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
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