Baptism of Eric Aguilar!

Monday, May 14, 2018

Hey y'all!

For this week I think it would be cool to share a story about Eric Aguilar who just got baptised and his conversion story from my point of view.

About 6 months ago when I was in little rock, our branch President approached me to say that he had a lady message him on Facebook that was interested about the Church. He said he hadn't had any conversation with her but wanted me to follow up with her and answer any questions she had. I looked her up and my companion and I found out that this lady and her husband had just moved from Houston to Searcy with 3 little kids. She asked for the Spanish branch information and I told her it was about an hour and a half drive but we would be more than happy to see them at church! She was excited and said she was going to try and make it. After that I also mentioned that we had a missionary in Searcy that spoke Spanish (elder ogaard). I asked if it would be ok that I sent him her informatio, and they could possibly look at attending church in Searcy with them.

Many months passed and then I meet the Aguilar family just as I am about to come to Searcy. We realize that sister Aguilar was the sister who had messaged me on Facebook so many months earlier. We then also connected the dots that they had come to little rock to hear elder Holland and elder uctdorf when they came to visit and that they were getting the Spanish translation for the service. I was the one on the other side of the microphone translation for the talks!

After being in Searcy I got to help continue to teach Eric and help prepare him for baptism. He is truly a convert who has repented of his sins and become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Not only am I thankful for the holy ghost which prompted her to message our branch President, but i am so extremely thankful that we have been trusted with the technology we have to further the work of the Lord. It has been such a blessing to me, and now the Aguilar family. I love them and am so happy for this amazing change in both of their lives, and especially in the lives of their children.

This work is marvellous and God is good.

To finish off I would like to take a little time to talk about my mom and the importance of families. I love her. She has taught me so so much and helped me to prepare to be a missionary and continue to grow while I am on my mission.

I invite all of you to start studying with me out of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. This was sent out by the apostles and prophet of our church. It is powerful and true.  We will be studying it together as a family and I will send out parts to read and some guiding questions to answer as we do so! Keep the answers on paper and share them with each other and me if you'd like!

The title and first two paragraphs

1. Who is writing this message and who is their audience? Why is that so important?
2. What does it mean to you to be a spirit son or daughter of God?

Love y'all and I will talk to you again soon! Enjoy some fun pictures!

Elder C.R. Anderson

1. From left to right: elder Carter, elder Dahl, Maria Aguilar, Eric aguilar, elder ogaard, bishop Webb, elder Anderson (Searcy)
2.puppy (Heber springs)
3.fun fishing statue (heber springs)
4.crawling in a tube (Heber springs)
5.heber springs view (Heber springs)
6. Sherwood ranch, going to a bonfire on their property to eat the crawfish (judsonia)
7. Sherwood crawfish boil (judsonia)
8. Grayson and dallon ( judsonia)
9. Out mission gave us safety vests for when were biking. We wore them on a drive just for fun
(Searcy- Heber springs)

Howdy!

Monday, May 7, 2018

Good Morning!

Today is a good day in Arkansas! Then again I haven't had a bad day in Arkansas since I've been here. Sure, it gets hard some times, but i can always choose to be happy!

Something very exciting is happening in Searcy this weekend! Eric Aguilar is getting baptised and we are excited for him. He is prepared for everything and loves his savior. He is an amazing father and husband and is excited to love the gospel with the rest of his family.

I am so happy I get to celebrate my mom this mothers day! Boy does she deserve it! So do all you other moms out there (including grandmas, sister in laws, aunts, and future moms) deserve a great day and I wish you the best!

There is a scripture from the book of Mormon in Alma 56:47-48 that talks about the strippling warriors and their mothers:

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

These faithful young men were marching off to battle in defense of their families and religion. They had Faith and did not doubt because they "had been taught by their mothers."

When the teachings from parents are focused on Jesus Christ and correct doctrine, children are able to be raised in an atmosphere of understanding and growth. President Boyd K. Packed said:

“True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior.”

–President Boyd K. Packer

I am so thankful for parents who taught me correct and true doctrine. I am proud to be my momma's boy. She is an amazing woman and a spiritual giant. I hope we can all take the opportunity to thank our moms for their spirituality and tender spirits. Have an amazing and happy week!

I love you mom!

Elder C.R. Anderson

1. Cool picture an elder drew on a chalkboard
2.Me painting a house
3. Fun laundry sign. The mom of the house is the kindest lady I have met, that's why her kids thought it was funny to buy her the sign
4. Climbing a tree to tie a rope around it, the man then cut the tree with a chainsaw while we pulled on the rope. Worked well!
5.helping a young family in medical school move out of our ward! They are going to Missouri! Literally half our ward came out to help them. Our ward is amazing.

Hello!

Monday, April 30, 2018

Happy Monday Everyone!

This week I spent time all over eastern Arkansas! Within this last week I went to lonoke, little rock, Quitman, Heber springs, and everywhere in between! It's been really cool to be able to be out of little rock and see a lot more of the mission.

The work is going well and we are getting excited for Eric because he is planning his baptism for the 12th. Alot of their family is coming from Texas and Mexico. It will be a good time!

We have been helping various families move in and out as well in the recent weeks. A fun fact about our ward is that it's made up of about 50% doctors and the rest are either farmers or other jobs in town. A lot of doctors are here for about 3 years as they do their residency or schooling here. It's so fun because A lot of them are young couples with energetic children.

Yesterday the sister missionaries sang a really good version of be still my soul. Then afterwards my companion gave a strong talk on the restoration.

Today we went to the Searcy sports complex and played soccer and kickball as a zone! There's a picture attached but it's really poor quality.

The other pictures i have attached are of a trailer in Brinkley that was way way out there! We were driving a Tacoma and it was needed because their "driveway" was about 2 miles long and very muddy. Good time! The other is a picture of a wild bunny that lives under a shed that's out behind the missionaries apartment in lonoke. They feed it carrots every once in a while. The last picture was after leaving a dinner appointment with the Theamans. Their little boy threw chocolate milk in my lap. It made all of us laugh and was pretty funny.

Love you all so much! It has been such a blessing to be a missionary. I love my Lord Jesus Christ!

Have an amazing week

Elder C.R. Anderson

Called to SERVE

Monday, April 23, 2018

Happy Monday!

I have had so many great experiences already in Searcy! The people here are very hard working and humble. Because of that we have so so many opportunities to serve families and individuals. Just this last week we did almost 15 hours of service! I'll run you through some of them:

Cabot Arkansas - I was in Cabot with elder draper on exchanges. It was so much fun to serve with him for a day. We went and did service for an older lady in the ward and put down mulch in the flower beds on her property. While doing so we found a lot of bugs id never seen before, huge spiders, lizards, and frogs. It was so much fun! Afterwards she gave us cookies and lemonade and sent us on our way.

Cabot Arkansas (again) - the next morning we woke up and got to go and shovel a lot of rabbit poo. It wasn't as nasty as it sounds. The family owns about 40 rabbits! They had us shovel all of the manure and put it in the bases of planting boxes they were going to start growing various vegetables in!

Diamond Ranch - We woke up early on Saturday morning to get to diamond ranch by 6. We got there and worked on the ranch all morning. We started off by herding all the cattle and running them through the ring so that we could give them all their vaccines. All the cattle they own (about 50) are longhorns. After giving a few some vaccines we helped out around the ranch with the rest of the animals including the horses, pigs, chickens, and ponies. Near the end we even helped castrate some of the bulls! Sorry no pictures of that! The hardest part was wrestling the bull so that we could do it. Took about 7 of us. Cool experience.

Searcy - we helped a family in our ward split a bunch of fire wood as well as clean up around the house. Overall a great time! Right afterwards they fed us a steak dinner! It was a lot of fun.

On the side we did some other various projects and small acts of kindness. I know that when we are serving other people, they can directly feel of the love that we and our Lord has for them. It's amazing!

In addition to exciting news we have been working with the Aguilar family, especially Eric who is the dad. Just last weekend we set a date with him to get baptised. He is such a humble man and is excited to serve in the church. He believes in and loves his family so so much. Most of all he is excited to be sealed to his, who is already a member of the church, in the temple. They are an amazing family and I am so thankful to be working with them! Also they are one of the only Hispanic families I have ever met in Searcy so they makes me happy to.

I'm working hard and having an amazing time. As I lose myself in the service of others, I become so happy. At the end of the day I am tired, sore, and sometimes emotionally drained. However, I am able to look back on what I have done, and know that I did something good that day. In a very small way, I changed the world.

Love you all so much! Expect some more fun pictures and stories

Elder C.R. Anderson

Steak Dinner with the Kelly family
Longhorns
Baby colt
Wagon ride
Wagon ride
Wagon ride
Spending the night with Elder smalling and elder parks
Cool arch at harding
Putting mulch in flower gardens
Old movie theater in town