September 14, 2015: We crashed Richardo's date night!

Hola familia!! You all sound super great and happy!! I can’t believe that we are halfway through September. Well, today we are going to El Centro to buy lots of cool Mexican things. It’s almost Independence Day here, so there are lots of things really cheap down there. I’m pretty stoked. So, I have to hurry so we can be on our way. But thanks so much for all of your emails, I really enjoyed them and had a few good laughs. Thanks for all of your support and love, I really appreciate it!

Yesterday was the dedication of the Mexico City Temple! We got to go to the 11am session via satellite. Elder Holland and Elder Eyring were there. They had live translation, it was super cool to listen to and watch. The talks were amazing!! Elder Holland talked about the sealing power and just how important it is and then bore his testimony at the end in Spanish. Super sweet! I really miss the temple you guys!! I am so jealous that you guys can go!!  Elder Pieper talked about sacrifice and he mentioned my favorite quote from Joseph Smith about sacrifice:

“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never
has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and
salvation.”

I really like that quote. I know that giving up something that we value and treasure for something that is of greater worth is always worth the price we have to pay. I know that every sacrifice we make for the Lord is one that will help us grow in our faith. We need to be willing to give all to Him that gave us everything...even when it’s hard.

Other than that, it was your average-joe week. We contacted a woman who wanted to know about the tree of life and set an appointment with her. I hope we find her there this week! We crashed Ricardo’s date-night with his girlfriend on accident. To be fair, we had an appointment. We knocked on the door and his girlfriend (non-member) was there and they were watching a movie. Whoops!! But it turned out okay, we taught the Plan of Salvation and we got pizza....ha-ha. We visited some new investigators this week. The son is 28 years old and has an auto-immune disorder and its attacking his liver. They wanted a blessing, so we took the Elders with us and then invited them to listen about the gospel so that they could enjoy more blessings and knowledge in their lives. They accepted! Yay! They have a lot of potential. Ummm, I’m drawing a blank for other events. And we need to get going, so I am going to finish up...

Just know that I love you guys so much and that I’m so grateful for all of the love and support that you guys give me. I love my family!!! I know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that we are so blessed to live where there are so many so close. I am super happy out here and am having a blast and working as hard as I can!! Well, until next week. I love you all!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO I will buy you guys some Mexican things today!!!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton

Internet Cafe'...  writing letters home  ( a little blurry)

Eating lunch in the stairwell... 

September 7, 2015: 10 Commandments!

Hola familia!! Everyone sounds fabulous! The concert looked really fun, glad you guys enjoyed it. Thanks for the football updates. I can’t believe that BYU game it sounds like it was crazy! I love football ha-ha. Thanks so much for your letters everyone, I really appreciate them!! Feeling the love over here:) Ha, I miss you guys, thanks so much!

This week was good. The temps are starting to drop a little bit, but I still feel like I’m in a....ummmm....sarten???? The thing you cook eggs with. I am drawing a blank for the word. The sun just burns!! I’m looking more and more like a California chick....or a lobster. Not sure which ha-ha. Anyways, as you guys could see from my pics, we went to visit the animal exhibit at the university in our area, our branch president took us. I was pretty stoked about the bear. Edmundo received the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and is progressing really well. He has a Book of Mormon to share and is reading everything he can get his hands on. He loves everything. I’m so glad that Heavenly Father helped us find him. He is still awestruck from the Stake Conference last week. He won’t stop talking about it. This week with Dulce, we taught a primary class. Her kids wanted to invite their friends they were playing with outside to listen to us, too. So, we adapted the teaching to the kids ha-ha. We taught the 10 commandments with hand signals to teach them. Funny quotes:

-"What is commandment number six?" (hand signal)

- "Oh I know!!!! No volverás a matar!" (You won’t kill again)

- "Ummmm you shouldn’t ever do it ha-ha"

Another one:

- "What is the 10th commandment?" (hand signal that has you wiggling all ten fingers)

- "Oh! No hechizaras!" (You won’t cast spells)

- "Almost...."

Kids crack me up; love the 10 commandments they made!!!!

So yeah, that was fun. We found a few new investigators this week; they are really interested in what happens after this life because a friend of theirs just died. They had some strange beliefs, but they willingly accepted what we told them. I’m just so grateful that I know these things.

I’ve been thinking a lot about keeping the commandments and why it’s so hard for us sometimes. I think it’s because we justify not keeping them because of our circumstances. But Dulce told us a story that I won’t forget. I don’t know if I’ve already told you guys...but here it is, it happened to her a few years ago. She had just separated from her husband and had a baby and her 3 year old son. She didn’t have a job and was running out of money to buy milk, food, and diapers. She told her friend, who robbed semi-trucks and sold the products, that she was desperate. He invited her to tag along with him to make some money. She knew she wasn’t supposed to steal but she was desperate. She prayed that night and said, "Heavenly Father, I need a job tomorrow. I need money now. I don’t want to steal, but I can’t watch my kids starve either. So if you don’t let me have a phone call from one of the jobs I’ve applied for, I’m heading out with my friend tomorrow at 7pm to rob and get the money I need." At 11am the next morning, she had a phone call and received a job. She told us that she knows Heavenly Father listens to prayers and helps us to keep His commandments. And she is right!!!! We all know the scripture from Nephi:

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

I know that is true!! So let’s strive to always demonstrate our love for Heavenly Father and keep His commandments. We will be at peace with ourselves and receive all the blessings and help we will ever need.

Well, I love you all!! Hope that you all have a great week!!!! I’m doing great here and am so happy I came! Until next time...XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Anderton

The Branch President to Hermana's Estrada and Anderton to the local university to view an animal exhibit

Hermana's Estrada and Anderton

August 31, 2015: Time Is Just Flying By!

Hola familia!! You all sound super great! It is hard to believe that school and football are on the go and that August has come to a close. Time is just flying by!!! Rumor has it that I will be coming home the 16th of December. Something about how the church doesn’t do travel the week of Christmas.....so I will be coming home a week early before the transfer is over, because it ends the 23rd. I feel so cheated ha-ha. When we went to go renew my green card, one of the assistants to the president told me that was my release date...it was weird to hear. I don’t know, I just never really thought about the fact that there really is a day in December that I do go home....it just seemed fuzzy to me. But anyways, you guys can feel excited about that.

Well, this week was interesting and included a lot of walking. We contacted a lot of people and had some pretty neat experiences. We found a new investigator named Leticia, she had a near death experience a few months ago. She was in a diabetic coma and wasn’t coming out of it. She loved the way we talked about Jesus Christ and has homework to read the Book of Mormon; she was super interested in that. She said she never thought about the ancient people here in America having communication with God. (Good gravy, can I just tell you guys how hard it is to write in English right now? I have to translate in my head from Spanish to English to tell you guys my stories. How awkward.) Anyways, then there was another woman in the park that we contacted yesterday with questions of the soul cards from mormon.org. We asked her to pick a question and then we answered it with the Book of Mormon. She really liked the answer. We asked her if she had ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints....she hadn’t. We talked a little more to her, and then she opened up a lot and told us the really sad story of her life. IT WAS HORRIBLE!! She said she was looking for a church like the one we have, and she looked at me and said, "I am a 26 year old single mother, with 2 young kids from different fathers, a dead husband who overdosed on drugs, and I live in a very dangerous neighborhood. (Don’t freak out, she lives like 30 miles from our area.) My life is way different than yours will ever be because you have this." (Referring to the Church and the Book of Mormon.) I thought about that a second and realized she was completely right. Seriously, we enjoy so many blessings. We know who we are, where we came from, where we are going, why we are here, that we have a loving Heavenly Father, and who we have the potential to become. We know how to find true happiness in this life by obeying the commandments and serving others. We know that families are forever. We know that the Atonement of Christ can not only clean us from our sins, but help us to overcome our weaknesses and support our trials. We know that there is always hope. Some people don’t know that. They really have no idea. I’m so glad I came on the mission to share this with the people here. I’ve been given so much that I almost feel bad about it, but the best way to show our gratitude for what we have is to share it with others. So to sum it up, here is one of my favorite hymns: (#219)

Because I have been given much
I too must give
Because of thy great bounty Lord
Each day I live
I shall divide thy gifts from thee
With every brother that see
Who has the need of help from me

Because I have been sheltered, fed
By thy good care
I cannot see another’s lack and I not share
My glowing fire, my loaf of bread,
my roofs safe shelter overhead
That he too may be comforted

Because I have been blessed by
Thy great love dear Lord
I’ll share thy love again
According to thy word
I shall give love to those in need
I’ll show that love by word and deed
Thus shall my thanks be thanks in deed

 

Anyways, I love you all so much!! Thanks so much for all the emails of love and support!! You are all the best! I have been blessed with an amazing family. I am doing fabulous here and hope that you all have a great week!!!!! #livingthedream XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO until next time...

Con Todo Mi Amor,

Hermana Anderton

New "Star Wars" hairdo....

Hermana's Estrada and Anderton

August 24, 2015: "A drunk man chasing us down..... quoting the Articles of Faith"

Hello family!! I am doing great and am super happy I got to stay here in Rio Nilo. The members were dying yesterday when they saw me ha-ha. You all sound super busy! I can’t believe that school starts this week! And FOOTBALL!!!! I miss football so much. But oh well, I expect lots of pics from the first day of school. I got my package, thanks so much! I loved it!!!!!!!! I was showing everyone my pics. I also wore my new outfit to church on Sunday and I’ve already downed almost half a Nutella and Hi-Chews. YUM!!! :) Thanks so much!!!!

This week has been good. Funny story first: We had a lizard in our bathroom. EW!!! We were getting ready to head out and exercise in the morning when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. And there it was....I ran to tell Hermana Estrada to kill it because I knew I couldn’t. She told me she didn’t want to do it either. We were a little freaked out. I got the broom and decided that I would rather have it dead than running around in the house. But I got scared and it ran really fast. So, one of the advantages to having the Elders live downstairs: free exterminators. We told them where it was and anxiously waited outside, then Elder Raymond walked out with the lizard in his hands. EW!! I thought they were going to kill it, but he said it was super small and why would we ever want to kill the poor little thing, and that it was traumatized from us trying to kill it. Then they let it go free outside. That is the difference between Elders and Hermanas....we view the world so different ha-ha. We visited Dulce this week and she is doing really well. We found out that she smokes...dang it. But we taught her about the Word of Wisdom, she was really receptive and said that she wanted to stop smoking and that she would make the effort. She is so sweet and sincere and tries really hard to keep her commitments. It was a really good lesson with her! Edmundo was interviewed to receive the priesthood, but will have to wait until the next week because of stake conference. He loves the church and is super happy. We had 2 activities in the church this week, a Family Home Evening with recent converts and investigators...it was super fun. On Friday we watched "Meet the Mormons" as a mission activity, Jaquelyn came...it made me super happy. This week was a little long, because that’s really literally all the highlights I have aside from a drunk man chasing us down and quoting the Articles of Faith... (He is a waaaaaaaaaaaaay less active member.) I decided I should memorize those in Spanish, if a drunk man can do it...I can. But yep, that’s my week in a nutshell. But I’m doing great and loving my mission as always.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the family this week and how grateful I am for mine. My parents aren’t perfect, but they were the perfect parents for me. They disciplined me in a way that worked for me, and really I know I was put in the home where I would be the most successful. I have two great sisters who love me and I love them. Thanks for all that you have done for me. I am so grateful that I was blessed with such a great family!!!! Boyd K Packer said:

"The end of all activity in the Church is to see that a man and a woman with their children are happy at home, sealed for eternity."

As members of the Church, we know how the family should function and feel. I’m grateful for the role-model home that you raised me in mom and dad. I will never be able to thank you enough. You guys taught us well and had us well-trained...with just one snap ha-ha. :)

Well, that’s it, I have to go. I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week. Thanks for the emails and love!! Until next week.....XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Con Todo Mi Amor,

Hermana Anderton

 

Fun Dip... Yaaa!

The leaf was as big as my head!

Hurray!  A new outfit to wear to church.  Thanks Mom!!!

Hey, Dad had a pair just like these back in the......   80's!