First Baptism!!!

Hello Anderson Family!!!

That's awesome to hear that you had another good week!  I had an absolutely amazing week as well!! Lots of teaching! But I love it! I can speak the language pretty well. But I have a hard time understanding people cause they talk so fast!  But it's okay.  It's still coming.

 

My first transfer is on Wednesday.  I already know who my companion will be and he is a cool guy.  He will be a good trainer.  Ha!

 

But anyways.  THIS WEEK WE HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM!  We taught Patricia once more and she was Baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!  :) Such an awesome experience. 

 

Elder Menendez, Patricia, Kyle, Elder Yapura

But anyways.  Other than that . . . I don't really have much more to write about.  It's good to hear that everyone is doing well. It's crazy to think that by the time I get back Ridge will be walking around and Luke will be talking like a champion!

Sunset in Cali - Typical Kyle Photograph!

Oh yeah. Elder Yapura.  He went home yesterday.  So it's only me and Elder Menendez for a couple days.  

 

Elders Anderson, Yapura, Menendez

Did I already say I washed my clothes by hand? That's quite the experience.  Ha!  But anyways.  Much love to all of you!

- Elder Anderson

 

Pouring Rain!

Ya'll are so lucky!! Only having to wait six days to hear from me instead of a whole week?!?! HAHA. Cali is totally awesome! I have already had so many awesome experiences.  I'm glad you got the pictures [from the mission president's wife].  Is it just me or does it look like I'm going bald? My two companions are amazing!! I am so glad that I got to be with them first.  I am already learning so much. 

Let me tell you about my week now!  After we got to the office, we had some lunch.  Then about a three hour mini training.  Then my companions showed up and we got in the taxi and off we were to the apartment.  I dropped all my stuff off and changed then we hit the streets.  I was super tired, but it was awesome! We went and gave a sister a blessing in the ward and then off to teach another lesson to an investigator named Patricia.  She speaks English, so it wasn't too bad.  Then after her we had a mini-district meeting. We have three other sisters in this area.  They talk really fast and I had no idea what was going on.  But! We finally went home, ordered a pizza and called it a night.

A couple other stories.  I consecrated some oil for a blessing in Spanish on Sunday! And when we taught Patricia again last week, I taught the first part in Spanish!

Having lunch at members houses is interesting.  You would think that the members would be nice and talk slow for me.  BUT NO! They laugh and talk as fast as they can. Kinda harsh.  But its okay.  The bread here is so good.   I'm going to be so skinny when I get home! Elder Menendez said he has lost 30 pounds already.  Crazy.  My other Companion is going home next week.  It's a good thing that Elder Menendez speaks English.  Well . . . Mostly anyways.

But church was good! We are all over the place during it.  Barely have time to sit down and enjoy the meetings.  On Saturday we had a big ward party type deal.  It was so fun! Preparing for it was super long, but it was still fun!

After church, we went back to the apartment and then had to walk a pretty long ways for our lunch... IN THE POURING RAIN!!! I loved it!  I was probably getting annoying talking about how much I was enjoying it.  But anyways.  Lunch was good.  Had some fish, rice, and plancha.  I haven't really tried anything to weird yet, food wise.  Just a lot of rice and meat.  They like beats and onions here, too. Which I don't mind.

But after that we walked back and then went and visited more of the members.  If you say you don't know Spanish it is basically like saying, ¨Talk to me more, and more fast. Please."  Crazy.  But eventually we walked back home.  In the rain again.  Good way to end the day!

But anyways.  I think that's about all of the major things that happened! So until next week! Speaking of which.. You were right about the letters.  They are crazy expensive so I won't be able to write home, only e-mails.  :(

DON'T BLINK!!!

- Elder Anderson

 

Letter from Sister Prince!

We are excited to be serving the Lord here in the Colombia Cali Mission with Elder Anderson.  He arrived in a world completely different than his own, tired, but ready to work.  After having an interview and training with President Prince today, and attending a zone conference, he has now gone off with the zone leaders in the Calima zone here in Cali to work.  He will be with them until February 26 when we have transfers and will be assigned to his first companion and area.

I have attached a picture so you can see that he actually did make it!



Elder Kyle Anderson with President and Sister Prince



Elders Anderson, Sican, Peart, and Galvez

If you are interested in following our mission comings and goings (and occasionally finding a picture of your missionary posted!) you may check out our blog at:  http://colombia-cali.blogspot.com.

We are grateful for your prayers and support.

Un abrazo,
Hermana Prince

I'm in Cali!

So uh . . . I'm in Cali!!  Never thought it would be like this.  The airport is clear out in farm country, so we drove for about a half hour to get into the city.  It's crazy hot here.  Not as bad as I was expecting though.  I had to wake up at 3:00 this morning and leave by 4:00, because our flight was supposed to leave at 5:50. Well . . . it got cancelled or something, so we didn't end up leaving until 9:00.  So we had a lot of time to burn in the airport, so we ate some food.  The flight over here was only like half an hour.  Nothing bad at all. 

 

I didn't feel any sort of earthquake when I was in Bogota.  That's crazy that it happened. 

 

I thought my Spanish was all right until I came here and people tried talking to me.  Speaking of which, when we were at the airport, we all talked to one of the security ladies.  It's a good thing we had some Latinos to do most of the talking.  There are four of us that came to Cali. 

 

Also speaking of which, I didn't receive a package.  It will come when the next group of missionaries come to Cali. 

 

That's awesome that working in the temple was a good experience for you!  I probably won't be able to go through the temple for 22 months!  But it was a cool experience going through the Bogota one.

We also had an AMAZING devotional on Sunday by Jeffery R. Holland on this being the most awesome generation for missionaries.  I will share my notes with you all in about . . . 22 months.

 

Give my love to everyone! And . . . Stay tuned for my awesome experiences!

- Elder Anderson

 

Memorizing Scriptures in Spanish

That's awesome that you have been able to have the kids this past week [because of Jessica's sledding accident].  I bet that made you pretty happy.  I feel so bad for Jess.  She is in my prayers everyday and I hope she gets better super fast!

That's good you got to meet Brian's girl, too! Don't let him get married til I get home, though! 

I wish I could've seen Rachelle with her cheeks [she had her wisdom teeth taken out]! That's crazy awesome that she went [to the monthly Anderson family home evening]!! And also crazy awesome that she finally got my letter! Ha I got both of the ones she sent me.  And I have sent one to her every week so far.  So be expecting!

I'm excited to see how big my mission gets [because of the lower missionary ages].  Speaking of which.... They are cutting my CCM time short, so I am leaving for the mission field next Tuesday! We get to go out on the streets to practice teaching this week and then after that, so long!

Ha the whole time while I was going through the temple today I thought about how that's going to be you and Dad! HAHA Good luck with it! I understood a lot more today, though.  So spiritual as always! 

Lets see.  A couple more things that happened this week.  I've been memorizing scriptures in Spanish.  The first one I did was Joshua 1:9.  Dice: Mira que te mando que te esfuerces y seas valientes.  No temas ni desmayes porque Jehova tu Dios estará contigo donde quiera que vayas.  The next one I'm working on is in D y C.  I don't have it yet, so I won't try.  haha.

Some Elders a while back did stupid stuff with their cameras, so they took ours the first day we got here.  They also took our candy cause they have problems with rats and it's not allowed in the rooms.  I still have access to it though. It just got moved to the kitchen.  I'm sure they will give me my camera on my last day with enough time to take pictures with all my companions.  So I won't be able to send pictures for a while.  But anyways.  Yeah.

Everyone here has gotten sick but me.  Kinda crazy.  I don't really remember much that happened this past week.  I'm just excited to get out of here.  Teaching the "Investigators" is going good.  Spanish is coming along really well.  And..... YEAH! Much love to all of you!

- Elder Anderson