Elder Joe Anderson's latest letter from Corrientes Argentina: "Eating all-you-can-eat cat at the Parrillon"

Eating at the Parrillon

Eating at the Parrillon

Well last week my companion and I got sick. Yeah it really sucked. Last Pday after emailing we went to a place called Parrillón with the zone leaders to eat. The parrillon is the only all you can eat place in all of corrientes and pretty much all they have is straight cow meat cooked over a fire. Argentinians cook their meat very very differently here. They really don't put any seasonings on it besides some salt and they don't trim an fat off, in fact the fat is the best part for them, and then they just through it over an open fire. About as simple as you can do meat (or any other food for that matter). Anyway we went there and started stuffing our faces, the meat is okay its just really really different. One of our zone leaders looked up and saw something moving in the ceiling. Well it just so happened to be a cat and when we showed the waitress she just said told us that its okay there are a ton of cats living here...WHAT??? The place was infested with stray cats and the worst part is...its okay. Haha he stopped eating when he drank his soda and a piece of the hair from the cat above us fell into his drink. So me and my companion decided to try everything that they had on the grill. Well some of that included cow utter, intestines, blood sausage and some other stuff we are not sure what was. So the next day we weren't really feeling too well and on Wednesday we both had the worst diarrhea in the history of diarrhea. Something we ate at Parrillon absolutely destroyed us and we had to spend the entire day in the pencion. 

As far as our investigators go, they are progressing pretty well. Ingrid came to church on Sunday and liked. She is just very unsure about baptism because of her whole family and friends being catholic. It is a very big change for  her. We are going to help her feel the help and love of the Savior so that she can progress to baptism.

That's all I got time for this week. I  hope my family is doing well in Greenville!!!

Chow Chow Elder Anderson (Joe)

Elder Jacob Anderson's latest letter: "I started out reading Preach my Gospel for 5 min every day; I know read it just as much as The Book of Mormon. There is literally no other guide in the world better then Preach My Gospel if you would like to learn how reach out to God's children. "

This week we had interviews with our new President. He really brings down the fire... It was different... He made quite a few changes in our mission. He also made a lot of transfers... I was apart of one of these transfers. I was a little annoyed at first. Elder Banegas, although he may be from Argentina and really strange, he was a great companion!! WE worked really well together.

My new companion is Elder Kampf. He's apart of my group that arrived the same day from the MTC. Working together will be very interesting. I think we will find a lot of success together.  It's really cool to see the progress we have both made. It's different. The Lord has blessed us both; it's interesting to see how we are both differently blessed.

Being in this new area is really cool because they're soooo many investigators. So right now we are just visting them all; deciding which will be baptized and make progress and who will not. There is a lot of people here who i feel like will accept the gospel!!

I have been really really concerned about how I teach. I have been studding a lot. I think its really funny Joe is always talking about not being able to put the Book of Mormon down. I have the same feeling about Preach My Gospel. I started out reading Preach my Gospel for 5 min every day; I know read it just as much as The Book of Mormon. There is literally no other guide in the world better then Preach My Gospel if you would like to learn how reach out to God's children. There're soooooooooooo many times throughout the week that i miss the Internet so very much because of all the question i have and would like to know. But i am so very grateful that when every i have a question about how to be a better mission I always have the world's best guide at hand.

And they call me

Elder Anderson

For behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ

Elder Joseph Anderson's latest letter from Argentina: "We found this older man last week named Alberto and he is honestly one of the kindest, softhearted men I have ever met in my entire life"

This week was pretty freaking awesome for my comp and I. The highlight is that we had three investgators in church, which is the first time that has happened in my area in over 6 months. On saturday my companion and I fasted that our investigators would come to church and that our investigator Ingrid would receive an answer about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. We worked our butts off the whole week and Saturday we worked even harder to pass by for all of our investigators and commit them to come to church. We found this older man last week named Alberto and he is honestly one of the kindest, softhearted men I have ever met in my entire life. He is eating up the lessons and he loves reading n the Book of Mormon. He tells us a lot of stories about his life and they are the best haha, me and Elder Lee almost died laughing from one of his stories on saturday. We got kind of worried on Saturday morning because when we called to confirm our appointment with us he answered with a very worried voice and told us that he read in the pamphlet that the members wear shirts and ties to church, but he doesn't have a shirt and tie so he wont be able to come with us. Oh I fixed that one real fast... I told him he could come to church in whatever clothes he had. He was very relieved. When we showed up on Sunday morning to take him to church he began to tell us the clothes situation... he had nice church pants but he held them up to his waste and told us that he bought them when he was 20 pounds lighter and that they don't fit him anymore (I told him I was in the same boat haha) so he asked us if what he had on, a polo, blue jogging pants, and black shiny pennylofers, was okay. We told him it was perfect. But anyway he came to church with us yesterday and stayed with us the whole three hours. He said he really liked it and there was a sense of peace but also the mombers had a clean humor and were normal people. We are super excited for him.

In other news Ingrid is progressing really nicely also. She still hasnt recieved an answer about Joseph Smith but we have a lesson with her tonight. She also came to church and stayed the full three hours. 

The other person that came to church is a friend of Cristian, who got baptised right when I got here. She is a girl that was sent here from Haiti after the huge catastrophe. We are going to have a lesson with her tomorrow

Something else that happened that was funnny this week was a big black guy called me and my companion over (in english) while we were walking through the downtown mall to get back to our apartment. We began to talk to him and he asked us where we were from. I told him Virginia and he said "No way man".  Then he asked me from where in Virginia and I told him Charlottesville and he freaked out (and wrapped me up) and told me that he lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for a long time with his brother and that his brother still lives there. It was pretty sweet haha. He has been in Argentina for a long time and he some some 15 or 20 years ago he used to read the BofM with some other Elders. He told us he would come to church on Sunday but he didn't show up. Oh well we are going to find him again.

Well I just want to say that I know the Lord answers prayers and that fasting is real and it brings miracles. I love love love the scriptures and I honestly just cant get enough of them every day. Almost every spare minute I have, I am reading in the scriptures. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and if I didn't know anything else at all, that alone would be enough to believe everything else. I love you all and hope you have a woderful week.

Love Elder Anderson (joe)

#Kirk out

Elder Ray Vejnar's latest letter from the Provo MTC mission: "Transfers"

 

  So last week I said that I would be having transfers for the first time well it did not go as I thought it would go. This last week we lost one of the elders in my mission and because we lost him Elder Kitchens his companion was on his own (that dose not work in a mission) so I along with everyone else in the mission thought that this would be a great opportunity to give everyone new companions, when the day came the only change that was made was that Elder Kitchens was moved into mine and Elder Heslop's companionship so yeah I was in a trio, WAS. Anyway things where going well I get along really well with Elder Kitchens because he talks Elder Heslop is not much of a talker so the past 4 months have been really quiet not a bad thing but still I would like to talk a little more than what we do already do sometimes. We did not know how long this configuration was going to last so we prepared to settle in for about 3 months ( the time when we loos another missionary) we moved desks computers told each other what we expected out of this companionship and all that good stuff. About two days ago however we fond out that a new missionary was going to be coming in because he had hurt his leg and could not walk so well and then the trio was broken up! this brake up cost me and Elder Heslop a window seat in the office, and one really great person (Elder Kitchens) so long story short transfers might as well have never happened. haha 

     On to other story's this month I have had a lot of trouble with my missionary debit card I had lost it then got a new one and had to activate it so this week I got a message from my district leader saying you have $180.00 on your card the financial office people said they are not going to put any more money on your card tell you start using it again so this week is the first time I will get to use that card in a wile so time to get spending haha! 

     So I guess this week the lesson I have learned is kind cheesy but true this life we will have some curve balls thrown at us, and we will need to know how to react to them, in other words "life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get" and though we may not know what is in store we do know how to react to it to quote Elder Holland "Trust God and believe in good things to come" I know that when we trust God our lives are blessed and though we may not see how what we are going though is a blessing sometimes I know that in the end it will be a blessing! I love this church I love the Book of Mormon and I know this church to be true. I love you all 

Elder Vejnar

      

Elder Jacob Anderson's latest letter from Rio: "Well the last time Wellington climbed the mountain to talk with God he said that God told him to give his next kid, who will be born shortly, my name. Not who I was named after but actually me. He his naming his kid after me... I feel like a rockstar but I am just a missionary."

I cannt every write about everything that happens in one week... Let me tell you about Saturday... After we had left the house and started waiting for the bus i decided that i wanted to hear about my old area!! So i gave the office a call and asked them to do a conf call so i could talk with my old comp about my old area. I was there for 6 months so I made a lot of friends with members and non members. It was weird to hear how much has changed. Cannot imagine my home ward in the states... In my old area we had one investigator, Wellington, who was very interesting... He had started his own church about 5 years ago because of doctrinal issues. When we taught him the Restoration i was very clear with him that the Authority of God only resides in one Church and that is the Church of Jesus Christ.. As missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ we hold the authority and power of God. He recognized the power and divinity of our message. The next day we returned to talk with him he was teaching people in his salon the message of the restoration.. He started sharing with people in his church.. He admitted that he does not have the power of authority of God but that his faith is real.. In short Wellington is not making a lot of progress in becoming a memeber of the Church of Jesus Christ thou he does recognize that is true.. Surprisingly something that happens on a daily basis.. Brazil is strange. Wellington along with a lot of people here believe in climbing mountains so that they can better communicate with God... Strange but understandable. Well the last time Wellington climbed the mountain to talk with God. Wellington said that God told him to give his next kid who will be born shortly my name. Not who i was named after but actually me. He his naming his kid after me... I feel like a rockstar but I am just a missionary.

Pretty sure its better.

After the day only continued getting better and better! We only can talk on our phone for 3min every day or we will run out of credits.

Short story. We ran out of credits saturday and will not have more until the 16 of this month. So we were walking in the street and i was thinking to my self how in the world we could get in contact with members to help our investigators get to church. As i started

thinking(praying) about this i lifted up my head to see a member waiting at a stop light.. We got everything worked out for sunday..

Finally the day ended with a very interesting lesson. We visited a family (by the request of the Father) after talking and getting to know them we started to teach the lesson. The father wanted it to end pretty much right after it started. Which was strange. Before we started i asked him what his expections where and then told him ours.

He didnt have any expections and was fine with our purpose. He endured our entire lesson. At the end his wife was freaking out. She was very upset that we are the only church with the authority of God and that she needed to be baptised again. She very upset to say the least. She told me that was going to talk to her pastor about this. I reminded her that he was the one who did the baptism and he was apart of the false prophets in the world.. With him more energy she then said that if she cannot ask her pastor she will ask the bible. She took her bible opened it up and started reading. She read something like "pastor are liars(servents of the Devil) and they lead the sheep of God to hell." She was blown away..

Yepp. God is on our side.

I am so very great full for the power that authority that has been restored to the earth.. Let your light shine bright!!

--

And they call me

Elder Anderson

For behold I am a disciple of Jesus Christ

Elder Joseph Anderson's latest letter from Argentina: "Our days just go from lesson to lesson and they seem to pass by like lightening"

Well here I am another week down in the good old mission. This week has definitely been one of my fastest weeks so far. We have been focusing soo much on teaching the investigators that we have right now, that our days just go from lesson to lesson and they seem to pass by like lightening. I am literally trying to think about what happened this week but it literally feels like just yesterday that I wrote haha.

First of all our investigators are doing well. Ingrid is still reading and praying but she is very catholic and her whole family as well and she just keeps telling us she is not sure about baptism. We are going to help her recognize and understand the answer that she has already received so that she can feel comforted and calm about making her first covenant with the Lord. She tells us that her days are really stressful and she likes to sometimes just stop everything and read in the Book of Mormon because it helps her feel peace and tranquility. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true but she doesn't quite understand that that testimony also means that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth today. We are going to help her realize this and I have no worries that the Spirit will testify to her of these truths.

Ivan is mas o menos ahora. We have had a hard time having a lesson with him and his mom together because she works so much and she doesn't really have a set schedule. His step dad is a terrible example for Ivan and his three younger sisters. He gets drunk every weekend and smokes weed pretty much everyday and has no problem telling his kids. He also invites all of his friends over all the time that do the same things. Last night we went by to talk with Ivan and his mom to invite them to and activity that we have in church this Saturday, but there were so many people there high and drunk that we could barely talk to her. It is extremely sad to see that especially for Ivan and his three younger sisters because honestly his three younger sisters are the sweetest little girls ever. It kills me to see the environment that they are being raised in and all I what is to see is the gospel change and brighten their lives forever.

I am so grateful that I had the blessing of being raised in a home and a family with the true gospel of Jesus Christ as the foundation. I am grateful for my parents and for all that they did for me in my life. I know that it is the plan of our loving Heavenly Father that we have a mom and a dad that teach us the principles of his gospel in our homes. 

I am grateful for all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful week!!!

Love Elder Anderson (joe)

Elder Joshua Anderson's Latest Letter: His first from the MTC

On Thu, Jul 31, 2014 at 9:51 AM, Joshua Anderson <joshuaphillippsanderson@myldsmail.net> wrote:

I have learned so much here. I sent you two hand written letters, let me know if you got it. It turns out i am not aloud to write letters except on my P-days so I cant send anymore of those. But it has been cool here. My TRC investigator can be difficult. She really wants to know the truth but she if she is going to join this church she has to know for sure that this gospel is perfect. She was really concerned as to why God let bad things happen. She was a social worker in Korea and she saw a lot of people do horrible things to children and she didn't understand why God would ever let that happen. but its weird because she doesn't blame those people for doing wrong things because even though they were wrong they dont any better so really God should not blame them. thankfully we were able to show here a couple Mormon Messages on lds.org that really helped. She is so loving. She is not concerned at all for her welfare she just wants to know about the people who will never have the chance to here the truth and why their lives have to be so much harder than ours. It is so weird because I will be studying something in the morning that answers her hard questions perfectly. A lot of the elders have stories like that too. I feel like I communicate the gospel so much better now and have answers to questions that literally just come to me, it is amazing. Well I wish I had more to say but the MTC is really just kinda the same every single day. I got some really cool pictures of the temple. my companion is really good at photography so he kinda taught me how to use me sweet camera. here are a lot of pictures.