Baptism Font Dive

Hey everyone!

Easter is celebrated super different here, in that its not really celebrated at all haha. The members say that everyday should be Easter and we don't need a holiday to remember Jesus, and the Catholics celebrate everyday leading up to Sunday with lots, and lots, and lots of food. we have eaten so much this week we had to start telling people that we were fasting because our stomachs literally couldn't take anymore.

we´ve been super busy this week, we´ve had the sisters from Tupiza, the farthest part of the mission, staying with us to do intercambios. we were also in charge of a stake Mini MTC, the youth had a full ¨day in the MTC¨ and then we took them out to proselyte. and the next day we were in charge of doing a dinner for our sisters and setting everything up to watch the women's conference.. needless to say a nap is calling our name! BUT we are super happy and so excited because we are going to be staying together one more transfer! :)

Story of the week: we were getting everything ready for the women's conference - the elders had just had a baptism and the secretary asked us to drain the font.. usually you just have to pull the plug, but the little string broke.. ¨no problem, I´ll get it with my feet!´´ .. those stairs are A LOT more slippery then they seem... hahah I FELL INTO THE BAPTISMAL FONT! (s/o to aunt Janet) unfortunately I don't have any pics, but don't worry the elders were there to film it all. haha it was a looong and cold women's conference. I had kids asking me all night ´´did you get baptized?´´

literally never a dull moment in the mission! 

have a good week! love you all! 

love, 

Hermana Andersen 

 

 

this is cute little tiago, our pensionista´s son. he has literally an army of minions and asks us to play with him everyday while we wait for our tuna. (still working on learning to love or even like tuna!)

Happy Easter!

hey everyone!

Where to begin on this week.. the weeks are flying by faster and faster and sometimes I feel like their isn't even time to catch a breath! (literally and figuratively) But I am so happy to be here, I have learned that the only way to really find true happiness is by helping others find happiness.

Remember our hippie investigator I talked about? He's the one in the pic, his name is Elmer and he´s seriously so awesome. This week he officially became legal in Bolivia which means he can get married! He is super excited because he has wanted to get baptized for a long time. He has changed his lifestyle so much and told us this week that his dream is to found an organization for kids that are abandoned, so that they don't fall into the same lifestyle that he did. 

 

thought of the week:

¨Grace: Divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ... It is through grace that individuals, through faith in the atonement and repentance of their sins, receive strength and assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to their own means¨ 

 

Thanks to the atonement, we can do things and overcome things that would otherwise literally be impossible. I can honestly see that I've seen that here in myself, in my companions, and in these sweet people. 

Happy Easter! Love you all!

love, 

Hermana Andersen :)

March 14, 2016

Hey everyone!

Its been an awesome week here, Kevin got baptized! A little background on Kevin: he's a 16 year old and he's so awesome! I've never seen someone so prepared. we didn't find him, he found us! He lives super close to the church and he said that he's always wanted to go in, but his mom has never given him permission. but one Sunday he begged and begged and his mom let him go. he told us "I knew from the moment I walked in that it was true!" He loves church so much that he goes to the ward before us that starts at 8, stays 2 hours with them, and then comes to our 3 hours! church is great, but even as missionaries 5 hours is a long time to be at church! the night before his baptism we were talking with him and his mom and he said "Hermanas, you told me that to be baptized I need to have repented of everything, and there are a few things I need to tell my mom" he then went through every time in his life that he could think of that he disobeyed his mom and confessed everything to her. it was one of the sweetest moments of my whole life when he finished everything and hugged his mom and said "I'm sorry mom, I love you." everyone was crying and his mom gave us the biggest hug and said "thank you for the person you've turned my son into!"

The baptism was a bit stressful cause there are serious water problems here and all the water in the whole city shuts off at about 9 in the morning and doesn't come back on till late at night. we had filled the font about ankle deep when the water shut off.. we were seriously concerned that he might have to lay down on the font floor to be baptized ha! but luckily we found a tank filled with water in the church and filled the font with buckets.. it wasn't the cleanest, but it worked!

In the pic you will find me breaking into our own apartment cause I forgot the keys and our door locks automatically. this was before adding a chair and another bucket.. hahaha there's a reason why robbers don't wear skirts!

I love you all and hope you have the best week! 

love, 

Hermana Andersen :)

March 7, 2016

hey everyone!

The week has FLOWN by. we had to be in Cochabamba on Thursday for a leadership meeting, and now we are even farther away so we have to travel even longer, so we lost pretty much all of Wednesday-Friday.. but it was super awesome to be in cocha and be able to fill our lungs with air and not wear jackets and visit our converts! 

We were supposed to have a baptism on friday right when we got back.. but the husband refused to give her permision and no permission = no baptism. :( but cute hna Reina is super determined to get baptized cause she knows its right and we arent letting it get us down, our goal is to see him in church next to her! 

In the pic is our sweet little miracle of the week. Her name in Nilda and we found her RIGHT after leaving the appointment that we found out that we wouldn't be having the baptism. she was just standing in the street and said "hi hermanas!" so we went and talked to her, she invited us to her house and come to find out ALL her kids are members that live far away. we had a good talk and invited her to church not thinking much of it cause usually the grandmas are real catholic and are really nice to us but don't want much to do with the church.. but she showed up all by herself, stayed all 3 hours, and loved it! she makes me so happy to talk to cause she reminds me so much of my own grandma and it really is like going to "grandmas house" when we visit her. cookies and all! 

Lots of prayers for the baptism we have programmed this week! we are praying that it goes better than the last :) love you all!! have a good week! 

love, 

Hermana Andersen