February 28, 2011

Hey everyone!
I really appreciated the prayers for me this week, and the concern, because they definitely worked! This week started out tough, but im glad to say that the doctor helped me out, and im healing after having 143 bites on my body..yup i counted haha. it turned out that it wasnt a spider bite, but instead was a parasite called an acaro. i dont know what that is in english sorry. im pretty sure that the medicine was what helped me, but theres always the possibility that i was bit so many times i grew immune lol! This week i had an amazing with these 2 investigadores that somehow got baptized this week...the guy in the photos is policarpo, and the lady is Eulogia his wife. we werent able to find them for about a week, but one day before we left the house i said a prayer specifically to find him and for him to still have his desires to be baptized, and an hour later we passed by his house in a time when hes never home, and sure enough he was there! not only that but was extatic to see us and invited us to food and everything. We asked him how he was feeling about his desires to be baptized because he was doubting it the last time and we asked him to pray about it, and he was pumped to be baptized this saturday! if thats not a miracle of prayer than idk what is. the day of the baptism we went to sicuani, a nearby city with a chapel to baptize him, and as we were there and he was being interviewed for his baptism, his wife came up to me and told me that she wanted to be baptized along side her husband!!!! so, this day i got the amazing oportunity to baptize the both of them, and they are oficially the newest members of the church and excited to share the gospel with their family as well. after so many weeks of struggling with my companion, illnesses, and tough times with the work, the lord truely blessed us this week with this success. i cant explain how grateful for these times that have passed here in these weeks and for all of the things that i could learn from it. i learned more than ever these weeks that we pass through obstaculos in our lives for a reason, and although sometimes they seem like theyre never going to end, if we press forward and trust in our heavenly father, he will help us overcome them, and we will be stronger than ever! i want to say thanks to everyone of you that wrote and prayed for me this week because it made a huge difference. I love you all and hope you have a great week!! 
Elder Anderson!

Policarpo & Eulogia the newest members of the church in Cusco!

February 21, 2011

hey everyone!
 So this week was pretty rough for me here in peru im not going to lie..  right now im sick, but worse than that is i have an skin infection or something. everyone thinks its from a spider  bite or something, but  i have more than 50 bug bites or something on my  body and that number is only growing everyday..dont worry though cuz im going to the doctor today to get it straightend  out. its been rough though cuz i cant sleep at night too cuz i itch too bad, and then i dont have much energy to do stuff durring the day. also, to answer your questions, it is raining a tooonnnn! it pretty much rains all day everyday , andi guess itll be this way until the end of may..not much good exciting stuff to share this week sorry, but im  realy just trying to recuperate my health first. i got your package dad so you dont have to worry that it got lost or anything. i havent opened it yet, but thanks a bunch, and i cant wait to  eaat all the goodies! i havent got your package yet sister luna but im sure  it wont be long ti l it gets here..sometimes stuff gets lost for a little while, but then it always seems to get here..oh and on packages they told me that they cant be worth a bunch of money, because then they have to  pay money to get them out.  basically to be safe they should have more than 50 to 75 dolars worth of stuff in them..i know all this package stuff is a big hassel so  sorry, i wish it was easier, but im thinking the best way to help me out here in peru is to just put money on my card or something. oh and we ate tacos this week, and it was the most delicious food i ve eaten for 7 months ha! thanks for sending the seasoning, and my companion and the lady that cooks for us said thanks too because they loved them! anyways i hope you all have a great week and  dont worry about  me too much, because ill be fine.  oh and guinea pig is a dark meat  that they serve without hair, that smells like skunk and tastes gross but they serve it more as a delicousy..im good with chicken ha! Until Next week.. Elder Anderson! hey forgot to sa y..the pics ar efrom machupitumarka which is like the mini machupichu only an hours walk from our house!!

Cody eating tacos. He said they were the most delicious food he's eaten in 7 months!

 This is Machupitumarka, like a mini Machupichu

He said this is only like an hours walk from where he lives

February 14, 2011

Hey  Everyone! 
 So  i dont have to much to talk about this week, because this week was extremely hectic and we werent in pitumarca very much. we did divisions a co uple times, so i was working here in sicuani with another missionary a couple of  days. plus, it was stake conference saturday and sunday here, so we had to be here for that too..something different to say though is i ate guineah pig this week..ya that hamster rat thing. needless to say it did not tast anything like chicken and was very gross. the worst part is though is that it has an aweful smell. lucky there were enough peo ple to where i didnt have to eat that much though..the stake conference went really good, and the  talks were all amazing. im happy to say that we had about 20 people there too from  pitumarca, even though its more than an hour away! all the people in the pic with president was our group from pitumarca..oh and yes that lady is milking her baby in the pic lol. thats perfectly acceptable here  for some reason..ummm not really mch more to report cuz it was a crazy week with alot of traveling, but this next week we´ll be able to  stay in  pitumarca and work so im excited for that..i love you all and hope you have a great week! oh yah and happy valentines day everyone! oh ya and i thought  of some more stuff you can put in packages..those instant alfredo packets, and those flavored rice packets as well where they cook in like 10 minutes.. and hot chocolate packs, and some salsa if its possible to jar so that it doesnt go  bad for a couple of months..i miss spicy stuff lol. if its not possible no biggy, because its not like im dieng or anything, but just thought id ask..thanks a bunch everyone, and your packages from  b efore still havent got here, so i hope nothing happend to them..Love you all..
Elder Anderson!

They rented out this artificial soccer field to play on for p-day

February 7, 2011

Hey Everyone! 
Im glad to say that things have improved with my companion a ton, and although were not the best of friends weveboth made some compromises to get along better. im learning alot from actually, and especially in the category of patience..everything is going good though in pitumarca, and we are eving having some success. we have 2 couples that are going to get baptized here and are very excited for it. one of them is getting baptized the 19th, and the other one is waiting until may 23rd because theyre getting married and then baptized! its alot of fun to be able to help them with their goals, and although i probably wont be here in may its really special to help them prepare. oh and thanks for the money everyone for christmas, because i got a sweet new camera, and the pictures are clearer than ever! i have to shrink them to send them, but i hope they come out good for you as well. I thought of a couple things i could use this week and if you could send them in the next package thatd be great...a couple big ziplock baggies, and an umbrella that folds up really small to put in my backpack. thats all though, and im not in a hurry or anything so just in the next package whenever you send it. thanks!!! thats pretty much all i have to say though this week, not much really happend besides working to help the people prepare for their baptisms and matrimonios. we rented a sweet artiicial soccer field to play on today so im pretty pumped for that..ill send pics next week..love you all and hope youre doing great!!! 
Love Elder Anderson!

January 31, 2011

hey everyone!

thanks for all the bday shoutouts and everything. so i got my new companion elder retamozo this week from lima peru. hes not a greeenie, but has 11 months in the mission. ill have to wait to have my kid in the mission ha..but already this week our companionship has struggled a ton, and ive ahad alot of problems with the stuff he pulls..we had a good talk last night though and i think we sorted alot of it out, but i can already tell that this is going to be a long six weeks. im definitely alot more grateful for my past companieros that ive had now though. if nothing else, im going to learn a whole bunch of patience this change. on a brighter note though, we went to hanchipacha again, and it was pretty sweet! we got to ride through the mountains on the semi again and it was just as cool as the first time. we went to teach the other members of the same family but when we got there they were working in their farms, so we just helped them for a couple of hours..its in the pics. it was a ton of work, and i cant believe just how hard these people work! were still working hard with all our investigators, and some of them are really continuing to progress which is amazing. not much else, but it keeps raining a ton here, and i think im going to have to buy some boots or something so i dont trash my shoes..thanks again everyone for the great emails, and please pray for me that i can have the patience to get through this change!
with all my love, 

Elder Anderson!

Cody working in the fields with his investigators

January 24, 2011

Hey Everyone!

we had an absolutely amazing week here in pitumarca! first of all, president calderon came to pitumarca to dedicate the city. it was awesome! we drove up this hill so we could see all of the city, and then he said a prayer to basically bless all the people here that they can prosper and grow in the gospel! it was a reallly neat exprience and i definitely think the prayer workd because we´ve had more success since. when president came this week i was really neat because it was the first time where i really got to talk with him and get to know him. he is really cool and was able to give me some great advice for being out in the mission field. plus weve been working hard and been doing what we need to do so he was pretty happy with us. i think he has alot more trust in me now which is nice too. this week is the week of changes, and my companion has a change so it looks like ill be getting a new one tomrow night. i dont know who itll be yet, but rumor going around is that im going to train a greenie! that actually kinda of scares me, bcause thats a ton of responsibility and im not sure if im quite ready for that after only 3 changes, but i guess ill find out tomorw. it would be neat at the same time though to be able to show someone the ropes and help them to learn all the important stuff in the mission. as i said before, we are having some success now in piumarca, and are really finding and teaching some great people. we have one couple, atuar and rosmeri that absolutely blow my mind with how much theyve changed in 2 weeks! two weeks ago they were on the verge of breaking up, and he was going to leave her and they have a kid and evrything. after only 2 weks of coming to church and learning about the gospel they are one of the happiest families ive ever seen, and they cant smiling! the story of how they came to want the missionaries help is absolutely amazing too, but unfortunately i dont have time to wrie it all. after the mission ill fill you all in..but im happy to say they now have plans to get married in February so ill keep you updated with them..oh and as you can see in the pics, yes im taller than the doors here! it really stinks too because ive nailed my head on just about all of them! if you see me walk through doors bent over when i get back now you know why...oh and as far as packags go i called the guy and he said its not to big of a deal if i get more than ten but he said just dont go too crazy..anyways thats all i got for this week, but i love you all and im doing great..thanks for the support! 

Elder Anderson

This is Cody's backyard and that small building in the back is where they have church

This is Cody's mission president 

January 17, 2011

hey everyone! 
So i dont have any awesome stories about riding through the mountains in peru on a semi this week, but it was still a really good week for the work. like i said a couple of weeks ago, pretty much all of our investigators left pitumarca for a couple of months, but this week with the help of the members weve got some new awesome investigators. were teaching 3 couples right now that are all really interested. 2 of them arent married but are living together and have a kid, and are going through some hard times. weve taught them a couple times though, and now they are coming to church and starting to turn their lives around...its really cool to witness their progress. yesterday was a great day at church too, because the chapel was completely full of people, with 11 of them being investigators! i gave one of the talks too, and it went amazing. i didnt even realize it while i was talking, but i had no problems with my spanish in the talk, and i can finally talk in spanish without having to think of what im going to say. tomorow our mission president is coming to pitumarca because its growing soo much and that we are having progress. hes going to dedicate the city and stuff which should be awesome..im not exactly sure what dedicating a city consists of but ill let yoiu guys know next week..not much else new to say though here. im doing great and enjoying my time here in peru a ton! im glad you guys got my letters, but im sorry yours got ripped dad! i love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Anderson

This is where Cody lives. Notice how he is taller than the doors haha :b