Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

Editor’s note: This post starts with four pictures that should have been included with last week’s post:

This is what it looks like when missionaries climb through tunnels they don't fit in.

When I told her "I'm not letting you down." I'm such a meanie.

The coolest missionaries to ever roam the streets of Los Mochis

This is pretty much how I feel. Now, and forever.

Now … to this week:

Sorry guys, no time for anything!! But, I will share this super quick, because it makes me really happy.

A member gave me this yesterday; a 1957 version of The Book of Mormon. It's old and big a beautiful and every time I see it I do a little happy dance. 

Plus there are cool historical photos inside.

Sorry again. Love you!!

Hna Anderson

Shenanigans

March 16, 2015

Heeeyy!!

So much to do and say and so little time to do and write it! 

Highlights:

-While chatting with an investigator before starting the lesson:

Investigator "Are you guys married?"

Hna Siza "No, no one loves/wants us."

Investigator "Why not?"

Hna Anderson "Because we're ugly."

Investigator. "Oooohhh."

Like that explained everything. -.-

-Jokes I need to stop making: "Everything as clear as coke?" I used to say that it was clear as mud, but Coca-Cola pretty much owns Mexico so I've changed it a bit. But, not all of my investigators have a really stand-up past, so when I made that joke one of them thought I was talking about cocaine. Ay no. I do repent.

-Funniest thing of the week: While we were looking for a reference there was a man sitting out on his porch, reading his bible and watching us as we got closer. We got a bit turned around and ended up little bit away from his house. When I looked at him again he had his bible right up in front of his face … hiding from us. That made me laugh a bit, then I started looking for the house again. The one we were looking for was his neighbor’s, and as we walked over I nearly died laughing because the man was peeking out from one side of the bible to see if we were coming to his house or not.

-In the fun-food-eating department, I ate nopales, which is a kind of cactus. The way it was prepared it pretty much just tasted like a pepper.

-My companion taught me a name for Satan that I had never heard of. It's a shorter form of Lucifer, and it's pronounced "Loser." She said that in the middle of a lesson and I nearly died.

Last week for our preparation day we did a baby photo shoot at a cool, rundown, overly-graffitied ghetto building near our house. We took a ton of pictures, but here are a few of the ones that I liked the most.

 "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things...ponder it in your hearts." 

Moroni 10:3

Hello! Just hiding behind this wall!

Update from my pre-mission photoshoot.

Finding light in times of darkness.

This week for our preparation day we went hiking! Or walking. Either way it was really fun. And I got to wear jeans. I love jeans. And my Outlaws shirt. Winning all around. The other missionary with us is Hermana Garcia Soto. Her companion is a Sister Training Leader and had to go to Obregón, so she got to come and play with us. She's a doll :)

What's at the top of the hill? A giant virgin! She scared me a little bit.

I call this one, "As Sisters in Zion."

“Ahome” pretty much means “awesome.”

Fun things to do with your companion: Say, “Hey, hermana, let's take a picture of me giving you a piggyback!” And then wiggle around while she spreads her arms out. I'm laughing, and she's screaming in terror.

This is the best thing of my life. It spins, really fast. And I love it and want one in my backyard when I get home.

Well, hopefully all the pictures make up for the severe lack thereof last week. 

Love you all! 

Hermana Anderson.  

No Title This Week

Allo!

 

Not a lot of time this week since I spent a lot of email time "chatting" with my brother and mom (sorry, I’m not sorry). But that's okay because I hardly have anything to share this week.

 

The only highlights are these:

-My companion nearly scared the skirt off of me when we were walking along and she exclaimed something really loud and told me to LOOK! ... at a couple of squirrels....

-Hermana Siza and I had to teach/speak/train (I don’t know what the proper word is in English; in Spanish it's a capacitación). We talked about Chapter 10 in Preach my Gospel, which is about Teaching Skills. It was fun, I have to admit, and as always when I teach in front of a large group of people, I was nervous until I actually got up there and got talking. It was especially fun because for the practice at the end we first had the missionaries teach badly. Badly. It was terrible … and so funny. They acted distracted, used overly-big words, had zero unity, and offended the "investigators" with their uninspired questions. It was hilarious and really fun. And then they taught well, and it was really neat, because about 10 seconds after I called time to switch the whole room felt different. It was really great :)

 

Those are the highlights for this week. We're halfway through the transfer, there are good things and bad things and all sorts of in-between things. And more and more I am changing and learning about me and becoming a new and better person.

Love you all and have a wonderful week!

Hermana Anderson

Tender Mercy

Hola, ¿cómo están? 

Tengo mucho flojera ahorita, y no quiero pensar tanto para escribir en Ingles, entonces todo va a ser en español. Sale Bale.

Just kidding, I won't do that to you guys. That would be rude. I promise the rest of this email will be in English. (Unless I accidentally write in Spanish. In that case, sorry.)

 

Highlights:

-Well, for the first time in a really long time, I bought hair ties

Not very missionary-related or uplifting, but for the vain little me that loves my pixie cut this is a big deal.

-Fun things happen after district meetings. Like when your district leader thinks that everyone has left so he locks up the church … and you and your companion and another companionship are still inside. Good thing we saw him locking the outside gate so we could call him before he got too far. I died.

-Sometimes your companion talks about food she likes and it sounds wonderful and delicious and you just want to try it. Other times she tells you that she likes beets with mayo and you never want to let her make breakfast again.

-I like the sunsets here.

-There's a really cool family here where the dad and some of the kids are professional boxers, but they all know how to box. Their youngest daughter is 16 and really tall and pretty. The other day, after we ate with their family, she told me "Hermana, when you go home, I'm going to come with you, and we'll become models and we'll be famous. Then afterwards I'll teach you how to box." My companion and I got a kick out of trying to imagine me as a boxing model. Then just before we left she said "Don't forget; we made a deal." I guess I don't have to wonder anymore about what I'll do after my mission.

-Things that get on my nerves: When after a long day I'm working with the area book and I find that one of the former sisters here decided to stop writing numbers and started using runes instead. 

-You know, just sitting on a wall, waiting for the bus, and promoting a clean environment. Doin’my thang.

 

Ok, there are two other big things I want to tell you. First, Conozca a los Mormones (Meet the Mormons) was a huge success opening weekend. A sister told us that the theaters were absolutely packed and the ticket lines were huge. It felt so good to hear. We have been contacting like crazy to get the word out. I even helped contact a bus. That means we get on a bus and talk to everyone at the same time. Fortunately, Elder Rodriguez talked and I just had to hand out cards. We're still going to be working like crazy, but it's so nice to see our efforts amount to something.

 

Other big thing: This week, my baby sister, Grace, turns 8! Which is wonderful, because she's going to be baptized soon, but sad because I won't be there for it. But, Heavenly Father takes good care of his missionaries, and sometimes sends them tender mercies to make up for all the things we sacrifice. This week, the daughter of one of the ladies in our ward, who takes really good care of the sister missionaries, was baptized. Her name is Prissy and she's a total doll. Not only did she invite us to her baptism but she asked me to talk on the Holy Ghost. While I won't share everything I felt (some things are just between me and my diary, ya know) I will tell you that I felt an incredibly beautiful spirit while giving my little talk. Most of it was improvised, but they were words of love. And I really feel like it was a way to "make up" for missing not only the last baptism in my family, but of all the Anderson grandchildren.

 

I know my Savior lives, that He knows me, He cares for me, and that while I am incredibly imperfect, He loves me perfectly. 

Until next week, 

Hermana Anderson