Hello Family,
I am so happy that Easter is coming. It is my favorite holiday. Also a very special time of the year.
This week has been filled with a lot of service. We have been focusing on it a lot and seen many blessings come as we try our hardest to help people in whatever they may need.
Cool story to illustrate what we were doing this week:
On Friday we took an hour and a half bus ride through downtown to get to an appointment. We had our bikes on the bus with us. The bus took us most of the way and then the member came and picked us up from the church near by his house. We went to his house and had lunch with him and two of his kids. The mom and their oldest daughter were both on a temple trip with the rest of the Relief Society from our branch. They had to go to Texas. They are the same family we had our fun birthday party with. Lunch was great and afterwards we were able to stay and clean up a lot of the house and yard, so that it would be nice when the girls got home. Then he took us back to the church. Once we were at the church we looked up bus information to find out when the next bus left going back towards where we live. It left in 3 minutes! We hurried and got on our bikes and were riding as fast as we could to the bus stop in order to make it in time. The next bus wouldn't come for another hour and a half. We were riding when I heard someone yell "Elderes!" We both turned and saw that the member who had given us a ride was pulled off into a car wash parking lot and his hood was up. We rode over, and were sad because we knew that we were missing the bus. But when we got to him we realized that his car had broken down. We found the problem and were trying to think about how we would get the parts. My companion and I rode all the way to the closest AutoZone on our bikes and tried to get the parts. We came back to find out we got all of them except that one of the pipes was the wrong shape. So, we took better pictures of the engine and rode the few miles back to the AutoZone. We got the right parts, came back and helped him get it fixed up and on his way back home. We were exhausted from the hot day and strenuous riding we had just done. Thinking we had missed the bus we looked up how we would make the over 10 mile bike ride back to our apartment. But we found the bus and were soon on our way back home! We got to the travel center in downtown just in time to connect the last connecting bus for the night.
Riding a bike in a shirt and tie down a hot Arkansas road is less than ideal. Close calls with cars and heavy packs would usually not be the type of Friday afternoon entertainment most would search for. I can say however that it was one of the funnest times I have had on my mission so far. There is a joy that only can come from serving others.
In Galatians 5:13-14 it states:
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
It is my prayer that we can love our neighbors a little but more. Be a little bit more kind. Forgive a little bit more easily. Is it not what Christ has already done for us? The same is expected of us.
Another awesome week and I look forward to seeing more blessings as I work even harder in the service of my dearest Brothers and Sisters.
Love you all!
Elder C.R. Anderson
1. A rice dish from el Salvador
2. A Peruvian elder in my district. We had a fun exchange and he was really excited to take a picture in our matching PJs
3. We all built a trampoline for an older Peruvian couple in our branch. They bought it to surprise their grandkids.
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