March 28, 2011

Hey Everyone! 
So this week went pretty good, and we made a really cool trip to visit a family that lives in a tiny city called pucutuni. This guy came to church the last sunday, and so we told him that we could go visit him and his family and share a message with them. everyone told us that it was only an hours hike to go to this pueblito but it turned out to be alot longer. as you can see in the pictures, we were climbing straight up the mountains, and we ended up arriving in over 3 hours. it didnt matter much though, because the experience was one that ill pretty much never have again, and it was a beautiful sight all the way up. especially from the top though. that city you see wayyyy at the bottom of the mountains is pitumarca by the way just to show you how far we climbed...the pic of just me. when we got there him and all his family was waiting for us in their little house of mud with a straw roof wayy smaller than a bedroom in the US. they were a family extremely humble, and live off their own food that they grow. the literally dont have money or anything, but somehow get by and are extremely happy. their house is in the middle of nowhere, so its just them. Its a lifestyle that i had no idea even existed before the mission. The invited us to eat some of the potatos that they grew, and they were really good. afterwards we shared a message with them and started running down the mountain because we ran out of light.  my legs were killing me, my companion fell in the mud, i lost my hymn book, but all in all it was one of the best experiences of my life. our trip wasnt in vain either, becasue the guy made the long trip to pitumarca just to come to church. we are renting a bus in pitumarca next weekend too, so everyone from pitumarca can go to general conference in sicuani and all of their family is going to come. it really makes me think of how good we have it in the US, and how much stuff we take for granted. sometimes we dont want to get ready for church or we dont want to drive the 2 minutes to the chapel, but theres people in other parts of the world that hike mountains for over 4 hours just to come.  this week and this experience has humbled me like never before, and im just thankful for my heavenly father and for everyone of you guys for helping me come out in the mission and to live these experiences. 
Until next week,
 Elder Anderson

Cody and his companion in Pucutuni

It took them over 3 hours to make the trip to this little hut in the middle of nowhere but Cody said it was completely worth it.

March 21, 2011

Hey everyone!
So this week went pretty good in pitumarca, and we worked super hard this week which was really nice. we are working really well in our companionship, and have been able to find a lot of great people. we switched the time for the church too, and alot more people can assist now which is nice..plus theyre starting institute classes (church classes) and i got assigned to be the teacher since there isnt really anyone else that can do it. its alot of responsibility to balance on top of the missionary work, but if nothing else im going to learn the scriptures alot better because of it. so i was kinda worried about all you guys this week with all the stuff going on in the world. ivve just heard bits and pieces about earthquakes tsunamis and that we wnet to war with libia??????!!!!!!!! if someone could fill  me in that would be really nice..oh and with whats going on with these nuclear powerplants and everything. i hope you all are doing good though and that none of this is affecting you in ttoo many ways..sorry i dont have any new pics for this week, but were going to a waterfall today so i should have some good ones next week..im doing great and miss you all! Thanks for the support!

March 14, 2011

Hey Everyone!
So i officially got my new companion this week, Elder Ccanto from lima Peru. He is awesome, and is a really hard worker which i like alot. He is new to the mission so i have the responsibility of helping learn how everything is in the mission, but he is awesome and is learning super fast. It was pretty funny cuz it was a pretty much culture shock for him to come here to pitumarca this week. this week in pitumarca was basically a big party for them called carnavales. every single day this last week basically everyone in pitumarca was partying and dancing and drinking and listening to the worst music ive ever heard in my life ha..needless to say, it made the missionary work pretty hard, but we did our best to visit those that we could, and to stay away from all the drunk people. the next week its all back to normal though so im excited for that, especially becasue theres people in pitumarca now, and alot of them are excited to share the gospel with their families. we found out that this week that theyre pushing to have pitumarca become a ward because its growing so fast and showing alot of promise, so that means that they would be building a chapel here pretty soon! itll still be awhile before we gfind out and stuff, but that would be awesome to come back in a year and a half to see an awesome new church! Well not much else here this week, but ill keep youll updated on life here in peru next week..
Love Elder Anderson!

Cody's new companion from Lima, Peru

March 7, 2011

hey everyone!
So we found out the changes for the next six weeks, and im staying in pitumarca but my companion has a change to a city called puno. Im really excited to be able to stay in pitumarca for another six weeks, because we have found alot of great people that i didnt want to leave. im also glad to get a new companion and i just hope that i get one thats ready to work his butt off because we have so much work here to do that im really excited for. last night i was like a little kid that couldnt sleep the night before christmas because he was too excited to open presents. last night i was just so excited to have another change here and to be with all these people that i didnt go to sleep unteil 130 in the morning! somehow i still have energy today theough so thats good. things are going reallyu good in pitumarca now and have really turned around. not much more to say about this week,. but im really excited for this next change and have a realluy good feeling about it. ill let you know all about me new companion next week and how things started out. love you all and appreciate all the supporrt! 
Love Elder Anderson!! 
oh and please remember that the packages cant have more than like 50 dollars worth of stuff in them, because otherwise i found out that i have to pay a bunch of money to get it out of the post office...thanks!!