You got a Friend in Me

Youuu've got a frieeend in me!... Hermana Shelton sings that to me all the time. She really is a great friend, and boy am I glad. If we weren't such good friends, this would be suuuper hard! We haven't been able to see a whole lot of fruits of our work here just yet... We're not having a bad time, just kind of slow. Sometimes we worry that somehow we aren't being the missionaries we are supposed to be. We wonder if the reason we aren't seeing the miracles is  because we're doing something wrong, or if we just need to learn patience. But the email I just got from President Martinez and the Priesthood blessing I got from my district leader, Elder Beatty this week, help me to feel more sure that we are being good missionaries, we just need to keep working and be patient! Sooo, sadly, not too much to report this week as far as progressing investigators goes. This week was kind of hard, because of the 18 and no one wanted to talk to us basically. Haha. I am glad this week is back to normal for the people here.

Saturday was a great day though! We were busy all day!! Going from one appointment to the next, for like the last 5 hours of the day. It was soo nice! We haven't had a ton of appointments in a day our whole time here. I LOVE feeling like I did on Saturday, where there is always something to do, and we're actually HELPING people instead of just walking around trying to do good things. I haven't had a day like Saturday since probably JUNE, because the whole month of July Hermana Haycock and I were in the house, and then like I said here in Villa Obispo we haven't really had days like that. But anyway, those kinds of days are the best. :)  

We taught Alejandra and Ernesto again.. Don't know if I mentioned them before. They are married and super cute. Have a couple kids that are older and they just adopted a baby girl. They are kind of rich and super nice. Alejandra lets us in her house no matter what she is doing, she is soo sweet. But we had a great lesson with them about the Restoration on Saturday. They are so prepared to hear the Gospel!! We are praying that we can continue to find them and have great lessons with them. :)  We haven't been able to teach Andrea or her family this week. Everything was crazy with the 18. But, we are gonna keep trying to find her!

So it has been really warm lately! Yay! Well actually, spring is super unpredictable, so some days it's warm and pretty and other days it rains randomly. But I am super happy that the sun is back! I know in summer time i will be dying of heat and wishing it wasn't so hot. But I think I will appreciate the heat more, and just be grateful it's not raining! Rain is the absolute worsttt on the mission. Yeah, I know I've probably said that before. But in any case, it's been nice out and it makes me happy. :)  Also the Chileans are happier, and they can't use the excuse that it's raining so they couldn't go to church. They'll just find other excuses, but oh well. I know that ''el que quiere, puede.'' Or, in English, ''He that wants to, can.'' So those who are truly faithful or truly want to know if this is true and who want to follow God will do it, no matter what the circumstance.

Annnyyway. Last story: a guy stopped us the other day while we were contacting and he was Evangelical... He was talking about how women shouldn't wear mens clothes and shouldn't have short hair like men. He said that he told a woman with short hair that if Christ came and appeared next to her and she cried over his feet, what would she wipe her tears with?  (Like how Mary Magdalene bathed His feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair..) Anyway, I just told him that I know that the most important thing is not what we look like, but who we are inside. I thought of a scripture from the Old Testament that I really love, it says,  

''The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.''  -1 Samuel 16:7. Of course we need to take care of our bodies, because they are gifts from God. But we don't need worry SO much about what we look like. True beauty comes from within, and it comes from having the Spirit.   :)  As we become better people, we will naturally become more  beautiful.

Well, I love you all. Hope you all have a fantastic week, we're going to! I hope to have more exciting news for y'all next time!

Amor y abrazos,

Hna. Danielle Anderton

Bad Planning

So...Whoever decided to have my birthday and 18 de septiembre the same week made a big mistake. We are dying here. SOOO much food! Ahhh!!! The Chileans show their love by food, which is nice sometimes, but also not so great when they get offended if you don't want it! For my birthday, a total of SEVEN cakes/pies were made or bought in my behalf. Woow. We thought we were gonna die. But don't worry, we only had a piece of 4 of them on my actual birthay (still way too much) haha. They are way sweet here. I am really grateful I was able to be here in this sector for my birthday!  I got a few phone calls from some of my missionary friends, and at the end of the day Hermana and Presidente Martinez even called and sang to me! That was really special, because I know they don't do that for everyone. :)  I love them so much. 

So this holiday is definitely HUGE here.... They get 5 days off and have been crazy since last Thursday preparing for it. Which is fun for them, but not so much for us. We haven't had the best time this week finding people in their houses or getting let into houses for the first time. Even contacting people in the streets is hard because everyoneee has something they need to be doing for this day. I think it's even bigger than Christmas here, in all seriousness. Haha. So, that's been a bit of a bummer not being able to find and teach a lot of people. We are going to enjoy more empanadas today, but are excited for tomorrow when we can stop eating altogether (we're considering doing a 40 day and 40 night fast, you know, like Jesus did?), and have people give us the time of day again.  :)

We did teach Rocio and Amalia on Saturday. Sadly, they aren't progressing as much anymore... Well they're still reading and praying but they are not putting God first. They went out of town Sunday morning and said they ''couldn't'' go after church. So lame. It's hard cause they were basically our only progressing investigators. But we're not going to give up on them completely. We do know that we need to find more investigators and not focus everything on just them. We are really excited to find more great people and be better misionaries and really help make a difference here. It's hard not to feel lame when we don't see the fruits of our labor. But we are learning a lot about diligence and being patient, waiting for the Lord's blessings. 

Parents, I seriously love you SO much. I LOVED your package, the videos, especially the long, beautiful video you  made me for my birthday, during which I cried basically non-stop. I love you both so much, and am so grateful for ALL you have done and continue to do for me. I will be home in not too long, hang in there. 

Well, that's all the time I have for today, sorry it's a shorter one this week. Love you all so much. Take care, be good, remember You are a child of God! And you can do GREAT things with your life. A quote that I wrote on a piece of paper and put on our wall in our room, that I heard from good ol' Brother Greiner, goes like this:

You are a child of God. If you remember that, you will stand taller, reach higher, and never be the same again.

I know that is true, and that we have divine potential. We can do anything, let's do it.  :)

Lots of love,

Hermana Anderton

 We are stayingggg!                                             Yup, cambio calls made us happy, we are not going anywhere! Yay! We were not ready to leave just yet. We have lots of miracles that are just waiting to happen with the work we've done laying the foundation this past cambio.

AMALIA CAME TO CHURCH!!!! Ohhh yes. It was awesome!! Rocio totally wanted to, but the younger daughter Antonella has a cold and Amalia didn't want to take her out of the house. The Chileans are kind of really paranoid about cold air, like it's gonna make you sick if you leave a house that's warm and go out into the cold haha. They are funny. She's not even THAT sick but she didn't want to take any chances... whatever. Anyway, so Rocio stayed home with her sister because the dad, Ariel, was still out of town. He ended up coming home at noon yesterday. BUT. Amalia came to church! She has come so far, really. In the beginning, she would always say stuff about ''In my church...'' or, ''I don't want you to feel bad if I don't get baptized...'' stuff like that. But now she is progressing so much, maybe even more than Rocio. They read the Book of Mormon all the time and they love it and know it is true. Amalia really liked church! And just like you would mom, she got there 30 minutes early haha! She called us and we were still in the house and she was like ''I'm out front!'' haha so we ran over there. But it was great. We had lunch with them yesterday, and she made cannelonis. Wow, talk about being just like my mom will you? She is from Argentina, and I guess there they eat a lot of pastas and Italian-like food. It was yummy! Different than mom's, but still good. Anyway after lunch we had this AMAZING spiritual lesson with the whole family, we taught about the Plan of Salvation. It was intense, the Spirit was so strong I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Everyone felt the Spirit, and we all had tears in our eyes. Even Ariel, who is more quiet and not AS interested as his daughter and wife, could feel it and it was just amazing. We testified of the Gospel and how it was the only way to have an eternal family, through the Priesthood power of God. It was amazing. We talked about baptism and they said they would like to PREPARE for a baptism!!! But like, in the future. Well Ariel didn't say anything when we talked about baptism. But he didn't say no either. But the fact that Amalia said she would want to prepare for that in the future is amazing. Rocio wants to also. But since her mom is always like ''I want to be very very super sure before I make that commitment'' she is as well. Obviously, we want them to be sure of their decision and really want to do it. We definitely don't want them to get baptized for us or for anybody else. But with how much they have learned and especially the Spirit they have FELT, they have to know that it is true. We can't know everything about the Gospel before we get baptized. I definitely didn't, and I STILL don't. But I knew it was true, and that was enough for me to follow the Spirit and be baptized. We want to help them realize that too. That they don't know everything, but they know enough and that baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost is how they will continue progressing.

We found this GREAT new investigator, named Andrea on Saturday. We were knocking doors and Hna. Shelton really wanted to knock this one street. So we went and found this lady. She opened the door and let us in right when we got there. She has 3 kids but looks really young, she's probably in her thirties. She is married and her husband is great too, we haven't met him but he seems like he's great haha but he works a lot. She told us she has lots of desires to learn and grow and become a better person. That she has been reading the Bible lately and is really excited about it, and wants to know what Heavenly Father wants for her and for her life. Umm, hello you have found it my friend! So we are excited to teach her more.

Well, sad news, Hermana Haycock is going home. They still don't know what is wrong with her, but she is NOT getting any better and her health is seriously at risk. She prayed about it and feels like the best thing to do at this point is to go home and figure out what is wrong with her. She is sad, but knows it is right. She will be leaving this week. :( I will miss her! She is great. She told me the other day that Lorena and Alejandro are doing great. Lorena has a calling in Young Women's in the branch in Los Alamos. :) AND that now their younger brother is showing interest in the Gospel, and he can feel ''something special,'' aka the Spirit when they teach and when he prays and reads the Book of Mormon. Yeah!!!

So, this cambio is going to be awesome. My birthdayyyyy on Saturday! We will be having lunch with one of my favorite familes, la Familia Salamanca. They are so fun and funny and they are excited that I wanted to have lunch with them for my bday. It will be fun. :) Saturday morning we are going to do service at a member's house to help them out, work in the afternoon and at night there is a ward activity.

My zone leader, Elder Arjona, has finished his mission! How sad, but also exciting, for him. He is a great missionary and friend. He was my zone leader in Lebu when I was in Los Alamos. He is from Spain so will be going back soon! Our other zone leader, Elder Tavernier, is from California too, and he is ALSO leaving this cambio... But not to California (we actually go home at the same time in May), but to the mission office because he just got called to be AP. Assistant to President Martinez. He is kind of freaking out because that is kinda a big deal, haha but he is great he will do fine. So, that means that both of our Zone leaders are gone, and we will be getting two new ones. So they are opening the sector just like we did last transfer. Haha, kinda crazy, but we will help show them around.

18 de Septiembre is going to be super fun. Can't wait. ALSOOOOO GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING UP!!!!! So. Excited. AHHHHH I love it. I will get to be here for GC which means we will get to watch it in English! Because our chapel here is the Stake Center, so they will have a ''gringo room'' where the missionaries who want to watch it in English can. :) Yay. I mean, I can understand all of it in Spanish and when I watched it in April in Los Alamos in Spanish it was fine. But it's just not quite the same.

Anyway, life is good. We are happy, and working hard and having fun! Couldn't ask for anything more.

I love you, family, friends, and others who read my blog! :) Have a fabulous week, and remember, God knows you and loves you. Just as you would want the best for your children, he also wants the very best for us. Live the Gospel. That is how we will be truly happy.

¡Nos vemos!
Hermana Danielle Anderton

Maquinas trabajando means machines working  :)  Like we are machines. It's funny in spanish, not sure about english.

Amalia, Ariel (dad), Antonella (4) and Rocio (15). Yesterday at lunch! They are so sweet and are going to get baptized. Hopefuly sooner rather than later :)  

Sunday. Elder Arjona on the left, Elder Tavernier on my right. THey were our zone leaders and we shared the sector with them. They are both leaving!! Elder Arjona from Spain finished his mission, and Elder Tavernier got called to be the Asistant to President Martinez! 



  Lovely sunset  



A lifetime of Learning

Well, hello everyone!!

It has been a good week. I have some catching up to do! We had interviews with President Martinez last week that I never told you about. I seriously love him, he is so great. SO he told me that I should be staying here in Villa Obispo with Hermana Shelton next cambio, and not to worry. Yay! We will find out for sure Saturday night and I will let you know next Monday. He also told me that he wants me to train! Ahh. Which makes me kind of nervous but excited too! The only thing is there's one Hermana coming this cambio, but I probably won't train her if Hermana Shelton and I are staying here together. Which is fine. But then the next cambio when Hermanas comes isn't for two more cambios, until December 4th. But 4 Hermanas are coming, so I'm pretty sure I'll train one of them.  :D  So, just a little heads up. How fun!

Second, I got my birthday package!!!! Thank you so much, you guys are the best!!! I'm sorry I just couldn't wait til my birthday to open it up. But don't worry, I'm sure I will have something fun on my actual birthday too. The 18 de Septiembre is coming up, obviously 3 days after my birthday. It is the BIGGEST holiday in Chile. A missionary friend told me, ''It's like 4th of July on steroids.'' It's their independence day, and they go CRAZY. Like, hundreds of empanadas, and they have 5 days off work and school, and traditional food and dance and craziness. It's gonna be way fun. Especially if I am still here in Villa Obispo. I'm not planning at all that I'm gonna be leaving, so if I do I'm gonna freak out haha. 

It's been warming up quite a bit lately! It's technically still winter, supposedly spring starts September 21st, but it's already warm! I have left the house without a jacket like twice this week, which hasn't happened pretty much since April. Woo hoo! Next step will be that I will stop wearing tights, every day, which will be weird. But we're not quite there yet. But I am happy for the warmth and sun! Much better than the rain. I got a new pair of running shoes, which I am happy about! Hooray for running and spring time!

I want to publicly congratulate my best friend Annie Penrod on her engagement! Love you Anns, and so sad I can't be there for your special day but I will come back and be the Godmother of your kids, don't even worry about it. 

Rocio and Amalia are doing well. They weren't able to come to church yesterday, but they really should be coming this week. Pray for it please. Benjamin talked to his dad which made him cool off on his excitement for the Gospel, sadly. His dad is another one of the lame Chilean men that are here... NOT that they're all like that. But there are a few. We're not too worried about Rocio's dad, Ariel. He's super nice and mellow, and whenever he's home he listens in on our lessons. So hopefully he can be around more and they can start going to church as a family.

Something that I am learning lately, and triyng to apply in my life, is that the purpose of life is to be HAPPY. ''Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy'' (2 Nephi 2:25).  Life is to be happy. Now. Not ''some day.'' All of our trials, circumstances, joys, achievements, failures, everything is for the purpose of us to GROW and be happy. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was so that we could be happy. I know that as we follow God's plan and trust Him, we will truly be happy. Don't forget to serve others but rather forget yourself and think of others. It sounds weird, but we really are happier when we focus on others. 

Well friends, that's about it for now. I love this work, and I love you all so much! 

Un gran abrazo,

Hermana Danielle Anderton

PS. I didn't really open my birthday package. :P  Tricked ya! I will wait to open it on my birthday, although it is super tempting. ;)