Week 21

Sanderson Family,                                                                                        12/10/2012

Thanks for the continuation of the Christmas countdown calendar thingy haha its so awesome to hear of the wonderful experiences everyone is having. Its so painful to only open 1 a-day haha. Thanks for the anxiety complexes ;) Love you all so much. I just bought your presents today (haha with my birthday money so enjoy) and I will send it as soon as I can get access to the post office. There is only one in Laredo and its way up north so we never get to go to it. Sorry for the lack of details in my letter. We get close to no time to email, but I will try and improve.

This week was awesome for the area of Rio Bravo.  We found 3 wonderful families,  The Cienfuegos, Ladezmas, and la Familia de la Rosa! We found them early in the week so we had plenty of time throughout the week to sit down with them and teach them the importance of church attendance  They all committed to come to church and were very excited! So Sunday comes around and sure enough all of them showed up! This was the first time since July of this year that this area has had people with baptismal dates at church! There were 12 of them all there and I am so excited because usually when someone attends church, their likely-hood of them getting baptized is much improved. This area hasn't baptized in a while and I feel as though that is why President Trayner has sent us here.

I had to give a talk in Spanish branch this last Sunday on Faith. I translated some back into English for you so enjoy haha :)

We have an important labor, you and I.  Let us harness the power of faith.  Do we really believe?  Do we act each moment like we really believe?  Do we have the faith to call down miracles upon our homes, our families, and our friends?  Do we really have the faith it takes to hasten the work?

I close this email with a quote from Elder Boyd K. Packer about faith:

"I recognize two kinds of faith.  The first is the kind which is apparent in the world.  It is the common denominator of most everything that goes on.  It is the thing that lets us exist.  It is the thing that gives us some hope of getting anything done.  Everyone has it, some in a large measure than others.  The second kind of faith, remarkably rare, unusual to find, is the kind of faith that causes things to happen.  Faith is a power as real as electricity except a thousand times more powerful." (Your Articles of Faith, BYU Speeches, March 21, 1962).

Brothers and Sisters, I pray that we might develop that "second kind of faith."  It is within each of us.  It is for us to discover.  It is for us to cultivate and nourish.  It is for us to magnify and give glory to He whose Spirit and priesthood rule the heavens.

I will be able to call you Christmas day after 7 because then minutes will be free. That's 7 my time so I think it’s at 6 for you guys...more details to follow once I find out more.

Love you all! Que tegan un buen dia!                           

Elder Craig Sanderson

Week 20

Dear Sanderson Family,                                                                     12/04/2012

Sorry that this is a late letter. Yesterday an Elder from the area of West Abudancia hurt his knee pretty bad so we had to spend a lot of time at the Hospital with him because we are the closest Elders with a car. He's fine and should be ready to work in a week or so.

This past week in Rio Bravo was a struggle to say the least. We have been really trying to get the members out to lessons with us to help fellowship the investigators that we have.  We had a lot of member present lessons set up but every single one of them fell through (about 10).  Either the investigators could not make the lesson or the members bailed out at the last minute.  So once again we had no one at church this Sunday

:(  That night Elder Magallanes and I knelt in fervent prayer and asked the Lord for some divine intervention. Later that night we found 2 solid families that want to learn more about the gospel! They all accepted baptismal dates for the 30th of December! So stoked! I feel as though the past few weeks was a testing period for us here in Rio Bravo.  Hopefully we can improve and press onward this week!

This past Friday the TMM all met in McAllen for the first ever Mission Conference. Every missionary gathered in McAllen to be instructed from Elder Schwitzer of the Seventy. He spoke on how important it was that our investigators knew what true repentance was. It opened my eyes to how true repentance builds lasting conversion and conviction in the Gospel. During the lunch break he walked up to me and asked if he could interview me for a few minutes after the Conference.  During the interview he just sat there staring at me for a few minutes...I swear he was reading my soul. After a while he finally spoke and said that the Spirit has whispered to him some advice that he wished to give me. I walked out of that interview a changed missionary. He wrote down my home address because he said that he would write you all a letter haha so look out for that. That man was so in-tune with the Spirit and it just radiated from him like I have never felt before. At the end of the interview he allowed me to ask him any deep doctrine question I wanted just for fun. Haha so I asked him how i could get the Second Comforter, that is, to see Jesus Christ and have my calling and election made sure. He laughed and told me that he would write me when he found out himself.  I was sorta disappointed haha ;)

Thank you so much for the package haha its a pretty awesome idea! I love the homemade bon-bons, so if there are any extra at home please send them my way :) Sorry about not sending all the baptismal photos. Usually I do not have my camera on me so my Recent Converts are the ones with all the photos :( I will be better at that from now on though. I didn't know you were making a scrap book for me.

con carino,

Elder Craig Sanderson

Week 19

Querido La Familia Sanderson,                                                              11/26/2012

Alright so this week I just wanted to take some time and try to answer some of the questions you have sent me in your previous letters. Sorry I don't have them with me so I will probably forget some of them but I will try my best. I love love loved my birthday present haha Elder Magallanes is jealous and uses it all the time. The only problem is...I can't cook haha so I guess I better start learning! The pumpkin pie turned out great! and didn't taste bad at all, a little surprising accomplishment for me.

So Nathan here are the answers to yours. The members here in Laredo mainly feed us rice, beans, and corn tortillas haha every meal! Good thing I love Mexican food. The worst thing is when they feed us menudo which is cow's stomach (Gross). Currently I have several baptisms but hopefully we can start seeing that number grow this coming month. And the funnest thing that I have done on my mission so far was my first baptism on August 19th. The coolest moment of my life! Hopefully that answers some of the questions.

Stacie, sorry to hear about your friend, but I am so happy that you have noticed the need for missionary work and have taken action.  The best thing you can do to try to help your friend is gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. You see, as members of the church, the depth of our conversion to the Gospel is directly connected to our own personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. The reason your friend always sees the negative and always expects to be let down is because he has not felt the sanctifying power of the atonement.  Every member of this church must at some time have a moment much like Parley P. Pratt when we devour the Book of Mormon because it is the only thing that can satisfy our souls. Not just for 10 min, but hours where nothing else matters, where sleep and food are a burden, and most of all when we are immersed within the Spirit. Your friend needs to see the Book of Mormon as a safe haven as well as a foundation in which he can begin to push off of as he builds his faith or personal relationship with his Savior. Continue to build your own testimony and deepening your conversion so that you might help others who are struggling along the path as well.

Things here are going great in Laredo. We have found some wonderful families and hopefully we can continue to help them progress.  I had sorta an accident though and well...haha my helmet is hurting pretty bad. So I was wondering if maybe I could make a request for Christmas this year. The Walmart ones break a lot so another nice one would be awesome! Preferably black, haha the Sisters like to tease me and call me the "Red Racer" with my old one. Also...haha well my quad has been missing for about 2 weeks now and no sign of it ever coming back.  I had District Leader Training and I accidentally left it at the church and I cannot find it anywhere. So I was also wondering if you could order me one. I want to use my Birthday money on it but they don't have any on LDS.org. I would like to get the blue quad with the flap but the mini one. If its a hassle I can get by with my Spanish scripts if need be.

Thanks for sending your letters in the Mail, could you please continue to send them that way so I can sit down and read them. Thanks for everything and Y'all (ahh i'm starting to say that) are in my prayers!

les amo

Elder Sanderson

Week 18 Cont. - Pictures

Hey so I am in Laredo now. My new address is 134 Alicante Dr Laredo, TX 78046. It is the most ghetto area ever and its only like a block from the border but super awesome! here are some pics...enjoy!

Me, Sister Capo, and Elder Vasquez on our first night in Loredo

Elder Magallanes being a boss

The Rio Grande

Week 18

Dear Family,

Greetings from Laredo! This is the coolest place on earth haha I have only been here a week but I can already tell that it is a land of miracles. Elder Magallanes and I "whitewashed" this area and are starting the build this area. Whitewashing is when they take both the old missionaries out and place 2 brand new ones in the area. So my companion and I have really nothing to work with or any prior knowledge of the area. So Tuesday night Elder Magallanes and I knelt down and prayed that we would be able to baptize in this area. Then Wednesday morning we got to work and the Lord blessed us abundantly! We found 14 new investigators that have committed to be baptized on December 16! This area hasn't baptized in over a year so we are hoping to change all of that. 

In my area almost everyone speaks Spanish, which is ok, there is just one problem...none of them sound the same. They have all immigrated from all over south America and have the craziest accents so for me its pretty hard to follow along at times. Luckily Elder Magallanes is a native speaker so he helps out alot. My Spanish is coming along great and has improved alot now that I am forced to speak it 24/7.

I have been asked to teach the Gospel Principles class next week on Sunday in the Spanish Branch so pray haha...alot. It should go great, I teaching the law of Chasity...fun huh? Lame! but it will be good practice haha everyone needs to hear that lesson again here. Thanks for all that you have done! I haven't got to read your letters yet but I will when we get home. Love You!

les amo

Elder Sanderson

p.s. hey could you send me some cash? Because we have no atms in our area and people here only accept cash for things

Also, could you guys mail me your letters? i just found out that we can't print them off so from now on could you do that for me?

Week 17

Mis Familia y amigos,                                                                             11/12/2012

So transfers are tomorrow and I am sad to say...but I am leaving Kingsville :( My new area will be called Rio Bravo (the Mexican version of the rio grande) in Laredo! Its right on the border and about 3 or 4 blocks from the Rio Grande. Its like every missionary's dream to be in this area or the next one over called South Gate. So I am pretty stoked but I am going to miss the wonderful people here in Kingsville. They are all so dear to me and I hope I can visit them again. I don't know my new address yet so I will send it to you all next Monday. Its 100% Spanish speaking so I am really stoked for that. Hopefully this will get the remaining "gringo" out of me haha. My new companion is named Elder Magallanes and he is the district leader down there, he is training me to be the district leader there after he leaves so fun fun fun!

This last week that I had here in Santa Gertrudis has been pretty wild. Since Thursday I have been almost bed-ridden with a high fever that seems to be spreading through the town. The highest thermometer reading I got was about 103 degrees haha. But I survived and Sister Trayner was up in Corpus and drove down and took care of me haha. But I am feeling better and got a few days of work here in my last week in my "greenie" area. It feels nice to leave the area much improved since I came in. The Lord has blessed my openly with success here.

For my birthday the Ward threw me and Elder Hunt a party before we both left (Elder Hunt is going home). It was legit and awesome to see the ward finally excited about something to do with Missionaries haha. Maybe they were just excited we were leaving, who knows, but nevertheless it was a blast. I loved receiving all of your yummy birthday treats! Elder Bybee and I now probably have diabetes from all the sweets, but that won't slow us down one bit. We just baked the Pumpkin pie this morning so we will have to taste it later today and see how it turned out! Love you all so much and thanks for all the support and birthday wishes. Y'all the best! haha

Les Quiero,

Elder Sanderson

Week 16

Dear Family,                                                                                                11/5/2012

Thank you so much for the letters as well as that picture of Christ. I love the story on the back as well. Many of time we are like that lost sheep that our patient and loving Shepherd so diligently seeks out and brings us back to the fold. I hope this past week was a blast for everyone! Sounds like everyone had an awesome Halloween night and hopefully it wasn't too cold for everyone. Let the Cavities begin! haha

This week in the Celestial Kingdom of Santa Gertrudis was as always...pretty neat haha. This family we had been working with for a while called the Medrano Family (I may have mentioned them before) seemed as though it was time for us to drop them as investigators and move on to more promising prospects.  They had cancelled all of our appointments that week and most of them were cancelled as we were traveling to their house...super frustrating. So this past Sunday morning we were planning on going over randomly and doing what we call a "Desires Lesson", which basically translates out to seeing if they have any spiritual fire to continue on. So Saturday night we planned out this crazy lesson to make them feel guilty because they were not keeping commitments. Well Sunday comes and as we walk into the chapel, guess who is there...and early too! The Medrano family came to church, without us reminding them, as well as without calling them to wake them up. They stayed for all 3 hours and loved it! Hurrah for Miracles!

Oh before I forget, transfers are next week and I might be moving somewhere...but who knows. Anyways don't send anything to be that wont get here by next Monday or I probably will not get it. If I get moved I will try and send you my new address as soon as I can. Love you all!

con carino,

Elder Craig Sanderson