Week 56 - December 15, 2014

Thats super exciting!!!!  The snow sounds awesome.  No matter how little!!!  We don't have any snow here.  It's rained a few times but for the most part it's just a dry cold.  But that's good.  Being wet and working is not fun at all!!!  haha  The last winter in Galicia was a wild one.

Sounds like all is going well.  That interfaith Christmas devotional sounds awesome! Hope all continues to go well at home!!! 

Yes!  Things are going extremely well with the new comp.  He is a stud!!!  He is working on his Spanish, but just in the week we've been together he is picking up on it and doing extremely well!!!  It's been super fun working with him.  Like I said before, I think he is a convert of 2 years and has a powerful conversion story!!  This transfer we will not be going to the temple.  I'm pretty bummed, but we go next transfer.  Well, hopefully!  Our district meetings are on Wednesday mornings. We have a zone meeting - 1 every transfer on a Thursday, and zone conferences every 3 months or so. Funny, you ask if I ever see president!  I had an interview with him this last week!  He came down and interviewed our zone.

Well, this week was an amazing one!  We didn't teach many lessons but it was awesome still!!!  We continue to meet with Joaquin and his family every Wednesday!!!  They are doing great and are loving the visits.  Keep praying for them!!! 

Luis and Ines are doing great!!!  We had a great lesson with them about the sabbath day and they commited to coming to all the hours from now on.  It was a struggle beforehand but now they are coming!!!  They are on date and pretty much good to go for the 10th of January.  Keep all these people in your prayers.  It's the most I can ask of all of you back home but prayer is something that works and I testify of that!!  So pray pray pray!!!! 

The biggest other news this week is that Daniel and Melbi are doing so well!!!  We met with them on Saturday and Sunday and taught her lesson 2, the Word of wisdom and the sabbath day.  She is committed to living them all and has told us her goal is baptism.  This weekend we are going to be having a lesson on the Law of Chastity and temple marriage.  It's the big one because they live together and are not married.  I have had a good feeling about them so I am hoping that they can figure out a way to live it.  I have the faith they can, we all need to pray for a way for the Lord to provide the way for them to obey it!!! 

Those were the biggest progressions this week.  I am beyond excited to talk to guys on Christmas Day!!!!  It will be the greatest Christmas ever!!!!!  I miss you guys and it's gonna be awesome to see you!!!:)  It's going to be crazy to see how big you guys have gotten. 

For the spiritual thought this week I wanted to say something that has been on my mind.  I found a song from another missionary the one about "go bring them in from the plains, go bring them in from the cold" and it has stuck with me all week.  I am here to "bring my siblings in from the plains".  I am a part of the modern day rescue team!  Just as my ancestors before me,  I am here to bring those who are suffering out in this world to the valley of Zion and as members of the church that is our job.  They always talk about every member a missionary but is it something we live?  Before the mission I know I didn't.  This week I want to invite you as Brigham Young did to the saints, to go rescue our siblings.  Go bring them in from the plains!  They are hurting, and starving spiritually and need our help.  Let us be that help.  Think about what you can do!!!  I love you guys!!!!  This church is true!!!!  Never forget it!!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson

¡el reino de dios o nada!

Happy Immaculate Conception Day!!!!

Happy Immaculate Conception Day everybody!!!!  It's a holiday here in Spain and so that just means everything is closed and nobody is in the street.  The Young Single Adults have school off and stuff so my new comp and I will be teaching the family home evening lesson.  Yep, today is also transfers and Elder Overson got transferred.  He went to Alcorcón and I am now with Elder Carrejo.  He is from New Mexico.  He is awesome!!!  I am so excited to serve with him.  This is his fourth transfer in the field, so started the mission in May.  He is a convert, and was baptized very recently and he promised to tell me his conversion story tonight so I am extremely excited to hear it.  He's 24 and I am super pumped for this transfer!!!! 

So great to hear all is well at home.  My prayers are answered every week as I get on and see all is well.  The Lord has his hand in all of our lives and I'm so grateful he just continues to bless you all back home. 

Well it was a good week.  On Monday we had a cool experience.  We were contacting and were talking to this Spaniard who wasn't really interested but in the middle of the contact this lady walks up and says I'm so glad I found you!!!  She was investigating the church over a year ago and since then had lost contact with the missionaries, they had also been kicked out of their house and were living in the street, and in the process of getting kicked out of her house had lost her Book of Mormon.  As we gave one to her the smile on her face was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.  I think she was about to cry.  We didn't have any way to contact her and we set up a lesson for Thursday.  She didn't show up but at least she received a Book of Mormon. It was another tender mercy from the Lord, and honestly, a miracle.  She was so happy to receive it and it made me feel so good to be able to provide it for her.  Sometimes we want grand results and grand miracles, yet it's the small miracles that we sometimes miss that truly mean the most. 

We met with Ismael on Tuesday.  We started talking about the priesthood but the lesson topic quickly changed to desires and then from desires to gifts and talents because he didn't really know what he wants.  As we discussed what his likes and hobbies are we started to discuss the importance of goal setting and we decided to have some fun with him and teach him the principle of goal setting in a way that isn't too tough for a teenager. He is 18.  After making a list of his talents, likes and interests we set the goal with him to post one foto a day on to instagram for one year. Now it sounds silly but it worked wonders.  He completed it for this week and has put up a foto a day, and on Saturday after his sister's baptism we met with him and talked to him about spiritual goals.  He was really happy he was fulfilling his goal.  We had a member there and after talking about his goal and how he felt we switched gears to how he felt at his sister's baptism, and what he desires when it comes to his spiritual life.  After a lot of discussion and testimonies he has now set the goal to read and pray every day.  Something he wasn't really doing before and is really starting to think about how he really does want this.  In the end using some little app to teach him that principle he now understands and is setting goals in his spiritual life.  I am so excited for him.  He is going step by step but he's coming along. 

We still continue to meet with Joaquin.  We watched the restoration at his house last week and he was so excited.  He is getting so much happier and I love that family.

We met with Luis and Ines and taught them the law of chastity and the ten commandments.  We had given them the law of chastity pamphlet to review during the last lesson and they said, "Well this will be an easy one.  Our 40th anniversary is tomorrow and we have stuck together through it all, all the good times, all the hard times, and tomorrow it will have been 40 years. We have been faithful to each other and this law makes sense because it's a commandment that is about truly loving each other and staying with each other through it all.  And that's what we've done and will continue to do."  It was super cool.  They are amazing and are progressing so well!  We moved their date back to the 10th of January.  They are doing great!! 

Daniel and Melbi were not able to meet this week because they were out of town.  But they are doing great.  They are both reading and praying together and alone daily.  We are going to meet again with them this week and I am super excited!!! 

I went through 5 umbrellas more or less up in Galicia, and two here in Madrid.  haha.  The weather here in Madrid is just a dry cold.  It gets pretty cold but it never snows.  Just rains occasionally.  It does snow in other parts of Spain though up in the mountains. 

Thank you for the letters they continue to help and encourage me and I have come to understand what true success is. I know you will be proud of me because I'm giving everything i have to this work. 

I love you all!  Have an amazing week!!!! 

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡El reino de Dios o nada!

December 1, 2014

I am so excited for Grandma and Grandpa.  That will be an incredible experience to serve there in the temple.  Wow!!!  So cool!!  Sounds like it was a good Thanksgiving as well at the Deans!  Tell everyone I say hello and that they're the best!! 

It is interesting we call this a sacrifice.  The more I reflect on what I am doing, and realize what missionary work truly is, it isn't much of a sacrifice.  It's just a small thing, what I can give, for all He has given to me.  It is a sacrifice, yet it's the small part I can give.  I'm so grateful for it though!  This mission is incredible!!!  And I am glad they have desires to serve missions.  Now i just want to invite them to prepare.  Do your part now and be ready to go.  Read your scriptures daily.  Say your prayers daily.  Go to church without complaining.  Fulfill your callings and priesthood duties and take Seminary and all your classes seriously.  Just do the simple things and you will be prepared. 

This week was a really good one.  Just a few things that happened...  On Tuesday we met with Ester, the lady from Peru who can't get baptized because she's waiting on divorce papers and living with a man, but she is doing her part to do what she can right now.  She came to church last Sunday and was praying and said, "Father, just help us. My boyfriend needs a job. I am trying my best to live your commandments and I am here in your church. Please help us."  She said the next morning her boyfriend woke up and started applying for jobs online.  Now just so you know back home, Spain has been going through for a few years an extreme financial crisis. and finding a job is extremely hard here.  And even harder if you are a foreigner but within minutes of applying he received a phone call and had an interview that afternoon and he got the job at 3 o'clock that afternoon.  She told us this Tuesday through tears and told us how it was a miracle and it was thanks to her obedience.  It was amazing to see how much God loves us and what great blessings we will receive if we are simply obedient to his commandments.  Definitely the miracle of the week. 

We have also been teaching a lady named Melbi.  She is the girlfriend of a member named Daniel. He found us on the street and told us he had just moved here from Mostoles.  He had been less active for years and he asked us for the address to our chapple in our area.  He came to church the next week and brought his girlfriend and then invited us to come over that week.  We have taught her lesson one and three and she is loving it.  She is so excited to listen and is reading and loves the Book of Mormon.  They live together but I have a good feeling about them.  They both have jobs so I have a good feeling things can work out with this one.  We are extrremely excited for them!!

One of the days this week I had a feeling to go through and call all of the numbers I had in my planner.  I called a guy I had called a bunch of times and he answered and we set up a lesson for the next day.  We met with them and taught them lesson one and they really enjoyed it and were asking us some good questions.  It was a solid lesson.  Their names are Alberto and Rosi and are from Guayacil, Ecuador.

Ismael is still going. He is kind of reading but doesn't really want to get baptized yet. He's a great kid but this week we may start to see some changes.  Please pray for him!

We had a terrible day on Friday. We spent the entire day in the street contacting and nobody would talk with us but diligence is key and we were perseverant!  About 15 minutes before we had to be in the piso we found a man from Puerto Rico who said we were the third set of missionaries to find him and he took it as a sign he needed to listen.  He was going to come to church but wasn't able to.  But he is excited to meet with us!  I'm so glad we just kept pushing all day long.  It always pays off. 

Well I said a few months ago my goal was to finish the New Testament before my year mark.  I finished Monday!!!  It was an amazing experience.  I'd never read it cover to cover before and it was amazing.  WIth the  knowledge I have gained out here it now makes more sense to me and I understand the New Testament a whole lot better now.  Super cool to fulfill that goal!!!:)

For the spiritual thought I wanted to share with you all the importance of what I said earlier, how preparing for the mission is to do the simple things.  I know that is true.  It is interesting that one of the commandments we teach as missionaries is to read the scriptures and pray regularly.  It is not only a recommendation, yet a commandment.  Let us all ask ourselves, Am I doing my daily personal worship?  And am I keeping those two simple commandments?  If not, we need to repent and start.  I promise the Lord will bless us as we take time for our daily personal worship every single day. 

Have an amazing week this next week!!! Love you all!!!!

I love you mom.

Love,

Elder Anderson

¡El reino de Dios o nada!

p.s. yes transfers are this saturday!! crazy!!!!

             The worst day of the week when it was raining and my umbrella broke. Hahaha, oh well, we made it through!!!:

A Few Pictures from B4

1 year down, 1 to go

Dear Mom,

Wow. I cannot believe it has been a year either.  This is absolutely insane!!!  I'm probably gonna burn a shirt or something. Not sure yet!!! haha:)  I'm gonna figure something out:)  Elder Overson is awesome!!!  We are very different personality wise but we get along really well and I am loving serving with him!!  I have been very blessed with good companions:)  Well we all live in separate pisos.  The mission has a goal to have us all in our own pisos so we can focus better.  So I have never shared a piso during the mission but we see the other elders almost daily.  They live pretty close to us so we run into them all the time.  It's super fun serving with so many other missionaries!!!

Well this week was an amazing one!!!!  We have been working hard and had a lot to do.  It was a busy week!  Tuesday we met with Esther.  She's doing good!  We talked about modern prophets.  It's sad because she is waiting on divorce papers and is living with another man so she cannot progess, but she has been coming to church the past couple weeks so she is doing what she can.  We have been meeting with a girl named Noriko.  She has investigated the church for a while.  She is trying to receive an answer from God about the Book of Mormon but her pastor from her church has been feeding her anti- mormon stuff so she's not really too interested anymore.  But were working on it!!  So hopefully we can resolve her doubts. We are meeting with Ismael, the 20-year-old.  He has been struggling wanting to read, pray, and doesn't want to get baptized (his parents are really pushy) but there is a newly returned missionary in the ward who was there when the parents were converted and helped and is going to start coming to lessons with us so we are extremely excited for that! Wednesday and yesterday we met with Luis and Ines.  We taught them the Word of Wisdom one of the times and it went incredibly well.  Luis sat and stared at the pamphlet and simply said, "I have to drop coffee" and then said, "I know the Lord will prepare the way.  I'll drop it."  (We had read 1 Nefi 3:7 with them) and we took their coffee with us as we left the door. (I'll attach the picture later)  Thursday we contacted in the street basically all day.  Then right before going home we found a couple in the street who listened to lesson 1 and we are going to meet with them tonight!!!!  

We also had a chance to help out an 80-year-old lady who has cancer, and heart problems. We had asked for help with directions and after finding the house and finding no one home we asked if she needed help with her bags and she accepted and we walked her home. They are going to be kicked out of their house and have to move so we offered to help with the move and they said they needed boxes so we went and found boxes for her the next day and she was in tears when we came back. She said, "I'll never forget you." and was so grateful for the help.  It was touching to be the hands of the Lord and help her get what she needed.  A lot more has happened but those were some of the highlights.  It was an AMAZING week!!!  I am so grateful to be out here!!  This work is amazing!!!

For the spiritual thought, I read a scripture in 3 Nephi that I loved.  3 Nephi 9:13  I want you to pay careful attention to the words and remember this one phrase.  The Savior wants to heal us!  I know He does and He is asking us to come unto Him so that He may heal us. 

I love you all!!!  Have an amazing week!!!  1 year down. 1 to go!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson

November 17, 2014

This week was a good one!  Monday we decided to leave the Family Home Evening at the church early because no one was there and we found ourselves contacting for a few hours and finally someone talked to us.  It was a little miracle.  His name was oscar and from the Dominican Republic.  He was really sad that night and was thinking about things and was just really upset because his 1 year-old-daughter is in the hospital because she got scalded by something on the entire right side of her body.  We found him and talked and got his mind off things, said a prayer and then after we said goodbye, I gave him a hug and said, "Don't worry, everything will be okay" and he looked at me and smiled.  To put that smile on his face meant the world to me.  It made me feel so good and our conversation helped him.  I will be referring to this experience in my spiritual thought.  Tuesday, we met with Ismael, a 20-year-old Dominican.  He has not been doing to well lately but this week he showed major improvement.  He is reading and praying and is starting to come along.  His family are already members so he's got good support.  On Wednesday's we go over to the family of a lady in the ward - Esmerelda.  They are from Bolivia.  Joaquin and Jose are the brothers of Esmerelda and they are less-actives and we are also teaching Joaquin's girlfriend and son, Clementina and Mateo.  They are doing amazing.  They are coming to church and Clementina is super super excited!!!  We made Sloppy Joes with them and they LOVED THEM!!  So thanks for the recipe mom:)  We have also been meeting with a man named Julian from Peru.  He was found in the area book and he is really excited about the church.  He comes and loves the hymns and we taught him the Word of Wisdom this week and he accepted it!  He is going to live it.  He is just a cute old Peruvian man and is so willing to follow the Lord.  This week we also put 3 people on baptismal date.  Luis and Ines an older couple from Ecaudor.  We taught them lesson 3 (The Gospel) and then challenged them and they accepted.  They are loving the Book of Mormon and are coming to church on their own.  We don't have to invite or call to remind.  They just show up.  They are on date for the 20th of December. 

 We kept running into a guy in the street named Jon who was an old investigator of theirs and he kept saying Saturday at 11 we'll meet!!  We went there and he said,  "Ever since i have been hearing your message.  My life has changed.  When is your next baptismal service?"  We said, well tonight. (because Jaime was getting baptized.) and he said no no, for me.  So we talked for a little bit and set the goal of the 27th of December.  It was a miracle and it was amazing to see the Lord's hand in all of this.  He has a lot of work to do, but he has amazing desires.  

Our God is a God of miracles.  I can testify of that. Every day we have the chance to be a part of and see miracles. The Lord is at the helm of this work.  Amazing week.  We haven't been able to meet with all of the investigators.  We are still working on the whole meeting more than once a week thing.  But we are getting there.  I'm so glad to hear all was well at home!  The work is amazing here and I am loving every second of it.  

In preach my gospel it says:

During His mortal ministry, the Savior “took upon him the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). He went about “doing good” (Acts 10:38) and “preaching the gospel” (Matthew 4:23).

As the savior talks to his disciples at one point in his ministry he states (or roughly translated through my head) Ejemplo os he dado, or I have given you an example. And that's what we need to do.  We need to follow His perfect example.  Lift up the broken hearted, put a smile on someone's face, serve others in the way the Savior did.  Go about doing good.  That's what I challenge you to do this week.  Look for opportunities every day to do good and serve others.  It's one of my weekly goals and I'd like to invite everyone to join me!  (and hear about your experiences from the week)  I promise the lord will bless us and others as we go about this. 

Love you all!!!! have an amazing week!!!:)

Love,

Elder Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!

November 10, 2014

Hello family!!!  What a week it has been. Wow!! Ethan's home?  Tell Shelby I say hi as well!  In response to the haircuts, the Bishop in B4 (the one who sent us World Series updates) owns a haircutting shop!  So he did them sometimes or if he didn't have time, my comps just shaved my head. haha   

Well as for our week it was a long one but really fast.  We have a lot of good stuff going for us.  We have a lot of investigators but they had a system before of only meeting with them once a week.  I'm still getting the hang of the area and starting to get to know everybody really well. We are teaching a lot of people and it's been extremely good.  I'll give you a solid update on more of them next week but the greatest thing has been being able to really help these people.  I've never seen it as much before but how much a visit and a message about the Savior can lift the spirits really has strengthened my testimony of what the Savior did for us.  We do have one baptism this weekend.  His name is Jaime and he is from Bolivia.  We have been working on helping him understand the priesthood this last week.  It's been really good for him and he loves coming to church.  Just to give you an idea of what's going on here we had 9 investigators in church. The most I've had my entire mission and we have found some incredible people on the street that we are starting to meet with.  The work is incredible.  I love it here and I love being here and representing the living God and helping others feel of His love.  This work is amazing!!!

In regards to education and getting good grades that will be my spiritual thought.  Well, my advice is two fold.  You will one day hit the point when you will realize how important it was to study and prepare yourself.  Based on your acts now you will receive your recompense later on.  Comparable to the Plan of Salvation.  As we act now we will receive our reward later on.  So act now.  As Alma taught.  Now is the time for men to prepare to meet god. (Alma 34) so do not procrastinate anything. Extra curriculars are important, friends are important, but trust me.  The Lord will provide and bless you with plenty of incredible memories as we dedicate time to studying.  Put the Lord and the gospel first.  Then comes school. Make it a priority.  Secondly, my advice is study the section in chapter 8 of Preach my Gospel that talks about goals and read D&C 11:7 and remember this one principle.  Faith=action.  You have to act now and it will be done.  Set goals.  Make plans. (like we do in our weekly planning every single week  - I promise it helps)  and then the key is having the faith to make it a priority and act.  So go study those 2 references.  I promise that it isn't too late.  Keep studying hard.  I promise you'll regret it if you don't. So study hard and live up to your potential.  Live up to what the lord gave you.   

Love you all!!!! have an amazing week!

Elder Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!

November 3, 2014

Well since I don't have much to say 'cause I have been extremely lost here in the new ward I'll just answer your questions and add anything else I think of. 

That's so cool you talked with Elder McFarland's mom!!  and got to hear the parts I didn't talk about.  Don't worry, we weren't starving.  We had rice.  haha  It all worked out good and I have lots of food now.  No worries!!  I have not been to the museum but I've heard about it!!!  and yes!!  The nativities are here in Madrid!!  I'm going to be keeping my eyes out this Christmas:)  We get to go do a session at the temple next week and as always I am stoked out of my mind.  I love going to the temple so much!!!

We lived in the metro stop San Lorenzo. and how Madrid works is it has like the outside pueblos (for example, Alcalá, Alcobendas, Guadalajara, towns like that) but then within madrid it has different "districts",  I think is what they are called.  I lived in the district of Hortaleza and now i live in the district of Carabanchel.  Carabanchel is known as the "ghetto" of Madrid.  It's not that scary though because Spain is extremely safe.  There is just a lot less money down here but the ward is awesome.  The people are awesome and I'm super excited to work with them.  We have had a couple of dinner appointments including one with the ward mission leader yesterday.  (although the dinner appointments aren't anything like B4 hahaha) but our ward mission leader is awesome.  He is the son-in-law of Tad R. Callister and it was weird speaking all English at the dinner appointment.  But it was super cool!!  He works hard and knows how to do the work.  His name is XXX XXXXXXXX.  He served in Barcelona years ago and he's a stud so this is going to be awesome!  The teaching is going good!!  We have quite a few investigators and there are actually 6 other missionaries in the ward.  The work is exploding!! and my comp has been here for three months.  Ever since he got to Spain (his visa waited in Salt Lake for 3 months)  Elder Overson is awesome.  His family lives in Mexico and he is originally from Oregon.  He already spoke Spanish before the mission and he is just a stud.  I am so excited to work with him!!! 

For the spiritual thought this week I wanted to share a scripture from Alma 32. Verse 19.  Read it.  What I love about it is it shows how much our Father loves us.  If we didn't have to walk by faith, because we live in a fallen state we would sin and would have no way to get back.  But because we have to walk by faith it gives us the best possible chance to return to him. 

I love you!!!  Have an amazing week!!!!  Thanks for everything!!!

Love,

Elder Anderson

¡El Reino de Dios o Nada!

Writing to you from....

Well the last two weeks were absolutely amazing.  An incredible way to finish off my time in Barrio 4.  I have been transferred to Barrio 9 (which is in the southwest of Madrid) and my new companions name is Elder Overson.  He is from Oregon! but lived in Mexico.  He is a stud and I am super pumped to work with him.  This will also be the first time I'm the older one in the companionship.  He has 6 months in the mission and well I'm at 11.. woah.. yesterday was a weird day thinking I came out 11 months ago.. the time flies but I'm loving it. 

I'll send some pics today!!  I saw that you went to Wales and i was like what!? haha but that makes more sense.. hahaha 

Wow!! I've been through Pontevedra and all over Galicia. Thats so cool!!  You'll have to tell me what areas Spence served in. 

Well this week was probably the greatest week of my entire mission.  Well, this weekend specifically.  Miguel's interview was successful Monday night and we worked with him all week to completely prepare him.  We planned the baptism for 6 on Saturday only to receive the news that "El Clasico" was going to start at that time. (The Clasico is the Real Madrid/Barcelona game).   We were freaking out cause the game is in our area and well, it's the biggest game of the year. So we didn't know if anyone would show up.  Miguel said no matter how much he loves futbol, God is first and so we went forward with the baptism and it was full!!!  Tons of people came and it was incredible!!  The Spirit was so strong and it was one of the most incredible experiences ever.  It's been amazing because when I first got to the ward he was the last person I ever thought would get baptized. like ever.  They were going to get divorced.  She said she never wanted to even see him again. like it was over. but with faith and the hand of the Lord, he came unto Christ. and they are planning on getting sealed next October!!!  Amazing.  and I am so blessed to have been a part of it.

The other reason it was such a great weekend was because of transfers.  I got to say goodbye to everybody. Not because I'm saying goodbye, because that was hard. extremely hard.  But I was able to hear of their love for me and I was able to express my love to them.  I knew I had done well in this ward but I wasn't sure.  But being able to hear from people how much I blessed their lives and the ward really helped me to know I did what the Lord asked me to do.  I gave it my all.  It was incredible for me.  So hard to say goodbye.  Yet such a blessing that I was able to see how much this ward has grown, and changed and the work is just taking off.  And it was all faith, hope, and hard work.  Miracles do happen and that's all I want you to know is God lives, and He is still working miracles in the lives of His children as long as we have the faith in Him.  All it takes is faith.  B4 was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.  I may not have been the greatest thing to ever happen to B4, but I gave it my all.  I gave it everything and although I'm leaving behind some of my greatest friends on earth. I was able to leave behind something else, testimony and lives changed.  And that's all the Lord asked me to do. Amazing week.  I love you all and hope you have another amazing week this week!!! 

Love,

Elder Anderson

Elder Anderson and the Primary kids in B4

Castle in Segovia

Roman Aqueduct in Segovia

Miguel and Silvia

Elder Anderson, Miguel, Silvia and Elder McFarland

October 20, 2014

Well it was a great week!!!!  We were in Segovia today for p-day!!!  The town with the Roman aqueduct and the big castle so we don't have a ton of time to e-mail but it was an amazing p-day! :)  Thank your for your emails and the updates on everything going on at home.  Even though this week I can't reply to everything thank you!!!  I'm glad everything is going well  (well besides the water).  You are always in my prayers and I hope all of you have another amazing week!! 

This week was incredibe!!!  We worked a ton with Miguel. like every day.  We finished the lessons with him and finished them off with having a lesson about the law of chastity and eternal marriage in the Bishop's house.  The spirit was extremely powerful.  A couple days later we were planning for the week and we were planning for his baptism and we went through the baptismal requisites.  We realized he hadn't really repented or humbled himself and so we had a lesson with him the next night about humility and recognizing we have sinned and basically called him to repentance.  It was so powerful and he has agreed to fully repent before his baptismal interview tonight.  He has been incredible and the lessons we have had have been so powerful.  So if all goes well tonight he will be baptized on Saturday!!:)

The other miracle this week has been the Spaniard jovenes. (the Spanish teenagers) we were on an intercambio and Elder McFarland and the other elder were contacting a guy and then after a group of Spaniard teenagers said "hey come over here!" and they went over expecting to get mocked and laughed at but they explained part of the message and what they were doing and received all of their numbers.  We had a lesson with 2 of them a few days later and the main girl who called them over had marked her restoration pamphlet and had a bunch of questions about things and so we taught them lesson 1 and we asked what it would mean for them if a prophet had been called again and one of them said "It would mean God hasn't left us alone.  He still loves us.  There is hope."  It was INCREDIBLE.  We also taught them lesson 2 and they are LOVING it!!!  We are super super excited about them.  So I'm out of time but this week was incredible.  Transfers are this Saturday and I've been in B4 for 4 transfers so we will see what happens. I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week!!!!:)  Love you all.

Elder Anderson

Ebola letter

10/9/2014



Dear Parents of Missionaries serving in the Spain, Madrid Mission,



I am aware of the recent diagnosis of the Ebola virus in a nurse’s aid in Alcorcón, a suburb of Madrid. I have been following the news closely and am aware of the quarantine of several others who may have been exposed. I have been in close contact with the Europe Area Presidency and the Church Missionary Department. There is no need at this time to consider moving missionaries out of the area. We will inform you immediately of any changes.



Sister Jackson and I love serving with your missionary!



Warm Regards,

President Scott T. Jackson

 

Spain, Madrid Mission

Hello Family!!!

Seeing you at conference was SO COOL!!!  I can't get over how awesome that was!!  Oh man, me and Elder Cahoon have been having a blast seeing each other every Wednesday and at Conference and at Stake Conference this weekend and at the temple this Wednesday and were going to Sol as a district today.  So we see each other a ton!!  haha:)  It's so sweet!!! 

This week was a good one. A long one but a good one.  Elder McFarland and I have put a huge focus on goal setting as we are working hard on the plans and achieving goals side of it.  We have truly seen the benefits of setting goals with faith, making plans, and then fulfilling them.  The Lord has really been able to bless us because although we do not have very many investigators, we are taking care of the ones we have very well and have been working on having members in every single lesson with them, and the blessings have been incredible. 

Speaking of plans... Miguel, well, we don't really have to make plans for him.  He is what we call here in Spain "un investigador de oro" (a golden investigator).  The answer is yes, he does set up his own member present lessons multiple days in advance, and confirms them before we can. He has been so excited to learn about the gospel, and is truly committed to live it.  We have been teaching the commandments and every time we teach him a one, he says I will live this because I know this right.  He is dropping his wine drinking with his family, and is doing everything he can to live everything we teach him.  He is incredible.  We still want him to have a conviction of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, but little by little as he lives the commandments his answer will come by the blessings he receives.  Yesterday he came to Stake Conference and he loved it.  He also stayed after and took down all the chairs.  Yeah, he is already a member basically.  It is almost a sure thing he will be baptized the 25th. 

Cristian is struggling to meet with us.  He wants to change but is scared of fast change.  I do not think he will be baptized this month, which is sad because chances are I am getting transfered the 27th.  This is the 5th week of my 4th transfer here so I'm probably gone.  But!!  He will continue to progress little by little. 

Jaime, that man is the most incredible man of all time.  He is from the Canary Islands and he is constantly there to help us. We have lessons all the time in his house and he is willing to come with us whenever we need someone.  He is the nicest man I have ever met and he is going to go straight to the Celestial Kingdom.  He is someone who is willing to do anything for this work. 

We have also been working a lot with the JAS and having them come with us, because they will be going on missions soon. We went contacting last night with Marvin.  He's getting active again and was scared to death to contact but after last night he left with a determination to conquer his fear of contacting.  It's so much fun working with the future missionaries. 

So spiritual thought:  I saw this awesome scripture this morning.  Moroni 10:6.  It is directly after the promise of how to know if the Book of Mormon is true.  And I love it.  Whatever thing is good comes from Christ and testifies of him.  As we go throughout our daily lives do we keep our baptismal covenant to "always remember him"?  Always means in every moment.  So look for the little things.  The good things that testify of Christ. 

This week was awesome!!  and this next week will be even better!!  Thanks for everything.  Love you all!!!  Have an amazing week :) 

Love,

Elder Anderson

I SAW YOU!!!

Dear Mom,

I SAW YOU!!!! Twice!!!!!:)  It was so cool to be able to see you!!!  The choir was AMAZING as well!!  So cool to be able to say my mom was singing!!  And Janzen as well!!  I wasn't expecting to see him and then all of the sudden he popped up!! haha! so cool:)  Well, we went to Temple Square to watch it "Pavones" as it's called here.  (Pavones is the metro stop)  The sacrament meeting hall is in Spanish and a couple extra rooms for when that fills up and then they have it upstairs in English for the missionaries and the tourists.  So we watched it in English until they announced the first guy who was going to speak in Spanish so me and Elder McFarland ran downstairs and watched him speak in Spanish 'cause we wanted to hear him actually speak.  It was so cool!!!!!  The "señor yo te seguiré"  It was the one from the session you sang at!!!  So you were listening to exactly what I was listening to.  It was super cool to see him speak in Spanish!!!  This conference was incredible!!!!  My favorite talk was probably President Monson's in the Sunday morning session.  After being out here for almost a year preaching the message that there are prophets on the earth today, I was able to sit back and listen to the man of whom I have been preaching is a prophet.  We always talk as missionaries about how a prophet's main responsibility is to testify of Christ and that is exactly what he did.  He truly is a Prophet of the Lord and I am so grateful to be a part of the Lord's true church. The weather is different here. But I'm liking it.  It's chilly but then gets hot some days, but from what I've heard it just gets really cold all of the sudden.  There is only really a winter and a summer here.

We went to Sol again last week with a bunch of missionaries!!  We are trying to figure out other cool places to go.  We did see the Real Madrid Stadium the other day.  That was also pretty exciting!  We are also back to drinking the piso water:) haha:) 

Our investigators are doing really good.  Miguel and Cristian both have fechas!!!  for the 25th of october!!!!:)  Cristian is a little iffy and we will continually work with him but with Miguel it is basically a for sure thing.  He is doing incredible and had an amazing experience at conference.  He is reading, praying, and just loving things.  They are looking for a new house together and are talking about starting a family.  I cannot begin to describe with words how amazing this experience with them has been. I have been a part of the change of someone's life and it means everything to me that the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity.  I also went on an intercambio with Elder Cahoon again!!!!:)  Man that was so much fun and just the coolest thing ever!!  He is a stud and is the nicest kid on earth.  We had so much fun together!! 

It was an amazing week.  As always.  Despite my feeling bad about myself and not knowing if I'm enough.  I love this work and will give my everything to it and I always will.  Thanks for your support back home.  I love you all so much!!!  Thanks for everything mom.  I love you!!!!

love,

Elder Anderson

Well it was just another AMAZING week as usual!!!

Well it was just another AMAZING week as usual!!!  The work is going incredible here and I am so glad to hear that all is going amazingly well at home! 

Wow what a week.  You know, I'm getting good at recognizing the little miracles and the Lord's hand in all of this.  This week also was filled with a lot of the members hands in the kitchen, feeding us.  Ever since we got the members back on our side and loving us things have gotten out of hand.  In the last 13 days we have eaten with members 11 of them. and 7 of those days we had at least 2 meals.  It all culminated with us just about dying on Thursday night.  We had 4 meals with members.  One with Bishop during media dia, another after a lesson with an investigator in a member's house, then another with another member after an investigator lesson, and then in the house of the Lopez.  My "gift of stomachs" came in handy and I downed 2 plates at each house and I came off conquerer.  We live by the rules of  1- we eat anything and everything they put on the plate and  2- if they ask if you want more you accept it.  The quickest way to a member's heart is pounding their food and we have done well.  But it gets difficult sometimes.  Asking for more space in my stomach is a frequently offered prayer here in B4 and that is not a joke.  I have literally said a prayer multiple times and in the end, I'm alive, still skinny, and with the love of the members.  Life is good. 

Miguel is still doing well!  Taught him lesson 2 and we gave him a blessing yesterday cause he got sick and he is just doing amazing. 

Cristian is doing incredible as well.  He came to church and loved it!  He is awesome and is progressing so well.  He should be on baptismal date by the end of this next week. 

We found a new family, the 17-year-old brother is a member and just moved from Guatemala.  We are now activating him and teaching his older sister and her family.  She is friends with a lot of sisters from the ward so the ward is helping out a ton and I am so excited to see how things go with them.  The sister isn't married and so it will probably be somewhere around a year before she can get baptized.  I may or may not still be in Spain before it can happen but I'm just glad I'm a part of the finding them and helping them start on the path. 

That's been a difficulty serving in Spain, where it can take anywhere from 8 months to over a year to get married.  If we find out someone isn't married, I know I'll never get to see their baptism which, honestly, is really sad sometimes but it's okay because I am a seed planter and just a first guide on the path.  I'm like a workhorse and I'm just here to get to work and find everyone who is ready for this message.  It's hard, but so worth it.  So so worth it. 

Graciela is doing amazing.  She is reading, praying and coming to church weekly.  She has a lot of friends in the church, and her fireball character is gone.  She is just so nice and happy now. She's doing amazing. 

Anahi and Javier. Anahi is struggling with some things and the mother has not been very supportive of church attendance. Javier is struggling and always says, "I have a lot on my brain". I just don't know what to do.  Just keep them in your prayers.  I'll let you know more next week as I find out more.

The Buenos have been struggling a lot lately.  We went over last night and he just let everything out.  He has no one to talk to and we just talked for like an hour last night and then gave him a blessing at the end of the night.  Pray for them.  They are still together and plan on staying that way so we just hope to help them communicate more and start being happy.

It was another incredible week though!!  I say it all the time but I love this work.  It means everything to me.

So for the spiritual thought this week I wanted to talk about the Plan of Salvation.  It's something that is so basic to our beliefs that sometimes we forget the value of the knowledge we have.  The only thing I want to mention from the plan is our potential and how we need to remember who we are and what we have the potential to become. We lived with Heavenly Father before but we were not like Him.  The entire reason we came to this Earth was to gain a body so that we could be like Him.  If we can remember this simple truth, that we are on the path to godhood, on the path to become what we were born to become, we will be able to live on a higher plane than the world.  Remember your potential, and always keep that eternal perspective.  As we bring our thoughts to that level, our daily lives will improve, we will have a purpose in all we do, and we will have the ability to fight off temptation better.  I know that we are sons and daughters of the living God.  I am so grateful for that knowledge.  I love you all!!!!  Thanks for everything!!!!

Elder Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!

Transfers!!!!

I am so excited to hear you sing mom, keep working hard!!  I am telling everybody here that you will be singing in conference!:)  P-days have been cleaning the piso and a lot of cleanup we have an older piso and we have been working hard to get it looking good again and finally today we said it's finished!!  Last week we went to a Bible shop and bought bibles.  So that was fun:)

Thank you so much for your thoughts mom!! Sincere prayer, really talking to our Father is something I have been working on a ton lately.  I'm getting better!!!:)

Well it was transfer week last weekend..  It snuck up on us and we didn't see it coming honestly.  We´ve been working so hard and it's been such an incredible transfer and it flew by and it's already over.  We will be staying together for another transfer!!!!:)  We are so excited!!!! 

Another week where not a ton happened..  But we kept busy.  Lots of contacting and lots of trying to find people but we just haven t seemed to find the people who are ready yet.  It's frustrating sometimes and it's discouraging to be working so hard and not seeing the "fruits of our labors" but it's molding us and shaping us and the Lord wants to know how committed we are to Him so we just keep going :) 

We found a guy named Byrum this week.  He is super cool!  We've only had one lesson with him and he really liked it.  He wanted to know more and was really nice so we just hope he starts answering the phone. 

Our only other investigator is Miguel.  The Husband of Silvia, the member.  He has been progressing extremely well.  He originally started to listen because he wanted to fix things with his wife.  They were struggling in their relationship because they were separated and now they are getting back together.  Every time we go to teach him he has more and more and more interest and he told us the other day in a lesson that he really now has his own desires to know if it's true or not.  It was incredible.  All of our hard work is paying off with the changing of one life and the saving of one relationship.  It's amazing to see him changing and them being together more.  They are together all the time and they call each other "cariño" which means sweetheart in Spanish and it makes me so happy!!!!  His life is changing and he is doing so well and it makes Silvia happy as well and it is bringing the true joy the gospel brings into both of their lives as they begin on their journey to become an eternal family.

Honestly it was just a week of hard work and learning what we were truly made of. We have such an amazing relationship as a companionship.  He is an incredible missionary and an incredible friend. 

Sorry for not much this week!!!  We don't have a ton of time either.  The Hermanas got taken out and we are bringing two Elders in to replace them so we are helping them get into the area and taking them around. 

For the spiritual thought this week I wanted to do one other activity.  I love hearing from you guys and your testimonies. This week I want you guys to read a few stories of Jesus and I want you to search for his attributes or his "character".  I once heard a quote from supposedly Neil A. Maxwell.  I'm not sure if it's from him but I liked the quote nonetheless. "There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ."  He was a perfect man, not only does perfection, or sinless include what he did not do, but also what he did do and the man he was.  I found one example this week in John 2:23-25.  The Savior was not concerned with popularity, nor finding just whoever to follow Him.  There were many who believed on Him merely based on sight.  What they had seen with their eyes.  But what the Savior wanted rather than a conversion based on sight, was a conversion based on true testimony given from the Father, so he did not "commit himself unto them" Jesus was focused more on what was right than what was popular.  So now go find your own examples of what kind of a man the Savior was and why He was perfect in deed.  I know He lives!  He is our perfect example.

Have an amazing week!!!!:) 

Elder Anderson

Our Savior Lives

Wow.  What a week for you guys!!!  Stake Conference sounds incredible and I got jealous but then I remembered we had an amazing Zone Conference last week and everyday is filled with just being uplifted and spiritually filled and I was extremely grateful the Lord blessed you at home with the experiences and the Spirit you have been having.  I will keep Sister Levine in my prayers. 

 Pres. Jackson spoke about preparation in the Zone Conference. and preparation is essential before any act performed unto the Lord.  So keep it up!! 

Wow.  I cannot believe Janzen will be taking off soon!!!!  Get me his stuff.. the first part of the mission (at least after the MCT for me) was the hardest time in my life, but the most sacred time of my life.  I would not be half of who I am now without A Coruña.  I am so excited for him!!! 

This really is the best two years.  It may be tough some times, but that's why faith is so important.  Something I feel like I've lacked, but with faith in the Lords promises, that's when we see miracles in our lives. 

Thank you for your testimony of a mother.  I don't know if you understand the strength and power of a mothers testimony for her son.  So thank you. 

Well this week wasn't anything to crazy but we are just having an incredible time out here in B4!!!  Life is so good.  Life is perfect.  We decided we love hard times and the change in attitude has made all the difference.  We kind of, in a way, prayed last week to be able to understand the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement better and we had a week of dropping investigators, more finding, losing investigators, but pure bliss, happiness and joy.  Because, amidst the hardship, the Lord, according to our faith, blesses us with miracles and truly blesses us with the utmost joy the gospel truly brings.  We were waiting for a family in a park the other day and they weren't showing up, so instead we contacted a guy who sat down on his suitcase and we taught him lesson one.  Later the family showed up.  The hand of the Lord was there.  

Miguel, the husband of Sylvia is progressing extremely well and is beginning to gain his own personal desires to follow the Lord and not only try and fix his relationship with his wife.  We contacted a Spaniard family on a bench one night and a couple nights later went and had a lesson with them.  The wife is extremely excited and says she is going to read and study the book and "of course I'll pray!"  The husband believes in science, and doesn't want the Book of Mormon but says he loves to listen.  They have a 16 or 17-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.  This is the first time I have ever taught a Spaniard family my entire mission.  This doesn't happen often and we have been so blessed.  Jose Luis and Imaculada. We have been meeting with Christian and he loves listening.  He's way cool.  Anahi (Javier's daughter) is struggling right now so please keep her in your prayers.  She's going through some teenage stuff and it's stressing Jajvier out but it will all be good.  She's a good girl and we had a really good lesson about "stand ye in holy places" the other day.  

We had a rough day of contacting and nothing but that night we were in a park and there was absolutely nobody there but we saw one person sitting on a bench.  We went over and it was a 17-year-old kid.  We talked to him, he invited us to sit down and he listened to lesson one!  Heavenly Father lives and loves his children.  This week was incredible.  Nothing to crazy happened but we have been so blessed. 

Amazing week!!!!!!  I love you all. 

For the spiritual thought this week:  A goal I have is to develop "unshakable faith" and the way to this is found in Jacob 4:6. The answer is simple, and is something that in these modern days we sometimes take for granted.  The key is "we search the prophets." and through their studies they "obtain a hope", a hope in Christ and their "faith becameth unshaken".  So I exhort you all at home to search the words of our living prophets.  Everyone try and read at least one talk from a recent conference and next week I would love to receive emails of what you learned and also how it has strengthened your faith.  I love you all!!  I testify of the reality of the restoration.  Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God and President Monson is truly the prophet for the whole world today.  I testify of the reality of that calling. 

Have an amazing week!!!! 

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada! 

I Love it When it's Hard!

We studied service this morning and are setting goals to do more community service and service in the ward. Super cool!! Well, we have a ton of references to start calling this week because this is supposedly when they all start getting back.b  So we shall see!!  Vacations are hopefully coming to an end!  Well, we were going to go to the temple this Wednesday (we go once a transfer if you're in Madrid) but they cancelled it and we won't be going this transfer. (dang it)  Although I shouldn't complain, my comp hasn't been in a year.  So I have no room to complain.  haha!  Next transfer though!  We have Zone Conference on Thursday!  I am extremely excited for that and it will be amazing, as always.  Send all handwritten letters (for now, until I say otherwise) to the mission office.  Our address doesn't work, but the office is in our district so I will get it at District Meeting. 

This week was an interesting one and I don't have a lot to say honestly.  We met with Carmela a couple times.  She completely stopped progressing.  We have been working on her and her daughter and her daughter doesn't want to listen anymore and Carmela refuses to accept that Christ established one church, and that there is one true church on earth.  She thinks they are all true and she doesn't want to choose because she doesn't want to "love us more than the others" because that's "not what Jesus taught".  We tried explaining everything to her simply and show her through the Bible and have been working so hard on explaining the Moroni 10 promise but she just won't get it.  She says she loves having us over but she told us she only wants us over once a week from now on so she's kindof done progressing for now.  We´ll keep going and trying to help her understand and gain a testimony but we will see. 

Ramon - we have had a couple short lessons with him in his little beat up house. We sit in his tiny room and he's told us about some of his problems in life.  For example, the night after our first lesson with him there was a huge fight at his house and the police were there and he said something about how he was gone for the next few days.  I'm not sure if he was in jail but I think he may have been.  It's been extremely humbling teaching him.  He just wants to be happy and we have been trying to help him find hope through this message. 

Humberto, has decided his best source of information to find out if the church is true or not is the Internet. He has looked up some anti stuff and just so much information on the Internet and we have had two very frustrating lessons with him.  He was just going off about how because of this and this and this the church could never be true.  Joseph Smith died in prison, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, all sorts of things he's brought up and the Spirit was gone as he just went off and as, at least, Dad knows I had a period of my life where I looked up a ton of anti-Mormon stuff and had read so much about the gospel.  As he was going off about a ton of things I said "Humberto, listen to me.  First off, we're going to go out into the street and ask 50 people if God exists and whatever they say that's going to be what we believe.  It's the same with the Internet.  We can go there and base our beliefs off of what we read.  It would be pointless to go out into the street and ask them because we know God exists.  How?  We've felt it.  We've felt it and we know He's there and that's all we have asked you to do.  Go directly to the source.  Ask God if it's true.  Now do it.  Humberto, I've been where you've been.  I've looked up so many things about the church, bad, good, and everything in between.  I know what's out there, and it never edified me or led me to a conclusion.  But Humberto, in the name of Jesus Christ, I testify to you that this book is true.  Joseph Smith was a just man, a man of God.  He was a prophet of God and I testify to you with all of my heart that Jesus Christ lives and this is His church.  I know it with my whole heart and soul.  I know it without a single doubt, not because of what I've read on the Internet, which i have and not because of what any man has told me but because of the answer I received from God and I cannot deny that.  I asked Him and I felt something I can never deny.  Ever.  Humberto, it's true. Now ask Him."  It was so powerful.  He finally just sat and listened as I, through my tears, testified to him of what I knew to be true. I had been praying the night before for the Lord to help strengthen my testimony, and that was it.  I will defend the truth at all costs.  I will testify till the day I die that these things are true.  My comp afterwards said, "Thanks Elder for finally shutting him up with powerful testimony."  It was an incredible experience and Humberto said he'll try because my testimony touched him.  It was an incredible experience.

Miguel, the husband of Silvia.  We started teaching him this week. he is the husband of a member and they have had a lot of marriage issues.  He is starting to listen because he wants to try and save the marriage but hey, you've got to start somewhere no?  So he's doing well so far.  We´ll see as time goes on what his true desires are.

We had a lot of time passing by references.  We had a really good problem this week.  We contacted so much the first couple weeks we had too many references and had to stop finding people and had to contact the ones we already had but nothing has come from it yet. but we´re still working on that project.  A lot of passbys and trying to contact people but not much came of it but that's okay!!  It kinda starts to get tough at that point mentally but we're saying as a companionship "We like it when its hard".  We like the rainy days when no one will listen to you all day, when we get yelled at all day, and then at 9:50 right before going in you get the number of someone you know you´ll never see again.  Those are the kind of the days we love.  I have loved the work, and things are incredible.

Spiritual thought:

i just want to focus on one thing from Preach My Gospel I read this morning.  It's a simple statement and it is in regards to our ability to let the Lord work miracles in our lives. 

He works according to the faith of His children. Doubt and fear are opposed to faith.

The Lord works according to our faith and our trust in him.  Although we may not understand the "why" behind everything.  We can understand that He knows and we can trust that He knows.  So trust him, and I testify that the Lord will work miracles in our daily lives.  Two scriptures to go with this,  Moroni 7:35-37.  I know this is true.  The "miracles of the Bible" have not ceased.  According to our faith the Lord will work miracles in our lives. So take heed to the counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 "look unto him in every thought, doubt not, fear not."

I challenge each of you to seek miracles.  Not only seek them, but expect them according to your faith. 

Love you all!!!

Elder Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!