Week 36: Yorley Baptism

Hola familia y amigos

We baptised our friend Yorley. It was a pretty cute service. The jumpsuit we brought for her didn't fit her so she wore my shirt. It was pretty funny.

I'm also coming home. We come home Wednesday and will be in 14 day quarantine. Then it looks like Ill be reassigned. We will see what the Lord has in store for me. 

Love and miss you all see you soon haha

Elder Anderson

Photos

Week 35: Coronavirus in Mexico

Hola familia y amigos,

Crazy week here in the mission! The Corona Virus is really messing everything good up but we are working through it! The good thing is that the Corona Virus can ́t handle the HEAT so we are chill here in Papantla. 

But yeah church is CANCELED so it was kind of a challenge because only like a HUGE part of the conversion process is going to church every Sunday hahaha. So what we did here in our mission (and will continue to do if it continues) is that on Sundays, in order to count like the people  ̈went to church ̈, we have to have an appointment with them, bring a member of the ward, and teach the chapter from Come, Follow Me that is assigned for this week. So yesterday we met with all of our friends and taught them a little bit from Come, Follow Me with members and it was honestly so awesome. 

This week I really gained a testimony of Come, Follow Me and home-centered learning because we had some pretty awesome appointments yesterday. The way we were able to teach through the study guide and share a lesson with them made a huge difference and gave them a chance to learn how to be spiritually self-sufficient which is one of the most important parts of a true conversion process. We need to learn how to study, learn, and apply the teachings of the scriptures daily so that we always stay close to the spirit and the word of God.

It was also really good to visit people with members of the church. They always say that we should do it but it always makes me super scared and with how busy we are I don't love wasting time to find someone to join us but I really think I am going to apply it from now on because it really helps in the teaching process as well. 

Also Papantla is like SUPER awesome and has a ton of history and tradition. They have something super crazy that are called Voladores (see photo at end of email). It's basically people like spin in circles upside down and the person in the middle plays some type of song. It freaked me out but was also really cool. They are some pretty awesome things here I am already really enjoying my time. 

Also shoutout to the Utah Family that found us in the street the other day walking. They were on vacation and were visiting Veracruz for some reason haha. They chatted a little bit with us and then gave us money to eat dinner (BLESSINGS). Never thought that would happen here in Papantla haha but we get a little bit of everything I guess.

Well that was the week! Crazy stuff! I hope everyone is healthy and happy!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson 

Photos!

1.VOLADORESSSSS 

2. VOLADORESSSSSSSSSS

 

Week 34: Tajin Ward

Hola familia y amigos,

Week 1 down out here in Papantla!! Honestly I am super hyped up about this new area we have a ton of good stuff going on already. 

In Papantla there are like a ridiculous amount of hills and so we are kind of dying but we are adjusting little by little. There are also a few really high flights of stairs which are also super scary. One day we were knocking doors and sometimes when people aren't interested we say ¨thank you for your time ̈  and we ask them if they know anyone that could benefit from our message. One of these people told us that there was someone at the top of this flight of stairs that was sick that we could visit. So like good missionaries we climbed this flight of stairs just to find out that no one there was sick haha. I don't know if they were just confused or that they wanted us to climb but it's totally fine haha.

Tajin is also a super awesome ward. We have been working with a ton of members and seeing who they know that we can teach. They are so willing to help us out and are also so willing to really get involved in missionary work. Honestly a huge blessing in the mission when you have that kind of support. 

That's all from this week! Loving the start of this new transfer and hope to have lots of success!!!
Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

Photos!

1. the flight of stairssss

2. PAPANTLA

 

Week 33: Transfer to Zona Papantla

Hola familia y amigos,

After 4 and a half months here in the comfortable confines of Xalapa I will be heading back up north! I will be heading to Zone Papantla and am EXTREMELY excited to head back up in the HEAT just in time for Veracruz to start to heat up for the SpringTime. I will serve as District Leader another transfer and my ward is Tajin. I will be arriving in Whitewash (when two missionaries arrive to the area at the same time) with an elder named Elder Caceres. Arriving in Whitewash is definitely going to be a huge challenge for my companion and I but I am super excited for this new challenge. Every transfer the Lord continues to push me to see if I can unlock my potential and this is just another one of those opportunities. I am sad to leave Macuiltepetl but I am grateful for all the memories I have there and for all of the success I was able to have preaching the gospel. 

Not much to update from my last week in Macuil. We had the opportunity to go on splits two days this week. The first I was able to accompany an Elder Martinez in his area and see how his friends are doing. I was able to get to know one of them that has been assisting a few times with them and we were able to teach a really awesome lesson. After that I was joined by Elder Godfrey one of our Zone Leaders in my area and was able to learn a bit from him. We also bought a 65 peso pizza that just opened up next door and it was pretty bomb. Splits are a great opportunity for us to receive feedback on our missionary work as well as help other missionaries learn a little bit about what they can do better.

Other than that really nothing else to report on. Love this work so much and I know my Savior lives. 

Love and miss you all!

Elder Anderson

Photos!

1. Zona Macuil

2. goobye pic

3. goodbye pic

4. oxxo

5. goodbye pic