This week was awesome!!!!! I am finally out in the field!!! I am in El Centro where it is 115° and dry. So just like home. I am loving it here, but before I get to El Centro, I will tell you about my last few days in the MTC.
So it was sad saying goodbye to all of my teachers and friends I had made there. I hope them all well and hope to see them all again. Some things I learned in the last couple days were that we always need to be kneeling in our hearts and constantly praying. Also, we need to ALWAYS be trying to listen to the Spirit and be a tool in God's hand. Then we can help others come unto Christ always. The next thing is kind of the challenge so I will touch on that later. I am very happy I had the chance to stay at the MTC that long. I learned so much about the Gospel and how to teach it. I felt the Spirit more consistently than I have ever felt it ever.
Then we went to the airport. It was kind of weird going into the real world again. Our flight was about 2 hours long and quite quick. It didn't feel that long. Then we arrived in San Diego! We met our mission president and his wife! They are so nice. President Stubbs is very funny. So we went to a church and had an orientation.
Then we met our companions. My companion's name is Elder Dudley. He is amazing. He is from Michigan and he is a very hard worker. He is really good at getting to know people so people really like him. It has been cool to meet all of the people that he knows here. He is very fun and funny. He is going to be a great trainer.
So then we went to one of his old areas and stayed there because El Centro is too far to go there and back and there and back for the first-day training. We stayed in El Cajon with a Persian screaming in the room next to us. I love it. It was so funny. The next day we went to some people that Elder Dudley knew in the area and I got to know some of them. The next day we went to the Mormon Battalion Site. It was cool to go there again. Then we went to the mission office to get some supplies. I found out there that there are about 18 languages spoken here by missionaries and that doesn't even cover all the languages spoken here. I love that. If any of you know me well you know how much I love learning languages.
Then we went to El Centro, but before that, we met someone nicknamed Yoda. He lives in Descanso in the mountains. He is a very strong member and helps the missionaries. He has a bunch of random stuff and animals. He is breeding snakes right now which is where I am in the picture of me holding the snake. Then we came to El Centro. Also, we have a car. We also have the nicest apartment in the mission. So we started going to peoples houses. We have dinners almost every night and we get fed a lot. So I love that. We have already had given like three Book of Mormons away. But we do not tract much in this mission. We mainly work with the members and go off of referrals. So I have met a ton of people and am excited to get teaching. There is one person I want to talk about that we taught. So his name is Gregorio and he is not a member but is interested. We were about to drop him then I came. The reason I changed things is that he has two daughters that are Deaf. So I tried to communicate with them, but I am pretty sure they are learning Spanish Sign Language, ASL, and home signs and are mixing them together. So we are going to try our best and go for it. But it is very cool. My zone is awesome and we work together often so I am excited to get to know them also.
So the challenge of the week is when you guys are listening to anyone give a talk, whether it is from an apostle or a ward member, don't write down exactly what they talked about, write down what the Spirit teaches you during their talk. I would love to hear what happens with this.
I am excited to be in the field and meet so many people. I am glad that knowing ASL is helping me already. I am loving it here and am loving the experience. I love hearing from you guys and hope to hear more. For those who don't have my email, it is vaughn.andersen@myldsmail.net. I love you all and feel your prayers.
Love you all,
Elder Andersen
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