Kenzington's Missionary Email. May 8, 2026 "pranks and promises"
Hola hola hola my people!
I love and miss you all SO MUCH!!!
Guys, God is so good... I have never been filled with more joy or excitement than I have just learning how to be a good missionary. The Spirit is crazy strong here. I'm surrounded by people I already love so much, ESPECIALLY MY COMPANION- THE MYTH AND THE LEGEND HERMANA SEARLE!!!
We got here on Wednesday and I got to hug my sweet fam one last time... that was hard... then I walked away from the car and felt the Spirit of "lock in mode" and I just felt my purpose truly change in that moment.
My comp's car broke down about 2 hours from the MTC so I had to wait just a little bit to hug her but TRUST ME that was a GREAT hug. She is so loved, she is such a huge blessing.
Guys. First night. Gnarly.
We have a branch here at the MTC... and every night we have branch prayer with all the sisters before getting ready for bed. So we gather... the STLs asked everyone to go around the circle and introduce yourself, where you're from and where you're going... and then one sister on the other side of the room added "oh and favorite song!" Okay cool, favorite song too...
So we all go around, making friends as we all relate on music taste. Great stuff.
The very last girl... she says "my favorite song..." and then bursts into laughter... I thought she was gonna say something like one of the songs from the Lego Movie or something. I'm completely unsuspecting and only half paying attention at this point. And then she said "My favorite song is Called to Stay"
The whole room looks at me... it took me like 2 seconds to actually process what she said but imagine the most shocked look ever and stick that on my face cuz it took me a sec to clock what she said. Turns out the whole "favorite song" thing was all just to prank me at the end.
Apparently she's been listening to the song for a while and was very excited to find out we were in the same branch. And now we're best friends. AND WHAT ARE THE ODDS we'd get to meet each other and become good friends when we are going different places and would only be in the same place for about a week. God has a really cool plan.
Spiritual experience!
I have had a lot of really cool experiences here... and I'm only on day 3... God has so much to teach me. But last night my sweet comp and I were walking as the sun was setting... and the weather felt so nice and it was just so peaceful. My Searle then started talking about how cool it is that you can learn so much just by pondering and thinking about God. The conversation turned to how grateful we are to have each other and that God really knows what He is doing because we work so well with each other and share this burning passion to serve the people of Peru and work so hard to learn how to do that. We must have been best friends in the pre-existence. Which reminded me of a story I heard, about a girl that served in our mission.
She was having a really hard time in the MTC, feeling very homesick and still trying to stay excited... She met a grown up missionary servicing with her husband at the MTC that told her exactly what she needed to hear:
This is your 2nd mission call, your first one was in Heaven. You had all your friends and family around you as you read your call and you were SO EXCITED as you read that you were assigned to be born in the Covenant, to righteous parents who love the Gospel and you'll grown up with every opportunity to know your Savior!!
But one of your friends in Heaven got their mission call, and they were a little worried... they were called to Peru Lima Central and they weren't going to be born into a family that knew anything about Jesus Christ. And the friend was excited but scared, "How will I know about Heavenly Father's love or His plan or His Son?"
And you said "Don't worry, I promise when I'm on earth, I'll serve a mission and I'll go find you and tell you everything."
If there is anything I've learned about Heavenly Father it's that He helps you remember what's important to you, even if you forget. He's really good at helping us keep our promises. I know I'm called to where I promised to go. And I'm so blessed to go there with Hermana Searle who I am SURE was my best friend in Heaven because we're being sent to the same place to help remind our other best friends in Peru.
I love you all, you are constantly in my prayers. God is real. He wants you to know how loved you are.
Google Photos:
Adios!!!
-Hermana Anderson
Perú, Lima Central Mission
April 2026-Oct 2027