Aug. 25, 2013

hey guys!!

Great week this last week we had our 3 baptisms!!!! Everything went super great and it was probably the best baptismal service i've had in my whole mission we had invitations and everything for it. I'm officialy not to happy though about courtnee going to an eagles bears game without me but i guess i'll be fine;) WE have done great here in turrialba this month. We had 5 baptisms in our ward and only 1 baptism from the missionaries in paraiso. I don't know what to do to help them. I've been trying so hard to help them get excited and have more trust and faith in God that they will have success. I know that we can all have success we just need to work hard. The goal for the mission next month is 200 baptisms. We've been getting a bout 150 the last 3 months. Which when we first accomplished 150 that was the most that this mission had ever had but i know that we can do better. Costa Rica is so prepared and blessed right now. Now is the time to harvest not later but now. And i'm just so happy and grateful to be a part of it.

I love you guys tons and hope you have a great time in Vegas!!

Love Drake

Aug. 18, 2013

hey guys!!!

No we didn't have the baptisms because there this week!! Elder Moran is really cool and we now actually have a family preparing for baptism for the 14th of september. THis week was really good even though we only had 22 lessons. We have found a lot of people that really want to change. And who really want to listen. Not much happening though haha. I'm really starting to love the scriptures now and see the importance of them in the conversion process. But anyways sorry i don't have much to say this week but we got back to turrialba late so i have little time to talk and still have to write president but i love you guys so much and hope that all is well with everyone.

Love Elder Drake Anderson

Aug. 11, 2013

Hey guys. My companion had changes. But everything is alright because i have been blessed to recieve such a great companion. His name is Elder Moran. He is from El Salvador and has 4 months in the mission. He is a super hard worker. These last four days we have seen so many miracles. This investigator that we were teaching didn't want to go to church becuase he's smoking marijuana and his girlfriend kicked him out of the house and won't let him see his daughter so he was just torn a part. so for those reasons he didn't want to make any commitments because he was afraid of making a mistake afterwards. But we had the most amazing lesson. We had something else planned but i felt strongly that we had to talk about the atonement. So we changed the topic. And i know that that was what we had to teach because the spirit was so strong in that lesson. And my companion shared such a great scripture with him. And then we both felt like we needed to challenge him to be baptized for the 31st so we did it and he accepted!!! THen even though he told us at the start of the lesson he wasn't going to pray he offered the closing prayer. And during the prayer the spirit was so strong that we all started to cry. 

I testify that the Holy Ghost can comfort anyone. I know that he is going to get baptized now because of the spirtual comfirmation that he's had. And this is my favorite part of the mission. 

THis next saterday we're going to have 3 baptisms and the saterday after that he will get baptized. I love this area so much. And i hope that i will be able to stay here for 2 changes with Elder Moran because he's seriously the best. 

Thank you guys so much for your love your examples and your support. I am so grateful to have such a great family and friends. I love you all so much.

Elder Drake Anderson

Aug. 5, 2013

Hey guys!! Wow i totally forgot about the family reunion. Good thing though because if not i would have totally been homesick. But i'm glad to here that you guys had a great time and that a ton of people came. I can't believe that there was 320 people there. This week was pretty good! There was a baptism in the district. And we should have another one this week. And me and my companion are looking at 3 or 4 people that will probably get baptized this month. 

We're now trying to find more and more people every week so that we can have about 4 or more baptisms every month. 

My companion is so great. I've learned so much from him. I'm not looking forward to changes this thursday. I can't believe how fast the time is passing by here. I now have 1 year since i came to costa rica. And i dread how fast the day is coming that i have to leave this wonderful country. And most of all these wonderful people. 

There really is nothing like serving a mission. I would never give this up for anything. For darbi i want you to just keep on preparing. Get ready for the mission because i promis you that it's not worth wasting even one moment of your mission. The time out here is so sacred. 

I love turrialba now. The people here are just so cool. haha and we have so many members that are just so willing to help us out all of the time. And it's just so pretty and chill here. It's nice to be out of the city again.

Oh ya tuday as a zona we went to play paintball. and i would send you guys some fotos but an elder dropped my camera while he was taking a picture of our team and it broke. So this week i'm going to see if i can find an electronics store where maybe they can repair it. 

But ya that is what happend this week and i'll let you guys know if we had changes or know but have a great week. I love all of you guys and thank you so much for all the support.

Elder Drake Aanderson

July 27, 2013

Hey guys we actually had a great week as a district. My companion and me put 5 baptismal dates this week which was a big step for us. But we have planned to invite even more this week. This last week i had the oppurtunity to have a interview with President Wilkinson. He is so awesome!! I just feel super inspired everytime that i get to talk with him. Then the next day one of the Assistants came and worked in our area with us. Another day of inspiration. I learned so much from him. 

The District is doing great! We had 50 lessons this week with a member present as a district!! Which is like 20 more than i've ever seen before with this group of missionaries. I'm truly blessed to have such great missionaries in my district. I'm going to be sad if i have to lose any of them this next week in changes. 

It's starting to rain a ton here. And the umbrella that i bought got stolen so ya haha it's been kinda a wet week for me. But everything is good. We have about 3 or more people looking really good for this next month that could get baptized. We just need to work hard with them and try to include the ward more in the mission work.

We didn't have our capacitation this last saterday because there was a relief society activity instead. But that activity went weel land we're looking forward for the next oppurtunity we have to teach peopl about preach my gospel. 

I can't believe how fast the time is passing. 

I'm so grateful everyday for the blessings that the Lord has given me. And for all the support and love you guys have shown me.

Love Elder Anderson

July 22, 2013

Wow this week was a huge let down. This was the first time i didn't have more than 22 lessons in 6 months. but me and my companion learned a ton duriing this week. and we're excited to go to work this week. I never really had time to go get my toe looked at but i've been treating it kinda haha. And it's gotten a lot better actually. It doesn't hurt to walk anymore!!!! I got the package and thank you guys so much for all the stuff i love having the little preach my gospel now i can carry it around with me everywhere! Good news tho is that the activity turned out to be super great and super fun. We only had about 30 people show up but we got about 10 references from the activity and have FHE scheduled for the next 3 weeks with new investigators. More good news my district might have 5 baptisms this week which would put us at 6 baptisms for july 1 more than our goal of 5. Then the next month i'm hoping to accomplish the goal of excellency which is 4 baptisms every companionship every month which means that we would have 16 baptisms every month as a district. I know that we can do it because we have found 138 investigators so far this month we just need to have more faith and invite all of them to get bapitzed the first visit. THat's been our big problem as a district not putting baptismal dates in the first visit. Our investigators will never progress or do anything if we don't invite them to. I love being a missionary it's so great being able to help people be happy and feel the love that God has for them. 

Well this next week i'll be doing divisions for 2 days in paraiso because i have to go do 3 baptismal interviews there and then another one here in turrialba. So 4 interviews this week. I'm always super nervous for interviews. But during them that feeling goes away. Instead of that feeling i feel so happy to see the change in these peoples lives and to see how excited they are to change everything and give up so many habits to make this covenant of baptism with the Lord. 

There is no feeling greater than this. and it makes me so sad to see how fast the time is passing. next week i'll have 1 year in costa rica. and 14 months in the mision. But that just meens that i have to work as hard as i can for the next 10 months. I can't and won't let anything hold me back. I love this work so much. The Gospel is True. I Also love hearing about all the people that are going on the mission and can't wait till darbi get's out there. 

I love you guys so much. Thank you all for all the support and love that you have given and shown me.

Love Elder Drake Anderson

July 15,2013

Hey guys. Wow what an interesting week. Almost all of our plans fell through this week so we only had 22 lessons. and i feel like this week won't be much better because i'll probably have to go to san jose because i have the worst ingrown toenail i've ever seen haha so i'll probably have to go get that taken care of haha. But we did come up with some great plans last week and find some really good people. TOmorrow we'll probably put 6 baptismal dates. And that is our big goal right now and every week to put baptismal dates with everyone in the first visit because we've been slaking on that. We also started having preach my gospel classes every other saturday. And activities the saturdays we don't have class. The first class we had went super well and i feel like a lot of people enjoyed it and we're stoked for the activity this week. We're going to play like a human size monopoly kind of haha. We're going to have a huge die and then in every space they have to do some tipe of challenge. SOme of them will have to do with missionary work. Sorry i don't have much time to talk but i'm glad to hear every thing is going well and hope that you guys have a great week. Love you all.

Elder Drake Anderson

July7, 2013

Hey guys well this week was a lot better. We got to work this week! WE found 10 new investigators and taught 25 lessons which is 8 more than they've ever had in this area and this week we plan on getting the 30 lessons this week. Wow super tough being district leader here. But learning a ton at the same time! My companion is Elder Obaldia and he is from panama. He is probably the most humble person i've ever met. Really he is so great. Didn't have the greatest trainer but he still dominates. We're just working on the teaching together now. A lot of practicing so that we can teach fluidly. Then in my district there is Elder Reyes (El Salvador he was in cañas with me) his companion Elder Pugh (washington) then Hermana Ponce(Honduras) her companion Hermana Watkins( Arizona) then Herman Tippits(Utah) and her companion Hermana Patrick( Florida her dad was the stake president on the broadcast from 2 sundays ago) But ya that's my district they0re all super great missionaries! We found 45 new investigators as a district this week but we only invited 9 out of those 45 to get baptized. So only 20 percent. Which is super low we should be challenging every person in the very first visit! So that's the challenge as the district and what we're going to put a focus on is putting baptismal dates with everyone!

I do like turrialba a ton! And the cool thing is that Ivon from Tibás has a sister that lives here who isn't a member so Ivon is going to come down here and we're going to teach her!!! Which will be super awesome!! Sorry i totally forgot the connector for the camera so i can't pass fotos this week. but next week i'll try to remember. 

Our ward is good we just got to get the people to work with us more because it's always the same 3 people. So we're going to have a preach my gospel class every saturday and we hope that we'll have some people show up. Then we're going to use this class to get some references and also to help them feel more comfortable to share the gospel with there friends. but ya that's the plan!

But ya that's basically what happened this week. I also heard that Nuary in Tibas is going to get baptized and three of my families that we taught are going to get baptized too. And two of those families will have a wedding as well. 9 baptisms!

But ya love you guys ton! The gospel is true!!!

Elder Anderson

June 30, 2013

Hey guys.

I unfortunately had changes this week. It was one of the hardest things i've ever had to do in my life. I love the people in tibas so much. It was awful to have to call them and tell them i had changes. I've never felt like this before. And i don't like it either. But i know that God has purpose for me here in Turrialba. Although it has been super hard to leave my beloved friends, converts, and families behind, i will do all that i can to help build the Lords kingdom here. I'm District leader here. There are 4 elders and 4 hermanas in the district. 2 wards. Our ward has an attendence of about 130 or more everyweek. I came here and it was pretty dry our area and with basically nothing. Haha i was a little frusterated but i just moved on and went to work. I've learned now when things don't go as you want to you just have to trust in the Lord and git er done! Sorry i haven't been able to send you much pictures but i will send you some next week. And i have some sweet ones from today. We went to a waterfall. It was super sick. About an hour long hike. it was also super extreme. we had to bring a rope to help us go down and up the mountain. My ward here is super awesome they are all really chill people. I just hope they're ready to help us out a lot more. Turrialba is pretty hot and humid and kind of out in the country. Which is kinda of a reminder of cañas. But anyways i love this work so much and i know that what all the missionaries around the world are teaching is true. That God does love us his children. And that blessings will come through living by the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Elder Anderson

June 24, 2013

Hey guys! Wow what a wonderful week we had last week. We ended up finishing the week off with 39 lessons!! 16 more than i've ever had in a week in my whole mission! We had 2 great young priests who did splits with us for 3 days. We ended up racking 30 of the 39 in those 3 days. I also went on divisions with Elder Chisholm in my District. He's from mississippi and he's been with me since he started the mission 3 changes ago. He's a great guy but has had some really difficult challenges. So we've been fasting together and trying to see what we can do with his area. And we came to the decision that they need to strengthen their ward and try to work with more references because knocking doors does not work in their area. And the broadcast from yesterday really supported our decision. 

My district. We did have 6 elders about 2 weeks ago. But president sent one of them home last week which was really hard. He did need to go home because he was being disobedient but it's always hard to see people go home. But this week we'll be getting some hermanas in zurqui. So that will give us 4 elders and 2 hermanas. And i go on divsions at least once every week. Oh ya we have changes this week we'll know one wednesday who has changes then on thursday to our new areas. i really hope that i don't have changes i love this area so much. 

Oh ya also this week we saw a miracle. Our golden family that we love so much had been having a problem. The husband didn't want to get married. And over that past 3 weeks he and his wife had been praying and he felt like that was what they needed to do. So tomorrow we're going to talk about the papers that they need to do to get a passport then put a date for their marriage and for their baptism. 

But ya i love it here so much. Vianney our convert is the best lady in the whole world. She basically teaches us now. we had such a special lesson with her where she told us that we need to fast more so that we can be more strengthened spiritually. She fasts every week. Then she told us that she prays for us everyday and always includes us in her fast. When she told us that the spirit was so strong that it was impossible for me to hold back the tears. She has been such a great example for me out here on the mission. 

I love the mission. I love the Ticos of Costa Rica. And i love the Lord and for the chance i have to be part of the most important work in the world.

Love you guys

Love Elder Drake Anderson

June 16, 2013

hey guys. well i had an alright week. only had 21 lessons so we were 9 short of 30 but we have some great plans this week to get the 30 maybe 40 we'll see how it goes. anyways i got my package with the ipod thank you guys tons. I love it a ton. Wer had an awesome conference with president and three other zones in which i got to see Elder Richardson, Elder Taylor and Elder Fuimaono missionaries from my district in the MTC. which was super sick. we also got humbled a ton by president. But after words he built us back up with the spirit and now we're all super stoked to go to work. we put a goal as a mission to have 4 baptisms for ever companionship every month. That would be 500 baptisms every month. The best we've had is 135. Huge difference. But i know that we can accomplish it. I know that Costa Rica is ready to change. We just have to be obedient and work diligently to bring this change about. 

This week we have plans to have a 2 day division with 2 priests in our ward. THey're going to come sleep at our house and work and study with us for 2 daysa. I'm super stoked. THen on sunday we have divisions with a less active and a member who is preparing for his misison. But ya super stoked. I'm starting to get a little more used to being district leader now. I neber thoughtr that i would be teaching other  missionaries how to be better and how to accomplish the goals we've put. BUt as we can see the gospel changes people. Becuase i would have never been able to do this befor my mission. 

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home. That's sick your going to San Diego. I would love to see the sun again haha., All it does is rain now but whatev it's chill. Anyways take pictures of the football thing and the kids so i can see them. Also tell tyler to hold in there. Love you guys tons!!!

Love Drake

June 11, 2013

hey guys. THis week was an alright week. We found out that our family that we took to the temple and that had a baptismal date for this saturday can't get baptized because they aren't married. And  they're illegal immigrants from nicaragua. So now we have to wait a few months until they can get baptized. But that wasn-t the sad part. THe sad part is that her husband doesn't want to get married. But we're just going to keep working with that. we found another family though who are from honduras. They're ma\rried and have papers so that's a good sign. And they've told Ivon that they feel like our church is true. so we have a sick FHE planned for this wednesday with them. I can-t wait. We have another family that are also super awesome. THe dad is a less active member but the mom and their two daughters arent so we want to put a baptismal date with them this wek for the end of june. The meeting with the missionaries went well they just wanted us to change up our district meetings a little bit. Oh ya we have district meetings every week for a hour and a half and i have to plan it and prepare a 20 to 30 minute capacitation every week.         This has been a little stressfull but a huge testimony builder as well. I don-t hav e my package but the zone leaders said that they have one of them for me so i should get it tomorrow. I love being with elder diaz and being in tibas. I'm dreading the thought of changes on june 27th because i'm almost positive that one of us will have changes. Oh ya and supposedly 83 new missionaries are coming to our mission so a ton of people are going to be training and opening new areas. Yay!!! Should be interesting to see what h appens. |But anyways i love you guys ton.

Love Drake

June 2

Ya this week went by super fast as well. I can't believe that we're already half way done with this change. It's so crazy to me!! We had our baptism this week with Susan. It was super great even though only 8 people showed up. It still turned out to be a super great service. Us district leaders had a meeting with the zone leader this week. And president has uped the goal in the mission to 30 lessons every week. The best i've ever had is 23. But when they said that i knew that we could accomplish it. We just have to use our time better and find more people and work more with the members. Tomorrow i get to go on divisions with an area in our district. I'll be there for 3 days. I'm super stoked to learn things from them and help them out because they've been a little disanimated with there area. And i'm so glad that i have a great companion because i don't have to worry if he'll do work or not because i know he will. I love being with Elder Diaz. I learn something new from him everyday. We're super stoked for next week because we'll hopefully have 5 baptisms!! Our family Martin, Carmen, Norma, Martin are the ones that can get baptized then they have a daughter who has 7 named Naomi. And Nuary. We're super excited for next week and hope that all will go well and that they'll be able to complete all the commandments and ve ready for this day. But ya i haven't had a chance to go to the office so i haven't gotten the package but maybe this next week the zone leader will bring our packages because they have a meeting in the office. Oh ya i got to go paintballing today and play soccer and make pizza with some areas in our zone. It was super fun! But i got super burnt as well. I'm definitely going to us sunscreen from now on haha. But ya i was thinking that i should be applying for colleges about now. And i heard that usually missionaries have their parents start them then they write the reports so i was wondering if maybe you guys could help me out with that. I would like to apply to BYUI, BYU Provo, BYU Hawaii (even though i probably won't get in) and Utah State. If you guys could do that that would be so great. THanks guys i love you guys so much and hope that you have a wonderufl week. Oh ya And happy Birthday MOM yesterday. I love you so much and hope that you had a wonderful Birthday. 57!!!!!

Love you guys!!!

Drake

May 27

Hey guys. Wow what an awesome week we had this week. First to start off we had 23 lessons which is the most i've ever had in my mission. and second we had 20 investigators come to church this sunday!!!! Our gospel principles class for the investigators and less actives was bigger than the sunday school class for the adult members. THe room was slammed full!! Karmin and her whole family came and she invited her little sister to come as well. Which was so cool!! Ok also this last saturday we got to go to the temple with our ward so we took Karmin and her family with us so that they could see the temple and go in the waiting room and touch the walls of the templ and alsot take a picture. Then we taught them about the plan of salvation and why we have temples and we had a guy talk a bout family history with them and why we do it. THen the coolest experience was when we invited Martin the dad to pray and ask if June 15th was the day that him and his family should be baptized. And him and his whole family as we kneeled and waited for an answer felt a feeling of peace come over them as did we. It was such a great experience and after that he said i know that we need to get baptized the 15th. And i thought wow i've never felt the spirit so strongly in the prayer of an investigator. BUt then later that same day we went to cesar's house and he had been having some huge problems with his "wife" ,they're not married, and he didn't know what to do. SO we knelt on our knees and he gave the most humble prayer. And we knew that he got his answer. THen he showed up to church the next day and Hermano Aguilar gave the best talk about having faith during our tribulations. Then the rest of sunday was just amazing. oh ya Vianney our convert was called as first counceler in the primary this week and she went to the temple and did baptisms for her one ancestors. she is seriously the best lady in the world i love her so much. but ya that's basically my week i can't believe that brother landon is now bishop landon that's so awesome! Tell Darbs congrats on getting throught high school and that i love her tons! Love you Guys

Drake

May 20

It was super great to seeyou guys this week! BUt i felt so trunky the next day haha. The members here are so awesome. 3 families celebrated my birthday. THey made me strawberry cheesecake which was so good. And the next night they gave me a cake called Tres Leches which is one of my favorites. you guys will have to try it when you come to costa rica. BUt the only bad part of the week is that i got super sick on my birthday. Probably because of all the cake. BUt i felt so bad it was awfull. I don't think i've ever felt so sick in my stomach in my whole life. BUt a part fromthat it was apretty sweet week! On sunday we had ward conference. With an attendence of 117 people 12of which were our investigators.It was such an awesome sunday. When we came in late with our investigator family the Stakepresident gave us a thumbs up haha i thought that was pretty funny. But it was seriously such a miracle that the family came and they are so great but they live in the most humble part of our area where allthe houses are just sheet metal and nothing else.

 BUt Wow this week me and my companion learned a lot about our area and how much we really rely on the members to have success. We tried to do some contacting this week and we had some success in one area but it's really not that efficient inour other areas. But we met some really special people this week. WHile we were contacting we met someone who had talked to the missionaries 4 years ago. And now her and her sister are super ready to listen to us. We also met a lady named Karmen and invited her to church. We only thought her and her daughter would come but instead she came with her husband and 3 kids to ward conference which was perfect because she was having a problem with her husband but Stake President gave the perfect talk that, if they were listening well, helped them out a ton. 

I was super surprised friday night when i got home and Elder CHisholm told me that i had to call the Zone leaders. When they told me that i was going to be district leader i did not feel prepared. BUt after a ton of praying i came to know that this is what i need to do and felt such a comforting calm feeling. I know that if i put my trust in the Lord he will help me know what to do to make this district the district he needs.  

I'm a little nerbous to do baptismal interviews and run district meetingsbut iknow that everything will be alright. 

THanks guys for everything i love you guys all so much.

Love Drake

May 5

Hey Guys!

This week was great but half way through this week me and my companion thought that we were being kinda lazy so we sat down and look at some things and got to work again. We're not going to let that feeling of laziness enter our companionship again. We had a really cool experience yesterday when we went to go get Nuary to go to church she said she couldn't go because she had no water and said she wasn't going to go with out taking a shower. So we tried convincing her it was alright to go like that but that didn't work. So i started to pray that the water would work. And right as we went to leave she came running out of her bathroom telling us there was water coming out. But it was just drops of cold water but she told us to go and she would be there in 20 minutes. So she took the shower and made it to church. That was just a huge testimony builder for me knowing that if a person has a real desire to go to church that God will alway provide the way to get there. Another thing this week that was awesome was our lesson with Vianney, who has a baptism this week. Anyways we did a practice of the baptismal interview with her this week and when we asked the last question if she was ready to make the baptismal covenant and be faithfull to it she said yes. But when she said yes i had the most powerfull wonderful feeling from the spirit telling me she was ready. It was such a great experience. She only had a problem with on question and that was about if she though Thomas S. Monson was a prophet. So we invited her to watch his talks on the internet from General Conference. And when we had our lesson with her on Sunday we asked if if she believed he was a prophet and she said yes i know he is a prophet. And i just got that feeling all over again. I know she is ready for her baptism i'm so excited for her and can't wait till the baptismal service 5:30 on saturday. Me and my companion are going to sing, even though i'm an awful singer, while my companion plays the guitar. It's kinda sad to here the weather is slowly getting better in Idaho as it's slowly getting worse here haha. But i'm glad to here that you guys are doing good in idaho! Dad i totally had to watch one of those cataract surgery in health occupations and it's super fast and simple. I can't believe Whit had a baby you'll definitely have to send me photos of that. Um six o clock next week will work out perfectly for me! OH ya i totally forgot i have to tell you guys something. Sheldon Corry's ex girlfriend is in my ward here in Tibás. She is seriously the coolest girl in the world. She is a return missionary and has helped us out tons. Actually Nuary was a reference from her. But ya she went to the corry's house and everything so we thought it was super funny that she was right by my house. But ya anyways I can't believe darbi is graduating. But ya that's pretty much it just stoked for our baptism this week!!!! Love you guys!!!

Elder Anderson

April 28

Hey guys!

We had a super good week. Found a new family while trying to find an inactive family and the new family totally invited us in and we taught them a really good lesson with our mission leader. then they went and introduced us to the inactive family that we didn't know. Which was super helpful. Unfortunatly only one person out of the 2 familys showed up. But we got a lesson with them tonight so we're going to try and get them pumped up for the next week. Also had a lesson with two amazing investigators that wow who are just so prepared. One of them asked us why she had to pray if the book of mormon was true if she already knew it was true. we still encouraged her to pray and ask if it was true but the spirit was just so strong in that lesson. Then another investigator we have was a reference of a member and she asked us how she could be baptized and so we explained to her and she excepted a baptismal date and is super excited. Elder Diaz and I are seeing many miracles happen here in Tibás. I really hope that i will be blessed to stay here one more change or more! I love the members here so much. And all of our investigators. They're such great people. But ya i'm glad to hear that the tests cam out good for tyler. I've been praying a lot for him lately. I know that he'll be alright. I'm glad that your robotics competition went well dad! super cool that you got a senator to go with you. It sounds like ward conference was a winner! Is brother childs in our ward now? we have ward conference the 25th of may. Which will be super sick if i'm still around! Oh ya about the skype call so if you guys could choose an hour that would be best for you guys either monday 13 or tuesday14 or wednesday 15 of may that would work best for all of you guys that would be awesome and i would plan accordingly. oh ya it's six o clock right now in costa rica. I think it's the same as idaho but i don't know so ya if you can line of those hours so that there's no confusion that would be killer.  Then i will talk to you guys on one of those days because i don't know when we're having p day that week because it's changes week and they always change things up when it's changes week. Oh ya got the package with my clothes contacts and pictures. THanks o much guys your so awesome. I needed those contacts so bad because i didn't want to walk around in my ray ban glasses in some areas. Those automatically scream out i'm a gringo and have a lot of money.. when i really don't have any haha. But ya i can't believe i'm already calling you guys again that just seems so crazy to me. The time goes by so fast. Dang it just started pouring outside and i totally forgot my umbrella......:( oh well looks like i'm going to arrive home soaking wet tonight!! Better get used to it because winter supposedly starts next week and when it's winter here an umbrella doesn't help to much haha. But ya keep me updated on every thing. Love you guys!

Love Drake

April 21

Hey guys. this week was super awesome. Alot of interesting things happend but super cool! we had 18 lessons this week!! just 3 short of the standards of excellence for the mission. we actually almost had everything perfect minus a baptism:( but it's all good! we're trying to build this area into an area where we can have a baptism every week. That's one of the goals that president has put for us. A little tough but anything is possible with the Lord. Actually we have a baptismal date with two young men named Marlon and Diego for the 4th of may and another for the 11th of may with a man named Cesar. And we have a lot of dates that we're planning on putting this week. We had 8 investigators go to church this week and that's only have of our good ones! I love the willingness of Elder Diaz. He's such a great missionary. I feel like i'm learning so much from him even though i'm senior companion. Tell tyler to get better. And that i'm super happy and proud of him for giving up smoking. I know that it will help him during his life. Keep me updated. I love you guys tons and hope that all goes well this week. 

Love Drake

April 14

Hey guys i just had an awesome week this week. I'm still in Tibás por dicha( thank goodness). And my companion is Elder Diaz. Who is the man. He is super awesome. And we're totally going to kill it together. I just hope that i'll have two changes with him. Wow i can't believe that we're already starting week 3 together. The time is going by way to fast. That's cool that you guys are in Las Vegas i'm sure it's kinda nice to be in warm weather after an awesome idaho winter. We're just about to start rain season here which i'm not really looking forward to. Whooo rain everyday for 5 to 6 months! It's going to be so interesting haha. If you could send me videos of ashton playing football that would be so awesome.  But wow this week has been so great.  This week we found a couple families and they were really interested. One of them was such a random contact because we were in a really poor and dangerous part of our area and then there was this massive really nice house in the middle of all the dumpy houses. And we were just like hmm do you think they would listen to us. We said no but we thought it would just be fun to try so we went and knocked on the door and they invited us in and we had a lesson with them. Then this sunday they came to all of church. This experience really helped me out a ton. It helped me realize that God has prepares people for us no matter what there situation is whether they're poor or rich. EVERYONE needs the gospel in there lives. Everyone. I love you guys and thank you so much for the support. I love this gospel and the oppurtunity i have to share it with the Ticos of Costa Rica. I love them so much and i'm just so grateful to be able to be here with them. 

Love Drake

April 7

Hello family.

Wow how great was general conference. I loved it. I thought it was so spiritual. The only bad part was that i had to watch it in spanish:( which is alright because i can understand it all. It's just super hard to concentrate on the talkers when it's the voice of some Latino haha. My new companion is Elder Diaz. He is so awesome. He has 7 months in the mission and he is from colombia. He is such a great missionary i know that we will have success together. And now the mission leader is helping us with the members and they all are on our side and ready to help us out. I love the member here so much they are literally the best. I really hope that i can be here for 2 changes more. But i don't know because elder Diaz is such a beast i'm pretty sure he'll be training next change. But we'll see what happens.  Oh ya i got my package thanks so much for the cereal and the books. YOu guys are the best. I'm already learning so much from the book Doctrine of Salvation i would totally recommend that to you guys. Um question i wanted to know what is the mail address of Tyler, Brianne and Mark. If you guys could get that to me that would be awesome i love you guys tons. 

Love Drake.

March 31

Hey guys awesome week this Holy Week. Wow holy week here is such a huge thing. Everyone has work off and all the stores are closed then everyone goes to the beach haha. But it was a pretty good week we had a lot of success. This week however has started off pretty slow because my companion has changes and so he just goes around saying goodbye to everyone. But i'm excited to recieve my new companion tomorrow and go to work. That's cool you had the sisters over for dinner i wish he had that happen a little more often here hah. Because i am always hungry now and it just seem like i never can get enough food hah. That's cool that tyler and Court were up in idaho this week. That would of been fun. But i'm here in costa rica. By the way tyler costa rica isn't an island haha. That's so awesome that graham got his call to mexico. He'll also know spanish now! Oh ya can you ask Debbie to write taylor and ask if my letter ever got to him. For general conference here everyone goes to the church or watches it on the internet in there house because it's not on the tv here.But i'm so excited for general conference this week. I love it so much more out here in the mission because all the messages are just what our investigators need to here. So the goal this week is to get all of our investigators to go to conference. But ya anyways i love Costa Rica the time is going by way to fast and life is just so awesome right now. I love you guys

Love Drake

March 23, 2013

Hey guys. Sorry i didn't write you this monday we changed our p day to today so that we could get some work in on monday. We went to the temple today but we didn't get into a session because it was all full. But it's all good because we got to do baptisms and confirmations. I just love being in the temple though it's such an awesome experience! Last week was really good actually we got a new mission leader that likes to help us a ton. He has the same vision that we have and believes that anything can happen. So i'm super pumped for the future of this ward!! I just hope that i don't have changes next week. Because i'm not ready to leave here yet. I'd actually be fine to be here for the rest of my mission. I love it here. This week one of our members contacted somone on a bus then gave us the reference. It's a single mother who's about 32 years old and has three kids. We went to visit her yesterday and she was super excited and wants to go to churcdh this sunday. She even went to our english classes yesterday!! Wow i almost have 10 months now in the mission. What an awfully wierd feeling to know that i'm almost half way done with my mission. 

I'm glad that everything went well with the competition this yeart. It looks like it was a fun one! So i have a question how many people attend our ward in IF. I can't remeber. The investigators are great just trying to get more and more! I haven't got shoes yet but i'm still trying on that it's just hard to find some, But some members told me where i need to go so it's all good! But ya that's pretty  much it,

I love you guys 

Love Elder Anderson

March 17, 2013

THis week was alright. We didn't have a ton to do and we were having some problems but me and my companion had a nice talk and now everything is great and we're stoked to get this next week started. I haven't tried anything else exciting this week. An investigator had me trie the spoiled milk and it was awful and curdled. Um we cook almost everyday for lunch which is chill because i like cooking hah.and yes we have someone to wash our clothes. And i haven't bought any shoes yet because i can't find any i like but i will probably buy some next week when we pass through san jose for the temple. I'm so stoked we get to go to the temple next week!!!!!! But ya this week we had a multi zone conferance with president and it was super cool. We focused the whole time on becoming better teachers in chapter 10 of preach my gospel and he told us that that is our focus for the next 4 months so i can't wait to see the results at the end. I already learned a ton of ways to be a better teacher in this last week. Ya my area is pretty sketchy a lot of drugs and stuff but we haven't been asaulted so that's good haha. The elder that was here before me got punched in the face. but nah everythings good we're careful and we don't do anything stupid so we'll be fine!! But ya the investigators are doing well. Just that we found a nother guy who has to get divorced and then married to his wife before he can get married which is a super long process. Now that makes two families we have to do that with. And tonight we're going to meet a new family that are a reference from some members so super stoked for that. But ya that's it. Love you guys have a great week! Thanks for the recipe mom!

Love elder anderson

March 10, 2013

Hey guys this week was alright. A little slow and not to much success this week. All of our investigators were not in there house when we went to have our lesson with them. But oh well it gave us some time do go do some tracting so now we have more investigators. Elder Duncan is a member of the seventy and he is the 2nd councler of area centroamerica. It was a super cool meeting. We only had one of our investigators there though.But other than that it was super awesome and spiritual. I'm sorry there is really nothing to talk about this week haha. Um i ate a mango that was bigger than a softball and it was so delicious. Oh ya and i also tried spleen this week and rotten milk. The spleen not to bad it actually tasted kinda good. It was just the thought of spleen that kinda grossed me out. And the rotten milk i would totally be fine with never having it in my life again hah. It was pretty gross. And sorry no pictures it's just that we can't really carry our cameras around here because it's kinda risky and i don't want to get robbed with my camera. But ya that's about all that's happening here in Costa Rica. The weather is super nice. It's like 65 to 80 degrees everyday. I kinda like it. But i do miss the good old Idaho Snow haah. But i hope that you guys have a good week. love you guys

Love Elder Anderson

March 4th

Hey guys! This week was a little slow but last night was awesome. Me and the bishop went on divisions and we ended up knocking on the door of the neighbors of some members in our ward. And we ended up having the oppurtunity to teach a new family. And wow i'm super stoked to go back and teach them. Because they seemed super interested and me and the bishop just felt good after that visit. So i'm stoked to visit them again this wednesday! This weekend is Stake conference with elder duncan and i'm super excited to go it will be so spirtual. We're hoping that all our investigators can go so that they can hear from him. But ya today we went to a country club called the Castillo. And wow lets just say i found a place that we can go to when you guys come to Costa Rica. It is amazing this place. It has like every type of sport thing has a huge pool. Has a castle and there is a train that goes on the inside too. It was so fun. We had a multi zone activity there today so there was about 38 missionaries there. And we all got in for free because i guy who lives really close to us named johnny wong was one of the founders of it about 20 years ago so he just waived the fee to get in and everything. But ya it was super cool. But ya i'm super excited for this week because we have a lot of plans and a lot of new investigators that we have to go find where they live because they are references. So we hopefully will contact all of them this week. There are about 10 of them. I'm so stoked. I love being back to work again. It's the best. My ankle is alright i can walk and everything it's just that i can't run or play sports for 2 months so ya that's kinda killing me haha. But wow this ward here is just the best the members and everything. It's such a strong spiritual ward!! I'm so excited for the future of this ward! But ya everything is great here with me and elder Funez. I think we finally figured out how to work effectively in this area. So i'm excited for this next month of march. Love you guys!!

Love Drake

P.S. Could you possibly send me like my plain gray hoodie and some normal clothes that i can use on p day that would be so awesome. Oh ya and if you guys want to not right no of course but in the future when they come out with the new Philidelphia Eagles Draft cap that would be cool if you guys could send me one because it's super nice to have a hat here on p days. You can just ask jon which on i would like because he knows what i like haha. Thankyou guys love you tons! Oh and here is a pic of the mission with Elder Christoferson in January so now there is like 30 mor missionaries than there are in this picture. But ya love you guys.

February 24

Hey. This week has been awesome. I'm still in Tibás with the same companion. So at least i still have a little time to get used to the area before i get a new companion. Um i got my cast taken off!!!!!!!! Which feels super great to be able to walk again. It still hurts a little bit and is super stiff but oh well i'm just glad to be back to work. I love the members in this ward. Me and my companion have some huge plans that we're working on. Hopefully we should have 2 baptisms next week and maybe a couple more the week after that. Next week is stake conference and elder duncan and another member of the seventy are coming. I'm so stoked from it. Cause they have 2 meeting that we can go to and one of them will just be about missionary work!! Which is what we need so that we can get the help from all the members. one of the new missionaries is in our house with the district leader. He's from mississippi and he's super awesome. It's crazy to see how far i've come in my spanish now when i look at him. There is absolutely now way i couldn't have done it with out the help of the lord. I'm starting to realize everyday just how dependent we are on the Lord. I'm so grateful for all the help and guidance that he gives. Um not much happened this week other than i got back out to work. I have to take it a little slow and i can't play sports or run for like 3 months. So p days are going to be a little boring now. But ya i love you guys ton and hope that all is well. Thank you so much for everything.

Love Drake

February 17

Hey everyone!!! wow it is so nice to hear from everyone! This week has been pretty good not much new things happening but still pretty good. I was able to finish the newsletter and i think it looks pretty great but we'll see if Hna. Wilkinson likes it or not. My ankle is feeling great. I'm so stoked to get my cast taken off this thursday. I'm just so ready and excited to get out and work again. Apparently our area is killing it tight now so i'm so pumped to get back out there. That's awesome that ashton dominated in basketball this year and that he is starting up football again. If you guys can send me pictures of him in email or whatever that would be awesome. Yes they celebrate valentines day here. But ya Glad to hear that court is doing great in arbonne. She better have that mercedes before i get back so that we can go to an Eagle vs Bears game!! By the way if jon or ashtono could give me an update on the whole eagles situation that would be awesome. But ya awesome week. Um this week there are changes so it's super busy in the office so i don't have a ton of time to write. But ya i hope that me or my companion don't have changes. But i think one of us will because 28 new missionaries are coming so i think some people will be training. But ya that's pretty much it. Love you guys tons!!

Love Drake

February 10

Hey guys how's it going. This week has been pretty good but uneventful. My companion got a mini missionary as his companion last week then they sent me off to the mission home to be with the secretaries and the assistants. So every day i go to the office with them until 4 then i go back to the house with one of them and just chill out and do the samething the next day. But now sister wilkinson gave me an assignment so now i'm busy making the mission newsletter that they'll be sending out every changes so that's kinda nice to have something to keep me busy a little bit because it gets kinda of boring just sitting around all day. But it's been really nice to be here because it's really opened up my eyes to what mission work really means. President has had me watching the district videos from preach my gospel everyday. Which has helped so much. He's having me do this because in a mission presidents seminar a mission president talked about how there was a super successfull missionary and they asked why he was so succesfull and the missionsary said that he had broken his foot during his mission and his mission president had him watch these videos everyday over and over again. And he said that through that he really learned the concepts of the videos and applied them to his mission. So i'm just so stoked to get out in the field again because i really do feel like i'm learning so much right now. I just can't wait to get back and apply all that i'm learning and actually become the missionary that god wants me to be. 

But ya the taxi company doesn't really have a lost and found. And actually a lot of the taxi drivers here are illegal and aren't part of a company so they said it's basically impossible to find my shoe. So i think i'll just buy some here because i saw an elder here in the office with some shoes that he had bought here in the m ission and they looked pretty good to me. My ankle is still a little sore but it's alright. It's not as sore as my armpits are from the crutches hahah. But i'm doing good. But ya thanks for the letters of Drew and Taylor it's nice to see how they're doing and all. But ya thanks so much guys. Sorry i don't have any pictures again this week i'll try to get some next week i promise. Love you guys.

February 4, 2013

Hey guys!! This week has definitely been one of the most interesting weeks. I'll just start off with the fact that i hurt my ankle playing basketball and i thought it was broken because it was super swollen. So we went to the hospital to get it x-rayed with hermana puckett( the mission nurse). And good news is that it was broken!! it's just a 2nd grade sprain. But i streched the ligament a ton so i have to have a cast on my leg untill feb. 21 so i have to walk around with crutches now. But i'm just super grateful that it wasn't anything worse. But ya now the really bad news. when we were coming back from the hospital my companion had my shoe and he left it in the taxi when we got out of the car. and by the time we got in the house and i remembered the taxi was long gone. So at least i have the right shoe but not the left. But thankgoodness i have my other pair there just not quite as comfortable but oh well. So anyways we havn't been able to leave the house this week because the doctor doesn't want me to move around a ton be cause he doesn't want me to strain it. And it would be tough to go to our area anyways because it's about 20 minutes of speed walking from our house so ya. So it's been a super boring week doing nothing. We're just waiting for president to find a mini missionary to be with my companion untill i'm better then it will be back to normal. But ya that's what happened this week. Um i had photos of the hospital but the internet cafe here in tibas is horrible so i can't send them but i'll try to figure out a solution next week. But ya i just want you guys to know that everything is fine and that i'm alright so there is no need to worry(mom);). BUt thank you guys so much for always writing me and the support that you guys have given me. You guys are seriously the best family in the world! I love you guys tons!!

Love Drake

P.S. Um the sd card should just be a normal one that works for that camera. haha sorry i don't know which one. But you should call courtnee and ask her which one she used for it because it was her camera. Also my password for hotmail is 11108044. And if you guys could get this from courtnee i'm not sure if you can but i would love to have the p90x insanity workout videos that she has so i can workout in the morning. um but ya that's all thanks again. Love you GUys.

January 27

Hey guys another great week!! I am just starting to love Tibás even more every single day. It is seriously the best area here in Costa Rica. I don't eat fast food a ton here because it's super expensive and because i have a ton of food haha. But guess what the walmart opened up here and they had a huge grand opening with a bunch of cheap food and stuff. But i have yet to find Dr. Pepper here in Costa Rica although a ton of elders have told me that there are some here. But oh well. We still don't have someone to wash our clothes but next week we're almost positive that we'll have someone. it's crazy the difference here in the work. We're so much more successful here than in Cañas. We have about 24 lessons every week here and iun cañas we had about 12. The people here are just so much more receptive and the members love to help us. We have a family that could be baptized this saturday just that he has to divorce his wife that he had before but she doesn't want to give him the divorce so we have to wait while they take care of legal issues but they are so sweet.  
Oh ya i have to teach english classes every tuesday and saturday now. Which is super stressful for me but thankgoodness i have some members to help out that know english because my companion doesn't know any. We're hoping that we'll be able to get some new investigators through this because we have flyers throughout all the city and handouts so we'll see how it goes. But ya um i need a memory card for the new camera because mine don't fit in this one so that would be awesome if you guys could send me one. Also i would love to have some photos with me and my friends if you can find some or print off some. And also some photos of the snow or of mi skiing. But ya i have to go sorry that i don't have any photos this week but i can't walk around here with my camera. Love you guys and miss you tons.
Love Drake

January 20

Hey guys this last week was super cool! The family who got robbed were doing great wheni left and i'm sure that there still doing awesome becuase they are so strong in the faith. But ya anyways i had changes this last week!!! I was kinda bummed out toleave cañas but when i got to my new area i was totally chill with it! I am now currently in Tibás which is just a 15 minute bus ride out of downtown san josé. It's super awesome here because i'm not dying of heat everyday and the members and bishop are awesome and so helpful. It's like 60 to65 degrees here everyday and at night it's niceand cold!! So thanks mom so mu8ch for the blanket because i would be miserable with out it haha. But ya i got my packages and thank you so much for everything you guys are the best! It was so awesome to have to unwrap every single piece of candy haha it felt a lot like christmas just 2 weeks late haha:) But ya when i got here to Tibás i had an awesome surprise. This last weekend we got to baptize a family!!!! And i was so stoked to send you pictures but when i got here i tried to use this usb thing for the memory cards and when i put it in i found out that it doesn't work:( But i promise that i'll send you guys photos next week of it so now worries! But i'm loving it here so far i feel like i could just be here my whole mission! Our house is super nice the ward is awesome and we have a Mcdonalds, Subway, Burgerking, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Walmart, and Pricemart(which is Costa Rica's version of a Costco)! And everything here is so much cheaper than in cañas. The only thing that's not good is that we don't have a cook for lunch and we don't have someone to wash our clothes. So this week will be the first week i've ever washed my clothes by hand whooo!! But we're looking for someone to wash our clothes for us so hopefully this week we'll have someone. But ya my companion is Elder Funez from Honduras( 3 out of my first four companions are from Honduras now) and he is super awesome and chill. I feel like we're going to have a lot of success together. Ya but anyways that's pretty much it.... I love you guys and thanks so much for the packages and all the support and i look forward to talking to you guys next week!!
Love Drake

January 13

Hey guys! This week went by super fast for me as well. Wednesday we had a district meeting and our zone leaders said that we had to look for another house because 2 sister missionaries are going to come to cañas next week. then friday we had to leave at 12 to go to san jose for interviews with president which wass super cool. Then saturday we had our meeting with elder christoferson which wow was so awesome. First we had a photo taken as a whole mission(which i believe i'll have next week to send to you guys) then we took a photo with Elder cristoferson, elder maynes, elder martino, and another elder of the quorum of the 70 and all there wives. Elder Christoferson, Elder Maynes, and their wives all gave talks. It was really centered on faith and love in doing the work of the lord. Then we got to ask Elder Christoferson questions for a hour. But all in all it was an awesome week until yesterday night. When we went to Hermana Grace and Hermana Zeidy's house to visit them because they're my favorites and i wanted to see them before changes wednesday. But anyways we got to there house and were waiting outside for 5 minutes when they arrived in a taxi and they went to open the door and they noticed that something was wrong with there window so they were afraid to open the door so i opened for them and when we went in we found out that they had been robbed. It was the saddest and worst experience i've had in my life i didn't know what to do. They're the sweetest people and they're already super poor. But i know that God has a purpose in all things and that if theycan just push through this challenge that they will be blessed more than they were before. So tonight we're going to go over to their house and read some scriptures with them and give them a blessing of comfort because they're both a little shaken up.
But anyways i'm glad to hear that all is going well. It's awesome to hear about taylor. Can you ask his mom if he's recieved my letter yet. but ya everything is going great here i'll find out tomorrow morning if i have changes so next week i'll let you know where i'm at or if i'm still here in cañas.
Love Drake

January 7, 2013

Hey Guys!!!! This week has been Great!! New Years eve was fun!! We were with the family of Hermana Grace and Hermana Zeidy. These are some pictures of that night and the Rice Krispy treats i made. But new years day was like we were living in a Ghost Town. There was no one at all in the streets or in their houses. Because everyone goes to the river or the beach on new years here. 

 This week we had about 3 new investigators and we have 7 that are looking really good and are progressing awesome i just hope that they will continue to be strong and complete our challenges. we're getting a pretty good amount of lessons but we'd always like to have some more haha.

BUt ya i'm super jealous that you guys are freezing your buns off. I miss Idaho weather so much! Because everyday it's the same thing 80 degrees and super windy hahal. But oh well i guess i can live with it.;) 

Super stoked for the meeting that we have with Elder Christoferson this Saturday. I should also get my packages this day but we'll see what happens. Then next monday night i'll know if i have changes. which i hope i don't have because i really want to be here for our investigators that we have and ahh i don't want to leave some of the members here because there my family now and it will just be super sad when i have to leave them.

But ya i'll let you guys know how San José goes next week. I love you guys and i hope that you guys have a great week.

Drake

December 30, 2012

Hey everyone was super great to be able to talk to you guys this week. Christmas here was definately different here. It was actually super boring because nobody was in there houses they had all gone to the beaches and stuff like that. We only went to some farm for lunch and then walked around Cañas for 3 hours until our next appointment. And there was no one in the streets and when we tried contacting houses no one would open there door. So ya it was pretty boring but its chill. Christmas eve was cool tho we went to a members house and we had cake and chilled out and they had presents for us which had a new tie and a bunch of candy and a mug but it was super sweet of them to do that for us. But wow i can't believe how many people are leaving for missions now its just so crazy. I'm so glad that you guys got some PMG manuals and that you guys are going to use that every FHE it will prepare her so much for a mission. I'm glad to hear that Blake is doing well i hope that BYUI will help him out. Ah i don't really have much to say other that that really sucks about the eagles ahh that's so horrible but oh well at least i wasn't there for this season. But Thank you so much for sending me that book. I actually have an idea on packages because what this one Elder's family does i super awesome i thought. Every 2 changes or every 12 weeks they send him a package for of heygine( wow i don't remember how to spell heygine haha how scary.) stuff with like shaving cream tooth brush tooth paste deodorant body wash shampoo stuff like that because all that stuff here is super expensive. Also i thought you weren't going to send the package right now but no worries just that there were some other books i wanted. The Doctrine of salvation edited by Bruce R Mconkie the three volumes and Believing in Christ by a professor from BYU i believe his last name is Stephenson but i'm not sure. But anyways sorry i don't have pictures this week because i forgot my connecter thing but i promis i'll have like double next week. I love you guys tons and miss you and the Snow so much.

December 2, 2012

Hey guys how's it going. This week was great as usual a little boring but great. We didn't really do much because we were in San Jose for two days. But the temple was awesome we got to do baptisms and confirm everyone then we went through a session. I thought for sure that i wouldn't understand any of it but i actually understood almost all of it. It was such a spiritual experience. How many missionaries do we have out now in our ward? It feels like there is a ton. We always have to go to San Jose for changes so i'm headed there tomorrow but we have changes on Wednesday this week for some reason. But i don't believe that i have a change because then there would be no one to teach the area to the new missionaries here. But we'll find out tomorrow morning. But ya everything is going great and i love you guys tons. Here are some photos of our zone at the temple and me eating pizza, at a river with some member and a log that i carrie for a kilometer for a service project. Love you guys. Talk to you next week.

December 16, 2012

Hey guys! How's it going? This week was super uneventful except for the talent show that we had in the 2 branches and being a little sick this week. But ya the talent show was super funny. The people here are so awesome and so funny i love it! But ya we didn't even know if we were going to do something, because one of the elders in our house didn't want to, until we got to the church and they said that we would be the last act. So we were like dang cause we didn't know what to do but we finally decided we were going to sing a christmas hymn and so as we were about to go and practice they told us that another act wasn't ready and that we had to go right now. So ya lets just say it was a little embarrasing singing Joy to the World to everyone haha. But ya we had christmas hats on and everything. So everyone thought it was pretty funny so that's good i guess. But anyways ya christmas eve anywhere between 2 and 4 we're going to an internet café to talk to our families on skype. And about the group calls on skype only 1 person in the group needs to have the premium account or the group call option. If on person has that up to ten people can participate in the call. Then christmas day we'll be working like normal but most of the day we're going to be with a bunch of members eating a ton of tamales because that's what they eat here for christmas. But ya that's the plan for next week. um I'm glad everything is going well back at home. Things are going great here. Tell Courtnee thank you so much for the camera. And who is cassandra mallet in our ward i've never heard that name. But ya here are some pictures of us ate the talent show. But ya Love youguys tons and talk to you next week!

Love Elder Anderson

December 11, 2012

Hola Familia

This week has been a super awesome week. And i'm just going to start off this letter by saying that President Wilkinson announced that we will be having an Apostle visit us again January 12th. But i'm not telling you who until the end of the letter. 

But ya recieved my new companion this week and his name is Elder Brindis and he's been out for almost 9 months. He is from Mexico. But the thing that's really strange is something happened that usually never happens. Elder Brindis served here in Cañas for his first 4 and a half months of his mission then i came and replaced him. And now we're companions! But ya it's super cool because he already knows the area so i don't have to teach him the area or take him around to get to know all the members. And besto of all he has a bunch of old investigators that we've been going around visiting. And we are working super hard which is awesome because with elder Garcia he was in his last change so he was a little unmotivated to go out and work hard. But that's all good. But ya we only had thursday, friday, and saturday to work together last week but we found 10 new investigators. But none of them came to church so we're planning on trying to really teach the importance of recieving an answer through church attendence. That's awesome to hear about the new curriculum the church has planned for the next year. The youth are going to be so much more prepared now to go out and serve. About the baptisms thing we're hoping to have one at the beginning of january but we'll see what happens. That's our goal and i believe we can accomplish it. We just need to work harder with the members so that our investigators have friends in the church and don't feel awkward to go. Oh ya another announcement President Wilkinson changed another rule saying that we may use skype to talk to our family this Christmas! So ya i'm super stoked. So I'm going to make an accout this today and give you some more info next week. But anyways here are some photos of the money here in Costa Rica and the landscape of  San Jose at night. Me with Elder Varela in the house and the four of us at the changes meeting.(Elder Garcia is the second one from the right) And me and my companion looking out the window of a bus. But ya i love you guys tons and can't wait to talk to you next week.

Love Elder Anderson

November 25, 2012

Hey Guys, This week went by so fast! I hope that thanksgiving was as awesome for you guys as it was for me. We had a zone activity with ping pong, basketball, and soccer then we ate after. Oh by the way there was 14 missionaries and then the the couple missionary. They are the sweetest people and made a ton of delicious food for us. And we go to the temple in two days on wednesday i'm super stoked. I will get a new companion next tuesday at the changes meeting. We found 8 new investigators this week which felt really nice. Tell the Young women of the ward thanks so much for the package and the support that they're giving the missionaries. Here are some photos of the dinner and the grill like thing we made for p day and also some marking pencils that i wanted you guys to look for at deseret book because they are awesome and if you could by me like 2 packages and send them to me that would be even more awesome. Oh ya and also my camera is being awful right now and is dying about every minute because it says it's overheating or it just randomly turns off and half the pictures i take don't work for some reason so ya i was about to buy a new camera on black friday but then i decided that it would probably be better to talk to you guys first so just get back to me next week thanks. This last tuesday we had a Zone conference with President Wilkinson and wow he is such an amazing man. I learn so much from him every opputunity i have to be with him. He knows so much and is such an inspired man. I wish you guys could`ve been there because wow i can't even explain how special this meeting was. He changed everything in the mission and gave us new goals for the mission. Then this sunday we had another oppurtunity to hear him in the Liberia District conference. And we everyone in central america recieved a challenge from the Area Presidency to read the Book of Mormon before the next General Conference. And he promised us that if we sincerely do this we would see miracles here in Costa Rica. Then he turned to 1st nefi where lehi has the vision of the tree of life and how after he had tasted of the fruit how he had wanted to share it and the blessings of eternal life with his family. And that's what we need to do also. The first thing we need to do once we have felt these blessings is share them with those that havn't had the oppurtunity to recieve them. And i just wanted to extend that same challenge to all of you guys Everyone in the family. That you guys can read the Book of Mormon and search for oppurtunities to share the gospel with others. And i also promise that you will also see miracles in your lives and feel closer to the Savior. I love you guys and i want you guys to know that i'm so grateful for you guys and all the support that you guys give me and for the help that you guys were and are to get me out here in Costa Rica. I couldn't have done it with out you. I love you.

Elder Drake Anderson

November 11, 2012

Hey guys not much happened this week again just trying to survive with no money haha. We forgot how much we had to pay the lunch lady and we had spent a bunch of money before hand so when we paid her we had to use almost all of our money haha but oh well it's all good. That's awesome to hear about ashton making it to the championship game! You better send me a bunch of pictures of it. I can't believe that Jace is in the same ward as Doug that's so sick haha. I'm glad to hear the Carol is doing better i hope that her vision continues to improve. Oh ya so that video you sent last week didn't work i don't know why either is just says theres some error. I can't believe that it's winter. I miss the snow so much. It's hard to believe how fast the time goes out here. That's funny that you guys saw Tamarindo on HGTV we went there last month at a zone it's pretty chill. This next week i won't be writing you guys until thanksgiving because the senor missionaries in our zone are having a thanksgiving dinner for us. But ya i can't send pictures this week because i forgot my cord so sorry guys next week though, Well sorry i haven't had much to tell you guys about. My companion is super trunkie because he only has 3 weeks left so we don't do much. Which sucks but oh well i hope this week we can actually do some work. But anyways love you guys and can't wait to talk to you guys next week.

October 28, 2012

Hey guys! I can't believe that theres snow already! I miss the snow a ton. Thanks for checking about the Pres. Reece thing. Um for the boy scout patches just some collectable patches and there's six of them so just stuff for six people. And for the kids for christmas i think just like candy and stickers would be awesome for them. And when you say that you would just put money on my card you mean my card from Chase right? Ya i got my other package and thank you so much for the stuff you sent it is so much nicer to shave with shaving cream haha. My new companion is Elder Garcia and he is also from Honduras. He's a pretty cool guy but this is his last change in the mission then he goes home so he's pretty trunkie but he's cool. And Elder Ramirez went to San Ramon he is the Zone Leader of Naranjo. And i did not change areas i'm still in cañas. I can't believe Whit is pregnant that seems so crazy to me! President Wilkinson didn't say much it was just a little 5 minute interview but it was cool and all. We had the same lesson this week in Sunday school( which was the first time i have been able to go since i've been in Costa Rica). It was a really interesting lesson. This week we didn't do much just went around to a lot of the members so my companion could get to know them and also the area. Um but ya i love you guys and i can't wait to talk to you next week! These are some pictures of some people here in the mish. the one where there is three of us with the same shirts is me my dad(left) and my grandpa(right). They do this funny thing out here in the mission where whoever trains you is your dad so the guy who trained my dad is my grandpa haha.

Con Amor 

Elder Anderson