4/15/2013

Querida Familia,                                                                                     April 15, 2013

Another week has passed in good ol' Rio Bravo. Besides the ungodly weather everything was awesome. Hope everything was legit back at home. Thanks for the package and all the yummy dulces (candies). I haven't gained any weight on my mission yet but I'm guessing that soon will change. I might have to hit the bike up a little more.

This week our recent convert Mellisa Sanchez was confirmed! She is pretty shy so for her to go up in front of everyone was a pretty big feat for her. We had one of Southgate's recent converts confirm her. He had just recently received the Melchizedek priesthood the week earlier. It was his first time but he did great. haha he forgot a few words and started to panic but he held it together.

So with the ever increasing number of Sister missionaries coming out into the field the need for more sister areas has been a problem. They usually get the nicer areas away from the border and so my district just opened 2 more sister areas and just doubled in size haha. I am now the District Leader of what we call a "Relief Society" and so I'm the relief society president. haha pray for me...I've never worked with sister missionaries before. There are 4 of them, 2 are being trained and just turned 19. They are fun and bring a different feel to the district. Its funny how much more focused and professional the Elders act around Sisters. So yeah with all this change we get to re-name our area. I was thinking "Abundancia" (the land bountiful) or "Los Presidentes" (a name after one of the gangs here) or Santa Rita (a name of a main street) or Southmost (because its the most south...clever right) we can keep it as Rio Bravo (the fierce river) haha any opinions?

This week I contracted this crazy infection on my tongue called "Thrush", Its pretty nasty but Sister Trayner said she would get me some stuff to fix it. They think it was caused by eating too much spicy food so for the next 2 weeks I can't eat anything hot...so basically nothing in Laredo. The members have been awesome and have been feeding me some more mild type of cuisine. They brought this cool medicine from Mexico for me to try but I am a bit skeptical about trying it. Called President and he didn't think it was such a good idea. But yeah I am alive and well :)

Transfers are this next week and I have no idea if I am leaving or not. So yeah just send stuff to the mission home if you need to. Thanks for everything. Que tengan un buen semana!

Que Dios les bengia,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission

4/7/2013

Sanderson Family,

This week in "la tierra promesa" of Rio Bravo we had another awesome baptism of Mellisa Sanchez! She along with 6 other souls were baptized this week into our small branch of Los Presidentes. What a legit way to top off conference weekend! I hope we all within the next few days reflect often upon our notes and the discourses given this past weekend. Funny to see how many were on the importance of diligent prayer and scripture study...right Stacy? :) haha You still haven't sent me some of your study journal.

Recieved some sad news last night. Lupita and Jackie may be moving back to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico today. She is looking for an apartment here in Laredo, but if she cannot find one this morning she will be gone. So hopefully everything works out for that. Other than a few other people, they are the only solid people we have committed to be baptized this month. 

In response to your question Dad, the youth here in Laredo really struggle with the Law of Chasity and mainly in the areas of actual sexual intimacy. In fact, besides keeping the sabbath day holy, its the most broken commandment here. Most young women are pregnant by late teens and often abandoned by husbands. Many are sick and dies due to various types of HIV. And almost always the child is aborted...a precious child of God deprived of this wonderful live all because of 2 young peoples neglect of self control. Its so weird because its as almost a part of the culture here. People here just simply do not have an eternal perspective. Just another example of how far the world is slipping from the safety of the commandments. With this almost total disregard of the sacred creative powers lovingly given to us the society here has crumbled. I figure that if the youth in this world would simply keep in mind the significant, eternal consequences of these momentary actions, much of this suffering would be alleviated. 

I love these verses from Mormon 6 as the Nephite prophet Mormon is lamenting over the destruction of his once delight some people

  17 O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!

 18 Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss.

 19 O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!

 20 But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return.

 21 And the day soon cometh that your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies; and then ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to be judged according to your works; and if it so be that ye are righteous, then are ye blessed with your fathers who have gone before you.

 22 O that ye had repented before this great destruction had come upon you. But behold, ye are gone, and the Father, yea, the Eternal Father of heaven, knoweth your state; and he doeth with you according to his justice and mercy.

I hope this helps a little bit. Sorry for the shortness of the message. We have a meeting today so we are a tad bit short on time. Hope all is well :)

les amo mucho,

Elder Craig Sanderson
Texas McAllen Mission

3/25/2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                         3/25/2013

As always it was so nice to hear from you all. haha I am glad you liked the Taylor Swift quote. I got it from her "Speak Now" album case back at home. I took a picture of it so I would have the quote with me.

Another awesome week here in the Celestial Kingdom of Rio Bravo. This past Sunday i was blessed with the opportunity to confirm Santa Cestou a member of the Church. So funny story...we always taught Santa in spanish, but she always attended english branch because she knew some of the members there anyways.  So I began the confirmation and I guess like half-way through I switched to spanish and then ended the blessing. I didn't realize it until Elder Wilding told me, but yeah I was sorta embarrassed. Luckily most people here are bi-lingual so they understood the blessing. Also this Sunday, Mellisa, Lupita and Jackie were all interviewed for their baptisms this next Sunday. They all did so wonderful! The only problem is that Lupita needs to be interviewed with President Trayner before baptism so we are unsure if she will be baptized this coming weekend. Please keep her in your prayers :)

This past week Elder Bosselman and I went on exchanges in my area and found this awesome woman named Monica. Shes 30 yrs old and was just recently divorced from her husband and is without a job. The man basically dropped her and left her helpless. The Lord has truly prepared her and her 3 kids (only 1 is baptismal age). She started crying like 3 minutes into the lesson. She even accepted to be baptized before we had even said the opening prayer. As missionaries we do what we call "How to Begin Teaching" which is basically where we state our purpose and set expectations with the investigator and give a short over-view of what we are going to teach them. Well as we were giving the over-view we told her we were going to talk about baptism and at the end of the lesson we were going to commit her to be baptized. right after we said that she said, "well can I say yes now?" So she and her young daughter accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of April and are progressing very well.

thank you so much for the support :) Hope all is well.

con amor,

Elder Sanderson

Texas McAllen Mission

3/18/2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                      3/18/20

Another awesome baptism this week! haha Things are going great and the work is moving forward here in Rio Bravo. One of our investigators named Santa Cestou told us that we needed to move her original baptismal date (the 24th) back a week because she had to go out of town on some emergency trip for the school district. I don't like moving dates back because it gives Satan more time to create doubts in their head. So after saying a silent prayer as what we might do, we invited her to be baptized the next morning at church. haha She was a little nervous but eagerly accepted. It was an awesome service! I'll attach some pictures. Santa is probably the most prepared person that I have ever taught. She never missed a lesson, and kept every single commitment. She has such a good desire to serve and she is already asking when she can come out to lessons with us. I'm so grateful for her and the wonderful blessing she is to us and the branch here. Haha she always refers to Elder Wilding and I as "her angels". After her baptism we asked how she felt, she said that she felt so light haha and then went on to explain that it was probably because of all the filth she left in the water. Hard to believe that this woman has sinned at all haha she is such a saint.

The only damper on the week is that Robert Mungia has asked us to stop coming by. About 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night we get a call from his wife (who is a member) telling us that Robert has really been smoking the entire time and just been lying to us because he didn't want to let us down. She then explained that he needed more time and in the meantime he has asked that we don't go by. As you can imagine this was heart breaking news for Elder Wilding and I. Ever since I had arrived in Laredo I have been working with Bro. Mungia. The progress has been slow but he has slowly been progressing. He was looking great to get baptized this weekend. It was disheartening to know that if only we had followed up better on the smoking, this problem wouldn't have existed. When we would follow up and ask him about the smoking, he would just tell us great. I felt the impressions to dig more, but I ignored them, now I realize it was the Spirit trying to guide us. Its the worst feeling knowing that you have ignored a prompting and not acted upon it.

The experience with Brother Mungia has really made me focus my studies lately around the Spirit. At many times in our lives we feel the impression to say something, but we retrain ourselves for a number or reasons. I believe most of the time it is because of fear, and in the case of Bro. Mungia, fear of disappointment...on both ends. Not following the Holy Ghost will always lead to regret. This awesome quote that I carry around with my in my scriptures has really helped me overcome the fear sometimes accompanied with following the promptings of the Spirit.

 "Real life is a funny thing you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial in fact, that most of us start to hesitate for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately, what I have begun to fear more than that, is letting the moment pass by without saying anything. I think you deserve to look back on your life without this chorus of resounding voices saying, 'I could have, but it's too late now'. So there is a time for silence, and there is a time for waiting your turn. But if you know how you feel, and you so clearly know what you need to say, you'll know it. I don't think you should wait. I think you should Speak Now." - Taylor Swift

May we be able to look back on our lives with the sweet satisfaction knowing we never let fear restrict us from the guidance of our loving Heavenly Father. I hope all is well!

con amor,

Elder Craig Sanderson

3/11/2013

Sanderson Family,                                                                                          3/11/2013

Transfers are this next week and I get to stay other transfer here in Rio Bravo! So stoked. This is an awesome area and we are doing so good so I am glad I get to stay. Plus, that means another transfer with Elder Wilding! He is my favorite companion and makes everything so much fun. All our Spanish investigators call us the  los munecos. That translates out to "the dolls". They call us that because of our blue and green eyes. So yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

This week it got super hot here in Laredo, my poor body was just screaming haha. It only got like 100 but the sun was just relentless. As you can imagine, I had a nice shiny red nose. The worst is the wind.  The breeze is not refreshing at all haha. When we are riding our bikes it seriously feels like a blow dryer is constantly in your face. The weather works to our benefit though, it seems as though people are more willing to let us in and share a message since they have pity on us.

This week was awesome! Brother Mungia hasn't smoked for a week and is having his baptismal interview this Wednesday. He is super nervous so we are going over tonight to go over the interview questions to help him feel more comfortable. He is doing so great! The gospel is slowing mending that family. They are already talking about temple dates to be sealed.  Boo-ya! We also found an awesome family this week as well. I think I mentioned them in the last letter but they are called the Chick family. Its a family of 6 with 4 baptismal age. The mother, Anna, is great and has really good desires for her and the family. She is going to key in motivation the husband, Jay, to keep commitments. They have 4 Children, Anna, Artuo (twins), Cain, and Kayla. They are so much fun. The daughter is super intelligent and even though she is only 11 she is  taking classes in school that are 2 grade levels higher. Their baptism is for the 7th of April.

Something cool that I found in my studies this week was in Helaman 5:10-11. Helaman is talking to his two sons Nephi and Lehi about the importance of the message they will soon carry to the apostate Lamiities.  Helaman councils: "And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls."

I love the part when it says that our Savior will save us from our sins, but not in our sins. We must be repentant. If not, we do not qualify for the amazing and saving grace of the Atonement. The problem in this world is that not everyone knows this, some don't even know how. That responsibility then falls on us as members of the church to "declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance".  We are those angels that our friends and families are waiting for. We must seek out those who have not felt the redeeming power of the Atonement and help them. We have all been in some way commissioned of Jesus Christ to help our fellowman. The full-time missionary force is just not simply enough. We must all be actively engaged. Pray for the closeness of the Spirit and I promise you that missionary opportunities will arise.

I love you all :)

-Elder Sanderson

3/4/2013

Querido la Familia Sanderson,                                                                        3/04/2013

Just wanted to remind you all of a few things. This coming week is transfers and who knows if I'll get moved so yeah don't mail anything. President Trayner is going to do a huge transfer in preparation of the new mission president that is going to be coming in this June. I don't want to leave Rio Bravo, its by far the awesomest area in the mission and I am so lucky to be here. Yesterday one of the Assistants, Elder De La Fuente, called me up and said that an Elder might be going home early due to medical reasons and I might have to fill his spot as the Zone Leader in Brownsville. Hopefully that doesn't happen haha I don't think I'm ready to be a zone leader, I'm way too young. But yeah, hopefully I stay here in good ol' Laredo.

This week we found an awesome family. It was another testimony of how perfectly in control our heavenly Father is.  We were walking down this street towards a former investigator because our appointment fell through. We had never worked this area before much so we thought that we would knock a few doors, looking for clues if there could possibly be a family living there. We had this strong impression to knock this door and this young woman answers the door. She quickly explained that she only spoke Spanish. We answered back, "pues hermana hablamos espanol tambien." haha I love the shock on people's faces when they find out two strange white boys can speak their language. Anyways we began teacher the woman and these 2 kids that were there. Turns out the woman, Melissa, is just the families babysitter but lives with a friend who is a member who just immigrated here all the way from Honduras. After setting a baptismal date with her we took down her address and made an appointment with her the next day. We also set up appointment to teach the family that lives there. They are the Chick family (a strange name for a Hispanic family huh). So the next day we go over to Melissa's and we teach her and her 4 roommates. they all accepted baptismal dates and they all came to church this Sunday. They are so legit! Anyways after the lesson the friend that is a member shows up, her name is Reina. She just crossed over here about 2 weeks ago and has been searching for the church. She is an awesome member and has really provided a lot of fellowship for Melissa, Lupita, Jackie, and Norma. Their baptismal dates are for the 31st of March.

Ok Nate so here is the story with Omar. We found Omar about 2 months ago. He was a former investigator from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. He is a party boy and loves to live his life with the attitude of "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die." He is an awesome guy but his moral compass is a bit skewed. His conversion process was relatively slow. The biggest factor in his conversion was the Book of Mormon.  In order to get baptized Omar had to give up Heroin, Drinking, Smoking, and law of Chastity issues. What really made him decide to change is when he was reading in 3rd Nephi 17. In this chapter the Savior heals the multitude of Nephites.  After he read that he called us to come over. We came over and he told us how he wanted to give everything up...just to feel what it was like to be healed by the Savior. That was the turning point in his repentance process. After that first encounter of what the love of Christ could do for him he "threw down his weapons of rebellion" and followed our Savior. He still struggled and faltered along the way, but he could never deny that this what he needed, and so from there he drew forth enough strength to overcome his addictions.

Ok, and to answer your second question about sacrifice. Nathan, I don't really feel as though I have sacrificed that much. The closer I get to my Savior the more I realize how little he truly asks of us. Yes I had to give up some opportunities and other social things, but as you will soon find out...the mission is worth it.  I am convinced that the reason Missionaries are asked to give up so much is because now it puts us in a position that we can ask our investigators to make sacrifices. Because I have sacrificed somethings, I could then ask Omar to sacrifice his past and begin anew.  These sacrifices are not limited to just the full-time missionaries, but to all followers of Jesus Christ.  Sacrifice is necessary. I think that we must all spend a few minutes in the Garden of Gethsemane or walk a few steps up Calvary before we truly can begin to call us disciples of Christ. To call yourself a disciple of Christ we must be willing to take a portion of the pain or sorrows that He so willingly took upon himself. Sometimes these sacrifices are not fun or they might hurt us at times, but Christ bears the signs that pains and afflictions come from sacrifice in the service of others, sometimes we will have to as well. When I first entered the MTC I promised my Heavenly Father and my Savior that I would stand tall and faithful in whatever was asked of me.  One of my main goals on my mission is that when I arrive home and deliver my "homecoming" talk, I wish to be able to say that I, like the Savior, suffered the will of my Father from the beginning. I hope to be able to do that. Nathan, there is a huge difference between bearing witness of the Savior, and being a witness of the Savior. I believe the difference is sacrifice. So what are we going to sacrifice, when the bright morning star Jesus Christ sacrificed everything in our behalf?

I love you all and I hope all is well. Hope this helps with your talk! Tenga Exito!

con muchisimos amor

Elder Sanderson