Sister Whitney Anderson: Cinco de Mayo in Old Town San Diego!

Hey everyone! This was a super fast week but it was pretty good

On Thursday we had a temple shift, basically where we sit outside the San Diego temple and talk to people on the grounds and offer to take their picture. The San Diego temple has a lot of visitors who have no idea what it is, because it's just so grand and interesting from the outside. The temple was actually closed that day and they had some pretty loud construction going on, but we were still able to talk to some really cool people! One younger guy from Brazil came and we ended up setting him up with the missionaries in his area, as well as helping him download the book of mormon app and hopefully instilling in him a desire to read it. We gave out 3 other books of Mormon that afternoon! That's a lot considering how many people we actually got to talk to hahaha. That evening, the Allens (a senior couple here) invited us over for dinner. We played games and they took us up to Mount Soledad, which has a pretty cool lookout over the San Diego Valley!

On Saturday and Sunday there was a Cinco de Mayo celebration going on in Old Town San Diego and some of the living history missionaries in the area put up a fun family area with lots of little games and crafts for kids and we got to help out down there when we weren't on shift. It made the days feel longer but it was really fun and we got to tell tons of new people about the Mobat!

This week I continued to add new little parts every time we gave a tour and on Saturday I did all of Sister 2, the other half of the script! So I was able to practice just doing that part for a couple of days and then yesterday Sister Kirkman pushed me to do a solo tour where I say both parts all by myself! She's a really good trainer and she knew I was ready even though I didn't think I was haha. It ended up being a really fun group of kids that came in so it was perfect for my first solo tour and even though it was kind of stressful, it was a good tour and I'm proud of myself! I have never ever been good at remembering or memorizing and so I can say with confidence that the Lord is answering my many prayers and making my weak things strong :)

On Saturday, Sister Kirkman and I taught the Come, Follow Me lesson for our mission (we get to meet together as a mission like three times a week it's so awesome) and it was super interesting to read the chapters of Exodus for this week. A lot of the Come, Follow Me lessons for this year so far have been stories I've always heard but never read and I've really enjoyed actually reading them. I think another way I've been blessed as a missionary is being able to understand scriptures I absolutely never would have understood before haha. We didn't get to talk about a lot of the things we had planned because everyone had so many good comments about the first slide we just ran out of time lol. But one of my favorite parts of this story with the Israelites making the golden calf is when Moses asks in Exodus 32:26, "Who is on the Lord's side?" And then in verse 29 he tells those who answered to "consecrate yourselves today to the Lord". I love the idea that consecration is dedicating what you have to the Lord and His purposes, and that what you have and bring to the table is special and has value to God. Consecration doesn't mean to give anything up, but to put it to use for the Lord's work. And everyone's unique personalities and experiences are needed to really progress His work. I encourage you to answer this call and to find ways that you can further consecrate yourself to the Lord today.

This Sunday we went to a Spanish ward! No I do not speak any Spanish haha but one of the sisters we share a car with does and she wanted to go so we just went with her lol. I didn't understand anything anyone said but everyone there was so kind and welcoming and happy :)

Anyways that's about it for my week but I hope you all have had a great week and give your moms all some big hugs :)

Sister Anderson