Catching Up

-So, a few weeks ago while goofing around we tried to take jumping pictures....it didn't go very well.

-As I mentioned last week, I got a new companion at transfers. It was happy because Hermana Hernandez had a really long time here, but it was sad because she is my friend. Plus, who else will buy crazy pants on Monday and take pictures with me?

(OK, lots of friends and or sisters would. But in a mission companion that is a rare and beautiful quality.)

-Reasons that I should accept that I am an a adult and stop eating children’s candy – my bag sometimes falls and then my Fun-Dip falls out and stains my foot blue-green.

-Reasons I won’t accept that I am an a adult and stop eating children’s candy – I like Fun-Dip

-Things that make me laugh really hard: When my recent convert says that he can tell that I come from big money. Really big international business money. I just laughed and laughed (in a polite way, so he wasn’t offended, of course).

-I think that I am going to go home and be an actress. When we went to visit one hermana this week she said, "And you guys aren't even hot or sweaty!" I laughed and told her that I'm changing my major because it's ridiculously hot here and I am pretty much always sweaty.

-While teaching a family the Ten Commandments, I taught them hand signs to go with each one so that they wouldn't forget. While reviewing them, the 18-year-old mom said, very exasperated, "Hermana, you complicate my life!"

-Well, I am pretty sure that my bag has hands of its own because it always does crazy things. Like put another companionship under blocked numbers in the cell phone. But the craziest thing was when it changed one of my Sister Training Leader's names to the letter 'A' and no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to change back. Well, I would change it, but then the next call or text would still be from 'A'. Well, many of you know that I watched Pretty Little Liars before the mission, and anyone who knows anything about that show knows that getting calls and texts from 'A' is not a good thing. I was very happy when I stumbled upon how to change it back to normal. Panic attack over.

-Fun things to see in the street: A teenager with a shirt that says BYU-I. Bummer I didn’t have my camera to sneaky-take a picture.

-Something even more fun to see: A baseball cap in my investigator’s house with the BYU 'Y' on the front and the cougar logo on the back. Sign they should get baptized? I think yes.

-During Exchanges this week I got to see my former District Leader and buddy, Elder Wight. He's really funny and says crazy things without meaning to, which makes him extra funny. When we ran into him and his companion locked out of their house (he forgot the keys inside) and we were talking while the locksmith worked his magic, Elder Wight said, "No, actually our house is really cool." Then super-excited he said, pointing upwards "It's got a roof!" What he wanted to tell us is that on the roof they have a weight bench, but he got so excited only part of the sentence came out. I'm going to tease him about it until the end of the world.

-This week I made history because on said Exchanges I got my very first SUNBURN! Almost (almost being a very important word) 15 months here and it’s the very first one. Sigh … almost made it to the end without one.

-We also had another historic first today! I had my first zone activity! Since early on in my mission, because of an accident that happened when a sister got really hurt (she still wears a neck brace) zone activities have been PROhibited. UNTIL TODAY! ‘Twas nothing more than a few rounds of volleyball, but it was a beautiful thing :)

-Also, I found out that I am not the only missionary here from Colorado! That also made me happy. Here we are, Colorado Buddies:

OK, my fingers are tired. Be good. Talk to you soon.

Hermana Anderson

Sin Titulo

Hello everyone. Sorry I have been such a scrub about writing. I forgot my camera cable at home, so this week will be without pictures. (¡aburrido!)

To save time I will just list the highlights without dividing them by week:

-There have been lots of bug adventures lately (but not tarantulas, thank heavens, like my friend Hermana Wells, who's in Panama):

*First, we were walking to pick up investigators to go to church and my companion stopped to get a rock out of her shoe. Well, no rock fell out. But a cricket did. And it was still ... juicy. So basically she killed it while walking. Gross.

*A few weeks later I put my tennis shoes on to exercise and I felt something in the toe of my shoe. Feeling suspicious, I very carefully reached my hand in and pulled in a recently-killed cricket. Also gross.

*A short time later I was getting my bag ready to leave and when I was putting something in it a big old cockroach came scuttling out, ran onto me and my dress, and then as I was trying to hit it off me with whatever was in my hand it flew down to the floor. I quickly killed it with RAID and the broom. BLEG!!!!

-Signs that I am still me: while reading in Genesis about Joseph in Egypt I just really wanted to line my eyes with dark eyeliner, Egyptian style. I may be living a nearly "makeup free mission," but I still like makeup.

-I like when kids talk, no matter what language it's in. There's this super-cute little boy who's about four years old. While we were eating with him and his family he was playing with his one-year old brother, who's figuring out how to walk. He was encouraging him to keep going, even though he was falling, and said "Don't worry!" Well, he wanted to. But instead of saying "¡no te preocupes!" (don't worry about it, don't worry) He kept yelling "¡No to tucupes!" (which means nothing at all, but sounds really cute.) So that's what my companion and I started saying if one of us was bummed or stressed.

-A few weeks ago the rain hit! And just like last year the streets flooded! But, like a bum, I left my camera at the house so I couldn't take photos of the water that got up to my knees as we walked. And when a car passed it made wave and my companion – heehee – would scream and grab onto me. I just laughed.

-Oh, three weeks ago we had transfers (sorry again for not writing). My companion ahora is Hermana Dávila, and she is … you guessed it … Peruvian! She is the third Peruvian companion I have had. She's super-sweet and chill. Well, long story short, someone one day called her Hermana DaVinci. And of course I laughed crazy hard.

-While waiting to eat, the American elder in our ward was flipping through a cookbook. He found a recipe that piqued his interest so he decided to read it to us. After a few minutes of trying he looked at us and exclaimed in English, "This is harder than reading the scriptures!"

Well, those are all the things I have to share, minus photos. Sorry again for being lame these weeks – it's just hard to fit everything in.

Another thing: If anyone was thinking about sending me a letter anytime soon (if not, meh, that's ok) don't send it through the mail. One letter that someone sent me in December still hasn't gotten here. If you want to write me something, do it through dearelder.com. There are instructions for using it on my blog – just go to the Contact Me page and then follow the link to Pouch Mail and the instructions are at the bottom. (I think ... hopefully I remember correctly.) Plus, you'll save on stamp money!

Love you guys!

Until next week/time,

Hermana Anderson

Lo Siento Mucho

Sorry guys....out of time....things are going well and I'm working hard. I hit 14 months this week and I can't believe it.

Love you all!

Hna Anderson

(Here are the photos that were omitted from last week's entry. -ed.)