Saturday, December 19, 2015

Week #68 in Panama! (Departing Testimony)

Hello all!

I hope you all had a really great week this past week. I wanted to
send an email to all those who have written and supported me over this
past 18 months to say THANK YOU!

Thank you for all of your love, support, and confidence in me. Thank
your for your uplifting and encouraging words. Thank you for always
being there to put a smile on my face every Monday. Thank you for your
shining examples to me of true and loyal friends and family members.
Thank you for everything!

As my mission comes to an end, I wanted to share my testimony of the
gospel of Jesus Christ with all of you. During my time here in Panamá,
teaching Panamanians and Kunas and Columbians and so many other people
with so many different backgrounds, I have gained such a strong
testimony of the love that our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ
have for each and every one of us. I know without a shadow of a doubt
that they both know us personally. They know our struggles and
challenges, they know our fears and regrets, and they know our peace
and joy. And because they know us so perfectly, they want nothing more
than to help us in this life. Our Heavenly Father sent His son here to
suffer for us and to atone for our sins so that He could come to
understand us perfectly and so that we would have the chance to
repent, change, and become more like Him. He also sent His son to
teach us. He taught us the one and true gospel, His gospel. He taught
us about faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, the gift of the Holy
Ghost, and what it means to endure to the end. He established His one
true church on the earth. I know that He did, and I know that many
many years later, the prophet Joseph Smith was called to restore His
one true church again upon the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was
called of God and I know that today we still have a living prophet,
President Thomas S. Monson, who continues to guide and direct this
church through priesthood power and revelation. I know that the
Chrurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one true church on
this earth because it is the only church that contains the fulness of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Our Heavenly Father has a
perfect plan for us as we follow the gospel and that through that
plan, we can have the promise of being with our families, together,
for all of eternity. Death has no power. I know these things with all
of my soul, heart and mind and I share them with all of you in the
name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hermana Anderson

Week #67 in Panama!

Hello!

I hope you all had a great week last week. We definitely did. We were
very busy with picking up the elders investigators, which were a ton,
getting to know them, and also finding new investigators. There are SO
MANY people to teach here. Its awesome. Hna McGowan and her new
companion are going to have a lot of success out here, I know it. I
feel so happy to be able to leave them here being so sure of that,
too. Its a good feeling. Angel and Abigail got married and baptized on
Wednesday and confirmed yesterday!! I got to talk to them on the phone
on Wednesday night after their baptism and they sounded so happy. I am
SO happy for them. This gospel has already changed their lives so much
and I know that it will continue to do so forever. Im hoping to be
able to go and see them on the 17th again before I go home. I should
be able to. I just love them so much!

Well we have another VERY busy and full week ahead of us and I couldnt
be more ready for it. We are going to work our butts off this week and
its going to be great.

I hope you all have an awesome week. Love and miss you all tons!!
Happy birthday tomorrow brenny!! I love you!

Hna Anderson

P.S. I will be writing for my last email time this Sunday instead of
Monday because we will be traveling on Monday. So if theres anything
you want me to see before I go home, send it to me before Sunday
please! =)

Week #66 in Panama!

Hi!

So guess what...I had changes!!

Im writing you from Ustupu, the first island I was on when I went to
San Blas. I was sent out here with Hna McGowan to teach her the island
before I go home and she gets a new comp in two weeks. Im super happy
to be here again because I was SO sad when they pulled us off so
unexpectedly and put the elders on. But now the hermanas are BACK, and
we are very happy about that. Hna McGowan is actually one of my really
good friends from the mish so I was really happy when they told me
that she would be the one coming out here with me.

Im going to miss Angel and Abigails wedding and baptisms on Wednesday,
but thats okay because the important thing is that they are going to
do it! Im so happy and so excited for them.

Well Im out of time, but know that Im healthy, happy, and excited for
this last past of my 18 months in Panama in my FAVORITE PLACE in the
entire country, USTUPU.

Love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Hna Anderson

Week #65 in Panama!


Soo Angel and Abigail put their wedding date at the Tribunal on Friday! They are going to get married on December 2nd and baptized that same day. We are so excited!! only just a over a week left and they will finally be members! We took them to the temple last night so they could see it in person before getting baptized. They loved it. We were the only ones out there last night so it was soo quiet. It was perfect! We taught them a lesson on the benches in front of the temple about the Priesthood which was also really great. Angeli, their little girl, loved it as well! It was so perfect for them to be able to go there.

Roberto is still MIA, which is sad. But we know that eventually he will come back, which just dont know when. But we will continue to pass by his house to see if he has returned yet. 

Its changes week this week again! I cant believe how fast that went. Its gotten faster and faster every change. We are really anxious to find out what is going to happen. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all on Thursday!! I hope its a great one for everyone and that you all eat A LOT of good Thanksgivingy food for me. I love you all!!!

Hna Anderson

Week #64 in Panama!

Hi!

So after 16 months of being in Panama, I finally went to see the Canal today! hahaa. I had seen it from afar many times, but had never actually been. Im glad we went. It was lots of fun. And before that we went to the temple which was great as usual. It has been a really good P-day. 

This past week was also a really good one. Roberto left to go take care of a farm far away, randomly, so that was bad news that we received yesterday since we had his baptism scheduled for this saturday. But we are praying that he comes back soon. Angel and Abigail got the medical exams done yesterday to keep going on their marriage process, so that was great! We will have a fecha for the wedding and baptism this friday. We are really excited, and so are they. 

Sorry for the short email, but Im about out of time. I hope you all have a great week this week! Love and miss you all tons!! 

Hna Anderson

Week #63 in Panama!


Hi all,

Well we are no longer in a trio =(. They found a mini missionary for Hna Garcia so she wont be finishing the change out with us like we thought. It was sooo much fun having her with us though! We laughed a lot. We were sad to see her good, but at the same time we knew it would be much better that way for our areas. She went with her mini on Saturday night. Hna McCormick and I did a very thorough weekly planning yesterday and have a very busy week ahead of us, but its going to be great. We are really excited to be able to focus 100% on our area. 

Roberto came to church yesterday and is still progressing. We had planned on him getting baptized this saturday, the 14th, but we decided to move it to next saturday because we still have quite a bit left to teach him and we dont want to rush it. We both feel a lot better about having it that day. We are excited for that day to come!

Next week we should be finishing the papers for Angel and Abigail to be able to get married so they can finally get baptized! We are praying that they will have time slots available for the ceremony before I have to go home! We have heard that in some other parts of the country they are having to set dates in January already, so we are really praying that that isnt the case here! Prayers for that please!

Today the whole mission was invited to Panama to see a movie called freetown and President Carmack put on for us. They set a goal for us to get 2400 new investigators in 4 weeks as a mission and we did is so we got to watch the movie. It was a really cool movie. You guys should watch it! It was a little too thrilling for us though, too much stimulation for people who havent seen movies in over a year hahaa. It was fun though. 

Well I hope you all have a great week this week!! Love you and miss you all!!

Hna Anderson