Ya! San Vincente!

Hey Family,

Today (Dec. 19th) was translados or transfers. We found out on Saturday and I have left the gran ciudad of Avellaneda and am now in the....Campo. I'm in a town called San Vicente with an Argentine companion named Elder Cayata. He is incredible. A really really nice guy, and from what I've heard, a really hard worker. He doesn't speak a word of English. It is going to be the language learning experience I was looking for I think. The only down side to all this is that....there is no skype capabilities here like there were in Avellanda. BUT I CAN STILL CALL!!!!!! I get 40 minutes max to call and can call from the house of a member, the chapel, or a cyber. So I'll have to ask one of the other gringos how it all works to call out of country but I'm going to call Monday in the Afternoon between 2 and 6pm our time. So ya. Sorry for the let down, but trust me, it is all part of the plan that I am here right now. I keep getting this overwhelming feeling of excitement to be here. I don't know where it is coming from either which means it is coming from the Spirit! I'm just so excited to be here in San Vicente. I think I'll be here for a while. Elder Cayata has been here almost 10 months! We have a Rama or a branch here of 40 or so members. We have a brand new Capilla though! It is HUGE!!!! Almost the size of the Green Mountain Building which for Argentina is Massive! We are in the Campo too. Fields and clean air and grass and everything is clean. 100% different from Avellaneda and the big city life. It is crazy the difference. At first I was nervous to have a Latin Companion, but now, even after a few hours with him I feel comfortable and ready to work. It is really a huge blessing. Me and Elder Hope had a great last week in Avellaneda. We prepared 4 people with baptismal dates to be baptized one each the next four weeks. One of these choice people is named Isaac. He is about 65 and is one of the wisest most humble men I have ever met. He met other Elders on the Collectivo and they gave us the reference. He had met with missionaries before and I don't know what happened but they never went back. In the past three weeks we have taught him every other day. He has read almost half the Book of Mormon AND half of the Bible AND 5 pamflets we left AND two Liahona Magazines. The guy is on fire!!! He is truly feasting on the words of Christ and is chosen and prepared to be baptized right now. All he needs to do is get married to his almost 80 year old wife who he has been living with for 45 years and never married. She is really close to passing to the other side and very fragile but they are gonna do it. The last time I asked him how it was all going, he just said "Fine. I'm still just trying to convince the witch." Totally straight face. Here people use nicknames we would never use in the states endearingly, like witch or gordita(fatty) or fea(ugly) or grandota(huge). It is pretty funny- couldn't help but laugh. I really have learned alot form him though. In Preach My Gospel it says something along the lines of "You can know when you have taught with the Holy Spirit as your guide when you leave the discussion having learned something yourself." It is very true. Everytime we teach or learn by the Spirit we learn aun màs (that much more)! I have a testimony of that. That when we learn with the Spirit and have an open heart and mind, it can and will be filled with truths. I've had so many beautiful experiences with that already in the mission. God is so merciful to me. It is amazing. My Spiritual thought for you all this week is simple. It is found in Revelations 3:20.

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

I think I've shared it before, but it is that good and that important! God is at the door (our hearts) knocking. He will not force his way in. If he did so it would be contrary to his plan that all of us have agency or the ability to choose. But he is there, knocking. If we open the door I can promise you that he will be standing there with his hand extended. This door could be our hearts, or it could be more literal. Maybe this door is your front door, and maybe the hands of Christ are extended in the form of two young men in shirts and ties. Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The next time they pass by or if you see them in the streets, call them over. What they have to say might just change your life...it has changed mine! :) I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that through the ordinance of baptism in this church, that I have a promise. He has promised me that when I keep his commandments he will ALWAYS have his Spirit walk with me. And I've promised him that I will never forget that. Now I get to help other people make that same promise with God! There is no greater cause in Heaven or Earth! I love you all, and I challenge each of you to go outside your comfort zone and ask to talk to the missionaries. It'll be awesome!!!

Love,
Elder Anderson

Pictures!!!

Hey All!!!

This week has been a real week of miracles. The greatest lesson I learned this week would have to be that God is love, and that it is never too late to come back and change your life!  I've seen a ton of people change. It has been so hard for every single one of them, but they did it!!!

This week I'm short on time so I'm gonna send a bunch of pictures and call it good! I love you all so much! Hope none of these are duplicates!

A car. 

The Book of Mormon!  The Elders and young men from the ward

A Jacobson phrase on the Wall.

How they parked this car I have no idea! 

Front of the Independientes Stadium 

Us out proselyting at night

Dock Sud! I saw an american flag flying off the back of a ship here!!! Me and Elder Hope sang "My Country Tis of Thee" and kept going. Way cool!  Didn't have my camera though!

Love you! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Acorn Grove Cont.

Dec. 5, 2011

Hey Capos!

Another pretty great week here in the Acorn Grove (Avellaneda). This week was pretty darn awesome. We had a Gira Misional this week with Presidente Aiduikitus of the First Quorom of the Seventy. He's a great leader from our South America South Area Presidency. He is from Brazil and had the funniest accent. It was awesome to listen to him speak. He talked to us a lot about faith and what it really means to have faith. I loved what he said. "Faith is doing everything you possibly can to make your goals become reality.” As missionaries we are always setting goals. Everyday we set goals for that day, and then we have weekly goals, and goals for the month and goals for the year and goals for the mission! We have a TON of goals. And they are all worthy and achievable. But as it says in James 2 "Faith without works is dead."

If I only have faith that God is going to provide a way to find someone ready to hear this message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and I never leave the Pension then my faith is dead and serves no one. But if I have faith that God will help me find someone and I leave the Pension right on time, talking to every person I can, inviting every person I meet to hear the gospel and I find that one person. Well then my faith proved to be a true faith. Faith always precedes the miracle, but if we don't work for the miracle, it will never come.

I've learned here that God is a God that expects a lot of us. He expects our very best. But when we give that, he blesses us and makes everything we do that much better, that much more effective, it reaches farther and has more power. God is willing to work through me, not for me. Every great example we see in the Book of Mormon and Bible, labored hard in the vineyard. Not one person was ever rewarded for their laziness and they never will be. That is not the program. So if you’re like me and you expect to see miracles in your life, work for them. When you do that, I promise they will come. I've seen it work in my life, and especially this week.

We have found an incredible lady that is ready to change her life. That is what being a disciple of Jesus Christ requires us to do, change our lives and be better. And not just to change one time, but every day until forever. "If your life is comfortable, you aren't doing something right." I'm not sure who told me that but it has been stuck in my mind lately and it is true.

I love you all and hope you are doing well. I'm doing GREAT!!!! Getting into the Christmas Spirit! This Christmas is gonna be way different! That is for sure!

Love you all,

Elder Anderson  

Best Week EVER!!!

Nov. 28, 2011

Hi Everybody!

Sounds like you all had an AWESOME thanksgiving! We actually forgot it was Thanksgiving here and were reminded by one of our investigators that said, "Isn't it that Turkey festival today in the US?" So we went home and made some....honey and bread! And of course commented on how grateful we were for it. By the end of that one slice I could hardly eat any more. Went to bed early (not) right at 10:30 and slept in till 6:17 in the morning!!! We were out of control! So ya. Thanksgiving was a big hit here. Needless to say our Argentine companion doesn´t think it is a very good Holiday. He said, "So Thanksgiving is just like every other day?" We said yes and just left it at that.

We've seen some real miracles here this week in Avellaneda. We had a BAPTISM!!!! Three people, Abby (33), Chris (11), and Jane (8) were baptized. It was incredible to see them all making such an awesome decision in their lives. Chris before his baptism came up to us and asked if he would have to live the commandments forever after his Baptism. We said "Well ya. Of course you do!" He smiled this big

old smile and said "Oh good! I like that!" Abby has quit smoking and drinking in order to be baptized and she is really changing her entire life. It is amazing to see how HAPPY people are when they come unto Christ. In Matthew 11:28-30 it talks about how Christ will make our burdens light.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

You can see that when people make the choice to be baptized and live the commandments,  the burden of sin leaves and they look happier, brighter and less "cargado" as they say in Castillano. I

love it.

Other than that it has been a slow week. A lot of walking and knocking on doors and talking to whoever we can and getting told over and over again, "I don't need God" or "I don't have to do anything more, I've already been saved." It is so frustrating to see people wanting to remain ignorant. They tell us they don't need God but you can see in their faces and their eyes that they are sad and suffering. Everyone has their ability to choose or their agency though. That is why we are here. To choose. The only thing we can't choose are the consequences. Think about that for a minute!

Funny thing that happened this week. We have a young woman in our Ward who is putting in her  application to be a misionera! We are really excited for her! But to pay for the visa she has to send $40 US money, which right now in Argentina is really hard to buy.  She was telling us all this, and I remembered that I have $40 from when I was in the airport! I told her this and she almost shouted,  she looked so happy! So we are going to trade my US money for some pesos later this week and all her papers will be complete! Super cool! Funny experience! Glad I could help her out!

Well I love you all so much and am getting excited for December! Right now it is about 34 degrees Celsius. They tell me it will get all the way up to 39! With almost 100% humidity! Crazy! Christmas is

coming and it feels like July! Another Christmas in the heat!

Love you all,

Elder Anderson

Photo 1 the baptism!

OH YA!!!

Nov. 21, 2011

Hey Family!!!

So happy to hear you are all doing pretty great and stuff. I'm doing really great here! Life is good and the work is even better! This coming week is really big too because it is my MOM'S BIRTHDAY!!!! ¡¡¡Feliz cumpleaños mamá!!! I love you so much and am sending you good vibes and a big Kiss!! The mission is where I need  to be and my Gift to you this year is my faithful service and honoring the great legacy of Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we have in our family. We have a pretty cool tradition of that. We are all missionaries in our own sense and always can be examples to others.

This week has been crazy. I did three intercambios which means I leave my area for the day and trade companions with someone else and work in their area for the Day. So in the past week I have had the pleasure to work in the areas of Thomas Flores, Piñyero, and Wilde. It has been awesome! I learned a lot from some great Elders. In Thomas Flores, me and Elder Cowan were working together. It was really interesting because we got here at the same time which means our Spanish is at a level that is less than awesome. So we went out to go talk to people about the Gospel and stuff because that is the best thing you could possible talk about, and we found this one guy. OH MAN! We could not understand a word he said. He said something about Soldando la Vigen en una caja y cosas como asi. Pero no entendí nada. Pienso que él estaba boracho o algo. But ya. He was talking about welding the Virgin Mary in a Box or something and me and Elder Cowan just kinda stared at him blankly. It was great! We smiled and acted like we knew what he was saying and when we walked away around the corner both of us died laughing. That was a way good experience. Classic.

The other two intercambios were with Latin Elders so a little less of a disaster, but still way fun. We did some good work.

This week I've really been thinking about my calling as a Missionary. In the Manual that we use to study called "Preach My Gospel" it says that one of our purposes is to tell people and remind them that God loves them. I don't know why it surprised me so much. We do that everyday anyway, but when I really made a point to tell every person I talked with that God is our loving Heavenly Father and we are His children and he loves us, I saw people soften and change. I think deep down inside every single one of us realizes that we are special. But maybe we don't realize how much. We are literal spirit Children of God. As such we are able to inherit all that is his. Think about that. In the scriptures God says, "This is my work and my Glory, to bring to pass the immortality and Eternal life of man." He wants us to have all he has, to be all he is. Are we living up to our potential? We have a woman we know here that is physically and mentally abused. We told her one day, "Do you realize that you are a Daughter of God? No one has the right to treat you like that!" And it was like all of a sudden she remembered! The light bulb went off and she said, "YA! That's right!! I am a daughter of God! I don't have to take crap from anyone! I'm special!" I hope we can all look deep and really realize how special we are. Each and every one of us has the potential to one day become like our Heavenly Father. To become like God and have all that he has. YOU ARE MORE SPECIAL THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!!!!! DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU DIFFERENT!!!! I love you all so much. I wish I could sit down and tell you this face to face but this will have to do for now. God exists. He is Heavenly Father and he loves us more than we know.

 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Revelations 3and 20

He stands at the door and knocks. Are we willing to let him in?

Love,

Elder Anderson

Pic 1 The "Cami" Carneceria

Pic 2 Me, Brother Emiliano Perez (old) and Quique (Young) after the service project in the community version of Jeffco Action Center in Colorado- called El Quincho

Pic 3 Check out Quique's shirt

Pic 4 Putting my name on the wall for all the stuff we did. What did I do?.....

Pic 5 I burned stuff. We cleaned up a community Parque and painted the Homeless Shelter. Way awesome.

Pic 6 Elder Guzman from Tucuman. Found this street sign in Piñyero

Acorn Grove

Nov. 14, 2011

Hey all!

Another great week here in the Acorn Grove (that is what Avellaneda means. Ironic, there are very few trees...). I heard that the reception for Grandpa Great Miller was really good. He is an incredible man. I love my family so much and realize more than ever how blessed we are. I have the most incredible family in the world!

This week we have been preparing to baptize dos little chicos. One is named Jill (name changed). She has 8 years and the other is named Craig (name changed). He has 11 years. They are both really great and so excited to get baptized. I love teaching them because the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ are so basic that even a child can understand them. Things like "God is our loving Heavenly Father. I am literally a Child of God. That means I am special and can become perfect just like him." And, "When I make bad choices I feel bad, but I can pray for Jesus to take away those bad feelings, and he will if I ask him and really want it and promise not to make the same bad choice again!" They are just so awesome and innocent and just amazing! I love it! Craig's mom is also preparing to get baptized. She is working on getting married and giving up smoking right now in order to be prepared for this. She is doing really well! Both of those things are REALLY hard to do! We are very proud of her and helping her all the way!

This week we also had a great Noche de Hogar or Family Home Evening with a family where some are members of the Church and others are not. We taught from Mosiah 2:21 and 22.

 21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

 22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

It is an interesting idea to think that no matter how hard we work we can never pay back our debt to God for all he has done for us. However, Christ can and will pay that debt IF we follow ALL his commandments! We can't pick and choose!! We have to follow ALL of them! And then we can have the assurance and joy that everything is taken care of. I don't know about you, but I don't want to meet God's debt collector! He's probably a pretty intense dude! So as it says in Joshua 24:15 "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Think about ALL the commandments you know, and identify one that you have a hard time with. Maybe this is keeping the Sabbath day holy or not telling 100% of the truth. Think about it and make a commitment to improve this week. Say to yourself, “You know what, my soul is worth keeping the Sabbath day holy." Or maybe before you tell a half truth think "Is this lie worth more than my soul? Is it worth more than me?" How much are you worth. I think our identity of self worth can be directly related in how we keep the commandments. IF we really think highly of ourselves, than we are not willing to degrade our worth by lying or stealing. Just think on that. And more than think, DO IT!!! YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!! YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!! But you have to want it and you have to work for it. How much are you worth?

I love you all. I love being a missionary. I love the people here. I love my Savior.

-Elder Anderson

P.S. Here is a montón de fotos to make up for last week!!

Foto 1 ¡Esta bebé tiene razon! (This baby knows what it is talking about!)

Foto 2 You can find something beautiful EVERYWHERE!!

Foto 3 HALLOWEEN!!! Great Moms think alike!

Foto 4 Elder Guzman

Foto 5 Cool mural right outside our pension

Foto 6 Wow! That’s like 150 kilos!!!!

Foto 7 Municipal building

Foto 8 Zombie!!!!

P.P.S. We saw an entire row of cars on fire this week. And by a row I mean just one and one starting to catch on fire next to it! BUT IT WAS A WHOLE CAR ON FIRE!!!! People were acting like it was no big deal too!! I was flippin out!!! Oh well. I guess it is normal here to just LIGHT YOUR AUTOMOBILE ON FIRE IN THE PARKING LOT OF YOUR APARTMANT COMPLEX IN THE MIDDLE OF A HUGE CITY when you don't want it anymore. No. I'm not freaking out at all. There's just a CAR ON FIRE OVER THERE!!!!!

Aloha!!!

Nov. 7, 2011

Aloha!!!

You'll never believe it but I saw that on a guy’s shirt this week! I ran up to him and said "Are you from Hawaii (in castillano)?" And he looked at me like I was crazy and said "I don't want to hear about your church!" I laughed and walked away. I don’t think he knew what his shirt meant...

Everyone here has English words all over their shirts and they have no idea what any of it means. I saw this 5 year old girl walking down the street wearing a shirt that said "Love has failed me." I almost peed my pants! Today we saw a guy with a shirt that said "The ladies love my moustache." Ya. He didn't know what that meant either. What else... An 80 year old man wearing a Tool (the death metal band) shirt and a little kid that had a Shirt that said a lot of bad words.... Pretty funny week in the t-shirt department.

On Sunday we had a lady come to church who thinks she is Mormon but isn't really sure. It was fun explaining to her that she probably wasn't since she was baptized by a guy who said he was a Prophet. We are pretty sure that President Thomas S Monson has never come to Avellaneda... The people you meet!

This week has been so hot and I've sweated through all my shirts. It is really getting hot and humid here. Just had to throw that in. Sorry. This email is really scattered right now but it is pretty hot in here right now actually and I'm having hard time thinking.

This week has been really cool spiritually. I've been studying a lot about who our savior is and what he is like. I love 3 Nephi 11 where he comes to the Americas. I stand all amazed at his mercy and grace. He lets every single person come and have a moment with him personally to see and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet and the mark in his side. Every single person had the chance to meet their Savior face to face. I think each of us can have moments like this in our lives. We may not see him face to face, but there are moments when I feel he is so close. I feel in my life the effects of his sacrifice and I KNOW that he lives and loves me. It is a huge blessing. I am seeing this gospel change people’s lives. They are becoming better and stronger. We have seen drunks give up Alcohol completely, drug addicts come clean, and broken families pull together and recover from tragedies as they have been baptized and have come unto Christ. What a blessing I have. I have a font row seat on the greatest show on earth. I get to watch people change and come unto Christ and I get to see the moment when people feel his arms wrap around them. So cool to see that moment when they just get it. When they get it that God is real and he has a plan for us and all they have to do to take part in his atonement in repent, be baptized and obey his commandments until the end! The weight of obeying the commandments is so much lighter than the weight and grief of sin! ¡¡Tenga la ganas y cambia tu vida!! ¡Veni a Cristo y cambiará tu vida!

I love you all and hope you are all doing super well!

Happy birthday to Nat Kruit-en-bosch and Abersue Richards!!! I love my cousins! You guys are the best!!

Love,

Elder Cam

 P.S. Hope all are doing well in the Anderson and Miller family. I love you all so much and you are all so strong. Be brave! Love, Cam

The Lord is My Shepherd, I Will Not Want

Nov. 3, 2011

Hey All!

Sorry I'm writing so late this week. We had translados or transfers which is when everybody gets switched around. Me and Elder Hope are holding down the fort here in Avellaneda for at least another 6 weeks though. I am really starting to love this place. At first it was just bien, but now...it is re bien!!!!! I love Avellaneda!! Some big things this week. Grandpa Miller has passed and that has been kinda hard for me not being able to be with all of you. But it is Ok cause we all know we get to see him again. What a beautiful truth. I was actually studying that this morning in Alma 40 and 41 before I even knew that he had passed. We are so blessed to have such a clear knowledge of the life after this. It makes death bearable. I know I WILL see Grandpa again and he will be perfect. Not a hair on his bald head will be lost!

This week has been a good one here. It is starting to get hot and I am trying to guess more and more the temperature in Celsius but I'm always 5 or 6 degrees off so I think I'll just stick to what I know and say it was really hot and I got a real good sunburn. But such is life! Some crazy things I've encountered this week are in the pictures. A scuba diving Nestor Kirchner and A......

We have had a really hard time lately finding people to teach but this week we found a family that had been inactive or not going to church for three or four years. We got talking and it turns out they lived in Denver. What is crazier than that is that they went to church IN THE DENVER 1ST WARD!!!!! So crazy!!!!! We talked about a bunch of people we knew and it was really crazy!! They have a little girl who is 8 years old who is going to get baptized and we are teaching her right now. She loves the Book of Mormon and when we gave her her very own copy it was like Christmas!! She was just beaming and hugging her book. It was cool to see someone so excited about being baptized! 

My message is something that struck me while I was thinking about Grandpa Miller. Psalms 23 is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture I know of. The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want, he leadeth me beside the still waters. And as Grandpa would say¨"Everything is terrific." Take a moment this week to just be still and pray and know that God is there- because He is. "Ask and you shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Matthew 7: 7-8, Doctrine and Covenants 4.

Another big thing this week is that My Uncle Cole turned 40. You are old. Dang. I still love you though. No worries.

Todo aqui es tranquilo. Me encanta la obra misional.

I love you all. My heart goes out to all the Andersons and Millers especially this week. I love you so much and am so glad that we are an eternal family.

Love,

Elder Cam


The pictures below were attached to Cameron's email this week, but he didn't really say what they were all about.  You can see he's having fun though!  

Tengo Fe!!!

Oct. 24, 2011

Hey All!!!!

Another week gone here in Argentina! It is weird; I've never measured my time before in Mondays. But here I am! Measuring my time in Mondays! 5 Mondays here in Argentina!!! FWAAA!!! (That is what all the Porteños say instead of like WOW or NO WAY) This week has been incredible.

Some funny experiences. First, the Spanish mix up of the week. There is a very large and important difference between Ramera and Remera. Look it up.

Secondly, we had a great week working in an area that the missionaries call "Gotham City." It is an apartment complex that looks like something out of Batman. All the buildings are 10ish stories with no lights in the stairs or hallways and falling apart. Super Cool!!! Fun to walk around in. The picture is from a 5th or 6th story and the colorful building below is a Jardin or Preschool/ Kindergarten.

Third, THE 29TH IS MY DAD'S BIRTHDAY!!!! Feliz Cupleaños Papá!!!!! You are the best Dad in the whole world and my gift to you this week and year is the following story. The Dad in this story makes me think of you. He is so strong and full of love for his family. You are an amazing Father and partly because of you I am here. Thanks for sharing your gift with everyone (not that you really had a choice...) Love, Elder Cam.

 I want to share with you all something sacred that has happened this week here. We as Elders get to see and participate in alot of sacred experiences but this one for me was life changing. We have a recent convert family here in our ward, Avellaneda 1. They are a family of four kids and the parents are separated but coming back together. Their youngest son is named Jerad (name has been changed). He is four years old and dying of leukemia. The medical system here is dirty and poorly organized and so he cannot receive the treatments he really needs. We go over to their house every week and share a lesson with them. They are so amazing and I feel the Spirit so strong when we are with them. We found out just this week that the youngest boy had leukemia when the Bishop asked our ward or congregation to all fast for him. He is the cutest little boy. This last time we went over we taught them a lesson from Alma 50 in the Book of Mormon. In this scripture the Nephites are fortifying their cities for war. They  pile up montones de tierra, vigas, estacadas, and build torres to defend their cities. We talked about how the cities represent our families. And that we must protect and fortify our families against the evils and filth that constantly attack and tear down the family. The montones de tierra are prayer, the vigas are reading the scriptures, the estacadas are going to church, and on top of the towers we have a living prophet who can see all through revelation from God and warn us of things that are coming. When we do and have all these things in our life we are protected and safe. Andrew (name has been changed), the father was on the verge of tears and explained that more than anything, he loved his family. Before he joined the church he was a drunk and honestly drank away his sadness that his family was falling apart and blamed it on everyone else. He said now, they are doing these things, and he sees a difference and his family is fortified. The thing though, was that the miracle happened after our lesson. He said to us, now more than ever we have to rely and have faith in our Jesus Christ. He called his four year old son over who is dying and asked him, "Hey! What did I teach you?" The little boy got a huge smile and shouted "Tengo fe Pa!!" which means “I have faith Daddy!" He would raise his fist in the air and shout "Tengo fe Pa!" smile, and wait until his Dad would raise his fist in the air and say "Tengo Fe Tambien!!" or "I have faith too!" It was the most beautiful humbling thing I think I have ever seen and I am so blessed to know this amazing family. I have faith!! I know that little boy can be healed! That through the power of the priesthood, God’s power that we hold on this earth, and through his faith and the faith of his family, he can be healed. And even if he does die, he has healed all of us. He has warmed our hearts and made us reexamine our faith. If I could have half the faith of that Father and his little son, I could move mountains. I hope someday I can. I challenge you all to reexamine your faith and fortify your families that you may have the courage and the conviction to shout "Tengo Fe!!" I leave this message especially, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder Anderson

 Picture 1 "Gotham City"

Picture 2 Elder Guzman's Birthday

Picture 3 My desk. Cleanliness is next to Godliness.....

Picture 4 My missionary creed.

WOW!!!! ¡¡¡¡Una semana de Diez!!!!

Oct. 10-17th, 2011

Hey Family!!!

Another week gone here in Argentina!! It blows my mind how fast time flies. We worked really hard this week and are finding a lot of people to teach. It is starting to get hotter and hotter and I'm getting a little tedious for Christmas time! They (the other Elders) say it gets really hot middle of Decemberish and that wearing a collared shirt and pants all the time is crazy hot!!! Stuff to look forward to I guess!

This week in my studies I've been focusing on family. It is an interesting topic for missionaries because for two years we are pulled from our families and asked very blatantly to not focus on or think about them very often. So teaching families about the importance of family is just kinda funny to me. It is funny because my family is the most important thing in this world. And this gospel is the foundation for all the good things in my family’s life. For that reason I'm willing to leave for two years and try and give that same gift to other families. Weird concept. Hope you can all wrap your minds around it. But I was studying in Alma 50 in the Book of Mormon and thinking about how the cities were fortified and as such we need to fortify our families against all the powers of Satan that try and tear down and destroy.

Alma 50:1-4

1 And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; for he caused that his armies should commence in the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of the judges, that they should commence in digging up aheaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.

2 And upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be atimbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities.

3 And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about; and they were strong and high.

4 And he caused towers to be erected that overlooked those works of pickets, and he caused places of security to be built upon those atowers, that the stones and the arrows of the Lamanites could not hurt them.

 The fortifications to the city can be compared to the things we need to do to fortify our families. In verse one it says they fortified with great mounds of earth. This is prayer. In verse two it says the built walls of Logs as tall as a man. This is reading our scriptures. In verse three it says they put up espadas, and I can't think of the English word for that right now, but they are like a bunch of big pointy sticks. This is going to church. Lastly they built towers and placed guards on the towers. The tower and guard is the living Prophet now. As a Prophet Seer and Revelator, he has the power and authority to see out over the great expanse of life, the past and the future. He can warn of us impeding danger, and prepare us so that the stones and arrows of the enemy will not be able to reach us. When we have all these and make them an intricate part of our lives, our cities or families will be protected from failure and stand strong against all that attacks us in everyday life. Will all of you take the time to read Alma 50 and think about how you can better fortify yourselves and your families against the bad influences that surround us daily? Yes? Awesome!!! I can promise that as you do you will see the influences of Satan disappear from your life, and when the temptations come, you will have no desire to do evil, but to do good continually.

So now for some pictures,

Picture 1: Yo en la Villa Tranqila. This is the villa or one of the kind of slum areas we have. This is one of the nicer pasillos or alleys. It rained all day. We were drenched.

Picture 2: Yo, Elder Sypherd, Elder Argueddas, and Elder Calderon. Arguedas = Gordo Calderon= Poquito Sypherd = Blanco. This is us at the Casa de Presidente Stapley. We were eating Asado. RICO!!!!!

That is all I can load up this week because it is going so slow! But it is great here!!! This week is going to be even better!!! I can feel it!!! I've already been serving for 3 months (1/8 of my entire mission). Time is flying by!! I can't even explain to you the Joy I have doing what I do! It is the strangest thing ever. I go out every day for 10 hours and talk to people and get rejected 90% of the time, but I love it!!! Because that other 10%, people listen and we invite them to change their lives, to improve and to come unto Christ that they may have peace and satisfaction in their lives. I get a front row seat on watching God touch people’s heart so that they change fundamentally who they are in a matter of weeks and become more amazing than they could have previously imagined. I have the best Job on earth!!!!

I love you all very much!!! Pray for all us missionaries out here!! We're working hard and doing our best. And all the good things you do in your lives make a difference. You can be the change in someone’s life for good. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep doing those everyday small acts of kindness and who knows, you might just change someone’s life. I've seen it. It happens!

Les quiero,

Elder Anderson


Here is additional info and pictures about the food in Argentina.

The food here is strange. I can't figure it out- sometimes bland and sometimes super sweet. They hate spicy and only ever season meat with salt and pepper, but it tastes amazing. The other thing is that all they eat is meat. I had my first veggies since getting here Saturday. They take their salads and drench them in olive oil and salt and tomatoes and that is it. They eat super plain and their tortas are like the ones in the Mexican store that we always went to out past Belmar shopping center. Really bready and bland and everything has dulce de leche. Something new I've had a lot of is Tang. No one drinks water. Tang and soda ALWAYS and they have like 50 flavors of Tang. It is crazy! Deep fried or meat everything. It is a wonder everyone here just doesn't keel over dead!!!

Here is a picture of some food we got from a member last week!!! She is pereguano or from Peru. They eat a lot of chicken and rice and potatoes and noodles. Really good! So far my favorite food is from Peru.

The second is me with an avocado from the mission president's yard. The Castillano word for avocado is palta. It is one of the biggest I have ever seen!! Blows my mind! So excited to eat it! Reminds me when we used to sit down and eat avocados with salt plain! So delicious!!

The last picture is me cooking. We had toast with the middle cut out and an egg cooked in it for the buns of a hamburger. It was great. Wanted to die from cholesterol overload afterwards but it was great!



Week 2 in Argentina

Hi Family!!!

This week has been crazy!!!! We have been working REALLY REALLY hard and having some great experiences. This week Elder Hope and I contacted almost 100 people! 94 to be exact!!! It was crazy. We talked to everyone!!!! Of those 94, 31 asked us to come back and talk with them. Of those 31, 10 were actually home, of those 10, 3 actually had time to talk to us, and of those 3, 1 is going to be baptized-Alan on the 5 of November. We told him about the Book of Mormon and started reading with him and his eyes just lit up!!! He was so excited!!! We read with him and his friend Guillermo in 3 Nephi 11 where the Savior comes to the Americas. It is such a beautiful part and both of them expressed how much they loved their Savior. And they wanted to be as close to him, as close as feeling the prints of the nails in the Savior’s hands, as they possibly could. It was an amazing experience. I felt such an incredible power and peace in the room as the Holy Spirit bore such sweet testimony of truth. Because that is what the Spirit does. He gives us that warm and fuzzy feeling when something is right, and we just feel...good. Everything bad seems to ebb away and we are left feeling embraced by the warm arms of deity. It is so beautiful. I would encourage all of you to read the account of Christ coming to the Americas in 3 Nephi 11 and pray to know if this actually happened. If it is for real!!! I have prayed to know. And I have received my answer. That is why I am here. But each of us has the incredible blessing and responsibility to ask and know for ourselves.

So ya. That was the beacon of light and hope this week for me. We walked alot and talked alot, but at the end of the week it was all worth it, because we found 1 person that would listen. What else happened this week? Well I had an Alfahore for the first time. That was incredible. They are like cookie caramel covered in chocolate goodness. WOW!!!! They make my life!!! And Milanesa!!! I think I ate it everyday. Milanesa is like a thin meat, either carne or pollo and they bread it in this super rich breading and it is so rich!!! I love it!!!! But we kinda got too much of a good thing this week with it and now I think this week I’ll be avoiding it. What else? I got a cold. Probably because I went to give this one guy deep in the Villa a handshake, watched him wipe his nose all over his hand and then shake my hand. Ya. Loved that. That was fun. So I'm sick. But that is the life of a missionary I guess.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting and it was really great! I loved it. I could understand almost everything but a few words were still lost in translation. I am getting alot better though!!!! I can feel myself improving as I understand and talk more. It's like a game for me. I like it!!!! So the language isn't really getting me down. I just feel like a child. I see people once in a while yelling at me and I can tell they want me to do something but I can't tell what so I just kinda stare at them- it's fun. Then they get real mad and I hide behind my companion and make him handle it. He loves that!!!

Today was our Preparation day and all was going well till we started playing futbol and I took a pretty good digger and twisted my ankle and jammed all my toes on my left foot pretty darn good. That is going to make for a long week. I have a tree stump for an ankle!!! I´ll take a picture and send it next week. No worries. I think everything is all good. No brake or tears or anything. Just a good old sprain. Nothing like having a sprained ankle and having to walk 10 to 15 miles everyday to keep you real nice and humble. I’m gonna be doing alot of praying I think this week!

So that is week two here in Argentina. Nothing but fun and games!!! We are working hard, trying to eat healthy, and staying optimistic!!! Life is good.

I just keep saying to myself, Look up, step up, cheer up. I can do hard things! AND SO CAN YOU!!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Bowling on Prep Day



The latin Elders are Elders Castillo and Argueddas. Arguedas is the bigger one. And the white guys are Elder Hope on the left, Pratley, and Rhoton on the right.

Argentina!!!! Semana 1. Castillano y otras cosas locas!!!!

October 3, 2011

Argentina!​!!! Semana 1. Castillano y otras cosas locas!!!!

Hola!!!

 I am in Argentina!!!!! It is NOTHING like I imagined it at all. You’ll have to figure out my punctuation and all that. The letters on this key board are written on with a white out marker. So this country is crazy. I am in an area called Avellaneda which is 50% city and 100% awesome!!!! It is completely destroyed! Looks like a bombing just took place with half built and decaying buildings and trash everywhere!!! There are more dogs than people and it just smells like poop ALWAYS!!!! That is what makes it fun though right!!??? So I found out that Porteno and Spanish and Castillano are all different languages and I know none of them. Really just awesome! I can figure out what people are saying most of the time and just smile at them for the rest. The church is strong here and the people everywhere are just awesome. I really like them. They are very humble in this part of Buenos Aires. Most of them live in abandoned warehouses converted into commune type set ups. Most have running water and some have plumbing. The really poor parts are called villas. We have a lot of those in my mission. So ya. That is Argentina. I am on THAT side of the tracks. Most people don’t ever come here I’m told and we don’t go out after dark in the villas. My companion is Elder Hope from the very foreign place of Salt Lake City Utah. He is a great guy and we live on the 16th floor of a tower on the north end of Avellaneda with the zone leaders.

We are white washing this area which means we are both new to the area and Elders haven’t been here for a while. This means we do a lot of contacting and haven’t taught many lessons, but we will!! It is a lot of walking in muddy poopy unpaved and some paved streets. Really interesting.

So here has been my past week. Monday we woke up at 2 am and got ready and headed down to the travel office. Here are the instructions we got. ¨Here is your ticket and give the little envelope to customs and the big one to the name on the envelope when you get to Argentina.¨ That was when I first thought ¨Holy Cow what am I doing?¨ So that was fun and then we got there, everything went fine and we flew to Buenos Aires. I got here Tuesday morning and sweated through customs and got through fine. We got out of the airport and my mission president and his wife were waiting for us. So awesome!!!  It was such a relief! We got to the mission home, ate pizza and empanadas (muy bien) and then got our companions and when to our Pensh or Pension or apartment. So mine is really nice compared to others. No worry mommy, we have hot water and a toilet. And I am happy with it.

Then we got to work. We walk all day and talk to everything that moves!!! So fun to get to know people and talk to them about the Restored Gospel. It makes people happy! Plus they get a kick out of me trying to speak Castillano!!! We got to go to conference except for the priesthood session and it was so great!!! I have very little written down.  Turns out conference in Castillano is hard to understand. So I just watched and smiled as each speaker came up and I imagined what they were saying off of the few phrases I caught here and there. So great.

I love you all! I have to go now!!! I’m working hard and doing my best!!!! Keep praying for me!!! I really need it!!!! You all are the best Chou Chou!!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson

Sept. 22, 2011 Not much going on here. Just the same old boring.....

Sept. 22. 2011

Not much going on here. Just the same old boring.....

Hola Familia!!!!

 So not much happened this week except for the fact that I got my TRAVEL PLANS!!!!!! I'M ACTUALLY LEAVING TO ARGENTINA!!!!!! So here is what it all looks like. I'm flying American Airlines all the way. We meet at the Travel Office here at the MTC Monday all ready to go at 3 AM!!!! That is THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING PEOPLE!!!!!  Turns out God is merciful but sometimes the scheduling department is not. So we leave Monday morning in the madrugada around 3:30ish and our flight leaves at 6:20. We Fly to Dallas Texas and get in there at about 10:00 their time. That is 9:00 mountain time so I'll call home around ten or elevenish! Super excited to talk to you guys!!!! It'll be really cool!! So then we leave Dallas at 2:05 their time and get to New York City, Kennedy airport at 6:40 NY Time. At this point you should all be saying WHAT?!?!?!? Yup we fly salt lake, to Dallas, to NYC, THEN to Buenos Aires. So we then sit at Kennedy for about 3 hours till we leave there at 9:50 pm. We then have the "Blessed Opportunity" to fly all night long, 12 hours, to the Beautiful City of Buenos Aires. We will arrive there at 9:15 am. Needless to say I am peeing my pants excited to be in Argentina and not at all excited for getting there. I don't really do well or sleep at all on planes so this could be SUPER interesting. Oh ya. I forgot to mention that I am also the travel leader for my group. That means I am personally responsible for 14 other missionaries getting all the way to Argentina. So ya...not stressing out about that at all.

So apart from all the travel info coming in and all that, it has been a pretty regular week. By a regular week I mean to say that we were taught by another apostle, Elder Russell M Nelson, I taught another 14 lessons in Spanish that were 40 minutes each, and I didn't say a word of English (okay maybe a few words slipped) for two days straight. Ya. Only in the MTC can that be considered a regular week. It was incredible. Elder Nelson spoke to us about the new October Ensign or monthly publication of the church. This month, the revista is dedicated to the Book of Mormon. I loved reading it! It was so beautiful to hear so many testimonies of the truthfulness and power of this sacred book. For those of you that have never read the Book of Mormon, I'd invite you to get on Mormon.org and order a free copy. Read the introduction and begin reading the book. This book, the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel or "la plentitud del evangelio." I know that we can come closer to God by reading this book than by reading any other book. But you don't have to take my word or anyone else's for that matter. In the book there is a promise. In the book of Moroni, the Book of Mormon is sealed with a Promise. That if you will read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart and real intent and Ask God if it is true, he will tell you that it is. It is the only Book I know of that contains such a promise. If we pray to ask God if it is true with all our heart, HE WILL TELL US! I promise you that same promise. I have asked and received my answer and it has changed my life, now it is your turn.

So that is it, my last email from the USA for the next two years. I leave Monday and I am so EXCITED!!!! God has blessed me so much. I can't even describe how excited I am! So what this means for all of you, is that I will have a new address. My mom has put that up on the blog so ya'll can start mailing to Argentina!!!! I love you all so much. Can't wait to hear from you and can't wait till next week when I get to tell you all about this CRAZY adventure called the mission.

Love,

Elder Anderson

Sept. 15, 2011 Tminus and 11 Days!

Sept. 15, 2011

Tminus 11 Days! 

Hola!!!

So happy to have heard from so many of you lately! I love getting updates on how you and your families are doing!

This week has been another incredible week. I've been thinking a lot about the scripture that says "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10 It's been a week where I've really been able to contemplate, what my relationship is with my God. I know without a doubt that he loves me and knows who I am personally. I am so grateful that he loves me so much, that he was willing to give his son. John 3:16 says God so loved the world, but I want you all to take time to read that scripture and insert your name where it says the world. I can promise you that God knows you and loves you personally. And if you do not know that for yourself, I challenge you to get down on your knees and pray with a sincere heart and real intent. Pray to feel his love for you. I PROMISE that he will answer the sincere prayer of His children. We are Children of a Loving Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love him. Something that I've been impressed with is the mind and the analogy that our mind is like a stage and it can only entertain one thing at a time. It was interesting to me when my Branch President, or Ecclesiastical Leader here, made the comment, "Thoughts can come from three places. They can be your own. They can be impressions of the Holy Ghost, or they can be whisperings of the Devil. As such we must discern in our times of trial which is which. That is where the notion of being still comes in. Be still, and know. Take time to think of where your thoughts come from, and as such, how you should react to each. I've been struggling with not being the great teacher I want to be. Thoughts have come to me that have really burdened me down with self doubt. And yet thoughts have come to me of hope as well. It's been very interesting. That is kinda deep, so sorry if I confused you!

 Other things that happened this week:   Well for one thing I can start counting down on both hands how many days I have left here in the CCM. If all goes as planned I should leave here early in the morning on Monday the 26th. We're really starting to wind things down here and GET PUMPED for flying in a super fast jet plane to ARGENTINA!!!!!!!! I can't really describe to you how excited I am except by saying I just peed my pants from the sheer joy!!!! Just kidding. But really, I've come close a couple of times! I'm going to get there and not understand ANYONE!! That is gonna be way sweet!! And whatever I say will be Hilarious because it will be total gibberish! It is like a dream come true for me! Everyone will think I'm funny!! We haven’t gotten our travel plans yet but they should come tomorrow, so you'll all know by next Thursday all the sweet deets (deets= details).

 Something totally awesome that happened this week was that Elder M. Russell Ballard came and spoke to us! No big deal but I got to hear talks from Apostles twice in the past few weeks! I feel like the luckiest Elder in the world! They have such sure incredible testimonies of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I love listening to them speak and feeling the Spirit they bring with them. They love us all so much! It was interesting to me, Elder Holland has a testimony of Christ that reminds me of the phrase "He is the Lion of Israel" and Elder Ballard has the testimony "Of the meek and lowly Lamb." Such different views and yet, when referring to the Savior, they work in such Harmony!

 I was thinking the other night about my Family after reading in 1 Nephi 1 where Nephi talks about how he was raised by goodly parents. I definitely had the same experience as Nephi. And something that struck me that was REALLY COOL was that when I get back and see my Dad, we can take a picture of both of us wearing our Spanish missionary name tags. So look forward to that Dad! It'll be really cool! You are such a great example to me of being a strong and dedicated missionary! Thank you for being a goodly parent!!

 I love you all and pray for you often. Vaya con Dios!

 Elder Anderson

So Close To Argentina I Can Smell It!!!!

Hola!

So another week has passed here at the CCM and yet again I have little to nothing to complain about! This place is so great. I guess the only downer would be having a cold now for a few weeks that I just can't seem to shake. Other then that, life is good!

So excited to hear about my "Super Mature" and "Grown Up" little sister turning 16! So proud of you Clo! I love ya so much! Just don't date stupid boys now! Boys are lame and they smell bad!! : )

This week has been really interesting to me. I've been studying two themes that are incredibly important to missionary work, repentance and obedience. Our devotionals this week (I don't think this is coincidence) were on repentance and Obedience. I really found some great insights.

Obedience is the first law of the gospel. Meaning that all other laws are predicated or based on our ability to obey. I think of the Israelites, when Moses went up into the mountains for 40 days and upon his return with the tablets containing the commandments he found the Israelites worshiping a calf of gold. If you recall, Moses, seeing this, smashed one of the stone tablets of the law and gave unto the Israelites only the 10 commandments. What incredible and beautiful truths from God did the Israelites miss out on because they were unable to obey and only worship God. Likewise in our lives, how often to we disobey the simple things in life like not lying or having impure and unholy thoughts and miss out on the blessing God WANTS to give us. And now this is where repentance comes in. I challenge everyone to pick one thing in your life, and repent of it. Simply stop and say to yourself "I DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE!"  I think when people think of repentance they think of it only being something for those who sin, and while repentance does cover sin and that is very important, likewise it can cover anything. Bad habits, inconsistencies in our behavior or thoughts that are a little off color can be repented off. For me, this week I repented of always having to be right when it doesn't matter. I said "I will not argue on inconsequential things anymore." It is something small, but for me I have really noticed a difference. My relationships with people in my district and just the overall mood wherever I go seem less contentious. It has been great for me. And on Sunday, I will choose another thing like that to repent of and just stop doing it.

So I hope ya'll got my pictures I sent home!!! I'm real sorry for not taking too many. I'm gonna do better! I promise. The photo printing machines have been broken for the last three week and so I haven’t printed any off but I'll keep sending home SD cards.

This week has kinda been a week of mile stones for me. I finished an entire missionary planner which is for 6 weeks each. That was totally cool. I also finished an entire Journal, 150ish pages since I got here. Apparently I have a lot of thoughts. I don’t think I wrote that much. Kinda suprised me.

Funny story for the week. Elder Wadman in my District and in my room, was called down to the travel office yesterday. If you get to go down to the travel office, generally that means you are leaving. So he gets called down and they tell him "Elder Wadman, they need you in your mission in the Dominican Republic. Please go and pack, you are leaving tonight at 8:30." So he freaks out and is stoked and runs back, tells all us and goes and packs. He comes back to class about four hours later totally packed and ready to go. We were about to start taking a district picture before he left when he got called down to the travel office again. He gets there and the lady looks at him and says "Never mind, you aren't going anymore." Now I love the MTC, and it is a great place, but I would give my left arm to get out of here and get to Argentina. So I can only imagine how much this totally stunk for Elder Wadman. He comes back to the class and breaks the news to us and says another Elder showed up unexpectedly in the Dom Reps and the spot is filled so he is here for another three weeks like the rest of us. Being the kind, considerate, caring people we are, we all start laughing hysterically and tell him how bad it sucks to be him and that was the end of that. Moral of the story. The MTC really plays some SICK AND WRONG jokes on people sometimes.

Hope all is well and you are all doing awesome!!!!!

Vos Amo (But not in a weird romantic kinda way cause I'm a missionary),

Elder Anderson