Hola todos!!!

Okay this week was good. Sorry, I wish I had a lot more to say but for the most part the weeks are similar here in Villa Obispo. We are doing well. Working hard and seeing a few investigators progressing. The best are Rocio and her mom now!! Amalia is her mom. She wasn't progressing as much before. She would always say that she likes to listen but she is Evangelical, and for us not to get our hopes up haha. But we kept teaching her and Rocio and they BOTH are reading the Book of Mormon!! They are really loving it, and feeling their faith grow. They are so great. Amalia is so sweet, Mom she reminds me a bit of you actually. :) She always wants to feed us and do whatever she can to help, and we have to keep telling her thank you so much but we really are fine haha. This last week, when we invited Amalia to be baptized, she said she didn't know, and that she'd have to be really sure. Which is super good, because the other times when we invited her she said no. Just no, because she ''had her church.'' But she is starting to understand that there really is only one church of Jesus Christ, and although there are many good churches in the world there is only ONE of Jesus Christ. And so she is starting to understand that and wants to know if this is it. Yay!! Rocio already believes it is true, and wants to be baptized but she is a little nervous I think. She wants to learn more and doesn't want to get baptized very quickly. But they are great. The dad, Ariel, works out of town so he hasn't been home very much lately. When he was home, he would listen and be interested but didn't want to participate much. But he is a really nice guy. Now, Amalia says that he wants to go to church too, when he gets back!! So he has the desires to learn also. Yay! A family!!!

Another great investigator is Benjamin. He is so special. I think I mentioned him before. We haven't been able to find him as much lately, but we went back to his store and he was really happy to see us. We taught him and read with him in the Book of Mormon. There is always such a special spirit there when we teach him. He can feel it too. He says he feels it when he reads and learns, and even more when we are there. He said that he believes we are messengers from God, and that He speaks with us. That we have a really special Spirit. Ahhhh. He's so cool!! We just need to get him to church, which might be harder because he plays drums in a band that plays at lots of other churches. So that might be a little harder, but he is so great and has great desires to learn.

Well, shoot, I am out of time. Sorry that my emails have been shorter lately. Next week I will write more. And I am going to try to send pictures right now!

I love you all SO much!! PS. We still haven't found a house, but Rosa just told us right now that she wants us to just stay with her. Awww, she is so sweet! She says she's gonna ask President if we can. :) I'm totally okay with that. We like it here. And it's basically impossible to find a house in this area for the price we need to pay in the mission, because it is such a nice area.

Okay, gotta go. The church is true! Be happy!!!

xoxo

Hermana Anderton                                                                                                                  

ward movie night, we had shirts made! in the bathroom haha

waterfallll  with my lovely companion.  our first sunday here

Another weeeeek of laughs.

Okay. We laugh seriously every day. This is the best. Hahaha. We're not sure if lots of funny things are happening to us, or if it's just funnier because we have so much fun together, I don't really know. But pretty much every day we laugh so hard I either cry, almost pee, or most often can't breathe. It's great. We have quickly become best friends (don't worry friends at home, she didn't replace anyone) and are hoping we have more than 3 weeks left here together. One day we were teaching this old couple and we offered to sing them a hymn, but the situation was just so funny and we started to sing and Hna. Shelton messed up the beginning and then just started laughing. Then we started over, and I couldn't sing either cause I was laughing. This went on for about two minutes unsuccesfully while they just looked at us like we were crazy until we just gave up and shared our testimonies. Oh dear. Another funny thing was we got a brand new cell phone! Ours died on us (seems like I have bad luck with phones), so we got a new one. One day we went out to work and forgot the phone at home. When we got back later we started looking for it and couldn't find it anywhere! We had Conny call it and.. well, it was in the trash bag we had in our room! Oh my gosh. Ridiculous. It was Wednesday which is trash day, so I had the bag all tied up ready to go out. The good news is it was a holiday, one of the thousands they have here in Chile. This holiday was like ''Ascencion of the Virgin day'' so the trash man didn't come. Otherwise we would have thrown out the phone. We think it fell off our night stand into the bag. Haha hilarious. There are many more funny stories, but not much time! So just suffice it to say we are laughing seriously all the time and it is great.  :)

So, Rocio! She said that she feels like the church is true and she wants to get baptized!!! She didn't accept the baptism date we tried with her for September 15th. She says she thinks it's too soon. Hmm. Also her family goes out of town like every weekend, so that's a problem because she can't go to church. But we are really happy and will keep working with her. Lily is basically an eternal investigator, she knows it's true too but is scared to make a decision/ doesn't understand how important and necessary it is that she is baptized. A lot of people just don't understand. Hellooo, this is your eternal salvation. But that's okay.. we're working on helping her get it. There are other people we're teaching right now too, but basically most of our time is spent knocking doors, trying to find previous investigators, and working with references from members to find a bigger group of people to teach. It is hard sometimes, but we are working hard and having fun. We have faith that we will start to get more people to work with soon!

So Mom, I wear that pedometer you sent me all the time. We end up walking 9 to 11 miles daily, with our morning run and all the walking we do! Lotss of walking but it's good. It's been raining a bit more lately, but it's not that bad. I'm so grateful that this winter was so mild! I heard stories of last winter, freezing cold and buckets of rain all the time. Happy day. :)

Well that's about it for right now. Sorry this week wasn't too interesting. Know I am doing great and pray that we will be able to find those who are prepared. And soon!

Love you all.

Hermana Anderton

baptism lorena and alejandro!

:)

Happy camper 8/13/12

Hello everyone!

Oh, life is good. Opening a sector is a little hard, like I've said,
cause we have to start from scratch. But we are teaching a couple
great people, and the members are helping out a LOT. So it's not that
bad!

One person that is super good is Rocio. She's 15 and good friends with
Cony, the granddaughter of Hna. Rosa that we live with! Rocio is super
receptive and her parents are good too. They like to listen but aren't
progressing as much as she is... We would love the whole family to be
baptized together. But we just don't know how serious they are about
it. Rocio did read in the BoM and pray about it, and she feels like it
is true! Ah! She is so great! Unfortunately in the lesson when she
said that, the member we brought with us (RS president) was talking a
TON with the mom, they both like to talk, so we didn't get a chance to
put a date with Rocio. But hopefully this week we will be able to get
her a baptism date and start progressing for that! Her family goes out
of town like almost every weekend, so that might be hard for her to
get to church. But we will see! Yay!

We also met this guy Benjamin, in a negocio.. which is like a little
store that they have everywhere in Chile, just like in neighborhoods
and whatnot. I wanted to buy mints haha and so of course we started
talking to the guy we were buying from. SUPER receptive! We gave him a
pamphlet on the Restoration. We were talking to him and teaching and
you could feel the spirit so strong! We invited him to be baptized
right there, ''if he came to know that these things are true.'' And he
said ''Wirthout a doubt.''  Ummm, awesome. We went back and his
girlfriend was there, Josselin. Oh yeah they are like 23 and 25 and
she was great too. They weren't able to come to church on Sunday but
they are soo good, and we are really excited to keep teaching them
too.

Funny thing, we have contacted members in the street so many times
haha. We just walk up to them and start getting to know them, talking
to them about the Gospel, ask if we can stop by to share more, etc,
and they tell us they are members of the church haha it's hilarious.

I talked to Hermana Haycock yesterday. And there is good news and bad
news in Los Alamos. Good news:  Alejandro ALREADY finished the Book of
Mormon!!! And he receieved the Priesthood yesterday in church, and
gave his first talk. Ah! Lorena is doing great too, she's been out of
town with her sister but she is reading in Alma in the BoM so she's
about half way. I'M SO PROUD OF THEM they are amazing!!! :D
Bad news:  Daniela and her family have a major road block- their dad.
He was always fine with us coming over to teach and everything, he
works out of town and comes home every couple weeks. So Daniela had
her fecha (baptism date) for the 25th, right? And Maria her mom and
Maria Jose her sister had been going to church every week too. Well,
now the dad decided that he is not okay with that and he said they
can't come to church anymore!! Ugh how terrible!! Seriously, I love
the Chileans but a lot of the men here have a problem with being
super.. machista. I don't know how to say it in English but like, the
man is in charge, the wife does whatever he asks and he is the boss
kind of thing. So sad!! So, I am really sad about that.   :(  But
Daniela turns 18 in a couple months and she is going to get baptized
later without his permission. They are going to keep going to church
when he's not home I think...  :(  So lame.

Hna. Shelton are running almost every day, super fun I love it. We
still are living with Hna. Rosa, but we are happy. We're kind of
spoiled here, she washes our clothes for us for free and keeps the
house warm. We know we need to move out though, so we are still
looking. But for now we're still living there with them.

So last week a little boy, Camilo, the son of our ward mission leader
was baptized. It was so cute. After, I asked him how he felt and he
said ''feliz.'' And I asked him, yeah, like how? And he said ''mas
grande''  or, bigger.  :) Awwwww cutest thing ever!! I loved it. He is
such a sweet boy and I loved to see how happy he was/is. How even he,
an 8 year old boy, can feel the difference that baptism and the gift
of the Holy Ghost bring in your life. I know this is how we can truly
be clean of sins, and be happy, on the path following the plan that
God has for us, His beloved children.

I love being a missionary, so much! I am half way done, how crazy is
that? I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your letters and
emails, even if I can't respond to all of them right away.

Have a great week, be happy, work hard, and have fun!
Love and hugs,
Hermana Anderton

I love everything. - 8/6/12

Ahh I am so happy! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new cambio. I love my companion, Hermana Shelton. She is great!!! She is such a good friend and missionary and we are having a great time together. Villa Obispo is amazing. I see now why everyone kept telling me that. We had 126 people in church yesterday. 126!!!  The most we ever had in Caupolican was 90 and the most in Los Alamos 44. This ward is soo great. It feels like the US, all day yesterday we were like, ''Pìnch me I have got to be dreaming!'' We actually had a meeting before church with the bishop, ward mission leader, young womens leader, relief society elders quorum... It was awesome. They really get it here, for some reason. More than anywhere else I've seen here. It's so great! The sector is nice. Richer, but not suuper rich. It looks like where I live back home more or less, which is just crazy. AND there are hardly any dogs in the streets. It's so weird haha. We are so happy! We have been running in the mornings, which is gonna be so necessary because the members are great and they show their love by feeding us haha. We are seriously worried about the amounts of food they give us haha but we are trying our best to not gain weight here.

Opening a sector is interesting. We don't have any investigators, so we've been doing a lot of contacting and knocking doors. The people here are super nice though! Lots of people give us the time of day, lots more than in other areas. Love it! Yesterday at church was so funny. So the ward got news that we were coming into the sector like a week and a half ago. So they've all been talking about it. They haven't had Hermanas in their ward for like 10 years. Some of them have never even met a sister missionary before. So we went to church and it was like we were famous! Hahaha, everyone was like ''Ahh you're the Hermanas!!! When are you going to come over??'' and like everyone wants to give us lunch, and stuff. It's fun. Haha. 

Oh yeah, so we don't have a house. We are staying with a member, her name's Rosa and she's so great. She's older.. I'd guess maybe 70 or so. It's just her and her 15 year old granddaughter named Cony here and she agreed to let us stay with her until we have a house. So like all the young women are asking Cony about us and everything. And they all want to go out to make visits with us! The young men want to too, but the Elders told them no. Hahaha. 

So we have had a good week. We only got to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but we had some really great days. We are excited to be here, in this amazing sector. We've already decided we never want to be transferred. I feel so blessed, and I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father and President Martinez trust me (us) to be here opening the sector. I love it, I love it, I love it. There is a Lider (wal mart) close by, and a mall, and grocery stores and stuff. Nice and convenient. 

Well, we don't really have progressing investigators yet but we have a few good new investigators. We will help them to be progressing soon. I called Hermana Haycock this morning and she said that Alejandro shared his testimony in church yesterday and that it was fantastic. AND that Daniela is still excited for her baptism on the 25th and now her mom is thinking about getting baptized with her!!! YES!! Oh, AND I don't think I told you guys, but this guy Eduardo that Hermana Hamblin and I started teaching back in my second transfer in Caupolican, who was super smart but had lots of doubts, did end up getting baptized last month.  :)

The church is true. It is so true, and it makes me so happy! I know God loves His children, and through His Gospel we can have fulfilling and happy lives.

Have a great week everyone. I'm going to. 

Love you!!  :)
Hermana Anderton

I love soccer.

Heyyy!!

Okay, lots to write about!! First things first.

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

2. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE!!

3. HAPPY 9 MONTHS IN THE MISSION TO ME!!

I hope you guys have great birthdays, and I hope you get my letters soon.  :)

I can't believe I hit 9 months this week. CRAZY. It seriously goes so fast. I love the mission. I have experienced and loved and learned and changed so much, and I'm only half way! Excited to see what the next 9 1/2 months have in store. Woo! :)

cAmBiOs!!  I am leaving Los Alamos. Finally. Haha. No, I'm a little sad too. It's been a good 3 transfers here. I have definitely grown a LOT here. I would say most of my change and growth as a person has happened in my time here. From having baptismal dates and them falling every week when our investigators didn't go to church, from living through the trio and losing our house, moving into a new house and the miracle baptism of Gustavo... 3rd cambio with Hermana Haycock and everything that happened with her sickness... Traveling to Concepcion 9 times this transfer and staying in the house all day every day, serving in a branch with an average 30 people going... Loving, laughing, serving, seeing myself change. And let's not forget the absolute miracles that are Lorena and Alejandro. AND Daniela has a baptismal date for August 25th. :)  I won't be able to be here for it, but I am so happy that the girl that reminds me so much of me is getting baptized, and that I had the chance to teach her and her adorable family. Oh, Los Alamos. It's been fun.

Now, for where I'm going! I am goinggg.. toooo!!!! Villa Obispo in Los Angeles!!! I am OPENING an area with my friend Hermana Shelton. Opening an area, for those who don't know, means there were no missionaries there before and now there are. It can mean there were none in the sector, or they both left, or in my case, there are still 2 elders in the sector but we are now going to share it with them. So we'll be in the same ward with the zone leaders. I have heard only AMAZING things about Villa Obispo. First of all, President Martinez and his family lived there. He was Bishop of this ward when he got called to be mission president. So, he loves it a lot and the ward is all super excited and loves missionary work. Yay!! Like literally 8 people have told me how amazing this sector is. YES! After serving 3 cambios in Los Alamos I think I'm going to be in heaven when I get to this ward. YES! I'm a little nervous because I'm going to be senior companion and we have to start from square one. We don't have any investigators, don't know our way around, probably gonna have to move into a new house... But it's okay! I like Hermana Shelton, I already know her. She's serving in Concepcion right now and when we would travel up there for Hermana Haycock's doctors visits sometimes we would stay the night with the hermanas up there. I've actually done divisions (gone out and worked) with her a few times. So I already know that she's a good missionary. She is a good teacher and speaks Spanish well too. Yayyy. We are gonna have a blast. OH, AND she's from California holllaaa!! And she will go running with me. YES YES YES. Blessings all around, no? I am sure there will be trials as well, there always are. But this cambio I feel so blessed and I'm confident that it's gonna be awesome. :)

Hermana Haycock, for those who are concerned, still is not feeling good. I frankly can't believe it, that she continues to be in so much pain for so long. Well I mean, I believe her I know she's not making it up. But it's just ridiculous. :(  A doctor from Santiago who is over all the missionaries in Chile has been in touch. He thought it might be a parasite so she got meds for that. Well it was a 2 day process with the meds, and the first day she felt better for a couple hours. We were sooo happy, we thought that was it. But then by the night time she was hurting again and the next day was the same, and now it's just back to normal. So, really lame, looks like she doesn't have a parasite EITHER. And get this... she is staying in Los Alamos, and she's TRAINING a new missionary. Hahaha, oh my gosh. We don't understand it at all. She can hardly go out and work and she is supposed to train. Yeah, we don't know how or why. But President Martinez assured us that he feels very strongly this is what she's supposed to do. So, the Lord has something planned here. We shall see.

Today for P-day the zone came here to Los Alamos and we hung out in the chapel. We played soccer!! Yaayyy I loved it! I am getting better, I scored like 6 goals :) Playing with Elders. Yup. It was fun. One Elder from Peru and another from Santiago were also teaching me how to juggle and do cool things with the soccer ball. After, we did this workout video called Insanity. Have you ever heard of it? It's 40 minutes and.. well, they call it insanity for a reason. It was killer. But I feel super good now. I haven't had such a good work out in awhile, and it was so fun to play soccer outside in the sun. :)

I've been thinking alot lately about one of my favorite scriptures, and I'll close with this:

''The Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually.''  Mosiah 5:2

I love this scripture. President Martinez shared this in the conference we had last week, about a personal change of heart. I really feel like I am experiencing this right now. That I am changing, I am becoming better. Truly my desires and dispositions and character have changed. Don't worry, I'm still Danielle (well, Hermana Anderton). Just better.  :) I testify that the Lord can make more out of our lives than we ever could. That as we trust in Him and follow His plan, the Spirit will work in our hearts and make us better. 

I love this Gospel. I know it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our perfect example, Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. I testify that He lives, and that He loves us. I love being a missionary. I miss you, family and friends, truly I do. But I am so happy that I still have 9 more months to serve here. 

Pray for me this week, that I do okay opening a sector! And keep praying for my companion and great friend, Hermana Haycock.

Love you all. Have a great week.

Love and hugs,

Hermana Anderton