Hermana Anderson's e-mail July 21st, 2011

Hola Familia!!!

Quiero todos MUCHO!! Que pasa? I love getting all your letters and DearElders! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate them. Because it is A LOT. Suffice it to say, I am VERY grateful and if you hestitate because you think you only have mundane, every day things to say.... Please write me anyway because they are always very extraordinary to an Hermana who sits in a classroom for up to 10 hrs. a day. :) I love you all.

So.... funny thing happened to me this week. It all started at the fireside Sunday night. Pres. Sonne and his wife spoke. He is a branch pres. here, I think. I didn't particularly care for his talk mostly because the main theme was human weakness makes you a bad missionary. REPENT!!!! REPENT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!! (He did have a few good things, regardless.... He said to emulate good missionaries in the BoM. Will do, folks. Will do.) I've also been pretty sick the last few days (I was supposed to sing in Sac. Meeting, but I had NO voice!) and me and a few other peeps in my district had to leave campus and go to the BYU Student Health Center for drogas. And because I was sick, I missed some gym periods. During the last period, I was on exchange with Hna. Battaglia because she needed to pack to leave for the Guatemala MTC the next day. In our residence hall, a woman's voice came over the intercom asking, "Is there a Sister Anderson on this floor?" I said, "I am A Sister Anderson........." "Come to the front desk, please, Sister Anderson," she said. So.... Hna. Battaglia and I went to the front desk and the secratery directed us to a different room just down the hall to talk to Pres. Sonne. On the way, I jokingly said, "I hope they aren't going to tell me someone in my family died or something crazy!" And we sat down for a sec. and the receptionist said, "Are you Sister Anderson?" "I am A Sister Anderson," I said. Then Pres. Sonne came in and escorted me to his office. We sat down and he said, "Sister Anderson.... I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your Father's Father has passed away. It was very sudden. Your parents didn't give me a lot of details, but they would like to talk to you. They are on their way to Ogden." (Ok... really.... the Ogden thing should've been a read flag, but I was sobbing at this point so, it didn't really make an impression on me.) Pres. Sonne leads me to this room with a telephone and dials a number and hands it to me after confirming the woman on the other end was Sister Anderson. I pick up the phone and say, "Mom?" And all I hear are muffled sobs and then a woman who was DEFINITELY not my mom said, "Honey.... I'm afraid we have some bad news. Daddy's-----" And then I cut her off and I just said, "I am so sorry, but there has been a mistake. I am not your daughter, but I am so sorry for your loss." And she told me thank you and I put her on hold. And I went back to the waiting room and ran into Pres. Sonne and I said, "There has been a mix up. I am not the Sister Anderson you are looking for." And Pres. Sonne said, "You're not Jennica Anderson?" (That would've been a great question to ask, oh, about..... 10 mins. before then....) I grabbed Hna. Battaglia and we got outside the building before I could stop laughing and crying enough to tell her what had happened. WHO DOES THAT?!?!?!?!?!? WHO TELLS SOMEONE WITH A VERY COMMON LAST NAME THAT THEIR GRANDPA IS DEAD WITHOUT CONFIRMING FIRST NAMES?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Anyway.... It was really funny after it happened. I couldn't even tell it with a straight face later. I'm going to send a letter to Papa Bill today.... I can't decide If I should mention this or not..... Haha.

Hna. Battaglia left for the Guatemala MTC on Tuesday. I miss her a lot! She wasn't my companion, but the four of us Hermanas were pretty much a companionship, regardless. We helped her pack and clean and as she was leaving to get on the bus for the airport, me and Hnas. Ahern and Martino threw up our hands and shouted, "Hurrah for Israel!!!" It was so special. And she left me a craft that her 5 year-old sister made her and I didn't find it until that night. She hung it on my bed and I noticed it during companionship prayer. And I cried a little. She is such a great missionary. She is going to bring so many people the light of the Gospel and I can't wait to get to know her post-mish, too. We are very sympatico. ;)

So, for the spiritual side of the e-mail now.... We had a great time teaching in the TRC on Saturday. (Former missionaries, please explain this....) ;) We did our contacting and teaching in Spanish and our investigator cried about 3 times because the spirit was so strong and so sweet. I bore my testimony of how much God loves her and I also got to tell the story of the first vision. This gives me hope. It gives me hope because my Spanish is still pretty weak right now compared with where it needs to be in 6 weeks. But, I know that as I open my mouth it will be filled and that nothing will stop people from hearing the Gospel that the Lord has prepared to hear it. Even a slightly strange sister missionary from SL with barely any knowledge of Spanish. :D

I love you all so very, VERY much. Tell Lauren, Noah, Jack, Bella, Addie and Terran to be obedient and be happy. (It's easy! Because they're the same! And tell Will not to eat his boogers and that he needs to write/DearElder me! (Alma 60:6)

Te amo mucho!! La Iglesia es verdad!!

Hermana Anderson