deep in the desert of san juan....

Well this week flew by again. We were way busy with meetings, service, intercambios, etc. Things are going pretty good in Retiro.

So Wednesday was when Elder Bednar visited South America south region and had some great advice for missionaries. he also told us that in reality the church isn´t done being restored, that´s our job as missionaries to try and complete the restoration. So that was some good consejo and then we went to Mcdonalds across the street.

Friday we had intercambios with the zone leaders, elder Clarke (georgia) and elder Poot (Cancun, Mex.) they are pretty cool. Elder Poot worked at this way nice restaurant in Cancun and is a way good chef. So he cooked us some dinner on Friday night and it was the first time Ive actually had dinner in a long time.

Saturday night we went to Agustin Gaetan´s first birthday party. it was a pretty dope party despite the fact we left way early. They even got a bouncy castle. I will send some pictures of that too.

Other than that, same old same old. Saw 6 pregnant women and a dead dog in one day. Rode the bus a lot. But, we hopefully and probably will have a baptism this Saturday!!! Pablo came to church yesterday. And I played the piano in church yesterday for the first time in Retiro, the girl that normally does it was sick or something. San Juan is also cooling down a little bit, I actually slept under a blanket the other day, that was cool. (no pun intended)

Well that´s pretty much it. Today during P day we will probably go to the church and play soccer haha. But y´alls have a good week and be sure to do something great.

Love, Elder Anderson

flia gaetan

inside the bouncy castle.

i pulled out this tree with just a rope.

Sorry about last week

Well first thing´s first...... Last week was literally the worst week to have the internet missionary portal not working. I went to town on my emails... I replied to every single person who sent me something... no joke. So if you are mad that I didn´t reply.. I really did. But it was a way good birthday. Maybe I will try to reply to all of them.... if I have time today.

This week was pretty normal I guess. Pablo is progressing nicely and has a baptismal date for March 5th. He came to church yesterday which was great. So yeah it´ll be pretty cool if he´s ready on the 5th of March because that, in fact, was the day I was baptized in 2005. Haha. But we taught the word of wisdom and the law of chastity and all went well there. So hopefully he´ll be ready by then!

I had some amazing chicken again this week with Hno Colombo again. It was even better this time, just a side note.

It´s been really really hot lately. We have to stop like every hour and buy something to drink. You walk outside and instantly you sweat. But all is well.

Today for pday we have a super p-day with the chimbas zone and san juan zone. It should be really fun. There are a ton of new missionaries and it feels good to not be a complete noob haha. 8 months comin up!!

Elder Ribeiro really makes me laugh. Manaus, Brazil, is like deep in the jungle. He has all these crazy stories about animals and bugs and all this stuff he has to deal with there. apparently there are spiders that eat birds where he lives. Well yeah I would not want to be there haha.

Retiro=the tierra prometida. I´d be way happy if I stayed here a few more months..... we shall see. the members are way awesome. If you want blessings just call the missionaries and say hey there´s this family I know that needs the gospel... etc etc. They will love you haha.

Anyway sorry again for what happened last week. but thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!!! Have a great week and choose the right!!

Love, Elder Anderson

here´s one photo... i finally gave in to getting the average argentine haircut... haha yeah.

 

birthday birthday

February 15, 2015

<This email was from last week, but there was an issue with the email system and it did not make it, so Matt re-sent it Feb. 22>

 

Well this week was a great week like always. Not a whole lot happened but I´ll do my best to describe it.

Elder Ribeiro and I get along pretty well. He speaks really really fast and sometimes it is hard to understand him. He´s from Manaos Brazil, deep in the jungle. The heat of san juan is nothing to him. But we both have desires to serve so that´s way good.

By the way thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!!! It means a lot!!! 19 years old, wow I´m really getting up there. But Sunday was a great day. We went to church like normal, and then we worked a little. Then we went to go teach some recent converts and they totally baked me a cake.... it was awesome. Then we ate some pizza and milanesa and played some cards, (Me, Ribeiro, Rebellato from Brazil and Piedra from Uruguay.) It was a pretty great birthday to say the least.

I took quite a few photos today. We went to the San Juan dique and dam. We hiked the mountain there, and theres a way great view. 

Pablo is our main investigator still. He hasn´t been able to come to church because of work, so there´s another problem we gotta deal with. We had a lesson the other day, and him and elder Ribeiro really get along well. So hopefully he will get baptized in March sometime. That would be pretty awesome.

7 months today!! time is still flying and I´m learning lots of things every single day. The church is true and that´s why we have missionaries. But everyone have a great week!!!

Love, Elder Anderson

 

Classic Anderson Birthday sign carried around since the MTC... got to open last week.

the view from the top of the mountain.

piedra, rebellato, riberio, me. pizza.

ribeiro and I at the dique.

on top of a cliff. ^photo credit, elder landt.

elder added (brazil) with a selfie stick.

at the dique today.

My birthday gift to me... A Boca jersey.

 

Transfers (one of many to come)

So this week was a pretty normal week after the week before was awesome. Transfer calls came in last night and some crazy stuff happened as normal. I´m staying in Retiro (thank goodness), but Elder Mortensen is leaving to be Zone leader in San Martin, the zone where Palmira is in. The crazy thing is that Morty has never been a district leader before but president all of the sudden made him zone leader. he has 3 transfers left and probably will finish there.

My new comp, who I will pick up tomorrow, is Elder Ribeiro, from Brazil! He was my district leader a while ago in Mendoza. He´s a great guy and I´m sure the success will continue here in Retiro. So I´ll be going a while without speaking English haha.

We have one investigator who is progressing named Pablo. He´s a pretty great guy and wants to change some things about his life. We´ve taught him a few times. He has to stop smoking which is hard for him. But, I think he´ll be baptized sometime this transfer as he really likes the stuff we teach and came to church already. We shall see.

Some other cool stuff that happened this week: We were walking around this barrio and these kids had an old keyboard and were trying to play it.... Well I could not resist and went over and played for them a bunch of songs haha. it like attracted a bunch of other kids too and by the time I was done there were a bunch of people listening haha.

So today´s p day festivities mostly include writing, lunch, soccer, and then morty is gonna pack his bags and say goodbye to some members. He´s been here for 6 months so we definitely saw it coming haha. Gosh, transfers go by way quick. there are 16 transfers and 4 are completely done.... wow haha.

I also did an intercambio with Elder Perkins, the district leader (they live 2 doors down). Elder Perkins´ transfer call was also to be a zone leader, in San rafael, the zone down south in mendoza. the intercambio was good and ill send some pictures.

Anyway have a great week and make sure you do something amazing.

Love, Elder Anderson

I finally got around to burning my tie to mark my 6 months.

This week though.....

Hello everyone. I just want to start by saying this week was one of the most amazing weeks of my mission, possibly the best. Just awesome how it all went.

Thursday we finished painting the less active family´s house. It actually looks pretty great for a couple of inexperienced gringos. I´ll send some photos of that in a little.

We set goals every week for stuff we want to accomplish. Every week the goal for our zone is to get 10 new investigators and 10 lessons with member. We´ve never hit either but this week we were determined to do it. So things were going pretty great and by Sunday morning we were sitting at 7 lessons with member and 8 new investigators, so we had about 5 hours to finish up. But I will run you through Sunday, (yesterday) which was probably the greatest day of my mission so far.

Sunday we get up and get ready like normal. We walked over to Pablo´s house, our progressing investigator, to take him to church. It was really awesome to get him there and see him progress. Well here´s where it gets great... Pablo invited us to have lunch at his house after church... So we went and ate with him and his aunt, who is a member, so that´s a lesson with member because we taught him afterwards. He expressed his feelings about going to church and his desire to get baptized. It was really great. So we leave lunch with 8 member lessons and 8 news. We went back to the pench and studied. Then we left the pench to work until 9:00 and before we left, Elder Mortensen prayed to help us reach 10 and 10 before the night (and the week) ended.

Out of the gate we went and taught a partial member family that has a son who is not baptized, so now we were at 9 and 8. Almost there. So we leave there and teach a less active kid because other appointments had fallen through. Then, we left his house to the Corzo family, who all the kids are baptized, and parents are not. So we show up and none of the kids were there... So it didn´t count as a lesson with member. We left still sitting at 9 and 8, so close.

We´re walking back and Rodrigo, the less active kid, is still in his yard and we invite him to come with us to try one more investigator. But he wasn´t home. So it´s 8:48 and it´s looking pretty done. But Rodrigo was like hey elders follow me, there´s this family that I know that you could probably teach. So he takes us there and they aren´t home either. So we naturally ring the doorbell next door, still nothing. Then the next, nothing. Then, the third, a woman answered the door.

And guess what, she lets us in and we get to know her and her husband and start teaching the first lesson. It was really a miracle, and that´s 2 new investigators and a lesson with member, so we made it, 10 and 10. And what´s more, as we started walking home at about 9:30 it started pouring and we were like yes haha this is definitely a miracle.

I know that Heavenly Father helped us last night. It totally reminded us of Nephi, when he really had no idea how to get the plates, or build a ship, but the Lord, against all odds, helped him because of his faith. Our faith to find and accomplish goals was sufficient, and it was awesome!!!!!

Anyway yeah that´s why yesterday was amazing. Goal setting and focus is real, haha you should try it. When you put forth all effort into one thing you really want, miracles happen.

I love this mission and I know this is exactly where I need to be right now... I mean with all the things I´m learning and applying. the more and more I teach the more I just sit and think... this church is so true.

Have a great week everyone and do something amazing. Pray for missionary oportunities and you will see the blessings!! I know I have!!

Love, Elder Anderson

painting round 2 pics.

 

in the rain last night after all that happened.