The Bike-less Week

Hola Family and Friends!!!

I hope this letter finds you all happy and well! I have had a pretty great week myself, if I can say so:) Clearly, as you can see from the title, this week we had no bikes! You see, we had thought that maybe they just ran out of air, but after refilling the tires 2 times and having them deflate within about 20 minutes of riding them, we knew it was a hopeless cause. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of being able to talk with and get to know Hermana Bautista a little bit better, however, as with all things in life there are downfalls. First, apparently when all our appointments fall through and it’s hot, Hermana Bautista gets a little frustrated and doesn’t like to talk, and likes to walk in front of me and not tell me where we are going or anything like that - that makes me kind of sad because we are supposed to be a companionship! Preaching the Gospel side by side, not one in front of the other, I would try at times to talk and ask her questions and lift her spirits, but it didn’t really work. Luckily, this only happened for maybe 2 days during this week, the rest of the times we had enjoyable conversations! Now for the next one, sadly this downfall is a little worse than my companion being frustrated... and sadly this downfall is a scary one for me. My knee. - NOOOO!!!!!! Yeah, that’s right. Because of all the walking this week my knee (the one I injured 5ish years ago) has been giving me issues. It kept me up a couple of times because of the pain, and it has been a little distracting. I’ve talked to the nurse and we are trying to work something out - please PLEASE PLEASE! pray that maybe my knee can have the strength that it needs. I feel so much love for my mission and excitement to keep going, I don´t want to have to end because my knee was week - please pray.

But enough of the scary stuff – let’s talk about the happy moments this week! First, we had 6 investigators attend church this week!!!!! YAY!!!! And 8 less actives that we teach too!!! WOOOHOOO!!! The work is real! It was so great! I couldn´t stop smiling! Everyone in the congregation was probably wondering why the American at the piano couldn´t stop smiling the whole meeting, but how could I not?! It was so great!! Now second, let’s talk about an amazing lesson we had with Gustavo this week:

Background info: Gustavo has problems with the Word of Wisdom - he used to smoke close to 40 cigarettes a day, but in the past couple of years has knocked it down to 2 - go him! But... 2 a day is still 2 too many. bueno, now for the story.

So it was Tuesday and it was hot, and we were walking, and because of all these things we were late for our appointment (ugh! I hate being late) but it’s okay, cause Gustavo and Pres. Analiz were talking and having a great time together. Anyways, I had been a little bit nervous for this lesson because Gustavo is so golden and ready and wonderful, I didn’t know how he would react to the Word of Wisdom. As we taught, he was so humble so much that when we started to present a goal for him Hermana Bautista said, "okay for the rest of the week you can have 1-2 cigarettes a day and then next week do you think you can quit completely?" (except of course she said it in Spanish) and then Gustavo replied (in Spanish;)) ¨well if God wants me to stop now, then I want to stop now, and I know He’ll help me¨ Woah! Go Gustavo! It was amazing. During the lesson I kept getting this prompting to ask him if he wanted a Priesthood blessing, I was preparing myself for this, getting pumped up, trying to remember the Spanish to do so and then there was a break in the conversation - I knew this was my chance. I bore my testimony about how I knew that God would help Him quit because it’s His commandment and He wants Gustavo to keep it, so He will help him. Then I asked him if he would like to receive a blessing from Pres. Analiz, he said yes! (YAY) and then President gave the blessing. Wow. It was so powerful. I couldn’t understand everything that was said, but from what I could hear it was exactly the blessing that Gustavo needed, and it wasn’t just about power to stop smoking, it was also about Heavenly Father’s love for Him and joy in Him coming to the Gospel. The Spirit in the room was so strong. At the end of the blessing President was crying, and after Gustavo opened his eyes he started putting his hand over his chest. He had a look on his face that I don’t think I could ever forget and he said “I have heat in my chest”, and then he just sat there and took in the feeling of the Spirit. It really was incredible. It was like one of those moments that you only ever hear about - how incredible that I was blessed to be a part of that! I feel so blessed to be able to have been a part of that, and to be able to be a part of this experience of bringing sons and daughters of God unto Him. I am lucky to be and instrument in the hands of God at this time. I know the power of the priesthood is real. I know this church is true. I know God loves each of us, is aware of each of us, and wants to help each of us to be able to return to Him. It’s amazing!

I am so blessed to be a part of this work at this time. Although the heat is ¨bastante¨ (sooooooo hot), my body gets tired, or my knee may hurt - none of this seems to matter when I think of the people I am serving. I would (and do) walk for hours in the heat just to teach a lesson - that is because this Gospel is true. That’s because this work is so important. It’s because everyone of God´s children deserves to know the joy that this Gospel can bring them. How am I so blessed?

I love you all! I wish I could tell you about every moment I’ve had this week, but there’s just no time! I hope you have a great week!

Love and like you!

Hermana Anderson