I've gone blond!

While you all may think I have dyed my hair. This is not the case. But
 sometimes I think I have by the comments that I get from my latina
 friends. Brown is the blond of central america. One of my friends has
 asked me at least 2 times if my hair is natural. So if you re
 considering dying your hair blond, dont. Just move to Central America.
 Of course the HIGH LIGHT of this week was seeing ELDER BENJAMMIN
 PEARSON!!! Right before I was in the middle of teaching a lesson and
 could see out the window where he would be coming in. Our lesson wasnt
 over but I saw a tall handsome man with a dark green back pack walk by
 and I started freaking out inside. I looked at my companion and we
 quickly closed the lesson. Then I ran out in the hallway and hugged
 Ben!!!!! It was amazing seeing him. We both started crying because we
 were so happy (I hope you dont hate me for saying that Ben). Ben has
 always been amazing, but this mission has truly changed him in such a
 good way. We had 45 minutes to spend talking. His spanish is so good
 that he forgot some english words. I was so grateful for the
 opportunity to see my brother!!! Families are forever. The next day I
 also got the chance to meet the Broughs (Ben's mission president and wife)
 and Elder Child and Rivasbecause they were at the MTC picking up all the 
new missionaries. It was so fun!  Ill write more in a couple of minutes.

More news from this week. My companion and I have been called to be
the coordinating sisters! That means were in charge of helping 29
sisters from the United States, Honduras, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico,
Argentina, El Salvador, and the DR understanding how things work
around here and get them integrated. They are all so wonderful. One of
my roommates really wants to learn English because she is going to be
a doctor someday so we help each other. It has been quite the task
trying to communicate and help the latin sisters but I feel like the
language is coming and for the most part Im able to communicate. On
wednesday of this week we got to go out in the city to a 3 story
market and also contacting on the city square and go to Wendys. I got
to share the message of Jesus Christ with 3 different people and give
away some copies of the book of mormon. CONGRATS ON GRADUATING
BECCA!!!!! 


love,
Hermana Pearson

Time keeps flying!

Hola familia! First off....A couple of SHOUT OUTS---Congrats to Becca
for graduating and all of your cool friends (you know who you are). I
heard the party was a great success and Im so happy for you!!! Also
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Becca! The Big 18. Youre an ADULT. Now you can know how
cool it feels to be old and mature like me. Also Happy Birthday to Jen
and Karen Westerkamp! Hope its the best! If anyone wants to write me
on Dear Elder, send it to the Nicaragua North mission or else it will
come hear and I might not get it for a long time. Thanks for all who
have been writing! The funny stories and spiritual thoughts have been
so wonderful to receive. This week I have had some amazing spiritual
experiences. Last Saturday was a hard one. After we checked email my
companion was down in the dumps. I thought maybe she just really
missed her family, but something was not right. She told me later that
a close family friend (just 12 years old) had passed away. He had
headaches one day and the next day went brain dead. It was so sad. She
has been really struggling. At times like these, it is when we really
put Heavenly Father to the test. He has given us the Plan of Salvation
through his son Jesus Christ and promises us that we will see our
families and receive eternal life. This week my testimony has been
strengthened so much in the gift of the atonement of Jesus Christ as I
have watched my companion put her faith in this amazing plan we have.
I love Ecclesiates 12. 7 and Mosiah 2. 41 that write about the promise
that we will return to live with the God that gave us life. We have
had a couple of lessons to teach this week about the Plan of
Salvation, and each time we have taught it, even in our broken
Spanish, the spirit has testified of the truth to me and those being
taught. I know that everyone can know the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ once again restored to the earth if they pray to know for
themselves. Im so grateful for this knowledge.  This week I have been
praying to understand and speak Spanish better. I have a goal to read
the Book of Mormon in spanish every day to practice pronunciation. Two
days this week as I was practicing specifically for pronunciation, I
realized that I was actually understanding what I was reading. The
Lord is helping me. This week we went out to contact people and hand
out pamphlets and book of mormons. I had a latina companion, so it was
a lot better. The people are so friendly here. We talked to some
people that really seemed interested in our message of Jesus Christ.
for the most part, people could understand me, but I couldn{t really
understand them. But I know it will come. To answer moms questions,
all my teachers are RMs and all from Guatemala. Thanks for all your
support and love. My roommate is from Nicaragua so she has taught me
some awesome new words that mean cool in Spanish---- Tuanis and
salvaje! I love it. There are 99 missionaries here right now. All the
north americans that have been here for  6 weeks and the latinos all
leave on Monday and tuesday. There will only be 19 of us on Tuesday
and we will get a new group on Wed. I love all that Im learning!!!
love you all so much!!!! Cant wait to see BEN!!!!




love,

Anne

CCM Rocks!

 Hola familia, 


How are you?! Hope everything is going well. Thoughts on
 living with the Latin people- it rocks. This week learned something
 about the sisters I live with. No matter where you are from, all women
 feel the same way about two things- chocolate and men. My roommates
 get the same looks and say similar things when they see chocolate and
 when they see elders doing immature things- like when the Latin elders
 were taking pictures of me when I was reading my scriptures. This week
 I have become really good friends with my Latina roommates. Its
 amazing how the language barrier can be taken down with small acts of
 service. They have been helping me with my Spanish and are very
 patient with my slow broken way of speaking. And at nights I have
 started helping them reading the Book of Mormon in English helping
 them with their pronunciation. Im so glad English is my native
 language. All the sounds and words are pronounced differently. At
 least in Spanish it's all the same....... Im grateful for that.

 Hermana Mendez and Lopez LOVE the EFY songs that I brought. They sing
 along to them every night. Sundays here are great. We have
 intercambios - where you switch companions- and you are with a latin
 companion for about 3 hours- during sacrament meeting and personal
 study. Here we have to prepare a talk in Spanish and right before
 people have to speak they announce who is up. This is what happened in
 Provo as well and I was chosen to speak there the week before I left.
 And I was very surprised and shocked with the Branch president from
 Guatemala chose me to speak this past Sunday---a little more
 intimidating when you're speaking in front of people who actually
 understand (or don't understand) what youre trying to say. But it went
 well and I got through it. People that come from other countries to do
 temple work were here from Wed. to Sat. this week and they stay in a
 building right next to ours on the CCM campus. We got to go contacting
 at the temple and practice sharing our favorite scriptures and tried
 to get referrals of people who might be interested in learning about
 the gospel. On Thursday we got to go to the temple for an endowment
 session with all 40 of the north americans here with our CCM
 president- President Nicolaysen. I have felt the Holy Ghost testify to
 me of the truth of this gospel so many times this week. I love reading
 the Book of Mormon! I also love Preach My Gospel and how it helps me
 focus on scriptures that will really help the people I teach. It is
 helping me learn so much!  My favorite scripture this week is 1 Nephi
 7 :12. Read it, amazing promised contained within in.


 I love you family but I got to go! Hopefully I can write more but I need to read your
 emails!


 Love you, 


Hermana Pearson.

I'm not in Provo anymore!

This week Ive had a couple of firsts....first time living in Guatemala City, first breakfast of chips and beans, first wink from a Guatemalan cook, and first time having roommates from 4 different places-- Hermana Lopez from Nicaragua, Hermana Mendez from Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and Hermana Gomora from Mexico. I LOVE my latina roommates. The first night it was very intimadating to try to speak to them because they talk SO fast. Thank goodness for the kindness of Hermana Lopez from Nicaragua. She came over to me the first night and we made a deal to speak to each other in the language we're trying to learn. I try to teach them English and they try to teach me Spanish.

 

 IMPORTANT---when you call today make sure to dial not what I told you before but (011)502 3149-3972. This is the correct number. Not what I gave you before. This is a prime example of how things happen a little bit differently in Central America. We will be told one thing from one person, and then find out we were supposed to do the opposite thing. This is not a bad thing, just different, and Im learning to be VERY flexible and easy going.

 

SERVICE- Today we got to go outside of the MTC! We swept up the leaves and flowers from the street. It was really fun being outside and seeing a couple of people passing by. Hermana Hardinger found a diaper in a tree.

 

FOOD- The food is SOOOOOOOO good. They make lots of different things. We have had chicken cordoun bleu, chinese food, tacos, alfredo pasta, etc. I learned VERY quickly to say, no pan and un poquito. So I feel better now that Im not having as big of portions considering we eat our meals every 4 hours.

 

Ive had a lot of funny experiences with speaking the language. I left my shampoo in the shower and was trying to tell some sisters that I left it in the shower but didn{t know the word for it. After elaborately explaining and acting out what was in the shower, one said, shampoo? Same word in English. Whoops. If you're looking for the best word in spanish, look up surprise party in the dictionary. It has a great translation to spanish.

 

I'm so excited for Patti and Sven!!!!! Tell them congrats for me. (Patti is Anne's cousin who is expecting!)

 

Just so you know....if you send anything to Guatemala it takes about 12 days to get here.

 

It has been very difficult preparing for lessons because my companion doesn't speak much Spanish at all. I love her to death but it is hard when Im trying to give her experience to speak and teach with me, but she cant. I also don{t speak the best, so it{s a challenge. But I have had 2 great experiences teaching our 2 investigators. We have planned something and the lesson has changed based on their needs. Its neat how the spirit can testify and change what I say. }}}

 

 

Love you a lot but got to go!!!!!!

Hermana Pearson

 

I'm in Guatemala!!!!

Hola mi family linda. 


Sorry, there is no enter button so this is going
to be a run on email. I have a surprise for you mama, I get to call on
mother´s day! Sweet, huh? But here are the details. You have to call
me at 230 Guatemala time (which I´m pretty sure is the same as Utah)
on SATURDAY. I will have a cellphone for a half hour and if you miss
this time, we will miss our chance to talk. The area code is 00502 and
the number is 3149-3972 . So I´m super excited! I also have Pday (Preparation day) on
Saturday morning from 8 -12 so you can expect a letter around
then......I had a pretty good flight from Salt Lake to LA. The flight
from LA to Guatemala was crazy. I wasn´t able to sleep very well but
got a little bit of sleep. When the pilot said we're about to land in
Guatemala City, I freaked out because my first thought was IM IN THE
SAME COUNTRY AS BEN. So far I love the CCM (This is the name of the Missionary 
training center in Guatemala). The food is delicious but
the portions are large and they get offended if you don't eat all of
it so I hope I dont gain too much weight! I have 1 latina roommate and
Sister Hardinger from Oahu, Hawaii is my companion. I love her so I'm
happy about it although I will miss Sister Manning with me all the
time. We will get 4 new latina roommates tomorrow or Friday.


 I had a really cool missionary experience at the LAX airport! I was eating at
McDonalds with Hermana Manning and there was this man that looked
hispanic sitting close to us that kept looking over and smiling. In a
nice way, not a creepy way. I kept feeling like I should talk to him
but was hesitant. Spencer Dean wrote me some advice and said, DONT
EVER BE AFRAID AS A MISSIONARY. So I remembered it and went to talk to
him. He is from Guatemala and Hermana manning and I talked to him for
almost an hour and at the end I gave him a pamphlet on the Plan of
Salvation. He was very grateful.  Please just send me emails family 
because it takes dear elders about 2 weeks to get here. Friends, you
 can still send dear elders .

 love you alll!!!!
Hermana Pearson

 NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intende

Eat Bagels,Drink Chocolate Milk and be Merry for tomorrow we go to Guatemala!

Hello lovely family and friends!!!!!

 

This has been the motto of Hermana Manning and I for the past couple of days. I am so excited to leave in 1 hour!!! (They are taking a red eye from LAX to Guatemala tonight) I have had a wonderful experience here at the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) It has been so amazing to be surrounded by hundreds of missionaries from all around the world. The spirit is so strong here and I feel so safe.

 

I made sure to appropriately celebrate Cinco de Mayo by drawing a mustache on my face with my roommates with waterproof mascara. I won't use waterproof mascara next time.

 

I was very blessed this week so see people I know pretty much every day. I got to see Elyse Bradley, Suzie Skinner, Kathryn Hart, Aunt Julie,Ben Smith, and some other friends from BYU. It has been so fun!!!!

 

This week has been an emotional roller coaster. I have had so many wonderful days but I have also been very humbled. While I had a goal to speak Spanish non-stop from Wed. to Sat., it was very difficult considering no one in my district speaks it at all.....so thank goodness I'm going to Guatemala where this goal will be a little bit easier to keep! I have been touched this week by the examples of elders and sisters I have seen who have great challenges but are going forward with faith in fulfilling their call from the Lord. I met a wonderful sister who is 28 years old from Chile who was called to serve in Armenia. She has to learn Armenian in English which is not her native language. Yesterday, I saw a sister doing a service project that has arms that are stubs and stop at her elbows. She was working and wiping down the bathroom just like everyone else. There are several elders that are in wheel chairs. I know that the Lord gives us weaknesses to humble us, but will make us equal to our challenges through following the gospel of Jesus Christ and taking advantage of the atonement. Right now my challenge is learning Spanish, but I know I can do it with his help.

 

Wish I had more time.

 

Love you all!

 

Anne

 

CANT WAIT TO TALK TO YOU LATER TONIGHT.

 

ALISON AND FRIENDS!!!!! tHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LETTERS. I HAVE THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE WHOLE WORLD! THEY MADE MY DAY!

Dearest family,

 

I love this quote I heard this week, because I'm understanding the truth of the statement. There is so much to do and so little time! I have learned a lot this week about the importance of goal setting and being strict to completing the goals that you set. While there are times each day where I feel overwhelmed with all I have to learn about spanish and the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's comforting to know that I have the Lord helping me every step of the way.

 

We have been doing mock teaching lessons in Spanish and I have done 7 of them! While it is very difficult, it is getting easier each day. I understand Spanish pretty well and am just trying to learn how to speak correctly and more quickly.

 

Fun fact: Elder Entin in my district went to TC Williams and played on the football team there. Unfortunately they lost their senior year in the championship game so they weren't able to make Remember the Titans 2. Petey still works at the school. That's pretty neat, huh?

 

I have some AWESOME teachers. Hermana Arroyo served in Spokane where my dear friend Jasmyn is, Hermamo Piperato served in Puerto Rico, and Hermano Jarman served in Spain. I'm learning so much. They are the best teachers and really push me. 'The grammar from highschool has really helped me so I'm not lost. It's just applying the knowledge and learning how to speak.

 

I have seen so many little miracles this week. Elder Nelson came to speak to us. I have learned so much about the enabling power of the atonement this week and truly believe that Christ will direct us when we turn to him and accept his will. I know The Book of Mormon, like the Bible is the word of God and that Heavenly Father loves all his children.

 

Thanks for all the Dear Elders. I LOVE them! And I love all of you, I'll try to write more individual letters this week.

 

Muchos besos,

 

Hermana Pearson