Ya Argentina!

Hey all!

Great news here from Argentina!  I'm still alive and kicking and everything is awesome!  I don't know if that is great news for everyone but It is all the news I got so you are gonna have to live with it!  We've had a really good week here in San Vicente but really hard too.  The weather has been really crappy with cold and rain and muddy streets and frowny people.  But we've trudged through it all and come out alright!

Some cool things from this week would be the awesome Stake Conference we had yesterday.  A stake Conference is when all the congregations in 5 or 6 cities get together and have a big old meeting together!  It is really cool, especially for us in San Vicente to see so many Mormons and that we are not alone!  We are a really small branch and sometimes you get down on yourself for that, but we saw so much support and love in the Conference that helped us realize we may be small but we are very important.  They spoke alot of the final step in the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is endure to the end.  It was humbling.  They asked the question from the question that says more or less, "Christ has descended below all, art thou greater than he?"  It made me reflect on a thought from Elder Holland of the Twelve Apostles that said, "Salvation was never easy! It is not a cheap experience!  It made Jesus Christ, even the son of God, suffer and bleed from every pour and ultimately give up his life.  If it was that hard for him, what makes you think it will be easy for you?"  Life will always be hard.  There will always be difficulties and challenges even if we keep all the commandments of God and do the best we can.  But God has given us the promise, that if we will do our part and live how he asks, he will bless us with the capabilities, faith and strength to bear the weight of the burdens we must carry.

I have gained a huge testimony of that.  Here in Argentina I have felt more lonely than any other time of my life.  I have felt more tired than any other time of my life.  I have felt more sick, than any other time of my life.  And yet more than ever before, I have tried my best to follow Christ.  Do as he would do and live as he would have me live.  And I have noticed, that even though this experience has been the hardest of my blessed and easy life, it has also been the experience of most worth.  I have grown so much and am so much stronger then I was before.  I am truly a better person.  I'm turning into a man.  It is weird to think.  I'm still childish and immature, no worries, but I see the world and my life a little different now.  I realize I am so blessed and that God loves me so much.  It is a reality that is hitting me over and over again.  I love and miss you so much, but i know I need to be here right now more than any other place in the world.  For me, for my family, and for all the families that I talk to everyday.

I love you guys and think about you a bunch.

Love,

Elder Anderson

P.S. Here are some sweet pics.

Happy Birthday.....to me!

Hey Everyone!


So i am almost 20 years old!!!!  I can hardly believe it!  I feel like a little kid still!  I don't feel resposible enough to be called an adult and live on my own and stuff.  It really is crazy what I am doing when I stop and think about it. I am living in a foreign country, with a bunch of other foreigners, teaching people about Jesus....cool.  I love my life!  So I guess it is ok that I am growing up as long as i get to keep having cool experiences like this!

So my biggest and best birthday present this transfer has been my new companion! His name is Elder Phillips.  He is from Huntington Beach, California and is a BOSS!  He is a way hard worker and is stoked to be here!  He has been in Provo, Utah for the past month waiting for his visa.  He got here on Tuesday and his first experience was riding the train and buses back to our house for over two hours.  He loved that (insert sarcasm here).  We were smashed up against the wall and other people and just packed into these train carts with all his luggage.  He is getting used to Argentina fast!  I introduced him to the pizza and alfajors and everything though so we ended the day well.  He is struggling with his Spanish, but so does everybody.  I remember when I arrived and I was just frustrated all the time.  I try to remind him all the time that he'll get it with time and practice.  I didn't like to hear that when I got here either though....I get what he is going through.  That is kinda cool. 

So I have been thinking about my dear old dad a lot this last week because Father's day is coming up.  I think alot about how we are like Nefi and Lehi.  We are both super cool and righteous and stuff like them...hahaha!  But seriously, I was reading in 1 Nefi 11 this week and it impressed me that Nefi always wanted to know the things that his father knew.  I feel like that sometimes in my life.  I just want to be like my Dad and know what he knows and do what he did.  It is really rewarding to be a missionary and follow in my father's footsteps.  It is really cool to think "my dad did the exact same thing!"  So happy Father's Day dad!  I miss you and pray for you a bunch.  I realize, being so far from my family, how much they mean to me.  I really love them and they are more important to me than wanything else in the world.  And that is why I am here.  To help other people to have the same that a had growing up!  It is a huge blessing!

Welp, I love you all so much!  I am doing well and feel happy and healthy!  I'm coming up on 11 months in my mission fast!  It goes so fast!

Love,


Elder Cam

P.s. Happy birthday to Aunt Amanda and Marie too. You are special! :)

It's a Boy!!!!!!

Hi all!!!

Another beautiful week here in the beautiful land of San Vicente!

Some highlights:

• Zone Conference. This is when a ton of elders get together (34 to be exact) and we get taught by the President of our mission and his wife how to be better missionaries! It is always way good and I always learn a ton! THe only hard part is that they generally are really long. This last one lasted for 9 hours. Sometimes my attention span is a little shorter than the meeting. IT was still really good though. The theme was something different, but for me I learned alot about integrity. We live in a world where our word of honor isn't worth much anymore. But I want o be a man of integrity. What I promise, I will do. It was really good!
• Having a Family Home Evening (Spiritual message, Game and Food) with the entire Branch here. We told everone to get there at 7:00 and the first people got there at about 7:45.....ya.....that is not Ok. But in the end we had about 40 people show up and everyone left spiritually uplifted, full of pizza and happy. 
• Finding out that I will be staying in San Vicente for three more months!!!!! A really really long time! I will be here in total nine months!!!! I got a call on Saturday afternoon a few hours before transfers. It was the President of the Misión and he asked how I was and then asked if I would be willing to train a brand new missionary in San Vicente. I said "Yes" over the phone and "WOHOOOO!" in my mind! I'm pretty excited and pretty nervouse! When you train a new missionary here, we call the new guy your "son." So this will be my first child. It is a boy. I'm not sure of height weight or ethnicity yet, but it will for sure be a boy!  Haha! We'll see how he turns out. His mother (my last companion) was from Uruguay!  So ya! I'm gonna be a missionary father! They get in tomorrow and we start running with them! Pretty cool!

So that is the news from here. All in all I am doing really well. Other than the diahrea for the last 5 days, everything is great! No worries, medication is on its way! I don't know what they are feeding me here but it destroys my system 100%. I don't know if it is that I have the digestive and immune systems of a 5 year old or what but I have just not been able to get 100% healthy here. I'm hoping that will change with the excitment and challenge of having a new comp! Who knows though! 

Winter time is coming on fast with the mornings at 6 or 7 degrees celcius every morning. We'll see how it all goes with that too! Everything is changing and I am excited!

Love you all so much and hope you are all enjoying an awesome summer!!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson 

Lavtaro and Milagros in their fairy and zorro outfits!

Us at a Book reading of a member...wierd

The Family Rodriguez

Bad Bike Seat!!!!

Me and Elder Jolly

Overcast.....

So Hey!

Glad to find you all happy and healthy....hopefully! Everybody is winding down with school and sports and everything! Way cool! So strange since right now the kids are all in school and winter is coming on! Blows my simple mind!

This week has been difficult. It all began with my companion Monday trying to run over a dog with his bike and getting bitten. From there we spent the rest of the night in the hospital cleaning him up and getting him meds. Lets just say I was less than happy with that whole experience. Word to the wise, don't try and run over german shepherds with your bike at 8 pm. Does not generally turn out well!!! From there everything seemed to just slowly roll downhill. It might have been the fact that the sun hasn't come out for a week either, but for something I have just felt kinda.....overcast.

We had a really great Dia de Patria or Independence day here though! 25 de Mayo! We got the entire Branch here together and had a pollo asado. Slow cooked over a fire chicken! We cooked nine chickens from 10:30 in the morning until 2:30 in that afternoon. They were AMAZING! That basically made my day and my week! If there is one thing these argentines know how to do, it is cook meat!!!! They are Pros! We enjoyed everyone's company and just had a really good time! I wore a little Argentine flag pin all day and was proud to be semi Argentine. It was fun. Interesting though. Here the Independance day is like nothing. Nobody wears Argentina T-shirts, there was no parade and no fireworks. Kinda lame. But whatever! I ate a pollo asado so I'm happy! Overall the lesson I have learned lately is how to smile even when I'm not happy. Turns out that when I do that my smile turns from something external to something internal. I like what Elder Oaks quotes in his talk on Desires: 


http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/desire?lang=eng&query=desires+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22)

Many scriptures speak of what we desire in terms of what we seek. “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken” (D&C 88:83). “Seek ye earnestly the best gifts” (D&C 46:8). “He that diligently seeketh shall find” (1 Nephi 10:19). “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63). I've realized that as I have righteous desires, to be happy, to help someone, to just smile, God helps me out. That when I ask in humble prayer with real desires, I receive what I need, not necisarilly what I want. God is great and Merciful. I know he loves me and you and that we are his children.

I love you all and pray for you often. We'll see from where or with whom I email you next week! Here come changes!


Love,


Elder Anderson

Rain.......

Hey all!


To start off I have some recognizing to do! First off I have to apologize to my Sister Katherine....I may or may not have spaced your birthday.....BUT A LETTER WILL BE IN THE MAIL SOON!!!!! Happy Birthday Sis! I love you so much! Keep kicking butt in Hair cutting or nail painting school or whatever you are doing!!!! :) Haha! Also my Aunt Michele had a birthday and I want to tell you that you are awesome and I miss you and when I get back if I go to BYU Provo I will be stopping by the house frequently! And last but not least the cousins! Happy Birthday Jakester and Janalynn! I love you guys!....Can't wait to hear from you!!! (Wink wink nod nod). Now that I got all that off my chest, I feel alot better!

This week has been quite the adventure! After talkingto the family it is always kinda hard to get going and stay focused. That has definitely been the case here. Didn't help that we've had thunderstorms and torrential rain showers all week long either. Everything was overcast and hazy and the people tend to act the same. But the good news is that they are predicting sunlight by Wednesday! Winter is definitely rolling around though!

I myself am doing well. Gave myself a haircut and took a shower for the first time in a while so I am feeling fine and fresh! :)
The craziest thing that has happened to me this week would have to be catching my pant leg on the bike crank and tearing my pants from foot to crotch wide open! We did an emergency repair with some borrowed scotch tape, finished off the day and 5 hours later dropped the pants off at an older sisters house to stitch and sow everything back up! Thank goodness for the grandma's here that take care of us! Sad news of all this is that I forgot my camera this day....so I guess you'll just have to use your imagination! Shouldn't be too hard. Imagine lots of mud, it is raining, the pants are grey, the bike is black, and when they tear right open I just start laughing. One of those "Can this situation get any better/worse?" moments. It was pretty funny.


We have seen alot of people this week that are not progressing because they won't pray. I guess I always took for granted prayer. It is something that has always been part of my life and never a challenge. But I have recognized that for some people it is really hard for them to find the faith and courage to say a prayer. I can't imagine. But something is true for every situation. When they finally get up the gumption to pray, they finish and feel a peace and the reality that someone is listening. Iknow that God listens to our prayers. That he is real. That he is just like you and me....but perfect! That he is our
father and heloves us!

Overall I am really happy. We are getting nervouse. The transfer is coming to an end and in two weeks we will have changes. I will for sure 100% get a new companion or move to a totally new area and new companion! I am excited and nervous. The favorites and my hope is that I get to go to La Plata or La Costa! We'll see! If I stay in San Vicente I'll be supér happy to!

Love you, and pray for all ya´ll!

Love,

Elder Cam Anderson