church is true, and eat some milanesa.

I have photos, too.

Love, Elder Anderson.

 

This is an empajore. an alfajore wrapped in empanada lids. covering in dulce de leche. We made them for our halloween treat.

The inside of the empajore. chocolate alfajore. sorry it´s blurry, deal with it haha.

Intercambios with elder conover in their pench. This photo is a little bright, but whatever.

This is my halloween costume. Elder Leytton bought this quite a while ago but he let me wear it on Halloween. It´s a pretty dope tie, and minions are HUGE down here.