Jumping in and gettin' all wet! -- Literally!

¡Hola! Mi familia y mis amigas!

In some ways it´s hard to believe that it has already been a week and in other ways it feels like its been an eternity since I last wrote! As you can see, this week I get to write on a computer that is a little bit less of a dinosaur and the keyboard is a little bit better! Still a little bit different, but not as much - thank goodness!

This week has been well... wet;) as you can tell by the title of this email. ha it has rained almost everyday this week! But I have enjoyed it, because if it´s not raining then it´s hot so I enjoy the rain much better. Hermana Bautista and I are on bikes so we've enjoyed more than one really nice wet rain ride. All of my skirts are polka-dotted with mud spots from the dirt roads, but that´s okay, because today is laundry day too! Ha one really good rain story real quick. I guess there is a cute little leak in the roof right above where I sleep, because one night this week I was enjoying a pleasant sleep when all of a sudden I feel this wet thing fall on my forehead, and then another, and then another! Yup there is a leak right above my head, thankfully I was able to be awake enough to realize that I could turn around and put my feet where my head was so I was able to fall back to sleep just fine:)

Oh! We have one progressing investagtor! His name is Gustavo! He came to church the past two Sunday´s and has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month! WooHoo! And what makes it really great is he is friends with the branch President so we have appointments at his house and he gives us Coke! (like everyone gives us either coke or tang to drink - I guess I´m going to come back really loving coke...)

Hmmm... what more?? Ha all of the members like to practice their English on me... I´m pretty sure I can understand their Spanish better than I can their English, but hey it´s all good! I´m just thankful to have a little bit of English amongst this pool of Spanish I feel like I am drowning in. But be sure that I know that the gift of tongues is real and that I can feel and see how the Lord is helping me to learn this language.. poco a poco ... it will come. I know it will. I´m beginning to be able to understand my companion more and more each day and to communicate better with her too! I Absolutely love her! She´s great:) Ha the people that we teach are saying that my accent is rubbing off on her;) She probably doesn't like to hear that, but I think that it´s funny! Also, this is weird, honestly absolutely everyone here doesn't think they speak Spanish, they think the speak Castillano... yeah so Castillano is the name of the accent they have, not their language! It would be like the people in England saying they don´t speak English, they speak the Queen's English... which I guess they say that too, but I just think it's funny. Spanish is Spanish!

I had interviews with the mission President this week. I was really really down beforehand, feeling overwhelmed, very homesick, many stressful feelings, but in my interview President Goates gave me a Priesthood blessing, let me call my mom, and gave me very good spiritual uplifting counsel. I have been so much better since then! I´m so grateful for my President!

Also this: Apparently they have to send lots of missionaries home with knee issues here because the ground is so uneven and we walk a lot. Luckily right now I am in an area that is so large they give us bikes, but I won´t always be. I´m just a little bit nervous because I have had knee problems in the past, so please pray for me that my knees will be strong enough to help carry me through my mission:) Thank you!

Oh one last thing! I miss the temple so much! This week I've really wished that I could go - so love the temple, and never take the opportunity to attend for granted! The first day I get back I want to go to a session;)

I love and like you all! Thank you for your prayers for me this week - I've truly been able to feel them.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Anderson

P.S.

The ice cream here is the best thing in the whole world - so good!!! Drowning in Spanish is worth it because of the ice cream... and because of the work too;)