July 27, 2015: Ricardo Got Baptized!

HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL DADDY! I will be thinking of you on the 30th and sing "Las Mananitas" which is the classic song of celebration here. Of course, you won’t hear me...but it’s the thought that counts right? 52 never looked so good ;) So proud of Maddie for passing the NCLEX!!! You are an RN!!  I’m so excited for you. Kennedy is just a boy-magnet...stop being so cute. Mom, you sound as ponderous as usual...always thinking about the deep things of life. I love it. Dad, your emails rock! I always love knowing what is going on! Thanks everyone for your wonderful emails. I love you all so much! And the pics made my day! That new ride at Lagoon looks wicked....I will take a whack at it next summer. I might pass out first though ha-ha.

Well....RICARDO GOT BAPTIZED!!! Yay! I’ve never seen him smile as much as he did when he got baptized. His mom and sister came and his mom came to church yesterday. They really liked the baptismal service. Everything went really well and we got it done on the first dunk. We are going to prepare him for his priesthood interview next week and hopefully in 2 weeks he will be good to go. Turns out, his mom knows Hermana Luly Lievano. Small world. Speaking of small world, I met Hermana Clark yesterday. She’s from Colorado and Brady Anderton is in the bishopric in her ward! Anyways, we were really happy on Saturday with Ricardo’s baptism. We are moving along with Dulce really well too, except she’s heading off to Colorado too. So, we are going to figure out all the info to send the missionaries there to her house and get her into a Spanish-speaking ward. She is really receptive and really opened up after the primary activity. Her kids love the church and love singing songs when we come. I’ve learned a lot of primary songs in Spanish lately ha-ha. We have another investigator named Sergio who has problems with alcohol. We decided to crack down on him and talk about the Word of Wisdom. Normally, he has a hard time understanding the lessons, but I’m not sure what happened...but with the Word of Wisdom, he understood it perfectly and knew he had a problem to fix. That’s what happens when the Spirit teaches, miracles happen. We have been busy and hot, I love my mission and I never want to leave. I know that time will come, but for now I’m just going to soak in every minute I have and make the best of it. Time to serve the Lord like this is so limited. It is such a blessing and honor to be a missionary. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!! :) Everybody should go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, as the Spirit indicates...but seriously. I AM SO GLAD I CAME!!! I miss you guys, but I am super happy and doing great here.

My thought for you guys comes from the O.T.....since that is where I’m reading right now to complete my goal. It’s from Psalms 27:4-5:

 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

 5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

The temple is such a blessing to have close. I miss it so much!! We should always have a current temple recommend and be worthy to enter into the house of our Lord. There are so many questions answered and peace that can be found there. I know that the temples are the House of God and that many blessings will be enjoyed if we attend regularly. We live near a bajillion temples, there is no reason we cannot attend at least once a month, if not once a week. One thing that I will always seek after my mission is to go to the temple!!! I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!! Enjoy the blessings of one nearby! Read Pres. Monsons talk from General Conference April 2015. Here is the link.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/blessings-of-the-temple?lang=eng

Well, I love you all dearly and I hope that you all have a great week! Thanks so much for all your support and love. I have the #1 family in the universe. So proud of you all!!! Have a great week!!!!!!! BESOS!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO until next time.....

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton

 

Ricardo's Baptism!  L to R:  Hermano Benavidas, Ricardo, Hermana's Anderton and Estrada

Ricardo, Hermana's Anderton and Estrada

Fist Pump for her dad...  Pepsi!!!!!

Must be a Lion King thing?????

July 20, 2015: "Hermana, why is there no Taco Bell here?"

HI TO MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!!! Everyone looks great and sounds like they are having a great time!! Kennedy, your EFY C.O.W.s are really cute. Good pick. Good luck Maddie with your NCLEX. You will do great, don’t sweat. Mom and Dad, your emails kill me. I am still laughing about the purse. I really miss you two people. But anyways, I’m glad all is well at home. As for the USU Nursing school change, everything will work out. I will figure it out when I get home. For now, we will just keep swimming.

This week was good! We had a few problems with Ricardo´s work and his baptism, long story short - THIS WEEK!!!!! It is a done deal now. He has the day off ha-ha. He was so worried about it; I thought he was going to cry. But we are ready to roll now. Mundo is progressing really well and seems super happy at church. This week´s cool experience was with the primary and their activity of a "Day in the Mission." We took them out to visit families with kids and sing that one primary song that goes, "How could the Father show the world...." who knows what it is in English, I can’t remember. In Spanish it’s Mandó a Su Hijo. So..."He Sent His Son"??? I think that’s what it is called. Anyways, and they cited the 4th article of faith. We have an investigator who has 3 kids; she never really got excited about coming to church on Sundays and always canceled on coming. We decided to take advantage of the activity and visit her. SHE CAME TO CHURCH!! She was really impressed with the primary, so....that was super cool and sweet. The primary kids were excited that "their" investigator came to church. She really liked it and her kids liked the primary. Her name is Dulce. Funny quote from my comp: Why is there no Taco Bell here? We are in Chihuahua Mexico and they don’t have a Taco Bell. Taco Bell has the little Chihuahua dog...Chihuahua...taco...Mexico. So deceiving!!!!!! We had a good laugh. We are starting the 40 hottest days in Juarez today...here we go!!!! It is bearable! We also have found a great new investigator that was a member reference. She has a lot of potential and is really excited that we are visiting her. Her name is Elizabeth. Well, I’m kind of at a blank right now of what happened in our week now. I really enjoyed the primary activity, so that’s about all I got. We are working hard!

I found a quote, surprise. It’s from this month’s Ensign...I really enjoyed this month’s because it talked about covenants and pioneers a lot. Really, they were such great examples of sacrifice and obedience and love for God. Anyways, the quote is from Elder Nelson:

As we follow Jesus Christ, He will lead us to live with Him and our Heavenly Father, with our families. Through our many challenges of mortality, if we remain faithful to covenants made, if we endure to the end, we will qualify for that greatest of all the gifts of God, eternal life.

There are things more important in this life than anything else. Keeping covenants and being diligent in doing the little things leads us back home and gives us "peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come." I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and He showed that love through His Son. I know that He has a plan for each of our lives and that everything always works out the way it’s supposed to if we keep walking with faith and carry our load with Christ´s help. He is leading us.

I love you all so much and miss you all! Thanks so much for all the love and support you guys give me. I’m so thankful for my wonderful family!! Thanks for your examples, keep up the missionary work. I love you all more than you will ever know. Have a great week!!! Until next time....XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton

Hermana Estrada and Anderton

Rio Nilo Branch Primary on "Day in the Mission" Activity.   They Primary went with the missionaries and visited families.

Hermana Anderton and Estrada with their "Primary Companions"

Caught in the rain!  Hermana's Diaz, Anderton and Ferrell. 

July 13, 2015: That's the Plan!!!

Hola familia! Everyone sounds like they’re doing great and are having a good time. Happy Birthday to my wonderful mommy on the 15th!!! Don’t worry Mom; you are one of the best looking 29 year olds out there ;) Seriously, how do you do it?

This week has been great! A little bit about my comp: Her name is Hermana Estrada and she’s from Guatemala, Guatemala. She is 24 years old and is super sweet. She likes to cook....and she’s really good at it too. I have a notebook now dedicated to writing down her recipes ha-ha. But the thing that makes her cool is this: SHE IS A BACKSTREET BOYS fan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost died when she told me....with happiness. Sometimes we sing their songs to "practice" English. Did you know that they sang some of their songs in Spanish? Yeah, I will be downloading those on my IPod when I get home. It’s a blast being her comp. The Elders didn’t have changes either, so Elder Beck and Raymond stayed. They remind me of Kip and Napoleon from Napoleon Dynamite. They kind of look like them! Anyways, we are in for a good 6 weeks :) We are preparing Ricardo for his baptism this weekend and set a baptismal date with Edmundo this week for the 8th of August. He’s progressing really well and is super happy at church. We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday, and he was super excited about it. I’ve never seen somebody so pumped about it in my entire mission. He had problems before with it but stopped and so he was happy he was prepared to accept it. So sweet! He is a cool dude. He is older and so whenever we teach him something, he always says, "Well, better late than never." ha-ha. We are also teaching the mom of a recent inactive convert and a less active of our ward. She is super cool and really loves the missionaries. We haven’t been let into that house in months, and now they are super excited to see us and it’s super hard to get out of there. They won’t let us leave! We have to excuse ourselves to leave like 50 times. Talk about a change of heart. So, we are going to activate both of her children and send the son off on a mission and baptize her. That’s the plan! We have had a lot of work to do. We got drenched the other day in a downpour. There was so much rain the streets were flooding. So fun :) I love the mission!

Well, this morning in my personal study I found something interesting. I was reading in 1 Nephi 17 and really got thinking about remembering and points of view that people have in life. In verses 1-3 and then 20-27, you see the different points of view from Nephi and Laman and Lemuel about their life in the wilderness. And then in verses 23-46, Nephi explains to his brothers that their problem is that they don’t remember who God is. Really, if you can remember all the wonderful miracles that God has done for his children throughout the history of forever, your point of view will completely change. Your point of view will be more positive and clear. God does have a plan for us and that plan leads us to happiness, no matter how hard the road. This I know for sure to be true. So read your scriptures to remember and also reflect on all your blessings. Remembering is key to gratitude. WE ARE BLESSED!!!! 

Well, I love you all so much and hope that everyone has a great week! Hope Mom’s birthday is fabulous! I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH and am so grateful for the rock solid support system I have from my family. Thanks for everything you guys do for me and your sweet emails. I am doing great and having a blast and working hard. So proud of you all and all that you’re doing. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO until next week......

Con todo mi amor,

HERMANA ANDERTON

 PS Tell Tai congrats on receiving the priesthood! That made my week!!! :)

Hermana Estrada and Anderton..... Down by the river!

Last District Photo:  Hermana Diaz, Anderton, Ferrell.  Elders Beck and Raymond

Rainbow over Juarez after heavy rain. 

It does rain after all.........

Raegan knows her dad loves Star Wars!!!

July 6, 2015: "I'm Sticking Around"

Hola familia! Everyone sounds really good! It sounds like this week was interesting at home. We did see the fireworks! They were far off in the distance and it was raining....so they weren’t all that big. But I was still stoked. Hermana Ferrell and I sang some of the classic songs that are always on when the fireworks go...Hermana Diaz liked her first July 4th experience with the Americans ha-ha. We assured her that the songs are much better than the way that we sang them and that when you are closer to the fireworks and it’s not raining...it’s a whole different ball game.

Ricardo didn’t get baptized this week, but will be baptized the 19th. And guess what...I will be here for the baptism...because I’M STAYING ANOTHER TRANSFER IN RIO NILO!!!!! I can’t believe it!! I was so shocked when Elder Raymond called and said I was staying and that both of my companions were leaving. They have only been here half the time I have been here. Hermana Ferrell is off to Del Valle and Hermana Diaz is off to Casas Grandes. We had a good laugh. I won’t lie, it was a secret relief. I really love my area and love the members. And we have a lot of investigators. Some are progressing faster than others...but allá vamos. Edmundo is progressing really well. He came to church this week for the first time and had a great experience! Hermano Garcia was really happy about that. He’s been accompanying us to our lessons. It was so funny when we went last time because Hermano Garcia is super formal and said, "Edmundo, you may officially consider me your friend. I can stop by on Sunday to pick you up if you’d like." I guess I’ve just never thought about name calling for a friend. Don’t you just make those without having to talk about it? ha-ha. We are going to make a baptismal date with him this week. :) We found a young man outside of his work reading a book and then we started talking to him about books and eventually it turned into the classic missionary conversation about beliefs. He said he wasn’t very familiar with God or who He is. I whipped out a Book of Mormon and said that we had the perfect book for him. He laughed and said it was fine and that he liked to read. Turns out, he lives in the area of the Elders. (Seriously, almost everyone we contact lives there....ha-ha we work hard so they don’t have to.) We have talked to a lot of people this week. Sometimes we start repeating people...that’s always a bit awkward. They say, "I remember you blondie. You talked to me last week remember?" Unfortunately, not until you remind me I don’t. The members are wonderful and are taking good care of us. Don’t worry, I’m eating well and drinking a lot of water :) The heat hasn’t been all that bad this week. Sometimes I’m convinced that there’s power against heat being a missionary. Everyone always asks us if we are melting because it’s super-hot...but we are fine. I quit praying for it to cool down and started praying for the ability to bear it better. Heavenly Father is listening.

Well, I heard Boyd K Packer died this week. I was super sad; I always really loved his talks. I wrote down all my favorite lessons I remember from him. He had a great way of explaining things. There was one about mercy and justice, but I can’t find it. I also remember one about spiritual crocodiles. That’s the one I will share today. He said we needed to be aware of the spiritual crocodiles lurking and waiting to destroy us. We won’t see them from afar and we need to obey our leaders to be safe, and the Spirit will always lead us in the right direction. We just need to learn how to listen to the still, small voice. Here is the link:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/04/spiritual-crocodiles?lang=eng

“The basic exercise for you to perform in your youth to become spiritually strong and to become independent lies in obedience to your guides. If you will follow them and do it willingly, you can learn to trust those delicate, sensitive, spiritual promptings. You will learn that they always, invariably, lead you to do that which is righteous.” – Boyd K Packer

Well, I love you all and hope that you all have a great week! Keep having fun and loving life! I’m so proud of you all and all you’re doing! Thanks for all the love and support. I’m so blessed to have such a great family. Until next week!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton

4th of July Fireworks in El Paso....  

Hermana's Ferrell, Hernandez, Anderton

Hermana Hernandez and Husband with Raegan

Hermana and Hermano Lievano with Raegan.

Hermana's Diaz, Anderton and Ferrell with the Ward Mission Leader Hermano Beavides

Hermana Lily Olivas and Raegan (Rio Nilo Ward Member)

Hermana Luly Olivas and Raegan (Rio Nilo Ward Member)

Dad's Note:  Raegan has been in the Rio Nilo area now for 10 months and has just found out she will be there for another transfer period.  She loves Rio Nilo and by judging the pictures she sent home with all the ward members I'm sure she thought it would be her last Sunday in that area....... I think it will be hard for her to leave when the time comes!