Week 16: good sunsets and new poly neighbors

Hey everyone! Imma keep it real short this week because this week has been crazy and I'm exhausted haha. Not bad crazy, good crazy! But Wednesday was probably the most crazy. We were definitely the most full from our 6 enchiladas And also the sunset was real good too. I'll add a pic of it. 

We met some awesome new people that were soooo excited to start teaching! One named Olga who is a referral from the English sisters! She's talked to missionaries before and loved the messsge but she said she felt like they were pressuring her to get baptized really quick and she didn't want to yet. But we taught her 3 times this week and it was so great! She's soaking up everything we talk to her about and she loves the Book of Mormon. She didn't come to church this week bc she was taking care of her sick grandson, and then she got sick. But we have set lessons with her on Tuesday's and Thursday's now so we'll be seeing her a lot! 

Angelo is getting baptized this Saturday by his older brother and were so excited for them! Alex helped bless the sacrament for the first time this Sunday and it was so awesome to see how much their family is progressing! Ahhh! Also maritza and abram are solid too. He's baptizing her the weekend after and she's so excited about it and it's so cute. Their family is already planning the after party for her baptism and it's hilarious. 

Saturday the elders called about a family moving in from West Jordan and they needed help! We were expecting latinos but they were Samoan! And probably the funniest people I've ever met. They knew laree soifua from byu Hawaii! She's their niece! So they were excited that I knew her too. And then this dude with a cello was walking down the street and they got him to come give us a concert in their garage. Weirdest but funniest thing ever. 

We also had a bunch of meetings yesterday about getting our English classes started in the stake! The stake president also had the idea to start finance and budgeting classes for everyone as well. These both are going to help the people in the community so much! There's so many people that we meet and come in contact with that have lived in the US for 20+ years and still don't know any English! Granted, there's so many Hispanics in the area that it's so easy for them to get around with out it. But lots of them have the desire to learn they just don't know how! So we're hoping that this helps bring the community together and helps us also find more people to teach! The finance classes were also really excited about. It's crazy how many times you see people with huge flatscreen TVs and the newest phones but they have a hard time paying their rent or having money to put food on the table. The stake presidency is so on it in this stake and it's awesome! They're organizing everything with us and are going to make stake callings for people to teach these classes and help people find jobs and stuff. We're pumped! 

Here's some pics! Les amo mucho! 

Hermana Anderson

Playing on those phone things at a playground 

Angelos brother Andrew. He's our fav. 

Dude playing the cello for us haha.

Selfie during the cool sunset 

Week 15: lista para verano

Hey everyone! Hope y'all had a great week! It was another good one over here in West Jordan.

Monday was a pretty chill pday for the most part. We always play soccer with the other elders in our district/zone. More than half are latinos and latinos looovvveeee soccer haha. And then we went out to find this less active family who nobody knows and thinks they may have started going to a Catholic Church nearby. We found the daughter like 2 weeks ago and set up a time to come back and be with the whole family so we were hoping they were all there. We walked up and the parents and their friends were outside talking and so we went up to see if it was them and it was! They were soooo cool y'all. Just nice down to earth people. So we talked to them for a while about the Super Bowl and then that led into soccer.lol. But then we started talking to them about church stuff and they were like yeah we're inactive and we wanna come back, and we're like y'all! You can do it! We can help you! And then they were like nahhh maybe another time. But we invited them to start reading the Book of Mormon as a family and they said we could come by another day that week. 

Tuesday we had interviews with president palmer. He's so amazing y'all, he's probably one of the wisest people  I've ever met. But then after our interviews we went to find this girl Liz we've been teaching. She's had a hard life and has 2 adorable little kids. We usually teach her out on the porch but she let us in this time which is huugggeee! She's been opening up to us a lot lately. But we taught her and her youngest son about the restoration, and she remembered everything from when the elders taught her a while ago! We were really surprised because sometimes it seems like she doesn't remember/know too much. But she knew a lot about Jospeh smith and the Book of Mormon, and we brought her an English BOM because she understands reading in English better. Were really pumped about Liz though, she has so much potential! Then later that night we had a lesson with Maritza! She's getting baptized on march 4th!! And her husband Abram is getting the preisthood so he can baptize her! Soooooo excited y'all! They already have plans to go do baptisms at the temple as a family after she gets baptized. They are so ready and it's so awesome to see them so happy. 

Wednesday it was sooooooo nice outside. Like I've missed the sun so much! We only had to bring light jackets! It was mostly just a bunch of finding though, which I wasn't bad about bc it was so nice out. 

Then Thursday, some elders in our zone texted us saying an awesome family from their ward was moving into our area! So we met up with them at their new house and helped them move a few things inside and talked to them for a while. They're really awesome! We're excited to have them in our ward. Then we went and found some more people and then had dinner with this awesome Chilean family. Then the wife came with us to a lesson with mirko and his daughter who are very inactive. The lesson was so Good! They came to church the last Sunday! They only stayed for sacrament, but still it was huge. Then we talked to them for a sec about how their reading and praying was good and they're good about praying but not reading. So we read a little bit in the scriptures with them and then invited them to start doing it together as a family! We gave his daughter a kids BOM so it would be easier for her. 

Friday we had district meeting and that's always good! My new district is soooo fun as well. So that makes it even better. An elder in our district gave an awesome training on charity! Then we had lunch and then headed out again. We met with maritza again and taught her about the priesthood and how important it really is! She's so excited to get baptized. Then we did some more finding and then met with Stephanie! She's slowly but surely progressing. Her sister and friend sat in with us, and last time we met with her, we talked about how she wanted to know more about Christs life. So this time we shared the parable of the Good Samaritan and how it's important to serve everyone, not just the people we like! So we invited them to think about ways they could serve people, and then the next time we came back we would talk about a service project we could do. 

Saturday honestly sucked a little. First when we were opening the garage door to leave, it had been warm and sunny all week, and then we looked outside and there was snow on the ground again! So dumb! Apparently it snowed again over night. But luckily it melted by the end of the day. We found Liz and invited her to church, and then like 3 other lessons we had set that day fell through. So we went and tried to find la familia Hernandez. The one who went to the temple and loved it, but didn't feel the need to pray about anything we were talking about. So we stopped by to see how they were bc after our last lesson when we read in 2 nefi 31, they said they'd call us when they "were free". Which obviously wasn't gonna happen. So the mom answered the door and said that she was soooo busy and she was cooking right then, and how her daughters always had plans so they couldn't find a time to meet with us again and how they were catholic and they would always be catholic. She said she loved our message and loved the Book of Mormon but she still wanted to be Catholic. She threw in a few more times that they were really busy and couldn't meet with us anytime soon but that she would call us if she needed anything. So we just bore our testimonies and told her how much we loved her and left it at that. We will probs go by again next week though lol. We aren't that easy to get rid of. Then right after that we went to this referrals house and he proceeded to open the door and yell at us. (Funny story tho, the night before we knocked on his door, and it looked like a car was about to pull into his driveway, but then it sped up really fast right as it was about to pull in. Then when we were down a couple houses we saw it pull into the driveway lol) anyway we asked if he's talked to missionaries or heard our message and he says that missionaries always come to his house but he's happy as he is and didn't want to change. So we told him of the peace and joy that comes through Jesus Christ and then he told his this story about how he lost his job that he had for 20 years and then he found an even better one, and we were like well we promise that if you give our message a chance you'll find so much more happiness, but he insisted that he was already happy. Then he told us why he didn't like members of the church. He said that some people he knew made their kids go to church, and then he worked with a really awkward RM who got married really fast. Lol this guy was hilarious, his arguments made no sense and you could Jusr tell he was mad at the world. So we just were like okay well we invite you to come closer to Christ in your own way this week by reading the Bible or praying or something, and then he was like no, I've never read the Bible and I'm never going to. And then slammed the door. Lol it was so interesting. Then we tried to find some more referrals but nobody was home.

Sunday pumped us up! We had a stake meeting about starting English and finance classes every week. The senior couple is going to be over it and they're starting on march 1! So excited! And then we had an awesome ward council meeting, which apparently they're never good. Then we went and tried to get Liz for church, and her mom let us in so we could wake her up but she was so dead asleep. We tried shaking her and yelling and tickling her feet but nothing worked! So she didn't come, but we had other people there. Then after church we went to rosas house for lunch! I love them sooo much. Her oldest son Alex got the preisthood so we set angelos baptism date for the 25th of feb! He's pumped and it's so cute. Then we went and found some more people then had dinner ( the lady made some awesome flan omg) and then we had an FHE with this less active family in the ward! We talked about the restoration and then at the end we had them draw out their favorite part. They got kinda competitive with their drawings and they were all really good! 

Everything is going great and the sun is starting to come out more and more! This week is supposed to be in the high 50's 🏾🏾 hope everyone has a great week! 

Pretty sunset

Another pretty sunset 

Selfies outside the church building 

I was happy to find some grass without snow finally 

Found scooby 

Week 14: West Jordan best Jordan

Hola everyone! This week has been so fast. I can't believe that it's already Monday again!! I got transferred from magna last Tuesday to the oquirrh point 5th ward and my new companion is Hermana Warden! I knew her from zone activities last transfer and she is awesome. We have such a good time together haha. 

Anyway last Monday we went to top golf and then played sports with some other missionaries in the zone. Then afterwards avalos and I went to go say goodbye to some people we were teaching and some other families in the ward. When we went to say goodbye to la familia de Leon, they had this baby deer in their yard that a bunch of neighbors were petting and stuff!!! Super weird.. so I petted it, and then it followed one of their neighbors into their garage down the street. Sooo that was definitely an interesting experience. Then we talked with them for a while and shared a message. Then we went to see Jade. Her whole family got mono this past week so they've been super sick which really stinks. But we went to go say goodbye to her and her family as well. Magna was such an awesome first area and I'm gonna miss it a lot, but it's great to be over here in West Jordan. 

Tuesday morning was a little crazy. We had to meet up at the zone building for transfers and wait for my new comp hermana warden to come and pick me up. Hermana Warden had to drop her old comp off at a different zone building bc She was going to the other Spanish zone. So she eventually came and we went to our house. We live in the basement of a member family. They're pretty chill. So I came and unpacked a little and then we headed off to find some referrals that we had recent,y been given. The area I'm in now is a walking area and it's soooo fun! It's basically this gigantic area full of houses, and then our area goes across a highway and there's some more houses. It's definitely a nicer part of town than magna, but there's still so much work to do none the less. So we found a couple of them and set up some appointments for later in the week. Then for dinner we went to this inactive lady's house who is soooo awesome! Their family is my favorite of all time seriously. She's married to a non member guy who's pretty nice but isn't too interested in the church. Then she has 4 sons, one who is about to turn 16, one who's 10, one who's 5, and a baby. All of the sons are sooooo sweet. Alex who is about to turn 16 wants to be able to baptize Angelo, who is the 10 year old, soon. They have been coming back to church for the past month and you can see how it's made a difference in their lives. But we had dinner with them and she made these ammaaazzziinnggg flautas. Amazing. She says her dream is to become a chef after her kids are all grown up. I'd say she's well on her way to that haha. And then after dinner we shared a message with them about the 10 commandments and taught them little signs to remember them all! We had 2 other lessons that night. One was with this lady named Lola. She got baptized about a year ago but you'd never know that. She doesn't remember hardly anything about the church or the lessons that she was getting taught by the elders before. So we've been working with her and she's super confused. We testified of the Book of Mormon and how if she reads it, she can find all of her answers and she can feel that peace in her life that she needs. We also talked about prayer and how through prayer we can talk to god, and he can talk to us. It's a 2 way communication! She still had some problems and felt like her prayers weren't being answered, so we invited her to pray about the Book of Mormon and the things she has questions about. Then after Lola, we went to visit a family who was a referral that we got from temple square a few weeks back. They'd taught them the plan of salvation and the restoration already so we were thinking of talking about baptism with them. And so, they are probably the most catholic people I've ever met. But the thing is they're not religiously catholic, they're culturally catholic. So they just grew up with the mindset that they are catholic and they will always be catholic. They don't go to church really ever but they have this huge picture of Guadeloupe (Virgin Mary) in their living room with lights and candles around it and stuff. So anyway we went to talk to them, and Warden and her other comp gave them a BOM the week before and they read a bunch! All the way to 2 nefi 20! But as we were talking we were baring testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and they literally agreed with everything we said! Then as we were talking about the Book of Mormon, we invited them to pray about it and pray if the things we were talking about were true. But they didn't want to? It was weird. We tried to ask about their concerns but they didn't feel like they needed to pray about it for some reason. Idk. Son we just asked them to keep reading.

Wednesday was a lot of finding. We have a ton of referrals here. And we're walking, so it takes a while to actually find them. But it was great! And then we had a lesson with this less active lady Reyna. We talked to her about the plan of salvation and tied it in to family history! The spirit was really strong in our lesson and she was really excited to start doing family history so that she could get to the temple and do baptisms for her family! Then we had dinner with this awesome family in the ward, and then we did some more finding referrals. That was basically it haha. 

Thursday we went and found some more after our weekly planning sesh, and then we met with this lady named maritza! She's so good. She's not a member but her husband is less active and trying to come back and get the preisthood. And it's nice because they live with his family who are all very active in the church and they have gospel discussions a lot. But she is amazing! She's definitely been prepared and she's looking forward to getting baptized and eventually getting sealed to her husband and 2 little kids after that. The only reason they haven't picked a date for her to be baptized yet is because she wants her husband to baptize her and he's working on getting the priesthood still and they don't know when he will be able to yet.  And we also got some good news from the bishop Sunday! So apparently her husband met with the bishop and he will be getting the priesthood next Sunday and he will be able to baptize his wife really really soon! 🏿 

Friday we had a zone training! And we also found out that avalos (my old comp) and her new comp were made STLs over our zone and a few other sisters in the other Spanish zone. Bc our zone only has 2 sets of sisters and the other one has 7, they're helping the other STLs work with their sisters. Then after zone training we found a less active lady and shared Because of Him and talked with her for a while. She was really cute. Then we went to Rosas house again and and talked to her and Angelo for a while. Then we read the scriptures with them and encouraged them to keep reading as a family bc it would bring them closer together! Then after them we had dinner with the relief society president and her daughter. They're from Venezuela! And she made Arepas, and that's like classic venezuelan meal. It's like this bread roll thing but its thin, and you slice it open and put meat and cheese in it and omg it's so good! But they are so awesome. Then at night after we had a lesson with a guy who's been less active for a while and has had problems with the church in the past. So we talked with him for a while and talked about how we can find peace in our lives through the gospel! And then we had a bunch of other lessons Friday night back to back and we were literally running from house to house so that we could have time to actually teach them haha. 

Saturday was a little crazy too. We had a ton of lessons and actually managed to talk to some people who never ever answer the door! We met with the Hernandez family again, the really catholic ones, and they hadn't really done anything we asked them to do. So we read in 2 nefi 31 with them and talked about the Holy Ghost and baptism with them. We are going to try and set up another time to meet with them and go back to temple square for a lesson there! Then we had another lesson with Lola that was interesting as well. Also, kinda off topic, but me and warden had this great idea to carry around this 15 lb. rock to work out our arms while we're walking and we've gotten some weird looks from people on the street. And these kids on bikes came to talk to us and they were just like "why are you carrying that rock? That's weird." Kinda funny. 

Sunday was great! I got to meet the ward and like seriously this ward is huge! It's bigger than the peachtree city ward. Soooo many people but they're all so awesome! Hermana Warden even met someone that served in the same mission and at the same time as her parents who served in spain! That was really cool for her. Testimony meeting was super powerful and we had quite a few people at church so we were so happy! Then we went to Rosas house for late lunch. She got mad at us because we skip meals sometimes during the day bc we're so busy and don't have time to go back home to get food. So she made us some awesome tacos and we talked to them about missionary work! We invited Angelo, Andrew, and Alex to be examples to their friends at school and for the family to pray about people in their life that may need the gospel! They are an awesome family and I'm so excited for what's to come with them. 

Well y'all I hope everyone had a great week! Remember that God loves you and hears your prayers! 

Con amor, 

Hermana Anderson 

This cool ice sickle tree we found

This interesting plant shrine thing we saw in a driveway haha

The sun came out and I had to take a picture so I could remember what it looked like

My eyes are basically closed, but we were happy to see the sun 

Good times with Warden 

Week 13: mi ultima semana en milagro magna

Hey y'all! This week was really really crazy. And also I'm getting transferred out of miracle magna . It's been an amazing 7 weeks and I'm sad to leave, but I'm excited for the transfer to come. 

Last Monday was a super fun pday! We rented these big hamster ball things and played soccer with them. I'll attach a pic at the end. But yeah it was super fun! We had some gnarly whiplash and some bruises at the end but it was worth it. And then after the pday activity, we got a call saying our car was finished! So we don't have to walk in the snow anymore wooo! So we went and picked up our car and had dinner with a less active lady in the ward that made some super good enchiladas. Then we had a lesson with la familia De Leon about the importance of church, prayer, and scriptures and how they help build up our testimony. My companion hermana Ávalos knows a ton of object lessons and so with this one we used 3 cups, 3 knives, and a book. Then they had to try to fit the 3 knives together on top of the cups and make them strong enough to hold up the weight of the Book! So they tried and it didn't work. But my comp showed them how and it worked! It was pretty cool.

Then on Tuesday we had our studies, and then after we were going though our phone and relized we didn't know like half of the people in there. So we decided to call all of the investigators we didn't know and we actually got 2 new ones out of it! Their names are Eva and Francisco and they're a mom and son. They were meeting with missionaries a while ago when elders covered this area and they loved them, but then one day they just stopped coming so they were pretty excited to meet with us. We had a lesson with them at the church building and taught them about the restoration. Sue had soooooo many questions, but they were all really good questions. So at the end she was like yeah I don't really see how this is any different from any other church. They all preach about god and Christ and their love for us just like y'all do. So then we brought in the Book of Mormon and we both shared our testimonies about it and the spirit was soooo strong! It was really cool. You could just see in their eyes how excited they were to read it. So we gave them one at the end and invited them to pray about it. Then before we got a chance to tell them about church, Francisco was like so what time does your church start? We want to come! And we were both like OMGGGG YES WE START AT 1!! It was so cool y'all I'm pumped for them. 

Then Wednesday we had the worldwide missionary broadcast where they talked about the new missionary schedule! That was really nice. We get an extra 30 min to get ready in the morning and we plan in the morning now instead of at night when we get home so that we can get more sleep if we need it. Then we also get an extra 2 hours on pday as well to get more things done! The new schedule lets missionaries be flexible with their studies and meals so that they can be more efficient in teaching those people in their areas. God bless modern revelation! Then later after the broadcast we got lunch at CFA with our zone and then headed to a lesson. We taught a less active lady that really wants to be re activated but never comes to church. We taught her about the plan of salvation and then she said how she wanted to get to the temple so she can do the work for her ancestors! So we set up another time with her next week to do some family history. 

Then on Thursday we had a lesson with Itzy and she's still just so awesome. Her friend Alicia was sick so she wasn't able to join us again. But it's all good. Itzy was really busy cooking for her family that was coming over later so we helped her and then shared a message with her about how God knows our potential as people, we just have to let him into our lives and do his will! Then later we had our last lesson with Elida before her interview and she is just soooooo awesome. She was so excited to get baptized! Then later that night we had a ward activity where we played volleyball and soccer. Haha man it got kinda competitive but it was soooooo fun. There were a bunch of people that came and a lot of them were less actives that we are reaching and we had a few investigators too! #wardunity 

Friday we had our last district meeting. They were such a great first district in the mission. Then after the meeting Elida had her baptismal interview with our district leader and she passed with flying colors! Then we made district lunch together one last time and then went to this hill that over looks the salt lake valley and took some pictures. After that we had a lesson with our investigator Jazmine. She's been taking lessons from missionaries for 4 years! But she hasn't felt very good/ready about getting baptized yet. We had her on date when me and hermana messico taught her on exchanges but she fell off date bc she hasn't been to church in our ward yet (bc she just moved over here and was attending the other ward). But we were talking to her and she knows like everything. She knows that gospel so well! But she said she still didn't know about it. So we just decided that maybe it would be a good idea if we went over the baptismal questions with her to show her that she was ready and she had everything she needed! And so we war over everything with her and she was keeping all of the commandments and had a testimony of Joseph Smith and everything! We just told her that all she needed to do was start coming to church every Sunday and she would feel that comfort and reassurance she needed in her life. So we invited her to pray about a date that she felt good about and we would talk to her next week. 

Saturday we had transfer calls and we totally thought hermana Ávalos would leave bc she's already been here for 5 months and that's really unusual for this mission. People usually get moved every 2 or 3 transfers. But I'm going to West Jordan with hermana Warden! She's super cool. She's in the other sister companionship in the zone (there's only 2 haha) but I'm pumped! And I'm gonna be walking in this area... so that's, be an adventure. But then after transfer calls we went to get sushi with avalos' old companion! And then we had an appointment with a lady in the ward. She told us on Sunday that she wanted us to come to her house around 1 so we were like okay will do! But we didn't know if it was for food or if she needed to talk to us about something or what. So we showed up and the table was all set and plates piled high... with dessert too..lol that was a struggle but the food was great and she's such an awesome lady. Then after was the best part! Elida got baptized! ️️️ the spirit was soooo strong and so many people from the ward showed up! It was so amazing and her and her kids are going to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms. Ahhhhh I'm so excited for them. 

Then on Sunday we went to church and Eva and Francisco came! Our new investigators. Then jazmine and her family came as well, along with a lot of less actives we are reaching too. Then Elida got confirmed and it was so great. Then we had dinner with la familia Rodriguez and they are so cute! They have 5 little girls and they are wiiiillllldddddd. But so cute. Then we went and visited a few people in he ward bc I'm leaving tomorrow to West Jordan. It's funny bc we all thought Ávalos would leave but she's still here! Crazy. 

Anyway I hope y'all have a great week! 

Con amor, 

Hermana anderson 

Elidas baptism 

Jumping pic with the district 

Mi mexicana 

Deportes fam 

West side forever 

Pday activity hahaha 

week 12 - no estoy muriendo, pero hace frio

Hey y'all! It was a short week this week but busy none the less.

We had pday on Wednesday this last week bc of our zone going to the temple. We went to the oquirrh mountain temple which was sooo beautiful! Then we had Chick-fil-A for lunch afterwards. Apparently they have a missionary discount at the Chick-fil-As around here and it was like $3 ️🏼 sooooo good. Then we went home and did the usual and went to a zone activity later where we played volleyball and soccer. The after we had dinner with the xochipa family who are awesome. And then we had a lesson with Eduardo and Maria again who we went to temple square with them last week. 

Thursday was pretty good too. We had a lesson planned with Itzy and Alicia that morning but it turned out to only be itzy. Alicia had to work last minute so we didn't get to follow up on the Book of Mormon we gave her. But we brought hermana Pacheco with us who's a member in our ward. She's so cute. But we talked to her about miracles and seeing the lords hand in our lives. We shared a scripture with her in alma about miracles too (I forgot where it was) but she loved that scripture and said she would start to look for the miracles in her life every day. Then after that lesson we did weekly planning and then went and did some service for an inactive lady in the ward who's single and has 6 kids  but she's so funny. We also went so we could help her clean her house and sweep and mop and everything. Then for our dinner apt we had dinner with Stephanie and her family! Her step mom is from Colombia and she made some super good food. We're starting to develop a better relationship with her dad which was pretty hard in the beginning bc he was always judging us and being kinda closed off. But now he is opening up a lot more and is being really nice to us! We shared a scripture with them after and asked if they had any friends or neighbors who might want the gospel and they gave us some friends who live in west valley. That isn't in our area but we passed it on to the missionaries over there. 

Friday was crazy! We had a lesson with Jazmine in the morning. She was the one we got from the elders a while ago who was almost baptized. But we have been teachimg her and she's opening up more to us. She was really shy in the beginning and now she talks a lot more. But we brought a member with us this time, Hermana Swenson, she has 2 kids the same age as hers so they were able to play while we talked with her! We talked about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Then right in the middle of that her baby daddy came in and made things super awkwArd and uncomfortable again. The elders teach him bc he lives in their area and he's got some problems. But we finished up with her and invited her to pray about the Book of Mormon and Jospeh smith and she said she would! Then later that night after dinner we helped some elders in our district with an apartment complex they have. They had soooooooo many referrals in there. Like so many. So there were like 3 other companionships and we knocked all the doors in the whole place and found their referrals and even got some more for them! It was super fun because we normally don't knock doors bc it's Utah, but surprisingly there were hardly any members in this place and if they were they were less active! So we got a lot of appointments set up for them and the English elders in their area too. 

On Saturday morning our car started having some problems so our vehicle coordinator told us to take it into the dealership asap. So we did and for the next little bit we're walking! I didn't realize how spoiled we were with our car until we were walking in the snow all day in 26 degree weather  soooooooo cold. Omg. The English elders in our area texted us later and asked why we were walking and we told them that our car got stolen lol. They believed us too  it was a good joke. But yeah so walking in our area is a little harder because our area is pretty big. For y'all who live in the peachtree city ward boundaries, that's about how big our area is that we're covering. It's huge for walking. So we group a lot of referrals that we had in different areas so we've been contacting them based on the area that they live in. Its kinda fun though! I'd be down to walk all the time when it gets warmer. 

Then on Sunday we had some meetings and church! Church was great! We had quite a few people at church this week so that's really good. Hermana Ávalos had to translate a talk up on the stand bc members of the high counsel were speaking. She did a good job! She was having a hard time bc the guy she was translating for used a lot of big complicated words. But it all made sense what she said! So that's great. Then we had dinner with the relief society president and her husband and family. They're crazy but they're so awesome. Me and Ávalos both (on accident but not a coincidence) studied in alma 31 that morning. So we shared verse 35 and it's soooo good y'all! 

35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.

We talked about how each and every one of us are gods children and he wants the best for us in our lives. Each person in our lives are there for a reason and when we see them as our brothers and sisters under Heavenly Father and have that mindset we can be instruments in the lords hands and help bring them to Christ! So we invited them to pray this week to be instruments in the lords hands for someone in their lives whether it be at school or at work or something. It's so important for us to look at eachother the way that god looks at us! He sees us for our potential and knows we can change for the better in our lives. 

I hope y'all have a great week! God loves y'all! 

Con queso, 

Hermana anderson 

Found this while walking haha, it says "space squad" 

Made a snowman at the dealership 

Selfies with Ashley

District lunch! We all cooked this week! 

Our district! Left to right ( me, Ávalos, elder Simpson from Georgia, elder Jacobe from Germany, elder flores from Mexico, and elder Rodriguez from Colorado) 

Dead after a long day haha 

Week 11- semana loca y larga

Hey y'all I hope everybody had a great week. This week has been so long because we went to the temple today so our pday got moved to Wednesday instead of Monday. So we've been going a while without a break! But this week was amazing seriously! 

Monday we just had a chill pday. Then we went to la familia de Leon's house to teach them a lesson! All of their kids have been baptized, but since the parents had some legal troubles with getting married they haven't been able to get baptized yet. But it's really weird because they have callings in church and they have given talks. But anyway their legal problems have been fixed and they are thinking about getting married soon. We went and talked to them about the plan of salvation and how through the atonement we will all be able to live with our families and heavenly father again after this life. They are awesome and they are probably going to get married soon!! Then after that lesson, we had a lesson with Jade! She got baptized this Saturday!! more about that in a second . 

On Tuesday we had zone conference with both of the Spanish zones. It was so amazing!! The theme was on the plan of salvation and how we can teach it to our investigators in a more simple way. We talked about every little detail of the plan of salvation so that we could  understand it on a deeper level. Then with this knowledge President said that we would better be able to simplify it so that they could understand it! It was soooooo cool man. I love president palmer. Then after zone conference you went home and had lunch and then we got Jade's baptism information together so that we could send it to the bishop! It was a little stressful but we got it done. Then we had another lesson with la familia Manrique. The daughter Stephanie is nine years old and she hasn't been baptized yet because of some family problems. But we've been teaching her and she's learning a lot! She's so cute. with the things that are going on  her family, she won't be able to get baptized for a while but we're still able to teach her and help her learn about the gospel!

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the sister training leaders. They are awesome! I stayed in magna and hermana Messisco came here with me. She served here a year ago so she was super pumped to see the people in her ward. But y'all, this day was completely packed! I was so nervous to be here without Ávalos because since she drives, I don't know my way around and I don't really know where anybody lives. But it all worked out OK! We had about an hour in the beginning where we didn't have anything confirmed. So we went to go visit this less active family that we teach sometimes. They've been active and in active for a long time. But the last time me and Avalos went to go visit her she said that she really really wanted to come back to church and to feel the spirit more in her life. So when Hermana Messisco came with me to this lesson we just talk to her and got to know her a little bit more. Because usually whenever we go see her, she usually talks to Avalos because she's Latina and knows Spanish way better than I do. She's an awesome lady! We talk to her about her baptism and what she felt whenever she got baptized, and we talked about the baptismal covenants that we make whatever we are baptized. We then read a little bit out of Mosiah 18 and invited the rest of her family to read it together! It was suuuccchhh a great lesson y'all. The whole family was there, and I've never met them all before. So it was great to have them all in the discussion. The. After that lesson we went to drop off a gift for a pregnant lady in the ward. She's so adorable and they're naming their baby Nirvana. Lol. The dad really loves that band. And then we went to a new investigators house that we got last week from the elders who was almost baptized but backed out at the last minute. It was kinda weird and then her baby daddy showed up and the elders told us some crazy stories about him. He kinda made the whole situation uncomfortable so we just testified of repentance and baptism and we were there for a long time bc he just talked and talked and talked. But we invited the girl, jasmine to be baptized on feb 18th and she said yes! So we're working with her and her family rn. Then after we had dinner and had some bomb tacos at this lady's house. Like BOMB tacos y'all. We found this scripture last week in alma 26:2-3. It talks about the blessings of the gospel and how we are so lucky to have it in our life's! It also talks about how other people live in darkness and sadness because they don't know of the wonderful gift of the atonement and Jesus Christ. So this scripture has been helping members get into a mindset of missionary work and coming out with us/helping us get referrals! So good.

Then on Thursday we had one more lesson in the morning with itzy. She's been less active for a while. But she just recently had a friend move into her basement from Mexico for the next 6 months (!!!!!!) and she is super awesome y'all. Her name is Alicia and she loooovvveeess Jesus. She said she liked seeing the missionaries around Mexico because she knew that they were giving their lives for the next few years to the lord and she really admired that. So we got to talking about Christ and how he's played a role in our lives and it was great! Then we were talking about prayer and I shared James 1:5 and we talked a little bit about that and then hermana Messisco brought up the Book of Mormon! Alicia had never heard about it but she said she loved the Bible. She asked us if she could get a copy and read it and we were like OMG YES OF COURSE! She's great. So we're excited to teach her again this week! Then we met up and ended exchanges and Ávalos and I did weekly planning. Then we met with jade and Miguel. Jade was awesome as always. We had a lesson planned for Miguel that might but it didn't end up going as planned. He's been having some hard times recently because he's away from his family who's in Mexico and he's the only member. So we helped him with that and shared this cool video that Ávalos had saved on her iPad. It was about getting through trials and how Christ knows exactly how to help us and give us peace when we're going through hard stuff. 

Friday was chill. We had district meeting and then contacted referrals for most of the day. Then we had jades baptismal interview and she passed!! 

Saturday was JADES BAPTISM!!! She's so cute y'all. I freaking love her. Ávalos' old comp came that helped teach her too and jade was so happy to see her. The service was so spiritual and amazing. The best part was that jades dad was able to baptize her after being inactive for a long time! I'm telling y'all anyone can come back. Afterwards she got really emotional and normally she's crazy and hyper so we really knew that she felt it. I've never been so excited for someone ever! She told us that she wants to get to the temple asap so that's her next goal. Also her family has been inactive for a long time so they were never sealed. So the family will be working on getting to the temple all together too! 

Sunday jade was confirmed at church by her grandpa, who's the Spanish stake patriarch, and it was also so great. She was so pumped to be an official member after that! She even gave the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. Ugh she's so cuter! 

Monday was a struggle bc our bodies were used to it being pday. But it wasn't. Haha. But we contacted another referral that we got from the elders who also knew another investigator from a while ago. So that was cool!  But they weren't that interested so it's all good. Then we visited this lady that has some super bad health problems and isn't able to go to church because of them. So we talked to her for like a super long time and she was super happy about that. Then we had a lesson with Elida who is getting baptized on the 28th! She's so pumped too. Her kids were baptized a year ago and they have plans to go to the temple and do baptisms together the first week of feb. 

Then on Tuesday we did some service for this less active lady, and then our dinner cancelled on us so she fed us dinner too! She's sooooooo nice. We were able to have a lesson with her family as well and we talked about how God loves us so much and he knows our potential as people and he wants to help us! We just have to let him. Then we had a lesson with the familia Manrique again about the word of wisdom and it was great. Their family is really opening up to us so we're really excited for them! 

Anyway here's some pics! I hope y'all have a great week! Heavenly Father loves y'all! 

Oh ps. I forgot to say we went to temple square this week too! Right before we had posole for dinner and most of the time you out lettuce in it. Lettuce and hot liquid makes you super tired, at least that's what my Mexican comp says. AND SHE WAS SO RIGHT LOL. I was sooo dead at temple square and I swear the people that we went with were speaking Chinese or something bc my brain wasn't working and I couldn't understand them lol. Learn from my mistakes and don't eat lettuce and soup before something important! Haha

Con amor,

Hermana anderson 

Oquihrr mountain temple this morning! 

Temple square this week! 

After temple square when I look dead as ever. But Mexican snacks!!

Jades baptism ️️️️

With her dad 

Zone conference 

exchanges with messico