Amazing Week

Hey there!  It sounds like you all are doing pretty good!  Thanks for telling me about the temple fireside you had last night.  It sounds like it was awesome!  I love the temple and am so excited for the Gilla Valley Temple to open!  I hope that Aunt Georgann gets feeling better.  She'll be in my prayers for sure.

This past week has been amazing!  We've seen so many miracles!  This week Eddy and Ricardo were baptized!  I've never seen such a turn around and mighty change of heart as I have in these two.  Both of them had major issues before with gangs and everything that comes with that.  They've seen crazy things that I hope no one ever has to see.  But, they now have a new light in their eyes.  They know their Savior and what he did for them. They've learned how to turn to the Lord and trust in Him always.  No one could ever cause this change to come into their lives besides the Savior.  It was amazing.  The baptismal services were awesome.  
Eddy's whole family came to his.  None of them are really interested in changing their lives right now but I think some might in the future.  They're so proud of him and say that it is a miracle from God that he's made the changes he has.  I agree.

We're emailing at the family history library today.  Sorry my letter is kind of scattered.  I'm surrounded by missionaries and its kind of hard to concentrate. (My District)

So like I said last week, I'll be getting transferred this week.  We find out tonight about transfers.  We'll see where I go.  It will be sad to leave this area.  I've learned so much here and have really come to know my Savior better.  My testimony has grown so much.  North East El Paso is very special to me.  With that being said, I'm excited for a change.  I know that the upcoming change will bring a lot of new experiences, difficulties, and opportunities to grow.  It should be great!

I hope that you all have a great week!  I love you lots!  The Church is definitely true!

Love,
Hermana Anderson

1,015 Miracles

Hey there!  How are all of you doing?  Thanks for the letters, I sure love them!  

That's awesome that the Church News had an article about the Mexico temples.  It is true, when the members go straight to the temple and straight back they are completely safe.  Unfortunately not everyone has followed this council and I've heard some sad stories.  It reminds me of how the Children of Israel just needed to look and they would live.  Unfortunately, that was too easy for some people and they didn't heed the council.  Often, we'll be protected as long as we just do the small things.  It's cool that they quoted the stake president.  He's a great man.  We actually have stake conference this weekend and there are rumors of a general authority coming.  We'll see if those rumors are true.  I'm excited for conference.

 
On Tuesday we had zone training. It was great! I love to get together with the other missionaries and learn how to become the type of missionaries the Lord needs.  They went over some of the things that had happened in the past year and we had 1,015 baptisms!  To me, that is 1,015 miracles.  Every baptism is a miracle.  We've been promised by General Authorities that as we are obedient with exactness that we will double and even triple the number of baptisms in this mission.  Amazing huh? Thousands of souls will come unto Jesus Christ this year.  

I also had an interview with President Walker on Tuesday.  He and I had a really good conversation about what had happened in this area since I've been here.  We were both crying because of the miracles here and he told me that it's my time and that I'll be getting transferred next week.  Transfers are a week from Wednesday.  Only time will tell where I get sent.  I'm excited for a change and the opportunity to learn, grow, and invite more souls to come unto Christ.
(Where we teach Eddy Rain or Shine)
We had a lot of success last week.  We were able to find some new investigators and help people make and keep commitments.  It was great.  I found that members are key.  Members are so so important.  Last night some of the Elders that live on the other side of the mountain called us to let us know that one of their investigators moved into our area so we'll be teaching him AND he's getting baptized on Saturday!  Miracle!  Also, Eddy is doing amazing so he'll be getting baptized on Saturday as well!  I'm so excited!  It's going to be an amazing week!
(Eddy telling us he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom!)

Thanks for all that you do for me!  Thanks for praying for our investigators and please continue to do so.  I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana Anderson

Happy New Year / Reed Happy 4 Year Mark!

(Maria Elena's Baptism)

Hey everyone!  Happy New Year!  I'm glad to hear that you are doing well!  

Reed, happy 4 year mark!  I can't believe that it's been 4 years!  Way to go!  

This week was really good!  I can't believe that it's a new year.  Crazy!  I was thinking about this past year and what happened in my life.  Pretty much the whole year was spent getting ready for a mission and actually serving.  It was a year where lots of the things I had been planning on in my life actually happened.  

For my whole life and especially since I started Young Women's I have been preparing to go to the temple.  My whole life I thought about and prepared to serve a mission and now I'm a fulltime representative of the Lord.  The things that happened in the past year are things that were always goals of mine.  It's not like I just woke up and decided to go to the temple or to serve a mission.  I've been preparing for my whole life.  I think that one of the biggest reasons I was prepared was because I always tried to live the Young Women theme.  I would like to invite everyone male or female, young or old to live this theme.  It applies to everyone and I know that as we live it we will be prepared to do whatever the Lord asks of us.  "We are daughters (or sons) of our Heavenly Father, who loves us and we love Him.  We will stand as witnesses of God at ALL times, in ALL things, and in ALL places as we strive to live the young women values which are:  faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity, and virtue.  We believe that as we come to accept and act upon these values we'll be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exhalation."  I love that theme and recite it every day.
(Hermana Anderson, Hna Miranda, Maria, Hermana Rodriguez)
Anyway, like I said this week has been really good.  We've been focusing on part member families and are seeing some great results.  We picked up some new investigators!  The first is a family where the mom got offended.  The first time we went to her house she told us that she got offended and told us this big long story about it.  Well, all of the sudden my mouth was filled with Spanish words and I flat out told her that salvation isn't about other people, it's about us and the Lord. Lets just say that I'm not her favorite person right now but she is letting us teach her 2 sons.  The boys are excited about the Gospel and want to be baptized.  Unfortunately the parents don't really have faith in the boys and their desire to follow the Lord.  Hopefully that will change and we'll be able to get this family sealed.  The other family we're working with have a 14 year old son who isn't baptized.  Pretty much this family got lazy and stopped coming to church and the boy was never baptized.  I don't think people realize that it's not about going under water, its about salvation.  All of these boys have baptism dates set for February!  We're really excited!  

Eddy is doing well!  He hasn't smoked for 3 days and the first 3 days are the hardest! We pushed up his baptism date for the 16th!  It's amazing to see the change in him!  

So that's about it for here.  We spent New Years in our apt and I fell asleep at 9. Nothing to grand.  Anyway, I love you all and hope that everything is going well!  The Church is definitely true and the Lord is in control.  Let Him into your lives and make this year the best year ever!
Love, Hermana Anderson