Cultural Differences

Here's something pretty exciting! This week we got a boyfriend! :D hahaha Well, maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not by too much. We met these two guys named Phani (pronounced Funny) and his best friend Kiran. They were very interested to meet us (Because we're white. Who DOESN'T want to talk to white people here?? haha ^_^ ), so they invited us over to their homes. At first, they just wanted to watch movies and play games and eat food with us (just be buddies with us), so we had to carefully explain to them that we are here to teach about Jesus Christ, not to hang out. Kiran seemed just fine with that, and we see him potentially progressing very well. However, Phani didn't seem too interested in learning about Jesus, but he loves us just the same! 

Actually, an a side note, we have a LOT of guys flirt with us here! It's not uncommon for guys to want to hold my hand, and I have had quite a few men tell me I'm cute, beautiful, and other such flirtatious comments... haha weird! Fortunately (well, fortunately because I'm a missionary), there are big cultural pressures for girls not be flirtatious, so they don't clammer all over us. In India though, being white is the semi-equivalent to a guy being able to bench press 300 pounds in America; it doesn't AUTOMATICALLY make you attractive, but it sure doesn't hurt either! he! :) 

Here's another random-ish thing about Indian culture/being a missionary here. In India, there is much, much, MUCH less "political correctness". Unlike in the USA, where people get offended at the littlest things, you can say pretty much whatever you want here. This makes for a lot of good laughs at times, and it also makes being a bold missionary much easier, because you know they won't get offended! woo woo! 

But on the flip side, they also don't always take what you say... seriously enough? I'm not sure what it is.

Here's how a lesson might go.

"The Church of Jesus Christ is Christ's church on the Earth today. It is His ONLY true church. Do you believe that?"

"Yes brother, yes brother! Most definitely!"

"Great! So, will you come to Jesus Christ's true church this Sunday?"

"Oh brother, I wish I could, but I can't..."

"Why not??"

"Well, your church timings are the same as MY church timings! And I can't skip going to my church."

.......... FACE PALM ...........

Haha even when you are as bold and direct as you possibly can, sometimes people just don't get it! :P

But, I always give them the benefit of the doubt, that maybe it's just language problems are causing a mis-communication. Like this past week we had one 18 year old investigator tell us that he is very fast. In fact, he said he ran a 5K race is five minutes and 36 seconds. 

Really? You sure? 5:36 for a 5K race?

Yes! Yes, he says he is sure!

Try not to be too jealous, but I now know the fastest man alive! ;)

I'm Safe and Alive!

Hola familia! Good news! We are 100% safe here in Kakinada! The cyclone didn't hit our city at all, and we were not evacuated. And even BETTER news, they stopped having the electricity strike so that there could be power to help those that were hurt from the cyclone, which means we have zero damage and full power! woo woo! Guess all those prayers you guys gave back home worked! :) Mom, you talking about that scripture mastery verse reminded me of something I have been meaning to say. Knowing your scripture mastery is PRICELESS while you are on your mission! I can't tell you how many times we've had an appointment randomly pop up (so we hadn't prepared anything), and all we have is a few minutes, and I just whip out a good ole' scripture mastery verse to use for a spiritual thought. Or there has been many times where investigators will have questions, and I'll say "You know what, that question you have reminds me of a verse from the Book of Mormon..." Those scripture mastery verses were definitely not selected randomly! And more great news for this week! We finally got Ramu baptized! :D He's that guy I told you about that serves a ton in the church, but has trouble learning. Haha if I remember correctly, I think we taught him the Restoration 9 times... :) But now he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet! He knows that, and Joseph Smith talked to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and that he gave us the Book of Mormon. Buuuut... that's about all he really knows from the Restoration. But really, that's all that really matters, right? :) It was so cute seeing him on the day of his baptismal interview. Since he is very poor, he doesn't have nice clothing to wear, but on the day he was interviewed he put on a nice clean shirt (potentially the only clean church he has), a pair of clean jeans (jeans are very classy to wear here in India, because they are fairly expensive), and he got his hair all slicked back (I think this is the only time I've seen him do his hair!) And after he passed his interview he gave the missionary that interviewed him a big hug! :) All week whenever we would bring up him getting baptized on Sunday he would squeal with delight, like a little girl. haha, so precious. After 4 years of coming to church, Ramu was finally baptized! A very grand day indeed! Oh, and this weekend we watched General Conference! I LOVED it!! It's amazing how fast those 10 hours of talks fly by! And I don't know if you noticed, but Randy D. Funk gave a talk in priesthood session, and he is my mission's old mission president that was just released a few months back. He even talked about Rajahmundry, which is a city I've got to be in quite a few times! That was pretty awesome. :) Life just gets better and better here! Being on a mission truly gives you a lasting feeling of happiness and peace. Have a splendid week! Love, Elder Anderson P.S. Sounds like you are making a pretty sweet vid, little sister! You should have Noah put it up on his Youtube channel, so then you can begin your journey towards fame on Youtube. ;) And good work talking to your friends about the Gospel! What a great little missionary you are. :) Oh, and it looks like you are getting some nice strong legs, from what I see in your soccer picture! Very nice. :)

On Strike!

Well, as you might have guessed from me not emailing you at the normal time of the week, things have been INSANE over here in Kakinada India!!! To put it simply, the state I am living in, Andrah Pradesh, is splitting. The people on the other side of the state want to split it very badly, and people on my side of the state do NOT want it to split! And because of that... crazy things are going on! 

Our side of the state is having massive bunds (similar to strikes). But instead of American strikes where they just shut down a business or two, throw up a few picket signs and call it good, Indians strike HARD!

The most pressing of matters is the fact that they are shutting down the electricity on our side of the state. For 12-15 hours a day they will shut down the current. (Which is why I couldn't email on Monday; there wasn't any power in the day time). Fortunately they usually turn it on at night time, otherwise sleeping would be quite difficult! haha sweating up a storm in your bed! :)

They also take big trucks and put them in front of the roads to close down the roads. Then people all get together in rallies and burn tires (don't ask me why they burn tires, but they do... whatever floats their boat, I suppose!)

Just imagine if Eastern and Western Washington wanted to split, and they started shutting down the electricity and roads to revolt against it. Ya, crazy.

Every day we go outside without our tags on (to make us look more like college students), and then given the advice to "be careful" as we go outside. haha solid advice I'd say! :)

What's also really exciting is the fact that there are no street lights as we cycle home, which means you are riding in close to total darkness! And unlike American roads, where if there is one pothole in a road you think "Wow, this is a bad road!", in India if there is a road WITHOUT any potholes you think "Wow, this is a superb road!" Needless to say, riding home can be quite an experience!

I love it all though!

I'd say I've definitely seen the promise in Ether 12:27 (in the Book of Mormon) fulfilled on my mission. Before my mission I was definitely a little fradey cat when it comes to scary things, but now I THRIVE on danger like this! It gets the adrenaline pumping! :D 

Plus, I've decided fear is a silly emotion, so I've decided not to have it anymore. Why stress yourself? I AM an obedient missionary though, and our handbook tells us to be careful, and that our safety is very important, so I do do my best to avoid the rallies... haha :) 

Oh, and I forgot to say, but we will be watching General Conference this weekend. We needed to wait for them to do the Telugu translation, so that the members can understand it. I can't wait to watch it!! Watching General Conference is like eatin' candy for a missionary! :)

Life is great here in India! You never get bored over in this country! 

Count Your Many Blessings

Hi family!

Haha I love that picture of Abbey! It definitely looks pretty cold there! We've had some pretty big rain here too, but for the most part you are wet from sweat each day, not rain. The saying in the mission is that for every drop of sweat you have, your wife gets one degree hotter. So by this point, I think I will already have the most attractive wife in the family! haha ;) 



Noah, I know that Mr. Fabricious (wow, I already forgot how to spell his name...) would say SPSCC's accounting class was harder than his, so I wish you the best of luck in it! I'm sure you'll do great! And getting a job at Pizza Hut would be awesome! I'll come order some pizza from you someday. :) 



Sorry to hear about your test though, Mumzy. I'm sure you'll nail it next time! 



And sounds like you are gettin' some great ward activities goin' Bishop Anderson! I LOVE The Testament! I think that was the last movie I watched in America (I saw it in the MTC). Good times! Oh, and I'm glad you finally got my letter! It only took 2 months! haha :)

Life is still great here in India! I'll share with you just a couple of thoughts that I've been having this week.

Yesterday I got to attend my first funeral in India. It was the funeral for the first Patriarch that India has ever had (he was even about to give his first blessing this week... very sad.) It was fairly similar to a funeral in America. Me and my companion even sang for like an hour at the beginning of the funeral as people were still coming in and taking their seats. And because we were singing at a funeral, we were singing many hymns that are meant for people in distress (Abide With Me, How Firm a Foundation, Come Come Ye Saints, etc.) 

As we were singing, I realized something: these songs don't have the same meaning for me as they used to have. Just a few months back, when I would sing similar songs at BYU's tunnel singing, and they would always touch me very deeply. That was because I felt like I was going through difficult trials, and these songs were exactly the words I needed to hear.

But now on my mission, I don't really have trials anymore! In Matthew chapter 11, it talks about how we should take Christ's cross upon us, because it is easy and light. I've definitely seen the truthfulness of that on my mission. All my days now are spent carrying Jesus's cross, and my days really are easy! If instead of getting discouraged or anxious or sad for mow than 5-10 minutes, I start to wonder what's wrong! "I've been feeling down for 7 whole minutes! I gotta get out of this funk!" 99% of the time life is easy and fun! :) 

I don't know if that's because my life really doesn't have as many stresses as it did back home, or if it's because I now see life through an eternal perspective, but either way, my life is pretty easy now! 

Speaking of having an easy life, that reminds me of another one of the thoughts I've been having... When I was set apart of a missionary, one of the blessings that I received was that I would be able to see past the poverty people have, and simply see them as sons and daughters of God. I've definitely seen the power of this blessing. For the vast majority of the time, I am not bothered at all by the poverty I see. It doesn't really matter to me if someone has a house that costs $30 rent per month, or $300. They all need the Gospel, and their social position doesn't make a difference for how badly they need to hear this great message.

However, this week I did have an experience that did affect me. After the funeral, some of the men took me and my companion out to lunch. These guys had just driven in from Hyderabad for the funeral, and they were quite well off. They drove us in their AIR CONDITIONED CAR to lunch, and then bought us an all you can eat lunch of delicious rice and curries. By the time we were driving back, I felt like a true upper class person! This was the first time I had ridden a car in Kakinada, because only the very wealthy own cars, so this was a pretty special experience. But as were driving back into town, we had to stop because one of the men needed to go to an ATM. 

While he was at the ATM, the rest of us just sat in the car. While we were sitting in there, a 5 year old boy came and started knocking on our car window, giving us the hand signals for money/food. As missionaries, we aren't allowed to give money, so I knew I couldn't give him anything. And one of the other men in the car just kept pointing for the boy to go somewhere else.

But the boy didn't leave. 

He kept knocking and knocking on our window, signaling again and again for money. I tried not to look at him, because when I did look at him I would see that he was starting to tear up from desperation... After 5 minutes of knocking on our car window, the man came back from the ATM. He then gave the boy 4 cents, and the boy wandered off, and we continued on with our journey. 

Four. Cents. That's all that little boy was given. After the men had just bought us all you can eat buffets, and we drove away in a car worth thousands of dollars. I felt ashamed at the realization of just how good my life is, and how bad life can be for other people. 


Oh man... I'm tearing up just remembering the look on that boy's face! :(


In America, we live lives that are beyond rich. You really can't understand how rich us Americans are until you see what it's like when you're NOT living in a Utopian country. Don't take your life style for granted, because there are billions of people that can only dream of living the life that you have. 

Haha sorry, I wasn't expecting this letter to be so depressing, but that was definitely an experience that touched me, so I wanted to share it with you all. 

Have a great week, and truly enjoy the many blessings you have. 

Love,
Elder Anderson 

It's One CRAZY Holiday!

Hola familia! Congrats to you Noah! Startin' up the college life! Which is definitely the second best type of life, right below the missionary life. haha ;) Ya, I had heard that Julie is serving in D.C! I'm super excited for her! Sometimes, I feel like all of my friends are still back at home, going about life as normal, but then I remember that half of my friends are actually scattered around the world right now serving their own missions. So cool! So this week we had the close of the Ganesh festival, and I gotta say, this is THE craziest holiday I have ever seen in my life! And I don't mean "crazy" as in these people are all lunatics, I mean crazy as in the type of crazy people say when they come back from a party and say "Whoa man, that party was CRAZY!" Normally, missionaries are locked down on the last day of the Ganesh festival, because that's when things get really awesome, but President Barrett seems to be moving away from missionary lock downs, because we were out and about as normal on the last day of the festival. It was INSANE! Everyone was getting big trucks, and using those trucks to haul their giant Ganesh statues to the ocean (they dump all the Ganeshs in the ocean, which "baptizes" Ganesh, this forgiving their own sins somehow... haha I don't really get it either!) But the trucks travel slowly, and as they travel herds of people will surround the truck with the Ganesh inside. All the people have their faces covered with paint/chalk stuff, and have bandannas wrapped around them that make them look like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Then they all whip out their drums and stereo systems and start playing music as loud as they possibly can. And the people that aren't playing music are having what looks a lot like a stake dance. haha I quite enjoyed seeing some of the kids do the Dougie! :) And then, to make it even crazier, the heard of people is launching fireworks while they march to the sea. And these aren't little sparklers they are lighting off... they are all enormous motor fireworks. hahaha of man, I'm surprised these people don't kill themselves! Whenever going past one of these giant crowds of parting Hindus, I would just keep in mind what the penguins from the movie Madagascar taught me: Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave! :) My new companion Elder Thompson is grand! He really is TOTALLY opposite to my last companion Elder Watts, but that just makes life that much more exciting! He tells lots of stories as we are traveling around, and we have a lot of fun together! He is from Washington D.C. (well, an hour north of it, but he tells everyone D.C.) He is also went to Utah State before his missions, so we enjoy comparing college stories with each other. :) He also is good at using examples and visual aids in lessons, so I have definitely been learning how to be a more entertaining teacher with his help. AND, he is helping me learn how to get better hand writing! My hand writing will look like a girl's by the time he's done with me! woo woo! :) So, these past few weeks we've been working a lot with less actives. Time and time again, I see the sane thing. People stop coming to church because they were... "offended". Ugh. :P We've been visiting with the Batina family recently, and slowly but surely we are making progress with them. The dad says he knows the Book of Mormon is true, but he still doesn't want to come back to church... How does that even work?! In my missionary mind in makes so much sense: If the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith must have been a prophet. And if Joseph Smith was a prophet, everything he taught must have been from God. Which means, this must be God's true church. Simple. But, the trouble is getting others to see this logical chain reaction. We'll keep working with them though! :) The computer shop I'm in right now is blasting Justin Beiber and Selena Gomez. Haha being on a mission is definitely a party! :) Have a super duper week family! Love, Elder Anderson