"Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done" August 17, 2026
Buenos días todos! Hermanas, Hermanos, y Elderes como estan?!?! Espero que se encuentren muy bien!!!
What a week. Holy cow.
We had Zone Conference at what will soon be our new offices in the center of Lima. The architecture there was gorgeous! I'm excited to meet there for the rest of my mission!
I learned so much. My mission leaders often talk about “finding your why” not only why you are here but why you choose to stay. They also talked about “finding your way” which is Christ's way and it is our job to invite others to follow Him on the path home! This past zone conference we talked about “Matching the Message” and holding ourselves to the high standards of representatives of Jesus Christ. But also finding the JOY in discipleship because this is the church of JOY!!! And we get to share that Joy!
The rest of the week was a little hard, but exactly what I needed. My companion has had some health issues and so we stayed home and I taught a bunch of lessons through WhatsApp. My companion would help me when I needed it but I was teaching a lot on my own. God qualifies the called and the Gift of Tongues was definitely working in these moments and I'm so grateful.
Friday I had the hardest lesson of my life. My friend Mayra has been battling cancer and has already had two major surgeries but she's still sick. Its been hard to meet with her because of her treatment and doctors appointments. But we got to go visit her and her family on Friday.
This family has so much faith. They have SO much faith. After what we have already taught, they know that one day everything will be okay. They know families are forever, they know one day all things will be restored to their perfect state. They have so much faith. But they also have so much pain. Mayra has a ton of faith, but sometimes her prayers are “God, I know you're loving, how can all this pain possibly be for me?” And the prayers of her family often ask “why is it her and not me?” All some very difficult questions. We have no answers from PMG to heal their pain. Only the Savior can do that. Only the Spirit can comfort them, and they have already felt that.
Weeks ago I bought a photo of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. I have kept it in my scripture case since. During the lesson the Spirit told me to give it to Mayra. Afterwards, through tears and very poor Spanish, I told her that Christ prayed in the Garden to have His pain taken too. The prayer of His soul must have resembled the prayers of hers too. “Father, how can all this pain possibly be for me?” But he cried aloud: “Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done”
And He took on Mayra's pain so she wouldn't be alone and one day her pain will end and all that will be left is joy. He also took on her family's pain, your pain, and my pain. Whatever pain you are going through, He knows. He understands. He loves you infinitely. I felt before that I had a deep testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After this week I know my testimony and appreciation have grown infinitely also. My life was changed in that lesson. Afterwards walking around the street I don't think my face was representing that this is the church of joy. But the obvious tears DO show that this church isn't just for the perfectly happy all the time, even if it IS the Church of Joy!
Before we left that lesson I shared some verses from John 11. Before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He wept.
He knew he would be hugging and joking around with his friend again in just a few minutes but he first wept. He mourned. We know that Families are Forever and one day we will hug and joke around with all of our loved ones again. But Christ's example will always show it's okay to be hurt even when you know it will all be okay. It's okay to have a testimony while still acknowledging that right now life is REALLY HARD and Heaven feels so far away. I promise you it's not.
Do yall remember Carl?!?!? Yeah??!?! Lemme tell you about Carl this week. We knocked on his door on Monday to go visit him like we planned but he didn't answer. His daughter called us on the phone a little while later and yelled at us for trying to contact her parents. She said they were old and she's worried about them falling trying to answer the door. We explained that he invited us and we didn't mean to worry her. We asked her for his phone number and she said she would send it to us but she never did. We had plans to go knock on his door again yesterday… we were running home super fast to drop something off AND HE WAS OUTSIDE OF OUR DOOR!!! He was waiting to give something to someone who lived in our building so he was just outside of OUR DOOR!!! It was SUCH a miracle! We walked him home (without letting him know that we lived in our building lol) and it turns out his daughter took his Book of Mormon we gave him with our number in it so we gave him another one! HEAVENLY FATHER WANTS THIS MAN TO KNOW HOW LOVED HE IS!!! Everybody pray for Carl!
I have a new invitation for all of you. As a missionary, it's part of my job to get to know and love the people of the ward I'm serving in. The Sacrament meeting was amazing last week. I felt so much love for the people of the ward. Looking around was like a miracle. There were returning members who had been inactive, people sitting with friends every week because their spouses won't accompany them, there were people who had to travel a long way to get there, and new converts who had just moved in and went out of their way to get to church. It was SO COOL! I felt the Heavenly Pride for them! I know Heavenly Father was SO proud! My invitation to all of you is to go out of your way to serve someone in your ward this week who really needs it. I promise that Church will become even more miraculous if you make an effort to make new friends there. You will feel the fire of Gathering Israel! You could be exactly what God will use to answer their prayers.
You are all so loved and prayed for! Thank you for the emails. I'd love to hear from any of you even if we're not best friends yet.
Christ's church is restored. It's true. We have the Priesthood on the earth today. And the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I invite you to open it up this week and truly read. You can do this!
ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
-Hermana Anderson❤️
Photos!