¡Hola!
¡Ay Caray! Ha sido una semana divertido, lleno de ánimo y trabajo. (Oh goodness! It has been a fun week, full of excitement and work.)
ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS
1. Pictures? What pictures? No, I am joking. But, there is a problem. A member has my memory card. I know that sounds a little scary but I will explain. First, this man is Roberto, and I can trust him with almost anything, because he is an incredible person who loves God and wants to do what is right. Second, there are videos on my memory card that we have asked him to edit. They are videos that our Zone Leaders asked us to make. He asked us to film ourselves doing specific things in the daily life of a missionary. My companion and I filmed ourselves doing exercise, and teaching a lesson with a member present (every companionship was to film a lesson with a member, I believe. I feel bad because I messed up in this lesson! ¡Ay Caray!). These segments are only portions of a bigger video, which I believe we will use to show in the Stake. I think it will also be posted on YouTube, so you could all watch it. So, I don´t have my pictures, but I think I have some that I can take from my companion´s camera.
(Elder Anderson's mother is being valiantly patient as she waits for more pictures. No, really, she is. No matter WHAT Mistie Rash tells you, there is no weeping, wailing or nashing of teeth going on across the street.)
2. I have had strange food recently. I will talk about one type of food later in this email. I have eaten a lot of Pasoli...a traditional food for Independence Day (September 15th. ¡Viva Mèxico!). I love Pasoli! The weather is cooler, but still hot. It rains almost every night. It has been like that since day one of my mission. I am hardly ever cold. I am a little cold when I wake up in the morning, but exercise helps me to warm up. I am not using the big coat that I have, and also my suit jacket because I simply am not very cold. At church on Sundays, wearing the suit jacket is a rule, and during the week we do not usually wear it.
3. Sandra is doing well I think. We haven´t visited her but she is active. Moises and Abraham are happy and doing well. I confirmed Moises yesterday, and my companion confirmed Abraham. Alejandra is sick, but doing fine. Her husband is not member but has a lot of interest, and we hope to baptize him and complete this family. Danilo is just a really sweet nine-year-old that I am positive Mom would adore. My companion baptized Leticia yesterday, an investigator who has been investigating for a long time, and has received visits from about 20 different missionaries. We finally ended it with her baptism yesterday. She is happy and feels very content.
STORIES
I have cool stories! First, today we had a Zone Activity. It was so much fun! It was an obstacle course type thing that the zone leaders created. I will describe it. One companionship went at a time. An elder counted down, and then started a timer. The companionship takes off running. They dive under some very low suspended ropes into mud, and crawl as fast as they can to the other end. Then they run over a ladder that is lying on the ground. Next, they run toward a yellow garbage bin that has wheels and is very heavy (and it is harder because it is in the grass). The two elders push the garbage bin forward until they pass a wooden board, and then they push it back again. Then they run and do 10 pushups in more mud. They then stick their heads in a dirty bin of water and try to scoop out as many coins as they can. This was very hard because the bin was big, and I was so tired. I wanted to breath because I was close to being out of breath, so I couldn't keep my head under long. The coins that we were able to scoop out determined how many seconds were subtracted from our time. Then we do the wheelbarrow. One elder walks on his hands while the other holds his ankles. At a certain point, they run to a table. The final challenge is the eating challenge. The food, to the best that I can describe it, was cooked and seasoned grasshoppers. Thats what it looked like (as a side note, it is actually quite delicious). We had to eat these bugs in a tortilla. We would split it between companions and had to eat it all in order to end the time. It was hard because we were tired. I finished my portion but I think my companion started to gag, and he spit some of his out. And then we were done! It was so fun. We then played soccer.
On Sunday, I had a funny experience. Trey and Ben I think would love this story. We were at a house eating. When we got up from the table and were about to leave, their dog (a little dog) started to jump on us a little. Okay, well that is normal. That´s what many dogs do. We knew the dog had a tendency to bite, so we just tried to avoid it. Soon, the dog began to get a little angry at us. I do not know why. The Sister picked up the dog and walked us to the door so we could leave. The dog in her arms soon began to go crazy. It was barking and growling at us so much. It made me a little nervous. It wasn´t too bad, just a little nervous. The dog really began to go crazy. As we were leaving the door, the Sister put the dog down, probably because it was so crazy. My heart jumped as I saw the dog bolt around and run toward me. It had been put down only about 4 or 5 feet away from me, so he didn´t have to run very much. But imagine this...a little dog barking and running toward a 19 year old boy who will admit that he was a little tiny bit scared. The dog started jumping on my legs and probably trying to bite at me. I started to move away from it but it followed me. I left the house. I will admit I was a little bit scared!! I know that is ridiculous. I swung my foot at the dog to scare it. It flinched and then starting trying to eat me again. So I began to run! My companion was cracking up. I ran just a little half circle around the front door. I didn´t go anywhere. I paused and looked to see where the dog was. I saw it go back into the house. Oh! I am saved! My companion was laughing. I was trying to figure out what happened! It was funny. That is my story of how a dog almost ate me.
Independence Day!!! (¡Viva Mèxico!). Mom, you are right. Latinos tend to be very loud on holidays. From my apartment, it sounded like a mini war outside. Explosions after explosions. The people here love little bomb-type-things to celebrate the 15th of September. There were things as simple as little crackling sticks that crackled when rubbed against a wall. There were little balls that sprayed sparks. There were fireworks. There were things that were stronger, that sounded like grenades, though I never saw one actually lighted. People, as I was told, often enjoyed shooting pistol bullets into the air. From the top of our apartment, we could see a lot. There was a lot of popping and exploding. At one moment, there is popping, next a few fireworks that whistle in the air, next a very loud explosion from down below, next a few sparks in the street, next another explosion, and so on. It wasn´t super, super loud but there was a lot.
Well, I am happy and doing well. I hope you all are too. That was some interesting news that you told me about, about the ward changes. How weird. I have learned that there aren´t many coincidences in this life. You are in this ward for a reason. Perhaps you all are supposed to help someone, or they are supposed to help you, or both. Or maybe God just wants to test us. Whatever the reason, I know you can continue forward with the same talents that you have to bless the new ward.
I love you all and hope you are happy. Trust in God. Apply the scriptures to yourselves.
¡Viva Mèxico!
DIOS VIVE
Love, Elder Anderson
