A Thankful Heart

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been quite an emotional rollercoaster for me. On Tuesday I went to Mendoza because President Goates wanted to talk. I´m so glad he did. He gave me such comforting advice, a Priesthood blessing, and a specific scripture that has been dear to my heart since we talked. It´s D&C 124:49, very comforting for me - and I know it applies to everyone when we ¨fall short¨, not just me. Basically for the next 2-3 days my knee was in so much pain that I could barely walk so I rested and iced and rested some more during those days. Thankfully the rest worked well enough to the point that I could walk again, but it didn´t heal my knee, so I’ll still be returning home for a short time. Also sadly, Gustavo was not baptized:( He couldn´t drop those last two cigarettes. These two are very hard for him because he started smoking when he was 12 (now he´s about 45 or 50) and he used to smoke 60 cigarettes a day, so 2 is good! But it is still 2 too many. But it is okay, I have faith in him. And I know that although I won´t be able to attend his baptism, it still counts, and I still feel blessed to have been a part of this process with him.

I want to tell you all the feelings of my heart. I have had lots of time to reflect on my feelings and experiences this week. I must tell you how thankful I am that I have been privileged to serve a mission. I do feel a bit jipped that I have to take a break, but looking back on all I´ve been blessed to learn all I can feel is gratitude for those experiences I was privileged to have. I learned so much in the MTC, and no, I don´t mean from my classes, those too, but more so I learned so much from all the experiences I had there. I had a very different MTC experience than most, but I wouldn´t change it for the world. I was blessed to recognize the hand of our Father in Heaven in my life. I learned so much about His love for us. I know He cares about us. I know He is aware of us in every situation, and He will help us through anything because He wants us to succeed too. We are His children. He loves us more than we can comprehend. And He is in our lives, He is so present in all of our lives. We only need to open our eyes and see all the blessings He gives us in each moment. I know that God is in every detail. I am so grateful that He is. I am so grateful that in the MTC I was able to feel the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement so many times in my life. Christ knows our joys and our sorrows, our fears and our struggles, and the amazing thing is He helps us in them! Christ succeeded in performing the Atonement! He rose on the third day, because of this He can help us in our trails, in our very moments of fear and sorrow, He knows how to comfort us and how to strengthen us to help us, and He wants to. I learned so much from my experiences at the MTC, and I will be forever grateful for the knowledge and love that I gained there. I have learned so much here in Argentina as well, and no I don´t just mean Spanish. I have learned so much about how precious the Gospel truly is and I have seen it change lives. No, I haven´t had any baptisms of my own, but I have seen the Gospel change lives. I have seen people go from being so sad and having no purpose for life to poco a poco growing in hope and realizing a purpose for living. I have seen the Spirit work through me and work through others. I have felt the gift of tongues. I have felt the promise of my mouth being able to be filled. I have felt knowledge come to my remembrance in the very moment I needed it. I have felt love, I have seen so much how love can change the hearts and lives of people. Mostly I have learned about God´s love for each of His children. It doesn´t matter if you live in the U.S.A. or in Argentina or in the North Pole, God loves all His children the same. And He wants the same thing for each of them: To return to live with Him again in eternal happiness. It doesn´t matter what sins you have committed or haven´t committed, God loves us all the same. We are His children. We are all on the same path. I am so sad to leave Argentina tomorrow, I hate thinking about it, but I know this. It doesn´t matter if I am in Argentina or not, I will still strive every day to be the daughter I promised to be and strive to turn my heart out towards others. Share what love I have, strive to be charitable towards others, and strive to help everyone be able to gain the peace that I know the Gospel can bring. I hope with all my heart to be able to return here to Argentina again after this little detour. But if not, I will go where God desires me to go, and I will go willingly. Thank you all for your prayers for me throughout these past 3 months. I have felt the strength of them and have felt your love as well. I love you all. I am sad to go, but I feel so blessed and so much gratitude that I have been blessed to serve for the time that I have. I know God is in the details of all our lives. He loves you. Personally. With flaws or without, He wants us to become perfected so we can return home to His loving arms again. I know this is true. I desire to leave this testimony with you in the sacred name of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ, our brother, Amen.

With much love, tears, and gratitude,

Hermana Anderson