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