Week 97 - September 28, 2015

Dear Family,

Well it was a crazy crazy week.

I don't have a ton of time, due to the fact I spent the day with Elder
Mullins and we went and taught a lesson and saw Will (the one from
America) It was super fun!!  Elder Mullins was in the district a couple
transfers back and he's an absolute stud!!  But yeah, this email's gonna
be really short.

Well this week Elder Peterson and I had the assignment to go inspect
all the pisos in the zone and so a couple days were spent doing that.

As for transfer news, It was quite the process in finding out what my
fate was for my final transfer.  I received a call on Wednesday
informing me that I would be training.  On Friday I went to a training
for all the trainers and President told me a little about my
assignment.  On Saturday I found out that I will be 1) Training  2)
opening up an area called La Laguna on the Island of Tenerife in the
Canary Islands and 3) I will be the district leader for the Tenerife
Island District.

I am beyond stoked.

I fly out Wednesday.

Thanks for the emails!  I'll be able to better respond next week!!

I love you all!!!

Enjoy conference!!!

Elder Jarrett Anderson
¡Hurah por Israel!
¡El reino de dios o nada!




Enviado desde mi iPad

Week 96 - September 21, 2015

Well it was a great week!  We had the leadership council and man it was
amazing.  We discussed the Sabbath Day and the sacrament and how we
can better teach repentance and help people repent before baptism.  It
was (as always) just an amazing experience.

The zone training we gave went amazing as well.  The spirit was strong
and I learned so much from it.  I feel like the missionaries learned as
well.

So we helped a man in the metro.  He was an old man who had been lost
for 3 hours and so we offered to take him to his metro stop.  We had
been on our way to pass by and I feel like the Lord sent us in that
direction to help that man.

I got to see Miguel and Silvia on Saturday!!!  We ate lunch together
and it was so good to see them!  They are working on preparing to get
married in the temple.  They have a ways to go but they'll get there!

I also got permission to call Nadya and I had a great conversation
with her.  She's doing good.  She is working on getting back to church
there's just some issues there but she was so grateful for my call and
said whenever I want to go to Russia, I'll have a place to stay.

Miyaret was baptized!!!  It was a great day!  We almost had a Graciela
fiasco repeat (the "I won't get baptized if I have to wear that"
scandal).  It wasn't to that extreme but she did not want to wear the
jumpsuit and the mom was mad.  So she wore one that was way too big for
her.  I have developed a lot more patience 'cause I handled this situation a lot 
better than we did the Graciela one. Haha but in the end it was an amazing day!! 
Her less-active father also came to the baptism and we got to meet him and  
were gonna start helping him.

We found Agustin (a man from Ghana) he is a less-active and we finally
passed by at a time he was home.  He was super excited to see us and to
meet again!!  He is an elder and was a counselor in the young men's
presidency so we're gonna work on getting him back:)

It was a great week!!!  I also got to go on an intercambio with elder
Overson!  It was super fun!!  We were able to reminisce about old times
in B9 and as we taught together it was just like we never had been
apart.  It was super fun!!

Great week!!!  We are now in week 6 so there are transfers this
Saturday and the next time I email you it will be the first week of
my final transfer.

Cool to hear you talked with Elder Peterson's mom! I'd love to meet his parents!
He's a great kid and a great missionary and I count him as one of my
companions.  I go on so many splits with him and we have a great time.
Super cool!

Thanks for all your prayers!! I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!

Love,
Elder Anderson
¡Hurah por Israel!
¡El reino de dios o nada!

Enviado desde mi iPad

Elder Overson and Elder Anderson 

comps in B9- on intercambios together

Miyaret's Baptism

Elder Anderson, Miguel & Silvia

Week 95 - September 14, 2015

Mom,

Well it was a great week. 

Like absolutely amazing. 

First off my companion has turned his attitude around 100%. Out of the blue, I don't know what happened, nor why it changed but it was a 100% difference this week. We studied 6 of the 7 days and it was unreal. 

We have been working hard and it was just an amazing week. I am just extremely happy right now.

This week we were working a lot with the ward leaders. We have begun to go one by one to the home teachers and train them on how to home teach and how to minister.  It's been a great opportunity to help the ward grow and progress.  It's been awesome! 

We made the call to repentance!! and it went fantastic!!!  Things have completely changed as well.  We just needed time and to have a chance to talk to them.  We talked about where our hearts are and having the attitude of Nephi and obeying because we know the Lord commands it. 

The baptism was changed to next weekend so I will let you know how it goes next week:) but she passed her interview so all we need is to finish planning everything!!

We found an inactive whose name is Patricia and it was amazing.  She was so grateful for our visit and was almost in tears.  She kept saying, "It's time to come back, I need to come back".

Sorry for the short email!!  but it was an absolutely amazing week.  This week will be great we've got the leadership council and a zone training. 

I just hope you guys know how much I love you.  The work is going great.  We worked a ton with the ward this week and I'm really excited.  I did some shopping today for the family and I think I got a couple cool things:)  I'll be getting some more in the future:)

I love you all!!  So glad all is well back home!!

Have an amazing week!:)

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

Week 94 - September 7, 2015

Dear family,

Well it was a good week for the most part. Still trying to resolve some issues with the missionaries in our zone and trying to keep the work going.  Things continue to march forward and I'm really pleased with myself.  Despite my constant feeling of inadequacy I was able to reflect this Sunday on the week and I know the lord is proud of me.

I think Lolo is basically off the radar for baptism for now.  He came back from Malaga.  We found him and talked for a while about things and he committed to be baptized the 12th (we were thinking he was ready and everything) when we came back to the park later to find him smoking and drinking. We pulled him aside and had a very good talk with him.  He talked about how with the people he is with (a bunch of homeless Romanians) it is at times hard to remember who he is and what his standards are and how it's not an addiction, it's just the occasional cigarette or beer when they insist, and so we talked about how he can prevent that and avoid those situations and overcome temptation. He was very grateful for our visit and was excited to improve, repent and change.  But we haven't seen him since.  So we don't really know what to do.  We are going to keep trying our best to meet with him and help him change but it's just been impossible to meet with him.  So, he will not be baptized this weekend and probably not in the near future but one day he will!  He's got a testimony of this church.  I've got his email and his Facebook so I'll be able to stay in contact with him.  He also might be moving to England soon, or to the south of Spain for a few months.  So that's the news on him.  He will make the covenant one day. But for now I'll just keep doing what I can to help him out!

Vilma's daughters have been sick ever since their trip to the Philippines and so they haven't been able to meet.  A member who lives in their building also told us she doesn't think that she got married while she was there.  We aren't 100% sure but we will find out.  Vanesa hasn't answered for a few weeks and no one knows where she is.  So we will keep trying to contact them.

So it's been really rough because all of the work we have done with them since April is starting to fall through and it's really sad.  I have to be honest, I wanted to see "the fruits of my labors" and see them baptized.  It would have been so cool but I don't know if I will.  I'll keep trying!

Miyaret will be baptized on the 19th!  She's doing really well and is really excited!  So things are going great with her!:) she's a great girl and is preparing herself well.  She loves reading and praying every day and absolutely loves Young Women's!

We are still working with Marco, the man from Ecuador who was baptized years ago and wants to come back now.  He's gaining a testimony and I've been really grateful to work with him.  I feel like if nothing else goes right here in barrio 5, I was at least able to help him start to gain a testimony.  The good thing is lots of things have gone great here in barrio 5:)

We have had an issue in the missionary coordination meeting, some of the missionaries have been extremely
contentious and no one was really being mature about things (except for me and my companion, I have to make sure he gets credit he was well behaved and was very mature during the meetings).  The second counselor in the bishopric is holding them while we do not have a ward mission leader and he's an old spaniard man who just loves to talk, he
also uses a lot of slang terms that are hard to understand and he has a super thick madrileño accent so I don't blame the younger Americans for not understanding him.  I'm the only one who fully understands him of the Americans. But they get impatient and contentious and are driving the spirit away because they don't want him to talk a lot, they say it "wastes our time".  This has been going on for many weeks.  The reality is he gives us great information and yeah he chatters sometimes but he wants us to be informed so it's been really good to have this time with him.  As well, my comp and I have been able to develop a strong relationship with him.  The truth is there hasn't been much progress in the ward in regards to the work the missionaries have been doing and I have been studying, and fasting, and praying to know what we need to do.  It comes down to having a better attitude, dropping the contention, and stripping ourselves of pride, and working effectively with the members.  So the night before, I was up really late studying and praying and looking for scriptural
help and I also was studying the handbook of instructions, and some of the information and things they gave us at the zone conference this week.  So I developed a plan for our ward, and found some scriptures to talk about the contention.  So the next day after coordination I talked to them about Alma 4 and how the church "began to fail in its progress" (verse 10) because of the pride, and contention of the people.  I then defined contention with 3 Nephi 11:29-30.  The Spanish translation is really cool because the verbs mean "to be agitated" or "to be irritated" and I talked about how we can get
better and the blessings that would come from improvement, one of them being progression in the work.  Then I presented my developed plan for working with the ward leaders with our newly called ward mission leader. (Who will be sustained and set apart hopefully next week)  It's been a great time for me to develop my leadership skills, and even further my knowledge of church government and how things should work according to the handbooks.  It's been a great time of growth and patience for me.

I will be calling the zone to repentance about the schedule this week in the district meetings because the zone conference was this past week.  The good thing is there is an overall good attitude that has started to come this week.  Most missionaries are doing better and there aren't as many problems.  There are just a few now who need correction.  My zone leader companion is a stud and has been helping a ton.  We've been able to do some great things together.  His name is
Elder Peterson and he actually went to Brighton High School!

Funny story, yesterday my comp went to bed when it was time to study as a companionship and so I went to my desk and I yelled in, "Hey! Ready when you are!"  And then I waited a few minutes.  Nothing.  So I sang a hymn really loud.  I got through all four verses, nothing.  So I knelt down and offered a prayer out loud.  Yeah, I made sure he heard me. "Please bless my companion that he will join me in the companionship study we are going to have."  Finished my prayer.  Nothing. So I began to read out loud from the missionary handbook.  Nothing.  Finally as I was reading the How to Begin Teaching points in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel he came lumbering in put on a shirt and we studied together.  Hahaha!  It was funny!  But hey, whatever works right?  I'll never forget that prayer.

Zone conference was amazing!!!  I ordered the pizza and I don't think I'd ever ordered over the phone that many before.  I also was the interpreter again!  And as always it was an amazing experience.  I  really enjoyed it.  I love translating and interpreting.  So much fun!

After zone conference I had an interview with President Pack to renew my temple
recommend because mine expired at the end of last month.  I absolutely love President Pack.  That man has been called of God and I am so grateful I'm serving with him.  He's a great friend of mine, and I've developed a great relationship with him, even in this short time.  We had a great talk about a lot of things, like life after the mission, service in the church, my goals and my education and career plans, it was a great conversation and I just want to say he is an inspired man.
We discussed possibly an extension, the possibility of staying longer in the mission but after discussing it, we decided it would be best to go home on the designated date, November 10th.  I have a lifetime of service ahead of me so I feel and think it's the right time to be home.

In the end it was an overall good week, a lot of frustrations, a lot of miracles, but I'm loving every moment.  As I always say, I love this work.  I love my Savior and I know He lives.  Thanks for all your love and prayers!!  Have an amazing week!!!

Love you all!

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!
¡Hurah por Israel!

P.s. I got the package and my debit card and I bought my suit
today!!:)  It looks great and I'm super excited about it:)  Thank you so
much for getting it to me!!!  I love you!!


Enviado desde mi iPad

Hanging out with a statue of some old Spaniards 

Elder Anderson and Lolo

In Torrejon!  We went and visited some people there today  because 

Elder Esquen and I both served there.  This is the main plaza there.

Week 93 - August 31, 2015

Mi madre,

 Sí lo has dicho bien!!  You said it right:)  Well done!  It's so great to hear about all the adventures from your week and I'm always grateful for the update!!  I cannot believe that school has started.  That's just super weird to me.  I've been dreading the coming of this fall for a while now and it's finally here.  Just got to keep working hard and not worry about the little time I have left.  I always thought that the end of my mission would be the easiest part because by this point I'd know what I'm doing and I'd be in a good rhythm, that is not the case.  It's very difficult.  I'm maintaining a level of obedience, and hard work.  My work ethic and my heart are still in the right place, I'm still giving this work my whole heart, might, mind and strength because my love for the Lord is stronger than it has ever been.  But it's just hard.  For numerous reasons.  Still helping my companion make the changes necessary which requires a lot of patience.  It's really testing my good qualities to the max and changing those negative qualities I have.  I'm learning even more than I did before the importance of good communication and listening.  I thought I checked those off on the "lessons to learn list" but unfortunately I've got a lot of growth to make.  The good thing I've been able to see though has been my overall improvement over time.  I look back at who I was before and my very limited relationship skills and I am a new person.  I have developed so many abilities here and it's thanks to a lot of the rough moments that continuously come my way.  So I will continue to patiently and cheerfully submit to the will of the Lord and I know it will make me so much better. 

Miracle number one for the week!  Miyaret!  The daughter of the lady from the ward who wants us to teach her.  We met this week and she basically told us, I've been coming to church for ten years but because of some difficulties with time and other things I haven't been able to be baptized yet.  (She's 13)  She expressed her testimony of the Book of Mormon and said "this is the true church, I can just feel it".  She will be baptized the 12th of September.  It's been so fun to meet with her!  The lord has prepared her well and all we have to do is basically show up and review things with her. 

Miracle number 2!  The elders from barrio 6 passed us a reference named Graziano.  He is from Italy and is just a stud!!!! He is the coolest guy ever and said "I saw the Mormons in the street and said hey!  Mormons!  They're in my country too, I wonder what they have to say" and went and talked to the elders so we will begin to teach him next week.  Super excited!!

Vilma and Vanesa are back, but it's been tough to meet with them.  Vilma's daughter was in the hospital, so keep her in your prayers!!  We don't know what's going on exactly.  The grandma only speaks Tagalog and a little Spanish so we could barely get that out of her.  So I'll keep you updated on that!! 

Lolo has been working in Malaga again this week.  So he should be back today. (At least that's what we've been told) ha! We aren't gonna give up on him!!  So we will just keep the faith and keep trying!!!

We met with Elizabeth and she was really worried that we were going to have her go out and proselyte in the street after baptism haha so we told her that wasn't a requirement and talked a little about member life.  It calmed her fears!  She says she knows the Book of Mormon is true and she believes the church is true.  She just works on Sundays so she can't come to church.  Which is a big bummer.  It's the only thing impeding her progression!  She's doing good though!

Roberto had a rough week and wasn't able to meet.  But he is still wanting to meet with us!  So sometime this week we will be meeting.

Overall it's been a good week. Just trying to plug along! Things are going well.

I invite you to continue to seek to have those effective studies of the scriptures so that we may strengthen our testimonies and our will to stay faithful to the Lord no matter the consequences.  I hope you all know I love the Lord.  He is my King and I am His servant. 

I love you all!!  Thanks for your support and love.  Have an amazing week!!! 

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡El reino de dios o nada!

¡Hurah por Israel!

P.s. The weather is starting to cool down a little bit!!  It's getting better haha. It's bearable now.

Enviado desde mi Ipad 

New Assignment - August 17, 2015

Okay just kidding, I'm staying in Barrio 5!!!:)  President called me on Saturday and told me the Lord needs me here for the ward, and for my companion.  I will be with Elder Esquen again:)  He also said that I am needed as a zone leader for this transfer.  So absolutely nothing changed. Barrio 5, Elder Esquen, Zone Leader. 

I will have served here in Barrio 5 for as long as I served in Barrio 4, but it feels like b4 was a LOT longer.  My time here has flown by!! But I'm so excited to continue to work here. 

The bad news for the week is that Lolo was not baptized.  He went to Malaga for work a couple weeks ago (like I said last week) and he was going to come back sometime last week.  We called and passed by daily but he never answered or was there.  Wednesday rolled around and we had to cancel the baptism, and we had no clue where he was.  Thursday he gave us a call and explained to us what had happened.  While there, trying to find a bus to get back, he was robbed of all his money and a lot of his things. (I don't know if he was beaten and robbed, but he was for sure robbed) and he has been stuck in Malaga for an extra week now.  He still had his phone sim card and had put it into a phone that the red cross allowed him to use and he was able to call us from there.  He still has desires to be baptized but he has been stuck down in Malaga so we will have to have the baptism another weekend.  So it was really hard for me to wait till Saturday for transfers.  If I would have been transferred, I would have missed Vilma and Vanesa's baptism, and Lolos.  And although that made me sad thinking I could possibly miss all that, I was comforted, and was not afraid one bit because I was ready to accept whatever the Lord had for me.  I have a testimony that President Pack has been called of God and that the Lord's hands are in the transfers.  But it was very nice to know I will be staying.

We had the leadership council this week.  It was amazing!! and I continued in my service as mission interpreter. (I think interpreter is the right term, because it's a live translation rather than written translation).  I interpreted the meeting for the Spanish speakers for the parts that were in English.  It was amazing.  I have been blessed over and over again with the gifts of the spirit.  Our God is a God of miracles!  Have miracles ceased?  I say unto you, nay!  Neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of man.  Because I've lived it.  I saw so many miracles this week.  Miracles I will share and miracles I cannot share over email.  But when I'm home I can tell you about. 

The funny part of the interpreting was there was a video we were watching and in a part of it someone was reciting the First Vision.  I haven't heard it in English for ages and I have it memorized in Spanish but there are two lines that are swapped in their order in the translation from English to Spanish in Joseph Smith History (how I am supposed to remember that when I'm always saying it in Spanish?  no idea..)  So when I started to say the First Vision in the microphone I was lining it up to his words perfectly.  I wasn't getting cocky nor showing off but it was pretty cool. But then he said the line that was switched around and I got thrown off.  I was embarrassed!  I sat there in silence and missed the next couple lines. Then got right back to it a couple lines later.

Learn from my mistakes!  In the work of the Lord, never lean on your own knowledge and understanding.  The moment you think you know better than the Lord, and begin to "show off" the spirit will not be able to guide you and your personal results will not turn out to well, and you´ll probably be really embarrassed.  Trust the Lord, and never think you know better than Him.  Trust His guidance even through the "parts" of your service to Him that you "have memorized" or that you "already know".  Never relax on being guided by Him and doing His will. 

It was embarrassing!  We should have it memorized as missionaries and all the Spanish speakers heard me mess up on it! And I do have it memorized but I learned a very valuable lesson.  It's amazing because I did not mess up at any other parts and I was doing it live, which is hard.  Especially for Hermana Pack. She talks FAST.  But, I could keep up, so long as I had a prayer in my heart.  Amazing experience that taught me so much!

The Zone training went well.  I feel like I learn more preparing for it then I do going to the ones where I'm not giving the training! I also have fallen in love with speaking in public.  My public speaking and communication skills have bloomed while serving as a missionary.  It's been an amazing blessing. 

It's been a great week!!!  Hard at times, but always rewarding.  A week of miracles!!!!  I love you all!!  Have an amazing week!!

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡el reino de dios o nada!

¡hurah por israel!

Week 91 - August 17, 2015

We only could meet with Lolo on Friday, and haven't seen him since.  Please, please, please pray for him!!  I'm a little worried, but not a ton because I know that the Lord is in charge.  He's got Lolo in His hands:)  We will be passing by today. Thanks for your prayers in his behalf these past week, but let's keep begging together and in the end, the results will be even sweeter, the happiness even more pure for all we have gone through to help him.

We are continuing to teach Elizabeth.  She has trouble understanding everything completely but has a lot of faith and feels good when we pass by:)  So little by little we will continue to help her. 

A lady from the ward came up to us and said, "My daughter wants to get baptized, what do we need to do?"  So we are going to start going over tomorrow to start teaching her!  We are really excited about that.

The miracle of the week is a man named Roberto.  He found us on the metro, he called out to us, "mormones!!" and started to tell us how he had been to all sorts of churches and he hasn't liked any of them yet.  He came to our appointment the next day. Had started to read in the Book of Mormon.  He began to explain to us that he has been an alchoholic for much of his life.  He isn't allowed in his parents house.  He doesn't have contact with his 20-year-old daughter and has hit absolute rock bottom but he says despite his depression, he knows God exists and he wants to find the Savior.  He is reading and praying and is really excited. We gave him a white shirt and a tie and he put it on and was almost in tears.  He is so happy to just come and speak with us and read in the Book of Mormon because it brings him peace.  Pray for his happiness.  He is struggling but I know he will find healing.  He has such sincerity and real intent! 

It's been a good week.  My companion is doing good!  He makes awesome Peruvian food and is a great kid:)  I've really enjoyed my time with him.  I'm learning so much!!  It's pretty cool to have a native companion.  It's a really neat experience!!  100% of my life in Spanish right now.  Like every bit.  It's super awesome.  I feel beyond fluent in Spanish at this point in my mission but don't worry if I come home and my English is a lot better than most foreign missionaries, (it won't be perfect I don't think, but it will be good, and I don't know if I'll have issues with remembering words!)  Thanks to my translating experience I've maintained my English pretty well:) 

Keep the faith!!  My spiritual challenge this week is simply that we strive to have daily scripure study, and as we go to the scriptures we need to take our problems and that which we are pleading with our Father to the scriptures and seek answers.  It's something simple, but that's the beauty of the restoration of the gospel, it's a gospel of beautiful simplicity.  I want to hear from everyone this week how they found answers to their questions, or trials, or problems in the scriptures.

May God bless every single one of you.  I love you all!  God lives.  Jesus is the Christ.  He is risen. 

Love,

Elder Jarrett Anderson

¡Hurah por Israel!

¡El reino de Dios o nada!