Week 16: Transfers!

Hola familia y amigos!!

My time in Tihuatlan has come to a close! After being born and raised here for 3 months, I will be taking my talents to the Zone Macuiltepetl, and my area is Macuiltepetl 2. My new companion is named Elder Gonzalez and I will have the incredible opportunity to be the Senior companion in our companionship. I am incredibly excited for this opportunity and can't wait to see what I can do! Anyways here was my final week in Tihuatlan!

This week in church was the "Primary Program" for our branch in Tihuatlan. They have more or less 10 primary kids, so it was super fun to see them perform their songs and give their memorized parts. It reminded me a ton of back home and I was another testament to me how similar the church is in so many different parts of the world. It is also a testament to see how much the church is growing. These few kids are some of the first kids in their families to be born within the church. The majority of members here are converts, so to see this rising generation with lives in the church makes me excited for their future. The members are so faithful here and are raising righteous families within the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We also got to bring a few of our investigators to church for the first time which was super nice because it has been a challenge for us as of recent to get people to attend sacrament meeting. Of course it would happen in my last week here but you know what that's just life.

Elder Gavia and I had a super fun lunch the other day with a member that just recently was added to our meal list. We got there, chatted a little bit and all of a sudden she throws down 20 enchiladas in front of each of us. It was like the leaning tower of enchiladas, and we knew there was no way we were finishing all of them. She then proceeded to bring out beans and eggs and we knew we were toast. We tried our best, but unfortunately could not eat it all and finished with a few enchiladas remaining. One of our biggest challenges always is if we can finish the food haha I know I sound pampered right now but its like real life. 

Anyway, those were some of the highlights of the week! Love the work and am excited for the new opportunity in Macuiltepetl 2!

Love and miss you all,

Elder Anderson

Pictures!

1. Tihua       tlan

2. Eating some pizza

3 & 4 Some goodbye pics with my fav family 

Week 15: Carne Asadaaaaa

Hola familia y amigos!

I am coming up on what might be my last week in Tihuatlan! We will see what happens with transfers this week but I am fine with whatever happens. I am very grateful for Tihuatlan as my first area and for all of the things I have learned here. Let's talk about the week

On tuesday night we had a little carne asada party for the son of one of our investigators named Raymundo. We cooked up some bomb meat and spent a little time with their awesome family. 

We found a couple families this week who have been inactive from the church for many years but are great and I think have been waiting for the missionaries to give them a little push. They also have little kids who don ́t know really anything about the gospel and so it has been nice to teach them as much as we can. A lot of our work here in Tihuatlan is reactivating members because their are a lot of inactive members. It has been very productive for us to work and help them.

We also helped with a little service project for some members in our ward, moving dirt and stuff like that. Super fun to hang out with them but we were so dirty with our mission clothes because we didn't bring other clothes haha. 

Today we had a carne asada (yeah I know two carne asadas in one week what are you tryna do kill yourself?) with our Zone to celebrate our missionary who is finishing his mission this transfer and as a little goodbye for all the people who might be leaving to other Zones. We cooked a ridiculous amount and so we stuffed ourselves haha. 

That´s all for this week love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

1. Carne Asadaaaaa

2. Us with our guy Raymundo

3. This whack like ramen noodle thing we are eating this week

4. Service is the best!

5. Repping the 303 with Ahlstrom and McCollum

Week 14: Chicken Feet

Hola familia y amigos!!

Another great week here in Tihuatlan. This transfer is flying by and winding down quickly. Loving my time with the people here and have been so grateful to call it my home for the beginning of my mission.

Elder Gavia and I had the opportunity to see a ton of miracles this week. Every day we can see how the Lord is blessing us in our labores and it is so rewarding. Early this week we had a little stretch of literally 15 minutes where we met a super awesome family in the street, found an inactive family that is thinking about returning to the gospel who have children that aren't baptized yet, and found another awesome guy who has a ton of questions about the gospel. Afterward we just had to sit there and rest because the Lord is feeding us so many blessings haha. 

Today we had a multi zone activity with Zona Poza Rica and Zona Palmas. It was super fun, we got to play some soccer and volleyball and hang out with a ton of missionaries. I might have gotten a little burnt but whats new haha. I also went up to the Christ statue again with Elder Gavia because he hadn´t gone up before. It really is beautiful and gives me a tiny glimpse of the glory that he has. This work really is all for him. 

Overall these weeks have been great. I love when we can get into a lesson with people who will listen to our lesson because the spirit I feel when I get the opportunity to testify of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. Such an incredible opportunity. I love this gospel and testify of this work!

Love and miss you all,

Elder Anderson

1. Me downing a chicken foot 

2. Elder Gavia and I with our man Eder

3. Christ Statue!

4. Me with a beautiful view of Tihuatlan :)

 

Week 13: Trainer Lineage

Hola Familia y Amigos!!

Super crazy busy week this week! He is how it basically went down. 

Thursday we had interviews with our mission president. Always a fun time and a great opportunity to receive council from our President who has been called of God. It is funny thinking back to my first round of interviews about 6 weeks ago and how much I have grown in those weeks. 

Friday was our Zone Conference where the Northern Zones of our mission (Poza Rica, Palmas, Tuxpan, and Papantla) meet together and hear from Leaders of the Mission as well the Mission President, attend classes in order to better our work and hang out with our missionaries. They are always incredibly uplifting and I am always so grateful to receive guidance from the Leaders of our mission who are so strong in the work and in their faith. 

Something funny about the mission is that your first trainer that you receive in the mission is your Dad and your second trainer (if it is different than your first) is your Mom. And of course the trainer of your trainer is your Grandpa/ Grandma and so forth. Something pretty fun is that since Elder Gavia (my mom) is so new in the mission like me, and his trainer was new too, we have a whole family line in the mission. So in the Zone Conference I was their with mi Mama, mi Abuelo, mi Bisabuelo, y mi Tatarabuelo. It was a whole fun family reunion. I have a pic to prove it too.

After the conference Elder Gavia and I put on a Family Home Evening type thing for our branch in Tihuatlan. We planned a spiritual thought about General Conference, played some Family Feud, and ate Tamales with Horchata. It was a super fun experience and a good amount of ward members and investigators were able to attend which made it all totally worth it. (I also totally destroyed in the Family Feud so I may be going pro after the mission). 

And of course the week finished with another incredible General Conference. We are so incredibly lucky to be able to listen to the words of our prophet and apostles. I testify that they receive revelation for each and every one of us. A talk that really stuck out to me was Dieter F Uchtdorf´s about discipleship in this world. What a great reminder for us in this ever changing world filled with temptation and distractions. The line I loved was when he said, ¨Discipleship is not about doing things perfectly, it´s about doing things intentionally¨. The Lord blesses us when we make conscious decisions to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love that and am so grateful for the gospel in my life.

I love and miss you all and hope you had a great week!

Elder Anderson

Pics!

1. Zona Poza Rica!!!!!!!!!

2. My mom, my grandpa, my great-grandpa, and my great,great grandpa 

3. A little pic of our activity