July 16, 2014

Hola familia! Thanks for the wonderful letters and the package. That blanket is perfect! Now I won't freeze. It's kind of fabulous to snuggle up in that softness. And the color is perfect!! I am so stuffing it in my suitcase. There is no way I'm leaving America without it. Well, I am halfway through the MTC! What? It feels like I just got here...but at the same time like I have been here for eternity. I love my district and my companion so much. They are my little family here.

So here is a rundown of this week, I will try to go in chronological order so it makes more sense. So Wednesday night we killed 13 nickel-sized spiders of all different colors in our apartment...13 in one night! I guess you could say we had a slight infestation going on. Hermana Gardner, Hermana Andrews, Hermana Storms, and I decided to extend our bedtime and kill any spiders we found searching the apartment because none of us were going to be able to sleep wondering how many more were crawling around. So, there we were at 11 at night in our PJs assassinating spiders. We found a NEST under my bed, of course. We got the Febreeze and sprayed them to death, and then Hermana Gardner attacked them with her shoe. We were all piled on the edge of my bed cheering her on and Hermana Andrews had her headlamp on so we could see them. Oh man, I'm sure we were super cute. We acted it out again for the Elders the next day. So that's what the picture with us all on the desks is. We talked to the office and they sent someone to spray our apartment, so it took a few days, but the spider killing count has gone down to like 1 or 2 every few days. We are preparing for Mexico already!!! Let's see...que mas? Oh! I got my VISA!! So I went to SLC with Elder Smith, Elder Lamm, and other people from different districts to the Mexican Consulate. I met two other Elders going to my same mission, but no Sisters that any of us know of yet. So far I'm the only girl leaving on the adventure to Juarez. This week after our devotional, Hermana Storms and I were really bored walking back from the Marriott center (we are having devotionals there until next Sunday..Mom, you were right there by me!! Did you see missionaries walking around while you were lost in Provo? I was in that crowd haha) and we started talking in Spanish in a British accent. Oh we are so pro!! It was funny to listen to each other; we stopped though because we don't want to get into that habit. We already struggle to pronounce things correctly anyway. The language is coming though! I can understand a lot, I just struggle a bit to form sentences. We got 10 new elders last week, fresh out of high school. One of them is related to Mitt Romney, so that's cool. And I met President Monson's nephew on Sunday. His mannerisms are actually a lot like President Monson's. He told us some funny stories about him, so that was my claim to fame this week.

This week we got a new REAL investigator named Ivette. She is 100% real! She is not a role-play!!! She is super sweet and is from NYC and speaks beautiful Spanish. She came out here because her friend going to BYU told her she could come here and find a happy change. (She wasn't doing so well in NYC). Please pray for her to feel the love of God and see His hand in her life. She wants to find truth, but fights against herself. I love her soooo much though!!! Oh boy, all I ever worry about is, "What can I do better to help Ivette?" She claimed to be Catholic growing up and became an Atheist in her teenage years. Long story short, she thought maybe God could be real and began investigating the Church. Our first lesson, we just listened to her and got to know her so we could better adapt our lessons to her needs. The second lesson, we went to teach the Restoration, and it kind of went there but not haha. We shared Mosiah 4:9 (Believe in God...one of my favs!) with her and she said, "Oh that is beautiful! I feel something. What book is this in?" We told her it was from the Book of Mormon (whoops, we should have said that before) and she said she really liked it and took a picture of the verse with her phone so she could print it out and put it in her room!!! So we ultimately spent half the lesson explaining to her who God was with scriptures. After, we moved on with our lesson and she asked the perfect question that led to us sharing Joseph Smith's story. We opened to James 1:5 and she LOVED IT!!! She went on to read 1:6 without our cue and really took off on her own. It's amazing to teach her because she thinks out loud and answers her own questions a lot of the time. All Hermana Storms and I really do is plop out a scripture and she finds everything on her own. The Spirit really works wonders if you let it. Anyway, we asked her what she was thinking about that scripture and she said, "I should follow Joseph's example I guess and ask God what is right and what I need to do." I almost leaped out of my chair. She figured it all out herself! She agreed to read the Testimonies at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and to pray. She said she would with so much enthusiasm I was going to cry. It was the best feeling ever! I'm really starting to learn I'm not here for myself; my testimony would have been fine without a mission. I'm here for the people, and I love my people already so much! I can't wait to teach her again tomorrow! I live for 4:20 pm now! (that's our appointment time.)

Other than that, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be with all my heart. It's so wonderful when you know you're on track, and I know I am. So I'm just at peace with that. This is probably the best calling I will ever have aside from being a mom, so I'm just soaking it up! I love you guys a lot and sure miss you! But time flies like crazy, so I will be back before I know it. I hope Dad's ankle is getting better and that all is well at home. Have a great week!!

Love,

Hermana Anderton

Reenacting the great spider hunt.....   Notice Raegan is supporting from as far away as possible.

Sisters at the Provo Temple