Finished the Book of Mormon

Things are going so good lately!!! I look forward to P-days, too! Today is a normal day though.  We had our P-Day yesterday cause all the missionaries left.  I will tell you more about that later. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DAD!!! I hope all is well with work and whatnot. 

That is so awesome that you're going to be a temple worker! That's when you know you're getting old! haha! 

That is so hard to hear about Sister St. Jacques and Brother Russon.  I thought for sure she would have longer than that.  I'm sorry to hear that. 

Jess needs to learn to get it together [he's referring to her sledding accident]! And probably needs to take it easy.  Best of wishes to her and she will be in my prayers. 

It's good to hear you had fun at the play.  You deserved it.  You both are great parents!!

That's good you're losing weight.  Just like this language is taking it's time coming, so will the weight loss.  Just gotta be patient!  And pray lots. And read the Book of Mormon.  Tons of blessings come from that I promise!! Speaking of which, I finished reading it on Sunday! So basically I know what I'm talking about when I say it brings the blessings! 

Those dang colds!  Elder Peart still has a super bad one.  But I have stayed strong and healthy! I'm like the only one who goes to bed on time.  Its gotta be because of that.  HAHA! EXACT OBEDIENCE! 

I haven't gotten any letters yet though.  I'm sure I will get them sometime though! HA Have any of you gotten any of mine? I hope so. 

But anyways.  Now! About the rest of my week.  We watched The Testament on Sunday.  I love that movie!! Cry like a baby every time. 

All of the elders left the other day, so yesterday we had a day off kinda.  We started with the temple.  It is still hard to understand everything they are saying, but I can kinda recognize everything so that is good.  Then when we came back we had to change rooms?! So we had to pack everything up super fast and move real quick because . . . We had a day out on the town! Started off with the museo de oro! That's the gold museum!  SO AMAZING!!! Crazy awesome the history and stuff they had in there.  I took lots of pictures so you know what I'm talking about.  I'll have to send them later though.  Then we went to a Catholic church clear up on the side of the mountain. We had to take a tram up it was so steep!  Also got tons of pictures of that, too.  Awesome pictures there.  While there they had these little shop things where I purchased a little bracelet for 1000 pesos.  It was interesting exchanging dollars for pesos yesterday, too. But it was super fun.  On the way back down we talked to a woman and her husband on the tram.  Crazy awesome experience there.  First missionary experience!  But then we got back and I took some awesome sunset pictures.  Then we watched 17 Miracles.  Such a tear jerker! Then we went and played piano again.  I love the songs Elder Collins has. I am getting good at hitting the high notes in them, too.

So last night after everything we got three new North American Elders.  They came straight from the states.  No Spanish at all! Kinda funny, but I know what it feels like.  It will be good for them. We aren't allowed to speak English anymore.  Fun stuff there. 

But anyways.  Things are still good! Three more weeks til I'm outta here!! Best of luck and much love to all of you!  God be with you til we meet again!

- Elder Anderson

P.S. DON'T BLINK!!

 

Bogota is Crazy Awesome!

I think I owe you an apology for the last e-mail.  I didn't mean to sound like a meanie head when I said not to send so many questions.  I wrote a long letter to Rachelle, so you can read that for details.  If she lets you, of course.  But anyways.  You can still write questions if you want.  Just make it like... 10 or so.

 

This past week has been crazy awesome.  Oh wait. The reason that my e-mails are so bland is because I have a half an hour on the computer.  Rachelle's letters are so much better cause I have 3 hours to write them. So sorry for that, but that's the story.  

 

First off, there is an Elder here named Elder Collins, and he is crazy good at piano.  So after lunch we have a half hour and we go into the chapel, cause that's the only piano here, and I sing while he plays these beautiful arrangements of hymns.  I love it so much! The Spirit is so strong.  

 

I went to the temple again today.  It was absolutely amazing! AGAIN! And I understood a little more of what they were saying this time.  It's about half an hour from here.   Beautiful drive! 

 

The graffiti in Bogota is awesome! There is so much of it.  I love driving through it.  Speaking of which, the driving here is absolutely crazy.  Everyone just goes for themselves.  Ha lots of scary moments.  But it is still exciting.  The other day we had to go to the immigration office to do stuff. Long........... But glad its over with.

 

We watch devotionals on Tuesday nights. In English! They are absolutely amazing! I wish you all could see them, but they were given at the MTC in Provo so they aren't available.  They all just talk about how to become better missionaries.  I take awesome notes and stuff.

 

But anyways.  The language is coming along good.  It's going to be nice when I don't have to worry about it anymore.

 

I wrote home and it only cost 2 dollars.  Included in that letter home is a letter to Rachelle.  So it's not expensive at all so still be expecting them!!  Just... will take a little longer to get there than usual.  

 

It's good to hear that everything is good at home.  Know that everything is going good here too! I'm still loving it and am working hard to become the best missionary I can be! Much love to everyone and until next week!  

- Elder Anderson

 

Don't Write So Many Questions!

Hey Momma!!

I am doing so good!!  I am loving every minute of this mission thing and can't wait to get out in the field to try everything out for myself!  The food here is absolutely amazing!  I got a new comp when I got here.  His name is Elder Kristensen.  He is such an awesome and spiritual guy.  The flight here was so long, but I'm glad that it's over.

***  This is Julie.  I asked Kyle a bunch of questions again.  The following are my questions and his answers to them.  ***

 

1.    HOW ARE YOU???  J  How are you feeling about this whole mission thing so far???  (DETAILS!  Please be honest!)  I'm amazing.  Couldn't be happier!

2.    How was your travel day to Colombia?  Traveling was so long.  I got a lot of sleep in though!  It was pretty confusing not being able to talk to anyone on the plane to Colombia, but it turned out to be okay.

3.    How was your first day in Colombia?  Were you scared, nervous, excited, ???  My first day was awesome!  I was crazy excited.  No scared feelings at all.  It turned out being absolutely beautiful and totally insane!

4.    What did you do your first day?  We had a couple classes on our first day, but for the most part, we slept and unpacked everything.

5.    Did things go smoothly or was it kind of chaotic?  Things were way smooth.

6.    How is your Spanish?  My Spanish is coming along very well.  We are almost through the book, so we will have lots of review time.  Talking with all the Latinos helps a ton, too.

7.    What’s the weather like?  The weather is always sunny.  Lots of clouds, too.  It's interesting going out at 6:30 for gym and it being light enough and warm enough to get some serious street basketball on.

8.    Do you go outside much?  We are always outside, it seems like!  I love it so much.  Sure beats sittin' in a building all day long.

9.    Are you sleeping well?  I'm sleeping fantastic.

10.  How is your cold?  I'm all better now.  No more sickness for this guy!

11.  Is there anything you forgot to take that you need me to send you?  No, I've got everything.

12.  How long do you get to write e-mails?  I still get half an hour to write, so my answers might not be too long 'cause I'm trying to hurry.

13.  Can you write e-mails to anyone besides me?  Nope.  Only family.

14.  Can you write an e-mail to Rachelle?  I wish.  You will have to forward this to her and let her know that I can write her letters, but they will take forever to get to her.  I STILL LOVE HER AND MISS HER LIKE CRAZY!!

15.  What is your companion like?  My companion is really cool.  He reminds me of Brad Hardy.  We are already way close and super spiritual!

16.  How long has your companion been in the MTC?  We came on the same day.

17.  Where is he from?  Utah.

18.  Is his family LDS?  Yeah.

19.  Is he a convert?  No.

20.  What is your companion’s name?  Elder Kristensen.

21.  Who are the other elders in your room?  Elder Collins, Elder Massey, Elder Albrecht, and Elder Jensen.

22.  Do you like them?  Yeah, they are all cool.  Elder Collins is super yoked, so I do push-ups and stuff with him at nights.

23.  Where are they from?  All from Utah.

24.  Do you like your district/zone?  Yeah, they are all cool guys.  Spiritual, too.

25.  Do you have a district AND a zone?  So far only a district.

26.  If yes, how many people are in each?  11

27.  Do you like your district leader (and zone leader if you have one)?  Yes.  It's Elder Jensen.

28.  Do you like your teachers?  Yeah, I like them.  They speak some English, but not much, so it makes me learn a lot faster.

29.  What kind of classes have you been taking?  LANGUAGE.  I think you all are confused.  I don't have a choice of classes I can take.  They teach language and gospel in the same class.

30.  Are there sister missionaries in your district/zone?  No.

31.  Are any others going to Cali?  No, just me and Elder Peart.

32.  What is a typical day schedule like?  Same as the other MTC.

33.  Are you working out/exercising every day?  Yes.  Basketball and push-ups and crunches and stuff.

34.  Do they have an MTC Choir?  No.

35.  How is the food in the Colombia MTC?  AMAZING!  SO much better than Provo.

36.  I heard you eat lots of steak in the MTC and there is a lot of unusual fruit there.  Is that true?  Yeah, lots of meat and weird fruit.

37.  Are you ever hungry?  No.

38.  Do you get to go to the Bogota Temple?  Yeah, we went today.  Such a crazy experience!  I didn't know what was being said, but the Spirit was so strong, it didn't even matter.

39.  Have you made friends with anyone beside your companion and roomies?  Yeah, we're all friends here.

40.  If yes, tell me about him/her!  Everyone is friendly.

41.  Have you gotten any letters yet?  No.

42.  Is it ok to send you letters through dearelder.com or would you rather have a letter through the mail?  I don't know.  Either way.

43.  Are there spiders there?  No spiders or creepy things.

44.  Did you know some buildings don’t have complete roofs on them because it’s so warm there?  Cool info.

45.  How big is it?  It's small here.

46.  How many missionaries are there?  There are like 150 maybe here.

47.  How many Americans?  20 maybe.

 

If you get a chance watch, "Only a Stonecutter" and "John Tanner Story."  Great stuff.  I'm out of time.  DON'T WRITE SO MANY QUESTIONS.  I can't tell you about anything. 

 

Tell Tara Happy Birthday from me and my District.  I will have them write her letters.  There is tons of graffiti here and it's beautiful!  Sorry I can't say more, but I gotta go.

 

I love you all and don't forget about me!

 

- Elder Anderson

 

P.S.  Don't blink, RACHELLE!

 

Arrived at the Bogota MTC

I made it!! All I can say about Colombia is WOW!!!! It is so gorgeous here! I gotta keep this pretty short, but I get to write home again on Friday. So tell Rachelle I am so sorry about yesterday.  I wish you all could see this! Until Friday! Adios!

Phone Call from SLC and JFK Airports

Leaving the Provo MTC

Nice testimony momma! Through these past couple weeks my testimony has been very much strengthened too! Tomorrow is the big day. We are spending all of today packing and cleaning and just your basic house keeping needs of missionaries leaving. 

Yesterday was such an amazing day. It's a lot easier to fast in the MTC haha. And when you have a purpose.  I also went to the temple today.  Me and Elder Peart had to run the whole way there!! We were late cause I had to get some more shots (be expecting a bill in the mail) and we ended up being late anyways. But the session was still good! I don't know how much I like the video endowment session though.  I would much rather have it be the live walk through one.  Still a great experience.  I'm glad that I got to do one last English session before I go to Colombia and everything is in Spanish. 

Speaking of which, I'm leaving tomorrow.  So I will be calling tomorrow.  Probably pretty early.  Like 6 or 7 I'm guessing.  So you know. Be awake and stuff.  Make sure the whole family is there.  And if you feel inclined to invite Rachelle I wouldn't mind that one bit either.

Have you heard about the whole flu thing that broke out here? It's like WW3! We had to do everything we possibly could to stay alive and I've had a cold the entire time! So I'm pretty lucky that I didn't end up catching it. 

But anyways. I'll tell you more tomorrow when I call cause I can't really remember a lot of stuff.  Our district is pretty sad I'm not DL anymore, but the new guy will do a great job.  Tonight for class we're having a sweet goodbye party.  But yeah. Til tomorrow!

-Elder Anderson