Thank you for your sweet emails and the picture! You guys are so cute. I just had a great Christmas morning! I woke up and climbed up to the top bunk and jumped on Hermana McKay. "IT'S CHRISTMAS IT'S CHRISTMAS MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!" She loved it. Even if she didn't say so haha. Then I climbed down and proceeded to continue jumping around the room. We decided not to go to breakfast, so we could open our Christmas presents in our room in our PJ's. Great idea. We wake up at 6:30 as usual but we had until 9 before we had to be anywhere. So we all opened presents, and Hermana McKay's mom sent us bagels and cream cheese!! It's a family tradition at their house, and it was super nice for us to have since we didn't go down to breakfast. I seriously LOVED all my gifts! Mom, that photo book was beautiful, and yes I totally did cry. I love it. Dad, good job on that scarf and those head band things! So CUTE! Did you pick those out? Love them. I'm wearing the scarf right now.� :)� Also, Mom and Dad, thank you for� the yummy treats, mom I've just tried the trail mix oatmeal stuff a little bit, but it's super yummy. And Dad the pumpkin bread is great! Did you make it?? Sister Bewsey sent me a lot of cute little gifts, and Aunt Jo and Uncle Del also sent me something. A little angel ornament. If you talk to her today, tell them thank you! Umm let's see. So that was this morning. Then we had Sacrament meeting with the ENTIRE MTC. Usually we just do it by zone which is like 30ish missionaries. But today they didn't want all the Branch presidencies to have to come on Christmas so they had a huge one for us. Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the 12 apostles came and spoke to us. He is soooo good. Oh my gosh. So good. And funny. He talked about how we need to come to a greater understanding of the character of Jesus Christ. By studying the New Testament especially, we see how when He was in extreme trials or difficulties when normally we would all be selfish, He turned outward and served others. THAT is the character of Christ. Being His disciple and being more like him all boils down to that. Being selfless and kind.
So last night, we got the night off for Christmas Eve. After dinner we had a fireside where they had people put on the nativity play like from the bible! With the shepherds, and baby Jesus, and the wise men... it was cute. We sang some Christmas songs along with the play. They also did a "12 Days of Christmas" missionary style song. That was fun. After the fireside, we got to watch A CHRISTMAS CAROL!!! Yay!!! Love it!! So that was really fun. Then we went upstairs and some Sisters decided to put on a nativity play on our floor. It was so funny, they all dressed up and re-enacted the story. With the sheep and the wise men and all that. It was hilarious.
Something really sweet Hna. McKay did for me, she knows I love those peach-o's and they have them in the bookstore, she bought me a little bag of them and printed out a few of my favorite pictures of us. She also wrote me a really nice note AND a list of 101 things she loves about me. How sweet! At a fireside one time, this sweet Japanese lady advised us to only think of the positive, not the negative. About life, our missions, our companions. She told us to write 100 things we love about our companion, and focus on those things. Well, Hna. McKay did that and then gave it to me for Christmas. I haven't read it all yet but that was just such a sweet thing for her to do. I don't know how she found 100 things she likes about me, but I appreciate that she did it. I love her.� I'm going to miss her a lot. We have our challenges and sometimes I get frustrated, but I am learning patience, and learning so much else from her. I will really miss her. I'm so glad she was my first companion!
So after this we have our big Christmas lunch, I'm sure it will be nice. Later we have our temple walk, every Sunday we get some time to go walk up to the temple which is nice. No snow today :( My prayers didn't come true, guess I didn't have enough faith. Haha. Bummer. But that's okay. I will have a white Christmas someday...I hope...
Mom thank you soo much for getting my watch fixed. The band looks great!! I love it. The only problem was it was too tight!! It just fit my wrist, but was tight. I didn't know what to do. BUT thank goodness, that same Elder who fixed my coat also knows how to make jewelery and such so I asked if he knew how to fix watches, and he fixed it!! Now it fits me perfectly and it's great. I'm so happy to have a watch again!
Something cool that happened this week. So I got to be a new missionary host since I am almost leaving! (OH MY GOSH HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN TO TELL YOU ABOUT MY FLIGHT PLANS?! After this.) And, also on Wednesday, my good friend from home Amber Harper reported to the MTC! Well, there are no coincidences, I got to be her host. It was so great. She had just barely said goodbye to her parents and when she saw me a couple minutes later she just broke down. She is so happy to be here, but we all know how hard the first couple days are. But anyway, I got to show her to her room, which is on my floor, two doors away from mine, and then I took her to get her books and stuff and brought her to her classroom, which is also right down the hall from me. Oh and by the way, she has the same schedule as me so we have gym time and meal times together. It's great. Definitely not a coincidence. She needed me here to help her, and I needed her too. It's soo fun to have her here. I love it. We did yoga in the hall yesterday, like the good old days! It wasn't quite the beach of Hawaii, but it was still pretty great. Tender mercies from the Lord.� :)
OKAY FLIGHT PLANS!!!! Best EVER!!! I totally screamed when we got them. Ahhhh!! Okay. So. I don't have the paper with me for all the exact times or the flight numbers (mom don't kill me), but I basically know it. I will send the detailed info when I email again on Tuesday. I leave January 2nd, as planned. So. First of all, we have to be at the travel office (here at the MTC) at 4am. Then we drive up to Salt Lake and our flight to LA leaves at 7:10. We get to LA and have about 3 hours, our flight leaves at 11:50 for LIMA PERU! Then, we get to Lima at 11:25pm... I think it's about a 9 or 10 hour flight but there's a time change. Then, worst part... We have a 9 hour layover in Lima from 11:25pm until 8:15am... ouch. That is not going to be fun. But I will be able to call you guys a lot!! So there's some silver lining! Yes it will be in the middle of the night... But oh well :)� So we leave Lima at 8:15am, get to Santiago Chile at 1:40 I think, then have a couple hour layover and fly from Santiago to Concepcion, which is only about an hour and a half flight, and we get to Concepcion at 5:40pm on the 3rd. Phew. Gonna be awful. But I'm so excited. I have been having such amazing experiences already here in the MTC. I can't wait to see how much MORE incredible they're going to be when I finally get to MY mission. I know my mission is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Today at the end of Elder Bednar's talk he said, "Nothing affirms my faith more of the reality of revelation than when I have the opportunity to participate in assigning mission calls." Wow. That was awesome. He told us that we are not merely placed in a stack of papers, and randomly sent to a mission. Only Apostles participate in this sacred job, to assign missionaries, and it's done with great care and prayer. That made me so excited to hear that as an Apostle, THAT is the thing that confirms his faith in the reality of revelation- assigning us missionaries. I'm sure there are many things he receives revelation for, but it sounds like this is a pretty strong experience for him, if he says that about it. SO, yes I too have received revelation and comfort and peace that I'm going where I'm supposed to be going. And I know I will receive more and more confirmations as I teach and serve and love others down there. I'm sure I will see it in the companions I have, the families I teach, the people I meet.. I am confident I will come to a greater knowledge of why I am called to serve in the Chile Concepcion South Mission.
I know God has a plan for me. A specific, personal plan. And as hard as it is to believe, He has a personal plan for every single person on the earth. He loves us so much. That is why He sent His son Jesus Christ. For us. I am grateful for His miraculous birth, His matchless life, and His selfless Atonement. That He knows and understands me, and He has made it possible for me to be happy and to live with Him some day.� :)
This makes me so happy and I cannot wait to share this with others. I love you so much!! I hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas. Know that I am well taken care of here, and that I love you to pieces!!! (And that I'm jealous of the brie, orange juliuses, and turkey pot pie.)
Love you love you love you.
Merry Christmas.
Love
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Christmas Week
Hola!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! How was it Mom and Dad? We had a good day here. I loved all the gifts, thank you so much to everyone who sent me one! Dad I'm wearing one of the headbands you got me right now, I love it. Nice job, once again. Umm let's see... I just wrote two days ago so I don't feel like I have too much to say now! Parents I made copies of my flight plans and will be sending them in the mail tomorrow. So that way you can have it all right there. But I will have a good amount of time to call, especially during my 9-hour layover at the airport in Peru... My calling card is international, right?? I'm excited to talk to you guys!
Mom, thank you soo much for the colored pencils. They are perfect! And I wasn't gonna say anything but one of my other colors broke too. So I'm glad you got me the whole box instead of just the red :) Thank you. I will be sending home a box probably Thursday of stuff I don't need or can't fit in my bags. I don't know if I mentioned this Sunday but my carryon can only be 17 pounds. So that stinks. I can have my regular two 50-pound bags. And the rest I'm gonna have to leave or send home. Mom you said you'd pay for it if I go overweight, trust me you don't want to do that. For int'l flights they say it's about $300. Soooo, yeah I'm not gonna have you do that. No worries. I'll figure it out. I started packing today already, because I'm pretty stressed about having everything fit and not be over the weight limit... My books and scriptures and journals alone weigh 22 pounds. So that's awesome.
Okay so in other news I have shin splints! Super cool. I found out last week, when my shins were hurting while I was running. At the gym they have trainers there who know physical therapy stuff. So I went and talked to them and so I haven't been working out the past week, but rather doing stretches and exercises and icing my shins for 20 minutes each day. Perfect timing to not be running with all the Christmas treats everyone sent me... Yep. Perfect timing. But really I'm just grateful I found out when I did and not in a week from now when I'm in Chile, walking everywhere. Cause I would have kept running and made them worse. And not known how to take care of them, not have ice or time to ice, etc. Sooo, it's all good. I miss running. I'm going a little crazy here, tired of the MTC and so excited to leave. Running has helped me stay sane. And now I'm getting more antsy, so now I would be running even more to keep me relatively sane.... Ohhh well.... I've been praying for patience so here is my opportunity to learn some :) Haha. Be careful what you pray for folks. ;)
To everyone: I just want to apologize if I take awhile writing back to you. I really, really appreciate receiving letters and dear elders and packages and everything! You all are so great! The life of a missionary is super busy, even on P-day. So, I'm sorry if it takes me awhile. Just know that I appreciate the love, and I love you in return, and you will get a letter back some day :)� Annie I got your dear elder on the 15th but I still haven't gotten the letter you said you were sending me.... Makes me worried, cause the mail room closes on 12/30 and doesn't open until 1/2, the day I leave...Soooo if you haven't sent it yet, don't send it here. Send it to Chile. That goes for everyone- Don't send me any more dear elders or letters cause I probably won't get them!! I don't know what they do with mail that comes for missionaries after they leave... I would like to think they'd forward it on, but at the same time they probably don't have a lot of time to do that. So, who knows. Mom also I haven't gotten Cody's letter yet, I'm really sad that I might miss it haha. That will be 4 letters of ours that have gotten lost in the mail now if I miss this one, so I'll let you know if I don't have it by the time I leave and then if you could, send him an email telling him I missed it. Haha so sad. Oh well. Shout out to Alison and Natalie Williams, thank you for the Christmas card! You guys are so cute. Also to the Robertson family , if you see this- loved the Christmas card, you all are beautiful and the updates on everyones lives on the back were super funny.
Sorry, this email is pretty boring.... And short, but oh well I hope you still love me anyway. I'll be able to email and do laundry again before I leave on Monday... Probably will be emailing Saturday or Sunday, talking to you (parents) on Monday/Tuesday.... And then I have no idea when my P-day will be in Chile so I don't know when I'll be able to email next week. Ahhh next week! I'm gonna be in Chile next week!!! Soooo excited! I've met a couple teachers here who are from Concepcion, and also a teacher (girl) who served there and just got back a few months ago. They are telling me great things, I can't wait to be down there :)
Welp, that's about it for today. I love you all so much and I thank you for your support and prayers on my behalf and on behalf of my family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it's the only way to be truly, permanently, eternally happy. If we try our best Heavenly Father will give us more blessings than we could imagine.
Have a great week! And oh yeah, Happy New Year!! Weird, I can't believe it'll be 2012 in a few days. I hope you all have fun, be safe, and drink some sparkling cider for me!
Amor y abrazos,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! How was it Mom and Dad? We had a good day here. I loved all the gifts, thank you so much to everyone who sent me one! Dad I'm wearing one of the headbands you got me right now, I love it. Nice job, once again. Umm let's see... I just wrote two days ago so I don't feel like I have too much to say now! Parents I made copies of my flight plans and will be sending them in the mail tomorrow. So that way you can have it all right there. But I will have a good amount of time to call, especially during my 9-hour layover at the airport in Peru... My calling card is international, right?? I'm excited to talk to you guys!
Mom, thank you soo much for the colored pencils. They are perfect! And I wasn't gonna say anything but one of my other colors broke too. So I'm glad you got me the whole box instead of just the red :) Thank you. I will be sending home a box probably Thursday of stuff I don't need or can't fit in my bags. I don't know if I mentioned this Sunday but my carryon can only be 17 pounds. So that stinks. I can have my regular two 50-pound bags. And the rest I'm gonna have to leave or send home. Mom you said you'd pay for it if I go overweight, trust me you don't want to do that. For int'l flights they say it's about $300. Soooo, yeah I'm not gonna have you do that. No worries. I'll figure it out. I started packing today already, because I'm pretty stressed about having everything fit and not be over the weight limit... My books and scriptures and journals alone weigh 22 pounds. So that's awesome.
Okay so in other news I have shin splints! Super cool. I found out last week, when my shins were hurting while I was running. At the gym they have trainers there who know physical therapy stuff. So I went and talked to them and so I haven't been working out the past week, but rather doing stretches and exercises and icing my shins for 20 minutes each day. Perfect timing to not be running with all the Christmas treats everyone sent me... Yep. Perfect timing. But really I'm just grateful I found out when I did and not in a week from now when I'm in Chile, walking everywhere. Cause I would have kept running and made them worse. And not known how to take care of them, not have ice or time to ice, etc. Sooo, it's all good. I miss running. I'm going a little crazy here, tired of the MTC and so excited to leave. Running has helped me stay sane. And now I'm getting more antsy, so now I would be running even more to keep me relatively sane.... Ohhh well.... I've been praying for patience so here is my opportunity to learn some :) Haha. Be careful what you pray for folks. ;)
To everyone: I just want to apologize if I take awhile writing back to you. I really, really appreciate receiving letters and dear elders and packages and everything! You all are so great! The life of a missionary is super busy, even on P-day. So, I'm sorry if it takes me awhile. Just know that I appreciate the love, and I love you in return, and you will get a letter back some day :)� Annie I got your dear elder on the 15th but I still haven't gotten the letter you said you were sending me.... Makes me worried, cause the mail room closes on 12/30 and doesn't open until 1/2, the day I leave...Soooo if you haven't sent it yet, don't send it here. Send it to Chile. That goes for everyone- Don't send me any more dear elders or letters cause I probably won't get them!! I don't know what they do with mail that comes for missionaries after they leave... I would like to think they'd forward it on, but at the same time they probably don't have a lot of time to do that. So, who knows. Mom also I haven't gotten Cody's letter yet, I'm really sad that I might miss it haha. That will be 4 letters of ours that have gotten lost in the mail now if I miss this one, so I'll let you know if I don't have it by the time I leave and then if you could, send him an email telling him I missed it. Haha so sad. Oh well. Shout out to Alison and Natalie Williams, thank you for the Christmas card! You guys are so cute. Also to the Robertson family , if you see this- loved the Christmas card, you all are beautiful and the updates on everyones lives on the back were super funny.
Sorry, this email is pretty boring.... And short, but oh well I hope you still love me anyway. I'll be able to email and do laundry again before I leave on Monday... Probably will be emailing Saturday or Sunday, talking to you (parents) on Monday/Tuesday.... And then I have no idea when my P-day will be in Chile so I don't know when I'll be able to email next week. Ahhh next week! I'm gonna be in Chile next week!!! Soooo excited! I've met a couple teachers here who are from Concepcion, and also a teacher (girl) who served there and just got back a few months ago. They are telling me great things, I can't wait to be down there :)
Welp, that's about it for today. I love you all so much and I thank you for your support and prayers on my behalf and on behalf of my family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it's the only way to be truly, permanently, eternally happy. If we try our best Heavenly Father will give us more blessings than we could imagine.
Have a great week! And oh yeah, Happy New Year!! Weird, I can't believe it'll be 2012 in a few days. I hope you all have fun, be safe, and drink some sparkling cider for me!
Amor y abrazos,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
"Sometimes when I'm trying to pronounce a word, I just try to talk like Gloria from Modern Family."
Yes, that's my companion for you. She's funny sometimes.
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! For my Christmas present from the MTC, I should be getting my travel plans!! Sometime this week. Those in my district going to Santa Rosa CA got theirs yesterday. I thought mine were there too and I screamed, only to be let down. So sad. Ha but yeah I should get them this week! Yay!!! So... the MTC is starting to get to me... 7 weeks is a longgg time. Ahh. Going a little crazy here, but still working hard and trying to be patient :) It's freezing here, but it's been snowing a bit lately so that's pretty. My hair is getting dark and my skin is getting white... Get me to Chile! It's summer there :) Mom, I got your huge package on Thursday, you are amazing. The peanut butter cookies were too good, I ate too many! The Hermanas loved your other home made goodies too, that was so nice of you to send a little something for everyone. We put all our wrapped gifts from our parents in our room, under a vase with christmasy-looking flowers. It's like our little Christmas tree :)
Well, I guess one new thing here is that I just got called as Coordinating Sister. Which means that I'm kind of like.. the leader for the other Hermanas in our zone. Basically I make sure everyone is doing okay, and go to weekly meetings with the Zone and report on how everyone is doing and if we need anything. I also show extra love and support to the Hermanas and such. Sooo yeah that's pretty cool I guess. A little leadership and service opportunity. So just wondering, how is the institute building coming?! Is it done yet? Oh I'm so excited to see it when I come home! Also Dad, I just wanted to thank you for making me love running! I've liked it for awhile, but not until I had to train for the 12k you signed us up for did I really start running longer distances and enjoying it. Now if I go more than 4 days without running I get kinda antsy! Hopeeeefully my companions will go running with me in Chile.. At least like 2 times a week would be awesome... AHHHH I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO CHILE!!! Sorry. Little freak out there..
Okay so Mom I think I sent you this in a letter, but I wanted to share it with everyone cause I think it's pretty good. This is from my journal. "So many things to improve on , so little time. Time is a precious thing. And it's up to you how you use it. You can make so much of your life or do little with it; it all depends on how you use your time." Just something to think about. Also, choose to be happy now, be too busy to enjoy life. Cause life goes by fast. Be happy! :)
Michelle North, I got your dear elder, and I sent you a post card. If don't know if you got it, but in case you didn't your first dear elder didn't work so I don't know what's going on with your life! Update me! But remember I leave on January 2nd so don't send stuff that won't get here before then. This goes for everyone! Let's just pretend I leave December 31st so don't send anything that you don't think will get to me by then. I have no idea what they do with mail that is received after missionaries leave. I don't want to chance it.
So Hermana McKay and I are really getting the hang of teaching. We've had some really awesome experiences. But the very BEST lessons are the ones where we don't do anything, but rather let the Spirit do it for us. Really, our goal is to just be instruments in the hands of the Lord. Not the teachers, but the ones that speak the words of the lesson that the Spirit directs. We were having this lesson with Juan, an inactive member. He was saying how he still has a testimony and he and his family all know the Church is true, but they haven't gone to church for 4 years because he doesn't think the man who's called as Bishop deserves to be bishop. He doesn't think he's worthy, or something, I don't know. Well we went into this lesson not having any idea what he might need to hear, but we planned a bit anyway... Didn't use any of it because his situation didn't fit what we thought to share. But anyway, the Spirit was there guiding the lesson. It was amazing. Hermana McKay spoke Spanish better than I'd ever heard her speak it, and she shared this awesome principle of forgiveness and how we need to forgive others as God forgives us. And I asked some super bold questions... He had told us that he was Bishop at one point. And as we were teaching I felt super prompted to ask him if when he was bishop everyone thought HE was perfect. I was like ahh that is scary I don't want to ask that. But I felt like, yes, ask it. So I did. He was so quiet. And thoughtful. And then I saw his countenance change and he was humbled. He said no, he wasn't perfect. And I said that's right, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes and have faults. Then I shared Moroni 7:47-48 about charity, it talks about how if we want to be like God we need to pray with all our hearts to have charity and love for others. I also asked him if he thought it was right to keep himself and his entire family from the blessings of the gospel because they didn't think this man should be bishop. He didn't particularly answer that one but he definitely thought about it. Haha. It was sooo coool. We reminded him of the importance of prayer and scripture study. At the end we invited him to come to church and he actually agreed! It was soo great. It was so cool to see someone who was so set in his ways that he would not go to church for 4 years, and then just through the power of the Holy Ghost see his heart soften and see him realize what he needed to do. I was like flying after that lesson. Best feeling ever!!
Okay so now for a funny story about our teaching. We were teaching our investigator Felipe, who's getting baptized on Friday!!! And we were teaching him about tithing. We knew tithing in spanish was called diezmo, but... we didn't know how to say "one tenth" or "ten percent." Also, we didn't bring the tithing pamphlet so we couldn't just flip through it and find the translation. Oops. Hahaha. It was hilarious. We didn't have a lot of time left so Hermana McKay goes, "Okay. Tengo diez cosas. Uno is por Dios." (I have ten things, one thing is for God.) Haha and then I said "Si tengo cien dolares, diez es por Dios." (If I have 100 dollars, ten is for God.) Oh it was so funny. Felipe was totally laughing at us and then figured out what we were saying and helped us for the word "percent." Super funny.
Well, I'm out of time. It's hard to be away from home for Christmas. Parents, I love you so much and will miss you. But truly is there any better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ than to be one of HIS personal representatives? I can't think of anything better than that. I am so happy to have this time to share the gospel with others. I can't WAIT to get down to Chile and tear it up. Everyone, have a merry merry Christmas :)
Love you all so much,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! For my Christmas present from the MTC, I should be getting my travel plans!! Sometime this week. Those in my district going to Santa Rosa CA got theirs yesterday. I thought mine were there too and I screamed, only to be let down. So sad. Ha but yeah I should get them this week! Yay!!! So... the MTC is starting to get to me... 7 weeks is a longgg time. Ahh. Going a little crazy here, but still working hard and trying to be patient :) It's freezing here, but it's been snowing a bit lately so that's pretty. My hair is getting dark and my skin is getting white... Get me to Chile! It's summer there :) Mom, I got your huge package on Thursday, you are amazing. The peanut butter cookies were too good, I ate too many! The Hermanas loved your other home made goodies too, that was so nice of you to send a little something for everyone. We put all our wrapped gifts from our parents in our room, under a vase with christmasy-looking flowers. It's like our little Christmas tree :)
Well, I guess one new thing here is that I just got called as Coordinating Sister. Which means that I'm kind of like.. the leader for the other Hermanas in our zone. Basically I make sure everyone is doing okay, and go to weekly meetings with the Zone and report on how everyone is doing and if we need anything. I also show extra love and support to the Hermanas and such. Sooo yeah that's pretty cool I guess. A little leadership and service opportunity. So just wondering, how is the institute building coming?! Is it done yet? Oh I'm so excited to see it when I come home! Also Dad, I just wanted to thank you for making me love running! I've liked it for awhile, but not until I had to train for the 12k you signed us up for did I really start running longer distances and enjoying it. Now if I go more than 4 days without running I get kinda antsy! Hopeeeefully my companions will go running with me in Chile.. At least like 2 times a week would be awesome... AHHHH I CAN'T WAIT TO GET TO CHILE!!! Sorry. Little freak out there..
Okay so Mom I think I sent you this in a letter, but I wanted to share it with everyone cause I think it's pretty good. This is from my journal. "So many things to improve on , so little time. Time is a precious thing. And it's up to you how you use it. You can make so much of your life or do little with it; it all depends on how you use your time." Just something to think about. Also, choose to be happy now, be too busy to enjoy life. Cause life goes by fast. Be happy! :)
Michelle North, I got your dear elder, and I sent you a post card. If don't know if you got it, but in case you didn't your first dear elder didn't work so I don't know what's going on with your life! Update me! But remember I leave on January 2nd so don't send stuff that won't get here before then. This goes for everyone! Let's just pretend I leave December 31st so don't send anything that you don't think will get to me by then. I have no idea what they do with mail that is received after missionaries leave. I don't want to chance it.
So Hermana McKay and I are really getting the hang of teaching. We've had some really awesome experiences. But the very BEST lessons are the ones where we don't do anything, but rather let the Spirit do it for us. Really, our goal is to just be instruments in the hands of the Lord. Not the teachers, but the ones that speak the words of the lesson that the Spirit directs. We were having this lesson with Juan, an inactive member. He was saying how he still has a testimony and he and his family all know the Church is true, but they haven't gone to church for 4 years because he doesn't think the man who's called as Bishop deserves to be bishop. He doesn't think he's worthy, or something, I don't know. Well we went into this lesson not having any idea what he might need to hear, but we planned a bit anyway... Didn't use any of it because his situation didn't fit what we thought to share. But anyway, the Spirit was there guiding the lesson. It was amazing. Hermana McKay spoke Spanish better than I'd ever heard her speak it, and she shared this awesome principle of forgiveness and how we need to forgive others as God forgives us. And I asked some super bold questions... He had told us that he was Bishop at one point. And as we were teaching I felt super prompted to ask him if when he was bishop everyone thought HE was perfect. I was like ahh that is scary I don't want to ask that. But I felt like, yes, ask it. So I did. He was so quiet. And thoughtful. And then I saw his countenance change and he was humbled. He said no, he wasn't perfect. And I said that's right, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes and have faults. Then I shared Moroni 7:47-48 about charity, it talks about how if we want to be like God we need to pray with all our hearts to have charity and love for others. I also asked him if he thought it was right to keep himself and his entire family from the blessings of the gospel because they didn't think this man should be bishop. He didn't particularly answer that one but he definitely thought about it. Haha. It was sooo coool. We reminded him of the importance of prayer and scripture study. At the end we invited him to come to church and he actually agreed! It was soo great. It was so cool to see someone who was so set in his ways that he would not go to church for 4 years, and then just through the power of the Holy Ghost see his heart soften and see him realize what he needed to do. I was like flying after that lesson. Best feeling ever!!
Okay so now for a funny story about our teaching. We were teaching our investigator Felipe, who's getting baptized on Friday!!! And we were teaching him about tithing. We knew tithing in spanish was called diezmo, but... we didn't know how to say "one tenth" or "ten percent." Also, we didn't bring the tithing pamphlet so we couldn't just flip through it and find the translation. Oops. Hahaha. It was hilarious. We didn't have a lot of time left so Hermana McKay goes, "Okay. Tengo diez cosas. Uno is por Dios." (I have ten things, one thing is for God.) Haha and then I said "Si tengo cien dolares, diez es por Dios." (If I have 100 dollars, ten is for God.) Oh it was so funny. Felipe was totally laughing at us and then figured out what we were saying and helped us for the word "percent." Super funny.
Well, I'm out of time. It's hard to be away from home for Christmas. Parents, I love you so much and will miss you. But truly is there any better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ than to be one of HIS personal representatives? I can't think of anything better than that. I am so happy to have this time to share the gospel with others. I can't WAIT to get down to Chile and tear it up. Everyone, have a merry merry Christmas :)
Love you all so much,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas!!
Hola family!!
Well, it hasn't snowed much at all, only like once or twice since I've been here. But guess what? Today it is snowing! A lot!! It's soo pretty I just want to go frolic in it. But I'm praying that it will snow on Christmas, soooo if anyone wants to join me in that prayer, I'd be okay with that :)
So Mom, I'm soo sorry to hear about your job. I can't believe it!! I got your dear elder at like 6 last night and just started crying. And I had class for 3 hours right after that, and I had to teach a lesson. But after about 15 minutes I was able to pull it together. Heavenly Father helped me for sure, cause we all know when I have something to cry about I can't put on a happy face and push it to the back of my mind. But anyway, Mom, I'm sorry. I know this will be okay. I know you will be fine and find another job, that makes you happier and allows you to enjoy life more and not have to wake up before the sun is up! It is all going to be fine. I am a missionary, you will get my blessings! This is a blessing in disguise. I think since you never give yourself a break, Heavenly Father is giving you one for you. Full salary til May and insurance with not having to go to work? That's a blessing, I'd say. Have faith and keep praying, you will be okay. Take advantage of this time to spend some time for you. :) I always pray for you, and Dad, every day. I hope you can feel it.
So I forgot last week to mention that Hermana McKay sang at mission conference last Sunday! Mission conf is every fast sunday at the MTC (bad idea, the whole MTC sitting for 2+ hours while we're fasting) but she sang "Once in Royal David's City." It was beautiful. She's so good. We were famous all that week (okay she was famous), everyone was telling her, and still is, how wonderful she did. But then this past Sunday, I got to share my conversion story during Relief Society! So now I'm the famous one! Haha, just kidding, but a bunch of sisters have came to me and thanked me for sharing my story. So during RS, we get to have a speaker come. Like general authorities, but usually women like in the Primary Presidency or Young Women's or something. Well, this Sunday, we had Ann M. Dibb come speak to us. She is in the Young Women General Presidency... and she's also THE PROPHET'S DAUGHTER! Oh, it was so cool to hear from her. We got to sit on the stand with her since I was sharing my story. She mentioned me in her talk once or twice (cause I spoke before her), and afterwards she hugged me and we talked for a bit. She's soo nice and she shared a bunch of stories about her dad, President Monson, during her talk. It was neat to hear more about him in a personal way. He's such a sweet man. So, yeah, it was pretty darn cool. :)
So, yeah... Consecration week... Not 100% Spanish :( Ahh. Fail. Except we have been speaking a lot more Spanish than we used to, so it's not a complete failure. But we do need to re-commit and be more focused on it. I love Spanish though! In other news, we're doing a secret santa with our zone. So that's been fun/funny. All the Hermanas in my room are pretty crafty, like finding old clothes in the give away box and sewing them into cute things and embroidering. It's so cute. I am not very crafty but was determined to do something more than just buy my elder some candy. So I found this light blue sweater and started making a snow man. When I got to the head, it had this little fluffy thing on top and the face kinda looked like a bunny face. So I made the fluff ears and drew a bunny face on it. Hahaha. It's hideous. But oh well. I'll get him some candy too. Okay, more exciting news about my running, last week I got up early and ran 2.5 miles, then during gym time I ran 3 more for a total of (yes, I know you can add) 5.5 miles!! Yay! It was about as much as I used to do back home, so that made me happy. It was broken up with a couple hours in between but still I'm happy.
So Mom besides the pockets in your coat, the buttons and the snap have been on the verge of falling off. Sad. But this Elder in my zone is like super good at sewing, so he offered to fix it. I only told him about the snap but he fixed all the loop button things (he called them toggles?) and found that my pockets had holes in them, so he fixed those too. Hah, it was the best! It looks super good he did a great job. I think he even lint rolled it for me cause it looked cleaner when he brought it back to me. Hahah. I bought him some oreos to pay him. :) And the watch, mom I sent it home uhh yesterday I think. The band is fixed, an Elder in my district took it and closed it better with some pliers. Yay, everyone is so helpful I love it. But the clasp is still just really old so it won't stay closed. But it is in the mail hopefully will get to you soon.
This week I was realizing I have learned so much here it's ridiculous. But my thoughts are all scattered and hidden throughout the many pages of my journal. So, I decided to buy a "things I learned" journal. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm writing something every day that I learned. Yay. Reminding everyone, don't write me here after 12/31! Cause I will be leaving here around the 2nd, no travel plans yet but I don't need a visa so I think it's safe to say I'll leave on the 2nd as planned.
We have this thing here called the TRC, I think it means teaching resource center. Well volunteers, just members of the church usually BYU students who are returned missionaries, come to the TRC and we teach them a lesson in addition to our normal like...7 lessons a week that we already teach. But it's neat because they're already members and we just try to help them feel the Spirit and learn something new. Because we are always, always learning! So anyway Saturday night Hermana McKay and I had a really neat experience. We taught two people, the first was this retired man. He didn't speak much Spanish which was different than how the TRC usually is. But he was so sweet. We just had so much love for him. He and his wife serve in the temple two times a week, volunter at the MTC two times a week, and teach English as a second language 2 times a week. We were teaching about how to receive revelation through going to church and asked him if there was anything in his life he'd like to receieve revelation for. He thought for awhile, and then very sincerely said, "to be a better husband." It was so sweet. The next girl we taught was from Colombia, and she joined the church about a year ago. We loved her right away. She was so cute and nice and just happy. She said usually she doesn't do much to prepare for church, but we testified that if we go to church with a question, we will receive inspiration about it. She really loved the lesson and the Spirit. She said it was the best lesson she's heard on this subject, and she's been volunteering here awhile so she's heard it a lot. It was flattering, but Hna. McKay and I agreed we didn't really do much. It was the Spirit there that did the teaching and really touched her heart. I am so grateful for the Spirit. HE is the real teacher. Not us. If we don't have the Spirit with us, we can't teach.
I'm running out of time much too soon, as usual, but I wanted to share a scripture. I've been doing a study on not being afraid, because God is with us. This is from Psalm 46:1 and 10- God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried in the the midst of the sea... Be still, and know that I am God.
I know God is with us. He loves us more than we can imagine. We are His children, and he will not forsake us.
Time's up. Love you all so much. Have a great week!!!
Love and hugs,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Well, it hasn't snowed much at all, only like once or twice since I've been here. But guess what? Today it is snowing! A lot!! It's soo pretty I just want to go frolic in it. But I'm praying that it will snow on Christmas, soooo if anyone wants to join me in that prayer, I'd be okay with that :)
So Mom, I'm soo sorry to hear about your job. I can't believe it!! I got your dear elder at like 6 last night and just started crying. And I had class for 3 hours right after that, and I had to teach a lesson. But after about 15 minutes I was able to pull it together. Heavenly Father helped me for sure, cause we all know when I have something to cry about I can't put on a happy face and push it to the back of my mind. But anyway, Mom, I'm sorry. I know this will be okay. I know you will be fine and find another job, that makes you happier and allows you to enjoy life more and not have to wake up before the sun is up! It is all going to be fine. I am a missionary, you will get my blessings! This is a blessing in disguise. I think since you never give yourself a break, Heavenly Father is giving you one for you. Full salary til May and insurance with not having to go to work? That's a blessing, I'd say. Have faith and keep praying, you will be okay. Take advantage of this time to spend some time for you. :) I always pray for you, and Dad, every day. I hope you can feel it.
So I forgot last week to mention that Hermana McKay sang at mission conference last Sunday! Mission conf is every fast sunday at the MTC (bad idea, the whole MTC sitting for 2+ hours while we're fasting) but she sang "Once in Royal David's City." It was beautiful. She's so good. We were famous all that week (okay she was famous), everyone was telling her, and still is, how wonderful she did. But then this past Sunday, I got to share my conversion story during Relief Society! So now I'm the famous one! Haha, just kidding, but a bunch of sisters have came to me and thanked me for sharing my story. So during RS, we get to have a speaker come. Like general authorities, but usually women like in the Primary Presidency or Young Women's or something. Well, this Sunday, we had Ann M. Dibb come speak to us. She is in the Young Women General Presidency... and she's also THE PROPHET'S DAUGHTER! Oh, it was so cool to hear from her. We got to sit on the stand with her since I was sharing my story. She mentioned me in her talk once or twice (cause I spoke before her), and afterwards she hugged me and we talked for a bit. She's soo nice and she shared a bunch of stories about her dad, President Monson, during her talk. It was neat to hear more about him in a personal way. He's such a sweet man. So, yeah, it was pretty darn cool. :)
So, yeah... Consecration week... Not 100% Spanish :( Ahh. Fail. Except we have been speaking a lot more Spanish than we used to, so it's not a complete failure. But we do need to re-commit and be more focused on it. I love Spanish though! In other news, we're doing a secret santa with our zone. So that's been fun/funny. All the Hermanas in my room are pretty crafty, like finding old clothes in the give away box and sewing them into cute things and embroidering. It's so cute. I am not very crafty but was determined to do something more than just buy my elder some candy. So I found this light blue sweater and started making a snow man. When I got to the head, it had this little fluffy thing on top and the face kinda looked like a bunny face. So I made the fluff ears and drew a bunny face on it. Hahaha. It's hideous. But oh well. I'll get him some candy too. Okay, more exciting news about my running, last week I got up early and ran 2.5 miles, then during gym time I ran 3 more for a total of (yes, I know you can add) 5.5 miles!! Yay! It was about as much as I used to do back home, so that made me happy. It was broken up with a couple hours in between but still I'm happy.
So Mom besides the pockets in your coat, the buttons and the snap have been on the verge of falling off. Sad. But this Elder in my zone is like super good at sewing, so he offered to fix it. I only told him about the snap but he fixed all the loop button things (he called them toggles?) and found that my pockets had holes in them, so he fixed those too. Hah, it was the best! It looks super good he did a great job. I think he even lint rolled it for me cause it looked cleaner when he brought it back to me. Hahah. I bought him some oreos to pay him. :) And the watch, mom I sent it home uhh yesterday I think. The band is fixed, an Elder in my district took it and closed it better with some pliers. Yay, everyone is so helpful I love it. But the clasp is still just really old so it won't stay closed. But it is in the mail hopefully will get to you soon.
This week I was realizing I have learned so much here it's ridiculous. But my thoughts are all scattered and hidden throughout the many pages of my journal. So, I decided to buy a "things I learned" journal. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm writing something every day that I learned. Yay. Reminding everyone, don't write me here after 12/31! Cause I will be leaving here around the 2nd, no travel plans yet but I don't need a visa so I think it's safe to say I'll leave on the 2nd as planned.
We have this thing here called the TRC, I think it means teaching resource center. Well volunteers, just members of the church usually BYU students who are returned missionaries, come to the TRC and we teach them a lesson in addition to our normal like...7 lessons a week that we already teach. But it's neat because they're already members and we just try to help them feel the Spirit and learn something new. Because we are always, always learning! So anyway Saturday night Hermana McKay and I had a really neat experience. We taught two people, the first was this retired man. He didn't speak much Spanish which was different than how the TRC usually is. But he was so sweet. We just had so much love for him. He and his wife serve in the temple two times a week, volunter at the MTC two times a week, and teach English as a second language 2 times a week. We were teaching about how to receive revelation through going to church and asked him if there was anything in his life he'd like to receieve revelation for. He thought for awhile, and then very sincerely said, "to be a better husband." It was so sweet. The next girl we taught was from Colombia, and she joined the church about a year ago. We loved her right away. She was so cute and nice and just happy. She said usually she doesn't do much to prepare for church, but we testified that if we go to church with a question, we will receive inspiration about it. She really loved the lesson and the Spirit. She said it was the best lesson she's heard on this subject, and she's been volunteering here awhile so she's heard it a lot. It was flattering, but Hna. McKay and I agreed we didn't really do much. It was the Spirit there that did the teaching and really touched her heart. I am so grateful for the Spirit. HE is the real teacher. Not us. If we don't have the Spirit with us, we can't teach.
I'm running out of time much too soon, as usual, but I wanted to share a scripture. I've been doing a study on not being afraid, because God is with us. This is from Psalm 46:1 and 10- God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried in the the midst of the sea... Be still, and know that I am God.
I know God is with us. He loves us more than we can imagine. We are His children, and he will not forsake us.
Time's up. Love you all so much. Have a great week!!!
Love and hugs,
Hermana Danielle Anderton
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Week 5!
Hola!
Okay I seriously cannot believe I've already finished a MONTH of my mission!!! It may seem slow to you, parents, but it has seriously flown by. I've learned so much that I feel like it's been at least 3 months, but at the same time it has just gone by so fast. Which makes me scared, is the rest of my mission going to go by this quickly? I hope not. I'm working right now on really being focused. It's so hard here to stay focused on my mission 100%, 100% of the time. But I know that as I give the Lord my whole heart, might, mind, and strength, that is when I will be the most effective missionary and get the most out of it. You get out what you put in, right?
Mom your package was great! I was just talking yesterday about how I love granola bars. And then the same day comes a box with my favorite trader joes bars!! MMM so delicious. OH and I was also just talking about fig newtons! I was eyeing them in the bookstore (I resisited) But then you sent me those fig nutrigrain bar things. Yay! I haven't tried them yet, but I am excited. Thank you! Also, those tights are a miracle. Soooo warm and comfy. I received the package on 11/30. It's been FREEZING here. Soooo cooold, a Hermana said it was 18 degrees yesterday. Ah! Yes, mom, I loved those postage stamps. Super cute!
So now that we've been here 5 weeks, it's about time we start getting serious about the Espanol. We need to be using it ALL the time. So I suggested what we like to call a "consecration week" where we only speak Spanish for a week! So it starts tomorrow and will go until next Tuesday. Ah. I'm excited. It's hard, especially in class when you just want to ask a question real quick and it takes soo long to do it. But I know as we work hard and try to use it, we will be blessed. Can I just say, I love Spanish? I am soo grateful to be learning it!! It's great, and will be so useful when I get back.
On Sunday we got to watch the Christmas Devotional. It was great! They put up Christmas lights at the MTC, they're soo pretty. I love them! Mom I bet you're excited to go to Sing Noel. It willl be fun! Dad, I thought you weren't planning on going to AZ for your Christmas party? Well, I hope you have fun! Mom thanks for the red pencils. And thank you for taking good care of McKenzie and waxing her. You are too good to me. (For anyone that's confused, my car's name is McKenzie.)
I was praying for Steven's house to sell, did it?? Also praying that I run into Sherri at the temple this afternoon! Ohh that would be so fun. I'm not counting on it... But still hoping :)
OKAY best thing ever!!! You know how I talk in my sleep sometimes? Well, the other Hermanas are always sure to tell me when I do. Apparently a couple nights ago I said, "Ewwwww!" I don't know why. Haha. But last night, Hermana Garcia couldn't sleep so she listened to me for awhile, and apparently I talked about swimming, and shivered really loud (I've been doing a lot of that in real life, since it's been so super cold here hah). But the BEST was that she told me I spoke Spanish!!!! YES!! Hahaha, so excited. She said it made sense what I said too! That's a miracle. Hahaha. Apparently I said something like "Todas las personas en el mundo regresan..." Which means all the people in the world return... To Heavenly Father. Was probably the rest of my sentence. Hahaha. But yeah. That totally made my day.
Okay, if anyone talks to Taylor Morgan can you please tell him they need Hungarian speakers at the TRC? Thanks. Alsooo can someone find out for me if Jen Steele had her baby?! Ahh how exciting. Another exciting thing this week is I ran 3 miles in about 28 minutes! Woo! I was excited. That's pretty fast for me... But the thing is I didn't even feel like I was pushing that hard to do that. So, yeahhh awesome.
I cannot WAIT to get to Chile. Ahhhh. I know there are people there waiting for me to bring the Gospel to them. And I can't wait. Less than a month!! Well, my time on the computer is running out already. Sorry this email is shorter... But I am really loving life being a missionary. There is no greater calling. Nothing better that I could be doing with my life right now. I'm so happy.
A workshop we went to, the teacher shared this scripture in Moroni 7. It's verses liiike 27-33. It talks about the calling of angels, and how their job is to call men unto repentance, to do the work of the Father, by declaring the word of Christ, that men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Spirit may have place in their hearts. That sounds a lot like what we do as missionaries! :) I sure don't mind that comparison. I hope to do my very best to bring the joy I know to others. I love this work. The Church is true. God loves you.
Til next time--
Lots of love,
Hermana Anderton
Okay I seriously cannot believe I've already finished a MONTH of my mission!!! It may seem slow to you, parents, but it has seriously flown by. I've learned so much that I feel like it's been at least 3 months, but at the same time it has just gone by so fast. Which makes me scared, is the rest of my mission going to go by this quickly? I hope not. I'm working right now on really being focused. It's so hard here to stay focused on my mission 100%, 100% of the time. But I know that as I give the Lord my whole heart, might, mind, and strength, that is when I will be the most effective missionary and get the most out of it. You get out what you put in, right?
Mom your package was great! I was just talking yesterday about how I love granola bars. And then the same day comes a box with my favorite trader joes bars!! MMM so delicious. OH and I was also just talking about fig newtons! I was eyeing them in the bookstore (I resisited) But then you sent me those fig nutrigrain bar things. Yay! I haven't tried them yet, but I am excited. Thank you! Also, those tights are a miracle. Soooo warm and comfy. I received the package on 11/30. It's been FREEZING here. Soooo cooold, a Hermana said it was 18 degrees yesterday. Ah! Yes, mom, I loved those postage stamps. Super cute!
So now that we've been here 5 weeks, it's about time we start getting serious about the Espanol. We need to be using it ALL the time. So I suggested what we like to call a "consecration week" where we only speak Spanish for a week! So it starts tomorrow and will go until next Tuesday. Ah. I'm excited. It's hard, especially in class when you just want to ask a question real quick and it takes soo long to do it. But I know as we work hard and try to use it, we will be blessed. Can I just say, I love Spanish? I am soo grateful to be learning it!! It's great, and will be so useful when I get back.
On Sunday we got to watch the Christmas Devotional. It was great! They put up Christmas lights at the MTC, they're soo pretty. I love them! Mom I bet you're excited to go to Sing Noel. It willl be fun! Dad, I thought you weren't planning on going to AZ for your Christmas party? Well, I hope you have fun! Mom thanks for the red pencils. And thank you for taking good care of McKenzie and waxing her. You are too good to me. (For anyone that's confused, my car's name is McKenzie.)
I was praying for Steven's house to sell, did it?? Also praying that I run into Sherri at the temple this afternoon! Ohh that would be so fun. I'm not counting on it... But still hoping :)
OKAY best thing ever!!! You know how I talk in my sleep sometimes? Well, the other Hermanas are always sure to tell me when I do. Apparently a couple nights ago I said, "Ewwwww!" I don't know why. Haha. But last night, Hermana Garcia couldn't sleep so she listened to me for awhile, and apparently I talked about swimming, and shivered really loud (I've been doing a lot of that in real life, since it's been so super cold here hah). But the BEST was that she told me I spoke Spanish!!!! YES!! Hahaha, so excited. She said it made sense what I said too! That's a miracle. Hahaha. Apparently I said something like "Todas las personas en el mundo regresan..." Which means all the people in the world return... To Heavenly Father. Was probably the rest of my sentence. Hahaha. But yeah. That totally made my day.
Okay, if anyone talks to Taylor Morgan can you please tell him they need Hungarian speakers at the TRC? Thanks. Alsooo can someone find out for me if Jen Steele had her baby?! Ahh how exciting. Another exciting thing this week is I ran 3 miles in about 28 minutes! Woo! I was excited. That's pretty fast for me... But the thing is I didn't even feel like I was pushing that hard to do that. So, yeahhh awesome.
I cannot WAIT to get to Chile. Ahhhh. I know there are people there waiting for me to bring the Gospel to them. And I can't wait. Less than a month!! Well, my time on the computer is running out already. Sorry this email is shorter... But I am really loving life being a missionary. There is no greater calling. Nothing better that I could be doing with my life right now. I'm so happy.
A workshop we went to, the teacher shared this scripture in Moroni 7. It's verses liiike 27-33. It talks about the calling of angels, and how their job is to call men unto repentance, to do the work of the Father, by declaring the word of Christ, that men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Spirit may have place in their hearts. That sounds a lot like what we do as missionaries! :) I sure don't mind that comparison. I hope to do my very best to bring the joy I know to others. I love this work. The Church is true. God loves you.
Til next time--
Lots of love,
Hermana Anderton
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Week Four
Hola!
The weeks seriously FLY by here. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... Really. It's crazy. At least for me. Maybe it seems longer for you. But the weeks are the shortest ever! This week was another good one. Thanksgiving! It was soo fun. We got the day "off," so to speak. On a normal day we have 6 hours of class, an hour of personal study, an hour of language study, and another hour of TALL which is computer study to help with spanish. The times change around but that is more or less what it's like. Plus 45 minutes 3 times a day for meals, and 50 minutes for gym. And 0 minutes to get ready. Hah. Well we actually get 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after gym. But really that is nothing. So anyway for Thanksgiving we didn't have class or any of that stuff. We had a devotional and Elder Russell M. Nelson (one of the 12 apostles) came and spoke to us. It was awesome. (Last Tuesday, D. Todd Christofferson, another of the 12, came! He was soo good). So we went to that devotional and then we had a huge turkey Thanksgiving lunch. Dad, I brought the turkey napkins you sent me and they were a hit!!! I had enough for almost my whole zone, and everyone tucked them in their shirt collars while we ate lunch. Haha, it was the best. The other missionaries were jealous, for sure. Thanks for the package! I love the healthy snacks for between meals. Yummy. So also on T-day, we did a service project! Before the project though we had another devotional thing, and the guy who is in charge of the humanitarian program for the Church spoke to us. It was sooo neat to see how active the Church is in helping people around the world, cause that's not something we hear about often. He told us that since 1985, the Church has spent $1.4 billion in humanitarian aid around the world, in 178 different countries! LDS, non-LDS, helping with clean water, sanitation, neo-natal care, and natural disasters, just to name a few. What we did for our project was assemble some 8,000 first aid kits that will be sent to South Sudan. It was great to get to help out. We saw videos of some of the projects the church has done recently, like with the earthquake in Concepcion where I'm going! And also Hurricane Katrina. Some guy who lived there who wasn't LDS was interviewed and he said that everyone was flying over them in helicopters, but no one was actually down helping them. Except for...you guessed it, the Mormons! Yay! They said the clean-up is almost done in Concepcion but hopefully I still have some opportunites to help.
I am sad I missed Black Friday!! First one in 4 years I think :( Mom I'm glad you had fun haha! What hours did you work? See any crazies? Annie I sure hope you went without me this year. Okay so anyway, something cool I learned this week was that last year there were 52,000 missionaries in the world. And they expected it to be about the same for awhile. But as of January 2012, there will be 56,000!! Up by 4,000!! Woo hoo! I love it. ALSO we found out on Sunday that right now in the MTC there are 480 sister missionaries, the most the MTC has ever had at one time! Yeah girl power I love it! Haha. Oh. So in Relief Society here, we have it combined with all the Sisters at the MTC. And the MTC president's wife, Sister Brown, is the RS President. Well they have a convert spotlight every Sunday during RS and guess who's sharing her conversion story next Sunday, December 11th? Yep, me! We had a little interview to talk about my story yesterday, and she is going to have me share it with everyone next week :) I'm excited. And also a little nervous, I think 500 people will be the biggest crowd I've spoken in front of? I'm sure it'll be fine though. Mom, I will try to speak slowly :)
So I think I've mentioned, Hermana McKay is an opera major? She's soo good. And she can play piano super well too. She can play any hymn and can even accompany herself with any song she wants to sing. She inspires me. And also makes me jealous. I WISH I STAYED WITH PIANO! I am so bummed. Parents, make me take lessons when I get home. Seriously. I want to be able to play, so bad.
Oh so every Sunday in Sacrament meeting, which is just our zone (so about 30 missionaries plus the branch presidency and their wives, which is like the bishopric), we have two surprise talks by the missionaries. In Espanol. And seeing as there's lots of missionaries that were here before me, and who still haven't given their talks, I assumed I wouldn't be called on and therefore didn't prepare very much. Well, as soon as they started announcing the program, before they said who was speaking, I knew it was going to be me. And dang it, it was. Ha! Good thing I do okay with Spanish... I was able to sort of wing it. The talk was on Jesus Christ and I study Him every now and then :P So I was able to do okay. It is just a lesson though, to always be prepared!
I met a teacher here who's from Concepcion!!! I asked him about it and he said it's awesome. And I asked him about the people and they said they were good-looking. I was like oh yeah, cause as a missionary that's my first concern. Haha. It was funny. But he said the South mission is mostly country. Soooo yep, country here I come. I'm so excited. It still doesn't feel real that I'm going, but I'm so excited. The other Elders in my district that are going there too said the plane flight is like 18 hours. Oh please no. Mom if you wanna double check on that for me? That would be great. I probably won't get my flight plans until mid- December. But I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Okay so yes, I mentioned the sock bun last time. It is seriously the best thing EVER. I don't understand. It's a SOCK!! How, when i roll my hair up in it and sleep on it, can it possibly look like I spent 30 minutes curling my hair with a curling iron?? I do not understand. But I love it. It's especially great here cause like I said, I have no time. I just take a curling iron in the morning and fix a few pieces and voila! So that's awesome. Thanks to Michelle North who told me about it! Okay so Amber Harper! Thank you for writing me!!! I was wondering when I might hear from you. I'm glad you're doing great and can't wait to see you here soon!!!! I will write you back next Pday, okay? Also Brooke Carpenter, if you read this I am reminding you that you told me you were going to send me a dear elder every day. I haven't gotten any from you so far, missy. You owe me :) Scotty, write me. And if anyone can get me Cody Harder's mission home address, that would be awesome. I don't have it in my little address book. So, sad story, I love these twistable crayola colored pencils for marking my scriptures, and just before I left my red one was almost gone. Well, Ashleigh Moore, being led by the Spirit I'm sure, got me a brand new red one for my farewell! I swear she must have been inspired. Well my second week here an Elder wanted to borrow it so I tossed it to him and he didn't catch it and it broke!!! Soooo sad. So if Mom or anyone finds another one like it... That would make me so stoked for Christmas or something :) Just sayin.
Okay well I only have a minute left and I have to share a scripture with you! It is so great about missionary work, and here it is:
And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. -Alma 26:1-4.
I testify that it is SUCH a blessing to be used to bring the Lord's gospel to the world! I am so grateful He would trust me with this.
And my time is up on the computer, love you all!!!!
xoxox
Hermana Danielle Anderton
The weeks seriously FLY by here. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... Really. It's crazy. At least for me. Maybe it seems longer for you. But the weeks are the shortest ever! This week was another good one. Thanksgiving! It was soo fun. We got the day "off," so to speak. On a normal day we have 6 hours of class, an hour of personal study, an hour of language study, and another hour of TALL which is computer study to help with spanish. The times change around but that is more or less what it's like. Plus 45 minutes 3 times a day for meals, and 50 minutes for gym. And 0 minutes to get ready. Hah. Well we actually get 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes after gym. But really that is nothing. So anyway for Thanksgiving we didn't have class or any of that stuff. We had a devotional and Elder Russell M. Nelson (one of the 12 apostles) came and spoke to us. It was awesome. (Last Tuesday, D. Todd Christofferson, another of the 12, came! He was soo good). So we went to that devotional and then we had a huge turkey Thanksgiving lunch. Dad, I brought the turkey napkins you sent me and they were a hit!!! I had enough for almost my whole zone, and everyone tucked them in their shirt collars while we ate lunch. Haha, it was the best. The other missionaries were jealous, for sure. Thanks for the package! I love the healthy snacks for between meals. Yummy. So also on T-day, we did a service project! Before the project though we had another devotional thing, and the guy who is in charge of the humanitarian program for the Church spoke to us. It was sooo neat to see how active the Church is in helping people around the world, cause that's not something we hear about often. He told us that since 1985, the Church has spent $1.4 billion in humanitarian aid around the world, in 178 different countries! LDS, non-LDS, helping with clean water, sanitation, neo-natal care, and natural disasters, just to name a few. What we did for our project was assemble some 8,000 first aid kits that will be sent to South Sudan. It was great to get to help out. We saw videos of some of the projects the church has done recently, like with the earthquake in Concepcion where I'm going! And also Hurricane Katrina. Some guy who lived there who wasn't LDS was interviewed and he said that everyone was flying over them in helicopters, but no one was actually down helping them. Except for...you guessed it, the Mormons! Yay! They said the clean-up is almost done in Concepcion but hopefully I still have some opportunites to help.
I am sad I missed Black Friday!! First one in 4 years I think :( Mom I'm glad you had fun haha! What hours did you work? See any crazies? Annie I sure hope you went without me this year. Okay so anyway, something cool I learned this week was that last year there were 52,000 missionaries in the world. And they expected it to be about the same for awhile. But as of January 2012, there will be 56,000!! Up by 4,000!! Woo hoo! I love it. ALSO we found out on Sunday that right now in the MTC there are 480 sister missionaries, the most the MTC has ever had at one time! Yeah girl power I love it! Haha. Oh. So in Relief Society here, we have it combined with all the Sisters at the MTC. And the MTC president's wife, Sister Brown, is the RS President. Well they have a convert spotlight every Sunday during RS and guess who's sharing her conversion story next Sunday, December 11th? Yep, me! We had a little interview to talk about my story yesterday, and she is going to have me share it with everyone next week :) I'm excited. And also a little nervous, I think 500 people will be the biggest crowd I've spoken in front of? I'm sure it'll be fine though. Mom, I will try to speak slowly :)
So I think I've mentioned, Hermana McKay is an opera major? She's soo good. And she can play piano super well too. She can play any hymn and can even accompany herself with any song she wants to sing. She inspires me. And also makes me jealous. I WISH I STAYED WITH PIANO! I am so bummed. Parents, make me take lessons when I get home. Seriously. I want to be able to play, so bad.
Oh so every Sunday in Sacrament meeting, which is just our zone (so about 30 missionaries plus the branch presidency and their wives, which is like the bishopric), we have two surprise talks by the missionaries. In Espanol. And seeing as there's lots of missionaries that were here before me, and who still haven't given their talks, I assumed I wouldn't be called on and therefore didn't prepare very much. Well, as soon as they started announcing the program, before they said who was speaking, I knew it was going to be me. And dang it, it was. Ha! Good thing I do okay with Spanish... I was able to sort of wing it. The talk was on Jesus Christ and I study Him every now and then :P So I was able to do okay. It is just a lesson though, to always be prepared!
I met a teacher here who's from Concepcion!!! I asked him about it and he said it's awesome. And I asked him about the people and they said they were good-looking. I was like oh yeah, cause as a missionary that's my first concern. Haha. It was funny. But he said the South mission is mostly country. Soooo yep, country here I come. I'm so excited. It still doesn't feel real that I'm going, but I'm so excited. The other Elders in my district that are going there too said the plane flight is like 18 hours. Oh please no. Mom if you wanna double check on that for me? That would be great. I probably won't get my flight plans until mid- December. But I'll let you know as soon as I do.
Okay so yes, I mentioned the sock bun last time. It is seriously the best thing EVER. I don't understand. It's a SOCK!! How, when i roll my hair up in it and sleep on it, can it possibly look like I spent 30 minutes curling my hair with a curling iron?? I do not understand. But I love it. It's especially great here cause like I said, I have no time. I just take a curling iron in the morning and fix a few pieces and voila! So that's awesome. Thanks to Michelle North who told me about it! Okay so Amber Harper! Thank you for writing me!!! I was wondering when I might hear from you. I'm glad you're doing great and can't wait to see you here soon!!!! I will write you back next Pday, okay? Also Brooke Carpenter, if you read this I am reminding you that you told me you were going to send me a dear elder every day. I haven't gotten any from you so far, missy. You owe me :) Scotty, write me. And if anyone can get me Cody Harder's mission home address, that would be awesome. I don't have it in my little address book. So, sad story, I love these twistable crayola colored pencils for marking my scriptures, and just before I left my red one was almost gone. Well, Ashleigh Moore, being led by the Spirit I'm sure, got me a brand new red one for my farewell! I swear she must have been inspired. Well my second week here an Elder wanted to borrow it so I tossed it to him and he didn't catch it and it broke!!! Soooo sad. So if Mom or anyone finds another one like it... That would make me so stoked for Christmas or something :) Just sayin.
Okay well I only have a minute left and I have to share a scripture with you! It is so great about missionary work, and here it is:
And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. -Alma 26:1-4.
I testify that it is SUCH a blessing to be used to bring the Lord's gospel to the world! I am so grateful He would trust me with this.
And my time is up on the computer, love you all!!!!
xoxox
Hermana Danielle Anderton
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