It's been a while since I wrote a general email!!! Sorry about that! It's been crazy here in Argentina! The week of Christmas I got transferred! That means I switched areas and companions! Now I am in San Vicente with an Elder named Elder Cayata! He is from Salta Argentina and is a Boss! He is really a great missionary! Doesn't speak a word of English! It is a serious learning curve for me! Can't resort back to English when I'm tired or just can't think of the word! I've surprised myself though and can communicate pretty darn well. I'm really proud of the progress I've made.
San Vicente is this little town out in the country. There are about twenty square blocks of paved roads and then the dirt roads take over and you get a whole mix of country folk. It is kind of a funky town. There are still alot of ranchers and sheepherders here with their families, but it is also kind of the cool place to have a summer home if you have a ton of money and live in Buenos Aires. So we'll be biking down a road and see a brick and tin hut with 8 people inside surrounded by cows and horses and then half a block more is literally a mansion with tennis courts and a pool and a BMW in the drive way. It is a town caught between two very different worlds. I really like it though. The Church here is small. About twenty to thirty people come every Sunday, but they love the gospel and have incredible faith. It is cool. We are kinda like pioneers here. We have seen alot of success too. It is really cool to talk to these people that are so humble and just love to talk about the Gospel because it is all they know. It really is cool.
I've been studying alot of Talks from the General Conference of the church lately and I've realized how amazing it is to have living prophets. It is a concept that is really hard to grasp for some people. We know that we have a Prophet, a man called of God to hold all the priesthood keys to actualize all the ordnances of the gospel here on the earth. A man that talks with God like Abraham or Moses, that gives us guidance for us, now, today. It is a huge blessing. I love the Scripture in Amos 3:7 that says "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." God loves us so much that he is not going to leave us in this world without a guide. Another light in the darkness. God is so merciful to us.
Oh ya! FELIZ NAVIDAD Y AÑO NUEVO!!!!! Christmas here was great! We ate miga and meatballs and Alfahors and Milanesa and Bonbons and then we had Pomelo to "Brindar"! It was great. Honestly didn't feel like Christmas without my family but it was Christmas none the less! The greatest gift I got was to hear my family on Monday and talk to them for about an hour. It was a surreal amazing experience. While serving the mission you try so hard to stay focused on the work and what you are doing , but always in the back of your mind is your family, and the thought that all this is so short and will end and you'll see them soon. It was crazy to talk to them and be reminded of that all over again. At the end of this month I'll be a fourth of the way through the mission. It is going really fast for me. Not for my dear mother, but for me it is. I loved talking to them and hearing that they are all doing amazing. Each and every one of them are such incredible people and are examples to me in every aspect of my life. It really was amazing talking to them. I pretty much just cried the whole time and everytime I heard the voice of one of my siblings or Mom or Dad it was just a wave of Happiness. I am so blessed to have such an incredible family. That is why, honestly, I am here so far away. Because I can see the blessings in our life from this gospel and I want that so badly for everyone else! I'm willing to give up being with them and talking to them for two years so that someone else can have the same thing I have. IT IS SO WORTH IT!!!! I love you all so much and am so grateful for all you do from me in my life. God bless you in this new year with all you have planned. Always remember him. He doesn't like getting pushed to the bottom of your priority list!
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas,
Love,
Elder Anderson
Leaving Avellaneda
Holiday Treats
Holiday packages have arrived!
Christmas stockings from the Corneliuses
Festive Christmas tie
Corn nuts "manna from heaven"
Puppy!
Elders riding off into the sunset (who's taking the picture)?
Multitasking-riding and studying Spanish
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