Poco a Poco

Hola!!!!

Friends and Family!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

This week was so incredible! I say it every night in my journal - I'm so surprised with how much I am learning and growing each day and I wish that I had time to write everything I'm feeling in my journal at night, but no matter how much time I have words simply cannot describe it. My experience at la CCM has been such a blessing to me so far! This week we had our first Sunday and um Sunday is my favorite day here at the CCM - Devotional is incredible and we also get to watch a "film." Last Sunday Hermana Lee and I decided to watch the Devotional address that Elder Bednar gave a couple of years ago when he visited the CCM on Christmas. Wow. I wish that it was accessable outside of the CCM because it is such an amazing talk - He talked about developing the Characteristics of Christ and how to use them in missionary work, but also just in life to continually strive to become better people. I wish I could write it all and remember it all, but it wouldn't do it justice.

Hermana Lee and I taught Angela again this week and we also got a new "investigator" named Ivette! Our lessons are improving poco a poco as we are learning more and more. The biggest lesson I learned this week through teaching investigators was that when we teach The Spirit is more important than the espanol. I had some amazing spiritual experiences and lessons when I remembered that. After teaching "Angela" four times, Hermana Richards (the teacher who was pretending to be Angela) came and talked to all of us as a class. She went around asking us what we learned from teaching Angela so I shared what I just told you about the Spirit. And right then and there in front of my whole district she told me that she knows that is true and is very important. Then she told me that she could feel the power of my testimony and told everyone that  "Hermana Anderson has a testimony that is muy podoroso (very powerful)." That meant so much to me because during the lessons I knew that my espanol wasn't perfect, but as I went in and tried, and listened to the Spirit, and then testified with all my heart she, the 'investigator' could feel the Spirit. That was an amazing lesson to learn - even though I used very basic words, the Spirit could still testify to her. She told our class that her being able to play Angela was a blessing in her life because she could feel the power of all of our testimonies. What a great learning experience it was to teach her.

Thanksgiving!!! Wow! Thanksgiving was an incredible day! Elder Oaks came and talked to us in the morning for the devotional. It was such a great devotional. My favorite part though was the music. Why? you may ask... Um cause he brought his family to perform musical numbers for all of us - and by his family, yes! Yes! I do mean Jenny Oaks Baker!!!!!! - Yes Raeli I know that you are jealous, but don't worry I really did try to enjoy it 'doubly' - so enough for the both of us. It was such a great devotional, but the music really made my day! Then we got to watch a movie - 17 Miracles!!! (It's almost like a real movie!!!!) I know that movie is so sad, but for some reason I was able to watch it with a different perspective this time. It is so amazing to me how many things here testify of missionary work to me. During the movie I felt the Spirit so present and so strong in testifying to me that I am where God wants me to be and I am helping to do His work. I already love this work! I wish so much that I could express to all of you the amazing Spirit I am able to feel here everyday. I know the Gospel is true. I know it. I am so grateful for the blessing of that knowledge. Later in the day we were able to help with a service project - on Thanksgiving day everyone in the CCM helped package over 380,000 meals for starving children! It was so great to be able to help in that work:) Service brings a joy! My table didn't know each other at all really (except our compaionships of course) but we were able to just have fun!! But I think Thanksgiving night was my most favorite part of the day. We had a "gratitude devotional" where we watched Mormon Messages, sang some hymns, had some funny talents, had some spiritual talents, and then they ended by talking about The Savior and how grateful we all are for Him and His Atonement and love for all of us. Right after that we were going to sing "I Believe in Christ", now throughout the whole meeting whenever they had us as missionaries sing a song, they had us stand. But for some reason, for this particular song they never signaled us to stand. But the Spirit was so strong in the room, I think every missionary wanted to stand. Stand to sing praises to Christ our Lord, and stand to share our witnesses and testimonies of Christ. So about halfway through the second verse a ripple effect seemed to be created in the meeting hall. All of us missionaries stood. We stood to sing our testimonies of Christ and to stand by Him. It was amazing. The CCM President and his wife stood too. The Spirit in that room was unforgettable. I know Christ is my Savior. He is all of ours Savior. I know He loves us and He wants to help us and He will, if we only ask Him.

Wow! I could write for days and I still wouldn't be able to tell you everything that I have learned. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity I have to serve God on a mission. I am very grateful to take this joyful gospel message to the people of Argentina! I pray for all of you and I pray for the people that I will meet daily. I love this work! I love mi Padre Celestial! And yes, I even love Espanol. I can see how the gift of tongues works daily in my life - poco a poco - as I try and am patient, the language is coming:)

Love and Like you all!!

Hermana Anderson

 Raquel and her roommates -- taken Day 2 in the MTC

 Ruth and Raeli traced their arms and sent Raquel a "hug" to wrap around herself

 Hairnet -- getting ready for the Thanksgiving Day service project

 Fashionable harinets

Raquel's Black Nametag

First Email from the MTC . . . or CCM

Hola friends and family!

Holy cow! The first four days here honestly have felt like a lifetime to me! Not because they've been that long of days, but because I've already learned and grown so much since being here! Honestly I if I've grown this much the past 4 days I can't wait to see what it's like in 6 weeks at la CCM (the MTC) or in 18 months! 

I honestly love it so much here! I think my companion, Hermana Lee, explained it best. After we'd only been here for a couple of hours she turned to me and said 'It's so strange, I know we've only been here for like 3 hours, but it already feels like home.' So True! Muy verdadad! I am so happy here and I know that I'm doing what God wants me to do! We learn so fast here! Hermana Lee and I taught our first lesson yesterday.... IN ESPANOL!!! What? Yeah I know! It was so nerve racking. It was definitely rough, and we definitely learned a lot from it! But I felt the Spirit there, and that is what is most important. As we were leaving I turned to our 'investigator' (this one is an employee of la CCM, but others we teach here could be real investigators - that's a scary thought!) anyway, I turned to our investigator, Angela, and said in the best espanol I could come up with "Lo sieto para epanol" (Sorry for the spanish). And she said to me, "No! No! Es bueno" - I felt like she sincerely meant it too. I really appreciated that! Afterwards one of the Elders in my district said something that helped me realize how real the gift of tongues is. He said that two days ago, we wouldn't have even been able to have a conversation remotely close to the ones we had (even though they were muy rough) but it is so true! I can feel the gift of tongues! It's helping me learn and retain - like my language teachers always say "poco a poco" - little by little. So true! I have learned so much! It is incredible to me that Hermana Lee and I were able to pray, attempt to teach a lesson, answer Angela's questions, and bear testimony all en espanol after only 2 1/2 dias en la classe! Incrediblé! I know God is with me! I can feel Him assisting me and blessing me with so much happiness! I love it! However, I am nervous, because we have another "appointment" with Angela tonight and she was super sort of stand off-ish the first time, but I'm grateful for that because it gives us a somewhat "real" experience - oh yeah and she talks muy rapido!

I love my "roommates" and my companera! The other set of hermanas that live in our same room are so cute and funny! Their names are Hermana Brown ý Hermana Christensen (Raeli - Hermana Christensen looks just like Genesie!) Haha they make me laugh so much! Ha Hermana Lee is great too! Her mom was a convert so it's really kind of cool! However, I do have some getting used to to do. I can tell already that her numero uno love language is touch - That's like my least!!! I have told her that I am not as comfortable with touch as she is, but I am also trying to be understanding because I don't want to take away from her the way that she gives love - but I have told her not to be offended if I don't seem to receive it well or don't give it like hardly at all just cause well I don't like it very much, but I'm trying to be patient with it:) I love her though! Ha in the mornings there is a early morning workout class for the sisters that starts at 6:00, since we're all super ambitious - and by that I mean Hermana Christensen and I drag our companions out of bed to go - We go! Ha it's great! So far we have done yoga, kickboxing, and pilates! My favorite was probably kickboxing because it is the closest thing that I get to dancing - Oh! I miss dancing so much! But I know that dancing will still be there when I come home:)

I love my district! Hermana brown and I are the only Hermanas in the district and lets face it - those Elders really know how to get off task. So sometimes it's stressful because they distract us from learning the things we are here to learn, but our teachers have discovered this as well and are doing a pretty good job at keeping them in line. The Elders in our district are so funny! So I guess it's good that they keep us laughing - just as long as they don't distract us from learning the things that we came to the CCM to learn.

Well I think that's all for now!! I love you all so much! I miss you, but don't worry because I'm happy! Since the moment I stepped onto the drop-off curb, I felt peace and joy! So although I miss you, here is where my heart is right now:) I love and like you all! I love this work! I love this Gospel! I know it is true! 

con mucho amor, 

Hermana Anderson

p.s.

I'm sorry there are no pictures today, we did take a couple, but we've been so busy! And I guess the computers here require a card reader to read the SD card and I haven't had time to make it to the store to buy one - but i'll try for next week! 

Dad - you can post the pictures that Marylin sent (it was so great to see her and Micheal!! Made me even happier than I already was!) and put them on the blog for this week if you so desire:)

Suuuure love ya!

Editors Note --

Ruth's sister and her husband (Raquel's Aunt and Uncle -- Marilyn and Michael) serve in Church callings at the MTC. As such, they tracked her down on Thursday night and sent us some pictures of her and her companion and her roommates. Here are those pictures:

 I am assuming this is Raquel and her roommates.

 Raquel and Sister Lee

 Raquel and Sister Lee

Sister Lee, Raquel and Aunt Marilyn

(This post is not a letter from Raquel, but an entry written by her father.)

We dropped Raquel off at the MTC in Provo, Utah, today at about 12:30. As a family, we had parked the car in the lower parking lot of the Provo Temple -- took some pictures, shed some tears, and then said our "Goodbyes". We then got back in the car, drove across the street, and dropped her off, where she was greeted by a Sister missionary who was preparing to serve a mission in Japan.

Anyway -- here are some pictures that we took today. Let the adventure begin!