Blog Archives - Adventures of Elder Anderson x2

Feliz Navidad - and the best Skype ever!

12/29/2015

Hey padres!
This week was a great week!
First off we had a great time at the Christmas Party with a lot of the missionaries! I received your package that day and I didn’t open it until christmas - just for you mom! I loved everything in it!

Christmas day was awesome it was so good to see your faces! I was in total shock and was so happy at the same time. You are all looking so good! So is Jovi!! I’ve missed her and I’m glad I was able to hear her bark. HAHA!! (and get mad at the doorbell) You guys have truly helped me. Even though its super hard I know I CAN do this!

On Christmas we were heading home early but then we felt like we needed to call our investigator and say Feliz Navidad! The wife said that her baby was SO sick and asked if we could give her a blessing. Their baby is doing great now! A Christmas miracle! Then the next day we taught the investigator and he accepted baptism like it was nothing. That was crazy! He just said, “Well of course I need to be baptized!” WELL........ ok then! We usually need to encourage people but he just dove right in!

Later that night I had the worst bloody nose of my life. I bet I lost 1 pint of blood - 1 whole hour in the bathroom just letting it flow!
The next day we needed to work construction and pour cement. I am so sore but it was fun!

Well I can’t tell you how much I love you! You guys are everything to me! Thank you for always being there!

Elder Carson Anderson
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

CHRISTMAS in Puerto Rico!!

12/29/2015

Puerto Rican pasteles

Yo everyone!

This past week has been awesome! I really loved Christmas here. We were fed really good food from the members! Lots of rice and pasteles!

Thank you to everyone who sent packages and letters to me! It really meant a lot and made this Christmas even better than it was! It was amazing to see you guys on Christmas. Seeing Carson again was SO awesome and super fun! It looks like you guys are doing awesome and so am I.

This past Sunday in Gospel Principals class we were talking about exaltation. This is such a great blessing and gift we can receive if we are faithful. I believe everyone wants to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so I ask you all to think about the path you are on right now and look at everything in an eternal perspective. Are there things in the way that can be changed? Are these things affecting my opportunity to receive these blessings? Honestly, I would rather have an awesome eternity than a "awesome" 80 years of life...

I’m so glad that I am learning to look at things in an eternal point of view. I feel like I see people differently and know that they need this Gospel to be on the path. I try to see them as Heavenly Father would see them. I was so blessed to be born in the Church and to be taught the path as I have grown. This work is so important and I’m glad I have the opportunity to help the people of Puerto Rico come unto Christ and to get on the path that Christ has established for us.

I love you all and I’m doing super good! My Spanish is improving and we are working hard!

Have an awesome New Year!
Elder Cody Anderson
Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

The Word of Wisdom is from God

12/21/2015

Hey Feliz Navidad! I hope you all have a fun christmas this week. Christmas is fun here. The people started putting christmas lights up right after Halloween so its been a party for the last 2 months.

This past week was super good. We found 3 new investigators. One is Pedro. Pedro is the husband of Evelyn. Evelyn is a recent Convert. Pedro is a War Vet and super cool. He is very Catholic but he is slowly understanding everything we are teaching.

The others are Vicki and Jorge. They are mother and son. We contacted their house and the first thing she said was “I’m Catholic and I don’t accept visits from other beliefs.” We get that phrase very often and I got tired of hearing that so ....I just asked her if she would just listen to us for 5 min. We showed her the new christmas video from the church and bore our testimony she really changed. She accepted us more and had a lot of questions. She wants us to return next week!

Yesterday kinda sucked. Our investigator Ricardo came to church but then all of a sudden he starts begging the members for drug money. I was able to get him out of the building - but then he ran back in asking more. It made me mad realizing that drugs really screw your life up. Back home I just didn’t see it like I do here. It was hard realizing that the progression I thought I saw in him was actually a plan to get money for drugs.

THE WORD OF WISDOM IS FROM GOD! If you are caught up in hard stuff like this God will be with you all the way through recovery if you will just accept His help. He loves you and wants you to return and live with him again.

I know Christ came to the earth to save us. I know he established the only way to salvation and that is following His Gospel and living his teachings. I know through him we can overcome our problems. Don’t be ashamed of your mistakes!! He will help you...YOUR ETERNITY DEPENDS ON IT!

I love you all and hope you have the coolest Christmas. I LOVE it here!! Having Christmas on an island in 100 degree weather. I do miss POW MOW though haha

LOVE,
Elder Cody Anderson
Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

I want to buy everyone a Christmas Tree!

12/21/2015

Hey padres!

This week was VERY successful! Remember Maria and Kaleth - that one time they denied our lessons? We felt we should talk with them again and all this time she has been reading and marking her scriptures!! She was in tears when we came! We brought 2 sisters from our ward. They are now friends and they even came to chrurch this week. It was an awesome experience!! Then another investigator came to church this week too - 3 investigators in church and 1 less active!! It was so amazing! Right now we have 3 dates for baptisms in January. I hope they can keep progressing! Then we found JE and we taught him the plan of salvation. His family was in the other room and I was just praying hard that the wife would come in and listen. About 20 minutes into the lesson she came in and was touched by our message. She said that she has been praying for 15 years to have her husband get into religion and believe in God and Jesus Christ and she thinks this is her answer. I believe that too! There is something about this family that just seems right. It was very powerful and we ended up teaching little bits and pieces of all the lessons.

I haven’t received my package yet so hopefully I get it tomorrow. I have been taking a lot of pictures lately and they are funny too! It is pretty different here for christmas. Its pretty sad sometimes because a lot of people don’t have a christmas tree! i just want to buy all of them a Christmas tree!! I can’t wait to talk to you and Cody! It will be a great experience!

I love you so much and I hope you have a great week and a safe week! Keep the prayers coming - I need them!

MUCH LOVE,
Elder Carson Anderson
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

I'm staying in Guayanilla!

12/14/2015

Hola familia-

Today we found out about transfers and I will be in Guayanilla for another 6 weeks. I will be staying with my companion Elder Merrell also. I like Guayanilla. We have been working alot with the less actives and we have gotten 3 of them reactivated in the church. One of them was the Patriarch for the Stake. I’m happy to stay here and watch people progress because we have worked hard.

Last week we had a Zone meeting and I learned about the importance of obtaining Christlike attributes as a missionary. Faith, Hope, Charity, Patience, Virtue, Humility, Diligence and Obedience. I know as we try to gain these the spirit will accompany us. The spirit is EVERYTHING in this work. So- obtain Christlike attributes equals success in the work.

Learning Spanish has been more fun lately. I have tried to use my personality as I learn it. The people love it and they help me more. Also, the Iguanas here are MASSIVE! I have been trying to catch one but I haven’t got one yet. I hope to get a picture with one soon.

Hey Mom! I hope your birthday was super good! I love you SO MUCH! I have this hippie making something for you and it didn’t get done in time - so hopefully it is done by Christmas. Haha!!

The snow looks super cool! I miss it! I want to SHRED the GNAR at POW MOW so since I can’t - I want all my buds to do it in honor of me! SWEET!

I love you all so much! I really am loving my mission and time is starting to fly by!

Elder Cody Anderson
Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

I NEED Heavenly Father to be proud of me

12/14/2015

Hey padres!

This week was successful! We decided to visit alot of our old investigators and two of them are still reading the Book of Mormon and want baptisms. It’s so awesome and I almost couldn’t believe it! But I’m not getting my hopes up just yet because they haven’t been attending church so I hope they can do that.

Jose Mendoza is a dude thats in the wheelchair and he is so cool! We teach him outside every single time. I love it - one day Def Leppard was playing next to his house and Aerosmith and it about killed me. I felt so homesick and distracted during that lesson!

They dedicated the Tijuana temple and it was cool! The funny thing was they gave tissues to people for the Hosanna shout - I laughed and was about to use it to wipe my nose. It was a great experience because I’ve been to Tijuana and love it! Plus Paul Pieper spoke in it. He had interviewed me when I was in the Mexico City South mission. He is a super good guy!

I really have been recognizing my weaknesses and I’m trying to work on them. One of them is I’ve figured out I’m a perfectionist. I realize I felt like this ever since I got the job at Maddox - I needed to make my boss proud and NOT mess up on anything! Now I’m here and again I feel like I can’t mess up on anything - I need my Heavenly Father to be proud of me. I know he loves me for my best efforts. I have noticed how much I love our country and how proud I am to be from the United States. It has been hard for me to LOVE another country. It’s a lot easier to love the people.

We got together and did yard work service with President McArthur. It was a great day.

I loved the pictures of all the snow today. I miss it - it is very weird to have a Christmas without snow.

I love you all so so much and I love my family! My family is MY keystone. I NEED my family. I can feel your prayers. Please pray for me to find more people to teach. Everyone be safe!

Elder Carson Anderson
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

Praying for Español!!

12/7/2015

LOVING the funny pictures he gets from Sydney

HOLA!

This week was great! We had found a family and we taught them about the restoration and they accepted the message. When we visited them again and talked about the plan of salvation. They are so awesome and I hope they can accept coming to church! One worry is that the husband is Jehovah Witness and doesn’t like us at all so I hope that isn’t going to be a problem.

We had the opportunity to have an evening where the members brought their non-member friends and we watched Meet the Mormons. It was so great. The pilot and the missionary stories always choke me up!

We have an investigator that is progressing well. His name is Jose and he can’t walk because half of his body is paralyzed. He can stand and take steps but it takes a million years for him to get his bible. December 27th is his baptism date! I hope he keeps going! He has a sweet beard — not as good as Shane’s of course — but sweet. We watched the Christmas Devotional all in Spanish and I didn’t understand anything! Getting a little worried but oh well - what do ya do but keep trying?

I need to know the plan for christmas with Cody and if we will be able to Skype together. That is so cool that Utah is playing BYU in Vegas. GO UTES!

I miss Grandma Nea - tell her hi from me! How is Sydney??

Praying assignment: PLEASE pray for me to feel more confident in the language!!

I love you guys more than you could possibly know.

Elder Carson Anderson
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

Using my Eagle Scout powers to try and fix a computer

If I bought 2 Pepsi's I got a Cowboys bottle.

I NEED to talk to EVERY PERSON

12/7/2015

Te amo Te amo Te amo mi Familia

This past week has been super fun! Today as a zone we went and played softball and basketball. I destroyed in both and they called me Michael Jordan which isn’t a surprise… haha (sike)

There is this a guy that we see everyday that is ALWAYS high on drugs. His name is Ricardo and he is 23. I have been hesitant to teach him because of how drugged up he has been. But then I thought about how I should see people as children of our Heavenly Father. We decided to teach him. We have been working with him everyday since and he has not used drugs for 6 days now. That is so cool. I felt like I learned a lesson that this Gospel is for every person and I need to talk to EVERY PERSON I see, no matter what their situation is. He came to church but the bad thing was is that he didn’t like it and wanted to leave - haha!! We will keep working with him!

Fasting is so important and we receive blessings as we obey it. Before the mission I never fasted - I LOVE food. I wish I had learned the importance of fasting before the mission. This past Sunday I really focused my fasting to have investigators and less actives in church. My whole mission so far I have only had 1 show up. This past fast Sunday we had 4 less actives and 1 investigator in church. It was the best day ever. Prayer, faith, and fasting brings blessings.

The mission is flying by! I feel like I just got to Guayanilla and now transfers are next Sunday! We have been working super hard and having success little by little.

I have been the designated driver for the past 3 weeks. There is this jump in Penuelas and I got some air! I got a cool video but it wont let me send it. (Mom’s response: CODY - you're killin' me!!)

I love you a bunch and I am doing so good here!!

Elder Cody Anderson
Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Taught an Hombre to Pray

12/1/2015

HEY padres!
This week was a great one! We had a lot of success finding people to teach and even helping members when they are in need!
When I was sick and very discouraged the other week I about had it and said, “I AM GOING CONTACTING!” That day I found this hombre and he said he would love to talk to us so we set an appointment. So we went there this week and we taught him. We started with a prayer and I said it! The dude repeated everything I said — haha — It was so funny. After that we taught him how to pray. He said that he was waiting for something to help his family and he thinks this is it. That felt so good!

On Friday we had an activity for all of the new missionaries! I saw Mi Hermano, my companion from the MTC, Elder Andriese! I missed that kid so much and he made me feel so much better. He is doing so good and it was great to talk with him! I hope we can be companions again in the field! We would be the best companions.

Thanksgiving was awesome! A family served me turkey! It was so good! We had mashed potatoes and corn and GRAVY! I really missed my Cowboys and then I found out that ROMO is hurt! I really hope he is not out for the rest of his career because I want to see him play again. LOVE the Cowboys - I wear my Dez shirt here with pride.

So I sat and thought about what I was grateful for. I thought about family and what WE had and these people didn’t. Then I thought about the Plan of Salvation and how we have this knowledge. What a blessing it is! I thought about Janette a lot this week and how much of a blessing it was to have her as an aunt and how thankful we are that we can see her again. I thought about the examples in my life; like my friends, and dad for helping me serve a mission! I also thought about the day Kaden Obray gave his farewell talk and I’m serious, HE was the one that helped me WANT to serve a mission! I will always thank him for that!

THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE! I love Mtn Dew and Skittles! One exploded sooooo…everything was sticky! But its ok - I LOVED it!

I love you guys with all my heart and I miss you! I hope you guys are doing great! Thank you keeping me updated on everything with family, sports and just stuff going on in Brigham City!

Love you!
Elder Carson Anderson
Mexico Monterrey West Mission

We Don't Know EVERYTHING!

12/1/2015

Yo-
Thanksgiving was super good - although I am heartbroken about how bad the Cowboys are doing. I’m sure that is because their biggest fan isn’t in the states. They will win the Super Bowl when I get back.

We had so many people invite us to have Thanksgiving dinner. Our schedule was full for the whole day. We were all so sick with all the food we had that day.

Are you getting snow yet? MOM….I want a picture of you on skis this season at POW MOW. Haha - that would be so funny!!

This week we have been working with our investigators with baptismal dates. Hector is one of them and he looks just like Snoop Dogg! Hector is super cool. We taught the Word of Wisdom. He REALLY loves his alcohol but he said he will try and live it. I think that is so cool that he knows it is a commandment from God and he wants to be obedient. At times we think that some commandments are dumb or don't make sense but in reality, WE are stupid…and we don’t know everything!! (Mom’s reaction: Um..Whaaaat?) Our Heavenly Father knows EVERYTHING and knows the reasons why we need to follow these commandments.

Penuelas is a Barrio in our area and we go their every Tuesday and Saturday. We contacted this one house and a couple let us in. They are very into their beliefs but wanted to talk to us. We started with a prayer but they didn’t like our prayer so they wanted to say one. The wife walks over to me and puts her hands on my face and starts praying that “I wake up and find the truth". It was tough not to laugh! After we taught the Restoration I believe the message touched the heart of the husband and he wanted to read the Book of Mormon.

One of my favorite questions to ask people when I am contacting is ..."Why are there so many Churches on the earth and how do we know which one out of all of them is the true church?" It really makes them think and we have been getting into more houses and teaching when we ask this.

I love the mission and its shaping me to be the person God wants me to be. Its crazy to think I only have 2 years to do something that is going to prepare me for my whole life; things ahead like school, career, eternal family, etc. So I better keep working!! Its already almost Christmas!

I love you all a bunch!!

Elder Cody Anderson
Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Elder Cody W. Anderson
SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO MISSION
cody.anderson@myldsmail.net

Puerto Rico San Juan Mission
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
#500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamon PR 00959
Puerto Rico

Elder Carson R Anderson
MEXICO MONTERREY WEST MISSION
carson.anderson@myldsmail.net

Mexico Monterrey West Mission
Calle Chiapas y Concha Espino # 303
Col. Roma Sur
64700 Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
Mexico

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