Dear Family,
Where to begin!? Sorry it's been so long and I can't reply to all the emails but thank you so much for all the support and for the emails. Well first off the spirit here is amazing. It´s like my favorite place on Earth.
There are 34 elders and sisters here it's like one big family!! It's crazy though cause there are missionaries from Tahiti, France, Canada and Switzerland who only speak French. Some from Ukraine, Romania, and Russia who only speak Russian. A random kid from Germany who's going to Colorado spanish speaking, and then the North Americans going to Spain and Russia, and the Italians show up in two weeks. It's like the coolest thing ever!!! My comp. is Elder Nyland from Pleasant Grove Utah. He is way cool!! We get along really well. We´re the two youngest elders here but he´s a great kid. We room with Elder Dean from Lehi, Elder Marshall from Blackfoot and Elder Friese from Germany. We get along super well and have so much fun together. We call ourselves the United Nations haha. It;s way fun but we´ve also had some amazing experiences with each other.
I am in the Distrito de Nefi. The Nephi District and I am serving as the district leader. I've loved having the experience to lead and serve them and help them out with whatever they need. I had a chance to give a sister in my district a blessing of comfort . Last night Elder Nyland needed a blessing because he has been getting sick and I was guided by the spirit and through the priesthood was able to heal him. It was an incredible experience! The studying has been going well and the spanish is coming along. I can bear my testimony and pray so that's exciting. We get to teach our teachers who act as progressive investigators and we have to teach in spanish so that's been fun!
Every week we get to go downtown to proselyte in a park and I was with Elder Walker, a russian speaking elder, from Orem Utah and although we didn't seem to have much success we had a way cool experience. We had a prompting to talk to a family walking by and it was no coincidence that they were from London, spoke english and the dad was from Russia and his brother is an LDS bishop. We may never see anything come of talking to them in this life but the Lords hand was in that. The Lord has a way in all of this and I am so excited to get into the field!! Kinda funny though the first people I contacted spoke english haha. Reminded me of The Best Two Years. I also had a chance to bear my testimony in spanish to a couple and offer them a Book of Mormon. They didn't take it but it was an amazing experience for me. It was a simple testimony but I felt the spirit like none other!!! We also got yelled at. It was scary but not too scary 'cause it was some language neither of us spoke. I think it was spanish. So it was a solid first day of proselyting but Sunday after singing on the temple steps a couple of elders and I got to go speak to a German couple who spoke spanish and i gave them a Book of Mormon!!! I was so pumped and I was so happy that night. I wish I could just be fluent and get out there I'm so excited!!!!
The temple here is beautiful and the temple grounds are amazing. We love taking pictures out our window at night of the temple during sunset haha. The temple inside is made of all marble and, oh my gosh, its my new favorite. The MTC, temple, and stake center are all right here and in our building the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors are the MTC. The 4th floor is for studying so we call it the Telestial Kingdom. The 5th is our rooms so the Terrestial Kingdom and the 6th floor is the kitchen so we call it the Celestial Kingdom. The food is amazing and they serve a lot of meats, soup, and breads. It's amazing!!! The deserts are weird but way good. They feed us constantly and I love it haha. None of the cooks speak english and our teachers don't really either so it's kinda hard but it makes learning the language easier if that makes any sense.
I've been getting up in the morning well. I know its crazy! haha but it's just long days of studying and teaching. The devotionals have been way good!! Elder Bennett of the Seventy spoke to us last night and I love the spirit here. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days but I love it here. The weather is great it says it's cold but it feels amazing. I will let you know if I have any debit card problems. I haven't had to use it yet but since you checked I should be good to go!! Thanks for asking about the socks mom!! I got them though:) and I thank you for the prayers, thoughts and the emails Mom and Dad. Tell everyone I love them and tell everyone from the ward hello!! Oh and tell Sophie good job on the scripture!!
I love you all!!! but I want to leave you with a thought of the week: No matter what language you speak. No matter how hard it is to communicate with someone, we are all children of our Heavenly Father and we all speak one similar langauge, Smiling and Laughter. As Children of God we all have a desire to be happy and we can all strive to make each other smile. And that is why I am out here. Because the gospel brings more joy than anything else. To be able to look at an Elder from Tahiti give a thumbs up and smile or sing a hymn with an Elder from Russia and feel the spirit together or just laugh and have a good time goofing around with an Elder from France at night. Despite the language barrier we can all be happy if we come together and recognize we are all children of God, and brothers and sisters in Christ. The church is true and I love my Savior. I love this work. I Love you all!!!
Love,
Elder Jarrett Anderson
