Week 3 in the 90210
MONDAY: A very well spent P-day and a little taste of America. I guess technically I’m still in America – the states. We went to this mall. My word it was beautiful. Nine stories of heaven and everything about it screamed the US. It was strange and admittedly a little refreshing. You know what they had there? Cinnabon. You know what they serve there? Cinnamon rolls.
You know how long I have been craving cinnamon rolls? About 150 days. You could say I was happy.
After our few hours of bliss, we headed back to the real world :)
TUESDAY: One of the most exhausting days emotionally so far, you’ll have to ask me about it in 18 months, if I’ll ever be able to describe it. Basically the world can be such a sad, sad place.
We had a lesson with C. (a single mother) and her 12 year old son J. We sit down and she starts complaining about how disobedient J. is. How he always goes out to play with his friends (he’s 12!) etc. We do our best to deal with the situation which is pretty awful by this point. We suggest that they try to show/express their love for each other. We asked if they say, “I love you every day.” C. says, “No.” He just asks me if I love him every night. And that’s just when I couldn’t take it anymore. This kid was trying so hard to make his mom happy, but as he just sat there hearing his mom say all of these awful, awful things he just stared out the window on the brink of tears. She says something about he doesn’t realize she’s all he has. And we ask, “Well aren’t you afraid of losing him?” She says, “No, not really.”
The three of us are now just choking back tears. So lost. No idea how to help this woman and more so, her son. We do our best to look him in the eye and tell him, “It’s going to be okay.” But it’s hard to help a child realize that his Heavenly Father loves him when he doesn’t even feel he has a mother who does.
Last week Hermana Fallas gave him a chocolate coin (about the size of a silver dollar) which he, without thinking, broke in half and offered it to his mom who just grabbed it from him. What kind of kid does that? I really wish I could explain the whole situation and everything that happened. But basically, I walked out of that home drained and with a broken heart, wanting nothing more than to be with my mom.
Alright, I’ll stop talking about this now but that hour really got to me. It was a lot harder to see then any poverty, sickness, pain from death than I’ve ever seen. The scars that are going to be left from that are a whole lot deeper. But, fortunately the Atonement can heal any wound and never leaves any scar. The Atonement is real.
WEDNESDAY: So our sector is pretty grandote [huge]. So at times we have to take busses everywhere. So we’re crammed in this super jam packed bus and we have to push our way to get out. So we hop off and Hermana Bird and I look at each other and then at the bus and realize that Hermana Fallas is still on. (And this is a city bus which does not stop except at the designated stops.) We must have looked insane, but luckily the bus driver seemed to understand her panic and let her off not too far away. It was pretty funny :). But it also could have been pretty bad. I would not like to be lost in Lima without a cell phone.
THURSDAY: We had mulitizones. It was good. We got a sneak peek at the Church's video for Christmas. Nobody can see it ‘til the 29th so I won’t spoil it for you ;) but it’s great. I would challenge you all to join the invitation to flood the world with this video, but take it a step further, make it a missionary moment. With whom could you share good tidings of great joy? Invite someone to learn more about Christ. What better time than Christmas? :)
FRIDAY: Intercambios. Hermana Arnis [?] replaced Hermana Fallas so we were just the tres gringitao in Santa Cruz. We had a great time and some really great experiences. We went looking for a reference from the elders but his sister V. let us in. So we talked with her for a bit and we shared our testimonies of how we know this gospel brings peace and happiness and this and that and peace and happiness. And I’m like wow we were really drilling in this happiness thing. I just love the moments when you open your mouth and words come out and you have no idea really what you’re saying or why. She told us about how she felt distanced from God lately and how she had been looking to strength her relationship with Him. She was so receptive and even accepted a baptismal date without thinking twice.
And she prayed at the end (my favorite thing) she expressed gratitude for sending us in this moment of sadness. And then it all made sense. It was a really neat experience.
I just love experiences like that. :) It’s what makes you love the work. There is no other way to experience things :) (But of course she didn’t come to church :( ).
SATURDAY: This day was kinda all over the place. This couple took us out to eat at this dang nice restaurant. It was great, nice, fun, all the good stuff. But it made me a little uncomfortable to look around and realize what a little bubble we are in, San Isidro/Miraflores are not like the rest of Lima. It’s a unique sector we’re in. You go like a mile in any direction and people are starving. It’s hard.
SUNDAY: Always wears me out. We had a lesson with this investigator, the strangest lesson ever. He was explaining to us why his pinky nail is painted black, because one hand controls magic, the other light. So the black pinky absorbs darkness to balance out the light. He hasn’t been able to use his powers yet but he tells us he hopes one day to awaken them. I hope so too.
November has gone by so fast it’s crazy. The work in Santa Cruz is a little rough but we’re happy. I love it. And I love my companions. We are hoping we can stay together for Christmas, which is highly unlikely but a girl can dream, no?
Anyways, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you all! (Please eat excessive amounts of pie for me, you can be sure I won’t be having any.) But more importantly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my favorite little brother, JACOB. You deserve all the best and then some. Enjoy 17 while you can. Apparently you can’t be a teenager forever. I love you.
Love,
Hermana Anderson
D&C 78:19 #ponderize #happy thanksgiving #attitude of gratitude [And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.]
