Hola Y'all!
I have arrived in Little Rock Arkansas! It is so crazy to think about everything that has happened in this last week. I am going to go through each day since I got here and either share a crazy story, person I met, or cool experience I had!
TUESDAY- At this point I was still in Provo Utah! I got up at 2:30 and said a tired goodbye to my MTC companions. I then carried my 2 suitcases down the stairs of the residence hall and to the travel office. There I met for the first time the 23 other missionaries that were going to the little rock mission! They are all English speaking so I didn't know any of them. We got on a bus and went to salt lake city airport. We then continued on the get on a plane to Houston. We landed in Houston where I had my first real food in 6 weeks (Whataburger) and then we had a layover before I got on the plane to little rock. I got to call my mom and my dad which was so so awesome! We only got to talk for like 10 or so minutes a piece which was great but really short. Loved It though! Then we got on the plane to Arkansas! We were all so excited to finally get here and when the plane landed we all cheered a little. The plane from Houston to Arkansas was a small plane that only held like 40 people. The pilot came back and talked to us, and was super nice. He's actually the ward mission leader for his ward in Houston! He was way excited that we were going! Got to Arkansas, got our bags and all of us got picked up by the mission President and went back to the mission house (actual house in little rock where the president and his wife stay). Once there they made us a huge dinner of ribs and other stuff and then we all went to bed! I slept on the floor of the living room!
WEDNESDAY- Got up and went to the church, there we had a meeting in the morning then we met our companions! My companion is Elder Giles. He's been in the mission for 10 months! He's a really cool guy and were going to do a lot of good work together. We are working in the Little Rock north area! As soon as we left the meeting we went to visit an older couple close by that hadn't been to church in a while. It was just the grandma home and invited us in. She must have dementia or something because she was so sweet but just not there at all. To make it even more confusing was her mumbled Spanish. We were sitting on the couch when all of the sudden she just said "Esperate por un minuto". In English, wait a minute, she got up and just walked away. She went into the kitchen and it sounded like she was building a rocket ship! She came back, no exaggeration, 10 minutes later with a metal tray that had two glasses of juice and 3 Oreo cookies on it. It was so sweet! We still couldn't figure out what took so long though!
THURSDAY through SATURDAY- SORRY I'm grouping together all the time but I can't remember on which day all thus happened and also I don't have barely any time to email today so I'm making sure I get something good out! Every morning when I step out of the apartment door most of my day is in Spanish which surprised me. The language is hard but it's a really good challenge and I'm growing quickly. We visited people and spend our days spreading messages about Christ and serving people. Saturday night we went to a crazy branch party to celebrate the Mexican independence! There was a lot of lpuf music, great food, and the most amazing people you have ever seen.
SUNDAY- We showed up to church and a large English speaking ward meets right before the Spanish service. Hundreds of people go to it. We walk in, however, and it was almost polar opposite. There were about 25 people at church and 6 of them are missionaries. It's such a small congregation but they have so much faith and an amazing spirit about them.
MONDAY! (Today)- Got up at 4 this morning to drive to Memphis. We went to the Memphis temple this morning before if closes. It will be closed for around 20 months so they can do renovations. That's most of my mission but i hope it opens up again before I leave.
Can't really say much more because my p-day is about to end! I have to get back to working at 6 and this whole morning has been spent driving and at the temple. I will be sure to have a lot better email next week though! Feel free to email me throughout the week and ask questions that didn't cover in this email! I promise I'll get back to them. If I didn't get a chance to personally email you, know that I love you and will for sure email you next week! Wanted to make sure I at least got this one off so you know I'm not dead.
I know the work I am doing is of God. Being able to represent Christ and invite people to come unto Him is such an honor. I have grown a lot while doing it.
Love you all and can t wait to email you again next week! Sorry for the crazy email.
Elder Anderson
PS emails will come from me every Monday! You can email me any time throughout the week! It I get it before Monday I will for sure respond.
ALSO if you do send packages or letters send them to the address at the top of the blog and address it to Elder Colton Anderson. There's another Elder in my mission named Cam Anderson so we have to specify by using first names!
PICTURES:
My favorite neighborhood
Picture of Memphis as we cross the Mississippi river
Picture of the MTC
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