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