Hello Family!
This weeks email is all going to be about families. Especially mine because they are one of the greatest blessings in my life. Sorry if you dont hear as much about what I did this week because I am talking so much about my family. Here's a short summary however of what happened. This last week we learned the subjunctive tense in all its forms and our teachers made it sound like it was going to be the end of all of us. However, I hit the books really hard and loved every minute of it. The subjunctive tense in spanish is really cool because it means you can express your emotions in the spelling and format of words, not just how you say them.''
Ok now on to the part of the week that I was most looking forward to! And thats talking about/to all of you. This week I was jotting down some of my favorite memories with each of you and it made me realize how abundantly God blessed me. I am going to go through and talk about all of my favorite people. I realize alot more than just my family are reading this email. So I wont get to in depth but I invite you all to think about your families and the ways they have blessed you as you read about mine.
Dad - What an example of the righteous head of a household. My dad if you dont know is my absolute biggest example. I aspire to be even half the man that he is. My dad taught with kindness, a gentle hand of correction. He was so playful, and is one of my best freinds. I have such fond memories of being with my dad in the outdoors and enjoying this beautiful world God had created for us. One of my best memories is philmont with my dad where he was an adult leader. It was 2 weeks of backpacking in new mexico and we had such an amazing time together. Then another is the many times my dad and I would go dirtbiking together. He used this time not only to have fun and get away but to also teach me valuable lessons. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that we are never alone. There are times I would approach a hard or intimidating part of the trail and felt like getting off the bike and giving up before I even tried. However my dad pressed me and told me to just give it a try, do it the best I can. And if I fell I could either try again or he would ride it up the hill for me.
What a great example of a righteous Dad. Simillarly all of us have a loving Heavenly Father. God guides us all so personally and dirrects our paths. We were sent to this earth to learn and grow. Because of that we often come to parts of our journey that seem to hard, and we feel like giving up. God encourages us to press forward and give it our best shot, and as we do he is there speaking to us, coaching us on how to make it through. However the biggest gift is that it will never be to hard. As much as we may think that it is to much for us to handle, God gives us challenges that we can overcome with His help. Look up this scripture iin the Book of Mormon for me as I think it relates perfectly:
1 Nefi 3:7
Mom - I don't know where to start. My mom is the most important person in my life. She has shaped me into the man I am. But im going to think back on some of the sweet memories I have with her. One of the first things I thought of for some odd reason are all the nights she spent at the side of my bed. When i was a kid it was beacause I was sick or had a bad dream. The most endearing though was when I would have growing pains in my legs, and my mom would come in and get a small wash cloth and run it under hot water. Then she would lay the hot rag over the part of my legs that hurt and stay up and read me a book or just talk to me until I fell asleep.
The restless nights didnt stop in my young age though. At the end of my junior year when I had knee surgery and then blood clots I lost alot of sleep. Those first few weeks during my stay in the hospital and after being released, my mom was by my side the whole time. Physically, spiritually, emotionally she was looking out for me. She was my angel during my time of need. Im sure she was praying for me and that because of her there were angels around both of us in that time of need.
Lastly are the sleepless nights she did and still does stay up praying for each of us kids and all of the other people in need. Even on my mission sometimes I feel such a feeling of overwhelming sense of peace and love. And each time I think its my mom saying a prayer for me.
My moms selfless love so closely reflects that of our Savior Jesus Christ. Every moment of weakness is swallowed up in His infinite love and atonement. The love my mom has shown to me and many of you is so amazing, yet it is beautiful when we realize it is only a small portion of the love Jesus has for us.
If you are not close to your Savior, get closer. Its that simple. Chances are you know what you need to do better in your life to feel that, if not then talk to the missionaries. They have a lot of good ideas. Seek out the savior, through him anything is possible.
Moroni 7:45-47
Chloe - One of my best friends and favorite play mate! My memory with my sister relate back to many days we would spend in the basement 'playing spy'. We would get all dressed up in our camoflauge outfits, get all of our gadgets and we'd do spy things.
The funniest memory though is that I was always agent 2. Always. My sister was agent number 1, and It was great! She could do all the cool spy things and I acted like a pack mule, handling her all the nice spy gadgets. My arsenal consisted of a little telescope that I would look for the bad guys with. So many fun stories of snooping around, and being spies with her.
However my sister was teaching me valuable lessons (and not just that spy #1 got all the cool stuff). The biggest take away was how valuable it is to have a confidant, someone that you can tell everything to. And then when youre in a tight place they know you so well that they know just the right way to help.
Just before I left I gave chloe my prayer hands, which are a sculpted pair of hands that were those of Christ while He was suffering in the garden of gethsemane. The sculpture was given to me by grandma great cornelius. They reminded me to pray every night when I would walk into my room and see them on my night stand.
Prayer is such a personal and spiritually strengthening tool God has given us. Just as much as I could tell my sister everything, the same goes for God. We can always pray. No matter where we are. If its a prayer of thanks or a cry for help, every prayer is heard by God. He loves all of us and we should pray to Him. No one knows us better.
Enos 1:4-8
Cameron and Shirley - You're getting grouped together because I love you both so much! And I am running out of time. But one of my best memories with both of you is when I came out for I think 4 days and just got to hangout with you two. We were staying in your apartment and we got to go all around Provo. We for some reason had really good coupons to this Mexican restaurant so we got enough food to feed a family of 8 for just the 3 of us! It was so fun. We put it in a backpack and biked to a park where we stuffed ourselves. It was a miracle we were able to bike home! And the leftovers fed us for the rest of the stay.
This is so amazing and one of my favorite memories because I realized what a blessing marriage can be. When a husband and a wife are willing to follow Jesus in how they treat another and work with one another so much is possible.
I was sitting getting ready for sacrament meeting last week when sister Brooks (wife of my branch President who is friends with Shirley parents) walked up to me and handed me a card! It was bright pink! Immediately I got so excited and knew exactly what it meant. The best part was that the rest of my district got just as excited when they saw it!
It was an announcement that they are going to be having a baby girl in February!
Families are so important. Especially with all the hard parts of life it is so important we have that support system in our lives!
That leaves me to close. I hope you all enjoyed going down memory lane with me! My family makes me so happy and I realize that they are my favorite people! I am so happy that because of God's plan for us I can be with them forever.
I invite you all to read The Family A Proclamation to the World. It's a statement from the prophets of the church on the importance of families and their structure. Families truly are ordained of God. I am thankful every day for my family. God is good. Jesus Christ is our savior and loves all of us. Look to him in times of need.
Love you all and hope you have an absolutely amazing week.
Elder Anderson
Les amo todos, Espero que tengan una buena semana. (Subjunctive)
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