Friday, December 25, 2015
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Week #68 in Panama! (Departing Testimony)
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!
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!
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!
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
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Week #62 in Panama!
Hi!!
I hope you all had a fantastic halloween! I cant wait to be in the states for it again next year. =) Although, we made the best of it here! Luis Remice was baptized on Halloween night, so that was a great way to spend the evening! His parents have really come back into full activity and just have a wonderful spirit about them. We are so grateful to have been a part of their reactivation and to also have been able to teach Luis and see him get baptized. The baptism was beautiful. We made banana bread for it! Everyone LOVED it. I told them all that it is my nanas recepie! =) Well I said abuela because nana is like nanny in spanish. It was fun. That morning while we made the banana bread, we also made pumpkin pancakes and today we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I love having a gringa comp who understands the need for pumpkin at this time of year! hahaaSunday, November 1, 2015
Week #61 in Panama!
I am currently in my first trio since the MTC. Its Hna McCormick, me, and another hermana from our zone named Hna Garcia. Shes from Guatemala. Shes with us because her companion went home for health reasons and they havent been able to find her a mini missionary yet, and since the mission has 59 hermanas, theres no other trio in the mission. But we are having lots of fun and secretly hoping that she stays with us all change. =) It works out great too because I sleep in my hammock so we have the extra bed. Its a little bit more work because we are covering both our area and hers, so we do one day here, one day there and divisions with members when we can. Yesterday for church I stayed in our ward with a member and the two of them went to the Los Altos branch, which is Hna Garcias area. It worked out well except I have been battling a nasty cold and yesterday was a rough day with that. Im also not a fan of not being with my companion, especially at church haha. But it worked out because I was able to be there for our investigators that came to church and they were able to be there for hers, which is whats important. Roberto came to church, which made his 3rd assistencia. We are going to keep his fecha for the 14th of November, though, because he needs some more time with the lessons than we would normally take with investigators because he sometimes struggles remembering what we taught. But he will get there! Luisito will be getting baptized on Satuday! =D He is a little boy of a menos activo family who have reactivated and we have been teaching him so that he could be baptized and its finally happening! We are going to have a baptism on Halloween! Woohoo! Angel and Abigail didnt come to church yesterday, but Abigail called after church to let us know why, so that was good. They didnt just not go to not go at least! This is definitely going to be a BUSY change! Especially if we do end up staying in the trio. Im loving it.
Well I hope you all have a GREAT week! I love and miss you all tons!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN this saturday! I hope you all have so much fun. Halloween is THE BEST! Ill look forward to pics on Monday. =)
Hna Anderson
Week #60 in Panama!
So this past week has been incredible. My new comp is Hna McCormick. Shes from Washington DC. She has 14 months in the mish. She actually flew to Panama with us because she was in the MTC with us. But she was only there for two weeks since she knew some spanish before, which is why she has less time in the mish. Shes great though, so obedient and so excited about the work. We are going to be super successful together.
This past week we have really seen a ton of progress with Angel and Abigail. They are our golden family. There was an activity at the church on Saturday night for couples in the ward. It was like a dance. They both went and had a ton of fun and got to know so many members. It was soo great that they went. And then the both bailed on work on Sunday to be able to go to church and they LOVED it and all of the members were SO welcoming to them. Roberto also came to church along with Luis and his family. Luis is a 9 year old little boy of a menos activo family who is also our investigator. It was a great day at church for us. The members are sooo excited for the work recently and are helping us with visits and giving us references. Its amazing. We had 3 members go with us to Angel and Abigails house last night and we had a GREAT lesson. The next step with them is to get them married because they want to be baptized ASAP so the wedding will be next and then the baptism! =)
I am so incredibly happy and so excited to see everything that this change brings. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!
Hna Anderson
Week #59 in Panama!
We had a GREAT week. We were able to teach Angel and Abigail 2 different times with our mission leader and his wife and both were fantastic lessons. They accepted a fecha for december 3rd. We had to give them a little more time since they have to get married first. They are so great and are so stinkin prepared. I love it and feel so blessed that the Lord has enough confidence in us to have let us find them.
Im running out of time, but changes are this week! So I will more than likely have a new comp when I write again next week. Please pray that the adjustment will be a good one! Im pretty anxious to see what happens. =)
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Hna Anderson
Week #58 in Panama!
I hope you all enjoyed conference! I absolutely loved it! It was amazing and I received so many answers to so many questions that I had. I hope that you all received inspiration that you were seeking as well. I just wanted to share a few things that really stood out to me with the little bit of time that I have left.
I absolutely loved the talk given by Elder Hales on Saturday (I hope I remember who gave what talk correctly, because I forgot my notes at home haha). It really helped me set some good goals of how to keep up with the habits that Ive made on my mission when I get home. It was a really perfect talk for me to hear at this particular time. It was so great for all youth and young adults!! Such an inspiring talk.
I also loved Elder Hollands talk on mothers. It was SO beautiful and made me think so much about my own mama, the other mothers in my life, and what kind of mother I want to be. If any of you mamas havent heard it yet, I encourage you to go listen to it! Not just mamas, actually, everyone, so that everyone can know just how amazing moms really are!
President Monsons talk was beautiful as well. I loved it. I really liked what he said about doubt and faith not being able to exist in the same mind. Its so true! He is so wonderful and so truely inspired of God to be our prophet at this time!
I loved all of the testimonies given by the new apostles, but I specifically loved the one given by Elder Renlund. His story of Chad really touched me. I loved what he said about looking at everyone through the eyes of a parent because that will allow us to look at them through the eyes of our Heavenly Father.
Elder Nelsons talk on women was also so good! I loved what he said about us needing to speak up and speak out in order to help move Gods work along. I also really loved the story of his wife comforting him and then telling him to get up and get back to work.
In the Sunday afternoon session I really liked Devin Durrants talk about ponderizing one scripture every week. Im going to start doing that this week and I hope you all will take his advice and do the same because I know that it will bring so many blessings! It will also help each of us learn more from the scriptures.
Those are just a few of the talks that I really loved, although they were all great. I hope you all have a great week this week and if you missed any of the sessions that you will be able to listen to them at some point this week! I love and miss you all tons!!
Hermana Anderson
Week #57 in Panama!
I hope you all are as excited about General Conference this weekend as I am. Its going to be SO great! I cant wait. I especially cant wait to see who the new apostles are going to be. I hope you all can watch all of the sessions, each one is going to be amazing!
This past week has been a good one. We found Angel and Abigail and have a cita with them tomorrow night, so we are really excited about that. They said they have a whole list of questions for us, so that will be really great. We love the questions because it means they are truly interested in finding out the truth! We also had an investigator in Church yesterday named Roberto. We found him contacting. His wife and children and their spouses are all members, but inactive. Hes the only nonmember. So we are going to be working with the whole family! We were really excited to see him in church. We also spoke yesterday. I really like speaking, but Im excited to do it in English again haha.
Womens Conference was SO amazing!! I hope that you all were able to watch it, and if not, that you will be able to watch it some time this week. I absolutely loved it and I received so many answers to prayers from it.
Tomorrow we are headed to the temple which I am CRAZY excited for. The trip couldnt have landed in a better week than conference week. The perfect way to prepare.
I hope you all have a great week and that you enjoy conference! Remember to go into with questions in mind and a prayer in your heart, and I promise you that you will receive the help and quidance that you are looking for!!
I love and miss you all!!
Hermana Anderson
Week #56 in Panama!
I just wanted to send a quick message! This past week was a little tough on my comp and I because we had to drop basically all of our investigators because they werent progressing and Angel and Abigail have disappeared. We havent been able to get a hold of them or find them in their house all week. That has been tough on us because they were so positive! But we wont give up. We will definitely keep trying with them! The good news is that we found lots of new investigators, so we are still chugging along! Missionary work is tough, but its such a rewarding experience. I hope you all are getting excited for General Conference. This Saturday (Nanas birthday!) is the Womens conference and I am counting down the minutes haha. Last Septembers Womens conference carried me through so many difficulties of starting the mission. Its so great and I hope that all of you women will be able to watch it! Know that Ill be watching it too all the way from Panama. =) I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!!
Hermana Anderson
Week #55 in Panama!
How are you all? I hope you all had a good week last week! We had a bit of a slower week this week. We are in a bit of a rut and have been for a couple of weeks now as far as the work goes, but have goals and plans to work ourselves right out of that rut this week! Haha. Yesterday was a bit of a bummer because none of our investigators came to church. But we will try again for this Sunday. We did have an inactive family come to church, though, for the first time in over a year which was really great. There are always tender mercies on the tougher days.
This past week we were able to teach Angel and Abigail again a couple of different times. They are really so great. And so prepared. They tell us that ever since we have been coming to their house and teaching them they have felt a peace that they had never felt before. Angel also told us that he is definitely planning on asking Abigail to marry him, but he told us that hes actually in the process of getting divorced so he has to do that first. The good news is that apparently this divorce has been a really long and difficult process, but now he is in the final stages of it and it should all be final very soon. Just another way that they have been prepared to accept the gospel at this specific time in their lives because with the divorce finalized, it will be a much quicker process for them to be able to get married and then baptized! They are great. Theyve not been in their house the past two days when we passed by, but we have planned to visit them again tomorrow and we are going to put a wedding and baptism date with them! Please keep them in their prayers that they might be able to overcome any obstacles that might come up before their baptisms!
I hope you all have a great week! Love and miss you all!
Hna Anderson
Week #54 in Panama!
I hope everyone had a great week last week and that you are all enjoying your labor day. Changes were really good for us because we found out that we are staying together for another change! We are super happy about that because we really work well together and have a lot of weddings and baptisms coming up, so we are hoping to see those together!
This past week we found a family that we KNOW is going to be baptized very soon. They are SO prepared and SO humble and willing to learn. Its a man, Angel, and woman, Abigail, and their three year old daughter, whos name also starts with an ¨a¨ but I dont remember it. We found them contacting in the street and taught them the Restoration on saturday. That lesson was easily the most incredible lesson I have been in my entire mission. The spirit was SO strong and my comp and I both knew that our words were not our own. It was amazing. At the end, Angel said an amazing and healtfelt prayer and right after he said amen, he said, so when can you come back again? We said whenever you guys want us to, and he said, okay tomorrow then! He is so great and Abigail is too! We teach them again on Wednesday, so we are really excited for that lesson. As we walked down the street after the lesson, my comp and I were all smiles and talked about how we could see them being sealed in the temple next year! Experiences like that make every single thing we do worth it. All it takes is one person to be prepared and to be placed in your path as a missionary, and you realize exactly WHY we do what we do every day. My testimony has definitely been strengthened of the fact that Heavenly Father knows and loves ALL of his children and is mindful of each and every one of them.
I hope you all have a great week this week! Love and miss you all lots!
P.S. General Conference is in LESS than a month! =D
Hna Anderson
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Week #53 in Panama!
Hi!
So we have come to changes week again. I cant believe it. This change went really fast. Too fast. It all just keeps blowing past! I only have 2 and a half left. Its freaking me out. Haha. But Im coping...for now. =) Would love any advice from returned missionaries on how to deal with getting close to the end! Its a scary thing! I choose to pretend that its not happening most of the time. =D
Anywayyy. I dont have much to write. We ran through a flood to get here. Water up to our knees almost haha. The rainy season has begun! Its great though because its started to cool off a little bit, especially at night. Its nice.
We have been really busy this past week. We were talking last night how we feel like its ALWAYS Sunday night now. We dont know where the weeks go. Right now we are working a lot with part member families because we really feel like thats where we are going to have success. Our focus right now is helping families get to the temple, and we feel like a really good place to start is with the part member families. So thats where we are right now.
Im sorry that I dont have much to write about. As far as changes go, my comp and I are really hoping to have another change together! We dont feel like our work together is finished just yet. She only has three changes here, too, so we are expecting to have another change together. We have leadership council (I think thats what consejos would be in english) again this Friday, so Im really excited about that. I like consejos a lot. It really helps reanimate me and it helps us put goals for the zone. Its even better that they are happening at the beginning of the change because we are going to be able to start out strong. We have them every first week of the month. They are the best.
Side note. General Conference is in 1 MONTH! Get exciting everybody! I am! =)
I hope you all have a great week! Love and miss you lots!
Hna Anderson
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Week #52 in Panama!
Hi all!!
So this past weekend has been soo wonderful! Elder Nelson went to Honduras to have a conference with the missionaries and it was broadcasted here on saturday morning for us, too, and to all of central america. It was amazing. He is so great. I learned so so much and the spirit was so incredibly strong. And then, in the afternoon, there was a relief society broadcast from Honduras in which Sister Nelson also spoke to us. Im pretty sure that talk changed my life. It was AMAZING. She spoke to us for two hours and we didnt want her to stop. The spirit was SO strong and the things that she shared with us were absolutely incredible. She is an amazing woman. So Saturday was a very spiritually nurishing day for us sister missionaries. This past week was a really good one, too, lots of work!! Its great and I am still so very happy to be here in Chorrera. I hope you all have a fantastic week!! Love and miss you all tons! (Sorry for the short email, no time left)Week #51 in Panama!
I have zero time left but I wanted to send a quick update! This week has been another really good one. We are working hard to find new investigators, since that is something we are lacking, and we have been able to find a few. We found a woman whos name is Daniela. She is fantastic and so positive. She has her husband and two little girls. We havent met her husband yet, because we have only had one lesson with her and he wasnt there, but I feel really good about it. She listened to us so intently and at the end said that she understood everything so clearly and that she has been waiting so long for someone to teach her in a way that she could understand. Shes really great and we are excited to keep teaching her and her family. Thats about it for this week since I dont have time, but I hope you all have a great week!! Love and miss you all!!
Hna Anderson
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Week #50 in Panama!
So I have a lot to share and very little time to do it, but here goes. So Im a brunette again haha. We may have had a little highlighting accident last monday. And I may have had a member in Panama just color my hair brown to cover it all haha. But I actually really love it and it looks a lot better than it looked even before the highlighting accident. So Im happy about that. The member was fantastic and only charged me half price even though she worked on my hair for 3 hours. So sweet of her!
We went to the temple on Tuesday and it was amazing. I felt such a peace in the Celestial Room, I cant even descibe it. And I have felt so peaceful and SO happy ever since, which is a really huge answer to my prayers because I hadnt really been feeling like myself for a couple of months. The temple is a wonderful place, nothing can replace the experiences that you have there and the things that you feel there. Go to the temple, everyone!
We also got to go to a BYU-I dance performance that came to Panama on Tuesday night. We had to contact 15 people in about 5 minutes to be able to go, but we did it and we went and it was awesome! I loved it, even though it may have made me slightly trunky for a moment. But then it passed. =)
We had a really good work week. Working a lot with the other hermanas in our zone and helping them out. I love doing that. Im really enjoying everything about this area. I got some REALLY great news on Saturday. I called the elders on Ustupu to get Dixanas phone number and they told me that one of me and Moss´s investigators, Yanice, got baptized on July 18th which made me SO happy! I also found out on Saturday that the Carti elders baptized one of me and Patricks investigators, Yabelis, too! She only had like one more lesson and one more church attendence to go when we left the island, so we told the elders to work with her and they did and she got baptized about a week ago! Such great news. The elders are working hard on both of my islands, which makes me so happy and brings me a lot of comfort too! ALSO. Best news of all. I talked to Dixiana on Saturday and she is doing really well. Her and the girls are still going strong in the gospel and she also told me that her oldest son was getting baptized on that same day! So he got baptized on the same day that I called her and now ALL of her children, aside from her six year old Leydi, are members (theres six kids in total). This same son of hers was at her baptism and said he was baptist. Apparently the missionaries have been teaching him ever since and he got baptized! I was on cloud 9 all day Saturday! She is going to have her eternal family! All thats left is her husband, but I KNOW he, too, will accept the gospel and they will all enter the temple together to be sealed. I cant wait for that day!
Thats what my week consisted of. Its been a great one. I hope you all have a great week this coming week. Love and miss you all!
Hrm. Anderson
Week #49 in Panama!
So this past week was a really good one. We worked hard, and Im starting to learn the area more which I really like. I dont like not knowing my area! But It takes time to learn, so Im trying to be patient with myself. =) We have started analyzing the work here, how missionaries have worked in the past, what we should continue to do and what things we should change. Its been really good and we are starting to get our rythm as a companionship. Hermana Barrera is from El Salvador. I dont think I mentioned that last week. Shes great. Right now we have three really solid investigators (we need more but we are working on that haha). We have Yira who is really awesome. Shes a single woman in her fifties. The missionaries were teaching her a while ago, but they dropped her because she wouldnt go to church. And then like a week or two before I came here, she came to church all on her own and is super positive now. She accepted a fecha and is progressing so well. She will definitely be baptized very soon! Then we have Andres and Elias. They are twins and missionaries have been working with them for over a year. They are 17 and were going to get baptized last fall, but their dad wouldnt give them permission but they are going to turn 18 next month and already have their bautismal fecha set. They are so solid and so faithful and are already preparing for their missions. They are awesome. This area is awesome, this zone is awesome, its great. I love it. Theres a lot of work to do, but we are doing it and we are excited to see the results! Tomorrow we get to have a dia en los cielos and spend the entire day in the temple with the stake. I am SO excited and so ready. I love the temple so much and to spend a whole day there is going to be amazing. I hope you all have a great week and that you remember that I love you so much!!
Hna Anderson
Week #48 in Panama!
So this past week has been a really good one for me. So on Tuesday morning we got the call with changes. They did end up closing our island to hermanas and putting in Elders, so we officially closed San Blas to hermanas. Its sad, but it was necessary. Im sure it will reopen to hermanas soon. So Hermana Patrick got sent to Colon, which she wanted soo bad and I wanted for her too because I LOVED colon and I wanted her to get to experience it. She actually got sent to the area that borders my old area, which is really cool. I got sent to La Chorrera as Sister Training Leader. I was really happy because I wanted to experience what itd be like to be STL because Ive had such good STLs in my mission and I wanted to be able to do the same for other hermanas that mine did for me. And I had only heard really great things about Chorrera so I was really excited about coming here. So I got here on Wednesday and met my comp. She has ten months in the mission and is serisously the best. She is sooo chill and soo focused on the work. I love it. She is really really obedient. I am very happy to have been put with her.
So this ward, Barrio 1, used to have the two sisters and a pair of elders too. Well this change they took out the elders so we now have the whole area and its HUGE. I think it stresses my comp out, but I came from a tiny island that you could cross in less than five minutes so to me, huge is great. Shes excited to work in the elders area, though, so it will be good. The members here are amazing and the ward is soooo organized and ran so well. A big difference from the islands. The bishop actually had me go up and bear my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday. That was really cool. I know I am just going to love the people here so much as soon as I get to know all of them.
We have a ward mission leader! Its the best, Ive missed having one. And hes on fire! He is 23 and his wife is 22. They just moved to the ward about a month ago and they are both returned missionaries and love being a part of the work so they are SO helpful and so animated. They are always willing to do visits with us. Yesterday we went on vists with our WML and he was telling us how he wants to continue his schooling at BYU-I and he and his wife have already learned English and everything. He said hes already finished all the paperwork and he just has to take an SAT or something like that and they will be good to go to move to Rexburg! They want to move there in January. I think that is so cool! Ill probably be up there when they are up there too! My little piece of panama in Rexburg. Itll be great.
So thats whats been going on here. I am VERY happy and so excited for whatever lies ahead. I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all lots!
Hrm. Anderson
Week #47 in Panama!
Hrm. Anderson
Week #46 in Panama!
Hello!
So guess what? We are in the CITY!! And I cant tell you all how happy I am to be here haha. This past week has been a bit of a rough one. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days on the island, but on Thursday I started feeling really sick. I was super nauseous (I have no idea how to spell that word) and I was having to go to the bathroom constantly throughout the day. I just felt yucky. So we called the mission nurses and they told us to go to the centro de salud out there. So we did and I literally had to stop walking every five steps and sit down in the dirt because I was so weak that I thought I was for sure going to pass out if I didnt rest. The centro is on a neighboring island so we had to take a five minute boat ride to get over there. Boats and sickness dont blend. So I felt worse when I got there and then the doctor just sent me on my way with a couple pills and some pedialyte. So we went back to our island and I just laid down all day and sweat because it was so stinkin hot that day. I ate some ramen eventually, but I really had no appetite at all. I eventually got a fever and one thing led to another and here we are! The nurses just wanted me to get to a legit city doctor here, so the next morning we headed to the city. And I told President that I didnt think I could go back to the islands, so he and the doctor and the mission nurses agreed that we probably shouldnt go back out. So since changes arent until next week, we are staying with the hermanas here in Cardenas in the city until we get our new areas at changes. I am very happy to be here, and even though I loved my blas experience and everything that I learned out there, I definitely reached the point this past week when I was ready to come back to civilization. Im feeling MUCH better, still not 100%, but Im getting there! Heavenly Father definitely was watching over me. So thats been the craziness of this week. I hope you all had a little less crazy of a week, but a good one too! I love and miss you all lots! Have a great week!Hrm. Anderson
Week #45 in Panama!
It has been an interesting week. So a big group of gringos came to the
island and have been here for about a week. They are doing some sort
of service project thing so they have been here just hanging out. Its
super weird and kinda has made Patrick and I not want to go back to
the states just yet. They use lots of words that burn our ears a
little after having heard only Spanish for a year haha. But Its been
fun and the people who they are staying with are our friends so they
have been giving us their American food a lot which has been GREAT. We
had REAL hamburgers this week from a COW! It was so amazing. Best
thing Ive eaten in a really long time. That was about it for this
week, everything else was pretty normal. We slept in the house of
congreso last night. That probably doesn't make any sense to you guys,
but it was super cool haha. Congreso is kinda like a church for them,
for the kuna culture. The sylas sit in their hammocks in this huge
house and sing in kuna while everyone sits around and listens. Kinda
boring actually haha, but cool for the culture aspect. Anyway, we
ended up sleeping there last night because of a big old long story
that Ill share with you all some day when I have more time haha. But
yeah, that was our week! Another week on Blas. I hope you guys all
have a great week this week! I love and miss you all tons!
Love
Hna Anderson
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Week #44 in Panama!
I'll just share a few things that we did!
-There wasnt water on the island because there wasnt enough pressure
in the pipes to get it to the houses, so some men opened the pipe and
gave ten buckets of water to everyone, which was great, except they
made us go last because they think we have too much money as it is as
gringas hahaa it was really funny. So we just jumped in and helped
them fill everyone elses buckets until we were the last ones there and
THEN we got our water hahaa good times on the island. ULTIMAS! =)
-We took a member to a lesson with us and she clipped her toenails the
whole time. It was so funny. I love kunas.
-We found chocolate muffins and coke on the island again, yummy!
-We had a really cool family home evening with the branch president
and a ton of jovenes that was lots of fun.
-We had to sit for an hour by our water tank and fill it up with a
hose that had water coming out of it very slowly. Water problems. But
now we will have water for so long because the tank is full! woohoo!
-We had 70 people in church yesterday which is A LOT for this island,
and our two investigators with fechas both came. It was great.
That about sums up our week. It was a good one. I hope you all had an
awesome week last week and that this next one is even better! Love and
miss you all tons!
Hna Anderson
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